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[Xprimentyl]

When in doubt, ride on out. That also holds true as a good loot hunting strategy for wherever Torrent is allowed. Makes Caelid much less of a nightmare.

Torrent has been my savior on numerous occasions. I see an enemy I know I probably can't handle, but take my shot just to see how bad it is, and when shit hits the fan, ghost horsey and I ride off into the sunset.

Most recently, I was in the Church of Elleh (the broken down stone structure not far from where you first enter Limgrave,) and thought I was safe to take a pot shot with an arrow at the Tree Sentinel patroling the path out front because surely he was too big on horseback to come through the entrance, and lo and behold, that fucker literally started bring the walls down around me. It was terrifying, but he eventually de-aggroed, and like a petulant child, I took another pot shot, and again he attempted to bring the church down around me until his AI figured out there was a small section of broken wall behind me where he could fit through. Next thing I know, this fucker is IN the church, and I was so disoriented I didn't know what to do; I summoned Torrent, but the room was so cramped, I just got us both killed.

 

[Hawki]

So I beat Red Faction II. According to my Steam account, this took me between 3 and 4 hours, while beating the original took me between 7 and 8 hours. I know correlation isn't causation, but I find it ironic that a game with "2" in the title is half as long as its predecessor.

Well, whatever. Everything I said about RF2 before can be applied in the game's end stages - the writing is stupid, the gunplay is functional. I got the second best ending, and checked the others on YouTube - same cinematics, different voiceovers, writing varies in its stupidity.

Honestly, just watch Noah Gervais's Red Faction video, go to the RF2 section, and really, everything he says matches my thoughts, only it's said better and more succinctly. At the end of the day, Red Faction II might not be one of the worst games I've ever played, but I'd certainly list it as one of the first sequels.

 

[Jarrito3002]

Finished up Sparks of Hope and overall I say this a good step for the series to go. While not as challenging I liked the more free form movement given a bit Mario flavor to it than just pure XCom. Now I still play the firs for it own merrits but I hope this series continues to grow.

Plus something I forgot to mention the music for Sparks of Hope is probably what elevated it in my opinion.




No one told Sparks of Hope to get Grant Kirkhope, Yoko Shimomura and Gareth Coker and put them in the booth together and just slay the game like this. See big AAA if you put your resources into shit like this I may go to bat for our and suck off your greatness. I feel upset cause when any award not even the major ones or recognition for great soundtracks comes up this will fly under the radar.

 

[Dalisclock]

So I beat Red Faction II. According to my Steam account, this took me between 3 and 4 hours, while beating the original took me between 7 and 8 hours. I know correlation isn't causation, but I find it ironic that a game with "2" in the title is half as long as its predecessor.

Well, whatever. Everything I said about RF2 before can be applied in the game's end stages - the writing is stupid, the gunplay is functional. I got the second best ending, and checked the others on YouTube - same cinematics, different voiceovers, writing varies in its stupidity.

Honestly, just watch Noah Gervais's Red Faction video, go to the RF2 section, and really, everything he says matches my thoughts, only it's said better and more succinctly. At the end of the day, Red Faction II might not be one of the worst games I've ever played, but I'd certainly list it as one of the first sequels.

I played RF1 and RFG, never played 2. Watched that video and then realized I didn't miss anything(not that I ever had a burning urge to see what happened). I don't even remember anyone really talking about RF2 even when it came out. I think it just landed with a thud.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Do you mean DeltaRune or is there another game that slipped by me?

 

[Dalisclock]

Never seen that before but thanks for letting me know that exists. Maybe if I get tired of waitng for Deltarune 3-5 I'll check it out.

 

[Dalisclock]

Torrent has been my savior on numerous occasions. I see an enemy I know I probably can't handle, but take my shot just to see how bad it is, and when shit hits the fan, ghost horsey and I ride off into the sunset.

Most recently, I was in the Church of Elleh (the broken down stone structure not far from where you first enter Limgrave,) and thought I was safe to take a pot shot with an arrow at the Tree Sentinel patroling the path out front because surely he was too big on horseback to come through the entrance, and lo and behold, that fucker literally started bring the walls down around me. It was terrifying, but he eventually de-aggroed, and like a petulant child, I took another pot shot, and again he attempted to bring the church down around me until his AI figured out there was a small section of broken wall behind me where he could fit through. Next thing I know, this fucker is IN the church, and I was so disoriented I didn't know what to do; I summoned Torrent, but the room was so cramped, I just got us both killed.

There's a church off to the east of LImgrave near the misty woods. I went down to the nearby beach, a crab popped out of the ground and I ran back the church to hide until he got bored and wandered off. Well, fucker started breaking down the walls of the church and it was much the same scare you were just talking about.

 

[BrawlMan]

Ragnarök again. I noticed how this game does the start and stop thing before it opens up. I made it to the first new realm that's a swampland. Pretty looking. I appreciate that you can now upgrade your health without having to collect 3 apples. Parrying is more difficult now. I got the parry shield, and the defensive shield. I might stick with the latter for a while. Calling it quits for the night.

 

[Bartholen]

Man, I'm on a roll in Isaac. In 3 days I managed to clear Mother, The Beast and Mega Satan with The Lost (all ultra hard superbosses whom getting to alone is pretty convoluted), and unlock Tainted Lost for extra measure. You'd think that playing as a character who can only take a single point of damage per room before dying would make the game insanely hard, but it makes it incredibly exhilarating. You can optimize your build way more when health is a resource you don't have to worry about. With Mega Satan I (again) lucked into a crazy high damage build that just wiped the floor with the minions he spawns, and invalidated pretty much all of his ranged attacks thanks to Ocular Rift.

Also fittingly enough I'm at 666,9 hours of playtime. Nice! Hail Satan!

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

There's a church off to the east of LImgrave near the misty woods. I went down to the nearby beach, a crab popped out of the ground and I ran back the church to hide until he got bored and wandered off. Well, fucker started breaking down the walls of the church and it was much the same scare you were just talking about.

Those crabs are hyper aggressive when they spot you and have laser focus projectiles to boot. There weren’t many enemies I made a point of actively avoiding on most occasions, but they were one of them.

Ragnarök again. I noticed how this game does the start and stop thing before it opens up. I made it to the first new realm that's a swampland. Pretty looking. I appreciate that you can now upgrade your health without having to collect 3 apples. Parrying is more difficult now. I got the parry shield, and the defensive shield. I might stick with the latter for a while. Calling it quits for the night.

Same, just arriving at Nidavellir and it’s aesthetically charming like something from idk, maybe The Hobbit. It basically looks how I’d imagine a dwarf city would back in those times. Started using the Dauntless shield and I like how it stores a charge from a parry that can be used later as offense. Anything that helps take out enemies faster is a plus for me.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Still playing GoW: Ragnarok and this game continues to be one big mixed bag. It really says something when The Last of Us 2 has a far stronger consistency in combat sections. Maybe this is a result of them deciding to finish this arc in this game, and focussing way more on story and character interaction, but it makes the whole 'action' part of the game almost take a backseat.

I'm greatly enjoying certain parts and moments of this game, but on a whole it's been a rather tepid experience.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Still playing GoW: Ragnarok and this game continues to be one big mixed bag. It really says something when The Last of Us 2 has a far stronger consistency in combat sections. Maybe this is a result of them deciding to finish this arc in this game, and focussing way more on story and character interaction, but it makes the whole 'action' part of the game almost take a backseat.

I'm greatly enjoying certain parts and moments of this game, but on a whole it's been a rather tepid experience.

I get what you’re saying, but at the same time the two game types aren’t entirely comparable. TLoU2’s combat design is more grounded in reality, so being able to stealth around knifing people or headshotting them with a bow for quick, hassle-free kills will naturally have a much lower frustration ceiling than having to all but constantly meet the often spongy creatures in a GoW game head-on.

That said, I knew what I was getting into choosing GMGOW on NG even though I didn’t do so with the first game (perhaps the conclusive story element of this one influenced that) and welcome the challenge of figuring out enemy weak points and how to best utilize my gear because I think it makes this kind of game more engaging. It’s a personal exception though; I wouldn’t take this approach with every action adventure game because I neither have the time or patience.

It’s also why a game like RDR2 is my go-to chillax (no pun) counterpart, because just taking in the detailed environments and deadeye’ing bandits and racists is kinda like digital therapy.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I get what you’re saying, but at the same time the two game types aren’t entirely comparable. TLoU2’s combat design is more grounded in reality, so being able to stealth around knifing people or headshotting them with a bow for quick, hassle-free kills will naturally have a much lower frustration ceiling than having to all but constantly meet the often spongy creatures in a GoW game head-on.

That said, I knew what I was getting into choosing GMGOW on NG even though I didn’t do so with the first game (perhaps the conclusive story element of this one influenced that) and welcome the challenge of figuring out enemy weak points and how to best utilize my gear because I think it makes this kind of game more engaging. It’s a personal exception though; I wouldn’t take this approach with every action adventure game because I neither have the time or patience.

It’s also why a game like RDR2 is my go-to chillax (no pun) counterpart, because just taking in the detailed environments and deadeye’ing bandits and racists is kinda like digital therapy.

That's the point though; the two aren't that comparable, as GoW is far more of an action game than TLoU2, yet the latter has far better combat presence. With 'consistency' I mean the amount and size of enemy encounters. It's not about frustration, it's about GoW: Ragnarok really not having many combat encounters that allow to sink your teeth into the combat. The way the game starts, with this feeling of stopping and starting, never goes away, with only two sections that allow some wandering making me feel like I'm playing GoW '18 again.

And this only compounds with how the game (post Alfheim section spoilers) changes characters and companions. In GoW '18 you always controlled Kratos and almost always had Atreus with you, making your move-set constant and familiar. But in Ragnarok you shift back and forth between Kratos and Atreus, and so do your companions. And this along with how meager many of the combat encounters in this game already feel makes for a very flimsy action game.

 

[Bartholen]

Made it to Delirium with The Lost. I have no idea how you're supposed to beat that boss with that character. The fight is pretty insufferable as is, but crazy bullet hell, insta-teleporting shenanigans and a colossal health bar just do not mix with a character like this. Granted, my build was pretty bad for that fight specifically, but some parts of it are completely unfair, like when the screen randomly switches backgrounds, making you completely unable to see what's happening for a few seconds.

 

[BrawlMan]

Ragnarök - I completed the first side quest, and I'm at the main quest in the mines searching for Tyr. There is a nice surprise where they pull a literal troll on you and think the player will fight it. Nope, Kratos will kill the troll in a QTE, already at the former's mercy. Nice one Santa Monica! I will continue tomorrow afternoon, as I got work in the morning.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I agree the combat is kinda sparse in the game so far. A lot of it boils down to Uncharted style puzzles of pulling two levers to open a door, or getting a lift to run, or aligning a bunch of boxes to jump across. Combat feels almost like a reward when you finally get to it, and then it's over too quickly. A pie chart would probably show I've spent most of my time trying to figure out how to reach a chest or knock out a raven.

The one thing I'm excited for is that apparently you get to visit all 9 realms instead of the 4 or 5 from the previous game (and 2 of those phoned it in as totally optional combat challenges). Svartalfheim looks great but not that different from Midgard so far.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I agree the combat is kinda sparse in the game so far. A lot of it boils down to Uncharted style puzzles of pulling two levers to open a door, or getting a lift to run, or aligning a bunch of boxes to jump across. Combat feels almost like a reward when you finally get to it, and then it's over too quickly. A pie chart would probably show I've spent most of my time trying to figure out how to reach a chest or knock out a raven.

The one thing I'm excited for is that apparently you get to visit all 9 realms instead of the 4 or 5 from the previous game (and 2 of those phoned it in as totally optional combat challenges). Svartalfheim looks great but not that different from Midgard so far.

There's a few moments where you'll meet an enemy similar to the Travelers or the realm tears from '18, and you get that nice combat peak, but apart from that... yeah, not much. GoW '18 made it so you'd typically run into a gang of enemies in any area that wasn't hallway-shaped, but in Ragnorok it's like 'Hey, a larger wider area - Gee, I sure do hope I don't get ganged up by a bunch of eager enemies... Oh wait, there's actually nothing here. Guess I'll just run through like the last one... and the one before that. *sigh*'

Also, as much as I like the heavy axe grab, where you grab (smaller) enemies and chuck 'm, it's really kinda overpowered. It also has a frostin effect, slowing them down, making it even easier to grab 'm again. I'm doing it about 80% of the time now. And the triangle charge for the Blades really kinda sucks in comparison to the Axe charge.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

Yesterday I had a lot of time on my hands because I'm literally in between jobs (as in, my last day at one was Thursday, my first in the new one is Monday).
So I ended up doing that thing where I try a couple games that are outside my primary interest, go "hm I did that," then seek the shelter of my comfort zone.

The Legend of Tiandang- this is the 2D platforming brawler where you're a Tawainese Robin Hood figure fighting evil Japanese colonialists. Great premise, great art, great setting, and absolute garbage controls. Or, i dunno, I couldn't understand it. Combat is ok- basically you hit enemies until their health is low then you can press another button to take their weapon. This creates a fun rhythm where stuff is changing around even the basic gameplay flow is consistent, which I like.
Problem is the platforming- you have to double jump and air kick and grapple to get around tricky areas, but I don't know how to aim. It should be with the left stick right? But left stick doesn't do anything so I dunno. And dropping it to easy mode just makes the fights easier but since my problem was the platforming I quit.

Vampire Survivors- ok I didn't have any expectations for this current meme favorite anyway but since I could try it I did and, yeah, you just walk around, pretty lame. It's cute but not at all why I game.

So I bit the bullet and bought God of War: Ragnarok. I mean hell yeah this is the kind of games I'm all about. Lemme tell you- it's great, whatever.

 

[Worgen]

The demo of Hellslinger came out and I've been playing it way more then I normally would play a demo since its really damn good. Never seen a hand animated gzdoom engine game, but it works really well and the gunplay feels fantastic, plus both characters you can play as feel pretty different even though they essentually use the same weapons, but one needs to reload but has more powerful weapons.


Also grabbed Monster Hunter Stories 2. Its cute so far and I like the combat, turned the dialog to japanese since them saying monsti starts grating really quickly.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

There's a few moments where you'll meet an enemy similar to the Travelers or the realm tears from '18, and you get that nice combat peak, but apart from that... yeah, not much. GoW '18 made it so you'd typically run into a gang of enemies in any area that wasn't hallway-shaped, but in Ragnorok it's like 'Hey, a larger wider area - Gee, I sure do hope I don't get ganged up by a bunch of eager enemies... Oh wait, there's actually nothing here. Guess I'll just run through like the last one... and the one before that. *sigh*'

Also, as much as I like the heavy axe grab, where you grab (smaller) enemies and chuck 'm, it's really kinda overpowered. It also has a frostin effect, slowing them down, making it even easier to grab 'm again. I'm doing it about 80% of the time now. And the triangle charge for the Blades really kinda sucks in comparison to the Axe charge.

I wish I'd replayed the 2018 game recently to get a better compare the two. I don't remember if you could charge the weapons, for example. Mashing triangle to charge the blades vs holding it for the axe means I never use the blades except to pull and 1 hit kill the little worm fellas. Actually I have the inverse problem than in 2018, where the blades were introduced so late in the game I was married to the axe by then. Here starting off with both is like having to choose between 2 classes, because you're better off dumping XP in one of them, and I'm not feeling like I need the blades at all this time around.

Also, incredibly minor nitpick and this goes for a bunch of games: when the limitations or rather rules of your game spoil the beats of your story. Like freeing the Lyngbakr thing, I know the game doesn't want to cheat anybody out of exploration and collectibles, so it was obvious the story would contrive a reason for it to just stay there (meaning I'm not invested in "freeing" it). Same with arriving at Nidavellir, I kinda sussed the game wasn't gonna bother with populating an entire city, so of course the story contrives a reason for everyone to be either dead or under lockdown. These games always look gorgeous and all but also a bit empty and dead.