What are you currently playing?
- Thread starter Nick Calandra
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I beat the first boss of Returnal... on my third loop. And then during the same loop (which still hasn't ended) I got the second boss too. I'm starting to worry that this game might not be as difficult as it was advertised to be. Not that I bought it because it was difficult; I bought it because it looked interesting, and it's still being that.
Also decided to join my friends in a Discord server in Overwatch 2, despite not having played Overwatch since about 2017. I've never been good at competitive online multiplayer games in any capacity, and this really isn't being much different, but I actually like the game, and I liked it back in 2016-17 as well. I'm aware of all the controversy, but I have friends who play it and I enjoy it myself. I guess I just don't have the energy to get involved in that shit.
Also decided to join my friends in a Discord server in Overwatch 2, despite not having played Overwatch since about 2017. I've never been good at competitive online multiplayer games in any capacity, and this really isn't being much different, but I actually like the game, and I liked it back in 2016-17 as well. I'm aware of all the controversy, but I have friends who play it and I enjoy it myself. I guess I just don't have the energy to get involved in that shit.
I'm a third of the way through Plague Tale 2 so I can start posting some thoughts:
I will admit my interest in the Plague Tale games is almost purely about story, art, characters, and vibe. I know I complain a lot about almost every type of gameplay loop except 3rd person action but.. well, boy, do I get frustrated at stealth.
Also the core input/reaction mechanics "game feel" of both Plague Tales games is a little clunky and slow for me. Not as bad as but reminiscent of Red Dead 2 where the very thought of making my stupid character move or do anything or go anywhere makes me a little nauseous 'cause it'll take forever and I wanna go to sleep. But I do it because everything looks amazing and I wanna know what happens.
So in Plague Tale 2 when they put me in a position where I have to get across some area and there are guards and I have sneak around, I want to die IRL. I just get annoyed- everything is slow, I get spotted no matter what I do, and I have to redo it over and over. I suck at this.
So, yeah, I dropped the difficulty to easy around chapter 4 or 5 and am able to just sprint past some of those parts and the game is great now.
The other main gameplay moments are navigating around rats, which are just environment puzzles. You have to manipulate light sources and such and I really like these parts- clever level design with a good balance between careful thought and heightened tension.
Then the parts where there are cut scenes, quiet moments of walking around a town or whatever- are just lovely, well done, and a great way to draw you into the rats and/or guards' gruesomeness. I like what they're doing with the character dynamics and what they're doing with Amecia, the main playable character, so far.
They are messing a bit with the common thing in some of these games where you get to choose between murdering everyone or not but I don't know if that will result in any difference in the end like in Dishonored or whatever. I'm happy to just let it go where it does, playing purely to get through the story in whatever way I can to progress and let the chips fall where they may. The only way I know it matters is in the skill tree, where you get bonuses for the things you do more (like sneaking past guards gives you XP towards passive skills that make your steps quieter, that sort of thing).
SkillUp compared this game to The Last of Us and... yeah, it is like that for me, where the sneaking and the fights get tired real quick and I suck at it but everything is amazing. Also, I guess, in both, you're a teenage girl unfairly surviving a horrific world out to get you and you turn into a violent death tornado out of necessity.
I will admit my interest in the Plague Tale games is almost purely about story, art, characters, and vibe. I know I complain a lot about almost every type of gameplay loop except 3rd person action but.. well, boy, do I get frustrated at stealth.
Also the core input/reaction mechanics "game feel" of both Plague Tales games is a little clunky and slow for me. Not as bad as but reminiscent of Red Dead 2 where the very thought of making my stupid character move or do anything or go anywhere makes me a little nauseous 'cause it'll take forever and I wanna go to sleep. But I do it because everything looks amazing and I wanna know what happens.
So in Plague Tale 2 when they put me in a position where I have to get across some area and there are guards and I have sneak around, I want to die IRL. I just get annoyed- everything is slow, I get spotted no matter what I do, and I have to redo it over and over. I suck at this.
So, yeah, I dropped the difficulty to easy around chapter 4 or 5 and am able to just sprint past some of those parts and the game is great now.
The other main gameplay moments are navigating around rats, which are just environment puzzles. You have to manipulate light sources and such and I really like these parts- clever level design with a good balance between careful thought and heightened tension.
Then the parts where there are cut scenes, quiet moments of walking around a town or whatever- are just lovely, well done, and a great way to draw you into the rats and/or guards' gruesomeness. I like what they're doing with the character dynamics and what they're doing with Amecia, the main playable character, so far.
They are messing a bit with the common thing in some of these games where you get to choose between murdering everyone or not but I don't know if that will result in any difference in the end like in Dishonored or whatever. I'm happy to just let it go where it does, playing purely to get through the story in whatever way I can to progress and let the chips fall where they may. The only way I know it matters is in the skill tree, where you get bonuses for the things you do more (like sneaking past guards gives you XP towards passive skills that make your steps quieter, that sort of thing).
SkillUp compared this game to The Last of Us and... yeah, it is like that for me, where the sneaking and the fights get tired real quick and I suck at it but everything is amazing. Also, I guess, in both, you're a teenage girl unfairly surviving a horrific world out to get you and you turn into a violent death tornado out of necessity.
Playing Cursed to Golf, a 2D roguelike golfing game. I don't know what else the devs have made but the music is from the A Short Hike dude and the game rocks for it. Now I haven't played a game of actual golf in my life but I like these weirdo takes, like Kirby's Dream Course on the SNES. They seem more like lateral thinking puzzle games than an actual sport, where the challenge is more about breaking the game than playing it.
The gameplay is you're given 5 strokes to complete (each) 18 holes. You get three clubs for long/mid/short range and a bunch of gameplay-affecting cards and that's about it. Cards are good for anything from adding strokes to taking mulligans to freezing a ball in mid-air or cancelling bouncing. You also get to break idols throughout the course that add strokes, if you want to risk side gauntlets. In between holes you get to visit shops and stash cards for future runs.
For difficulty the game is kinda hard. It sucks you can't see very far ahead and are essentially playing blind through half these levels. Maybe the conceit is deliberate but most of the difficulty comes from the guesswork of where is the ball going to land. The design of the courses can be so labyrinthine I wish more precision were involved in mapping shots. I can't imagine how you get a hole in one in any of these.
Anyway, having fun discovering how the game works and all that.
Edit: Wish this had an offline 1v1 mode, it'd be a lot of fun to play with the girlfriend.
The gameplay is you're given 5 strokes to complete (each) 18 holes. You get three clubs for long/mid/short range and a bunch of gameplay-affecting cards and that's about it. Cards are good for anything from adding strokes to taking mulligans to freezing a ball in mid-air or cancelling bouncing. You also get to break idols throughout the course that add strokes, if you want to risk side gauntlets. In between holes you get to visit shops and stash cards for future runs.
For difficulty the game is kinda hard. It sucks you can't see very far ahead and are essentially playing blind through half these levels. Maybe the conceit is deliberate but most of the difficulty comes from the guesswork of where is the ball going to land. The design of the courses can be so labyrinthine I wish more precision were involved in mapping shots. I can't imagine how you get a hole in one in any of these.
Anyway, having fun discovering how the game works and all that.
Edit: Wish this had an offline 1v1 mode, it'd be a lot of fun to play with the girlfriend.
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Overwatch came out in 2017? Man time is flying.
EDIT: Wikipedia says it came out May 2016. Holy cow.
Played The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan that came out for PS+.
QTE horror game, very similar to Until Dawn.
I was dog sitting today and not going anywhere and, before I knew it, about 5 hours went by. Not sure my progress. For an anthology series, I have to think I'm near done.
Great graphics, some glitches (A "close" icon stayed on for a long time after I was past the scene that needed it). Something of a story that is making some sense. Some very clever decisions.
These are on Steam. I'll have to do some more.
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Started God Wars Future Past the other day. Game's a very classic-feeling Srpg in the vein of FFT set in ancient japan, it has vibes of Okami where there's disturbances in nature causing the gods to be mad and bring forth disasters and you play as the good ole golden boy himself Kintaro and princess Kaguya who try to find a way to calm the gods without resorting to human sacrifices and as you go along more wacky characters from Japanese folklore join your party. So far I have the Red and Blue Oni (latter is a hot lady that's an Urusei Yatsura reference), a humanoid bear and a flower magician.
The game has cool anime cutscenes all over the place and while the graphics are somewhat underwhelming (I believe this was supposed to be a 2017 vita game originally) the game mechanics go super deep and there's skill trees and job trees and each char can have 3 classes worth of skills simultaneously (one unique to them based on the lore, others that you select and upgrade) and it's just insanely addictive. Even doing side quests which are just raw fights with no story is a ton of fun cause you're constantly leveling up stuff and learning or upgrading moves. Anyone looking for a classic Srpg will be happy to play this.
The game has cool anime cutscenes all over the place and while the graphics are somewhat underwhelming (I believe this was supposed to be a 2017 vita game originally) the game mechanics go super deep and there's skill trees and job trees and each char can have 3 classes worth of skills simultaneously (one unique to them based on the lore, others that you select and upgrade) and it's just insanely addictive. Even doing side quests which are just raw fights with no story is a ton of fun cause you're constantly leveling up stuff and learning or upgrading moves. Anyone looking for a classic Srpg will be happy to play this.
On a whim, I decided to pick up Vault of the Void as something to try when I'm not in the mood to grind out more enemy materials in Genshin Impact and can't get to the TV to play Returnal. So far I've only done the tutorial, but it's got an interesting vibe to it that sets it apart from Slay the Spire, which it's the closest thing to. The store page says that it's designed to limit RNG's influence on a run and put more control in the player's hands, with systems like guaranteed card rewards before you enter a room and a sideboard that lets you swap cards in and out of your deck at any time rather than relying on limited resources to remove starter cards. In battle, the turn-by-turn tactics feel pretty different from StS as well, as you block incoming damage on the turn after the enemy attacks and deliberately discard cards from your hand to gain more energy. And circling back to those starter cards, there's four classes with two starter decks each, which are actually significantly different from each other, which promises a fair amount of variety to runs.
Definitely looking forward to delving into this game's guts and seeing what makes it tick.
As for the other stuff I've been playing so far:
-Genshin Impact: With the major story quests that are currently available wrapped up, I've mostly been logging in to do daily commissions and then logging back out again. The next major update's in a week or so, and it's bringing with it a new character I'm hoping to pick up, so I'll probably start playing a bit more actively from then.
-Overwatch 2: As expected, I've mostly been queueing in quick play with my friends. I don't have the understanding of positioning to play a tank effectively, so I've mainly been queueing in DPS+support. Thankfully Moira and Lucio are pretty easy to play in the latter category, so I don't have to worry too much if I get support.
-Returnal: I lost that run that was going really well and then had a couple that died very quickly because I made some bad decisions about picking up malignant stuff and lost track of enemies at low HP. Next run I'm probably not going to skip directly to the third area as soon as I can to get more health upgrades and artifacts.
Definitely looking forward to delving into this game's guts and seeing what makes it tick.
As for the other stuff I've been playing so far:
-Genshin Impact: With the major story quests that are currently available wrapped up, I've mostly been logging in to do daily commissions and then logging back out again. The next major update's in a week or so, and it's bringing with it a new character I'm hoping to pick up, so I'll probably start playing a bit more actively from then.
-Overwatch 2: As expected, I've mostly been queueing in quick play with my friends. I don't have the understanding of positioning to play a tank effectively, so I've mainly been queueing in DPS+support. Thankfully Moira and Lucio are pretty easy to play in the latter category, so I don't have to worry too much if I get support.
-Returnal: I lost that run that was going really well and then had a couple that died very quickly because I made some bad decisions about picking up malignant stuff and lost track of enemies at low HP. Next run I'm probably not going to skip directly to the third area as soon as I can to get more health upgrades and artifacts.
Yeah that's the one. I assume that version has the dlc included, the ps4 version had chapters 1 and 2 for free but you had to buy the 3rd, though it all sounds like high level after the final boss type stuff so I have no idea what it entails yet, also it had some cosmetic and item stuff but those tend to be OP so I never get those.
Also it was on sale on ps4, just 6 bucks, it may still be so if you're getting it you'd wanna look into that if you have a ps4/vita. Even with the dlc it's way cheaper than on steam.
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Plague Tale Innocence completed. The thoughts on gameplay pretty much persist from my previous post. Others have complained a bit about the pacing of the last few chapters and I pretty much agree, as the parts I like most about the game- environmental rat puzzles- give way pretty much completely to the parts i don't like- "combat" puzzles.
The story also kind of stretches out a bit needlessly to make room for those parts, but the ending is pretty much perfect. Might f*** you up, but it's narratively satisfying. So I can't stress how valuable easy mode is if you find the "combat" and stealth as un-fun as I do and want maybe the best interactive story sequel that came out this year. Yes I'm willing to put that up against Ragnarok.
The story also kind of stretches out a bit needlessly to make room for those parts, but the ending is pretty much perfect. Might f*** you up, but it's narratively satisfying. So I can't stress how valuable easy mode is if you find the "combat" and stealth as un-fun as I do and want maybe the best interactive story sequel that came out this year. Yes I'm willing to put that up against Ragnarok.
Got back to The Evil Within, on The Keeper chapter with the safe head boss. They should’ve at least let the player skip cutscenes for these fights, or at least have mid fight checkpoints. This really feels like one of those games where its ideas looked better on paper than how it was executed. Still like it, but little improvements on design choices would’ve gone a long way.
Oh well. Then I also fired up Bayonetta which is a refreshing change of pace. I just finished chapter 3. Really like the 360 degree wall running stuff. Getting Platinum medals feels good, even though I know I’m not playing optimally by any means. Kinda want to move dodge to a different button as it’s kinda awkward to use on R2 if lock-on is R1. Although maybe I’ll get used to it, since what made it tough in the last chapter was needing to avoid the burning sections. The gameplay is deep, but surprisingly so is the lore. Finding journal pieces and other collectibles is as much of a dopamine hit as the combat.
Oh well. Then I also fired up Bayonetta which is a refreshing change of pace. I just finished chapter 3. Really like the 360 degree wall running stuff. Getting Platinum medals feels good, even though I know I’m not playing optimally by any means. Kinda want to move dodge to a different button as it’s kinda awkward to use on R2 if lock-on is R1. Although maybe I’ll get used to it, since what made it tough in the last chapter was needing to avoid the burning sections. The gameplay is deep, but surprisingly so is the lore. Finding journal pieces and other collectibles is as much of a dopamine hit as the combat.
Welp, I bought Persona 5 Royal on Steam and have been playing a lot. Definitely a unique game in terms of JRPG. Stylish as hell, especially the kick ass soundtracks!
Currently exploring the first palace, and according to the network data like 71% of people completed the palace in a single sitting. Which amazes me because I'm around 2.5 hours in and it feels like it's going on forever.
Currently exploring the first palace, and according to the network data like 71% of people completed the palace in a single sitting. Which amazes me because I'm around 2.5 hours in and it feels like it's going on forever.
imo that's one of the big problem with P5, there's a lot of reason to finish dungeon in one sitting. P3/4 made sure there was some system that forced the player to leave the dungeon after awhile and do it over multiple days so you had good balance between student life and spelunking. But P5 removed or neutered all those, so you can pretty easily do it in one sitting but it just become very monotonous.
I was also reminded of how this game DOESN'T have auto save (at least to my knowledge?), and I had lost about 30 min of progression in the first palace
. It's great to see games relying on manual saves. Also great to see exploiting weaknesses goes both ways, and a lot more can be done other than simply doing more damage
You always wanted to clear dungeons in 1 day in older persona games too, they just made it harder on you, but still it's always been more efficient because that way you waste fewer evenings you could be raising your stats or Slinks during since if you go to the dungeon then you are too tired to hang out with friends until you level up one particular Slink all the way to the max which gives you a massage and lets you act at night even after a dungeon. You still do lose the daytime afternoon slot though.
Basically if you're new to these games, the idea is you spend most of the allotted time in a month just leveling up your personality stats and social links, because those being high give you experience modifiers and new abilities, and then once you raise them as much as you can you go in the dungeon and get the most out of each enemy you fight. You don't wanna delve in a dungeon as soon as you can cause you're at your weakest and get the least out of your progress.
Also these games are loooong long, like 150-200 hours levels long, so 2.5 hours per dungeon is not much.
Basically if you're new to these games, the idea is you spend most of the allotted time in a month just leveling up your personality stats and social links, because those being high give you experience modifiers and new abilities, and then once you raise them as much as you can you go in the dungeon and get the most out of each enemy you fight. You don't wanna delve in a dungeon as soon as you can cause you're at your weakest and get the least out of your progress.
Also these games are loooong long, like 150-200 hours levels long, so 2.5 hours per dungeon is not much.
Like about 90% of this game's playerbase, I found out about it in Pyrocynical's Iron Lung video, and when it went on sale I decided to nab it. This game is old-school jank- as in, it opens a outside dialogue box (that doesn't even work right at 1440p) for remapping controls, it has no volume sliders (and the music is godawful), the mouselook is jerky and inconsistent, and the graphics are at the level of System Shock 2. And yet with just half an hour in the game so far, there's a sincere feeling of foreboding settling in.
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Yesterday, after replacing my brother's toilet flush handle, we did some rounds against each other in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. After that, we did co-op in Ninja Saviors for the first time. We got to the 4th stage; we died twice, and then we quit. Then he plated GTA Definitive Edition: Vice City. Watched him for half an hour, then went home.
I've just completed The Solitaire Conspiracy. (Its just solitaire with extra steps.)
The game's whole gimmick is that you are a spymaster, and you are going up against a criminal mastermind, aptly named Solitaire. Missions have a couple of lines of text desribing how you are going to foil one of Solitaire's plans, and then you are faced with a fairly normal round of Solitaire to play. But there is a twist: The different suits of cards are your spy "Crews", with the Face Cards having a special ability, depending on the Crew. For example, with Alpha Division, when you put a Face Card on a stack of cards, it orders the cards from lowest to highest. For the Mantis Group, placing a Face Card on a stack, will scatter those cards across the rest of your stacks.
Conversely, you also have a few crews who are, frankly, almost entirely useless at best, or a detriment at worst. Blood Legacy, for example, are the complete opposite of Alpha Division, in that they stack your cards highest to lowest, so they function more like an obstacle, than a benefit.
On one hand, I do appreciate the extra challenge, but on the other, it is a bit weird being shown a new crew, with the narration telling me how cool they are, and how good they are at their jobs, only to come with a completely garbage ability that just makes my life worse. "Use them well!", yeah, thanks.
As for the story, it is delivered via these FMV videos, mostly featuring Greg Miller from Kinda Funny, and also Alanah Pearce for one of the DLC stories, as well as a few supporting characters. And look, its not great. This story has a bonkers premise, but weirdly (other than Greg Miller's character at the start), the actor's play their roles with a completely straight face, and it is bizarre. Greg Miller with a serious face, with serious delivery, just doesn't really work. Alanah's acting is also kind of questionable at the best of times. I really feel like this game would have benefitted from being a whole lot lighter.
Overall, it is a decent distraction from the regular ruleset, but I can't really see myself revisiting this game, anytime soon.
The game's whole gimmick is that you are a spymaster, and you are going up against a criminal mastermind, aptly named Solitaire. Missions have a couple of lines of text desribing how you are going to foil one of Solitaire's plans, and then you are faced with a fairly normal round of Solitaire to play. But there is a twist: The different suits of cards are your spy "Crews", with the Face Cards having a special ability, depending on the Crew. For example, with Alpha Division, when you put a Face Card on a stack of cards, it orders the cards from lowest to highest. For the Mantis Group, placing a Face Card on a stack, will scatter those cards across the rest of your stacks.
Conversely, you also have a few crews who are, frankly, almost entirely useless at best, or a detriment at worst. Blood Legacy, for example, are the complete opposite of Alpha Division, in that they stack your cards highest to lowest, so they function more like an obstacle, than a benefit.
On one hand, I do appreciate the extra challenge, but on the other, it is a bit weird being shown a new crew, with the narration telling me how cool they are, and how good they are at their jobs, only to come with a completely garbage ability that just makes my life worse. "Use them well!", yeah, thanks.
As for the story, it is delivered via these FMV videos, mostly featuring Greg Miller from Kinda Funny, and also Alanah Pearce for one of the DLC stories, as well as a few supporting characters. And look, its not great. This story has a bonkers premise, but weirdly (other than Greg Miller's character at the start), the actor's play their roles with a completely straight face, and it is bizarre. Greg Miller with a serious face, with serious delivery, just doesn't really work. Alanah's acting is also kind of questionable at the best of times. I really feel like this game would have benefitted from being a whole lot lighter.
Overall, it is a decent distraction from the regular ruleset, but I can't really see myself revisiting this game, anytime soon.
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Started Mount and Blade 2, it presents an interesting character creator for various formative parts of your upbringing, but may well be the closest any RPG has come to putting me off choosing the "social/charm" attribute bonus by merely showing an image of your character as the most insufferably smuggest little kunt possible...
Is like they're just marinating in their recent smartass sarcastic retort to you about the pitfalls of male pattern baldness.
Is like they're just marinating in their recent smartass sarcastic retort to you about the pitfalls of male pattern baldness.
Coincidentally, I have just played another Bithel game. This time, Subsurface Circular.
The premise of this game is that you are a robot detective, on a robot train, speaking to other robots, whilst trying to unravel a robot mystery.
And talking is literally all you do. You can't even move around. Robots board the train, you talk to them, ask them a few questions, maybe solve some very light conversation "puzzles", and progress from chapter to chapter with different robots getting on/off the train, until the story concludes.
I quite like the premise, but I just wish it was deeper. I wish that there was an opportunity to fail, or to miss some information. The game also gives you some question prompts based on your previous conversation, but there is no risk to using them. You can just batter someone over the head with questions that they more than likely won't know the answers to, and there are no consequences to doing so.
In the end, it was quick, and easy, but I guess ultimately unsatisfying because of its lack of depth. Again, I probably wouldn't play this one again.
The premise of this game is that you are a robot detective, on a robot train, speaking to other robots, whilst trying to unravel a robot mystery.
And talking is literally all you do. You can't even move around. Robots board the train, you talk to them, ask them a few questions, maybe solve some very light conversation "puzzles", and progress from chapter to chapter with different robots getting on/off the train, until the story concludes.
I quite like the premise, but I just wish it was deeper. I wish that there was an opportunity to fail, or to miss some information. The game also gives you some question prompts based on your previous conversation, but there is no risk to using them. You can just batter someone over the head with questions that they more than likely won't know the answers to, and there are no consequences to doing so.
In the end, it was quick, and easy, but I guess ultimately unsatisfying because of its lack of depth. Again, I probably wouldn't play this one again.
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