What are you currently playing?

[BrawlMan]

As bogged down by obnoxious, miserable edgelord story as this game is it has some of the finest third-person stealth action gameplay and enemy encounters I've ever experienced in a game. It's one hell of juxtaposition, with the story being one of the worst Naughty Dog has ever told, but the (action) gameplay being their best. Also the level design... *cheff's kiss*

I rather still play Evil Within 1 & 2 or RE4R. They may have slightly less better stealth, but they have more than enough gameplay loops to make it a non issue. Especially RE4R.

 

[meiam]

In other games I've been speeding (ie. skipping 95% of the dialogue) my way through Mass Effect 2 Legendary on Insanity. I took the Soldier class for the massively OP combo of Adrenaline Rush + Mattock Heavy RIfle, and am running Miranda with her Warp + Overload combo, and it's mostly been a total cakewalk. The difficulty curve seems to actually trend downwards the further I go, because enemy numbers or health don't seem to increase, while I only get stronger and stronger. It's really striking how much the balance of combat vs conversation has shifted from the first game. My fairly completionist playthrough of ME1 where I skipped most of the dialogue still took about 20 hours. In ME2, where my "full" playthrough took about 25, my current playthrough is at less than 10 hours, and I'm already at the Collector base mission with all the squadmates sans Legion gathered. I guess planetary exploration and the DLCs take their time as well, but skipping the dialogue still shaves entire hours off this game.

The gameplay doesn't become more complex as the game progress, but the player gets more and more tool (from unlocking ability, leveling them up and recruit new crews) so difficulty trend downward no matter what.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Found an arcade machine added to my local place called Dancerush Stardom, developed by Bemani for Konami. It's kinda like Dance Dance Revolution, which I have a bit of experience with, but rather than four arrows, you step on a stage which you can put your feet just about anywhere on. Other than rhythm, you need to put your feet in line with the notes on a left-right axis, and sometimes you need to slide your feet while holding them down, fully jump off the stage or crouch quickly with the right timing. It's pretty easy to pick up compared to DDR, but unlike that game you need to know actual dance moves to clear the more difficult charts. There's tutorial tracks in the game that show you moves like T-Step or Running Man, though, so if you're willing to drop a credit to learn the technique, it'll get you a few steps up.

I'm more used to DDR, but I like DRS as well, and it's easier for me to get to than the nearest DDR cabinet I know of. Probably gonna spend more than a few credits there, unless it suddenly disappears on me.

 

[Summerstorm]

So, i bought a discounted title called "Honey, i joined a cult", because i like the idea of managing cult, and the gameplay looks like Rimworld, Prison Architect or Clanfolk, which i all liked.

Well... pumped in a day of playing... and it is surprisingly boring.

We have mismatched story/atmosphere/logic: You clearly are a scam-artist grifting people for money... but ALSO there is weird shit going on and otherworldly powers/superscience exist and guide you. The "Random Encounters" are just meme and pop-culture references and the risk/reward is screwed up. The Missions are boring. The planning is too simple. The Compound is too static and you never have to adapt anything. For hours i could just expand without difficulty, by just being patient and run 100% safe reduce-HEAT missions every day. MIGHT get harder later on or throw some curveballs in the endgame - but my patience ran out.

So i remembered how much fun Rimworld was, and reinstalled that. (All the DLC's are too expensive, but even the main-game got some real nice quality-of-life upgrades since i last played)
Had to restart my naked single survivor in a harsh desert campaign because a rando lizard or emu, or a punk with a knife would cut me and i would die of infection or die in a sudden heatwave because i couldn't get enough wood together for a primitive cooler.
Yeah, punish me... just how i like it. Hm, yeah...

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It's been over 4 years since I played TLoU 2 before selling it off, but I remember thinking that it felt like one of those infamous Hollywood flops in terms of its pacing. Like the game had been given carte blanche to put every single scene concept into the game to show off the production values, no matter how meandering or indulgent they were in execution. Hence the looooooong riding sections in the beginning with Dina and Ellie, the eeeeeven loooooooooooooonger sections of slowly following chatterbox NPCs in a cutscene pretending to be gameplay, and an overindulgence of detail in every place, sometimes to the detriment of the gameplay (and definitely the devs' health). Nothing cut out, nothing trimmed, which makes for a slog of an experience.

It doesn't help none how completely boring Ellie and Dina are together. I've done my fair share of slowly walking/riding next to chatterbox NPCs, but where Arthur Morgan can have 20 wildly different conversations with 20 different characters about the same topic, Ellie and Dina flatline every interaction with their mildness. They have the intense chemistry of two neighbors momentarily sharing an elevator.

Don't know where you are, but count the times characters will just be somewhere, or an area will just be safe, because the story demands it. That whole ludonarrative dissonance that Uncharted got criticized for... TLoU2 was like 'hold my beer'.

Day 2, just after the museum flashback. Funny you should mention it, I was just thinking this when Ellie and Dina decide to hide in the theater across the horde they just barely outran.

Clickers actually echo locate now, which is cool. Also a tip; just go prone when approaching a clicker from behind. You can just fully push the analog stick without risk of being heard that way.

Can you stealth kill from a prone position or do you always have to be crouching? With the echo location thing, does that mean if they scream in my direction they'll spot me? I had my suspicions but didn't try it out.

As bogged down by obnoxious, miserable edgelord story as this game is it has some of the finest third-person stealth action gameplay and enemy encounters I've ever experienced in a game. It's one hell of juxtaposition, with the story being one of the worst Naughty Dog has ever told, but the (action) gameplay being their best. Also the level design... *cheff's kiss*

It sucks that a game this good and polished is held hostage by a story, characters, and themes this insultingly juvenile.

Yeah, I love the game *game*. The trudging and chatting between the game *game* parts not so much, and it doesn't help that the bulk of the levels are wasted on it.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Day 2, just after the museum flashback. Funny you should mention it, I was just thinking this when Ellie and Dina decide to hide in the theater across the horde they just barely outran.

I mean, Joel taking Ellie to a museum is kinda a big 'what the fuck'. That whole moment is cute and all, but why the hell would Joel risk their safety just for a birthday? Ellie even has her gun with her, and near the end its teased that some combat is going to happen.

There's some much 'well, this is just a thing now for reasons' in this game. Like Joel apparently having told Ellie how he tortured people. Something Joel would've never fucking done, but because the game wants there to be some dark parallel between Joel and Ellie I guess now he did. Just like how Ellie never would've left Jackson for revenge, and certainly never would've brought a dear friend/lover on a suicide mission. I'm already getting pissed off again.

Can you stealth kill from a prone position or do you always have to be crouching? With the echo location thing, does that mean if they scream in my direction they'll spot me? I had my suspicions but didn't try it out.

I think you need to be crouched to grab. And yeah, it's when they do the long throaty screech that they send out a big tracking cone, and if you're in it and not behind something they got you. They actually transferred this over to the Part 1 "remake".

Yeah, I love the game *game*. The trudging and chatting between the game *game* parts not so much, and it doesn't help that the bulk of the levels are wasted on it.

There is some very good parts still to come though, and very unlike what you just mentioned. Again, when this game is good, it's the best Naughty Dog has ever been.

 

[BrawlMan]

the best Naughty Dog has ever been.

No that goes to Uncharted 2, Jake II, and Crash Bandicoot 3.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I mean, Joel taking Ellie to a museum is kinda a big 'what the fuck'. That whole moment is cute and all, but why the hell would Joel risk their safety just for a birthday? Ellie even has her gun with her, and near the end its teased that some combat is going to happen.

I think Joel offhandedly mentions scouting the museum ahead of taking Ellie there, although of course that in turn raises the question of why would he risk his own safety for this. Never mind boosting Ellie into the other unexplored half of the museum, presuming (why?) he can get inside by just going around it.

Again I point to TWD. Characters making stupid decisions and taking unnecessary risks for the sake of a Kodak moment nobody in their right mind would be coveting. Isn't there a TWD episode literally about finding the ingredients to bake a cake?