What are you currently playing?
- Thread starter Nick Calandra
- Start date
Crap. I have Hob in my backlog as well. I guess I won't be moving it up the list anytime soon.
Mass Effect 3; continuing my adventures as a Sentinel. Minor disappointment in that the class plays differently in a big way thanks to changes to Tech Armour. But gonna stick with as I really want to see Shepard in her cocktail dress with the Tech Armour over the top of it while I head shot fools with that obscenely powerful pistol.
Other than that the game is still fun and the weight system was an absolute godsend for certain classes.
Other than that the game is still fun and the weight system was an absolute godsend for certain classes.
I just did that (although in random world). I find it hard to play as other religion than catholic since catholic just have way more mechanic (especially the new crusade system, hate the holy war). My merchant republic vassal ended up winning a holy war for a massive territory and converted all of it to merchant republic, that was a massive pita, wish there was an easy way to flip those back to feudal. I also tried to finish the bloodline of the warrior society, had this amazing duelist character with around 150 combat skill, but he randomly died at like 41 (no disease and +1.00 health) just a few months before starting the quest line, so it ended up finishing while my new guy wasn't yet in the society and now I can't restart the quest for another 100.
Once I managed to reform the religion (which honestly was my main goal) I found it becoming much more manageable. At that point I was surrounded by various Indian religions to the east, unreformed pagans to the north and an unfortunately united Muslim land to the west; under those circumstances finding a target that meant you didn't get the whole world against you was easy and my religion now has a 100 moral authority. The fact that those pesky Abbasids has a religious schism and a bunch of Shia appeared also helped.
My last character was close to finishing the Forge Bloodline ambition (13/15 foreign wars won) when he unfortunately passed away. Only to immediately be considered a Venerated Ancestor upon death so I did get a bloodline.
Finally...finally beat that damned Darkeater Midir. Never have I developed such a love/hate relationship with a videogame boss as this. Dozens and dozens of times down the elevator, down the ladder, down the hole in a masochistic venture to dance with the most dastardly dragon in all of my gaming experience, until it happened. My prior attempt was met with the most bitter anguish after getting his life pool to within one hit of victory, no estus remaining, and making the classic error of a greedy panic-stricken loss of composure. He swatted me down definitively like so many times before, but a spark lit up now because I knew I was close; so very close. Every time before these last two had me wondering if I’d finally met my match in this series and then some, but this second to the last bout gave me hope.
Steadying my nerves I went back down, down, down, and although I accidentally embered right at the start my focus remained undeterred. Finally, the battle clicked with a confidence re-emerging that had been battered into the darkened murky ground of countless victims for so long, and the indefinitely prolonged, futile feeling scuffle of so many times before seemed to be hastened now towards this dragon’s downfall, as I knew this would be my time to shine.
And it was. Now all that remains is the Slave Knight Gael.
Steadying my nerves I went back down, down, down, and although I accidentally embered right at the start my focus remained undeterred. Finally, the battle clicked with a confidence re-emerging that had been battered into the darkened murky ground of countless victims for so long, and the indefinitely prolonged, futile feeling scuffle of so many times before seemed to be hastened now towards this dragon’s downfall, as I knew this would be my time to shine.
And it was. Now all that remains is the Slave Knight Gael.
It took me three hours, 25 attempts, multiple shots of humanity, and one soul-shatteringly close attempt where I got the second phase down to less than 10% of his health, but I managed to defeat Ornstein and Smough. I have a lot of complaints about that battle, but ultimately I feel really good about being able to beat it, especially since that now means the second half(?) of the game is finally opening up.
By the way, I got the Soul of Ornstein out of it, because Phase 1 Smough was easier to kill and I have a thrust weapon that I could ascend with it.
By the way, I got the Soul of Ornstein out of it, because Phase 1 Smough was easier to kill and I have a thrust weapon that I could ascend with it.
Congrats! Enjoy meeting the Princess and welcome to the 2nd half of the game.
I've been playing Battlefleet Gothic Armada II, and I have to say, it's starting to get tiring.
Playing the imperial campaign, the game actually starts rather challenging, where you are strapped in resources and have to be really careful with your fleet because you are strapped for resources and are fighting more powerful fleets that yours. You have to pick and choose the planets you upgrade because you're making shit all and your fleets already take precedence with the odds you're facing.
Then, around turn 70, after capturing the Agrippina sector, the economic side of things just stopped mattering. When up until that point I was making perhaps 150-200 resources a turn, suddenly I was making over 1000. Losses stopped mattering as much, and the game went from feeling like you're the underdog going against everyone, to an empire management game akin to the later turns in a Total War game, where you're not really threatened, but everyone is trying to land on your turf like annoying bugs. Invasions are grating, and their frequency and power is grating. At this point I control multiple sectors, and each turn I have to basically scroll through each of them individually to see in how many turns the invasions happen, so I have to plan my fleet movement based on those invasions, sometimes multiple invasions at once, and the game slows to a crawl as I have to pause going after the story missions to stop invasions.
I am not sure I am going to finish the campaign. I enjoy the fleet battles, but after 150 turns the generic fleet battles have lost their lustre, especially since they feel like busywork padding out the campaign.
Playing the imperial campaign, the game actually starts rather challenging, where you are strapped in resources and have to be really careful with your fleet because you are strapped for resources and are fighting more powerful fleets that yours. You have to pick and choose the planets you upgrade because you're making shit all and your fleets already take precedence with the odds you're facing.
Then, around turn 70, after capturing the Agrippina sector, the economic side of things just stopped mattering. When up until that point I was making perhaps 150-200 resources a turn, suddenly I was making over 1000. Losses stopped mattering as much, and the game went from feeling like you're the underdog going against everyone, to an empire management game akin to the later turns in a Total War game, where you're not really threatened, but everyone is trying to land on your turf like annoying bugs. Invasions are grating, and their frequency and power is grating. At this point I control multiple sectors, and each turn I have to basically scroll through each of them individually to see in how many turns the invasions happen, so I have to plan my fleet movement based on those invasions, sometimes multiple invasions at once, and the game slows to a crawl as I have to pause going after the story missions to stop invasions.
I am not sure I am going to finish the campaign. I enjoy the fleet battles, but after 150 turns the generic fleet battles have lost their lustre, especially since they feel like busywork padding out the campaign.
Finished Heavy Rain. To be honest, despite all the hate David Cage gets, it was pretty good. It had all the standard David Cage weird fetish stuff like watching everyone pee all the time, but I was pretty engaged in the story and found a lot of its set pieces pretty good. Was kind of disappointed my favorite character turned out to be the killer though. If I'd have known that I wouldn't have tried so hard on his QTEs. I'm not sure it makes total sense for him to be the killer, but I guess it works well enough, so whatever. It has the most pathetic attempt at CPR I've ever seen. 3 chest pumps and two breaths before giving up, what was even the point?
Too much of the screen time focuses on Madison, though. I didn't really feel like she actually had that strong of a connection to the plot and was kind of just going along for the ride. It was fine when she stuck with Ethan, but when she was by herself she basically just found out the same bits of information that the other characters also found out. Was kind of redundant.
I'm not going to replay it, because I already know it's going to be a lot of repetition with unskippable cutscenes for not much change. Such is the way with David Cage games, but that's okay since I was fairly satisfied with how it turned out. The movement controls were atrocious the entire way through. I also consistently could not get QTEs that involved the trigger buttons. Since it always displayed the L1 and R1 buttons in a circle, my muscle memory always wanted to hit L3 or R3 and that delay almost always caused me to fail. It's like that brain teaser where you try to read the colours of words that don't match the words, like red blue green.
Too much of the screen time focuses on Madison, though. I didn't really feel like she actually had that strong of a connection to the plot and was kind of just going along for the ride. It was fine when she stuck with Ethan, but when she was by herself she basically just found out the same bits of information that the other characters also found out. Was kind of redundant.
I'm not going to replay it, because I already know it's going to be a lot of repetition with unskippable cutscenes for not much change. Such is the way with David Cage games, but that's okay since I was fairly satisfied with how it turned out. The movement controls were atrocious the entire way through. I also consistently could not get QTEs that involved the trigger buttons. Since it always displayed the L1 and R1 buttons in a circle, my muscle memory always wanted to hit L3 or R3 and that delay almost always caused me to fail. It's like that brain teaser where you try to read the colours of words that don't match the words, like red blue green.
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Never made in far in armda II since they removed the ship customization part of the gameplay from 1, which was pretty much the most fun part of 1. The empire management part also never seemed really deep so I didn't really feel like even trying it.
Artsy fartsy requires a careful and delicate snowflakey touch, the slightest slip or scratch or aimless bumble around an insignificant asset patch can pull the seams of illusion a little too much. Been meaning to try Gris at some point too, but have to finish other stuff before moving on currently or they'll never get done.
I enjoyed GRIS. It was just short enough not to wear out it's welcome, the introduction of new gameplay mechanics each time you unlock a new color(which also made the world feel a little more fleshed out because once inaccessible areas now become available to explore) and having some decently challenging(and interesting) platforming all worked to keep my interest. It's also super abstract(on top of being very pretty) but it's a very dream-like sort of abstract, which worked for me. I'm sure there was some symbolism that totally flew over my head but I don't feel like it was incomprehensible either.
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Well, after 162 hours, about 2 and a half months, I have finally finished Persona 5 Royal. I have to say, I feel rather sad to be leaving that world. After spending so long with those characters, I feel a little sad about finally finishing it. To the point that I almost started a new game right after the end credits, then I remembered how tired I was of the game after all the time I spent with it and decided against it. A sign of a great game I think is one that you have grown tired with and yet when it is over, your first thought is to jump straight back in. I'm not sold on the new ending though, it is more bittersweet than the original. I'm not sure why Joker couldn't of stayed in Tokyo with Makoto, I mean his parents are not exactly bothered about him, they never once get in touch with him to see how he is doing. Actually the fight with the final boss, who I won't name due to spoilers, is a little disappointing. It starts off quite tough and ends up as a one button QTE. Anyway, still a great game regardless of my grumbles with it.
Anyway, I started Tomb Raider Definitive Edition last night which has been in my backlog for a while. I felt like something short and brainless after P5R. Its harder than I remember even though I'm playing on Normal, which adds to my assumption that Normal in newer games is the new Easy mode. But even so, its still a fun game, I think its the best of the new Tomb Raider games.
Anyway, I started Tomb Raider Definitive Edition last night which has been in my backlog for a while. I felt like something short and brainless after P5R. Its harder than I remember even though I'm playing on Normal, which adds to my assumption that Normal in newer games is the new Easy mode. But even so, its still a fun game, I think its the best of the new Tomb Raider games.
I found Gravelord Nito's room, but he completely destroyed me. I'm just not equipped to fight a huge mob of skeletons while also trying to dodge Nito's own attacks, especially that one where his toxic sword bursts out of the ground with only a hard-to-read audio cue. Figured bringing a new weapon would help, so I've decided to pursue one of the other Lord Souls for a while to get some extra souls and Titanite for it. There's a fair bit of treasure I haven't gotten in Blighttown, so I've decided to check that out while heading back down to the Demon Ruins, since I forgot to get the bonfire behind Quelaag's room before.
Probably a dumb question but do you have a Holy/Divine Type weapon for Nito and his boys?
Anyway......
Jumped back into The Saboteur. I haven't really played any open world games since finishing Sassy Creed Odyssey last year and I'd had this in an unfinished state since 2017 or so. After remembering how all the controls work I'm getting back into it and boy, does it feel good to blow up some nazi stuff while shooting them in the face. Especially remembering AA/Flak guns can be hijacked and use to blow up Zeppelins, which make a nice, pretty splosion and are worth a bit of contraband(money). I gotten a couple missions done, but I've mostly been distracted blowing all up nazi stuff I find almost everywhere. Who would have thought not having enough dynamite would be a problem?
Some of Seans Dialogue is a bit Cringey though. Top of the Morning? Really? I'm fairly sure no actual Irish person actual says that.
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Not yet, but I'm getting one. Which is the other reason for the detour to the Demon Ruins: hoping I'll get a few drops on the way.
...Phew...
Beat Slave Knight Gael tonight, and I thought that was it until I did some exploring are ran into the phantom Shira. She had an annoying habit of healing whenever I was regaining stamina, but she couldn’t keep up with my poison coated blade. Anyways, it’s been a long road but I’ve finally made it through all of SoulsBorne proper, starting with Demon’s. I’ll probably start a NG+ of 3 someday, but for now I’ll bask in some relief and a bit of gaming glory. Looking forward to finishing some other more relaxing games like The Witcher 3, Edith Finch, and possibly Infamous: Second Son.
But most immediately I’m getting back into The Last of Us Remastered to get a feel for the series again before Part II this weekend.
Beat Slave Knight Gael tonight, and I thought that was it until I did some exploring are ran into the phantom Shira. She had an annoying habit of healing whenever I was regaining stamina, but she couldn’t keep up with my poison coated blade. Anyways, it’s been a long road but I’ve finally made it through all of SoulsBorne proper, starting with Demon’s. I’ll probably start a NG+ of 3 someday, but for now I’ll bask in some relief and a bit of gaming glory. Looking forward to finishing some other more relaxing games like The Witcher 3, Edith Finch, and possibly Infamous: Second Son.
But most immediately I’m getting back into The Last of Us Remastered to get a feel for the series again before Part II this weekend.
So I decided to give two games a second chance.
The first was The Wonderful 101 remaster, a game I initially started playing years back on the Wii-U. Back then I couldn't get into it, but now it seems even worse. I just hate how the game tries to make its world as inorganic as possible. Everything about it makes me feel like there's no life or character to anything. The zoomed out camera makes it so I might as well be looking at a bunch of skittles moving around, everything moves to fast to take in, and the whole forming of weapons and quick-time actions is just so shit. And the menu aesthetic is ugly as sin. This game flopped for a reason, and it wasn't for being on the Wii-U.
The 2nd second chance was Days Gone. It was only twenty bucks thanks to the Days of Play discount, so I thought 'why not'. I played it when it first came out and the gameplay was just not right. Nothing mechanically felt right. It wasn't terrible, it just didn't feel like anything, no taste or satisfaction whatsoever. And the story and world really weren't doing anything for me either, so I traded it back in a fews days later without having goten very far into it. I only decided to give it another shot after hearing that the developer released a whole bunch of patches that tweaked a lot of the mechanics. And so far I am enjoying it more, from a mechanics perspective anyway.
The first was The Wonderful 101 remaster, a game I initially started playing years back on the Wii-U. Back then I couldn't get into it, but now it seems even worse. I just hate how the game tries to make its world as inorganic as possible. Everything about it makes me feel like there's no life or character to anything. The zoomed out camera makes it so I might as well be looking at a bunch of skittles moving around, everything moves to fast to take in, and the whole forming of weapons and quick-time actions is just so shit. And the menu aesthetic is ugly as sin. This game flopped for a reason, and it wasn't for being on the Wii-U.
The 2nd second chance was Days Gone. It was only twenty bucks thanks to the Days of Play discount, so I thought 'why not'. I played it when it first came out and the gameplay was just not right. Nothing mechanically felt right. It wasn't terrible, it just didn't feel like anything, no taste or satisfaction whatsoever. And the story and world really weren't doing anything for me either, so I traded it back in a fews days later without having goten very far into it. I only decided to give it another shot after hearing that the developer released a whole bunch of patches that tweaked a lot of the mechanics. And so far I am enjoying it more, from a mechanics perspective anyway.
Beat the Utawarerumono remake, many a tear were shed, now I'm looking forward to the sequel which was announced a while back.
Will prolly finish up doom eternal in a day or 2 and then finally start on p5R, I pushed it back when FFVIIR came out and then I got into other stuff and it kept getting pushed back but finally I think it's time haha.
Will prolly finish up doom eternal in a day or 2 and then finally start on p5R, I pushed it back when FFVIIR came out and then I got into other stuff and it kept getting pushed back but finally I think it's time haha.