What are you currently playing?
- Thread starter Nick Calandra
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Been playing Surviving the Aftermath a lot lately. It's a fun game, I love some post apocalypse city builders. I wish there would be some that actually had a story. Frostpunk was fun in that way, in that there was an actual objective you were working towards, survive the Big Freeze coming. Most other survival city management games just sort of go on in perpetuity. Which is fine I guess, but it does get a bit tiresome, once you hit a good bit of equilibrium. It's just watching the little ants scurry about.
It’s all hinting at how fragile Dutch’s mental state is. He has his charisma going for him, but that only gets him (and the gang) so far. When the walls start closing in he becomes increasingly volatile and in a way unpredictable. There’s this exchange between Dutch and Arthur in Chapter 2:
Could explain why he leaves him after that ambush later (or before? Can’t recall exactly when that happened). That damn Micah never helped matters either. The fact Dutch actually lets himself be influenced by such a character reinforces how vulnerable he is. I think the Blackwater heist was when the ball really started rolling downhill for him.
Somehow I never saw that but yeah, I've been noticing Dutch is prone to making some poor decisions, it's just difficult to see at first and everyone seems too afraid to call him out on it. The fact even early on Dutch seems to get overly irritated by the idea someone could be doubting him is a red flag that only stands out if you know what's coming(such as knowing Dutch will eventually end up a violent, crazy man living in a cave).
And yeah, Micah is a toxic, corrosive influence and it's disturbing how often Dutch just goes along with whatever he says. Micah does seem to have gift for sucking up to Dutch and I think that's a big part of it. Apparently there's a mod for the game where a mini-micah follows you around just so you can kick him as much as you want. Though I'd be amused if there was a mod that just lets you shoot the bastard early in the game, which leads to a "Micah is Dead. Problem Solved!" ending.
It tried it but it was a bit bland, like it was just a banished skin with one or two minor features added. Some sort of story mode would really help, but story in city building game are really hard to do since you need to constantly give the player a timer or force them to start afresh for every new mission, neither mode which is particularly interesting. Frostpunk essentially used the first technique but it got a lot of flak at release due to that while tropico tried the second but I found the campaign very repetitive for that reason.
To me it just feels like an apocalyptic version of their other game Surviving Mars. I only dabbled in Banished for like 20 minutes, just didn't like it. But Aftermath doesn't make me think of that one.
I don't think a story mission is difficult in a city builder, as I don't see why you'd have to start afresh for each new mission. Just have objectives that are based on timers, and outside factors.
Surviving Mars dabbled a little with this, with the discovery events that could happen, that would radically change the game. It would usually have a very generous timer, like several in-game years, or along those lines. I think that could work with Aftermath just fine. Like, you learn of the various quests by participating in the random events, and depending on how you complete them, you unlock other story quests. Like, for example, you decide to let a wandering, rambling drifter into your camp, find out his terminal, but you choose to make him comfortable in his final hours, sacrificing medicinal supplies. As a reward, he is lucid for a short time, and gives you a warning about a looming threat, and you now have the starting knowledge to further investigate. Like, pretty much what Frostpunk did now that I type that out.
My issue with Frostpunk was it felt just a bit too brutal, which I get is the point, but...eh.
Well frostpunk was brutal because it had timer. The objective in surviving mars never really worked for me because they were far too generous, I didn't even see them as timer because I'd usually complete them without even pushing for them just as a I was naturally expanding.
If you don't have a timer then you have to force the player to rastart from scratch or so because otherwise most player will just naturally outgrow the future objective. So say first objective might be produce 100 resource X, then second objective would be have 100 citizen, but plenty of player will already have gotten 100 citizens just to get 100 resource X, the longer the objective chain become, the more this will be a problem.
Finished Yakuza 0 this weekend. Had a good time with it. One nitpick tho is that a lot of side content is frontloaded. Those small vignettes are some of the most fun stuff in the game, but the majority of them are in the first chapters, whereas the side quests in the later chapters tend to be rather grindy. Also kind of confused why both main characters would choose to stay yakuza, even tho both have now seen how dirty things can get, and the game seems to make it clear neither are on board with it. Still, I'd recommend it to anyone hankering for something similar to Shenmue, cuz Yakuza is similar in many ways, but arguably better.
Anyway, changing up my tack for the next game, tho still staying roughly in the Japanese culture realm. I'll be giving a Fatal Frame 2 a go.
Anyway, changing up my tack for the next game, tho still staying roughly in the Japanese culture realm. I'll be giving a Fatal Frame 2 a go.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I guess I only didn't feel like all the side stuff was frontloaded because I didn't try to do everything possible before advancing the story, so I didn't really think about the side content's pacing. As for the spoiler part, if 'it's a prequel' isn't a good enough answer, then I guess both of them still have certain ideals about the business that managed to survive the emotional beatdowns of the plot. And that reminds me, I really need to go back and finish Shenmue...
I don't know anything about Fatal Frame, but I hope you enjoy that as well.
If you do, let us know if you enjoyed it. Around the time Shenmue 3 came out, I remember not a few jokes that Yakuza does what Shenmue wants to do but better. Not having played either, I can't say if it's actually true.
Anyway, Maybe halfway through Chapter 4 of RDR2. So far chapter 4 seems the most focused chapter yet outside of the first, though being generally confined to St. Denis and presumably set over a few days helps a lot here. I gotta admit, there are some great setpieces in this game, like the Riverboat Job, amongst others, or maybe it's just pandering to me in all the right ways I want in a Western game.
Also, some props for depicting the Mafia's historically accurate establishment in
Yeah, definitely starting to see Dutch lose his cool here, especially after The Disastrous Trolley Station Robbery. I mean, Jesus Fucking Christ, it seems every chapter seems to involve something going wrong and the a running gunbattle raging through the main street of whatever town they happen to be in. No wonder the Pinkertons want to take the gang down so bad(though the stolen Blackwater Money has plenty to do with this as well, I'm sure). Dutch has developed this newfound obsession with getting "Some Money" and "One Decent Score" so they can go to TAHITI(or Australia), but it's clear it's a result of the pressure of the Pinkertons and the O'Driscolls closing in and the man is grasping at straws.
I also appreciate how each chapter is showing the good times are slowly ending. Leaving out chapter 1 basically being an tutorial and an obvious low point, Chapter 2-4 have shown a increasing storyline focus, but also shows the gang being increasingly pressured and cornered while their campsites became less and less ideal(the one in chapter 3 isn't really a downgrade compared to chapter 2, but the one is chapter 4 is a decaying mansion in the middle of a swamp). Chapter 2 lacks focus but at the same time, there is little pressure on the gang and everything seems almost idyllic in New Hanover. There's also the fact two gang members have been killed in fairly short order over Chapter 3-4(and Arthur was badly starved and beaten), whereas Chapter 1 and 2 involved adding a number of members to the gang(or recovering lost/captured ones).
I've been knocking out the side content along the way and some bounties as well, because I've heard Chapters 5 and 6 are somewhat more restricted and tense for various reasons. Chapter 5 because you're cut off from the main map and Chapter 6 because Arthur is essentially under a death sentence.
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I was gonna mention that about chapter 4. The proverbial shit really starts getting real, real soon. It kinda makes the epilogues a breath of fresh air. Glad the compendium stuff can all still be done there.
Ramping up for the new Warframe expansion (I guess is the best term. Large update perhaps) dropping today.
Which adds a new open World (that seems to be a bit more developed then the prior ones, transferrable Warframe abilities, and a reworked intro quest (along with the usual splaterring of guns/skins/etc).
Also doing a fresh run through Remnant from the Ashes headed towards the Survivor 2029 DLC (my previous run was entirely in a buddies game, so my own save was in the starting area at near max level lol. Decided to just do a fresh go-around so the scaling didn't destroy me)
Which adds a new open World (that seems to be a bit more developed then the prior ones, transferrable Warframe abilities, and a reworked intro quest (along with the usual splaterring of guns/skins/etc).
Also doing a fresh run through Remnant from the Ashes headed towards the Survivor 2029 DLC (my previous run was entirely in a buddies game, so my own save was in the starting area at near max level lol. Decided to just do a fresh go-around so the scaling didn't destroy me)
I'm kinda eh on the compendium stuff. I appreciate the game doesn't do many fetch quests(I don't think I ever finished the "Collect the flowers for my dear wife" quest from the first gamer but I do know how it ends). I kinda like how the bounties in this game actually have a little story, like the one that is a mirror of John's Story from the first game(with a guy named Mark Johnson, rather then John Marston).
I kind of gave up on hunting because of how little the pelts pay and how hard getting perfect ones are. Even the special items require A LOT of perfect pelts. Even the food thing doesn't seem that important because I have more food then I can eat right now and I find provisions everywhere when I'm looting. Even killing alligators looses a little of it's appeal when good skins aren't more then $20 when I have thousands in my wallet.
I also keep bumping into the creepy serial killer crime scenes who for some reason keeps leaving map pieces in the victim, because...yeah.
Yeah, the sidequest quality feels a lot better written than most games tend to do and it feels like it does help me get a better feel for these characters.
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It’s one of those things the game doesn’t bother explaining and kinda leaves up to a personal judgment call. Like you say it’s so easy staying on top of things and there are far better ways to get cash anyways. Hell there really isn’t much in the game that requires cash outside of camp donations and upgrades, since so much else is available via looting and exploring. Outside of a special quest I only bothered hunting 3 star pelts for the the perks you get from the trapper. Thankfully the legendary animals only require the kill, and many of the better perks can be crafted from them via fences.
I think it’s mostly the lived-in feel and general quality of the game world that compels me to do the extras. Can take or leave the fancy outfits and crap like that (although I have grown fond of my ghost bison coat and hat, and it was a trip running into Mary Beth later while wearing it. “You’re looking good, Iohn!”) but the stuff counting towards 100% has so far been varied enough and manages to avoid feeling too gamey. There have also been a lot of random surprises even in the epilogue to hold up the illusion that life goes on after the Van Der Linde gang.
The TakeOver. Still a fun brawler, but there are some design choices I disagree with. No stage select on Hard mode, even if you beat it. You have to unlock stage select again when selecting the unlockable character. The robot with dual miniguns can fuck off too. The design choices are really akward when compared to Streets of Rage 4. When you can use any character you unlocked on any stage you beat or not. Gameplay and combo wise is fun, but I don't come back to as much. I might pop in Ninja Saviors tonight.
I don't begrudge the game at all for all the extra stuff you can do. It's got a lot of thought put into it and I've enjoyed engaging in it on occasion. I normally tend to skim the extra content in these games and engage on and off, but damn if I'm a lot more intrigued for a lot of the extra activities in Red Dead Redemption 2 then like 95% of these types of games. Black Flag would be the only other one I can think of where I wanted to do almost everything at least once and not just felt I had to for goodies and XP.
After a bunch of side quests taken care of, I finally just went ahead and finished Chapter 4. And oh my god, that was a nice chapter closer. In the same token, the gang might be well and truely screwed and much of the blame can be put on Dutch for being so impulsive and shortsighted. Also, poor LENNY!
While the plan to take Bronte out of the way might have been good in theory, it ended up accomplishing nothing for them other then to bring down even more heat on them and Dutch goes through all the trouble to kidnap the man only to drown him because he hurt Dutches feelings. . It's unclear what the ultimate goal was, since it was pointed out they clearly didn't need to antagonize the man anymore.
And then there's the St. Denis Bank Job. I mean, after what happened at the Trolley Station they should have suspected a trap and the "There's one guard" should have been a massive red flag. But no, Dutch was too excited for this LAST BIG JOB and T A H I T I and stepped right into the Pinkertons Trap. . Hell, with the amount of chaos the gang has been causing and the fact they kept moving South, it wouldn't take a genius to track the gang from New Hanover to St. Denis.
Arguably, they should have just packed up the moment the O'Driscolls at Shady Belle found them and found a better, safer hiding spot ANYWHERE else, but Dutch seems like he's clearly off the deep end now and.....eyup. I suspect the Blow to the head he took in the Trolley Crash had a lasting impact on his mental/emotional state. Really, watching the errors compound as Dutch becomes more and more Erratic is fascinating. It's almost....Operatic, particularly considering the games relaxed pacing for much of the game so far.
I finished the intro to the Island and don't really have much of an opinion about it, other then how different it feels. Like somehow the game has become uncharted now(partially due to the tropical setting). I've heard the island is really short and linear though so I suspect I'll be back in the main map soon.
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The most critical, missable mission for narrative impact would be Strauss’s money lending that carries on across all chapters (except 5 of course). Not sure about the one with Sadie in chapter 6, but just in case be on the lookout for it as it’s another must. Fortunately pretty much all the side content worth checking out is available in free roam afterwards, which is kinda mind boggling because it means they recorded tons of dialogue for Arthur and John.
For stranger missions which you’ve probably already done a few of, the best from my experience would be:
1, 6, 7, 8 (especially if you’re familiar with GTAV), 13, 16, 17, 22, 24 (apparently it’s not available after chapter 6), 25, 26
15, 19 and 23 are ok but mostly for humor’s sake.
^^^Just avoid clicking the hyperlinks to any of them because there’s spoilers. (For some reason it won’t let me edit that post now). Also worth mentioning is the point of no return for Arthur is anything after the mission My Last Boy, so best start a separate save file there.
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I have been doing the money lending missions despite how icky they feel at times....or how Arthur clearly despises doing them. It is incredibly skeevy what Strauss does, but the gang routinely steals by violent means, even if you only do the story crimes. Not to mention literally leaving dozens of bodies in their wake every time they pull a major heist(and sometimes even if they aren't). If you play arthur as a psychotic mountain man who robs random people on the street and steals from beggars and charities, it's even worse.
It reminds me of the first game where John would call certain people out for their shitty behaviour, and they could easily retort "How many people have you shot down, John?"
I have done, or at least started a number of those so far. Notaly, did the Serial Killer one and stumbled into two of messages organically, but the third I had to use the web to locate. That was creepy.
I actually haven't met any of the Nite Folk yet, and i'm kind of surprised. I've been ambushed by every other weird and creep so far(including a couple of people pretending to need help only to attempt to rob Arthur).
I need to amend my previous statement about missable story stuff, which is more specifically pointed out here -
Red Dead Redemption 2 Missable Quests Guide - RDR2.org
Red Dead Redemption 2 is full of missions that disappear if you progress too far without doing them. Here's what you shouldn't waste time finishing.
www.rdr2.org
I haven’t played the main story in so long. Hopefully you did the Brothers and Sisters mission in chapter four with the nun and kid, because that leads into Of Men and Angels, which has another big narrative payoff involving the Fine Art of Conversation mission that will happen later.
Yeah, Strauss is particularly cruel in his own way. He’ll be getting his comeuppance later though.
Speaking of random characters, did you visit the Aberdeen pig farm, or bring that one dude to the doctor’s office in Saint Denis?