What are you currently playing?

[Agema]

I found Phoenix Point easier then the Xcom games, till the final battle since that was just bullshit and I really needed to load up on ammo and even then it was still bullshit. I think what propelled me through Phoenix Point, once I reached the easy point, was how much I enjoyed the aiming mechanics and being able to disable enemy parts, which is also something that added to the ease.

I almost entirely played PP when it was limited to the Epic Games Store. They might have balanced it since, but you could oh-so-easily run into far more than you could take back then. The middle-late game machine gun Arthrons were probably the biggest problem: they could pretty much total one of your soldiers in one burst, and with the reaction fire, you couldn't risk shoot them at anything but long range unless you could guarantee blowing their arm off. When your team was sighted and ten of them were running at you (plus a couple of sirens, etc.) it was exceptionally hairy. Not infrequently, facing being overrun, I'd just flee the battlefield.

 

[Worgen]

I almost entirely played PP when it was limited to the Epic Games Store. They might have balanced it since, but you could oh-so-easily run into far more than you could take back then. The middle-late game machine gun Arthrons were probably the biggest problem: they could pretty much total one of your soldiers in one burst, and with the reaction fire, you couldn't risk shoot them at anything but long range unless you could guarantee blowing their arm off. When your team was sighted and ten of them were running at you (plus a couple of sirens, etc.) it was exceptionally hairy. Not infrequently, facing being overrun, I'd just flee the battlefield.

The machine gun guys were annoying, but the worst were the ones that would use your own weapons since they liked to teleport after taking fire and turning invisible. Plus the sirens could be super annoying, but focused fire usually did it. Mind control worked fantastically against the giant monster guys.

 

[Bartholen]

Got one of the rarest achievements, Minimalist (completion rate 4,0%), in Slay the Spire. It requires you to beat the game with a deck of 5 or fewer cards. Sounds hard, but once you know the strategy and what cards to aim for, it's not difficult at all. It's very heavily RNG-dependent: for my run all I basically needed was Double Tap (plays the next attack twice) and an upgraded Rampage (increases in damage by 8 every time it's used). With that combo you have a ridiculous escalation of power as the Rampage increases in damage by 16 every turn, and since most bosses will be taking 50% extra damage from being vulnerable, that's an exponential damage curve. The hard part is how to get rid of enough cards which occasionally forces you to forego more advantageous rooms, but once you accept that as part of the challenge it's no issue at all. What's left is attempting the game again and again until you land the right cards. Sounds tedious, but since you can just quit out of the attempt if you don't get any of the cards in the first act, it doesn't take nearly as much time as you'd think. Took me in total maybe 5 hours to get.

 

[gorfias]

Amazon Prime members get Far Cry 4 this month (you have to link your Ubisoft account) and 5 other games, mostly shovelware.

This was one of the 1st games I ever got for the PS4. Very pretty for so early in the gen. Fun to play on PC onto a projection screen. I never came close to beating it, so its still kinda new to me. June games becoming available on PS+ next Tuesday, Xbox Gold games now and again 6/16. Tomorrow, Epic games will have their free game.

Keeps me busy while my pile of shame grows.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I finally got around to starting up Borderlands 3 after it was put up for free on the Epic Game Store.

...what the fuck is wrong with this game? It plays like shit! Guns won't fire consistently, reloads keep interrupting themselves, and the actual act of firing a weapon feels weak and insubstantial- scope drift moves the view more than recoil does. How did we get from the crisp gunplay of the first two games to this?

 

[gorfias]

I finally got around to starting up Borderlands 3 after it was put up for free on the Epic Game Store.

...what the fuck is wrong with this game? It plays like shit! Guns won't fire consistently, reloads keep interrupting themselves, and the actual act of firing a weapon feels weak and insubstantial- scope drift moves the view more than recoil does. How did we get from the crisp gunplay of the first two games to this?

I grabbed this one too. I haven't tried it yet but will do so. Any chance something is set up wrong for this game on your rig?
Unfortunate. As tech advances, you expect games to improve in their sequels. If you are right about this one, it won't be the 1st time to happen.

 

[Hawki]

So you might recall awhile back that I was ranting about Xenoblade 2. Well, having kept with it, I will say that I'm more...reciprocal to the game. That's not to say it's "good," but, well, random thoughts:

-I still don't really "get" the combat. I understand the principles - change Blade to change your style, chain together attacks based on element, etc., but I still can't shake the feeling that I'm doing something wrong. It really doesn't help that there's just so much stuff you have to shift through, and so many options. I get that it's weird to complain about there being too many options rather than too many, but I've never been a maths person. There's a reason why in this very post I can talk about stuff like lore and story far more than gameplay.

-It does help that I've done enough grinding that on average, every time I enter a new area, I'm generally a few levels above the monsters in said area.

-So, at this point in time, I'm up to Mor Adain (if you haven't played the game, that won't mean anyting to you, so don't worry). So...okay, I have problems with the story, but they're not the kind of problems I mentioned earlier. In part because so much time passes between cutscenes (in that you're encouraged to explore, take side-quests, etc.), that I've often forgotten certain plot points. If you asked me WHY the characters are in Mor Adain right now, I honestly can't remember. I know the ultimate goal is to get to Elysium because...reasons, but this particular segment of the journey? Yeah. I don't think that's the game's fault per se, but I think a key difference is that when exploration is encouraged in RPGs, there's still a clearly defined goal. For instance, ME1 has clear goals ("find Saren" - stop Saren ' stop the Reapers), while XC2's overall goal is "Pyra needs to get to Elysium to do something, and Rex has to follow her because she saved his life, Nia and Tora are just along for shits and giggles, and this guy Malos wants to wipe out humanity because he's an asshole." It really doesn't help by the fact that Pyra clearly knows more than what she's letting on, but the characters still won't ask her about it until certain points in the story.

 

[Hawki]

-Being a bit more positive, there's more of a sense of how this world works. If anything, the setting's arguably more defined than XC1. I get a sense of the cultural differences between Uraya and Mor Ardain (stock differences, but explainable ones), and having reached Mor Ardain...yeah, I can see why the Ardanians might want more land as their home Titan is kind of shit. I say more defined because XC1 had stuff like "Colony 9" and "Colony 6," with no clear hierarchy or trade system for the Homs, whereas in XC2, there's a better sense of how things operate (Mor Ardain and Uraya are the top dogs, everyone else is caught in the middle).

-On the flipside, the environments are still gorgeous. Again, reaching Mor Ardain, it's striking how different it is from Gormott and Uraya. Again, it's a stock difference, but it's a difference nonetheless.

-The game still thinks I'm a horny teenager, because, well...

Mythra & Rex sleep with each other . Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - YouTube

This. I had to sit through this. I'm a grown man, and I had to sit through this.

...Christ, what is it with the Japanese and scantily clad women? I know they're not alone in this, but Christ! Even by the standards of the series, this is excessive. The relationships in XC1 felt genuine (Shulk and Fiora, Melia pining over Shulk, the 'thing' between Reyn and Sharla), but this? This is just...ugh.

Anyway, out of time. TL, DR, I don't like XC2 that much, but it's become better than when I started.

 

[Kyrian007]

I finally got around to starting up Borderlands 3 after it was put up for free on the Epic Game Store.

...what the fuck is wrong with this game? It plays like shit! Guns won't fire consistently, reloads keep interrupting themselves, and the actual act of firing a weapon feels weak and insubstantial- scope drift moves the view more than recoil does. How did we get from the crisp gunplay of the first two games to this?

I didn't find it much changed from 2. I thought 2's gunfire felt significantly weaker and more insubstantial than 1's... and 3 was no worse than 2. And I didn't have any problem with consistency or interrupted reloads or scopes. They didn't seem any different than they were in 2 at any rate. My biggest problem with it was I competed it. With each of the paltry 4 available vault hunters. There is a "play after you finish it" mode to grind out to max level and for better loot... but no further complete runs through like TVHM. And I didn't see the need to grind after I beat the game with each character... so it really lacks replay value compared to 2 which had 6 characters and 2 playthrough modes for each. 3 only has 4 characters and 1 playthrough each. It is just objectively less game to play than its predecessor.

 

[meiam]

Got one of the rarest achievements, Minimalist (completion rate 4,0%), in Slay the Spire. It requires you to beat the game with a deck of 5 or fewer cards. Sounds hard, but once you know the strategy and what cards to aim for, it's not difficult at all. It's very heavily RNG-dependent: for my run all I basically needed was Double Tap (plays the next attack twice) and an upgraded Rampage (increases in damage by 8 every time it's used). With that combo you have a ridiculous escalation of power as the Rampage increases in damage by 16 every turn, and since most bosses will be taking 50% extra damage from being vulnerable, that's an exponential damage curve. The hard part is how to get rid of enough cards which occasionally forces you to forego more advantageous rooms, but once you accept that as part of the challenge it's no issue at all. What's left is attempting the game again and again until you land the right cards. Sounds tedious, but since you can just quit out of the attempt if you don't get any of the cards in the first act, it doesn't take nearly as much time as you'd think. Took me in total maybe 5 hours to get.

Most deckbuilding game that let you draw at infinity (ie no penalty for re using discarded card) become easier the less card you have. imo I think that's a bit of a weakness since part of the fun of them is figuring out what the best startegy is for the card you have, but when you have a small deck you can just play the same hand over and over again which makes it quite boring. I prefer game that force you to always have the same number of card in your deck.

 

[Worgen]

I finally got around to starting up Borderlands 3 after it was put up for free on the Epic Game Store.

...what the fuck is wrong with this game? It plays like shit! Guns won't fire consistently, reloads keep interrupting themselves, and the actual act of firing a weapon feels weak and insubstantial- scope drift moves the view more than recoil does. How did we get from the crisp gunplay of the first two games to this?

What the hell are you talking about? Everything you said there is wrong, are you sure you played BL3 and not the pre-sequel, cause the weapon firing in BL3 feels great, better then it did in any of the other games. Even the starting weapons in BL3 feel good.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Finished A Short Hike. Cute game but man that final "twist" did nothing for me. Like it doesn't ruin the game or anything like that but it did not have at all the emotional resonance they were clearly going for. It felt super forced to me.

I can't even call it a twist, which requires for anything to be established in the first place before you can actually "twist" it.

So here you are in some kind of camping site/national park, presumably against your will, after being dropped off for the day by your mom if I got that right. Your character's immediate goal is to climb to the top of the local mountain so she can get cellphone reception - and here I assumed that was a joke about "kids these days" unable to go for a day without being glued to their phones, and how in the process of doing all the little errands and quests on your way up the mountain surely the character learns about enjoying the little things, appreciating the moment etc. Because it's a cute, chill, lovely game about casually wandering around nature and helping others.

Instead you make it to the top of the mountain and here's what happens: you get a call from your mom telling you she survived surgery. Fuck off why don't you. I'm supposed to be emotionally invested in the inner turmoil of a character I didn't know had any until she came to terms with it? That's like playing Silent Hill 2 thinking you're just looking for a bed and breakfast and then learning within the final minute of the game that James was looking for his wife. Who is dead. Because he killed her. Because she asked. But he also wanted it a little bit, so he assumes the whole guilt, and with Mary dead only James can forgive himself.

Just saying. If you wanted to make your cutesy animal game about coping with cancer maybe work the theme in a bit earlier than the ending moments where I'm supposed to be crying my eyes out because I totally didn't see it coming. That's not how it works, or at least it did not work for me at all.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

What the hell are you talking about? Everything you said there is wrong, are you sure you played BL3 and not the pre-sequel, cause the weapon firing in BL3 feels great, better then it did in any of the other games. Even the starting weapons in BL3 feel good.

Yes, I am absolutely sure I'm talking about BL3, and thank you for telling me my objective experience is wrong without any sort of evidence or proof. I guess I just imagined having to click my mouse button six times in a row before my gun would fire?

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Finished Horizon: Forbidden West
It's... fine. Like a big ol' DIC for Zero Dawn. I think I'm getting jaded with sequels. Maybe too much Escapist and Yahtzee and you guys filling my head with lofty artistic expectations about games, hah-hah.

I'm gone for a few days so I get a little video game reset/refresh before picking my next game. Here are my options:

Playstation, Days of Play sale:
Guardians of the Galaxy
Lego Star Wars: Skywalker Saga
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Laptop:
Stanley Parable: Deluxe Edition
Tunic

Basically depends on if I feel like another Big AAA action-y game or switch to a thoughtful laptop experience. The latter is also cheapest because I have a bunch of funds on my Steam Wallet which is why I'm gonna check out Stanely Parable at some point- it's like this big cult classic gamer favorite. I never really tried it because it seems like one of those things that's good in theory but I would probably not actually like to play but it doesn't hurt to give it a shot.
Tunic just looks cute and seems like it would be a nice break after back-to-back AAA sequel time-drainers (Horizon 2 and Dark Souls 4).

Lego Star Wars is something I would have never considered but one critic sold me on it as a possibility when he described at as re-lving only the good parts of the Star Wars movies. As someone who is just completely ambivalent about any of the Star Wars movies beyond the original trilogy (like... they're fine, whatever, it's for kids, what's it my business), that sounds like a pretty fun time.

 

[Bartholen]

Completed both Ranni's and Fia's questlines in Elden Ring and beat Mohg, Lord of Blood. Used a wiki for all of them, fuck you. I have a day job, and this shit makes getting to the Artorias DLC look like 2+2. Talk to this doll you just found three times at this checkpoint, go find this item that the questgiver gives a name for, but it's not the actual name of the item, drop down this hole that's specifically as much in the dark and as indistinct as possible, go do invasions but only with this specific consumable item, on and on. Christ, at least the previous games didn't lock boss fights behind online mechanics I've never given a shit about or enjoyed.

Godfrey was an awesome boss fight, and anime as all hell.

 

[Worgen]

Yes, I am absolutely sure I'm talking about BL3, and thank you for telling me my objective experience is wrong without any sort of evidence or proof. I guess I just imagined having to click my mouse button six times in a row before my gun would fire?

Are you sure your mouse isn't broken? Cause I've put over 100 hours into it and never had that problem, my partner has put like 300 in and hasn't had that issue either. Can you verify the file integrity?

 

[XsjadoBlaydette]

Snow Runner
While games like Bioshock explore the more fantastical dramatic downsides of libertarian ideology, it's refreshing to see a game like Snow Runner come along and present the (literally) down-to-earth mundane aspects of selfish billionaires managing to find a way to remove taxes entirely, leaving all the important public sector jobs like road maintenance, bridge repair, water drainage etc etc down to a barely trained, barely prepared, yet highly profit-motivated private sector...that private sector being meeee! And I've been away forever, so everything has turned to shit and no-one leaves their homes cause there's no police and the air is sodden with the foul stench of neglected sewage systems.

Ok, I admit I had to look up some patronising beginner tips after a bit to find out I was using the wrong truck for transporting cargo across wet mud. And was surprised to find the game basically set up as open world, with multiple areas to explore for those succulent profitable private maintenance jobbos. But once it clicked, it did so with an almighty satisfying industrial thud. I did not sleep thanks to this. There were important services to be provided, goddamn it! This type of finicky physics style problem-solving gameplay is exactly what I needed, especially for podcasts. But word of warning, opening the map does not pause the game, nor turn your engine off, so it's possible to burn up a significant chunk of your fuel tank merely plotting a windy course through the woods.

 

[Worgen]

I finally finished Xcom 2. I think I got distracted right near the end by Elden Ring, I think in my original play through I also stopped near the end. That last right was rough, so many enemy spawns, especially those damn Codexs and their whole cloning if they don't get one shot or almost one shot, not to mention their damn unloading your weapons.

I grabbed 40k Battlesector since it was on sale. I quite like the gameplay and the story is interesting since it looks like the story of the 40k universe has progressed, the Ultramarines primarch has shown back up, who knew and there are these new taller space marines around, I need to check 1d4chan to find out what the hell, in a snarky manner. I think my biggest complaint is the sound, its just really bad. Like, an old mobile phone game bad, where you couldn't really have layered sound effects. For instance, if you have a bolter squad shooting some termigants, then you will hear bolter fire but then the bad generic monster screams cut off the bolter file sound effect, its super weird. Not to mention the music is really boring, not even in the expected way, its just super quiet and easy to forget its there. Its otherwise a fun game, but holy crap, I haven't heard audio this bad in a very very long time. Voice acting is fine, but more British then I would expect the Blood Angels to be.

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

Replaying Super Mario Sunsine. having a lot of fun with it. I did the roller coaster balloon popping and The Watermelon Festival on my fiirst try. I'm going to 100% this game and no one's going to stop me.

 

[Bartholen]

Finally finished Elden Ring, eventual playtime 100 hours and 46 minutes. Jesus Christ. Went with the Frenzied Flame ending because, well, it locks you out of every other possible ending.

Spoiler: Thoughts on the ending

Kinda lame to be honest. A very brief cutscene, and basically a still image of the state of the world is all we get. I know esoteric and obtuse storytelling is Fromsoft's forte, but this game is so much bigger and has so many more characters than any of their prior games, that a bit more closure would have been nice. Maybe do a "where they went" montage for all the characters whose questlines you finished. Doesn't even need to be voiceover, you could just have a slideshow.

Welp, what better reason to start again with a wizard character this time?