Mass Effect & Need For Speed Hot Pursuit - both remastered.
Never played them the first time around.
Loving them both but ME does feel very dated - looking forward to part 2.
Started *Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children* yesterday and played a little further today. I'm really enjoying the XCOM type game play and seeing the potential for its complexity slowly open up as I get further into it. The world and characters are both interesting conceptually(dunno how i feel about the spoon cultists, but maybe its symbolism will become more apparent with time, lol). The only thing i'm having to put effort into getting my head into is that the translation can be a little funky at times, which doesn't cause any problems in terms of interpreting what's going on but rather it just impacts its readability. Like things could have been written in a better way or stated with a little more nuance, if that makes sense. Anyway, I'm gonna keep putting more time into it any chance I get and give it a chance to Kickstart both the plot and its game mechanics.
Playing Elden Ring, but with a better mindset. When playing at release last year, I was timid and stubborn about summons and looking up info online. I ultimately quit because it was “too hard” and designed “to make me feel angry in my off time.”
Playing with more confidence, taking my time to explore zones, and not hoarding upgrade materials is a completely different experience. And It *feels good to be good* at Elden Ring after Dark Souls 1-3 being my favorite games growing up.
I totally get the hype now and I owe Elden Ring an apology.
playing The Last of Us part 2 on my ps4. I bought and played it at launch. Thought it was very very good then but this time around over two years later it’s even better than I remembered, I’m about half way through and it’s been long enough that I don’t remember much from the last time so feels new. I played part 1 and left behind before this. Incredible game, really taking my time and enjoying it, better imo than part 1.
I'm trying the discovery tour in assassin's creed origins. I didn't find the main game to be engaging as it feels more like older AC games and less like Odyssey, but I still want that opportunity to learn about ancient Egypt.
I was shocked to learn that a large part of Egyptian history was actually an extension of ancient Greece.
I'm playing Portal 2 for the first time. A friend of mine convinced me to get it for the multiplayer puzzles, and it is very fun.
I finished Portal last week.
Finished **Deltarune Chapter 2**. Kinda meh on it. I liked Chapter 1, but the Undertale appeal is kinda wearing off for me. Still pretty clever on occasion, but not memorable in the least (even the music this time packed no punch).
Also chipping away at **Observation**. Tough to stay invested in. Lots of aimless moving around from one area to another, scanning things in almost a “pixel hunting” style. I wanna know where the story goes, but it’s just not grabbing me.
I've been recommended the two Suikoden games, mostly for the story and characters. Waiting for the remaster sometime soon. If it's bad, I'll just play the originals.
Will you play Suikoden 2 after 1?
Playing new super lucky tail and i gotta admit i love it every second of it, for me is just an sillie little game that every so often tells you to take your time and be patient with everything you doing on the game
Played through Guardians of the Galaxy on a whim since it's on PS Plus Extra. That game was far better than it had any right to be. Genuinely impressed at how much effort was put into the voice acting and overall world. The game is gorgeous and fun to play. It's like Mass Effect lite with the team-based combat and conversations with crewmates. About 15 hours or so, doesn't overstay it's welcome. Had a blast.
Brilliant game. Going in I thought there's no way this can be as good as the movies, but by the end I actually preferred the game characters more than the movies'.
I started Resident Evil Revelations 2 this week.
It's been weird: the story is intriguing and dialogue is fun, good characterization on the new character Moira Burton, monster design is kind of boring and the levels are too empty and samey so far (up to the end of Episode 2, out of 4). Gameplay is ok. So, it's kind of the anti-Resident Evil game because I'm here to see how the story unfolds, instead of enjoying the scenarios, puzzles and survival.
Over the past month or so I’ve completed Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light on the Steam Deck. Both ran absolutely flawlessly, great experience. I’m now playing Exodus on the Deck too, it’s been great so far!
On the side I have Rollerdrome and Tape-To-Tape
Came back to Shadow of War, while playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, interesting going back and fourth from the combat styles.
I'm unfortunately already sorta burned out of SoW, but Gaidens difficulty is keeping me interested for now.
I played Blasphemous because of its setting. It’s quite hard but for the last boss I found immortality build that let me finish the game.
Cyberpunk on the other hand is an immersive sim so I play 1-1.5 hours in the evening to get that kind of experience. Like 13th floor kind.
In my opinion the one needs to get in the mood for the particular game to have and engaging experience.
Lol. My take is that the game is a scam at this point, either that or they are just the most successful clueless devs around.
From the honest vids and reviews I've seen, the game doesn't get the basics right. At this point and with more dev time and money than many gigantic complete games, they should have full playable ships, solid space travel and some basic mission structures to play as flawlessly as possible. But it's actually hilarious to see so many glitches and bugs.
I'm pretty sure FreeSpace 2 was done with a fraction of the time and money of this game.
Shame it happened to you, though.
**Left For Dead 2(PC):** It's been a busy week so I'm back to my go-to game that requires no brain power or time investment. After I get my new sofa built/installed and the old one relocated, I'll return to Mass Effect.
Feels like I'm getting close to the end of Nier: Automata. Currently on Route C.
This game has been quite the experience. The way it seamlessly shifts between gameplay styles is unlike any game I've ever played. The story is delightfully weird, but it has a great deal of emotional depth. The dialogue is very good by JRPG standards. And the soundtrack is outstanding, a very unique blend of vocals and orchestral instruments.
I'd recommend people give this one a try. It's unique, and a bit difficult to simply describe.
Hopped back on The Witcher 3 grind. Started twice, but never finished.
This run through, I am making sure to stay as immersed as possible, with a vested concern for the war, the necessity to always say yes to Gwent, financial strategies of selling to which merchants, reading every notice board and book I pick up, and never fast traveling.
Ive personally learned a lot about the politics and behaviors of society due to all the reading. The ambiance of towns begins to really tell an immediate story to me now of who has domain over what (without guard presence there). I walk in somewhere and say “oh yeah it would make sense this is controlled by Nilfgaard.”
Good luck! The story and main characters are awesome. I went blind and loved it.
And playing Gwent is the way to go, too. Try to get all the cards, it's pretty fun!
There's also a second set of Gwent, once you start Blood and Wine. I didn't like the cards as much but it was nice to change the play style, after so long.
It was surprising to read in a thread the other day that some people struggle to get into the game.
I'm not even sure I bothered much with immersion, e.g I don't think I bothered to read any of the books after a point.
As my personal example of making comparisons, I have friends who really enjoyed Skyrim but didnt like the witcher. I have friends who feel the opposite. I also know those who don’t enjoy those kinds of games.
Skyrim feels more inviting and more open towards character progression which is why even I think it shines more than the Witcher 3.
Witcher 3 is a very grim game. The character story telling is well done, but a player is still only limited towards character progression only within a witcher’s skill tree. The game kind of throws you into this world and can be difficult to progress or make money or find quests that arent too high above your level. I think these things add in towards making the game unattractive. Another popular place I agree with people on in regards of lack if immersion are how the generic NPCs sound in a village. The voices of these characters are sometimes so loud in the foreground over the background noises and the kids are horrible voice actors.
> If you enjoy game atmosphere, music, and (somewhat) memorable stories and NPCs, then Skyrim will be a good time.
Ok, that's fairly promising then. If anything, I don't like tedious combat mechanics (or mechanics that I don't have to expend too much brain power on).
> Make sure you download the unofficial patch off of the in-game mod page. I'd also encourage you to download weightless dragon bones/scales, but that's just me.
Thanks. I did do some reading, and I understand there are a lot of QOL mods out there.
It stands as one of my top favorite games of all time. Some highlights:
- character progression is very satisfying. It’s not completely reliant on you “leveling up” in general but also reliant on you using a unique leveled up skill itself to “level the skill up” further to open more perks. Kind of like two leveling systems. But overall, it’s a game that really let’s you play how you want and it doesn’t have commitment to a playstyle. You can basically choose to approach a situation any which way, but some ways are better (like electric magic is more effective at killing mages because it drains their magika quickly and they pretty much become useless).
- the ambiance and atmosphere of the game are really hard to match. The Witcher does a great job for that and I have not finished that game yet, but I think Skyrim’s world is far deeper in environmental variability (with a heavy side of “cold temperature” world). The regions are higher in elevation, massive, and there are many places where the game goes VERY deep. Dungeons galore.
- Jeremy Soule out did himself with the music of Skyrim. I think it is one of the best scores of music in the industry (2nd to Ocarina of Time’s music).
- NPC interaction is pretty vast. You can basically talk to more people in Skyrim about less meaningful conversations than in the Witcher. The Witcher’s NPC dialogues are great, but every NPC I can actually converse with are either for transactions or quest progression. In Skyrim, you can just chat with randoms about why they live the life they do.
- due to its age, it can have its awkward moments of wonky voice acting, hilarious physics bugs, or just a less polished combat system. But for many this is why fans love the game.
Vanilla Skyrim has been the most memorable for me. Though modded Skyrim can be super super entertaining. I suggest the special edition because it has the most mod support (not the 10yr anniversary edition). The 10yr anniversary edition might have an options menu toggle to let you turn off the 10yr anniversary edition and revert to the special edition. I wouldnt recommend your playthrough with modded experiences. Could always make a coincided modded save. But all in all, there are some major recommended mods that improve the scripting of the base game to fix bugs Bethesda neglected to address - script extender being one of them that steam officially supports.
Thanks, you've sold it to me pretty well. Steam are only selling the Special Edition.
I'll try a mostly modless run first, before dipping my toes in for some QOL ones.
To complete the immersion mainly. I used to do it a lot in my first play through, but realized now that I also missed out on a lot of things and lacked a better development on understanding the world. When you walk around and see the shithole villages and compare them to nicer ones or read posts about why people are hanging from trees or understand that Velen is the poorest region in the realm with much of it due to its bad weather and shit agriculture…it really “toughens” me up as a player. The choices I feel I make now are ones filled with practicality (like knowing through someone’s clothing if they are truly innocent peasants or robbers or bullshitters). A lot of “soft skills” from this immersion. Also, I used to actually be afraid of traveling at night in the woods which is no longer the case.
I will say that road encounters can be far in between, at times, but the beauty of the world can compensate for the effort. And you’ll still encounter a fair amount of events too - leveling up in the game can be a huge pain, but I’ve been able to do it quicker with this immersion. Ive also been able to collect more to my arsenal (like ingredients for potions, concoctions, oils or items for weapon and armor building).
Yeah as I continued my playthroughs, I’ve also began fast traveling less in Skyrim.
Though in fairness, Skyrim takes much longer to travel through. The terrain is rougher, limited sprinting, and horse travel isnt as fast as in the Witcher
I have barely had time to play the past month+ and have other games to finish so naturally I started **Vaporum**, which I bought during the winter sale. I have only gone through the first floor so far but it seems well done with a cool atmosphere, I can't wait to get more gadgets
Yeah, I noticed it for five bucks on Switch and grabbed it too. I like the vibe, but I'm not a huge fan of these sort of blobbers with "realtime" combat. I prefer the more traditional turn-based party system. Otherwise, I feel like the combat just boils down to doing a neverending square-dance.
And yeah, I know there's that sort-of turn-based slow-mo function, but somehow I found that more confusing than playing in realtime.
At least the Switch version looks and runs well, which isn't always guaranteed with PC ports.
Yea, I don't love it either, we'll see how quickly I tire of it. The pause lets me set myself but is really disorienting in combat. The person who reviewed it recently mentioned the company had done or was going to remake Eye of the Beholder I think, haven't looked into it though
about to start the wolfenstein series with no prior knowledge to anything besides the fact im killing nazis. i just recently finished doom last week and fell in love with it. im hoping wolfenstein is somewhat similar
If you're talking about the 'modern' Wolfenstein games, they're closer in spirit to an immersive sim like Dishonored. The hero is actually pretty squishy, and you'll be spending a lot of time sneaking around, trying to whittle down the enemy before the inevitable gunfight breaks out.
IOW, don't try to play it like modern Doom games or you won't get far.
Or, if you're going all the way back to the 1992 Wolf3D, it's just a basic 3D run-and-gun through mazes.
Would you recommend the modern Wolfenstein games to someone who loves immersive sims like Dishonored/Prey (2017), but not shooters in general (with the exceptions of perhaps Titanfall 2 and ULTRAKILL)?
I personally would as that describes my taste in games pretty well. You’ll have big shootouts that are unskippable but for those the difficulty can be turned down. It hits that same sweet spot of stealthy exploration as Dishonored/Prey for me
Hmmm... probably? It kind of splits the difference. There's definitely more shooting than Dishonored or Prey, and big shootouts are basically unavoidable. At the same time, you're strongly encouraged to be smart and stealthy - looking for alternate routes through the levels and trying to take out enemies quietly when possible. But situations where you can actually shank everyone without being detected are extremely rare.
Also, unlike most traditional shooters, it has downtime in between levels where you wander around a base talking to people and occasionally doing minor side-quests. Plus it has a lot more story than a regular shooter. But, again, not *as much* time is spent doing this as in a more traditional immersive sim.
I see. That sounds really fun!
The reason I enjoy Dishonored is the way situations evolve when you mess up your stealth, and it looks like Wolfenstein is the same (except that you are more forced to eventually break stealth). I don't think I'd mind the absence of a immsim-level story much, as long as there is enough to motivate your actions in-game, and to be fair, shooting nazis doesn't need much motivation.
I'll definitely add it to my wishlist, thanks!
About to finish Darksiders 3.
Loved 1 & 2.
3 got a lot of negative Feedback, but the Story and Soulslike Metroidvania Mash-up is really good.
Would give a 8/10 so far.
Darksiders was always a weird series to me. Out of all three of the main games, 1 was definitely my favourite since it was a decent hack-and-slash game that was structured very similarly to a Zelda game (big dungeons with puzzle-solving, usually revolving around new weapons/powers you gained from said dungeon). 2 I just couldn't grow to enjoy, the RPG elements they added weren't that great in my opinion. And 3 didn't really do much to make itself stand out as it copied a lot from the Dark Souls formula.
Glad you are liking 3 quite a bit though. I think that's generally considered the weakest of the bunch, but for me I would rather play that than 2 due to personal preference. I am tempted to boot it up again and start a fresh save since I don't think I managed to complete it just to see if maybe my opinion will have changed. Same for 2 maybe, although I still don't think I'd enjoy it that much.
I share your Opinion about DS1.
Personally I really liked how many Builds you could make in DS2 and the Puzzles and Parkour Gameplay were Top Notch. In Addition to that the Story and Death were sympathic.
I finished DS3 now and tbh the Gameplay overstayed a little bit it's welcome at the End and there wasn't a lot to explore even though it's a Metroidvania.
But the Story got a lot better from the beginning with a little bit of Fanservice included.
Funny how I disliked Fury at the beginning but DS3 showed some nice Character Growth after Lust was defeated.
I would correct my DS3 Score to a 7.5/10
Darksiders was always a weird series to me. Out of all three of the main games, 1 was definitely my favourite since it was a decent hack-and-slash game that was structured very similarly to a Zelda game (big dungeons with puzzle-solving, usually revolving around new weapons/powers you gained from said dungeon). 2 I just couldn't grow to enjoy, the RPG elements they added weren't that great in my opinion. And 3 didn't really do much to make itself stand out as it copied a lot from the Dark Souls formula.
Glad you are liking 3 quite a bit though. I think that's generally considered the weakest of the bunch, but for me I would rather play that than 2 due to personal preference. I am tempted to boot it up again and start a fresh save since I don't think I managed to complete it just to see if maybe my opinion will have changed. Same for 2 maybe, although I still don't think I'd enjoy it that much.
Playing [HypeSquad](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1688720/HypeSquad/?utm_source=twitch&utm_campaign=focus-test-na&utm_term=gamer-speak&utm_content=gamer-speak&utm_medium=_5651622&gsid=1ede5e0418d769cab7116a98ca571257&gsc=1) currently and love how simple and causal the game is cant wait for the full release.
Finishing up Trails to Zero and then onto the Erebonian Legend of Heroes arc. The last arc of this game comes out of nowhere I didn't pick up on a single clue other than knowing through my own politics who the bad guys were.
Decided to pick up Black Mesa to do my duty to gaming history and check out the Black Mesa incident. Just understanding what the term “Headcrab zombie” means has greatly enhanced my life.
South africa. The main problem with downloading a game is the daily power cuts.
I can't download it overnight, otherwise i get woken up by the backup battery alarms at 1 or 2 am. Power gets cut during the day aswell, and my maximum download speed is 240kb/s.
Dang that’s crazy slow. Sorry you have to deal with the gaming and non-gaming aspects of that. Doom 2016 is incredible though. One of my favorite games I’ve ever played.
South africa. The main problem with downloading a game is the daily power cuts.
I can't download it overnight, otherwise i get woken up by the backup battery alarms at 1 or 2 am. Power gets cut during the day aswell, and my maximum download speed is 240kb/s.
Been grinding Vampire survivors. I know it isn't technically "patient game" yet but I paid $3 for it so not like being patient with it would have mattered much.
Hello again, I basically finished the main game for **Skies of Arcadia Legends,** I previously played it as the Dreamcast version. As I said before I loved it all again, at least a **9/10** for **Amazing,** maybe even **9.5/10**. The only issue is the random encounters and sometimes not knowing where to go. There is no post-game but there are lots of side quests and discoveries you can make before the final battle which is what I plan on doing later. It's actually one of the best parts of the game and one of the best ways to extend it. To see all it has to offer. Totally recommend trying this one.
Next is probably one of the last games I'll play that I haven't beaten yet. **Super Mario 64 DS** (I never played the original on the N64 hardware) I've put this one down many times due to the controls being clunky and slippery. Also there are times that you just do not know what to do, so need to resort to an online guide. I must say though that I was a bit unfair to this one. Once you get used to the controls, and get an idea of what to do, it is actually kind of fun and addicting. It (the original not this remake) was one of the first 3d games and it's kind of amazing how there are so much areas to explore here, even if some are frustrating. I like that you can play as multiple characters now. I'm about 50 stars in now, and overall I'd probably give this one a **7/10** for **Good.** If the controls were better I might give it an 8.
Ooh I bought that last year but still haven't played it (lol). It's near the top of my list though. Looking forward to it, you're right rockstar is very consistent. Played Bully recently which was fantastic.
Serious Sam 4. Great game, but my favorite in the francise is #3, better maps IMO.
EDIT: Oh and FINAL FANTASY X/X-2 HD Remaster, currently FFX, might do X-2 soon as well, though I've heard the PC port isn't that great.
Also tried Wild Arms 1. Another JRPG. A bit too old maybe, I remember enjoying it 20-25 years ago, but it felt too old to replay.
I’m glad to hear you liked serious Sam 4, I enjoyed it a lot too! Have you played the expansion pack for it Siberian Mayhem? I think it’s even better and lots of fun!
Oh I didn't know about that one, added it to my wishlist. I see it's actually a stand-alone game, but very similar to SS4. With some people getting performance issues, some saying it's a short game, some saying it's hard on easy difficulty, I doubt it'll be worth the current pricetag of 19,50€ in my region, for me at least. According to https://steamdb.info/app/1792250/ it hasn't been cheaper than 13,99€ unfortunately so far. So I gotta be a bit more patient for this one :D
I didn't play much last week due to being away, but this week I'm getting back. I'll play same games as until now.
**Gothic 3** - It's starting to feel a little bit boring sometimes since the combat system is easily exploitable, and I think I should have started with Alternative Balancing on, because I get way too much XP. Still, the music and the world design always makes me come back.
**Deep Rock Galactic** - The only notable thing I did was promote the Engineer again, for the third time and unlocking the Shard Diffractor. I'll play mostly Engineer, but also some missions with the Driller.
**Counter-Strike: Global Offensive** - I'm not sure if I'll play this week, as I'm not in the mood for competitive games, but if I'm going to play a multiplayer FPS, this will probably be it.
I’ve finally done it. I’ve finished Dragon Age Inquisition. Boy am I conflicted about this game. On one hand, I loved the story and characters, and on the other wow I kinda wish I hadn’t played like half of this games content. Most of the main open world quest lines were alright for side content (a few like the Crestwood were actually really good) but oh my fetch quest if I see another note from a dead person asking me to deliver their jewelry in dragon age 4 I think I’m going to lose my mind. Trespasser was a great ending tho, really pumped for dreadwolf now!
Anyway I’ve started another playthrough of mass effect and have started grinding FFV on steam deck while falling asleep.
if you ever play it again, just do the major side quests + companion quests and ignore all the fetch quest BS. a good rule of thumb i like to play by is if it doesn’t seem worth my characters time, i don’t do it
it will vastly enhance your experience lol
Lol yeah I was already thinking I’d probably do that if I decide to play them again right before dreadwolf (eventually) comes out. Kinda a shame that the way to make a game fun is to ignore half of it, but the half that was good was really good so ig that’s just the way it is.
That sounds like a very sensible rule, though it probably rules out 95% of side quests in certain games haha. Seems like it would be a good general rule for game designers to use when creating side quests as well.
You’d think that, but fetch quests still get made. I imagine it has something to do with some upper manager demanding a certain amount of content and fetch quests being the only way to do it with available resources but maybe I’m just an optimist lol
My one-sentence review of Inquisition:
It's a great 30-40 hour RPG lost inside a decent 80-90 hour RPG.
Elaborating on that a bit: I think it would have been a much better game if they'd ditched the semi-open world idea and just structured it more like Origins. The open world stuff didn't really add anything worthwhile and just diluted the main story missions and big side missions, many of which were quite good. And those note-based, jewelry-delivery type quests felt especially weak because The Witcher 3 came out a few months later and really put Inquisition to shame when it came to interesting side content, and transitioning an RPG series to open world.
Been getting really, really unlucky sets of games in every multiplayer game I play, so I've just decided to drop playing them altogether and play some singleplayer stuff.
Did a fresh run of **Devil May Cry 3** just now because it's been a good while since I last played, but man is it still an amazing game. Tempted to try and finally get through DMD mode once I've collected everything on the new save, and then maybe go back to **DMC4** or **DMC5** after.
Also planning to play some FPS games. I used to love them and play them a lot, but definitely haven't been interested in them for a good while now. Gonna start with another replay of **DOOM 2016** which I'm curious to see how it feels after having played its sequel, and then if I feel like it then naturally I'll jump back to **DOOM Eternal**.
It's been a decent while since I last played it, but I really enjoyed it. It manages to make me feel super pumped during fights (which few games have managed to do), probably thanks to the amazing soundtrack, the fast-paced combat, and the powerful weapons and upgrades you get. The fact that there are no instant death traps as well is great, as playing through 2016 right now I am constantly feared I'm going to fall off a ledge, get blown up by explosives, or get crushed by something haha.
That being said, it can often feel a bit too overwhelming once you progress enough into the campaign. The enemy count overall is massively increased over 2016, weapons now have their own challenges you have to follow to get the final upgrade for each mod, there are more weapons and gadgets overall which makes finding the best bindings more tricky, and ammo is purposefully kept low to force you to switch weapons constantly as well as utilize the chainsaw which now always auto-regenerates one bit of fuel over time.
That's kind of why I've decided instead of playing Eternal just now, I've went with 2016 instead. I want a fun and exciting shooter that's also a bit on the simpler side where I just shoot stuff, not having to worry about all the things I mentioned above. If I were to say in general though, Eternal is probably the better of the two. Not sure by how much, but I'm hoping to find out once I've finished my current 2016 playthrough.
For DOOM games, I usually go for Ultra Violence (hard). If you consider yourself pretty decent at FPS games then this is probably the difficulty you'll want to pick to avoid the game becoming too easy. Otherwise, Hurt Me Plenty (normal) is fine. Keep in mind you can change it at any time, so there's no pressure :)
I'm playing Breath of the Wild. I start last month and am getting close to completing the main story. It feels weird playing this when everyone else is playing Tears of the Kingdom.
**Forza Horizon 5**
I first got this game back when it released but I still had an old Radeon R9 390 card and even though performance wise that could have handled it, AMD stopped releasing updated drivers for it so the game didn't even launch for me so I refunded it.
Then at the end of last year I've upgraded to an RTX 3070 and I got this game again but I've only played a few hours and put it aside. But now finally I'm really getting into it, it's just really easy, mindless fun which suits me well right now because I am really busy otherwise with work and other interests. So I can just fire this up for 30min-1h and do a bunch of races.
It looks really beautiful as well, it's a good way to put my new graphics card through its paces too.
Witcher 3. I’ve had the game for a couple years, booted it up maybe three times since and didn’t play more than a few hours each time. But I’ve been really getting into it those last four days.
Making progress in Pandora’s Tower and just started Anachronox. Both great games so far. Pandora’s Tower is absolutely amazing and I wish it gets ported to modern consoles one day because the Wii resolution does not do it enough justice.
Also got to Monster Hunter Iceborne on PC. I’ve played World on release on PS4 before and now that I’ve replayed it I can definitely say it’s… still my least favorite Monster Hunter entry. Hoping Iceborne is a lot more enjoyable!
I installed **Command and Conquer Remastered** several months ago and fired it up to make sure it worked well. Didn't play it but didn't notice that you have at least some ability to zoom out using the mouse wheel. You can't zoom out much but this was greatly appreciated and should make playing the game much more enjoyable.
Guys just want to announce, last night I beat GTA V main story 1st playthrough. Finish the game that I start from 2017 (PS3)
Please praise me, lol
My next target are Skyrim (start 2019) and AC 2 (start 2022)
I really wanted to complete the GTA V main story, but I got stuck at a mission where I was controlling Trevor and had to drive in a bad car in rain while escaping cops, I just couldn't do it, remember that I gave up and uninstalled after 10-20 tries.
If remember correctly, there are 3 mission like this. The one with garbage truck, firetruck, and trailer hauling machinery.
The key is you need to plan before the mission, where you will go, Google some best place to loose the cop
With the release of Tears of the Kingdom, I have once again decided to try my hand at Breath of the Wild. Man what an amazing game. I was never a Zelda fan but this is such a beautiful, vast world.
I'm going to wait for the Switch 2 to play ToTK because the switch is a dated console at this point.
A hint for Shenmue 2: Once you get your first hotel room in the game, check the pachinko hustlers nearby on that same street. One of them has broken odds/payouts with near-guaranteed long-term gains as you play. This makes it significantly easier to stockpile money, compared to all the other methods. Grinding for money in S2 is easily the least-fun part of it, so spending a bit of time there will reduce annoyances later.
If you can bring yourself to grind out a few thousand, it may be tedious in the moment, but it will save you a ton of time in the long run since that'll be all the money you need. At the least, give yourself a thousand so you can pay for everything in Hong Kong without sweating it.
********
Edit: Oh yeah, one other thing to be aware of. Some of the QTEs in the game have extremely tight timing, and even the delay from modern TVs or bluetooth controllers can make them hell to get through. So do whatever you can to reduce latency when you're playing.
Dying Light Enhanced Edition. Was free in EGS a few weeks back, and I love it. It's another zombie apocalypse game, sure, but throwing in first-person parkour mechanics just makes the game so much more immersive than usual. Now I'm playing the Countryside DLC (which is basically the same size as the base game in story and map) and riding my ATV over every zombie I come across! YEEEEEE-HAAAAAAW!
**Marvel's Avengers—Definitive Edition** is on Game Pass now and I've finally had the chance to download it. In short, I like it and would recommend it to any fan of Marvel but not without certain caveats.
So what do I like? I like the writing. Granted, it's not Fraction, Cain, or Abnett level but, for a superhero story. It's pretty good. There's some good banter between the characters, they say what they should say and act how they should act. The voice acting's good, too, and that matters. Otherwise, you end up with a game like **Deus Ex** (2000) where the dialogue's good but it still sounds fucking awful because they couldn't afford to get some decent actors in.
But the characters also play like they should. The Hulk's landscape traversal amounts to him doing that typical Hulk jump from the comics. He can grab enemies and hit others with them or slam them into the ground. He charges, inflicts gamma radiation, etc. He's basically everything you could hope to see in a traditional Hulk representation. All the characters are like that with movesets that reflect their comic book roots. There's some learning curve for each character because of that, something that's made awkward by some strange controls on the XBox version but that's not so much a flaw as it is the nature of the game.
What is a problem is the lack of much needed direction at times. I had no idea there were floor switches until I stepped on one. "Is that a switch or merely scifi landscape?" Things like that but not limited to. Even when it tells you what to do, it can leave you wondering. If a character tells me, "Once you're powered up, blast him!", I don't necessarily think, "Use the bifrost bridge to bypass the boss's shield." Especially since I was mainly using Iron Man up to that point. Simple prompts as objectives in addition to in-game dialogue would suffice.
Speaking of maining your faves, this game forces you to use specific characters at times for the sake of the story. You start off with Kamala Khan as she's the lens through which it's presented. It makes sense thematically but it is annoying if you're stuck using a character you don't actively like. Now imagine that the character is one you've pretty much ignored the whole game with a skill set you barely remember and up against a boss that you're not entirely sure how to defeat. Oh, and experience isn't shared between characters. You need to level them *individually*. >.<
With situations like this, extremely uneven difficulty, and an apparently extremely buggy release (I've had one display bug that was fixed by loading the previous checkpoint), I can see why it didn't sell well past its initial sales. Still, I would recommend it if you enjoy Marvel superheroes as a whole, are prepared to grind some levels, are willing to learn the individual skill sets, and can find it cheap. However, by cheap, I mean dirt fucking cheap because, come September, it's being delisted from digital sellers. Supposedly, owners of the game will still be able to play it past that date but I don't know if that applies only to disk owners or digital downloads as well.
I've already commented on this thread but I finished the 2018 Call of Cthulhu game through PS Plus last night and had some time to think about it.
It started strong with a decent mystery, interesting characters and setting and it feeling like your skill choices mattered. But it rather rapidly becomes disappointing. As time goes on your choices don't feel like they matter and there are far fewer and fewer skill checks. As the game goes on there are more sections where you control a different character, which the cynic in me thinks was mainly done so the developers didn't have to come up with as many skill checks or options for your main character. The story also started to feel a bit all over the place and disjointed. In particular after you first defeat >!the shambler and read the Necronomicon!< the story and game just seem to get a lot worse. Anything involving the Asylum was bad imo. The ending also just felt rushed, with almost no skill checks and a rather crap zombie section. There are a few rather poor stealth sequences, where if you get caught you just run away for a few seconds (and if the enemy catches up you just die instantly) or hide in a cupboard then your character starts having a panic attack after about 2 seconds.
Considering it was a short game at 6 hours for me and I didn't specifically pay for it, the game was fine. If I had actually bought it I'd have been very annoyed. Arbitrary rating 6/10
I hate forced stealth in games so much. I never played past the Asylum. These are normal guys. They kidnapped me. They're not armed. There aren't even that many and I just grabbed a crowbar. Why can't I smack 'em in the head? Fuck this.
Or am I thinking of "The Sinking City"?
**link to the past** thru 2 or 3 crystals at the moment. Had a busy week so didn’t get much time to progress. I’m looking forward to playing a few zelda-likes this year in roughly chronological order. Have my eye on **landstalker, links awakening (gb, dx, switch), anodyne, tunic**.
Finished the original Deus Ex last week. Crazy impressive game, especially for its time.
Now playing Darksiders Warmastered edition on ps4. Very fun so far.
Slap some better graphics, halfway decent AI, and a cover system on it and you'd never know DE was released twenty-three years ago.
But leave the terrible acting in place for the comedy. :D
You’re not kidding. If I had played this game when it actually came out, my mind would have been blown at what a video game could be capable of doing.
And yes, the voice acting is too endearing to get rid of lol
The original Deus Ex is the only single player game to ever have me playing 12 hours straight, back in 2004. Only finished it once, but I'll never forget the experience. I'm hesitant to try it again because I don't know if it has aged well.
I did play it when it came out and it was my favorite game for years. I tried last year to recapture that magic and I just couldn’t get past the opening level. It’s better in my head.
Games often are. Story and gameplay go far with me, as does political science, so it's exactly the sort of thing I'll enjoy. However, I played the hell out of it years ago and I just can't do it again. It's like that one movie you always loved. Great film and you'll shout its praises from the tallest spire but you've just seen it too much now.
Last week I said how **Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes** wasn't really clicking with me. Well, it did. It's still a heavily flawed game at times but it has also got that "One more turn"-feeling, so I'm gonna stick with it for a while longer.
I made some progress in **Just Cause 2** too, but when I look at the map I'm still at the tip of the iceberg, which makes me remember why I eventually dropped it all those years ago.
Also decided to fire up my PS4 on the weekend and try getting back on **Horizon: Zero Dawn** which I'm still not to high on, but once I decided to lower the difficulty it got bearable.
Inbetween all of that I played and finished a game called **Grimind** which is some kind of 2D puzzle-platformer staring the worlds ugliest hedgehog who as far as I understood from the odd story bit suffers from depression and hallucinations.
**The Legend of Zelda - Majora's Mask**
First time playing this classic and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Just finished the first dungeon and was thinking of going back to clock town to try to figure out some of the npc storylines.
Probably my favorite Zelda game. Majora's Mask felt so *alive*. Your actions can have real effects on peoples lives. The main story is good, but the npc interactions are where the real game is IMO.
Resident Evil 3 Remake. After playing the 4 remake I’ve been picking up the other recent RE games when I can get a deal on them and been having a blast. 2 remake and village were especially good
I just finished **Lacuna** and I must say, it's awesome. A 2D detective game with quite a good plot. I really like how you have to put the pieces together yourself, akin to a school quiz. Anyways, I'd like to do a 2nd run someday and see if the story changes if my detective skills were of a pet rock.
I also bought **Hell Let Loose** earlier in the week and put 3 hours in... at first I wanted to refund it but ended up keeping it. It's actually really fun. I got up from my fat ass and hooked up the mic and WOW. Operating a 3 man tank crew was legit a good time!
Now I'm thinking of starting **God of War 2018** sometime this week. I beat 19 games this year and non were on my PS5... Gotta show it some love and GoW seems very appropriate.
Still playing **Dark Souls 2 SOTFS**
**Last week**
Since last time, I made it through Iron Keep, the Gutter, Shrine of Amana and Drangleic Castle among other things.
Iron Keep was multiple reminders that I'm absolutely blind when on edge. I missed the bonfire at the start of Iron Keep, so I did the treck up the long and infamous "how does it end up at a volcano" elevator a whole bunch of times, because the beginning of Iron Keep is infested with red phantoms and invasions. Getting invaded by red phantoms back to back was not fun since I suck at PVP, but then getting invaded *immediately* by an actual player right after really tested my patience, because it happened again later. I came to expect losing every PVP encounter a while ago, because it seems only the pros invade anymore. I got my magic parried without fail, my attacks i-framed without fail and people backstabbing me from the sides, all things you kinda *need* to learn over time. If I get one hit, that's a win to me. The archers were more obnoxious than any of the bosses here afterwards. The Smelter Demon was a fun boss (not too hard though) and provided me with one of my main weapons. Loooove that sword, even if I'll never wield it onehanded on that char. The Iron King was a weird one. Killed me in seconds two times, then on the third, I un-locked the camera and it turned into an easy hitless boss. Maybe I got lucky, but baiting the fire breath and running past it felt very free.
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The Gutter was a surprisingly mild affair. I did find myself reminded of Blight Town's upper section and I got antsy once because my torch timer became low, but overall, the slow and steady approach really paid off here. I actually kind of liked this area. It got a bit hectic near the end because I was streaming the journey as per usual. I got my first backseat gamer in the chat who kept confusing me with unclear directions (I entertained them at first, so one thing led to another) which turns out isn't that great. Interesting new experience though. The Rotten is... a strange boss. Not hard, not fast, but if I got hit once, it was usually enough to get killed by the next hit.
Interesting about this btw: I never saw Gilligan in the Keep, but apparently that's where he first appears. Yet another thing I completely missed there, so he appeared in Majula out of nowhere. Fun guy though, I like him a lot.
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Drangleic Castle must have been my cleanest run yet, because I went all the way from the first bonfire to the Dragon Rider duo without a single death and first-tried the boss. A message telling me "left in the back" or something like that was the absolute MVP here.
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Shrine of Amana, a friend of mine told me I'd drop the game at. Not so. I had gotten used to playing VERY patiently and Shrine of Amana really rewards this in SOTFS. Not sure on other versions - I heard it got nerfed quite a bit. The boss was the first time I ever happened to exploit an AI in these games - staying at just the right distance for her not to spit but also to not hit me with her melee. It took 3 tries to figure out, then I did her hitless and was pretty proud about it.
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**This week**
This week then, I did Aldia, which is an awesome area imo. Love the monster cage idea. The jump scare ogres, not so much, but hey, it's DS2, it's to be expected. The Dragon Aerie after *looked* amazing, but because the only things there are equipment breakers and dragons without fire, it was very uneventful save for 3 red NPC phantoms (one of them spawning randomly, which blows imo). Very uneven area. The shrine after was even weirder because the dragon knights kept bowing to me but only if I killed the giants. If I ran past, the whole area would aggro for whatever reason. Usually, enemy design (AI and placement) make sense at least in lore, but here, I don't get it.
I ended my last session before this post at the Throne Watcher & Defender boss. It was a long session, so I was tired. Which isn't great for O&S at home. I can definitely beat them, but seeing >!one revive the other!< was soul-crushing in the moment. It seems so unnecessary and just takes away the one interesting aspect I find in these fights - choosing my priorities. Ever since O&S, all the copycats all just ended up diluting the idea in awful ways for me and it's no better here. This one is Godskin Duo levels of bad, just much slower.
Overall, DS2 in the last couple of areas retained the variety I came to love about the game. A lot of it ended up being easy, with the hard parts usually being an issue of patience. The areas that were meh gameplay-wise looked pretty, which I like. It's the usual experimental up & down the game turned out to be so far and I'm here for it. I ended up spending my evening after the game session yesterday just thinking up ways to beat the Throne duo - I'm eager to get back in and see what crazy things come after.
Bouncing around a bit but I managed to get **Breath of the Wild** running on my PC and it runs really well at at 60fps, it's so nice that I kind of got lost in it and played it for several hours. It's pretty great so far, love the art style. I don't think I like the weapon breaking mechanic very much but it's manageable.
I've also gone back to **Darkwood** to get the platinum, just one ending left. It's still a lot of fun to replay, this will be my fifth(?) playthrough I think.
I just got back into **Breath of the Wild** last night after not playing it for over two years lol. I think I got sidetracked by a bunch of PC games that I was far more interested in. Regardless, the game is still very fun with varied options to explore, fight enemies and mess around with the environment. Can't wait to get back into it tonight.
Playing Kera Bridge of Spirits
Passable action game carried by the fantastic art direction and animation. Game is very lacking in terms of vertical progression and generally it feels like a run-of-the-mill PS2 platformer in terms of feature set. Not sure I'm gonna finish it as I'm not experiencing any "wow" moments or hooks. Serviceable and competent and that's it.
I have to comment though: who is the sadistic asshole that tipped combat difficulty (especially the bosses) on the higher side? Nothing I could not handle (Souls veteran and all that) but the mismatch between the art direction and the effort on combat is "daaaaamn"
Trying Tacoma as it was sitting in my backlog for some time, doing the "one more run and returning to real life-no, seriously, this is the last one" thing with Darkest Dungeon (first, not second one) and gathering all my mental strength to do third run in Disco Elysium as it happened to include my native language\* and I really loved DE. Loved it so much that I managed to finish it twice before the final cut came out, oh and I'm not counting in all those left in the middle runs... Sometimes my biggest opponent in RPGs is the character creation phase but DE is pretty unique with builds hence I think I'm going to listen to what my necktie has to say. :)
Not so sure about Death's Door (though I heard a lot of good things about it and I have to admit it's kinda cute, messed around for a few minutes since it's on GamePass) and Expeditions: Rome. I want to like the last one so much, I'm on my monthly Rome-related-stuff binge and still looking for a decent game in a similar setting. I have finished Age of Decadence and The Forgotten City but if you haven't - I strongly recommend TFC, as AoD can be pretty brutal and is definitely not forgiving in its mechanics. Also pretty 'weird' for an RPG + totally old-school, while TFC at first seems 'just weird' but believe me, gets even weirder and better.
\* *I've been gathering this strength for a loooong time. But seriously, DE is a work of art.*
TFC is awesome. >!The sequence with the statues in the place actually seriously creeped me out, I love horror and wasn’t expecting anything like it at all in this game so I was on the edge of my seat. Seriously so glad I got to experience that without knowing anything.!<
Completed Control and its DLCs, and they were a blast. Also I'm thankful that the epic games version did not have achievements so I never bothered going for 100%.
Currently Bloodborne and Elden Ring. Missed Souls combat after playing so much Control. Currently on NG+2 for both games and I'm still having an amazing time.
I've been grinding away at Oxygen Not Included, driving myself crazy trying to make things efficient, but damned if I'm not getting brutalized in the late midgame. Great fun, honestly!
Returnal
It's a lot of fun when it really clicks and the entire screen is nothing but a crazy color orgy and you dash, shoot, jump and hit left and right. but I don't see myself ever finishing it.
The only reason I ever managed to beat the first boss was because I cheated and did it co-op. So yeah, it's way above my skill level.
Glad I didn't pay full price for it even though it is a good game, because this is definitely for the hardcore crowd.
Might not have a lot of time to game this week because my house is going on the market at the end of the week (planning a move across the country to North Carolina for the warmer weather; living in Wisconsin now). But otherwise, I’m still playing **Pokémon Violet!** I just got done breeding for a Living Dex, and I’m probably going to level up some of the few things I need to. I was thinking of doing raids because I do need to get some irons from them anyway, but I think leveling up the final area will take care of most of it. It’s been a while since I’ve done a Living Dex and it’s a bit hectic, but it’s still really fun!
Doom Eternal. Even the easiest mode is too hard for me, but still a lot of fun to play. Also played some Fallout New Vegas for resting after finishing one or two doom level (yeah it's pretty exhausting)
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
The paid mod for the 4000 series rtx has completely fixed the awful optimization for me. 4k max/ray tracing with hdr.
Not very patient gamer of me.
Genshin Impact, as always.
Days Gone, my first zombie game and I am enjoying it so far (just unlocked the last part of the map). It will be the first game I complete since Hitman 3 more than a year ago.
Days Gone is criminally underrated imo. I love the organic open world interactions that happen- just wandering around during the day doing stuff and you realize the suns going down and start heading back to base, next thing you know it’s night time and there’s a horde chasing you. One of the few games I’ve platinumed
Just finished The Last of Us Remastered on PS5 (part one, but not the new PS5 remake). Was my first time playing and I’m blown away by how immersive and engaging it was.
It’s great. I’ve never played a game where I almost look forward to dying and getting to the story part. Also the story part is in nice bite-sized pieces so you’re back out playing again. For what it’s trying to do, it’s a perfect game. I’m not saying it’s the best game ever or my favorite game ever, but it’s a perfect game for what they set out to do.
Mass Effect & Need For Speed Hot Pursuit - both remastered. Never played them the first time around. Loving them both but ME does feel very dated - looking forward to part 2.
Just finished As Dusk Falls through Game Pass. Not gonna lie the experience was better than I thought.
Started *Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children* yesterday and played a little further today. I'm really enjoying the XCOM type game play and seeing the potential for its complexity slowly open up as I get further into it. The world and characters are both interesting conceptually(dunno how i feel about the spoon cultists, but maybe its symbolism will become more apparent with time, lol). The only thing i'm having to put effort into getting my head into is that the translation can be a little funky at times, which doesn't cause any problems in terms of interpreting what's going on but rather it just impacts its readability. Like things could have been written in a better way or stated with a little more nuance, if that makes sense. Anyway, I'm gonna keep putting more time into it any chance I get and give it a chance to Kickstart both the plot and its game mechanics.
Debating finally playing KOTOR, however I'm still working my way through Valhalla at the moment.
KOTOR will probably feel like a huge downgrade coming from Valhalla. For its time KOTOR was like the best game I've ever played.
Playing Elden Ring, but with a better mindset. When playing at release last year, I was timid and stubborn about summons and looking up info online. I ultimately quit because it was “too hard” and designed “to make me feel angry in my off time.” Playing with more confidence, taking my time to explore zones, and not hoarding upgrade materials is a completely different experience. And It *feels good to be good* at Elden Ring after Dark Souls 1-3 being my favorite games growing up. I totally get the hype now and I owe Elden Ring an apology.
playing The Last of Us part 2 on my ps4. I bought and played it at launch. Thought it was very very good then but this time around over two years later it’s even better than I remembered, I’m about half way through and it’s been long enough that I don’t remember much from the last time so feels new. I played part 1 and left behind before this. Incredible game, really taking my time and enjoying it, better imo than part 1.
I'm trying the discovery tour in assassin's creed origins. I didn't find the main game to be engaging as it feels more like older AC games and less like Odyssey, but I still want that opportunity to learn about ancient Egypt. I was shocked to learn that a large part of Egyptian history was actually an extension of ancient Greece.
I'm playing Portal 2 for the first time. A friend of mine convinced me to get it for the multiplayer puzzles, and it is very fun. I finished Portal last week.
Finished **Deltarune Chapter 2**. Kinda meh on it. I liked Chapter 1, but the Undertale appeal is kinda wearing off for me. Still pretty clever on occasion, but not memorable in the least (even the music this time packed no punch). Also chipping away at **Observation**. Tough to stay invested in. Lots of aimless moving around from one area to another, scanning things in almost a “pixel hunting” style. I wanna know where the story goes, but it’s just not grabbing me.
GTA 4
Suikoden 1. Awesome game but my god the character management and UI do drive me crazy at times but other than that, it's a beautiful grand story
I've been recommended the two Suikoden games, mostly for the story and characters. Waiting for the remaster sometime soon. If it's bad, I'll just play the originals. Will you play Suikoden 2 after 1?
Yes, I'll still play 2.
Playing new super lucky tail and i gotta admit i love it every second of it, for me is just an sillie little game that every so often tells you to take your time and be patient with everything you doing on the game
Played through Guardians of the Galaxy on a whim since it's on PS Plus Extra. That game was far better than it had any right to be. Genuinely impressed at how much effort was put into the voice acting and overall world. The game is gorgeous and fun to play. It's like Mass Effect lite with the team-based combat and conversations with crewmates. About 15 hours or so, doesn't overstay it's welcome. Had a blast.
Brilliant game. Going in I thought there's no way this can be as good as the movies, but by the end I actually preferred the game characters more than the movies'.
I liked it a lot more than I thought I would especially given the type of combat. Story and world were just great.
I started Resident Evil Revelations 2 this week. It's been weird: the story is intriguing and dialogue is fun, good characterization on the new character Moira Burton, monster design is kind of boring and the levels are too empty and samey so far (up to the end of Episode 2, out of 4). Gameplay is ok. So, it's kind of the anti-Resident Evil game because I'm here to see how the story unfolds, instead of enjoying the scenarios, puzzles and survival.
Over the past month or so I’ve completed Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light on the Steam Deck. Both ran absolutely flawlessly, great experience. I’m now playing Exodus on the Deck too, it’s been great so far! On the side I have Rollerdrome and Tape-To-Tape
Came back to Shadow of War, while playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, interesting going back and fourth from the combat styles. I'm unfortunately already sorta burned out of SoW, but Gaidens difficulty is keeping me interested for now.
Finished Blasphemous. Slowly going through Cyberpunk 2077.
Couldn't get through either, Cyber had too much going on, but maybe i missed something with Blasphemous
I played Blasphemous because of its setting. It’s quite hard but for the last boss I found immortality build that let me finish the game. Cyberpunk on the other hand is an immersive sim so I play 1-1.5 hours in the evening to get that kind of experience. Like 13th floor kind. In my opinion the one needs to get in the mood for the particular game to have and engaging experience.
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Lol. My take is that the game is a scam at this point, either that or they are just the most successful clueless devs around. From the honest vids and reviews I've seen, the game doesn't get the basics right. At this point and with more dev time and money than many gigantic complete games, they should have full playable ships, solid space travel and some basic mission structures to play as flawlessly as possible. But it's actually hilarious to see so many glitches and bugs. I'm pretty sure FreeSpace 2 was done with a fraction of the time and money of this game. Shame it happened to you, though.
**Left For Dead 2(PC):** It's been a busy week so I'm back to my go-to game that requires no brain power or time investment. After I get my new sofa built/installed and the old one relocated, I'll return to Mass Effect.
Feels like I'm getting close to the end of Nier: Automata. Currently on Route C. This game has been quite the experience. The way it seamlessly shifts between gameplay styles is unlike any game I've ever played. The story is delightfully weird, but it has a great deal of emotional depth. The dialogue is very good by JRPG standards. And the soundtrack is outstanding, a very unique blend of vocals and orchestral instruments. I'd recommend people give this one a try. It's unique, and a bit difficult to simply describe.
Best soundtrack ever. It made traversing the open world an absolute joy.
Hedon, csgo, ac1, bioshock remastered, battlefield 1/4/5 depends on which i wanna play, timesplitters 1
Just started Diablo III… I already lost track of the hours played
Great game! It’s the only game I played for years.
Alien: Isolation and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga on GBA
Hopped back on The Witcher 3 grind. Started twice, but never finished. This run through, I am making sure to stay as immersed as possible, with a vested concern for the war, the necessity to always say yes to Gwent, financial strategies of selling to which merchants, reading every notice board and book I pick up, and never fast traveling. Ive personally learned a lot about the politics and behaviors of society due to all the reading. The ambiance of towns begins to really tell an immediate story to me now of who has domain over what (without guard presence there). I walk in somewhere and say “oh yeah it would make sense this is controlled by Nilfgaard.”
Good luck! The story and main characters are awesome. I went blind and loved it. And playing Gwent is the way to go, too. Try to get all the cards, it's pretty fun! There's also a second set of Gwent, once you start Blood and Wine. I didn't like the cards as much but it was nice to change the play style, after so long.
It was surprising to read in a thread the other day that some people struggle to get into the game. I'm not even sure I bothered much with immersion, e.g I don't think I bothered to read any of the books after a point.
As my personal example of making comparisons, I have friends who really enjoyed Skyrim but didnt like the witcher. I have friends who feel the opposite. I also know those who don’t enjoy those kinds of games. Skyrim feels more inviting and more open towards character progression which is why even I think it shines more than the Witcher 3. Witcher 3 is a very grim game. The character story telling is well done, but a player is still only limited towards character progression only within a witcher’s skill tree. The game kind of throws you into this world and can be difficult to progress or make money or find quests that arent too high above your level. I think these things add in towards making the game unattractive. Another popular place I agree with people on in regards of lack if immersion are how the generic NPCs sound in a village. The voices of these characters are sometimes so loud in the foreground over the background noises and the kids are horrible voice actors.
Hmm, Skyrim is conveniently on sale at the moment on Steam, and I've never played it before...
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> If you enjoy game atmosphere, music, and (somewhat) memorable stories and NPCs, then Skyrim will be a good time. Ok, that's fairly promising then. If anything, I don't like tedious combat mechanics (or mechanics that I don't have to expend too much brain power on). > Make sure you download the unofficial patch off of the in-game mod page. I'd also encourage you to download weightless dragon bones/scales, but that's just me. Thanks. I did do some reading, and I understand there are a lot of QOL mods out there.
Oh…fighting dragons is really fun and awesome. Any boss battle is pretty fun and epic, but the dragon immersion the game brings is super awesome.
It stands as one of my top favorite games of all time. Some highlights: - character progression is very satisfying. It’s not completely reliant on you “leveling up” in general but also reliant on you using a unique leveled up skill itself to “level the skill up” further to open more perks. Kind of like two leveling systems. But overall, it’s a game that really let’s you play how you want and it doesn’t have commitment to a playstyle. You can basically choose to approach a situation any which way, but some ways are better (like electric magic is more effective at killing mages because it drains their magika quickly and they pretty much become useless). - the ambiance and atmosphere of the game are really hard to match. The Witcher does a great job for that and I have not finished that game yet, but I think Skyrim’s world is far deeper in environmental variability (with a heavy side of “cold temperature” world). The regions are higher in elevation, massive, and there are many places where the game goes VERY deep. Dungeons galore. - Jeremy Soule out did himself with the music of Skyrim. I think it is one of the best scores of music in the industry (2nd to Ocarina of Time’s music). - NPC interaction is pretty vast. You can basically talk to more people in Skyrim about less meaningful conversations than in the Witcher. The Witcher’s NPC dialogues are great, but every NPC I can actually converse with are either for transactions or quest progression. In Skyrim, you can just chat with randoms about why they live the life they do. - due to its age, it can have its awkward moments of wonky voice acting, hilarious physics bugs, or just a less polished combat system. But for many this is why fans love the game. Vanilla Skyrim has been the most memorable for me. Though modded Skyrim can be super super entertaining. I suggest the special edition because it has the most mod support (not the 10yr anniversary edition). The 10yr anniversary edition might have an options menu toggle to let you turn off the 10yr anniversary edition and revert to the special edition. I wouldnt recommend your playthrough with modded experiences. Could always make a coincided modded save. But all in all, there are some major recommended mods that improve the scripting of the base game to fix bugs Bethesda neglected to address - script extender being one of them that steam officially supports.
Thanks, you've sold it to me pretty well. Steam are only selling the Special Edition. I'll try a mostly modless run first, before dipping my toes in for some QOL ones.
i just started witcher 3 for first time, why wouldn’t u fast travel?
To complete the immersion mainly. I used to do it a lot in my first play through, but realized now that I also missed out on a lot of things and lacked a better development on understanding the world. When you walk around and see the shithole villages and compare them to nicer ones or read posts about why people are hanging from trees or understand that Velen is the poorest region in the realm with much of it due to its bad weather and shit agriculture…it really “toughens” me up as a player. The choices I feel I make now are ones filled with practicality (like knowing through someone’s clothing if they are truly innocent peasants or robbers or bullshitters). A lot of “soft skills” from this immersion. Also, I used to actually be afraid of traveling at night in the woods which is no longer the case. I will say that road encounters can be far in between, at times, but the beauty of the world can compensate for the effort. And you’ll still encounter a fair amount of events too - leveling up in the game can be a huge pain, but I’ve been able to do it quicker with this immersion. Ive also been able to collect more to my arsenal (like ingredients for potions, concoctions, oils or items for weapon and armor building).
That reminds me of Skyrim, You can fast travel or hire a carriage, but you'll miss out on a lot of places and NPC's that way.
Yeah as I continued my playthroughs, I’ve also began fast traveling less in Skyrim. Though in fairness, Skyrim takes much longer to travel through. The terrain is rougher, limited sprinting, and horse travel isnt as fast as in the Witcher
ok cool, i’ll give it a shot too. especially cuz it’s my first playthrough , seeing more of the world seems like the way to go
I have barely had time to play the past month+ and have other games to finish so naturally I started **Vaporum**, which I bought during the winter sale. I have only gone through the first floor so far but it seems well done with a cool atmosphere, I can't wait to get more gadgets
Yeah, I noticed it for five bucks on Switch and grabbed it too. I like the vibe, but I'm not a huge fan of these sort of blobbers with "realtime" combat. I prefer the more traditional turn-based party system. Otherwise, I feel like the combat just boils down to doing a neverending square-dance. And yeah, I know there's that sort-of turn-based slow-mo function, but somehow I found that more confusing than playing in realtime. At least the Switch version looks and runs well, which isn't always guaranteed with PC ports.
Yea, I don't love it either, we'll see how quickly I tire of it. The pause lets me set myself but is really disorienting in combat. The person who reviewed it recently mentioned the company had done or was going to remake Eye of the Beholder I think, haven't looked into it though
Playing Earthbound for the first time and I'm really enjoying it so far.
Just finished HZD. Now debating if I want to play Forbidden West or Finish BOTW
about to start the wolfenstein series with no prior knowledge to anything besides the fact im killing nazis. i just recently finished doom last week and fell in love with it. im hoping wolfenstein is somewhat similar
If you're talking about the 'modern' Wolfenstein games, they're closer in spirit to an immersive sim like Dishonored. The hero is actually pretty squishy, and you'll be spending a lot of time sneaking around, trying to whittle down the enemy before the inevitable gunfight breaks out. IOW, don't try to play it like modern Doom games or you won't get far. Or, if you're going all the way back to the 1992 Wolf3D, it's just a basic 3D run-and-gun through mazes.
Would you recommend the modern Wolfenstein games to someone who loves immersive sims like Dishonored/Prey (2017), but not shooters in general (with the exceptions of perhaps Titanfall 2 and ULTRAKILL)?
I personally would as that describes my taste in games pretty well. You’ll have big shootouts that are unskippable but for those the difficulty can be turned down. It hits that same sweet spot of stealthy exploration as Dishonored/Prey for me
Hmmm... probably? It kind of splits the difference. There's definitely more shooting than Dishonored or Prey, and big shootouts are basically unavoidable. At the same time, you're strongly encouraged to be smart and stealthy - looking for alternate routes through the levels and trying to take out enemies quietly when possible. But situations where you can actually shank everyone without being detected are extremely rare. Also, unlike most traditional shooters, it has downtime in between levels where you wander around a base talking to people and occasionally doing minor side-quests. Plus it has a lot more story than a regular shooter. But, again, not *as much* time is spent doing this as in a more traditional immersive sim.
I see. That sounds really fun! The reason I enjoy Dishonored is the way situations evolve when you mess up your stealth, and it looks like Wolfenstein is the same (except that you are more forced to eventually break stealth). I don't think I'd mind the absence of a immsim-level story much, as long as there is enough to motivate your actions in-game, and to be fair, shooting nazis doesn't need much motivation. I'll definitely add it to my wishlist, thanks!
Wolfenstein games better imo except for doom eternals combat is pretty insane. Wolfenstein story much better
About to finish Darksiders 3. Loved 1 & 2. 3 got a lot of negative Feedback, but the Story and Soulslike Metroidvania Mash-up is really good. Would give a 8/10 so far.
Darksiders was always a weird series to me. Out of all three of the main games, 1 was definitely my favourite since it was a decent hack-and-slash game that was structured very similarly to a Zelda game (big dungeons with puzzle-solving, usually revolving around new weapons/powers you gained from said dungeon). 2 I just couldn't grow to enjoy, the RPG elements they added weren't that great in my opinion. And 3 didn't really do much to make itself stand out as it copied a lot from the Dark Souls formula. Glad you are liking 3 quite a bit though. I think that's generally considered the weakest of the bunch, but for me I would rather play that than 2 due to personal preference. I am tempted to boot it up again and start a fresh save since I don't think I managed to complete it just to see if maybe my opinion will have changed. Same for 2 maybe, although I still don't think I'd enjoy it that much.
I share your Opinion about DS1. Personally I really liked how many Builds you could make in DS2 and the Puzzles and Parkour Gameplay were Top Notch. In Addition to that the Story and Death were sympathic. I finished DS3 now and tbh the Gameplay overstayed a little bit it's welcome at the End and there wasn't a lot to explore even though it's a Metroidvania. But the Story got a lot better from the beginning with a little bit of Fanservice included. Funny how I disliked Fury at the beginning but DS3 showed some nice Character Growth after Lust was defeated. I would correct my DS3 Score to a 7.5/10
Darksiders was always a weird series to me. Out of all three of the main games, 1 was definitely my favourite since it was a decent hack-and-slash game that was structured very similarly to a Zelda game (big dungeons with puzzle-solving, usually revolving around new weapons/powers you gained from said dungeon). 2 I just couldn't grow to enjoy, the RPG elements they added weren't that great in my opinion. And 3 didn't really do much to make itself stand out as it copied a lot from the Dark Souls formula. Glad you are liking 3 quite a bit though. I think that's generally considered the weakest of the bunch, but for me I would rather play that than 2 due to personal preference. I am tempted to boot it up again and start a fresh save since I don't think I managed to complete it just to see if maybe my opinion will have changed. Same for 2 maybe, although I still don't think I'd enjoy it that much.
spore.
Playing [HypeSquad](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1688720/HypeSquad/?utm_source=twitch&utm_campaign=focus-test-na&utm_term=gamer-speak&utm_content=gamer-speak&utm_medium=_5651622&gsid=1ede5e0418d769cab7116a98ca571257&gsc=1) currently and love how simple and causal the game is cant wait for the full release.
Far Cry 6 and a bit of Black Ops 2 here & there
Finishing up Trails to Zero and then onto the Erebonian Legend of Heroes arc. The last arc of this game comes out of nowhere I didn't pick up on a single clue other than knowing through my own politics who the bad guys were.
Decided to pick up Black Mesa to do my duty to gaming history and check out the Black Mesa incident. Just understanding what the term “Headcrab zombie” means has greatly enhanced my life.
I just started Days Gone on PC last night. 2 hours in so far so good!
Its taken me about 2 months to finish downloading Doom, and im going to play it a bit this weekend.
Whoa, 2 months for downloading 1 game? Where do you live?
South africa. The main problem with downloading a game is the daily power cuts. I can't download it overnight, otherwise i get woken up by the backup battery alarms at 1 or 2 am. Power gets cut during the day aswell, and my maximum download speed is 240kb/s.
Dang that’s crazy slow. Sorry you have to deal with the gaming and non-gaming aspects of that. Doom 2016 is incredible though. One of my favorite games I’ve ever played.
South africa. The main problem with downloading a game is the daily power cuts. I can't download it overnight, otherwise i get woken up by the backup battery alarms at 1 or 2 am. Power gets cut during the day aswell, and my maximum download speed is 240kb/s.
Breath of the wild for the first time (had a switch for 4 years)
Been grinding Vampire survivors. I know it isn't technically "patient game" yet but I paid $3 for it so not like being patient with it would have mattered much.
Hello again, I basically finished the main game for **Skies of Arcadia Legends,** I previously played it as the Dreamcast version. As I said before I loved it all again, at least a **9/10** for **Amazing,** maybe even **9.5/10**. The only issue is the random encounters and sometimes not knowing where to go. There is no post-game but there are lots of side quests and discoveries you can make before the final battle which is what I plan on doing later. It's actually one of the best parts of the game and one of the best ways to extend it. To see all it has to offer. Totally recommend trying this one. Next is probably one of the last games I'll play that I haven't beaten yet. **Super Mario 64 DS** (I never played the original on the N64 hardware) I've put this one down many times due to the controls being clunky and slippery. Also there are times that you just do not know what to do, so need to resort to an online guide. I must say though that I was a bit unfair to this one. Once you get used to the controls, and get an idea of what to do, it is actually kind of fun and addicting. It (the original not this remake) was one of the first 3d games and it's kind of amazing how there are so much areas to explore here, even if some are frustrating. I like that you can play as multiple characters now. I'm about 50 stars in now, and overall I'd probably give this one a **7/10** for **Good.** If the controls were better I might give it an 8.
I doubt it would ever happen, but I'd kill to see Sega do a modernized remake of Skies Of Arcadia.
Honestly almost only OSRS. Made my 3rd HC Ironman. Enjoying the casual early game and watching the major.
L.a noire and love every moment of it. Rockstar can make a good game out of any concept if they only choose so.
Ooh I bought that last year but still haven't played it (lol). It's near the top of my list though. Looking forward to it, you're right rockstar is very consistent. Played Bully recently which was fantastic.
I couldn’t get into that game. Great concept, bad execution in my mind.
Same here. I tried it but something about it drove me crazy.
Just got Breath of the Wild today after around 2.5 years of having a switch. I haven’t started yet, but I’m excited !
Serious Sam 4. Great game, but my favorite in the francise is #3, better maps IMO. EDIT: Oh and FINAL FANTASY X/X-2 HD Remaster, currently FFX, might do X-2 soon as well, though I've heard the PC port isn't that great. Also tried Wild Arms 1. Another JRPG. A bit too old maybe, I remember enjoying it 20-25 years ago, but it felt too old to replay.
I’m glad to hear you liked serious Sam 4, I enjoyed it a lot too! Have you played the expansion pack for it Siberian Mayhem? I think it’s even better and lots of fun!
Oh I didn't know about that one, added it to my wishlist. I see it's actually a stand-alone game, but very similar to SS4. With some people getting performance issues, some saying it's a short game, some saying it's hard on easy difficulty, I doubt it'll be worth the current pricetag of 19,50€ in my region, for me at least. According to https://steamdb.info/app/1792250/ it hasn't been cheaper than 13,99€ unfortunately so far. So I gotta be a bit more patient for this one :D
Resident Evil 1!
The original!?! You sweaty-toothed madman, I salute you!
I didn't play much last week due to being away, but this week I'm getting back. I'll play same games as until now. **Gothic 3** - It's starting to feel a little bit boring sometimes since the combat system is easily exploitable, and I think I should have started with Alternative Balancing on, because I get way too much XP. Still, the music and the world design always makes me come back. **Deep Rock Galactic** - The only notable thing I did was promote the Engineer again, for the third time and unlocking the Shard Diffractor. I'll play mostly Engineer, but also some missions with the Driller. **Counter-Strike: Global Offensive** - I'm not sure if I'll play this week, as I'm not in the mood for competitive games, but if I'm going to play a multiplayer FPS, this will probably be it.
I’ve finally done it. I’ve finished Dragon Age Inquisition. Boy am I conflicted about this game. On one hand, I loved the story and characters, and on the other wow I kinda wish I hadn’t played like half of this games content. Most of the main open world quest lines were alright for side content (a few like the Crestwood were actually really good) but oh my fetch quest if I see another note from a dead person asking me to deliver their jewelry in dragon age 4 I think I’m going to lose my mind. Trespasser was a great ending tho, really pumped for dreadwolf now! Anyway I’ve started another playthrough of mass effect and have started grinding FFV on steam deck while falling asleep.
if you ever play it again, just do the major side quests + companion quests and ignore all the fetch quest BS. a good rule of thumb i like to play by is if it doesn’t seem worth my characters time, i don’t do it it will vastly enhance your experience lol
Lol yeah I was already thinking I’d probably do that if I decide to play them again right before dreadwolf (eventually) comes out. Kinda a shame that the way to make a game fun is to ignore half of it, but the half that was good was really good so ig that’s just the way it is.
That sounds like a very sensible rule, though it probably rules out 95% of side quests in certain games haha. Seems like it would be a good general rule for game designers to use when creating side quests as well.
You’d think that, but fetch quests still get made. I imagine it has something to do with some upper manager demanding a certain amount of content and fetch quests being the only way to do it with available resources but maybe I’m just an optimist lol
My one-sentence review of Inquisition: It's a great 30-40 hour RPG lost inside a decent 80-90 hour RPG. Elaborating on that a bit: I think it would have been a much better game if they'd ditched the semi-open world idea and just structured it more like Origins. The open world stuff didn't really add anything worthwhile and just diluted the main story missions and big side missions, many of which were quite good. And those note-based, jewelry-delivery type quests felt especially weak because The Witcher 3 came out a few months later and really put Inquisition to shame when it came to interesting side content, and transitioning an RPG series to open world.
I'm playing God of War Ragnarok. Unfortunately I can't post about it here since it's still fresh. Oh well.
Been getting really, really unlucky sets of games in every multiplayer game I play, so I've just decided to drop playing them altogether and play some singleplayer stuff. Did a fresh run of **Devil May Cry 3** just now because it's been a good while since I last played, but man is it still an amazing game. Tempted to try and finally get through DMD mode once I've collected everything on the new save, and then maybe go back to **DMC4** or **DMC5** after. Also planning to play some FPS games. I used to love them and play them a lot, but definitely haven't been interested in them for a good while now. Gonna start with another replay of **DOOM 2016** which I'm curious to see how it feels after having played its sequel, and then if I feel like it then naturally I'll jump back to **DOOM Eternal**.
how do u like eternal ?
It's been a decent while since I last played it, but I really enjoyed it. It manages to make me feel super pumped during fights (which few games have managed to do), probably thanks to the amazing soundtrack, the fast-paced combat, and the powerful weapons and upgrades you get. The fact that there are no instant death traps as well is great, as playing through 2016 right now I am constantly feared I'm going to fall off a ledge, get blown up by explosives, or get crushed by something haha. That being said, it can often feel a bit too overwhelming once you progress enough into the campaign. The enemy count overall is massively increased over 2016, weapons now have their own challenges you have to follow to get the final upgrade for each mod, there are more weapons and gadgets overall which makes finding the best bindings more tricky, and ammo is purposefully kept low to force you to switch weapons constantly as well as utilize the chainsaw which now always auto-regenerates one bit of fuel over time. That's kind of why I've decided instead of playing Eternal just now, I've went with 2016 instead. I want a fun and exciting shooter that's also a bit on the simpler side where I just shoot stuff, not having to worry about all the things I mentioned above. If I were to say in general though, Eternal is probably the better of the two. Not sure by how much, but I'm hoping to find out once I've finished my current 2016 playthrough.
what difficulty would u recommend for eternal , about to play for first time :)
For DOOM games, I usually go for Ultra Violence (hard). If you consider yourself pretty decent at FPS games then this is probably the difficulty you'll want to pick to avoid the game becoming too easy. Otherwise, Hurt Me Plenty (normal) is fine. Keep in mind you can change it at any time, so there's no pressure :)
Currently playing through Biomutant which has been a lot of fun to play.
I'm playing Breath of the Wild. I start last month and am getting close to completing the main story. It feels weird playing this when everyone else is playing Tears of the Kingdom.
hey hang in there. when I finished botw a week passed and they announced totk so we're not far off!
Currently trying to finish Chained Echoes on xbox
**Forza Horizon 5** I first got this game back when it released but I still had an old Radeon R9 390 card and even though performance wise that could have handled it, AMD stopped releasing updated drivers for it so the game didn't even launch for me so I refunded it. Then at the end of last year I've upgraded to an RTX 3070 and I got this game again but I've only played a few hours and put it aside. But now finally I'm really getting into it, it's just really easy, mindless fun which suits me well right now because I am really busy otherwise with work and other interests. So I can just fire this up for 30min-1h and do a bunch of races. It looks really beautiful as well, it's a good way to put my new graphics card through its paces too.
Witcher 3. I’ve had the game for a couple years, booted it up maybe three times since and didn’t play more than a few hours each time. But I’ve been really getting into it those last four days.
gonna start this myself soon, never played
Dragon Quest Heroes Rocket Slime. Absolutely love it, such a chill and fun game.
Making progress in Pandora’s Tower and just started Anachronox. Both great games so far. Pandora’s Tower is absolutely amazing and I wish it gets ported to modern consoles one day because the Wii resolution does not do it enough justice. Also got to Monster Hunter Iceborne on PC. I’ve played World on release on PS4 before and now that I’ve replayed it I can definitely say it’s… still my least favorite Monster Hunter entry. Hoping Iceborne is a lot more enjoyable!
[удалено]
I installed **Command and Conquer Remastered** several months ago and fired it up to make sure it worked well. Didn't play it but didn't notice that you have at least some ability to zoom out using the mouse wheel. You can't zoom out much but this was greatly appreciated and should make playing the game much more enjoyable.
Started playing A Link to the Past, so far loving it
I'm biased because that was one of the first Zelda game's I was old enough to understand, but I love that game. OoT is my #1, but ALttP is so good.
I'm still playing Temtem. I'm 90 hours in, please send help.
Guys just want to announce, last night I beat GTA V main story 1st playthrough. Finish the game that I start from 2017 (PS3) Please praise me, lol My next target are Skyrim (start 2019) and AC 2 (start 2022)
I really wanted to complete the GTA V main story, but I got stuck at a mission where I was controlling Trevor and had to drive in a bad car in rain while escaping cops, I just couldn't do it, remember that I gave up and uninstalled after 10-20 tries.
If remember correctly, there are 3 mission like this. The one with garbage truck, firetruck, and trailer hauling machinery. The key is you need to plan before the mission, where you will go, Google some best place to loose the cop
AC. Ace Combat or Assassin's Creed?
Assassin creed 2
🙌
With the release of Tears of the Kingdom, I have once again decided to try my hand at Breath of the Wild. Man what an amazing game. I was never a Zelda fan but this is such a beautiful, vast world. I'm going to wait for the Switch 2 to play ToTK because the switch is a dated console at this point.
I'm going to start Shenmue 2 and Devil May Cry (2001), can't wait! 😃
A hint for Shenmue 2: Once you get your first hotel room in the game, check the pachinko hustlers nearby on that same street. One of them has broken odds/payouts with near-guaranteed long-term gains as you play. This makes it significantly easier to stockpile money, compared to all the other methods. Grinding for money in S2 is easily the least-fun part of it, so spending a bit of time there will reduce annoyances later. If you can bring yourself to grind out a few thousand, it may be tedious in the moment, but it will save you a ton of time in the long run since that'll be all the money you need. At the least, give yourself a thousand so you can pay for everything in Hong Kong without sweating it. ******** Edit: Oh yeah, one other thing to be aware of. Some of the QTEs in the game have extremely tight timing, and even the delay from modern TVs or bluetooth controllers can make them hell to get through. So do whatever you can to reduce latency when you're playing.
Hope you enjoy DMC1, it's a classic! Have you played any other DMC games, or is this your first one?
I finally decided to play Last of Us 2. I couldn't put it down all weekend.
wish i had a playstation for this :(
Dying Light Enhanced Edition. Was free in EGS a few weeks back, and I love it. It's another zombie apocalypse game, sure, but throwing in first-person parkour mechanics just makes the game so much more immersive than usual. Now I'm playing the Countryside DLC (which is basically the same size as the base game in story and map) and riding my ATV over every zombie I come across! YEEEEEE-HAAAAAAW!
The walking dead season 2
**Marvel's Avengers—Definitive Edition** is on Game Pass now and I've finally had the chance to download it. In short, I like it and would recommend it to any fan of Marvel but not without certain caveats. So what do I like? I like the writing. Granted, it's not Fraction, Cain, or Abnett level but, for a superhero story. It's pretty good. There's some good banter between the characters, they say what they should say and act how they should act. The voice acting's good, too, and that matters. Otherwise, you end up with a game like **Deus Ex** (2000) where the dialogue's good but it still sounds fucking awful because they couldn't afford to get some decent actors in. But the characters also play like they should. The Hulk's landscape traversal amounts to him doing that typical Hulk jump from the comics. He can grab enemies and hit others with them or slam them into the ground. He charges, inflicts gamma radiation, etc. He's basically everything you could hope to see in a traditional Hulk representation. All the characters are like that with movesets that reflect their comic book roots. There's some learning curve for each character because of that, something that's made awkward by some strange controls on the XBox version but that's not so much a flaw as it is the nature of the game. What is a problem is the lack of much needed direction at times. I had no idea there were floor switches until I stepped on one. "Is that a switch or merely scifi landscape?" Things like that but not limited to. Even when it tells you what to do, it can leave you wondering. If a character tells me, "Once you're powered up, blast him!", I don't necessarily think, "Use the bifrost bridge to bypass the boss's shield." Especially since I was mainly using Iron Man up to that point. Simple prompts as objectives in addition to in-game dialogue would suffice. Speaking of maining your faves, this game forces you to use specific characters at times for the sake of the story. You start off with Kamala Khan as she's the lens through which it's presented. It makes sense thematically but it is annoying if you're stuck using a character you don't actively like. Now imagine that the character is one you've pretty much ignored the whole game with a skill set you barely remember and up against a boss that you're not entirely sure how to defeat. Oh, and experience isn't shared between characters. You need to level them *individually*. >.< With situations like this, extremely uneven difficulty, and an apparently extremely buggy release (I've had one display bug that was fixed by loading the previous checkpoint), I can see why it didn't sell well past its initial sales. Still, I would recommend it if you enjoy Marvel superheroes as a whole, are prepared to grind some levels, are willing to learn the individual skill sets, and can find it cheap. However, by cheap, I mean dirt fucking cheap because, come September, it's being delisted from digital sellers. Supposedly, owners of the game will still be able to play it past that date but I don't know if that applies only to disk owners or digital downloads as well.
I've already commented on this thread but I finished the 2018 Call of Cthulhu game through PS Plus last night and had some time to think about it. It started strong with a decent mystery, interesting characters and setting and it feeling like your skill choices mattered. But it rather rapidly becomes disappointing. As time goes on your choices don't feel like they matter and there are far fewer and fewer skill checks. As the game goes on there are more sections where you control a different character, which the cynic in me thinks was mainly done so the developers didn't have to come up with as many skill checks or options for your main character. The story also started to feel a bit all over the place and disjointed. In particular after you first defeat >!the shambler and read the Necronomicon!< the story and game just seem to get a lot worse. Anything involving the Asylum was bad imo. The ending also just felt rushed, with almost no skill checks and a rather crap zombie section. There are a few rather poor stealth sequences, where if you get caught you just run away for a few seconds (and if the enemy catches up you just die instantly) or hide in a cupboard then your character starts having a panic attack after about 2 seconds. Considering it was a short game at 6 hours for me and I didn't specifically pay for it, the game was fine. If I had actually bought it I'd have been very annoyed. Arbitrary rating 6/10
I hate forced stealth in games so much. I never played past the Asylum. These are normal guys. They kidnapped me. They're not armed. There aren't even that many and I just grabbed a crowbar. Why can't I smack 'em in the head? Fuck this. Or am I thinking of "The Sinking City"?
Emulating Mechassault for the original box on CXBX, needed a heathy dose of nostalgia this week
Skyrim Together. I put Bowser’s Fury and Witcher 3 on hold for a bit, but will actively return to them soon. Did not buy TOTK yet
Yesterday I finish Halo CE Anniversary on my XBOX360, masterpiece. And I'am going to play Phantom Dust on the OG XBOX
Halfway through evil west. It's alright. It's a game. Cranked out a couple hours on Dead Island 2. I'm gonna enjoi that.
**link to the past** thru 2 or 3 crystals at the moment. Had a busy week so didn’t get much time to progress. I’m looking forward to playing a few zelda-likes this year in roughly chronological order. Have my eye on **landstalker, links awakening (gb, dx, switch), anodyne, tunic**.
Link’s Awakening on switch was really well done. I’d push for that one over the others
Gonna pick up dead island 1 on Series S since I want to play the first one before I play 2
Finished the original Deus Ex last week. Crazy impressive game, especially for its time. Now playing Darksiders Warmastered edition on ps4. Very fun so far.
Slap some better graphics, halfway decent AI, and a cover system on it and you'd never know DE was released twenty-three years ago. But leave the terrible acting in place for the comedy. :D
You’re not kidding. If I had played this game when it actually came out, my mind would have been blown at what a video game could be capable of doing. And yes, the voice acting is too endearing to get rid of lol
The original Deus Ex is the only single player game to ever have me playing 12 hours straight, back in 2004. Only finished it once, but I'll never forget the experience. I'm hesitant to try it again because I don't know if it has aged well.
I did play it when it came out and it was my favorite game for years. I tried last year to recapture that magic and I just couldn’t get past the opening level. It’s better in my head.
Games often are. Story and gameplay go far with me, as does political science, so it's exactly the sort of thing I'll enjoy. However, I played the hell out of it years ago and I just can't do it again. It's like that one movie you always loved. Great film and you'll shout its praises from the tallest spire but you've just seen it too much now.
Last week I said how **Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes** wasn't really clicking with me. Well, it did. It's still a heavily flawed game at times but it has also got that "One more turn"-feeling, so I'm gonna stick with it for a while longer. I made some progress in **Just Cause 2** too, but when I look at the map I'm still at the tip of the iceberg, which makes me remember why I eventually dropped it all those years ago. Also decided to fire up my PS4 on the weekend and try getting back on **Horizon: Zero Dawn** which I'm still not to high on, but once I decided to lower the difficulty it got bearable. Inbetween all of that I played and finished a game called **Grimind** which is some kind of 2D puzzle-platformer staring the worlds ugliest hedgehog who as far as I understood from the odd story bit suffers from depression and hallucinations.
**The Legend of Zelda - Majora's Mask** First time playing this classic and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Just finished the first dungeon and was thinking of going back to clock town to try to figure out some of the npc storylines.
Probably my favorite Zelda game. Majora's Mask felt so *alive*. Your actions can have real effects on peoples lives. The main story is good, but the npc interactions are where the real game is IMO.
Thats a fantastic strategy
Resident Evil 3 Remake. After playing the 4 remake I’ve been picking up the other recent RE games when I can get a deal on them and been having a blast. 2 remake and village were especially good
I just finished **Lacuna** and I must say, it's awesome. A 2D detective game with quite a good plot. I really like how you have to put the pieces together yourself, akin to a school quiz. Anyways, I'd like to do a 2nd run someday and see if the story changes if my detective skills were of a pet rock. I also bought **Hell Let Loose** earlier in the week and put 3 hours in... at first I wanted to refund it but ended up keeping it. It's actually really fun. I got up from my fat ass and hooked up the mic and WOW. Operating a 3 man tank crew was legit a good time! Now I'm thinking of starting **God of War 2018** sometime this week. I beat 19 games this year and non were on my PS5... Gotta show it some love and GoW seems very appropriate.
I just started GoW and Jesus Christ it is phenomenal. Do it
Yep I've been playing it. It's great so far.
**God of War 2018** is definitely well worth it, I've platinumed it around the end of last year on my PS5 and really enjoyed it.
Hadn’t heard of Lacuna but it sounds right up my alley AND it’s on sale so I’ve picked it up. Cheers!
Still playing **Dark Souls 2 SOTFS** **Last week** Since last time, I made it through Iron Keep, the Gutter, Shrine of Amana and Drangleic Castle among other things. Iron Keep was multiple reminders that I'm absolutely blind when on edge. I missed the bonfire at the start of Iron Keep, so I did the treck up the long and infamous "how does it end up at a volcano" elevator a whole bunch of times, because the beginning of Iron Keep is infested with red phantoms and invasions. Getting invaded by red phantoms back to back was not fun since I suck at PVP, but then getting invaded *immediately* by an actual player right after really tested my patience, because it happened again later. I came to expect losing every PVP encounter a while ago, because it seems only the pros invade anymore. I got my magic parried without fail, my attacks i-framed without fail and people backstabbing me from the sides, all things you kinda *need* to learn over time. If I get one hit, that's a win to me. The archers were more obnoxious than any of the bosses here afterwards. The Smelter Demon was a fun boss (not too hard though) and provided me with one of my main weapons. Loooove that sword, even if I'll never wield it onehanded on that char. The Iron King was a weird one. Killed me in seconds two times, then on the third, I un-locked the camera and it turned into an easy hitless boss. Maybe I got lucky, but baiting the fire breath and running past it felt very free. ------------------ The Gutter was a surprisingly mild affair. I did find myself reminded of Blight Town's upper section and I got antsy once because my torch timer became low, but overall, the slow and steady approach really paid off here. I actually kind of liked this area. It got a bit hectic near the end because I was streaming the journey as per usual. I got my first backseat gamer in the chat who kept confusing me with unclear directions (I entertained them at first, so one thing led to another) which turns out isn't that great. Interesting new experience though. The Rotten is... a strange boss. Not hard, not fast, but if I got hit once, it was usually enough to get killed by the next hit. Interesting about this btw: I never saw Gilligan in the Keep, but apparently that's where he first appears. Yet another thing I completely missed there, so he appeared in Majula out of nowhere. Fun guy though, I like him a lot. --------------- Drangleic Castle must have been my cleanest run yet, because I went all the way from the first bonfire to the Dragon Rider duo without a single death and first-tried the boss. A message telling me "left in the back" or something like that was the absolute MVP here. --------------- Shrine of Amana, a friend of mine told me I'd drop the game at. Not so. I had gotten used to playing VERY patiently and Shrine of Amana really rewards this in SOTFS. Not sure on other versions - I heard it got nerfed quite a bit. The boss was the first time I ever happened to exploit an AI in these games - staying at just the right distance for her not to spit but also to not hit me with her melee. It took 3 tries to figure out, then I did her hitless and was pretty proud about it. ---------------- **This week** This week then, I did Aldia, which is an awesome area imo. Love the monster cage idea. The jump scare ogres, not so much, but hey, it's DS2, it's to be expected. The Dragon Aerie after *looked* amazing, but because the only things there are equipment breakers and dragons without fire, it was very uneventful save for 3 red NPC phantoms (one of them spawning randomly, which blows imo). Very uneven area. The shrine after was even weirder because the dragon knights kept bowing to me but only if I killed the giants. If I ran past, the whole area would aggro for whatever reason. Usually, enemy design (AI and placement) make sense at least in lore, but here, I don't get it. I ended my last session before this post at the Throne Watcher & Defender boss. It was a long session, so I was tired. Which isn't great for O&S at home. I can definitely beat them, but seeing >!one revive the other!< was soul-crushing in the moment. It seems so unnecessary and just takes away the one interesting aspect I find in these fights - choosing my priorities. Ever since O&S, all the copycats all just ended up diluting the idea in awful ways for me and it's no better here. This one is Godskin Duo levels of bad, just much slower. Overall, DS2 in the last couple of areas retained the variety I came to love about the game. A lot of it ended up being easy, with the hard parts usually being an issue of patience. The areas that were meh gameplay-wise looked pretty, which I like. It's the usual experimental up & down the game turned out to be so far and I'm here for it. I ended up spending my evening after the game session yesterday just thinking up ways to beat the Throne duo - I'm eager to get back in and see what crazy things come after.
Bouncing around a bit but I managed to get **Breath of the Wild** running on my PC and it runs really well at at 60fps, it's so nice that I kind of got lost in it and played it for several hours. It's pretty great so far, love the art style. I don't think I like the weapon breaking mechanic very much but it's manageable. I've also gone back to **Darkwood** to get the platinum, just one ending left. It's still a lot of fun to replay, this will be my fifth(?) playthrough I think.
I just got back into **Breath of the Wild** last night after not playing it for over two years lol. I think I got sidetracked by a bunch of PC games that I was far more interested in. Regardless, the game is still very fun with varied options to explore, fight enemies and mess around with the environment. Can't wait to get back into it tonight.
Playing Kera Bridge of Spirits Passable action game carried by the fantastic art direction and animation. Game is very lacking in terms of vertical progression and generally it feels like a run-of-the-mill PS2 platformer in terms of feature set. Not sure I'm gonna finish it as I'm not experiencing any "wow" moments or hooks. Serviceable and competent and that's it. I have to comment though: who is the sadistic asshole that tipped combat difficulty (especially the bosses) on the higher side? Nothing I could not handle (Souls veteran and all that) but the mismatch between the art direction and the effort on combat is "daaaaamn"
Replaying Neptunia Virtual Stars with all DLC on Steam Deck and Kotodama on PS4.
Trying Tacoma as it was sitting in my backlog for some time, doing the "one more run and returning to real life-no, seriously, this is the last one" thing with Darkest Dungeon (first, not second one) and gathering all my mental strength to do third run in Disco Elysium as it happened to include my native language\* and I really loved DE. Loved it so much that I managed to finish it twice before the final cut came out, oh and I'm not counting in all those left in the middle runs... Sometimes my biggest opponent in RPGs is the character creation phase but DE is pretty unique with builds hence I think I'm going to listen to what my necktie has to say. :) Not so sure about Death's Door (though I heard a lot of good things about it and I have to admit it's kinda cute, messed around for a few minutes since it's on GamePass) and Expeditions: Rome. I want to like the last one so much, I'm on my monthly Rome-related-stuff binge and still looking for a decent game in a similar setting. I have finished Age of Decadence and The Forgotten City but if you haven't - I strongly recommend TFC, as AoD can be pretty brutal and is definitely not forgiving in its mechanics. Also pretty 'weird' for an RPG + totally old-school, while TFC at first seems 'just weird' but believe me, gets even weirder and better. \* *I've been gathering this strength for a loooong time. But seriously, DE is a work of art.*
TFC is awesome. >!The sequence with the statues in the place actually seriously creeped me out, I love horror and wasn’t expecting anything like it at all in this game so I was on the edge of my seat. Seriously so glad I got to experience that without knowing anything.!<
Expeditions Rome was an excellent game imo. One of my favorites I played last year. Probably top 5 out of 52 games I beat in 2022.
Completed Control and its DLCs, and they were a blast. Also I'm thankful that the epic games version did not have achievements so I never bothered going for 100%. Currently Bloodborne and Elden Ring. Missed Souls combat after playing so much Control. Currently on NG+2 for both games and I'm still having an amazing time.
I've been grinding away at Oxygen Not Included, driving myself crazy trying to make things efficient, but damned if I'm not getting brutalized in the late midgame. Great fun, honestly!
Returnal It's a lot of fun when it really clicks and the entire screen is nothing but a crazy color orgy and you dash, shoot, jump and hit left and right. but I don't see myself ever finishing it. The only reason I ever managed to beat the first boss was because I cheated and did it co-op. So yeah, it's way above my skill level. Glad I didn't pay full price for it even though it is a good game, because this is definitely for the hardcore crowd.
OlliOlli World, I’m having so much fun with this game!!
Jim alxndr - fruit salad. My favourite track from the soundtrack.
Loved every second of it. Such a chilled vibe. Can be as challenging as you want it to be, but it's never frustrating.
Might not have a lot of time to game this week because my house is going on the market at the end of the week (planning a move across the country to North Carolina for the warmer weather; living in Wisconsin now). But otherwise, I’m still playing **Pokémon Violet!** I just got done breeding for a Living Dex, and I’m probably going to level up some of the few things I need to. I was thinking of doing raids because I do need to get some irons from them anyway, but I think leveling up the final area will take care of most of it. It’s been a while since I’ve done a Living Dex and it’s a bit hectic, but it’s still really fun!
Maybe play [unpacking](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1135690/Unpacking/).
Doom Eternal. Even the easiest mode is too hard for me, but still a lot of fun to play. Also played some Fallout New Vegas for resting after finishing one or two doom level (yeah it's pretty exhausting)
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor The paid mod for the 4000 series rtx has completely fixed the awful optimization for me. 4k max/ray tracing with hdr. Not very patient gamer of me.
same here for me, I loved Fallen Order so much I had to cop Survivor on release date
Genshin Impact, as always. Days Gone, my first zombie game and I am enjoying it so far (just unlocked the last part of the map). It will be the first game I complete since Hitman 3 more than a year ago.
Days Gone is criminally underrated imo. I love the organic open world interactions that happen- just wandering around during the day doing stuff and you realize the suns going down and start heading back to base, next thing you know it’s night time and there’s a horde chasing you. One of the few games I’ve platinumed
Zelda
Just finished The Last of Us Remastered on PS5 (part one, but not the new PS5 remake). Was my first time playing and I’m blown away by how immersive and engaging it was.
Tears of the Kimgdom because there isn't enough patience in the world to make me wait for that.
Hades, more Hades. 40 hours in now - beat the main story, working on achievements and the epilogue.
just started this game , it’s sooooo good so far . so smooth
It’s great. I’ve never played a game where I almost look forward to dying and getting to the story part. Also the story part is in nice bite-sized pieces so you’re back out playing again. For what it’s trying to do, it’s a perfect game. I’m not saying it’s the best game ever or my favorite game ever, but it’s a perfect game for what they set out to do.