What are you currently playing?

[Neuromancer]

After watching The Escapist's interview with Jorg Friedrich, Through The Darkest of Times came into my radar and I decided to get it.

Gameplay-wise, it is quite simple. I would go as far as to say that it is too simple. The game takes place from 1933 all the way to the end of the war yet mechanically nothing changes, despite the fact that Germany very much does. Still, as a gameplay loop it works well enough.

The writing, however, is quite strong. Unlike all games that take place in WW2, TtDF focuses on the civilian aspect of Nazi Germany. It starts from the moment Hitler becomes chancellor and gives a complete view of the general public's opinion of him. Most chillingly, it shows how despite at first being viewed as an extremist and inspiring a great deal of protests, over the years not only did the public warm up to him, but they also came to accept his views. Indeed, your little ragtag group of resistance fighters starts off believing that if they can get the truth out about the utter brutality and the motives of the NSDAP people will reject them, and over the course of two years they grow so bitter and disillusioned that they grow convinced the Nazis can only be stopped through outside intervention. It shows a Germany where barbarism, hate and violence are the not only accepted, but have become the new normal. A Germany where even detractors of Hitler eventually warmed up to him, and even sent their children to the Hitler Youth to be indoctrinated with glee. It shows a generation of children being imbued with fierce fanaticism and fatalism, to the point where dying for Hitler is the greatest virtue.

The game has many chilling, oppressive segments. More than anything, the fact that all of these things did happen and were real adds another layer to it that few things out there can reach it. I recommend it not as a fulfilling gameplay experience, as again, the gameplay is rather simplistic, but because it offers an experience that you won't get elsewhere in the medium.

 

[Kae]

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, so I had played Solid 1 before because I used to have the remake Twin Snakes for Gamecube and I also had the PS1 game which I'd played on a PS3 I used to have and I had played 4 too and a bit of 3, but since I never owned a PS2 before only the beginning at a friend's house, but I had never played MGS2, so while I was aware of some things about it wasn't that much, but I just finished it today and it was good, in typical Metal Gear fashion it manages to be both really stupid, absurd and also really sincere and kinda deep, with some pretty cutting political commentary that pretty much managed to predict how news would be spread by political organisations in the information age, while also acknowledging that under the previous information was delivered by an elite few and therefore easily manipulated, of course for hyperbole this is delivered via the analogy of a deep state conspiracy which would be funny in it's execution, if it weren't for the fact that it's basically what the alt-right think is reality, which really highlights the absurdity of the alt-right's view of the world that it's literally the plot of a ridiculous over-the-top Metal Gear game that has psychics, vampires,, arms that possess people & a ninja doc ock ex-president of the USA that's also a super soldier created by eugenics.
But anyway disregarding that, it was pretty entertaining and I really enjoyed the themes of reality vs simulation and how it doesn't really matter if one's memories are false or real as what they make us feel is real, and I basically really enjoyed the speech Snake gives to Raiden at the end before Raiden talks with Rose, also Raiden's pretty cool for a character, they were clearly going for a whiny gamer kind off character and he is obnoxious, but that seems very deliberate but as the game goes on he does get a bit more interesting as he starts expressing his doubts and insecurities and how he basically doesn't know how to deal with the guilt and trauma of his past.

Also just a personal pet-peeve, Raiden looks kinda feminine which is something that's acknowledge by the story, particularly by the President who initially thinks he's a woman (Granted this is because he thinks he's Olga, but still) and there's a throwaway line by Rose when she's angry about the fact that he doesn't tell her anything about his past where she asks what he's hiding and one of the things she asks if he used to be a woman, and the answer is no, but it just makes me feel like it was a huge missed opportunity, honestly considering the themes of Raiden's story and that it even has a huge inspirational speech about deciding who you are and your own name at the end, it actually would've fit very well if Raiden was a trans-man, and TBH I wouldn't really even have thought of this were it not for the fact that the game kinda brought it up but I think it would've made the story better.

Needless to say I'll start MGS 3 tomorrow, which unlike MGS 2 I did find the Subsistence version for cheap, so it'll have the extra crap, though I think the most significant change is an optional manually controlled 3rd person camera mode rather than the fixed camera angles of this era of Metal Gear.

 

[happyninja42]

Also just a personal pet-peeve, Raiden looks kinda feminine which is something that's acknowledge by the story, particularly by the President who initially thinks he's a woman (Granted this is because he thinks he's Olga, but still) and there's a throwaway line by Rose when she's angry about the fact that he doesn't tell her anything about his past where she asks what he's hiding and one of the things she asks if he used to be a woman, and the answer is no, but it just makes me feel like it was a huge missed opportunity, honestly considering the themes of Raiden's story and that it even has a huge inspirational speech about deciding who you are and your own name at the end, it actually would've fit very well if Raiden was a trans-man, and TBH I wouldn't really even have thought of this were it not for the fact that the game kinda brought it up but I think it would've made the story better.

Needless to say I'll start MGS 3 tomorrow, which unlike MGS 2 I did find the Subsistence version for cheap, so it'll have the extra crap, though I think the most significant change is an optional manually controlled 3rd person camera mode rather than the fixed camera angles of this era of Metal Gear.

Considering MGS 2 was released 20 years ago, it's not really the right time for any form of positive trans content. Most people were still trying to come to terms with regular old, plain vanilla homosexuality, much less any idea of gender identity/variation. If that story element would've been used, it would've been on a villain unfortunately.

But, take heart! In Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance: The Requim: RE-Imagined...the Sequal...Part Deux, his cyborg ninja combat chassis, comes with built-in high heels! So perhaps they are trying to let him express himself subtly, but with death! Actually I doubt it. That entire series is fuckin insane, so nothing close to logic has any place in a discussion about that series.


OT: Still hammering away at Nioh 2, and I ran into my first really frustrating boss, and the game makes it really annoying given it's isolated missions, and not an open world. I clicked on a sub-mission that had me dueling another champion of the army, to test my mettle. And the problem is I didn't really notice that when I clicked it, and I'm suddenly getting my ass kicked in an enclosed arena, without any way to exit out, without having to sacrifice ALL of my XP for that level....which was close to enough to level up, because I didn't think to purge all my XP before going into this fight because the designers basically said "fuck you" to the idea of backing out. So I had to fight this fucker, roughly 50+ times (i know, I counted how many remaining bullets I had in my storehouse from when I started, it became my Failure Counter), and I finally....FINALLY beat that fucker! And it did NOT feel good. Seriously fuck this entire concept of game design. I do NOT understand the appeal of smashing your face into a fucking wall until it breaks, and then turning around and holding up your hands in triumph, like you did something noteworthy. It took almost 2 HOURS of my fucking life, spent in frustration, fighting a guy that ignores the rules that control how *I* react to damage, and alters patterns of behavior so I can't predict him well enough to win. And he hits so hard it's basically a 1 shot kill no matter how well I'm doing.

Fuck Souls game design, and fuck people who think it's actually enjoyable. You people need therapy, and other life goals. Seriously.

Aside from that, the rest of the game is actually a bit better. I finally figured out how to actually be SNEAKY. It involves wearing +Stealth gear in EVERY slot possible, and walking. Yes....walking. If you run, it makes more noise, and they will hear you before you get close enough to shank their kidney. But if you walk at a casual stroll, it's pretty easy to get close enough for the backstab attack, which, on most enemies, with my good weapons, is nearly a single hit kill, if not one outright. It's made playing a lot more fun, as I can bypass the ridiculous troll setups the game has in place.

One genuine bit of AI hacking that I came across, that I find really fucking annoying, is that apparently the enemies are all children of Kitty Pride. I've had multiple enemies, that I was fighting in a room with multiple support beams holding up the floor above, just phase THROUGH them when they are doing their big Fuck You Die attack, which of course means I have no actual defense, because I can't do things like, oh I don't know, try and use my terrain to my advantage. Nope, they will just pass through the shit like it's not there, and grind my face into the fucking dirt in a single hit. Can *I* do that kind of thing with my big attacks? I hear you ask......hah....hahaha.....HAHHAAHAHAH. Fuck you. No. Do you think this is FAIR? Fuck off.

 

[Piscian]

I picked up Ultra Street Fighter II Last night because I adore the updated art style and I wanted to put it in an arcade setup, but I'm disappointed that you can't run it at normal speed, it seems to be turbo only and you can't run it at 4:3 aspect Ratio so that I can run it in actually Sega Blast City cabs. blah.

Got a little further in Persona 5 Royal. I'm so happy they put in all the dialog skip buttons.

 

[Kae]

Considering MGS 2 was released 20 years ago, it's not really the right time for any form of positive trans content. Most people were still trying to come to terms with regular old, plain vanilla homosexuality, much less any idea of gender identity/variation. If that story element would've been used, it would've been on a villain unfortunately.

But, take heart! In Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance: The Requim: RE-Imagined...the Sequal...Part Deux, his cyborg ninja combat chassis, comes with built-in high heels! So perhaps they are trying to let him express himself subtly, but with death! Actually I doubt it. That entire series is fuckin insane, so nothing close to logic has any place in a discussion about that series.

Actually the only queer character in the game is Vamp and he's a villain so that checks out, like the game very plainly says he's bisexual and that's the reason why he's called Vamp and not because he's basically a vampire, but I don't know what that means to be honest.
But yeah you're probably right, I remember that Raiden being a bit feminine is part of a reason why a lot of people hated him back in the day so I can only imagine how much worse it would've been if he had been a trans-man, like western gamers were so insecure over this crap that when the first Nier game was brought over here they changed the cool, young and a bit feminine main character for a burly gruff old man so that the game would appeal more to the West and that was on 2010.
Still seems weird to me though, I don't remember anyone complaining about the main characters of Castlevania and since Symphony of the Night onwards most of them were really pretty effeminate guys, like even Simon in that PS1 remake of 1, though I think it's because Castlevania started doing it in the 90s, so people had already accepted that was just the way Castlevania was and it was much harder to add that type of character to a franchise that didn't already have it or to launch a franchise with that type of character.

But regarding your second point, I'm not really sure about that, while the franchise is definitely over-the-top and insane, it does tend to have a lot of attention to detail that does invite a lot of analysis, not to mention that despite it's absurdity it does tend to have a lot to say about politics in general, granted it's not remotely close to subtle, but still I wouldn't dismiss it, that being said Revengeance is a game I haven't played and made by Platinum games so I'm pretty sure they were just going for what they thought was cool, but I would say that it's a series very much worth analysing.

 

[happyninja42]

Actually the only queer character in the game is Vamp and he's a villain so that checks out, like the game very plainly says he's bisexual and that's the reason why he's called Vamp and not because he's basically a vampire, but I don't know what that means to be honest.
But yeah you're probably right, I remember that Raiden being a bit feminine is part of a reason why a lot of people hated him back in the day so I can only imagine how much worse it would've been if he had been a trans-man, like western gamers were so insecure over this crap that when the first Nier game was brought over here they changed the cool, young and a bit feminine main character for a burly gruff old man so that the game would appeal more to the West and that was on 2010.
Still seems weird to me though, I don't remember anyone complaining about the main characters of Castlevania and since Symphony of the Night onwards most of them were really pretty effeminate guys, like even Simon in that PS1 remake of 1, though I think it's because Castlevania started doing it in the 90s, so people had already accepted that was just the way Castlevania was and it was much harder to add that type of character to a franchise that didn't already have it or to launch a franchise with that type of character.

I think I've heard the term "vamping" in a context similar to "mincing" when describing a person's overall behavior/demeanor. It implied a level of pomp and flamboyancy, which, when the person is male, implies homosexuality. And my comment about a trans character being the villain has some actual evidence to it. That cocaine induced fever dream that is Deadly Premonitions, had a badguy who was clearly implied to be trans, and that was at the root of their homicidal behavior. Every trans character I can think of in films around that time, and prior were always portrayed as deceptive, and untrustworthy, specifically BECAUSE of that trans aspect to who they are. So yeah, I don't think it would've ended well if they had actually done that.

that being said Revengeance is a game I haven't played and made by Platinum games so I'm pretty sure they were just going for what they thought was cool, but I would say that it's a series very much worth analysing.

It was mostly in jest, as that game is pants on head crazy, even by MGS standards, and they gave Raiden some very striking metallic pumps, built INTO his cyborg body. Which I just found funny. I don't suspect they did it out of any other reason than aesthetic design, it's just amusing to me. That he's wall running in pumps, and all I can think is hearing lines from Drag Race, cheering on his runway performance.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Finishing playing Resident Evil (the remake). Well, I finished Jill's story, but given that Chris still only has 6 inventory slots (and no Barry), I'm not in a hurry to do his part.

It's basically just straight-up improved on the original game. Even if it doesn't have the so-bad-it's-good voice acting, the improved script, added scenes, slightly altered puzzles and room layouts, and the 6th-gen makeover (especially in the cutscene animations) make it totally worth playing.

I think I've finally run out of Resident Evil games, so now comes the hardest part: figuring out what to play next out of my massive library. Except that's easier than usual since I have a Super Mario 3D World file ongoing (at about world 2-4) and Hades can just be picked up for another run whenever.

 

[Kyrian007]

For a couple of weeks now I've gone back to Stardew Valley. Just hadn't played it since before the 1.5 update and wanted to see the new content. I decided to start from the beginning though, and so far I haven't gotten to much that is new yet. What of it I have seen is a nice addition. I especially like the addition of the secret notes, especially ones that add little story notes or tell you people's likes and that information translates over to your index, so you don't have to keep alt-tabbing to the wiki on people's birthdays.

I took a bit of a break from it when Epic was giving away Rage 2. I almost didn't bother, Rage was bland and unenjoyable. But I thought maybe, I'll give it a chance. Rage 2: blander and more unenjoyable... but now with MAGENTA. How in the world can id (of all devs) make a shotgun that feels so viscerally unimpactful... even if it's a one hit kill? You pull the trigger, the sound design politely coughs, and the enemy does some lukewarm preset death animation that gets old after about 10 minutes and you've seen them all. Credit to games that just ragdoll an enemy, at least that can be occasionally random and funny. The driving is maybe the best part of it, and it is an improvement over the driving in the original. But please, give me something to drive that moves better than the vehicles in MudRunner. In Rage a vehicle that's supposed to be nimble and fast moves like its hauling a 5 ton load.

I got to the first "hubtown settlement" And immediately was recognized as some kind of legendary badass, but told I needed to clear out some tunnels under the hubtown. I was also told this would be difficult, people had died trying, and warned not to go down without upgrading or at least stocking up on supplies (low-key tutorializing the commerce system.) But I had just skipped over or in this case driven over things I guess I was supposed to have stopped and investigated... and I had no cash. So I didn't even stock up before going into the sewer tunnels. Fought a dozen or so mobs, then a big mob... took absolutely NO damage doing it, and WON? Other people DIED doing this? This game was so bad I uninstalled after less than an hour. It was "let's cross the Metro games with..."

Wait a minute. They just made their own version of Metro, added driving and subtracted everything that made Metro interesting. Huh, so that's how you make Rage 2 even worse than Rage. No wonder they were giving it away for free, it must have been a massive failure. Then again, I got the original on a free giveaway. So the tradition continues. No it doesn't, I at least played through the original to completion. I couldn't stand more than an hour of the sequel.

 

[deleted20220709]

DELETED

 

[sXeth]

Guessing I’m done with the first half of Infamous Second Son, because I just got the respective trophies for collecting half of stuff. While the general loop of clearing districts is getting repetitive as-expected, I really appreciate how the game doesn’t force you into wasting time or resorting to a guide to find shards and whatnot. Neon powers look and feel incredibly silky smooth (would’ve loved to see how this game felt to play if it was designed with DualSense). Also really curious about the concrete power the game is teasing, since it just sounds...unexpectedly different. Hoping there’s more to it than what the D.U.P. showcases, which shouldn’t be an issue going by the other powers, skill trees.

You only get Concrete post-story (I wouldn't really call this a spoiler, cause the whole game is about getting Concrete to un-cement the tribe).'


It is... not exactly impressive. Doesn't have a skill tree, and gameplay wise, it's used to literally nerf your abilities down for part of the final boss fight.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

You only get Concrete post-story (I wouldn't really call this a spoiler, cause the whole game is about getting Concrete to un-cement the tribe).'


It is... not exactly impressive. Doesn't have a skill tree, and gameplay wise, it's used to literally nerf your abilities down for part of the final boss fight.

That’s....disappointing. Oh well, neon and smoke are cool enough I suppose. Thankfully the Platinum shouldn’t be too difficult either, and not require collecting everything again for an Expert/Infamous run on my second play through.

Having said that, I’m actually playing more Sekiro currently. Mibu Village feels rather ominous, considering past FROM games. Here all these fine folks were, minding their own business, until a one-armed wolf showed up performing death blows on everyone.

 

[gorfias]

Just saw this and it reminded me to try playing it some more. I've owned it for years on Steam but got bored. So, now I'm playing with Cheats. Hope to use mods on it soon too. So far with cheats? It is fun.

 

[Dalisclock]

Finished Tomb Raider: Legend. It was fun, but it does have some notable flaws. First of all, the bike sections suck ass and the 2nd one almost made me quit in frustration. You're restricted to one pistol(a restriction none of your enemies have, firing goddamn shotguns and SMGs at you from their bikes), your aiming is shit and you're reliant on health packs spawning along the road to pick up to keep your health up(and a swear to god, it's entirely the RNG deciding if it likes you or not). Apparently a third bike sequence was planned but cut and I can only be thankful it was considering the shittiness of the ones already there.

The other notable flaw is that the game incorporates QTEs at specific times but gives you very little warning when it's gonna spring a sequence on you, and of course, you die the moment you get one wrong. The directions you need to press also seem to change direction midway through the sequences sometimes. At least the checkpoints are right before the sequence starts, normally before you trigger it so you aren't trapped in it.

Otherwise, there are puzzle bosses which mostly decent, checkpointing is generous, puzzles normally work under logical rules though combat is clunky depending pretty much entirely on auto-lock on and trying to use some cover and moving around not to die. Not much to write home about and ironically, Uncharted would come out a year later and do pretty much everything this game did better(and yes, I'm aware Drake's Fortune is not particularly good).

And of course, it has all the usual adventurer archaeologist trapping, including my favorites:
-Ancient ruins haven't been opened in centuries or even millennium. All the torches are lit when hero enters. No previous signs of entry recently.
-A path from the entrance to the the main chamber/treasure room which shows no sign of ever being reasonably traversed by a normal human being.
-Complex mechanical mechanisms sitting in a damp cave for a thousand years. Still in perfect working order and suspiciously anachronistic.
-Animals and giant beasts trapped far underground in sealed ruins.No sign of actual food supply capable of sustaining them for any length of time.
-Lara Croft callously destroys ancient artifacts for shits and giggles(at one point she drives a goddamn forklift through a couple of walls to breach further into the ruins). None of support crew gives a shit. As a gamingsins commenter would point out, "Lara Croft is the worst thing to happen to Archaeology since ISIS"

I realized a lot of fiction does this but tomb raider tends to abuse it quite a bit.

 

[happyninja42]

Just saw this and it reminded me to try playing it some more. I've owned it for years on Steam but got bored. So, now I'm playing with Cheats. Hope to use mods on it soon too. So far with cheats? It is fun.

I found that game incredibly tedious and boring. I also find it REALLY funny how many zealot fans of NV are out there, claiming it's fantastic...you know... if you ignore the ridiculous instability and hard crashes if you sneeze, and mod the shit out of it. But hey! Game is great! If you're playing a version of the game that isn't ACTUALLY what they made!!

And yet these same people will shit all over other games for having critical glitches and bugs, even if everything else is good about them. The level of intentional mental disconnect, and selective criticism is on par with people who are religious, and claim their book is holy...if, you know...you ignore all the horrible bits in it.

 

[Kyrian007]

I found that game incredibly tedious and boring. I also find it REALLY funny how many zealot fans of NV are out there, claiming it's fantastic...you know... if you ignore the ridiculous instability and hard crashes if you sneeze, and mod the shit out of it. But hey! Game is great! If you're playing a version of the game that isn't ACTUALLY what they made!!

And yet these same people will shit all over other games for having critical glitches and bugs, even if everything else is good about them. The level of intentional mental disconnect, and selective criticism is on par with people who are religious, and claim their book is holy...if, you know...you ignore all the horrible bits in it.

That also might have had something to do with when someone tries New Vegas. I was a couple of years late to the party, and while installing I saw a Steam thread that detailed a simple ini file edit that eliminates the crashes. So when I first played it it was completely stable, I never experienced a single crash. To me the pacing wasn't quite as good as FO 3, but I really enjoyed it. Even completely unmodded. The problem with the pacing, the map wasn't nearly as populated as it needed to be. It did add to the empty desert sort of atmosphere, but a slog across an empty desert is still just a slog.

 

[gorfias]

I found that game incredibly tedious and boring. I also find it REALLY funny how many zealot fans of NV are out there, claiming it's fantastic...you know... if you ignore the ridiculous instability and hard crashes if you sneeze, and mod the shit out of it. But hey! Game is great! If you're playing a version of the game that isn't ACTUALLY what they made!!

And yet these same people will shit all over other games for having critical glitches and bugs, even if everything else is good about them. The level of intentional mental disconnect, and selective criticism is on par with people who are religious, and claim their book is holy...if, you know...you ignore all the horrible bits in it.

This happened to me with Skyrim as well. I'm using essentially a flame thrower on a crab and can't kill him. But if I play for 200 hours, I'll level up enough where I will be able to do so! Meh. So I modded it, gave myself ultimate powers, turned the moon into the Death Star, my horse into an Oldsmobile and it was fantastic from there on out.
Not sure I'll mod this one. With cheats, I have perfect VATS shots, a 1 shot killer gun, can carry 999lbs, invulnerable. Kinda just trying to experience the story now.

 

[deleted20220709]

DELETED

 

[happyninja42]

That also might have had something to do with when someone tries New Vegas. I was a couple of years late to the party, and while installing I saw a Steam thread that detailed a simple ini file edit that eliminates the crashes. So when I first played it it was completely stable, I never experienced a single crash. To me the pacing wasn't quite as good as FO 3, but I really enjoyed it. Even completely unmodded. The problem with the pacing, the map wasn't nearly as populated as it needed to be. It did add to the empty desert sort of atmosphere, but a slog across an empty desert is still just a slog.

The stability thing seems to be very random, even with mods for stability. I personally didn't have too many issues when I played it, I just didn't care about the game. The entire biome is brown/orange dirt/rock, the layout was so sparse, and the buildings so dilapidated, that I didn't feel like I was playing a future time, post-apocalypse game. I just felt like I was wandering around a really low income area in Arizona. It could've been America 1995 for all I could tell from the design of the majority of the locations. I didn't really give a shit about any of the factions, and just found myself completely bored.

And I know YT content creators that are HUGE NV fans, and I'm confident they have any and all stability mods installed, given how much they love the game, and it still crashes for them all the time. I honestly had a very stable experience with the game, as I came to NV years after release. It still crashed regularly enough to be annoying, but it was hardly a big deal, given how you can quicksave whenever. I just found the content underwhelming. I've since come to realize that most of Obsidian's titles are just not my cup of tea.

 

[BrawlMan]

I found that game incredibly tedious and boring. I also find it REALLY funny how many zealot fans of NV are out there, claiming it's fantastic...you know... if you ignore the ridiculous instability and hard crashes if you sneeze, and mod the shit out of it. But hey! Game is great! If you're playing a version of the game that isn't ACTUALLY what they made!!

And yet these same people will shit all over other games for having critical glitches and bugs, even if everything else is good about them. The level of intentional mental disconnect, and selective criticism is on par with people who are religious, and claim their book is holy...if, you know...you ignore all the horrible bits in it.

If I remember correctly, it's PS3 port and the PS3 Port of Skyrim are even worse. You can't even finish the game cuz they didn't bother updating Skyrim.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Finally beat Nioh, probably the easiest Souls game I've ever played. The Onmyo talismans really break the game once you can stack a bunch and use them to slow down and weaken every boss in the game. The only thing I didn't kill in one try near the end of the game was Orochi, just cause the fight is so idiosyncratic. Otherwise I cheesed everything without even having to understand half the mechanics the game kept throwing my way.