What are you currently playing?

Dalisclock

Making lemons combustible again
Legacy
Escapist +
Feb 9, 2008
11,286
7,080
118
A Barrel In the Marketplace
Country
Eagleland
Gender
Male
The Pathless- So this is basically made by the same studio who made Abzu, ,which itself was an underwater homage/spiritual sequel to Journey. Though unlike either of those games, this is a "open field" type game that has taken some pointers from Breath of the Wild it would seem.

Basically, the game's premise is that the world is coming to an end and you, as the Last Hunter, have gone to a remote island at the end of the world to find a way to save the world. Once there you find that the main gods of the world have all been corrupted and you need to free them from their corruption. The game takes place(outside of the beginning and ending portions) on 4 large plateaus with different seasons and theming, where you do 3 things: Run around and solve puzzles in temples and ruins to gain medallions, which can then be used in 3 towers to turn them on(at least you don't have to climb them) which finally allows you to fight the boss(the corrupted god) and purge the evil from them. The good thing is that it doesn't overstay it's welcome much and you can beat the game in about 5 hours or so. It also feels like it has some of the same mythical vibes as Journey and Abzu, which is the big draw for me. Also each of the boss fights is interesting and starts with you chasing the thing down before you corner it in an arena.

There are a few other things of note. The first is that your traversal consists of a fast run and also the ability to glide/ascend with the help of a magic eagle buddy, and you shoot magical floating diamonds in the air to recharge your dash meter which means it feels kind of like a sonic game of all things with the emphasis on dashing. The other is that while you engage in combat with the corrupted gods, you can't actually die that I can tell. At worst you get knocked down for a bit, or even out of the arena, but that's effectively the same thing as dying with a quick reload and generous checkpoint. Finally, while roaming the plateau solving puzzles the corrupted god will be in a large red scary looking ball which will both move and teleport around, and if it gets too close to you, you're forced into a stealth gameplay section where you try to hide from it. However, I failed it every time with almost no consequence and really it just takes you out of the main game for a few minutes, so it's a much better idea then execution, but it happened like once per plateau I think.

Overall a good game though. If you want something else like Abzu/Journey, this kind of scratches the same itch.
 
Last edited:

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
14,866
3,741
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
Still playing Selaco. Its much longer then I expected from an early access game. The gameplay is still stellar and its got really fun weapons, despite them mostly being in the broad archtypes you expect. Really so far where it drops the ball is the story. Like, despite the fact there are a good number of datapads (emails) I still have no idea who the invading force is and they are barely mentioned in the logs. I just had a bit where I'm putting explosives on something and I have no idea why, I don't remember picking up explosives, I don't remember seeing anything telling me I needed to blow up this place, I only know why I'm in the place because the path lead there. Its just weird that a game that is so fantastic with everything else would drop the ball so hard on story. So far most of the datapads are about the planet or space station Selaco or just people talking about mundane things.

Its got better gameplay then Hedon and Supplice, but a weaker story then both. So far.
 

FakeSympathy

Elite Member
Legacy
Jun 8, 2015
3,424
3,149
118
Seattle, WA
Country
US
Ghost of Tsushima's main story is done. Honestly the ending was really emotional, and I'm glad I got to play this game.

I never played through completion on ps4 and it has been several years, but I'd say this game couldn't avoid the typical open-world mission designs. Go clear enemy camps, follow someone, interact with that objective, etc. However, the game's size and structure makes all of them not bloated or repetitive at all. The duels were very fun to play!

Now I'm contemplating on doing the expansion. I know the environment and combat will be fun, but what extra stuff is there asides from the main game?
 

BrawlMan

Lover of beat'em ups.
Legacy
Mar 10, 2016
28,680
11,981
118
Detroit, Michigan
Country
United States of America
Gender
Male
I got the Nigh Springs Expansions for Alan Wake II. The Deluxe Upgrade is on sale for $16 until 6/13/24, if you only bought the standard edition at the time. Get it while you can. I plan on getting the physical version of this game later, now that it has been announced. I'll be playing later tonight.
 
  • Like
Reactions: XsjadoBlayde

laggyteabag

Scrolling through forums, instead of playing games
Legacy
Oct 25, 2009
3,337
1,023
118
UK
Gender
He/Him
Man, Half-Life 2 is way better than Black Mesa.

I can actually point at a guy, and my bullets will actually hit them.

There were a few frustrating sections driving the boat where my health was low, but nothing multiple retries couldn't solve.

I'm missing about in Ravenholm at the moment, and the gravity gun is a lot of fun.

Its especially impressive seeing as this game came out in 2004!?

Its a solid game, and i'm looking forward to finally tick this game off my backlog.
 

FakeSympathy

Elite Member
Legacy
Jun 8, 2015
3,424
3,149
118
Seattle, WA
Country
US
Man, Half-Life 2 is way better than Black Mesa.

I can actually point at a guy, and my bullets will actually hit them.

There were a few frustrating sections driving the boat where my health was low, but nothing multiple retries couldn't solve.

I'm missing about in Ravenholm at the moment, and the gravity gun is a lot of fun.

Its especially impressive seeing as this game came out in 2004!?

Its a solid game, and i'm looking forward to finally tick this game off my backlog.
Oh yes, the physics in the game is quite impressive, and some games today don’t let you have that much fun experimenting with objects.

Im SURE episode 3 will happen soon! /s
 

Piscian

Elite Member
Apr 28, 2020
1,913
2,023
118
Country
United States
I started playing Genshin impact for an hour but decided these Gacha games are bit beyond me.

The game is actually supposed to be a fun single player JRPG lacking any of the competitive elements that drive the casino gacha genre. The problem is the first hour time I logged in I was inundated with notifications and resource crap that I didn't have the faintest clue how any of it worked or what it was for and the game does a really pisspoor job of explaining anything.

So you know I go online and everybodys like " no no you can play and have fun for free ignore Gacha stuff", but literally within the same videos its also explained that if you don't do everything just right and follow these guides and start with this build then you can't finish the late game its too hard. Addition you need to save X whatever for certain characters you only randomly can get in the casino and it's just like

giphy (16).gif

That combined with the fact that I guess the games story isn't even over? You want me to put 40 hours into an incomplete RPG?

shit-no-man-no-man.gif
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
14,866
3,741
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
Beat Selaco. Its really cool, but it does cliff hanger. Also nothing is explained in the story, so don't go in expecting any questions answered. Still no idea who the invading force is, or what they are since they have purple blood so they obviously aren't human, or at least aren't from Selaco. I think I would still recommend Hedon over it, but we will see when the other chapters of Selaco release.
 

meiam

Elite Member
Dec 9, 2010
3,545
1,796
118
I started playing Genshin impact for an hour but decided these Gacha games are bit beyond me.

The game is actually supposed to be a fun single player JRPG lacking any of the competitive elements that drive the casino gacha genre. The problem is the first hour time I logged in I was inundated with notifications and resource crap that I didn't have the faintest clue how any of it worked or what it was for and the game does a really pisspoor job of explaining anything.

So you know I go online and everybodys like " no no you can play and have fun for free ignore Gacha stuff", but literally within the same videos its also explained that if you don't do everything just right and follow these guides and start with this build then you can't finish the late game its too hard. Addition you need to save X whatever for certain characters you only randomly can get in the casino and it's just like

View attachment 11291

That combined with the fact that I guess the games story isn't even over? You want me to put 40 hours into an incomplete RPG?

View attachment 11292
So you can do 99.9% of the game by completely ignoring the gacha mechanic, the only part where it matter is some optional arena that gets new content every 2 weeks (and is really boring) and whose only reward is a minimal amount of premium currency. If you really care about the gacha part, literally the only thing that matters is primogem that you can spend on the banner, every other currency is either primogem in another name or can just be ignored for now.

But otherwise the game difficulty is a walk in the park and you can even lower it at will (if you don't care about maxing out the character efficiently).

That being said, 40 hours isn't even close to how long it'll take you to reach the current content at this point. 40 hours is maybe half the length of all the cutscene you'll need to watch to get there. And most of these are the equivalent of filler episode where nothing happen and the character just repeat the same information to you over and over again. Genshin is worth playing for the great open world, the rest isn't that great.
 

Old_Hunter_77

Elite Member
Dec 29, 2021
2,071
1,910
118
Country
United States
I got a laptop with a dedicated graphics card- hooray for Microcenter sales! I guess it's sort of "lucky" my regular laptop started falling apart around the same time as Summer Games Fest so I been spending this morning playing a bunch of demos.
Favorite one is Pepistrello and the Magical Yo Yo or some such, a standout from the Latin American Games showcase, which is a pixely action game where you're some creature with a yo-yo.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Piscian

XsjadoBlayde

~it ends here~
Apr 29, 2020
3,309
3,432
118
Alan Wake 2 DLC: The Fan.
It warns to complete the main story before starting this, but to be honest is just way more darkly disturbingly humourous knowing less plot cause holy hell are we playing through some poor working-class lady's mental illness as she experiences a psychotic break egging her shooting spree on. Still bout halfway through the campaign due to tendencies.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

Piscian

Elite Member
Apr 28, 2020
1,913
2,023
118
Country
United States
I got a laptop with a dedicated graphics card- hooray for Microcenter sales! I guess it's sort of "lucky" my regular laptop started falling apart around the same time as Summer Games Fest so I been spending this morning playing a bunch of demos.
Favorite one is Pepistrello and the Magical Yo Yo or some such, a standout from the Latin American Games showcase, which is a pixely action game where you're some creature with a yo-yo.
Which laptop did you get? Main reason I ask is that if you got a lenovo I'd consider googling Lenovo fan control. I have a Microcenter Lenovo legion 5 and the fans are always on 24/7 so somebody write an APP to fix it and properly manage fan speed.
 

FakeSympathy

Elite Member
Legacy
Jun 8, 2015
3,424
3,149
118
Seattle, WA
Country
US
I am now about 9 hours into the GoT Iki Island expansion.

Honestly, the experience has been great so far. I thought it was just gonna be killing more mongols, but I was surprised with how personal this journey has been for Jin. Him reflecting both his parents was really interesting, and sometimes heartbreaking. In the main game Yuriko the caretaker explained how Jin's father Kazumasa was less rigid than Lord Shimura. But during the memory sequence, it seems Kazumasa was still strick in his own way. He was also kinda brutal and didn't show mercy during the invasion. Maybe that's where Jin gets his Ghost side from, but instead directing his brutality against the Mongols?

Kinda wish we got to see more of Jin's mother, though. She sounds like a witty, funny, gentle, and wise woman

I love the new armor! The ability to keep going after perfect parry is awesome.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrawlMan

Old_Hunter_77

Elite Member
Dec 29, 2021
2,071
1,910
118
Country
United States
Which laptop did you get? Main reason I ask is that if you got a lenovo I'd consider googling Lenovo fan control. I have a Microcenter Lenovo legion 5 and the fans are always on 24/7 so somebody write an APP to fix it and properly manage fan speed.
Acer V something something, with a 3050RTX card
 

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
14,866
3,741
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
I got Jistu Squad off of a Steam sale. Sale ends in less than 24 hours! Act fast!
I didn't really like that one. I found it weirdly stiff to play.
 

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
14,866
3,741
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
If I don't like it, I can get an easy refund.
For me it was the attacks that I got tired of really quickly. Cause they tend to take a long time and string together, but you are locked in place while doing them.