What are you currently playing?

[Worgen]

So... Starcom: Unknown Space... its got its hooks me in, I play it all day now. The combination of satisfying combat and exploration with good dialog overcomes the somewhat lackluster overall story and the lack of deep conversations with other species. I do wish I could have a almost destroyed ship surrender. You do get some interesting missions, but unless you have one of those going on most species will at best just trade with you after the initial conversation.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Baldur's Gate 3 again, and I decided to actually recruit Minthara this time, but I can't say she's terribly interesting. Maybe this has to do with me not doing an "evil" playthrough and just knocking her out at the Goblin Camp and scooping her up later at Moonrise, I don't know. But she really has very little going on story wise. Even Halsin and Jaheira have some business to attend to that you can help them out with and get a better understanding of their character, see them grow and change a bit. But Minthara gets nothing really.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

You know what? I did beat this already. I played through a level in the middle after accidentally selecting it, then after that I was trying to figure out how you were supposed to tell which levels you've already played and selected the one on the end, and then there were credits. Huh. I played the jellyfish level and the game was pretty much how I remember it, difficult to control and borderline incomprehensible. I'm not sure if the goal is to eat everything or just get to the lowest level or what. Kind of makes me want to replay Flower because I remember that one being actually good, but I have factories to build and environments to destroy in Factorio so it'll have to wait

I think the goal is to simply get to the lowest level every time. From what I can tell there's no benefit to eating anything, other than popping a few related trophies. If anything you become even more unwieldy the more you eat.

Flower is definitely the better game, with much more clear objectives and a more satisfying endgame and even though there's still a measure of jank from motion controls piloting a gust of wind comes more naturally and feels/looks more exhilarating. The bad part is the slow crawl in the 5th level where you're navigating mazes and avoiding getting zapped.

 

[FakeSympathy]

Finished CP2077 Phatom Liberty. And holy shit, it was amazing! Idris Elba was awesome as Solomon Reed. But true star of the expansion was Songbird. I've never seen an accurate portrayal of someone to trusted the system too much and felt betrayed in the end. I am not sure if I made the right call in the expansion ending. I thought the ending would also be interesting.

Given how every other ending has at least one NPCs I've come to care about, I was really curious on what would happen with this ending. And FFFUUUCCKKK..... it hurts.

Two years coma? FFS I knew something was up, but wasn't expecting that.

Everyone has moved on. Felt bad for River, happy that Judy is doing alright, and Vik really makes me sad. But man, seeing Panam, someone who I've romanced, has pretty declared me dead and moved on, hurts me the most. I mean I'm glad no one had to die (except for Johnny, twice technically), but I honestly think this might be worse.

It's also probably one of the most realistic, bittersweet, and beautiful ending I've ever seen. I've experienced this myself; moved from another country to US (I come from Korea) and when I went back nothing was the same. Graduated high school here w/ friends whom we promised to stay in touch, and now I have no what they are up to after 10 years. Also reminded of my ex-relationship, where we ended in a positive note but still painful.

And yet, I am still glad to be here, a lot of things I've got to appreciate for, and will strive to live on for. Just like V, who still wants to keep going in NC.

Now if you'll excuse me, I am reloading the save to do the Aldecaldos ending for the nth time to escape this grim reminder. Also will play the SH2 Remake after this

 

[meiam]

Finished CP2077 Phatom Liberty. And holy shit, it was amazing! Idris Elba was awesome as Solomon Reed. But true star of the expansion was Songbird. I've never seen an accurate portrayal of someone to trusted the system too much and felt betrayed in the end. I am not sure if I made the right call in the expansion ending. I thought the ending would also be interesting.

Given how every other ending has at least one NPCs I've come to care about, I was really curious on what would happen with this ending. And FFFUUUCCKKK..... it hurts.

Two years coma? FFS I knew something was up, but wasn't expecting that.

Everyone has moved on. Felt bad for River, happy that Judy is doing alright, and Vik really makes me sad. But man, seeing Panam, someone who I've romanced, has pretty declared me dead and moved on, hurts me the most. I mean I'm glad no one had to die (except for Johnny, twice technically), but I honestly think this might be worse.

It's also probably one of the most realistic, bittersweet, and beautiful ending I've ever seen. I've experienced this myself; moved from another country to US (I come from Korea) and when I went back nothing was the same. Graduated high school here w/ friends whom we promised to stay in touch, and now I have no what they are up to after 10 years. Also reminded of my ex-relationship, where we ended in a positive note but still painful.

And yet, I am still glad to be here, a lot of things I've got to appreciate for, and will strive to live on for. Just like V, who still wants to keep going in NC.

Now if you'll excuse me, I am reloading the save to do the Aldecaldos ending for the nth time to escape this grim reminder. Also will play the SH2 Remake after this

Glad it worked for you, but Songbird sunk the whole DLC main story for me.

It was obvious she was the traitor from the beginning because they introduce the idea of the traitor in the president entourage when the only character in the president entourage we knew was Songbird and the president. Really should have at least waited until every character was introduced before implying there was a traitor.

The problem is that meant that I knew everything was her fault from the beginning, we're talking from low hundreds to a few thousands of people died because of her action. Just couldn't feel any sympathy from her because of that. And every time you try to help her and stop the terrible thing happening, she just double down on terrible and makes things worse. Which made me really annoyed that every path you could take just assumed V was sympathetic to her, there wasn't a "she's recklessly dangerous and need to be stopped now" path, they were all variation of "Oh poor Songbird, we have to help her!". The entire time it just double down on her being a terrible person (while acting like she's not), she lure V with a promise for a cure with 0 expectation to help him/her. You find more about her pass trough Solomon (who I really wish was actually the main character for the story, Elba really is good and his character is far more interesting) and the weird mind melt late game and discover that, oh shock, she was a terrible person the entire time.

Maybe if the DLC was longer and you'd get to know her a long time, like Jackie in the main game, it could have worked for me. Its weird cause in the main game, Johny is treated like a piece of shit the entire time, because he's a piece of shit, and that works great. But here they treat the almost as much a of a piece of shit Songbird like she's some sort of sad saint.
/ISPOILER]

The rest of the DLC was awesome though, loved the Akira reference location at the end.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I rank every Metroidvania I played this year.

JANK

23. Alchemist's Castle
22. Chronicles of 2 Heroes: Amaterasu's Wrath

GOT BORING/REPETITIVE

21. Omega Strike
20. Afterimage
19. Vernal Edge

S'ALRIGHT

18. Minoria

GOOD

17. The Knight Witch
16. Worldless
15. Astronite
14. Sheepo
13. Headlander
12. Touhou Luna Nights
11. Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth: Record of Lodoss War
10. Teslagrad 2

GREAT

09. Alwa's Awakening
08. Alwa's Legacy
07. LAIKA: Aged Through Blood

AWESOME

06. Crypt Custodian
05. Nine Sols
04. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

FUUUUU

03. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom
02. Ultros
01. Tunic

If you don't like to think of Tunic as a Metroidvania disregard.

 

[FakeSympathy]

I rank every Metroidvania I played this year.

JANK

23. Alchemist's Castle
22. Chronicles of 2 Heroes: Amaterasu's Wrath

GOT BORING/REPETITIVE

21. Omega Strike
20. Afterimage
19. Vernal Edge

S'ALRIGHT

18. Minoria

GOOD

17. The Knight Witch
16. Worldless
15. Astronite
14. Sheepo
13. Headlander
12. Touhou Luna Nights
11. Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth: Record of Lodoss War
10. Teslagrad 2

GREAT

09. Alwa's Awakening
08. Alwa's Legacy
07. LAIKA: Aged Through Blood

AWESOME

06. Crypt Custodian
05. Nine Sols
04. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

FUUUUU

03. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom
02. Ultros
01. Tunic

If you don't like to think of Tunic as a Metroidvania disregard.

Wow, didn't know we had so many metroidvania games. it's just as impressive as the number of soulslike games.

Do tell, does any of them have a fall damage? Because that feels really counterintuitive in this genre

 

[Worgen]

Wow, didn't know we had so many metroidvania games. it's just as impressive as the number of soulslike games.

Do tell, does any of them have a fall damage? Because that feels really counterintuitive in this genre

The indie space has really made a lot of them.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Wow, didn't know we had so many metroidvania games. it's just as impressive as the number of soulslike games.

Do tell, does any of them have a fall damage? Because that feels really counterintuitive in this genre

They're a dime a dozen these days.
Off the top of my head the only Metroidvania that's got fall damage is GRIME.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Ok @Chimpzy, let's see your Metroidvania rankings for the year too. Let's see if they align with Johnny or not.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Ok @Chimpzy, let's see your Metroidvania rankings for the year too. Let's see if they align with Johnny or not.

To be fair most of mine are from different years.
If I'm just ranking 2024 MVs it's Ultros > PoP > Nine Sols > Crypt Custodian. Nine Sols would be #2 if it weren't for all the bugs.

 

[Chimpzy]

Ok @Chimpzy, let's see your Metroidvania rankings for the year too. Let's see if they align with Johnny or not.

Ok, sure. Just mind that, like Johnny, most of mine are not 2024 releases. I"m also not counting demos, obviously.

If just 2024 MVs
Animal Well > PoP Lost Crown >>>> Gestalt: Steam & Cinder

If not limited
Metroid Prime Remastered > Animal Well > PoP Lost Crown > Pseudoregalia > Blasphemous 2 > Afterimage > Doomblade > Gestalt: Steam & Cinder

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Well, I had some surgery recently so I bought Pathfinder Kingmaker on steam sale for about £9 and have been playing a videogame for the first time since I decided to quit the digital world as much as possible.

The classic party based CRPGs always really appealed to me as a concept but never really worked in practice. I'd buy them in the hope I'd like it, but would always loose interest pretty quickly. The semi realtime gameplay never worked for me or some other issue would put me off. But with a couple of weeks of "you must sit down and do fuck all or you'll rip your ball bag open" to look forward to and a sub £10 game I thought I'd give it a go.

So far I'm actually enjoying it quite a lot. Option for turn based combat thank fuck! Nicely customisable difficulty. So far it's a very familiar DnD type world, a bit of a dump of "fantasy nation x" names at the start for political intrigue but not too heavy on the background lore of a myriad of gods, great calamities, world events and "our orcs are different" that tend to put me off things like Pillars of Eternity. Overland travel map is nice.

The kingdom management section is...ok. It really could have done with a bit more explanation of the mechanics and a better explanation of the UI and how to navigate to different sections. And I feel that if you're going to have that sort of overall management section you could include a "sell all your crap/buy supplies from any merchant" in your capital's management screen to save having to piss around walking through the market to each vendor.

Liking how it's not too dependent on your companions personalities and any deep story or character building. That works great if you click with the story and characters but if you don't then the game falls flat for me, like Dragon Age.

Currently have a Lawful Evil two handed fighting specialist at level 8, party tends to be Amiri, Valerie, miserable dwarf, Linzi and Evil tiefling. Valerie tanks while PC and Amiri do damage (when Amiri hits, if anyone's going to miss guaranteed it'll be her). Linzi heals and does traps, locks and buffs plus ranged damage, a great character, never leave home without her. Dwarf guy tanks and group heals. Tiefling does ranged damage.

All in all good, probably the first one I've really liked, except Never winter nights (which isn't really a classic party based CRPG) and NWN 2, which broke down if you looked at it funny.
[Edit: Solasta was good as well, but it was more like a series of turn based combat encounters with a bit of narrative to link them rather than a fully fledged CRPG.]

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Ok now I rank everything else

DEPRESSING
The Last of Us Part II

LAME
Foamstars

VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE
3. Creature in the Well
2. Signalis
1. Jotun

(MOSTLY) SHORT SIMS WHERE YOU GO NEAT!
6. flOw
5. Ravenous Devils
4. PowerWash Simulator
3. Flower
2. Unpacking
>>>>>>>>>>>>
1. Outer Wilds

FUN CO-OP
3. Moving Out
2. Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
1. Sackboy: A Big Adventure

DAMN GOOD PUZZLE GAMES
6. Omno
5. Hue
4. Stories Untold
3. Creaks
2. Braid: Anniversary Edition
1. Chants of Sennaar

ADDICTIVE ROGUELITES
3. BPM: Bullets Pero Minute
2. The Flame in the Flood
1. Balatro

I REPLAY EVERY YEAR
3. Separate Ways DLC
2. SteamWorld Dig
1. Hollow Knight

DRAW ME LIKE ONE OF YOUR FRENCH GIRLS
GrimGrimoire

 

[Drathnoxis]

>>>>>>>>>>>>
1. Outer Wilds

Despite placing Outer Wilds in a tier of it's own, I don't think you even posted about your experience with the game.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Despite placing Outer Wilds in a tier of it's own, I don't think you even posted about your experience with the game.

I discussed it a bit in September (#12107, #12112), but yeah haven't banged that drum that much. I think I had such a unique personal communion with that game, I didn't feel like sharing it, and the less you know about it going in the better anyway. I felt similarly about Tunic but because I'm always blabbering about Metroidvanias, that game comes up more naturally in discussion.

 

[meiam]

Been playing inkbound with a friend. Its a roguelike turn based system. Except the fight let you move around and line up shoot rather than on grid or anything like it. Its pretty fun, difficulty really ramp after every run and there's good build variety. Not sure how much fun it would be single player though.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I discussed it a bit in September (#12107, #12112), but yeah haven't banged that drum that much. I think I had such a unique personal communion with that game, I didn't feel like sharing it, and the less you know about it going in the better anyway. I felt similarly about Tunic but because I'm always blabbering about Metroidvanias, that game comes up more naturally in discussion.

Well anyway, it definitely deserves it's spot on your list, I thought it was pretty great.

 

[Ezekiel]

Finished Colosseum. This spot took me a while to figure out. Kept wandering around before trying to jump from the platform behind the wall. Atypical design. Hope I can add it to my list of finished games before the year is over.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Probably be playing the stuff I got for Christmas:
-Black Myth Wukong (PS5, from my dad)
-Rivals of Aether 2 (Steam, from a friend of mine, probably mostly just with that friend group though)
-possibly more stuff when my other Steam friends wake up

...so, so far, it's real Black Myth Wukong hours. I don't know a lot about the game, but I know it reviewed really well.