So I've been playing Cyberpunk and this game is incredible. Its like someone went back in time, developed a game for the PS2, travelled forward in time again and ported it to the PS4. If I'd payed money for this game, I would be as pissed as everyone else because this game is janky as hell. But seeing as my brother bought it for me for Christmas, I'm enjoying it, the broken jankiness is kind of endearing. But yeah, this game should not have been released for the current gen consoles. CDPR should have just ignored the death threats from idiots, said "yeah sorry, this is going to be next gen only now", given it an extra 2 years in development and released it when it was ready.
So despite getting this for Christmas, I installed it on my console played it for a bit and then ignored it while it slowly got patched a bit. After the most recent patch, I decided to give it a look and after doing a really boring tutorial about viewing videos, or "brain dances", I remembered it was supposed to be open world so decided to go for a walk. And stumbled obliviously into a crime scenario, after chucking a few grenades and blasting a few goons, I was having fun. So I have been mostly been going around Night City trying to get rid of all crime. What no one told me was that this game was a looter shooter, its basically Borderlands with a muted colour pallet. I am constantly swapping out trousers for slightly better trousers and selling the rest. The shooting is not good, throwing rocks at the bad guys would probably have more range than some of the guns available. The city is full of clones, often shuffling down the road like zombies one after the other. The driving is terrible, even after they claim to have made it better. Actually, the motorcycles aren't bad. But I got into a fast car and basically drove down the road swerving from side to side like I'd just drank two bottles of vodka, just because I over steered a little. Often you can't pick up collectibles and I'm certain looted items disappear from my inventory. But some of the side missions are quite good fun, an early one had me sneaking into a restaurant to steal an eye that a customer had lost in a poker game. So I knocked out the person guarding the back door, sneaked in, choked out a girl and then basically stole everything that wasn't nailed down. That's another thing, none gives a shit if you steal their stuff, even if you do it right in front of them.
Like I said, if I'd paid money, I'd be pissed. But I didn't so I'm enjoying this glorious tribute to PS2 era gaming.
Previously I'd been playing Persona 5 Strikers which was a lot of fun. I am now going back and forth on whether to go and pick up the new Pokemon Snap game. I'm currently leaning more towards yes as I loved the original on the N64.
Beat Surge 2 just a few minutes ago. I have....thoughts.
So, they did some things better than Surge 1, and some not so much.
Cons:
They did away with the voiced protagonist, which was annoying, because I just felt like a mindless automaton running around cutting up things. I liked playing as Warren in the first one, as he at least had some personality. Yes you get to choose dialogue options, but it's incredibly limited, to the point they might as well not even be there most of the time. So that was a step down.
They also had just such a minimal plot. I choose a "class" which basically just translates to a job that I was doing before the events of the game. As far as I can tell though, they have zero bearing on the actual gameplay, other than to have people comment a few times about my job (I picked Search and Rescue, so people would comment about it in a very "insert job title here" kind of way.) I didn't get a different skill set, and while people gave me gifts, thanking me for my work as S&R...I honestly think it was just stacks of scrap sooo...nothing really unique. Aside from that, and a little voice in my head asking for help, the plot has basically zero bearing on anything. They keep telling you "I will explain that to you later"....but they never do. You can infer some of the broadest strokes about what's going on, and why, and what's up with you, but it's not like you find a codex that details it in length, and it never has any bearing on the game. It's just like "oh...ok well I guess that means I'm X, because they said this.....ok well I still have no choice but to kill everything in front of me to progress in the game." The map was neat to run around, but I didn't really feel all that invested in most of it.
The main villains of the game are like a cyberpunk redneck family, that run a cult, and it felt so strange that they were the focal point of the conflict. The other factions, like governmental agencies, and the corporation that caused all this shit to happen in the first place, were just sort of tertiary players. No, Mama NanoHick, and the Two Hicks Boys were the primary players and movers. Which just felt....strange.
There was also an annoying thing they did near the end, where they drastically altered the map layout, on how you pathed to different zones and specific locations. It made some really annoying relearning of what connected to what. Compound that with them making it incredibly non-linear on how you re-path, and it let me to have zero clue on how to get back to some of the earliest zones in the game, and I had to take crazy alternate routes.
The game gives you a ton of weapon choices and armor sets, but they are almost entirely interchangeable. Well, the weapons mostly. The armor sets did have some really interesting set bonuses, but you really didn't need to change out at all. I ran around with the outfit that gave me bonus scrap per kill, and removed the use of a battery charge to trigger kill animations, for most of the game. I only switched out when I got an implant that gave me a massive scrap boost, so I switched to a more combat friendly outift. But the weapons, the stats had very little variation to them, and you get so many of them, that you find yourself with a pile of redundant weapon types, without any real idea of why you should switch to one over the other. Like you'll end up with 2 different punching weapons that have a nano damage effect, and they have nearly identical stats on everything else. A difference of a handful of points at most, so switching out isn't really an upgrade its just....aesthetic I guess?
The ending was just....there. Like, I did stuff, that's framed as being really epic, but it didn't feel epic. And the resolution of it, is a Renegade/Paragon style choice, and....then it's just over. You get a single cinematic that doesn't really resolve anything, or bring any closure. It just basically says "ok, things are over now, good job!" roll credits. Like the first one, I felt very underwhelmed with the ending. The first one at least felt like I was trying to stop a global apocalypse from happening....only to not apparently.
You also can't stack multiple implants of the same type anymore. Which means you will only ever have one mod for that one thing you really like, and that you had 3 installed in Surge 1. Because even if you find another implant of that same type out in the field, it's converted into scrap instead. :/ If you're lucky, you will find a higher Mk. version of that mod, which you can then add. In THAT scenario, you can stack them. So, for example you can't have two Mk. 2 Energy Storage mods installed at once. But you can have one Mk. 2, and one Mk. 3 installed. However they space them out so much, it's hard to try and tailor a build early on, using the implants.
Pros
The fact that it's in a city, allowed them the chance to populate it with a lot of NPCs, which made running around more interesting. They were fairly one dimensional, but the voice acting for several of them was enjoyable, and there was some genuine humor tossed liberally throughout the game. Surge 2 clearly isn't taking itself as seriously as Surge 1, which is good in some ways, but bad in others.
The leveling system was reworked, and was more streamline. Which was good in some ways, but also made it fairly uninteresting. You only have 3 stats to invest in when you level up, Health, Stamina, and Energy. You quickly get diminishing returns with Stamina at a certain point, as well as Energy, so eventually you just start tossing everything into Health because, well why not? You still have the number and types of mods you can have in your rig, tied to your Power Core level, but now, that doesn't impact how strong your implants are.
The combat was enjoyable mostly. Very little variety to it, just target enemy, select a limb, apply violence until dead, wash, rinse, repeat. I basically stuck with using electricity based weapons (spear mainly) as I liked the attack sequences, and electricity fucks over everyone, human, machine, nano alike, they all hate being zotted to death. Other damage types could have resistances or immunities, based on the enemy, and I found it tedious to try and swap out, when electricity seemed to work great on everyone.
Overall, it was fine. They seem to be trying to refine their craft of this whole souls-like thing they are doing, and give it their own spin on the genre. Can't say I'm terribly impressed, both Surge 1&2 have a NG+ mode that I had zero motivation to try, and I don't find myself thinking about the plot or it's elements in any way now that I've beaten the games. Surge 1 had a particular plot thread to it, that was particularly well done I think, for how it's presented, and the implications of it once you learn why things are happening that way.
Specifically, the girl in the comms system you are talking to throughout the entire game, keeps telling you to hurry, that there isn't much time, but doesn't say why. What you eventually learn, near the end, is that the executive board, were voting on whether or not to launch the rocket with all the nanos in them, that will royally fuck the world (though they think it will save everything). When the surge hit, it killed most of the board, except for 2 of them, the rest had already voted, but the two were still undecided when the surge hit. They were seriously injured, and near death as a result of the surge, but the A.I. still waited for their votes. The woman in the comms, was a medical staffer, and basically just hacked their vitals, and kept them in a near death state, because as long as the vote didn't end (with all board members either voting or being dead), the rocket wouldn't launch. So she was trying to keep them from dying, long enough for you to show up , and stop the system, but then you make it to the board room, to watch the final guy die, thus ending the vote, and the majority decision to launch goes through. That was pretty dark, the way it's presented. All these bodies tied into a series of cables and tubes, one guy twitching and gasping, clearly having been in this state for days.
But Surge 2 had nothing like that, and I will be uninstalling them both now.
Slightly old school strategy, you play maps with 9-15 units ranging from lone snipers to squads, and vehicles. It's slightly odd and even somewhat unbalanced - that's a hard limit to units, but units are completely different in power. A single tank in the right scenario is simply godlike, because there's almost no way to take it out and it'll cruise round the battlefield turning infantry to mush with laughable ease.
And god do I hate those fucking German machine guns: delete whole squads in seconds.
I purchased Iconoclasts today. I caught covid19 last week so I'm stuck indoors and figured I might have something to waste time on instead of various websites.
Sadly I got motion sick and a headache from it, but that might be because as I said: I am ill.
I purchased Iconoclasts today. I caught covid19 last week so I'm stuck indoors and figured I might have something to waste time on instead of various websites.
Sadly I got motion sick and a headache from it, but that might be because as I said: I am ill.
I finally beat the Bowser World in Mario 3D World. I find the final stage disappointing, because it's an auto-scoller at the halfway point and not a proper boss battle. What is is with Nintendo and the auto-scrollers? I tend to dislike those gameplay gimmicks in most platformers. Worst of all, if they are in a Sonic game. I do love the credit sequence. With all that said, one of the best mainline Mario games from the 2010s. I'll try Bowser's Fury later. I going to figure out what to play next on Switch. Maybe Puyo Puyo Tetris.
Been playing an early access game called Sands of Salzaar. It's pretty interesting. The best way I can describe it is it's a LOT like Mount and Blade: Bannerlord, but the combat is like Diablo. When you are on the global map, you and every one else are running around real time, and you the various factions fight each other independent of what you are doing, though you can involve yourself if you wish. When you fight, you transition to a battle map, and you and a significant sized army (if you gather that many to your cause), bash it out with the other forces. There are various factions that control territory, and you can gain favor with the factions, as well as with individuals, depending on your actions. You have special abilities that you unlock by investing in skill trees, and you can also buy talents that give you meta-scale bonuses. Like increase your party size, or how quickly your forces move, either on the global map, or battle map. How quickly they heal, etc. You can also gain talents that improve your mercantile stuff, as well as faction rep gain/loss.
It's pretty fun so far, and it's got an impressive amount of map size, factions, and inner workings for an early access. There is also something of a roguelike element to it? You have legacy points that you can spend when you are making a hero, and you earn these points from playing and doing various tasks in game. As far as I can tell, I can't spend them in my current playthrough, but a new one might be able to benefit from the extra perks, to make subsequent games more interesting.
Satisfactory Early Access - Update 4: Drones and Shit
One of my favourite games and they finally got enough bugs worked out of update 4 for me to get into it. Nothing like soothing hours of watching my ceaselessly spiralling doom factory churn out progressively more complex widgets.
I'm always blown away by people who use foundations to make neat rows of complex systems. I seems like it would be more professional and efficient and satisfactory, but isn't making a factory out of spiraling madness more fun? Sure I might not remember specifically what this web of pipes was ever supposed to do, but I know for a fact a bunch of shit will stop working if I mess with it, so why not just build another web of pipes right on top to achieve this other goal I now have?
Nearly have Metroid Prime scratched off; I've done everything I need to to unlock the final area, except defeating the boss at the entrance.
I also decided to get the Yakuza remaster trilogy on Steam, though I already own all the games on PS3 already. I got the PC versions because it's possible to use mods to restore music that Sega lost the licenses to since the original releases, such as the Don Quijote jingle. I've decided to play Yakuza 3 first, since it was the first released out of all the Yakuza games I have on PC, and work through the timeline from there. I've already played most of them at least once, so I don't need any story recaps or anything like that.
For the most part I play WoW - and the 100% bonus exp buff for the next month has been wonderful. However sometimes I just want to pick up my space guns and shoot things. So I decided to grab the Halo: Master Chief Collection. I had Halo on PC moons ago, but I don't think it would work now - certainly not on a 34inch 4K screen - but since Halo 2 was Windows Vista only (Bleh!) and 3 onwards never made it out of Xbox's controller gimped clutches I never got past the first one. So in so much as I despise Halo's background fluff, and I'm not happy about some of the trends it started in shooters, its still an excellent example of itself.
I mainly play WoW, also. Been playing since October 2007. Shadowlands expansion, has been interesting in so many ways. Graphics are stunningly beautiful. I love Torghast - probably a bit too much. Jailer hates me with a passion whenever I go to the Maw on any toon, lol. As much as I love this new expansion, and the game overall, I still occasionally get bit by the nostalgia bug, to play an old game, or find something new to play. Last year, I started playing Obduction ( similar to the Myst games ) off and on, on Steam. More recently, went on a game download spree, looking for something new to play. Path of Exile looked interesting, thought I'd try it out - yeah, that turned out to be a big NO, lol. Re-ignited my old Aion account, it's rather bleh - no one talks in game. Maybe I should look at console games, instead of just PC. I really, really miss Planetside One - miss my Mag Rider, BFR's and caves. Ahhhh, all the hate-tells I'd get...fun times!
Playing Persona 5 Royale. I don't know who they designed this yusuke character for but he's never leaving the bullpen once I get through his storyline.
Playing Persona 5 Royale. I don't know who they designed this yusuke character for but he's never leaving the bullpen once I get through his storyline.
I'm not a huge fan of Yusuke either, but story wise, he has his moments...none of which involve him asking Ann to model naked for him. Also his ice attacks are useful against fire shadows. However, if you every play P5 Strikers, there is a literal ice level where he is absolutely useless in.
It's just as hammy and anachronistic as I remember and it's great to be back (rubbish pathfinding notwithstanding). I'm amused by the addition of the Merchant with the Medieval II: Total War voice lines! And the Rebels get agents?! That's a new one.
Dropped into RDR2 Online to see what’s new, and take advantage of the current round of perks for the Moonshiners pursuit. Was able to finish my levels for that and get the horse I’d always wanted -
Such a looker, let alone actually having awesome stats to boot. Not that I’ll be racing him much anyways, but even at level 1 bonding I’ve discovered it’s also a terrific breed for quick getaways. Now to round out my stable there’s only the high end Breton to get after completing the Bounty Hunter levels, which I’m pretty close to. My lower end one served me well through nearly half of my Online adventures, but I’ll set him loose for the trade up.
Other than that, I’m going to finally commit to finishing The Witcher 3, which I’m perhaps about halfway through now. Hoping to get at least the base game done this month, which would be kinda fitting considering it was released in May originally. I’ll do the DLC right afterwards as well. Furthermore considering this was originally the game I built my latest PC for a few years back, it’s been long overdue.
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