What are you currently playing?

[XsjadoBlaydette]

Blacktail.
1st person AA witching game. Not the Witcher style witching where you're officially meant to be whacking witches but instead are unofficially wooing wild witches with your wily waist wand. No. This is the witching that witches do when they are doing all their wild witch shit. Presumably. More specifically, it's the Baba. And the Yaga. The alpha and the omega. The primordial source, the eternal womb of Fly agaric madness!

Soundtrack starts off alright with dramatic otherworldly wailing. Art style is impressive for its class (a 20 quid game), colourful and somewhat reminiscent of Fable at times, with a slight leaning towards a darker tone. The HUD is, well, shit, say it ain't so...it looks like someone actually cared about the HUD for once! It's not over the top with extravagant effects, but it has an appealing style and purpose.

Gameplay so far is mostly bow related, resource, discovery, upgrade, skill obtain loops, spread quite evenly at a laid back pace. Some unexpected minigames pop up too. Though it don't hang about introducing you to the moral choice systems, as the very first step to starting the game is answering "hey, do you wanna be hugging these trees? Or ripping them down with tools built from the bones of all the innocents you just murdered?" Not sure what it changes yet, but am suspecting the button prompts over various wildlife creatures that make my character exclaim "I shan't sacrifice these majestic souls for my own selfish ends!" probably has something to do with it. Also the moral choice systems are still a mystery. There's 3 different moral bars, possibly one of them, or two different halves of them are about bees?

There's some cute touches here there showing more care than most others in these genres, like instead of mission waypoint markers or glaring videogamey arrow paths, there are these sporadically placed cool little goth heart biscuits (cookies?) on the floor with a bite taken out of them. And if you fail to pick up any items on your journeys, when you get to a campfire there's this adorable fella holding on them, just croaking away...



Voice acting is sufficient, however, am personally not a fan of modern American accents in ye old European fantasy tales. Literally any other language or accent is fine, but modern American just don't pass the suspension of disbelief, being such a young country and all that. But is still entertaining enough tomfoolery to pass the time, is an affordable asking price too. Plus the mushrooms look kinda more sinister than your average sentient mushrooms, they got like snake-raptor faces who give off the distinct vibe that if you fall asleep near them, they will start to fucking munch on your brain.

 

[Bartholen]

Currently installing Dragon Age Origins for the 3rd or 4th time because I don't know why. I've previously slagged that game off on this forum so hard that I'm legit puzzled at myself. I've decided that this time I'm just going to breeze through the game on easy mode and focus entirely on the story. There is probably no gameplay system I loathe more than real time with pause RPG combat, but I've just been hankering for a proper choice-driven RPG so badly, and I know the Dragon Age series has an insane amount of lore to delve into. I did play Pillars of Eternity 2 for a bit, but I feel there's a fair bit of a learning curve to that game, and it's easier to jump back into a game where I'm already familiar with the systems.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Currently installing Dragon Age Origins for the 3rd or 4th time because I don't know why. I've previously slagged that game off on this forum so hard that I'm legit puzzled at myself. I've decided that this time I'm just going to breeze through the game on easy mode and focus entirely on the story. There is probably no gameplay system I loathe more than real time with pause RPG combat, but I've just been hankering for a proper choice-driven RPG so badly, and I know the Dragon Age series has an insane amount of lore to delve into. I did play Pillars of Eternity 2 for a bit, but I feel there's a fair bit of a learning curve to that game, and it's easier to jump back into a game where I'm already familiar with the systems.

Maybe you're subconsciously replaying the universally acknowledged best game in that series because you want to properly critic the new one coming out? Many of us fear it....

Yeah playing on easy mode is best- that game's world-building and story progression is top RGP stuff, in some ways even more so than my beloved Witcher 3 (and certainly deserves more credit as an original IP).

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

telling us many Bothan have died to bring us this information.

Many Bothans have died making me a cup of coffee.

 

[Chimpzy]

Many Bothans have died making me a cup of coffee.

As well they should. Lousy Bothans. Always botharing.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

As well they should. Lousy Bothans. Always botharing.

You name your planet Bothawui* you deserve everything you suffer.


*many Bothans died naming their planet.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Star Wars Squadrons

One of these days I need to fish my flight stick out of the closet and play that.

OT wank is having Luke, Han, Leia, Lando or such show up, or a mission on Tatooine or any of the OT planets.

Glad to see that's not a problem. The Hoth tourism board has made enough money.

 

[laggyteabag]

Wow a fellow Darksider!
I played that first on a PC I had a while ago, I don't recall any problems.
Now I'm playing Darksiders 2 on the Deck because when I tried it on PC it didn't work sort of? I dunno..

I've never actually played a Darksiders game, but the whole franchise is my best friend's favourite, so I figured it was time to give it a go - but the first game seems to be cursed on the Steam Deck.

In the original version of the game, the menu does not load. In the Remastered version, the cutscenes do not play.

I've checked a few workarounds, but the ones that didn't involve amending my Steam Deck's core permissions didn't work, so I might just play the game as is, and watch the cutscenes on YouTube when they were supposed to play. It doesn't strike me as a game where the story is integral to the experience, so it should be fine.

Otherwise, Ive seen that Darksiders 2 is verified on the Deck, so im sure it plays well enough.

As for the Steam Deck's own ratings, I find that they are more guidelines than solid indicators of quality.

Call of Juarez Gunslinger is a Steam Deck verified game, but the audio in cutscenes is terrible.

Yellow rated games can mean anything from "you might have to manually bring up the on-screen keyboard" to "cutscenes do not work at all" - so that is a mixed bag.

And Valve-tested games where they say it absolutely will not work on the Deck is sometimes complete rubbish to, because Batman Arkham Origins, which is rated as unplayable, worked completely fine, no tinkering necessary.

 

[Dalisclock]

Currently installing Dragon Age Origins for the 3rd or 4th time because I don't know why. I've previously slagged that game off on this forum so hard that I'm legit puzzled at myself. I've decided that this time I'm just going to breeze through the game on easy mode and focus entirely on the story. There is probably no gameplay system I loathe more than real time with pause RPG combat, but I've just been hankering for a proper choice-driven RPG so badly, and I know the Dragon Age series has an insane amount of lore to delve into. I did play Pillars of Eternity 2 for a bit, but I feel there's a fair bit of a learning curve to that game, and it's easier to jump back into a game where I'm already familiar with the systems.

Best of luck to you. I adapted to the Real time with Pause system in DAO but It something I put up with, not something I enjoyed.

I was glad I could more or less ignore it in DA2 and especially DAI.

 

[Dreiko]

Currently installing Dragon Age Origins for the 3rd or 4th time because I don't know why. I've previously slagged that game off on this forum so hard that I'm legit puzzled at myself. I've decided that this time I'm just going to breeze through the game on easy mode and focus entirely on the story. There is probably no gameplay system I loathe more than real time with pause RPG combat, but I've just been hankering for a proper choice-driven RPG so badly, and I know the Dragon Age series has an insane amount of lore to delve into. I did play Pillars of Eternity 2 for a bit, but I feel there's a fair bit of a learning curve to that game, and it's easier to jump back into a game where I'm already familiar with the systems.

Origins is not real time in the slightest, you don't really ever have to do an action outside of the pause menu, you can program the chars to have AI responses to conditions and you can manually issue commands to the member you're controlling but it really is better to do everything from the pause menu and then watch it unfold. The second DA tried to be way more actiony and the third one got to an in-between point so I get disliking those for this reason but Origins is totally able to be played from the pause mode.

 

[Dalisclock]

Origins is not real time in the slightest, you don't really ever have to do an action outside of the pause menu, you can program the chars to have AI responses to conditions and you can manually issue commands to the member you're controlling but it really is better to do everything from the pause menu and then watch it unfold. The second DA tried to be way more actiony and the third one got to an in-between point so I get disliking those for this reason but Origins is totally able to be played from the pause mode.

For me it was really irritating to do so. I could play DA2 or DAI as pretty much a real time game but for DAO it felt like an obnoxious half and half that didn't have the strengths of either. I would have probably enjoyed DAO combat a lot more if it was turned based since I had to babysit them so much, though finally going through the effort of setting tactics up let me kinda run themselves for the most part(though inevitably I'd forget to set up HEAL on a new party member and have them die because they forgot to heal). I think in DA2 and DAI I pretty much controlled my main character the whole time and let everyone else do their thing, and for the most part it worked. I think I'd pause every so often to get a feel for where the threats were and target a specific enemy or something but mostly it was real time.

 

[Dreiko]

For me it was really irritating to do so. I could play DA2 or DAI as pretty much a real time game but for DAO it felt like an obnoxious half and half that didn't have the strengths of either. I would have probably enjoyed DAO combat a lot more if it was turned based since I had to babysit them so much, though finally going through the effort of setting tactics up let me kinda run themselves for the most part(though inevitably I'd forget to set up HEAL on a new party member and have them die because they forgot to heal). I think in DA2 and DAI I pretty much controlled my main character the whole time and let everyone else do their thing, and for the most part it worked. I think I'd pause every so often to get a feel for where the threats were and target a specific enemy or something but mostly it was real time.

Yeah that's the thing, I didn't like the feel of not controlling the rest of the chars but that's kinda how you gotta play the other games, especially 2. I wanted to get that classic turn-based feel of using multi-party-member tactics, like one char freezes while the other does the freeze combo smash, or two spellcasters do a combo magic, stuff like that. Pulling off those things is all the fun for me. I think the game allowing you to play outside of pause mode is the problem. If it didn't it'd be just like a normal game but people being allowed to play it like a pseudo action game (it's not really, you're still just auto attacking like in FFXII) made it feel like a bad action game with pausing instead of a tactical rpg with an optional action-mode that should mainly be overlooked.


But yeah, as they transitioned into a more actiony system they had to tone down those style of combos and tactics cause it'd be harder to do em in that system, so it made it feel shallower.


Also Origins combat was a lot slower too, you would have more misses and less explosive damage, so you could strategize more. In DA3 I would just do my dragon rage slash and just 3-shot enemies left and right lol.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

(though inevitably I'd forget to set up HEAL on a new party member and have them die because they forgot to heal).

"Healing One's self mid-battle is not of the Qun."

Also, many Bothans have died flogging this dead horse.

 

[Dalisclock]

"Healing One's self mid-battle is not of the Qun."

Also, many Bothans have died flogging this dead horse.

The Qun didn't make you a healer, thus you can't heal. Enjoying dying from that paper cut because the Qun demands it.

I gotta throw this out

Iron Bull: "He makes a great healing potion but it tastes horrible."
Medic:"It's a poultice. You're not supposed to drink it"

 

[Dreiko]

The Qun didn't make you a healer, thus you can't heal. Enjoying dying from that paper cut because the Qun demands it.

I gotta throw this out

Iron Bull: "He makes a great healing potion but it tastes horrible."
Medic:"It's a poultice. You're not supposed to drink it"

The Qunari is prolly my favorite thing about DA, you can't imagine my joy when they let you play as one in 3.

 

[Dalisclock]

The Qunari is prolly my favorite thing about DA, you can't imagine my joy when they let you play as one in 3.

I'm kinda sad very few people actually bring it up in game if you do though.

Even the Qunari villian in Trespasser never so much as mentions it as many times as she taunts you. I expected at least a allusion to betraying the Qun or something from Vidasalla. I would have liked to have a little argument like "You've betrayed the Qun" "I was never in the Qun you Moron"

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

The Qunari is prolly my favorite thing about DA, you can't imagine my joy when they let you play as one in 3.

But but but... you don't play a Qunari you play a Tal Vashoth.



* many Bothans have died for this pedantry

 

[Bartholen]

Origins is not real time in the slightest, you don't really ever have to do an action outside of the pause menu, you can program the chars to have AI responses to conditions and you can manually issue commands to the member you're controlling but it really is better to do everything from the pause menu and then watch it unfold. The second DA tried to be way more actiony and the third one got to an in-between point so I get disliking those for this reason but Origins is totally able to be played from the pause mode.

Herein comes the fundamental disagreement I've been unable to reconcile in my brain for as long as I've tried to play those kinds of games: why not just make it turn-based then? The thing I guess my brain is just completely incapable of dealing with is how am I supposed to know what the fuck to do in combat if I'm supposed to be issuing commands to the entire party all at once? How am I supposed to tell where the enemies are headed, who they're going to attack, whether the AoE I'm casting will end up hitting nobody, what's the best positioning etc. etc. I can't tell the future. I tried playing Wrath of the Righteous with real time with pause for one fight, and on one occasion two big dudes ended up downing my paladin from full HP in like 3 seconds. How the fuck was I supposed to prepare for that while keeping track of everything else?

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Blacktail.

I saw this pass across my Steam recommendation list, but I wasn't sure about it. But if you're that happy with it so far, then maybe I'll check it out once I'm regularly using my PC again.

 

[09philj]

Star Wars Squadrons, which I got free on Epic a short while ago. It's OK. My first point of contention with it is that I don't like the control layout as much as Ace Combat 7 or Elite Dangerous, and having the throttle bound to a control stick you also need to help pull off fancy moves in particular is an annoyance I could do without. It's also a touch janky - I died at the same time as destroying an objective on the second mission, which resulted in me respawning at the last checkpoint without the objective doing the same. Fortunately this was resolved by quitting to the main menu and going back into the mission, which caused the game to decide that I'd completed it. I'm also not convinced by the campaign having mandatory missions where you play as an Imperial pilot, because fuck the Empire.