What are you currently playing?

[BrawlMan]

Evil West its a 3rd person action game were you fight vampires and their monsters with a bit more emphasis on melee combat then I was expecting, but its not fluid like Devil May Cry, but it is fun. Its a very... before gears of war type 3rd person game.

I appreciate the comparison, but what you're looking for is God Hand, Anarchy Reigns, and God of War 4 as the major influences for Evil West. The Gears part you somewhat correct, but Jesse moves faster than the Cogs.

Its got the camera locked behind your character, there is no cover system, you are kinda chunky but have some decent movement abilities. Its nothing mind blowing, but its a really solid older style 3rd person action game.

That's best thing, and I am glad there is no cover system. It's all about mixing in your twitch shooting, brawling, and dodging properly. This is true arcade style. You'll get the option to upgrade your dodge as you get further into game, along with a bunch of other goodies I won't spoil.

 

[Dalisclock]

Realized I haven't updated in a while and might as well before the forums die.

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous

Finally finished it and yeah, it was pretty good. Kind of have to fight the urge to play it again with a different Mythic Path and Build since it took 100 hours to finish it as is over the course of the summer and fall. It turns out there's a golden/secret ending that's a giant Pain in the ass to get so I didn't bother, though I got a number of the requirements just by playing the way I wanted to. But I didn't have all of them and it was far too late to get some of them by the end.

The Messenger

I started this a couple months back because I was enjoying Sea of Stars but honestly I didn't really feel it anymore by the time I came back and it was getting increasingly difficult. I eventually decided to call it quits and youtube the rest of the game to catch the references to Sea of Stars and man does it get fucking difficult later on so I don't feel too bad. I was getting Ninja Gaiden PTSD just watching that.

I do question Sea of Stars having a number of plot threads which are basically there to tie into The Messenger but unlike SoS The Messenger doesn't seem to have adjustable difficulty and it's a notably different game/genre. So while I really enjoyed the CT love letter that SoS was, I kind of feel like it really wanted me to play The Messenger, a game I have a lot less enthusiasm for, to see how those plot threads are resolved.

9 Years of Shadows

Picked this up on sale a while back and decided to give it a go because it's short and looked interesting. Turns out it's...pretty okay and that's about it. It's not a long game but I didn't finish it. I got stuck on one of the bosses and couldn't beat it and there was no way to upgrade weapons or go around it to try to power through. It didn't help the boss would occasionally glitch making it more annoying to fight then it already was.

It also didn't help that there wasn't much in the way of walkthroughs available and the reviews were pretty much that the game is pretty meh. And to be honest, I kind of agree. The artwork is great but there's nothing in the game I haven't seen before elsewhere and done more interestingly before. So I don't feel bad dropping it.

 

[BrawlMan]

@CriticalGaming

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart - I am still early into the game, and I am loving it. Performance mode is the only way to go for me when it comes to games like this.

 

[XsjadoBlaydette]

Gungrave Gore. Hmmm, wait something is off, *double checks* ...ah, sorry, G.O.R.E!
Became available from assuming is part of same mysterious subscription service benefactor likely being past self, so couldn't say no to a download. Didn't really have any expectations one way or another, so far is feeling fun and punchy to play though. Protag giving off a special kind of endearing edgelord design, is quite possible the artist watched The Crow film as much as my teen self did.

 

[BrawlMan]

Gungrave Gore. Hmmm, wait something is off, *double checks* ...ah, sorry, G.O.R.E!
Became available from assuming is part of same mysterious subscription service benefactor likely being past self, so couldn't say no to a download. Didn't really have any expectations one way or another, so far is feeling fun and punchy to play though. Protag giving off a special kind of endearing edgelord design, is quite possible the artist watched The Crow film as much as my teen self did.

The game is definitely much better with all the patch updates, but I am almost never coming back to this game again.

. Protag giving off a special kind of endearing edgelord design, is quite possible the artist watched The Crow film as much as my teen self did.

The first game is literally The Crow, but with a science-fiction/cyberpunk setting combined with Desperado. With a name like Brandon "Beyond The Grave" Heat, that is definitely a hard name reference to Brandon Lee.

 

[XsjadoBlaydette]

The game is definitely much better with all the patch updates, but I am almost never coming back to this game again.


The first game is literally The Crow, but with a science-fiction/cyberpunk setting combined with Desperado. With a name like Brandon "Beyond The Grave" Heat, that is definitely a hard name reference to Brandon Lee.

Oh. my. gawwd. Had doubted whether the crow vibes might've just been from own bias and lazy-brain shaping perception. Yet those are cold hard facts you've brought of which I cannot, and do not want to refute any time soon.
Does the difficulty become bullshit at some point? Was already feeling cautious enough to go in on standard difficulty, and am prepared to hit the big red bottun of easy mode if required lol.

(wholesome n good to see Dalisclock again, your presence has been missed!)

 

[BrawlMan]

Does the difficulty become bullshit at some point? Was already feeling cautious enough to go in on standard difficulty, and am prepared to hit the big red bottun of easy mode if required lol.

It will, but the game was patched to make it easier, even on Normal, but I can't tell what exactly changed (aside Rose Quartz's platforming segments made super easy now). The game does the thing of just throwing tons of enemies at you, but gets repetitive after a while. You will have to grind like crazy to get Grave's good moves though.

​

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Got back into The Witcher 3 yet again, with a fresh install on my SSD. I had eighty something hours on Blood and Broken Bones, but on my previous session dropped it to the Story difficulty for efficiency. Although I’ve read Death March is said to be where all the game’s systems “click” best, so maybe if I’m still wanting more I’ll save that for a second playthrough.

Anyways, I’m at level 21 now which is probably low at this many hours, but I’m only at the Uma’s Curse which is I think barely into the second Act. The main reason it’s been taking me so long I think is because, at least compared to the first couple games, it’s just so massive in nearly every aspect and easy to get sidetracked by practically anything. Then I lose focus and go back to playing something else. It’s funny because I started the bloody thing nearly six years ago when I built a new PC for it. We’ll see how far I get with this latest run at it, but I have a good feeling after currently being kinda burnt out on other games.

 

[BrawlMan]

Rift Apart - I am a little over a 1/3 into the game. I am loving the shooting in this game. Insomniac know how to make the most addictive and creative guns in video games. They deliver on the PS2 goodness! Another great thing about the game is the creative level design, open-endedness, and scripted sequences/set pieces. You're never doing the exact same thing over and over, yet each new planet or set piece does something unique without being overbearing, nor outstaying its welcome. Insomniac really pulled out the stops to make each world and planet look beautiful and explorable.

Ratchet and Rivet have fun mechanics, but they play identical to each other. Even if it were small differences, it would've been nice to give either exclusive weapons, and give them different attack strengths or movement speeds. For example, Rivet could have been a fragile speedster to Ratchet's jack-of-all-stats. I get why Insomniac did this, but it would have been nice to experiment more in this area. The only difference is that they get exclusive set pieces or scripted sequences unique to them. Otherwise, they're good characters in personality and action. There isn't much left for Ratchet and Clank at this point, but it is nice to see them still active. This game is obviously Rivet and Kit's origin story though, and RA is pretty much parallel retelling of R&C1.

Here's hoping for the next game it either focuses on Rivet and Kit, or puts an end to the search for the Lombax species storyline for good. Because that main plot has been dragged around long enough.

 

[Chimpzy]

Prodeus
Finished this up this past weekend, so not really playing this anymore, but I should say something about it nonetheless. So yeah, boomshoot. Very Doom-y, but also Quake-y. Both in a visual sense as in gameplay. Such circle strafe. No rocket jumping, boo. Overall, good time tho. Not the most original weapon selection, kind of a grabbag of Doom, Quake and a bit of Unreal. But they feel good to use, with crunchy sound and impact effects. Much chunky salsa. Special mention goes to the shotguns for that "god slams his car door" vibe. Kind of sucks that about a third of the enemy roster are recolors with slightly different attacks and bigger health pools. Campaign ending also kind of sucks. Pretty anticlimactic.

Stasis Bone Totem
Isometric point & click adventure. You know the deal: solve puzzles by scouring the environment for things to rub onto other stuff. Sometimes rubbing the obviously wrong thing on the right stuff leads to death scenes, which you actually get achievements for. Setting and story are kind of all over the place, drawing on all kinds of sci-fi horror tropes, notable Alien, The Thing, The Abyss, Event Horizon and Lovecraft. But it does so effectively, forgoing jump scares and opting for a slow build of atmosphere and tension. I enjoy the characters, especially Moses, a sort of teddy bear robot AI that's like a cross between a non-evil Davod from Prometheus and Winnie the Pooh. Comes with some appreciated quality of life features, like pinging the environment to show all points of interest, distinguishing between those that are just for flavor, and ones that can be interacted with. Also, you can pass items between the inventories of all three playable characters at all times, which is actually an essential part of puzzle solving.

 

[Bartholen]

I allowed myself a weekend of Total Warhammer 2. I cleared the Malagor campaign and got both the Short and Long campaign victories in one swoop, because Bretonnia (one of the factions you need to wipe out) had spread all the way south. I then started playing the Kroq-Gar campaign, and got a decent way through. Though it's another campaign where the geography screws you pretty hard: you start off in a pretty isolated corner which is very easy to take over, but way too far from other areas to really make good use of later. The areas after that are split by mountain ranges, meaning you're basically fighting on two fronts, because Lizardmen lack any special campaign movement mechanics. So it's a very grindy, slow campaign up the eastern coast of Not-Africa. Another way in which the campaign screws you is the diplomacy. You're heavily encouraged to confederate with the other factions, but they're all Lizardmen, which are very reluctant to do so. I have over 100+ favorability and trade agreements with this one faction with a single settlement, and they still won't give me an inch.

I also started Cyberpunk 2077. I'm only at the beginning, but I'm already being drawn into the world in a way I haven't felt in a long time. The long car ride from the first mission made my mouth water with the thought of getting to explore all of it later. So far my main complaint is that the UI seems pretty unintuitive. We'll see how that goes. I've already got a roleplay concept for my character, I'm interested to see how much opportunity the game gives for it.

 

[meiam]

Although I’ve read Death March is said to be where all the game’s systems “click” best, so maybe if I’m still wanting more I’ll save that for a second playthrough.

It really isn't, the system never click unless you really like damage sponge enemy.

I also started Cyberpunk 2077. I'm only at the beginning, but I'm already being drawn into the world in a way I haven't felt in a long time. The long car ride from the first mission made my mouth water with the thought of getting to explore all of it later. So far my main complaint is that the UI seems pretty unintuitive. We'll see how that goes. I've already got a roleplay concept for my character, I'm interested to see how much opportunity the game gives for it.

Sadly there's very little roleplay to be had in the game, storywise it's more like a GTA than an RPG.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Rift Apart - I am a little over a 1/3 into the game. I am loving the shooting in this game. Insomniac know how to make the most addictive and creative guns in video games. They deliver on the PS2 goodness! Another great thing about the game is the creative level design, open-endedness, and scripted sequences/set pieces. You're never doing the exact same thing over and over, yet each new planet or set piece does something unique without being overbearing, nor outstaying its welcome. Insomniac really pulled out the stops to make each world and planet look beautiful and explorable.

Ratchet and Rivet have fun mechanics, but they play identical to each other. Even if it were small differences, it would've been nice to give either exclusive weapons, and give them different attack strengths or movement speeds. For example, Rivet could have been a fragile speedster to Ratchet's jack-of-all-stats. I get why Insomniac did this, but it would have been nice to experiment more in this area. The only difference is that they get exclusive set pieces or scripted sequences unique to them. Otherwise, they're good characters in personality and action. There isn't much left for Ratchet and Clank at this point, but it is nice to see them still active. This game is obviously Rivet and Kit's origin story though, and RA is pretty much parallel retelling of R&C1.

Here's hoping for the next game it either focuses on Rivet and Kit, or puts an end to the search for the Lombax species storyline for good. Because that main plot has been dragged around long enough.

Probably won't see a new Ratchet and Clank game till we a get the Playstation 6. This series seems mostly relegated to new hardware showcase.

 

[BrawlMan]

Probably won't see a new Ratchet and Clank game till we a get the Playstation 6. This series seems mostly relegated to new hardware showcase.

Which weird, because Sony and Insomniac had no problem releasing that remake in 2016. Before that game, the PS3 has 6 of these games. It wouldn't kill them to make another one for this console generation and be done with it. I'll take your advice, but I doubt they would hold it off for that long. Then again, they're working on Wolverine now, so you might have a huge point.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I did some more Streets of Rage 4, and did the current Survival twice before the weekly expired. I couldn't get past Level 42.

@Old_Hunter_77, did you ever finish the main campaign? I know you are having trouble with the last stage.

I'll be playing Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart later tonight.

nah.. I kinda felt I got what i needed out of it. Plus I'm on one of my screen detox/hardware refresh modes so no gaming for a bit. But I got what I wanted out of my time with it so I'm happy with the game

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Got back into The Witcher 3 yet again, with a fresh install on my SSD. I had eighty something hours on Blood and Broken Bones, but on my previous session dropped it to the Story difficulty for efficiency. Although I’ve read Death March is said to be where all the game’s systems “click” best, so maybe if I’m still wanting more I’ll save that for a second playthrough.

Anyways, I’m at level 21 now which is probably low at this many hours, but I’m only at the Uma’s Curse which is I think barely into the second Act. The main reason it’s been taking me so long I think is because, at least compared to the first couple games, it’s just so massive in nearly every aspect and easy to get sidetracked by practically anything. Then I lose focus and go back to playing something else. It’s funny because I started the bloody thing nearly six years ago when I built a new PC for it. We’ll see how far I get with this latest run at it, but I have a good feeling after currently being kinda burnt out on other games.

I personally wouldn't agree with the idea that the hardest difficulty is necessary for the systems to "click."
The game's biggest weakness is how difficulty, leveling and character progression works... or doesn't work.. together. As I always say, it's my favorite game of all time despite it being an absolute dogshit RPG.

I think for the first play-through, just change the difficulty to make it more fun as you go, as you're already doing. Once you get to ~level 10 or so, and especially after you progress through the next large section of the main quest in Novigrad, the combat gets piss-easy. This is why it's the only game I've beaten on hardest difficulty because all you have to do is struggle through the opening 10 hours or so.

So the first play-through is best to go in blind and mess around and do whatever and beat the game. The second play-through is to do all the stuff you didn't do in the first play-through while also, if you like, pursuing all remaining achievements and playing on hardest difficulty and all that.

By Uma's Curse I assume you mean you're at Kaer Morhen already? I'd say you're at that halfway mark, maybe a little more (depending on how you play and which things you did or didn't do when etc). In terms of leveling, the final main quests recommended levels are at 28, the final important/missable/story-related side quest is at level 30, and the highest level non-missable base game side quest is at level 35 (though you can easily do it at level 30). So at this point you should be looking at "builds" and picking a witcher gear set if you like and kind of thinging late/end game like.

Also if you do go for a second play-through, come back to talk about mods, I have some recs...

 

[BrawlMan]

nah.. I kinda felt I got what i needed out of it. Plus I'm on one of my screen detox/hardware refresh modes so no gaming for a bit. But I got what I wanted out of my time with it so I'm happy with the game

Glad you had fun. Feel free to jump back in or into another brawler anytime.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Started on Watch Dogs 2.

At first, I was quite annoyed with the unforgiving stealth system. I was so confused why the game throws dozens of lethal weapons and general means of murder at you, yet seemingly thinks you should be playing as a goody two shoes hacktivist. All these fun toys and yet the game wants you to sneak around smacking people with your yo-yo.

Then Marcus goes on a mission and trades a paparazzi a celebrity sex tape in exchange for some information. At that point, I said fuck it and chucked ludonarrative dissonance out the window. Recently evicted? I'm stealing your 45 bucks. Member of a gang? You're gonna get run over by your own car. Minimum wage security? I'm shooting you in your fucking head. Ethics? Morality? Who cares, everyone is getting murdered.

So the story is pretty much a lost cause. I actually don't hate the hipster squad as much as I thought, but every time they register some level of shock or outrage at the big bad companies doing a capitalism, I just mentally check out.

In classic Ubisoft fashion, there is just way too much fucking fluff. I was willing to do 8 graffiti missions, even 12, but fuck off with your 20+ missions. In the future I think I will have to be much more selective about what side missions I partake in.

But my biggest problem with this game is also the pettiest: Marcus looks like a middle aged man going through one especially severe midlife crisis. I don't know who his actor is, but he deserves an apology for how fucking old they made him look. Every cutscene, I get so distracted by the Grand Canyon-esque creases in his forehead.

I am having fun though. The gameplay loop of parkouring over walls, sending up your drone, and dropping goons with headshots is satisfying. I think I'll just have to focus on story missions or upgrades that I really really want.

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

I personally wouldn't agree with the idea that the hardest difficulty is necessary for the systems to "click."
The game's biggest weakness is how difficulty, leveling and character progression works... or doesn't work.. together. As I always say, it's my favorite game of all time despite it being an absolute dogshit RPG.

I think for the first play-through, just change the difficulty to make it more fun as you go, as you're already doing. Once you get to ~level 10 or so, and especially after you progress through the next large section of the main quest in Novigrad, the combat gets piss-easy. This is why it's the only game I've beaten on hardest difficulty because all you have to do is struggle through the opening 10 hours or so.

So the first play-through is best to go in blind and mess around and do whatever and beat the game. The second play-through is to do all the stuff you didn't do in the first play-through while also, if you like, pursuing all remaining achievements and playing on hardest difficulty and all that.

By Uma's Curse I assume you mean you're at Kaer Morhen already? I'd say you're at that halfway mark, maybe a little more (depending on how you play and which things you did or didn't do when etc). In terms of leveling, the final main quests recommended levels are at 28, the final important/missable/story-related side quest is at level 30, and the highest level non-missable base game side quest is at level 35 (though you can easily do it at level 30). So at this point you should be looking at "builds" and picking a witcher gear set if you like and kind of thinging late/end game like.

Also if you do go for a second play-through, come back to talk about mods, I have some recs...

Being “already” at Kaer Morhen sounds a bit too generous, as I’m guessing a lot of people could’ve finished the game at my current playtime. But yeah, just lifted the curse (the troll bit and drinking before that was pretty funny) and am rounding up allies, but also doing some hunting around as I’ve not done any of the Witcher gear quests. Just did the first part at Kaer Morhen, but also kinda want to check out the Cat school one. I have to look through my log again to see how many side quests I’ve done, because that’s probably the bulk of my time thus far.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Being “already” at Kaer Morhen sounds a bit too generous, as I’m guessing a lot of people could’ve finished the game at my current playtime. But yeah, just lifted the curse (the troll bit and drinking before that was pretty funny) and am rounding up allies, but also doing some hunting around as I’ve not done any of the Witcher gear quests. Just did the first part at Kaer Morhen, but also kinda want to check out the Cat school one. I have to look through my log again to see how many side quests I’ve done, because that’s probably the bulk of my time thus far.

Cool.
It's one of my favorite parts of this game, as the next main quest "Isle of Mists" is THE major inflection point of the game, where a lot of unfinished side quests would fail. This is the time to do everything at or below level 22 and everything you want to do that is related to a character that you talked to during a main quest. Also when you're finally ready to do Isle of Mists make sure you have repair kits and all potions and whatever because you really get locked into a whole long multi-quest chain of events.