What are you currently playing?

[Ezekiel]

I can give you a more nuanced view: TB II is a much better gain than the first one, but it still has its own problems and issues. The pacing is slow to start, and it drags because there is so much more combat. Though for a frame of reference, II is a broken base between fans. You either love that the game has less exploration or puzzles or hate it, because there's too much combat. I never cared much for Lara Croft or the classic series that much. The same applies to the reboot continuity too. Even back in the day there were games I found better than the Tomb Raider games, games I found more enjoyable, and lead female characters I found better written than Lara. I give credit where credit is due, but there are plenty of games in the action and (realistic) 3D platform genre that had surpassed the franchise a long time ago.


Source from the broken base bit.

Tomb Raider II - TV Tropes

Awesome Music: The theme for the Venice level in TR II, which sounds like it was composed in the 18th century by some powered-wigged, high-heels-wearing Italian. Don't forget the soothing Main Menu music. The techno heavy song that plays when …

tvtropes.org

The increased focus on action was forced by the publisher, who saw the popularity of FPS. I don't agree with removing action. I want good action instead. Talked about this yesterday.

"Agree that people who think Tomb Raider should have almost no combat at all are fools who should want great combat instead, for variety. Otherwise, Lara Croft can leave the pistols at home. But then I would want to aim manually, and I dislike doing so while moving around with a controller and would rather play a good modern interpretation with a controller than with a keyboard and mouse. Maybe aim assist? Makes me feel dirty to suggest it. The choice of enemies in Tomb Raider II was mostly lame. Didn't need to see so many goons at the bottom of the ocean. Would go more for predator animals, monsters and the supernatural in a new game, with humans with guns only where appropriate. But even if the early games had great combat, there would still be too much in Tomb Raider II. I like variety, but also go to Tomb Raider for that sense of solitude. Tomb Raider III's balance was better.

"I remember well that on my previous playthrough I aggroed all the monks. The temple was so much more relaxed this time."

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Anyway, all that aside (and I do appreciate getting to see more detailed thoughts about TR2's action focus vs TR1's Ezekiel), I might put some of the side stuff in Pirate Yakuza on hold now that I've gotten my ship almost fully upgraded and unlocked basically everything on Majima that I actually care about, and finally punch out the story. My Runescape clan is going to hold a several-week-long event starting next week, so having the game finished will allow me to more easily scale back everything else to focus on that without having to leave a game for weeks near the end and then try to remember how to play it.

Ship combat started out pretty easy, but by the time you get to the difficulty 3 and 4 fights there's a significant difficulty spike, and if you don't know how to use functions like repairs, smoke screens and the reserve booster, that's when you're going to learn. I was starting to think the ship combat was honestly a little boring, so as much as a 'difficulty spike' generally has negative connotations, I think I actually like it better now that it has spiked. As for the regular on-foot combat, I've played enough Yakuza games before that I at least know how to pause the game, slam a couple bottles of 5 Hour Energy, and get back at it. It's nice to know which attacks are unblockable, though, especially since they removed Re-Guard from the ability list this time and instead you're expected to recognize incoming unblockables and dodge them. Does make using the Sea Dog stance a little harder though, since that's focused on blocking over dodging and there's so many unblockable attacks in the back half.

 

[BrawlMan]

Whatever works for you, Zeke. I personally don't give a shit, because I didn't care much forTR to begin with.

Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate is surprisingly fun. I got it for cheap physically.

 

[Ezekiel]

Sounds like a you problem to me. Especially since you aren't telling me which part you think I'd like while saying you are doing that. Admittedly this could be a typo.

Remember when a few weeks ago I said I wasn't surprised that you didn't understand Drathnoxis' obvious joke because of the kind of person you are. You just demonstrated again that you're too serious. Of course this was sarcasm:

"I stop in a discussion and say to myself, 'NerfedFalcon will like this part.'"

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I got Tempest 4000 for my birthday and playing this revamp of an arcade classic!

Happy b-day!
I don't know a lot of July babies. My mom is the big one in my life.

 

[BrawlMan]

Happy b-day!
I don't know a lot of July babies. My mom is the big one in my life.

Thank you and much appreciated. This game is tough, and there are no saves. 100 levels, and I died at level 16 last night. I will try again later. Going through Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate, and might do another run of Devil's Dare, but on hard.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Sounds like a you problem to me. Especially since you aren't telling me which part you think I'd like while saying you are doing that. Admittedly this could be a typo.

Pretty sure what he means is that when he is having a discussion on whatever other forum he uses and has something negative to say he posts that portion of it over here specifically for you (and probably the other members that complain about him.) "Like" is being used to mean something along the lines of 'will evoke a response from' or 'will get a rise out of'.

 

[XsjadoBlaydette]

Abiotic Factor
what a strange but unexpectedly delightful mix of sleeve-worn homages this is, for a price of free? Not sure if it's F2P or part of an ongoing sub, either way the store wanted no money only my infernal soul so did admittedly go in with minimal expectations. what are those homages, you ask? No wuzzas fam, they're Half-Life, Deus Ex, Half-Life, Darkwood, Prey and Half-life. you may think am just failing to be amusing there, but no that's the experience of progressing the narrative: after finding a groove with the first spin on a shameless Half-life homage, they drop another shameless spin where am like "oh hello, wow, you can't do that! can you?? is that even legal?? fine I'll allow it, for now!" Cos hey it's not a homage seen much on consoles and especially if it's done well with an interesting twist on genre, it still feels fresher than most

k so premise is you are scientist on trip to science facility possibly in Australia who, after the defo-not-half-life introduction into the base so it can tutorialise you on the Deus Ex and Darkwood survival/crafting/immersive sim elements, finds themselves trapped on lower floor of underground facility after getting off elevator. you must now try finding all your colleagues and story by setting up safe-zone/base in cafeteria and making trips out further and further exploring every nook and cranny for any shit you can learn and gain resources/recipes from. It's got a quirky dry humour while never breaking character on the survival horror vibe (well for single-player at least, though it appears initially aimed as an online co-op/team type fair but I don't fuck with that shit) And tbh most survival mechanics I avoid like the plague so was pleasantly surprised to find myself still playing hours later trying to discover more crap alongside the base building/bulking, weirdo scientists doing their own weird shit in the midst of an ongoing """technical issue""" - filling out the Pokédex with creatures and soup recipes, dealing with powercuts, the wiring system and, oh fuck I almost forgot the most important mechanic I distinctly remember calling other games simpering cowards for not doing;



THE POOP MECHANIC!

yes, finally, after centuries of lobbying every arm of government and community spokes leader - after blackmailing any politician, diplomat and CEO we could, they have at last heeded our call, folks! I can't express how much this means, partially out of shame. but if the elevator pitch was just "bro it'll be Deus Ex, half life and survival horror...and you can poop!" they'd get my savings, my kid's savings, their inheritance and university fund for their investment within the hour.

only issue so far is it's early access I think, and with that is the occasional technical frustration. in this case one specific extremely consistent technical frustration where after like an hour or so of play it suddenly pops up an error message whenever I back out of any menu. though the game carries on regardless, the error message becomes the new norm for every single time you use anything whatsoever, and that's basically every interaction required to play the damn game: cooking, crafting, learning, reading, checking, double-checking, rearranging, triple checking for ammo, it's fucking everything goddamn it! But as stated earlier, the game seems unbothered after every one of them, and the message doesn't say what the problem is, it's just a bland "something went wrong with game [insert number that explains even less when you look it up] oh nevermind nothing wrong. Continue as you were, citizen. PSYKE! there is again, dumbass hah!" so fuck knows the cause. is tolerable for a while though still a dampener, and the quick flash pang of panic induced from long-term innate conditioning when seeing/hearing the console error bust in hasnt diminished one bit lol

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Pretty sure what he means is that when he is having a discussion on whatever other forum he uses and has something negative to say he posts that portion of it over here specifically for you (and probably the other members that complain about him.) "Like" is being used to mean something along the lines of 'will evoke a response from' or 'will get a rise out of'.

 

[meiam]

Got annoyed at Phoenix Point. I feel like I've fallen behind in it, doesn't help that I forgot certain tech and how to expose the travel points for a bit too long. Also a lot of the tech I need is behind captures which at this point is rather hard. I think I could recover... but it would be annoying. Also the Festering Skies dlc is pointless and annoying.

Anyway, I was still in the mood for strategy games and I only played a bit of 40K Mechanicus so I installed that. Feels much harder then it initially did, like the enemies are dangerous now instead of me just getting bored by them like at launch. I'm not sure how long that will last since Tech Priests tend to get really powerful faster then you think, but for now I'm enjoying it, even if its not quite scratching the itch like Phoenix Point was. Well, if it doesn't quite get it, then I can just play through Xcom Chimera Squad again... or try and make it work in Phoenix Point... or load an earlier save or just start over, maybe start over since I started in Asia again.

Never got that far in phoenix point, remember it ramping it up really weird, like I would breeze trough missions and then just a random regular mission had some insanely strong boss just slaughter my whole team with no issue.

I played mechanicus 2 year after release, I doubt they made any patch since then, game was properly balance at the start, but its in insane how much stronger you get than enemy, especially once you get the special order stuff that let you decimate enemy. I think I killed the last boss before he even hurt any of my guy. Really hope they fix that for the sequel.

 

[Worgen]

Never got that far in phoenix point, remember it ramping it up really weird, like I would breeze trough missions and then just a random regular mission had some insanely strong boss just slaughter my whole team with no issue.

I beat the game before.

I played mechanicus 2 year after release, I doubt they made any patch since then, game was properly balance at the start, but its in insane how much stronger you get than enemy, especially once you get the special order stuff that let you decimate enemy. I think I killed the last boss before he even hurt any of my guy. Really hope they fix that for the sequel.

I played it after release and I got to that part also pretty quick, where I just stomped things. But they did something, its much harder now. They added new enemies, or made later game enemies show up earlier or something and its much more of a challenge. I've still only lost one Tech Priest and you only lose a load of blackstone when that happens, but you want as much of that as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if I do hit the point where things are trivial, but right now it feels good to play.

 

[BrawlMan]

I've been playing Modern Warfare Remastered 1 & 2 back to back to see how difficult Veteran can get. I selected various levels. While both Remastered versions of Veteran are hard, they are easier than their OG counterparts.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Finished Heavenly Bodies.


Let's never play it again.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Completed Chapter 4 of Pirate Yakuza, and based on what the NPC told me before the giant squid boss fight (this game has one of those, and it's pretty awesome), I think I can't actually go do any more side stuff until I beat the fifth and final chapter at this point. Works for me; as I said, my intent was to declare I'd done enough screwing around and get on with the finale.

I might come back and platinum this one later, considering that the requirements actually aren't all that stringent compared to previous games. You don't even have to play any shogi or mahjong, because the challenge list isn't part of the platinum as far as I can tell. You only have to do just enough stuff to recruit most (not even all) of the possible crew members, complete the main side story chain with the Devil Flags pirates, and of course beat the main story. And some other stuff, but it's all fairly straightforward. Still, I'll give it a break for a little while to reset afterwards, and probably won't dive back into FF7 Rebirth immediately either; I don't think I have it in me right now to go from one massive action RPG right into the next.

As for what's next, I've got plans. Dug out a game I bought on Steam some 10 years ago, installed a mod to ensure it'd work with a Dualsense controller (a Google search told me it doesn't work with Steam Input), I'll see how that turns out. And you'll see what it was when I actually start playing it. Heheh.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

I'm trying to re-wire my gaming brain a bit: my problem is that I really really really hate not finishing a game. And even finishing them, I end up burning through them quickly, that sense "on to the next on to the next" that I psych myself into.
But, man, games are long! And hard, wah wah wah.

So I'm re-attempting a couple of games I quit early on before because I like the idea of them but got frustrated with some of their mechanics. I'm telling myself I can take as long as I want and just not finish them and come back and whatever. It's a dumb psychological thing but I see folks that take their time and it makes sense!

Lies of P, on my low/mid-level PC that I use a console. Half off on Steam!
I had played the demo up to its last boss, and that's exactly where I am now. I'm having an easier time than I did w/ the demo, with all the old Soulsborne instincts kicking in. Forcing myself to slow down so far is good, I don't feel there are Dark Souls 2 style gank squads yet so I look forward to exploring areas. Bosses are still, you know..frustrating.. but I'm hoping checkpoints will be close to them as with Sekiro. I couldn't deal with frustrating run-backs any more (likely preventing another attempt at Hollow Knight again)....

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Got a Switch 2 on the way (had to get rid of the ROG Ally, it's a whole thing). I like having a mess-around game on handheld and this is kind of the defining one of our time. Initial attempt I got as far as getting out of the starting area then getting lost, bored, and frustrated with all the climbing and cooking and bandit camps. This time I'll focus on shrines, maybe read a couple walkthrough/guides just to get a sense of direction, and just chill myself the hell out.

These are both long games and I'm telling myself I don't care how long it takes to finish them or even if I do, and play smaller games in parallel. Like there is the new one from the devs of Spiritfarer that looks amazing.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I'm trying to re-wire my gaming brain a bit: my problem is that I really really really hate not finishing a game. And even finishing them, I end up burning through them quickly, that sense "on to the next on to the next" that I psych myself into.
But, man, games are long! And hard, wah wah wah.

So I'm re-attempting a couple of games I quit early on before because I like the idea of them but got frustrated with some of their mechanics. I'm telling myself I can take as long as I want and just not finish them and come back and whatever. It's a dumb psychological thing but I see folks that take their time and it makes sense!

Lies of P, on my low/mid-level PC that I use a console. Half off on Steam!
I had played the demo up to its last boss, and that's exactly where I am now. I'm having an easier time than I did w/ the demo, with all the old Soulsborne instincts kicking in. Forcing myself to slow down so far is good, I don't feel there are Dark Souls 2 style gank squads yet so I look forward to exploring areas. Bosses are still, you know..frustrating.. but I'm hoping checkpoints will be close to them as with Sekiro. I couldn't deal with frustrating run-backs any more (likely preventing another attempt at Hollow Knight again)....

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Got a Switch 2 on the way (had to get rid of the ROG Ally, it's a whole thing). I like having a mess-around game on handheld and this is kind of the defining one of our time. Initial attempt I got as far as getting out of the starting area then getting lost, bored, and frustrated with all the climbing and cooking and bandit camps. This time I'll focus on shrines, maybe read a couple walkthrough/guides just to get a sense of direction, and just chill myself the hell out.

These are both long games and I'm telling myself I don't care how long it takes to finish them or even if I do, and play smaller games in parallel. Like there is the new one from the devs of Spiritfarer that looks amazing.

BotW is as long as you want it to be. You can beat it in an hour or two if you want to.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Playing The Bridge, another indie puzzle game with gravity as its main gameplay mechanic, although this is more about logic than physics.

It also clearly wants to be Braid, but it's nowhere near as clever or ambitious (or pretentious) to pull it off.

You play... some guy, making his way across a bunch of single-screen levels/stages with the nominal objective of exiting through a door and sometimes picking up a key or keys. Your one ability, other than walking right and left, is to shift the entire level up to 360 degrees, while you and stuff like keys and enemies remain stationary. Alarm bell number one: the rotation process is testingly slow. Alarm bell number two: so is the dude's walk speed.

The big selling point are the levels, these grayscale hand-drawn sketches inspired by the impossibru drawings of M. C. Escher. Every level calls for a screenshot. By the time you're in world 4 you're inverting your own polarity separately from the rotation of the level while teleporting around mobius strips, but you're never ovewhelmed because the levels are short, there's a hard cap on what you can try and the solution should always be contained in the one screen. I wasn't a fan of the bigger Braid levels where you have to coordinate a multitude of actions with stuff that's off screen.

I just don't think it's all that memorable. Everything in Braid is building up a sense of mystery - the paintings you put together, the text files in the stage foyers, the weird interactions that bookend every level, the musical stings (The Bridge loops free Kevin McLeod tracks that wear me out). Even the art that precedes each stage looks kinda cheap and not par to the artistic direction of the levels. And while Braid could be cryptic as fuck about some of its puzzles, the opportunity to try and fine-tune possible solutions meant there was a more deductive process involved. This is pretty good, and fun to play on a rainy day like today where I get to stay in, but a little too simplistic to make the papers.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

BotW is as long as you want it to be. You can beat it in an hour or two if you want to.

I mean, theoretically, yeah, but trying to do the final area with four hearts, 2 points of armor and no weapons that can hurt the local enemies unless you manage to find one before they kill you, without having done a lot of dodging and positioning training by fighting other enemies throughout the game? That's not gonna happen in an hour or two unless you're some kind of prodigy.

Besides, Hunter said he wanted to take his time with it. Which is what I would recommend for most people regardless, there's so much to Breath of the Wild that just rushing straight to the final area and bashing your head against that brick wall until it breaks is an absolute waste.

 

[Drathnoxis]

I mean, theoretically, yeah, but trying to do the final area with four hearts, 2 points of armor and no weapons that can hurt the local enemies unless you manage to find one before they kill you, without having done a lot of dodging and positioning training by fighting other enemies throughout the game? That's not gonna happen in an hour or two unless you're some kind of prodigy.

Besides, Hunter said he wanted to take his time with it. Which is what I would recommend for most people regardless, there's so much to Breath of the Wild that just rushing straight to the final area and bashing your head against that brick wall until it breaks is an absolute waste.

It's really not that hard, I did it after beating the game normally. Hyrule Castle has all the weapons you need to win the game with and you can't be killed in one hit if you are at full health.

I wasn't actually suggesting that Hunter speed run the game and just fight Ganon and call it a day. It was just an example of how short the game could be. My point was that if, at any time, he starts getting bored he can go for the win.

 

[Old_Hunter_77]

It's really not that hard, I did it after beating the game normally. Hyrule Castle has all the weapons you need to win the game with and you can't be killed in one hit if you are at full health.

I wasn't actually suggesting that Hunter speed run the game and just fight Ganon and call it a day. It was just an example of how short the game could be. My point was that if, at any time, he starts getting bored he can go for the win.

Anything's possible but I can't see myself doing that, for the same reason I will try my best to resist taking advantage of the new easier difficulty settings of Lies of P- I want to play the game for realsies.