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Drathnoxis

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Forgive the unsolicited recommendation, but if you're looking for a game that fits 'real roguelike' as I understand you mean it, have you tried 'TowerClimb' before? It's a lot like Spelunky except in reverse, including in how it basically has no meta-progression except your own understanding of the game. The most you can unlock other than side modes is a shortcut to the 20th floor of about 55.
I think I saw SGF play poorly and without interest during one of his hour tryouts. I might check it out some time, since I'm always interested in roguelikes.
 

Bob_McMillan

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I have come to the sad conclusion that I don't enjoy Monster Hunter World enough solo. The grind just obliterates my mind when I have no one to talk to while I play.
 
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Old_Hunter_77

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Well at the risk of repeating myself too much I'm going to defend God of War (2018) and Ragnarok as great games that are "properly rated," whatever that means (as I just reject the term "overrated" wholesale even for things I don't like).

I swear right before I came here today I was thinking about what kind of game I might want to play next and I was thinking about those recent Gods of War, how much I love a good linear story action game and that I would like to play something that good again.
 

Dreiko

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Well at the risk of repeating myself too much I'm going to defend God of War (2018) and Ragnarok as great games that are "properly rated," whatever that means (as I just reject the term "overrated" wholesale even for things I don't like).

I swear right before I came here today I was thinking about what kind of game I might want to play next and I was thinking about those recent Gods of War, how much I love a good linear story action game and that I would like to play something that good again.
I came in way more skeptical than usual when trying GoW 4, but it very quickly won me over. I think the publicity they did for it back in the day was horrible, they made it sound like it played like the last of us or something due to the camera angle it had. I guess they intended it as a positive remark but it totally turned me off. And eventually I ended up liking em way more than the old games. They are less arcadey and have some more rpg elements but the combat is very deep either way. Though I played em on hard right away, cause these games always tended to be too easy.


And yeah I had that itch too which is why I'm playing Wukong right now. Game feels like you're transported to a fairy tale, everything is described in such a poetic way, and there's a thick layer of backstory it just kinda expects you to be familiar with as a cultured gamer which is so rewarding. Also there's no map at all. No minimap, no nothing. The game is sufficiently linear to not need a map much, but it's still refreshing to have to actually look around and find your way, especially when the environment is some ancient chinese fairy tale world.
 
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In some ways, yes the game is a little overrated. It's more critics going overboard on the gushing of the story. I like the story, but there are some gameplay problems. Ragnarok attempts to fix most of these by expanding combat options and veritcality, but both of these games need a jump button. Whenever a third game (6th mainline game) comes out, give Atreus a jump button. Since he will more than likely be the leading character in the next title.

I played some DMC5:SE earlier this week. I did a no death Hard Arcade Run as Blaze on SOR4 (Steam) to get some achievements. I won't be gaming much this week, but I will play something to keep me busy.
Jumping isn’t cinematic enough! You should only be able to jump when it’s cinematically appropriate!!

/sarcasm but still the truth

As an aside I’m now inclined to ask rhetorically, is it also cinematically appropriate that most enemies are bigger damage sponges than the old arcadey games?
 
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Dreiko

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I beat the first boss of Darkest Dungeon 2. That's probably as far as I'll go with it. My impressions are that it doesn't lean into the Roguelike aspects hard enough and has too much metaprogression. Trinkets still suck in general and mostly feel like they hurt as much as they help, like the first game, only it's worse now because if you do manage to find a good one it's gone for the next run. Really I think skills should have been unlocked as part of each run and the shrines should have unlocked the different roles for each class, because that's the biggest thing that makes the game hard to play is knowing it's X amount of runs until you have a working party with all the options. If skills were unlocked mid run you would have a bit of character growth during a run instead of all the growth exclusively taking place in the meta. I don't know, I feel like the developers don't really understand the Roguelike genre, which is a shame because I do think it could have worked well with some modifications.

Oh well, I'll be interested to hear more of @Dreiko's thoughts as he goes through the game, though.
When you go on the later sins it takes longer to reach the mountain, there's both more zones, and each zone gets progressively longer and full of more encounters that can be shrines or treasure and so on, and you unlock a bunch of really strong trinkets too that are all positive with the hope candles, only the lowest two rarities tend to have drawbacks, and most top tier ones don't, and each zone has a quest you can do to earn one of them or some mastery to upgrade skills with and some encounters like the stash that give you more top tier trinkets too. As for mastering skills, that's all about which sorts of encounters you steer into, some give more than others. Typically more combat = more mastery. Though early on you gotta kinda have a plan as you go in and spend the few points you have available intelligently.

I've beaten 3 bosses so far, and while the start is slow, I'm at a point now where I have most skills of most chars unlocked and it's really addictive. Though at the same time I'm not the biggest roguelike fan out there so I don't really mind how you don't just grind your way to victory, this game feels more like the thing you build towards is just knowledge of all the little things you gotta do right to succeed and I just like turn based rpgs, so if you give me an interesting combat system and some sort of goal to aim for I'm happy.


The char roles are unlocked with the hope candles btw, and then you go on the char sheet and press triangle and select from among 4 roles for each char when max upgraded. They totally change how they play in some cases.


I feel like I'm about ready to drop Darkest Dungeon 2 already. The first game had huge issues with not respecting player time and I can already see that's still the case in the sequel. Unlocking skills is so bloody slow since you can only get 2 or 3 a run. In 4 runs in about 5 hours of play I've only unlocked all of the skills for the Highwayman and nobody else. That means that it's probably another 15 hours before I even have a full party of 4 fully skilled out. This means your strategy options are severely limited for a really long time, and since you don't know what later skills even are and if you even want them there's no strategy to the unlocking. It's just pure time sink until it's all unlocked. And it really feels like there are far fewer meaningful decisions to be made than the first game, at least in the early game. Once you've chosen your party that's the only high level decision for quite some time, as most of the carriage encounters are unmarked (aka zero choice).

As the first game, the style and production values are excellent, but the actual experience of playing the game is tedious. My first party made it to the mountain with 2 member (both at full health) who then got completely covered in debuffs and eviscerated in about 2 turns, so I'm not too optimistic about actually beating the boss the next time I actually manage to make it to the mountain.
Did half your party die to the encounter right before the mountain boss? Cause you can add people from the unchosen classes to your party at the inn if someone dies on the way there. You just gotta highlight the empty seats in the screen where you use inn items and add more peeps.
 
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meiam

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I have come to the sad conclusion that I don't enjoy Monster Hunter World enough solo. The grind just obliterates my mind when I have no one to talk to while I play.
I've put a couple of hours into it and I also didn't get it. Loved the idea of hunting giant monster trough large world, but the tedium of it all just killed it for me. The worse was constantly acting like your were playing multiplayer even solo, like having a little countdown at the end of each level and such.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Has anyone played Inscryption? Thinking of buying it. Looks like something I might be into but all the review are so cagey about what the game actually constitutes.
 

The Rogue Wolf

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Has anyone played Inscryption? Thinking of buying it. Looks like something I might be into but all the review are so cagey about what the game actually constitutes.
It's not my kind of game, but I've only really heard glowing praise about it. I think people are being cagey because giving away anything would end up being spoiler-y.
 
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Bob_McMillan

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I've put a couple of hours into it and I also didn't get it. Loved the idea of hunting giant monster trough large world, but the tedium of it all just killed it for me. The worse was constantly acting like your were playing multiplayer even solo, like having a little countdown at the end of each level and such.
Yeah I definitely can understand the tedium. At some point the animation that plays when you want to see a quest makes you want to punch your screen if you selected the wrong thing.

I understand they want to build a sort of routine that the player should go through in between hunts, but I feel like they went too far. I particularly hate the whole food system, it feels like you NEED to eat every single time before a hunt. Which makes me feel like they should have just buffed your stats permanently.
 

Bob_McMillan

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Has anyone played Inscryption? Thinking of buying it. Looks like something I might be into but all the review are so cagey about what the game actually constitutes.
I helped my girlfriend get past the first few levels. It was fun, and she enjoyed the rest of the game that she played on her own. I'd say it leans towards -like rather than rogue-, it felt very much more story focused than gameplay focused. Is there anything in particular you wanted to know about it?
 
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Johnny Novgorod

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I helped my girlfriend get past the first few levels. It was fun, and she enjoyed the rest of the game that she played on her own. I'd say it leans towards -like rather than rogue-, it felt very much more story focused than gameplay focused. Is there anything in particular you wanted to know about it?
I guess just how much of a roguelike it really is, and whether it works as a deckbuilder. It's fine if it's more about the story, and if it starts as one thing and ends up being another that's fine too, I like experimental and I like games with weird rules.

What ticked me off was the title of Second Wind stream discussing "troll games", which included this one in the description.
 

Bob_McMillan

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I guess just how much of a roguelike it really is, and whether it works as a deckbuilder. It's fine if it's more about the story, and if it starts as one thing and ends up being another that's fine too, I like experimental and I like games with weird rules.

What ticked me off was the title of Second Wind stream discussing "troll games", which included this one in the description.
Both she and I aren't experienced with deck builders, but what we played was serviceable. Feels almost like a more fleshed out, faster Gwent.

I think it definitely matches up with "weird and experimental". Not quite sure why they'd describe it as a "troll" game.
 
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Drathnoxis

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Did half your party die to the encounter right before the mountain boss? Cause you can add people from the unchosen classes to your party at the inn if someone dies on the way there. You just gotta highlight the empty seats in the screen where you use inn items and add more peeps.
It was my first run so I hadn't unlocked any additional characters. I think I lost one or two in the region before the mountain, swapped in my remaining hero and then lost another one or two in the encounter before the mountain.

Though at the same time I'm not the biggest roguelike fan out there so I don't really mind how you don't just grind your way to victory
See but that's the thing, you do kind of grid your way to victory. You unlock permanent power upgrades and better items with candles and you need to grind runs to unlock character skills. Some characters don't even seem worth using with their default skill sets.

And really, grinding your way to victory isn't a staple of the genre. Sure there have been roguelikes that are more grindy than others (Aangband variants for example) many do simply rely on skill and player knowledge for success (Nethack, Binding of Isaac, Noita, FTL, etc.)
 

Drathnoxis

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I guess just how much of a roguelike it really is, and whether it works as a deckbuilder. It's fine if it's more about the story, and if it starts as one thing and ends up being another that's fine too, I like experimental and I like games with weird rules.

What ticked me off was the title of Second Wind stream discussing "troll games", which included this one in the description.
It's a good game, I liked it a lot. It's not really a roguelike. It's all deckbuilder, though. There are 3 parts to the game and only the first is a roguelike. It's very much about the story, and I thought the ending was pretty decent.
 
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Old_Hunter_77

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Has anyone played Inscryption? Thinking of buying it. Looks like something I might be into but all the review are so cagey about what the game actually constitutes.
I didn't like it but I highly recommend it.

The reason I didn't like it is I just don't have the patience or intelligence for roguelike deck builder. I quit Inscryption for the same reason I quit Slay the Spire- starting over and having to re-battle "boss" fights and look at cards- it just ain't my scene at all. But I understand and appreciate the mechanics and why so many get into them.

Well, Inscryption has that to entice you. But the vibe, setup, and meta-narrative are really cool.

And yeah the reason some are cagey is because as you progress the game just radically changes into all kinds of different stuff so if you at all like a kind of Stanley Parable, Goat Simulator kind of thing- by which I mean, game about games, auteur-driven messing with you story, that comes into Inscryption as well.
 
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Summerstorm

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I am back to one of my "zone out, slow-cook-comfort games" While i am listening to music or watch youtube stuff:

Crusader Kings III.

I (re)startet a run as a taoistic ruler of Sardegne and as such am surrounded by christian and islamic countries. Hard-Mode...

After creating the same game twice i survived the first onslaught of "holy wars" to free Sardegne from my evil influence (pacifistic, egalitarian, spiritual... you know: evil) and conquered Corsica and the spanish mediterranen isles and brought them into my faith and culture (But stopped there, no conquering of italy or africa or so... UNTIL IT IS READY). I am now in my third or fourth generation (No suicide, live as long as possible, no killing my own children etc.)

Trying to build a futuristic, peaceful, super-civilization. But still have to fight a lot of defensive wars, and having trouble with finding suitable matches for my eugenic breeding program. Sadly i am now in a holy war for Corsica, which i think i may have lost against the *DAMN FRENCH*. So i might need to try and get that island back...
 

NerfedFalcon

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I am back to one of my "zone out, slow-cook-comfort games" While i am listening to music or watch youtube stuff:

Crusader Kings III.

I (re)startet a run as a taoistic ruler of Sardegne and as such am surrounded by christian and islamic countries. Hard-Mode...

After creating the same game twice i survived the first onslaught of "holy wars" to free Sardegne from my evil influence (pacifistic, egalitarian, spiritual... you know: evil) and conquered Corsica and the spanish mediterranen isles and brought them into my faith and culture (But stopped there, no conquering of italy or africa or so... UNTIL IT IS READY). I am now in my third or fourth generation (No suicide, live as long as possible, no killing my own children etc.)

Trying to build a futuristic, peaceful, super-civilization. But still have to fight a lot of defensive wars, and having trouble with finding suitable matches for my eugenic breeding program. Sadly i am now in a holy war for Corsica, which i think i may have lost against the *DAMN FRENCH*. So i might need to try and get that island back...
I don't play Paradox games, but I like reading other people's experiences with Paradox games, and posts like this are why (for both of those statements).
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Playing Sheepo and getting psyched for Crypt Custodian next week.

Unusually for a Metroidvania, you start out fully decked with a double jump, a wall cling and an exploit that means you can ride any vertical surface all the way up. What abilities you do gain throughout the game are temporary and largely circumstantial: you can shape-shift into nearby creatures in order to be granted temporary flight or the ability to tunnel through solid walls, stuff like that.

The game has no combat (other than a few puzzle-y bosses) and focuses entirely on platforming, which is momentum-based and has you chaining a variety of moves and boosts. None of it is too complicated and it's fun to pull off.

It's short and very basic and feels like proof of concept, but in a good way.
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
Beat the museum in Persona 5. Boss there was much easier then the first boss. They really should rename it from 'Persona 5 Royal' to 'Persona 5 the damn cat won't let you out after dark'. But despite the cat, its really enjoyable, the scenarios make sense and even how you get into them so far, flows pretty well and doesn't come off like kids looking for trouble, it seems to find them fine.
 
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