Latest game to hijack your interest?

[hermes]

Overwatch seems to be the go-to answer. As many people here, I was not interested until I played the demo. After that I preorder it, and forced myself to stop playing when I learned that none of the unlockables moves to the full game.

Another example is Shadow Complex (I just got the remastered edition). That game is incredibly well designed. It has the same "just another room" feel that games like Civilization had.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Elite Dangerous. I'd played and remembered Frontier as a kid (even though I could barely play it), so it wasn't an entirely new property at all.

But when I got the XB1 I'd completely forgotten it was available. It was discounted so I gave it a try, and I'm still playing it months later, and I see years worth of content on the Horizons horizons. I have other games to play, but frankly Elite just keeps dragging me back.

Dragon Age 2 was the latest game. I was actually thinking about skipping it and just playing Inquisition after finishing Origins during my recent attempt to get through all the Dragon Age games. I am really glad I decided to at least try it out.

The combat was the most satisfying I've seen in an RPG, especially for a mage. It's one of the only ones where I've actively sought out combat situations and wanted fights to continue. And the Ancient Rock Wraith boss easily is one of my all-time favorite bosses now.

Beyond that, the characters were some of my favorites from BioWare, even those in the love-to-hate category like Fenris and Petrice. And that really helped make the story one of my favorites, given how small-scale and character-focused it all was. It did one of the best jobs of really giving the sense that you're just following the intertwined stories of a bunch of people in unusual situations that stretches for many years, and it managed to keep the stakes high without relying on a save-the-world plot. Some very well-done references to Origins certainly helped as well.

Overall, I know the game is generally seen as a horrible, lazy effort by BioWare, and I could definitely see where the rushed nature of the game came in. But for how great the combat, story, and characters were, I could easily overlook that, and I would say that the game is among my Top 5 now.

Glad you're liking it, as I proselytise the hell out of that game. Given just how short its rushed dev cycle was (something that can genuinely be blamed on EA), I think it's almost miraculous how it turned out (Best Rush-job Ever Made may be an odd accolade to win, but I think it's absolutely true); most rush-jobs sacrifice writing and narrative, but DAII absolutely nailed those aspects, and instead rolled with the - admittedly frustrating - copy/paste level and dungeon design to cut corners.

Loved that it's more a narrative of a city, and that I think more than in any other RPG I've played, the conceit of the player selectable party works perfectly in this, i.e. they're not just hanging around a rally point twiddling their thumbs, awaiting selection for dungeons or field exploration like mission assets, they're all living their lives in Kirkwall, their lives interweaving with Hawke's. It gives it a sense of place that I don't think DA:O or the lesser DA:I can match.

Plus, without spoiling things, DAII's ostensibly The Tragedy Of Hawke... There is no grand victory against a Big Bad, no real accomplishment. Hawke sacrifices much throughout, but all she really does is stem the tide in a pivotal moment in Thedas's history. Valiant and remarkable she may be, but Hawke's no bland destined saviour (something which immediately disappointed me with DA:I). DAII was as narratively and structurally ambitious as DA:I was fearfully conservative.

 

[MysticSlayer]

most rush-jobs sacrifice writing and narrative, but DAII absolutely nailed those aspects, and instead rolled with the - admittedly frustrating - copy/paste level and dungeon design to cut corners.

There also seemed to be a lack of side quests. Athenril mentioned that she had smuggling jobs, but none of them appeared in her journal. I only ever saw one Chantry assignment and two assignments for the Mages. Yeah, maybe they never intended to expand those, but it looked like it.

I'm not really disappointed in that, though. Most of the side quests that made the cut played very clearly into the overarching story, either narratively or thematically. It gave a really focused feel to the writing, which may have benefitted it more than if they had loaded the game with dozens of assignments for the different organizations.

Plus, without spoiling things, DAII's ostensibly The Tragedy Of Hawke...

Yeah, despite all the hints, that somehow still surprised me at the end. I guess I reasoned that the major tragedy was in the way legend and propaganda had rewritten Hawke's story, forcing her to go into hiding. Which, to an extent, that did happen, as Varric and Cassandra's conversations showed. But the realization that Hawke's actions help set in motion her own rise and downfall was a little surprising. Yeah, even if Anders and Meredith could be blamed for a lot of what happened, I do think Varric had a point in putting some of the blame on Hawke.

I guess that, for all focus on the hero sacrificing themselves for the greater good, few games really embrace a true tragedy, and most that are tragic were either depressing games to begin with or relied on a "crime does not pay" narrative. A grounded (i.e. not overbearingly depressing) narrative that shows its hero subtly embrace the true evil of the narrative is rare, and I felt Dragon Age 2 pulled it off fantastically.

Valiant and remarkable she may be, but Hawke's no bland destined saviour (something which immediately disappointed me with DA:I).

So I'm guessing Inquisition embraces the "chosen one" narrative as much as the first ten minutes showed? Honestly, that was an instant turn-off to me. I was sort of hoping the narrative would eventually break from it, as the first two Dragon Age games really didn't utilize a chosen one narrative. Yeah, The Warden and Hawke were important people to their world, but there was nothing inherently special about them. To see that The Inquisitor was being treated as a chosen one was a little disappointing. (Not that that'll stop me from playing the game fully when I get access to a better computer.)

And that's not to say I hate chosen one narratives. Zelda has been pulling it off well for years, but it also fits the Zelda universe. Nothing about Dragon Age or its universe really seems to fit with a chosen one story. Heck, even Andraste, who comes the absolute closest to that, still doesn't fit it very well.

 

[Sonmi]

Sign me down for Stellaris as well.

Playing on the lowest speed, mostly pacifically, without ever pausing, and relaxing... it's much more soothing then any of the other Paradox titles.

The definition itself of a "comfy" game.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

There also seemed to be a lack of side quests. Athenril mentioned that she had smuggling jobs, but none of them appeared in her journal.

Do you mean that Hawke, if siding with her getting into Kirkwall, smuggled?

If so, that's surely not cut content at all, that's just context and background delivered by the frame narrative, as Varric tells the story. I suppose I can see why some might find a lack of such played assignments a negative, but for me it just gave an efficiency and focus to the narrative. We don't need to see Hawke smuggle to know that Hawke had to graft her way up the ranks. It provided more texture to Hawke's story.

But the realization that Hawke's actions help set in motion her own rise and downfall was a little surprising. Yeah, even if Anders and Meredith could be blamed for a lot of what happened, I do think Varric had a point in putting some of the blame on Hawke.

I guess that, for all focus on the hero sacrificing themselves for the greater good, few games really embrace a true tragedy, and most that are tragic were either depressing games to begin with or relied on a "crime does not pay" narrative. A grounded (i.e. not overbearingly depressing) narrative that shows its hero subtly embrace the true evil of the narrative is rare, and I felt Dragon Age 2 pulled it off fantastically.

Well, this is largely about interpretation as well.

Some could see Hawke as rather pathetically impotent. Others could see her as a hero, championing X. I personally see a character who had good intentions, but was not enough to change or save the world.

Kirkwall is a pivot point in history for grudges going back Dragon ages. History marches on, and in the midst of it, individuals of all stripes fight for their cause; Hawke is potently capable, and charismatic, but Kirkwall and the mage/Templar wackiness is much greater than she or her group.

Did Hawke exacerbate the situation? Perhaps, but it's impossible to tell. Kirkwall was on the brink well before Hawke fled the Blight, and so in the end I think she did all she could. At least my smart-mouthed 'puckish rogue' (to borrow a line from Saints Row) Hawke did.

So I'm guessing Inquisition embraces the "chosen one" narrative as much as the first ten minutes showed? Honestly, that was an instant turn-off to me. I was sort of hoping the narrative would eventually break from it, as the first two Dragon Age games really didn't utilize a chosen one narrative. Yeah, The Warden and Hawke were important people to their world, but there was nothing inherently special about them. To see that The Inquisitor was being treated as a chosen one was a little disappointing. (Not that that'll stop me from playing the game fully when I get access to a better computer.)

Eh, that might be up to some interpretation as well, frankly. ;-)

Like you, I was immediately disappointed and a little confounded that the game casts the PC as The Special Snowflake within the very first scene/s. Not only do we have a Special Snowflake as the lead in what's ostensibly just a bland power fantasy for the player, we also have a woeful villain wanting cataclysmic world-ending naughtiness that must be stopped ('cause who else can, but ye with thine particle physics!).

However, treading carefully around spoilers; once you've seen the entire story play out from DA:I's first moments to Trespasser's final scenes, it's perhaps misleading to see DA:I as just the narrative of a Because Reasons Chosen One. Arguably, whilst I do think the Inquisitor is the dullest PC BioWare have ever crafted (performed/acted mostly wonderfully, btw, certainly on the female side of the choices), the narrative by the end isn't one of a snowflake and their pantomime adversary, it's a story of an organisation framed by some of the biggest lore reveals in the series.

And that's not to say I hate chosen one narratives. Zelda has been pulling it off well for years, but it also fits the Zelda universe. Nothing about Dragon Age or its universe really seems to fit with a chosen one story. Heck, even Andraste, who comes the absolute closest to that, still doesn't fit it very well.

Agreed, it's all about how it's done. I adore Morrowind, and that literally states in the dream intro before gameplay that "You... have been chosen". However, Morrowind goes on to deconstruct what a Chosen One might be, in a land where each faction is twisting history and prophesy to suit their ends.

Re Andraste; yeah, she always comes across as a bit of a Joanne d'Arc figure. I suppose it'd never happen, but I'd like a game set during her time.

 

[MysticSlayer]

There also seemed to be a lack of side quests. Athenril mentioned that she had smuggling jobs, but none of them appeared in her journal.

Do you mean that Hawke, if siding with her getting into Kirkwall, smuggled?

No, I'm talking about in Act 1. Athenril gives you a job at the docks. Once completing it, she mentioned that her journal had some extra jobs that you could do for more money, but none ever showed up.

Well, this is largely about interpretation as well.

Some could see Hawke as rather pathetically impotent. Others could see her as a hero, championing X. I personally see a character who had good intentions, but was not enough to change or save the world.

Kirkwall is a pivot point in history for grudges going back Dragon ages. History marches on, and in the midst of it, individuals of all stripes fight for their cause; Hawke is potently capable, and charismatic, but Kirkwall and the mage/Templar wackiness is much greater than she or her group.

Did Hawke exacerbate the situation? Perhaps, but it's impossible to tell. Kirkwall was on the brink well before Hawke fled the Blight, and so in the end I think she did all she could. At least my smart-mouthed 'puckish rogue' (to borrow a line from Saints Row) Hawke did.

I agree.

But along with that, to me, Dragon Age 2 dealt a lot with showing how extreme viewpoints push each other to greater extremes. The Qunari had extreme moral viewpoints which often clashed with culture of Kirkwall, and the culture of Kirkwall saw them as invaders, and that was exacerbated by extremists in the Chantry that saw the Qunari as a threat to their religion. The Templars began taking extreme measures to deal with a perceived Blood Mage threat, and many Mages saw Blood Magic as the only solution to deal with the crackdown.

While Hawke may not have succumbed to the extremes as much as Anders or Fenris (depending on dialogue choices), her reaction to the initial Templar crackdown was to seek the Deep Roads expedition to, in large part, get her family back to the position they original were. So, in a way, the Templar crackdown made Hawke more determined to seek to reclaim her family's fortune and influence, and it was the expedition that led to the discovery of the Red Lyrium that exacerbated Meredith's extreme viewpoints. (That said, the problem probably would have gone that direction regardless.)

Perhaps that's a stretch, but it was something I thought was interesting. And it isn't to say Hawke was incompetent or ill-intentioned, just that her own reaction to an extreme (which was both reasonable and likely well-intentioned) helped exacerbate that extreme. As Varric said, they couldn't have known what would come of their expedition.

Beyond that, though, I agree that most of the story centered more around Hawke and friends getting caught up in Kirkwall's (and others') troubles, not so much how her single choice led to her downfall or how she was the all-important figure in everything. I just think that that choice fits interesting into one of the game's themes, especially given the potential result (assuming Red Lyrium affected Meredith similarly to the dwarves just not as quickly) of such a decision.

However, treading carefully around spoilers; once you've seen the entire story play out from DA:I's first moments to Trespasser's final scenes, it's perhaps misleading to see DA:I as just the narrative of a Because Reasons Chosen One. Arguably, whilst I do think the Inquisitor is the dullest PC BioWare have ever crafted (performed/acted mostly wonderfully, btw, certainly on the female side of the choices), the narrative by the end isn't one of a snowflake and their pantomime adversary, it's a story of an organisation framed by some of the biggest lore reveals in the series.

Well, I'll see how things go then. What I saw, there were some interesting aspects surrounding the Inquisition itself and how it may play out, and some of the mystery drew me in. I just hated the way they started out presenting the protagonist.

 

[Kingjackl]

I've been replaying a lot of old games. Currently going through the Ratchet & Clank trilogy on Vita in anticipation for when I finally get to play the remake, and also started up a playthrough of Mirror's Edge to get ready for the sequel.

In about a month I'll have access to a PS4 and PS4 equivalent gaming PC again, so it'll be catch-ups on the last 10 months of gaming for me, starting with DS3, followed by MGSV and then either The Witcher 3, Ratchet & Clank, Bloodborne: The Old Hunters, or XCOM 2 depending on my mood.

 

[Dirkie]

The last couple of days i've gone back to Borderlands and Borderlands 2. Gameplay wise, the second one feels better, otherwise it's just more psycho plinking.

 

[Blitsie]

Doom for me, expected a semi-decent experience and wasn't too excited to start it up initially (just had some free time and it finished downloading)..

Hot.damn.

Its a helluva great return to old school FPS I got to say, its great having large, layered maps filled to the brim with secrets and weighty arcade gunplay where not only am I bunny hopping all over the place completely annihilating demons, I'm having an absolute ball doing so because the weapons pack such a satisfying punch and the movement feels so damn good.

And also the soundtrack, motherfuck that soundtrack, its like this mash up of NiN, Meshuggah and Iowa-period-Slipknot, and its gloriously brutal as hell. I love it:

Spoiler: Some samples for thy pleasure

 

[Vigormortis]

I was going to say Doom (4)[footnote]Because holy shit is that game fuckin' awesome.[/footnote], but honestly? My Vive.

I know, I know. This board is almost entirely skeptical and cynical towards VR, but I have to tell you, my experiences this past week with my Vive have been some of the most compelling gaming experiences I've had in years. Hell, something as simple as Xortex had me hooked for hours. In fact, I was so enthralled with the experience that I've begun work on crafting a more robust version of the game.

I had initially purchased the Vive not only for the intent of playing around with it but also to code VR games and experiences with it. I had a wealth of ideas on what I wanted to do and what I wanted to make.

Ten minutes into using the Vive for the first time and most of my original ideas went out the window. Something as immediately simple, accessible, intuitive, and yet complex as Xortex showed me the error of my original thinking. Now almost all of my game time is devoted to exploring VR and brainstorming new ideas.

I haven't been this excited about gaming for quite some time.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Got to be the Nioh demo. Its the first game in a long time that really sucked me in. Hated it at first but once I actually figured out things like the Ki pulse I really started to enjoy it.

Enjoying other games atm but none have really sucked me in. If you want the last full game to really have sucked me in its probably Bayonetta 2 damn I love that game I just could not stop playing. Should probably play both games again sometime.

 

[Citizentropy]

I'm re-living my youth by playing Turok on Steam.

 

[Skatalite]

I love how everybody went on and on about Dark Souls II not being good because Miyazaki was not the director, but then he directs Dark Souls III and the story is blander, the levels seem kind of samey (cathedrals mostly), the world feels just as disconnected compared to the first game, there is more borrowed from the previous games, including armors, enemies and characters (Andre of Astora has no reason to be alive. You can kill him and take his hammer in the first game.), the dodge is downgraded and it isn't as balanced and versatile with its character building. I hope FromSoftware lets the director of Dark Souls II make another game. A different point of view from another director is what the series needed. Dark Souls III seems more content staying the same.

Well, he sort of directed DS3, for about a year, together with two other directors. Demon's Souls, the first Dark Souls and Bloodborne are the ones he directed on his own, coincidentally the best of the series.

 

[Zetatrain]

Another one for Overwatch

Before the open beta I was interested, but it wasn't anywhere close to being a day one buy for me.

After 10+ hours on the beta I was sold and now I eagerly await my copy from Amazon.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Here's one I doubt anybody knows exists. A little DS/PSP (And PSN) title called "Knights in the Nightmare." It's a tactical RPG where you strategically place units in spots where they won't move (So their attack ranges are key in their placement), while you control a Wisp and give them orders. The reason for this being needed is cause they're the spirits of the dead. Since the enemies can't see the dead, you are attacked by bullet-hell like shots (Not at all as heavily packed as a true bullet hell though) that you need to avoid all while providing the orders.

Sounds complicated, but it actually works extremely well. The game has some amazing artwork and sprites, the music is lovely so far, and I'm having a great time with it since I started a few hours ago. Have a Vita? $15 on the PSN, go for it. PSP? Physical copies are dirt cheap. DS? Ehhh, those are a bit more pricey, but it has a less busy looking bottom display to help make things easier.

I also can't get enough of the name. I personally feel that is one awesome title

 

[Kae]

Can I just say Tabletop in general?
I finally found group of people that plays tabletop games and playing D&D and other tabletop games has been a blast, it's super fun I'm always thinking of new weird things, builds or characters to try out and I'm super pumped for my first Numenera campaign tomorrow.

I spend more time reading manuals and planning out characters and strategies that fit my characters and are creative than I do playing videogames, and I love videogames, it's a shame really I was having a blast playing Tales of Symphonia before I started playing tabletop but tabletop is more fun, it just is.

Might not seem like such a big deal but I live in Mexico[footnote]Stupid escapist code rejected my accentuated "e" and turned it into a "?", what the hell is wrong, it didn't use to do that.[/footnote] and most tabletop games are in English with very rare translations, so it's actually quite hard to find tabletop groups since those games are heavy on the reading and most people aren't bilingual.

 

[Dalisclock]

I just started playing Dark Souls last weekend and while I've only gotten a little ways into it(I killed the Asylum Demon and reached the Firelink Shrine for the first time), I keep thinking about it, waiting for this weekend to come when I can jump back into it.

Surely I'll eat those words after getting brutally murdered 10 bazillion times has crushed my soul.

Also, Hyper Light Drifter, which I'm stuck on and need to finish. Love it but one boss in particular will just not die and it's the only thing keeping me from progressing.

 

[Odbarc]

Been playing Space Pirates and Zombies 2. Just came out as an early-release (pay to beta?) and I've been running around doing that.

Then they also same-day released Abathur for SC2's co-op as a commander so I've been leveling up that too.
Before either of those I was doing Fallout 4's (no DLCs) Survival Mode. Got my guy to level 43 or something at the moment.

 

[Sharia]

It tends to be whatever I'm playing next, I don't like to stick to one game for too long as there is just so much I want to play. Nights of Azure was the last game to suck me up until its completion, and I liked it a lot, but it was still over after around 15 hours or so though. Right now I'm on a little bit of a break, but I did play some Postal 2 again yesterday.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Uncharted 4. Don't get me wrong, I knew I would like it, but I started playing it a second time with a friend and you notice so much more of the immaculate polish and attention to detail the second playthrough.

Overwatch I really loved but I tried not to play the beta too much. I feel like I let myself play JUST enough to feel confident in my purchase but not enough to where I'm gonna be impatiently waiting for them to add more content a week after it comes out.