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What game are you wasting time on?

Okagron

Prophet
Joined
Mar 22, 2018
Messages
753
Finished F.E.A.R and its expansions and an overall very solid experience. The expansions are definitely weaker than the base game, but still solid.

Started F.E.A.R 2 and it already feels like a downgrade. Seems most of the tense atmosphere is just gone, which is one of the best parts of the first game, and the AI no longer feels as "smart" as the first game. Most of them just run at you in the open and get killed easily. No more using the enviroment to their advantage, at least nowhere as much as the enemies in the first game. So far it seems like a modern Call of Duty.
 

Okagron

Prophet
Joined
Mar 22, 2018
Messages
753
Yeah, that was probably a rather harsh statement to make. Still, first impressions matter a lot and they are not exactly very positive so far. Kind of sucks that it seems you can no longer boost your health with health boosters, seems only reflex boosters carried over.
 

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
Staff Member
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
1,878,406
Location
Djibouti
Still, first impressions matter a lot and they are not exactly very positive so far.

And they never improve, just fyi. FEAR 2 is mediocre at best as a standalone game, and a total shitgame letdown when compared to its predecessor.
 

Rahdulan

Omnibus
Patron
Joined
Oct 26, 2012
Messages
5,105
I dabbled when it first released, but now I'm determined to actually see Grand Theft Auto 4 to completion. Jesus Christ, what a shitshow of a port. Modding it is pretty much required and I guess it's a good thing I don't care for multiplayer with the whole GfWL/XBox service shenanigans. Also didn't want to uncap the framerate because it apparently messes with cutscene zoom levels for some reason. I think the driving grew on me after the first ten hours, though. Definite rite of passage.

b.gif
 

Baron Dupek

Arcane
Joined
Jul 23, 2013
Messages
1,870,765
I dabbled when it first released, but now I'm determined to actually see Grand Theft Auto 4 to completion. Jesus Christ, what a shitshow of a port. Modding it is pretty much required and I guess it's a good thing I don't care for multiplayer with the whole GfWL/XBox service shenanigans. Also didn't want to uncap the framerate because it apparently messes with cutscene zoom levels for some reason. I think the driving grew on me after the first ten hours, though. Definite rite of passage.

b.gif
It was shitshow on consoles too, driving that motorbike still haunts me.
And this game set standards on how your characters move in TPP action game, hell even tanky control in classic Tomb Raiders were better than this modern shit so no idea how people would fuck up something basic like this.
 

Ovplain

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 23, 2009
Messages
1,890
Location
Down by the riverside
RPG Wokedex
Going through my goddamn backlog. It's colossal. It's disgusting! Would probably be best to just write a bunch of this shit off, but I can't. I have to at least make an effort.
First bunch:
DOOM (Had lass than half way to go, had fun!)
Wolfenstein: The New Order (Just the final boss left. No idea why I stopped the last time.)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Think the save I used was midway through the game, still took me nearly 3 weeks to finish together with both expansions.)
Batman: Arkham Knight (Started from scratch, took almost two weeks, had a blast, nice send-off.)
Beyond: Two Souls (Old save, about a third through I'd say, wrapped the game up in 3 days. Well, 'game.' Did end up caring about what happened to the girl though, so that's something.)
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition (Started from scratch, took a week. Solid 'GTA-clone.')
Virginia (From scratch, took like an hour, hour and a half though! Hardly a game, but much like with Beyond, I was invested, I cared. Nice music, nice style.)
Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition (Just an easy one to chalk off the list, took a couple hours. Whatever, it's a fighting game. The story was insufferable!)

Second bunch:
What Remains Of Edith Finch (A walking simulator, but it was pretty. I liked it, I cared!)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (Had an old save, had like the last hour or two to go.)
Limbo (Cool, spooky platformer)
Mirror's Edge (Had it since forever, took a couple hours to beat, looks good for a 10 year old game!)
Steep (Used to snowboard as a kid in the late 90s and that was the last time I played a snowboarding game too before this one. Was fun for about a week!)
Mass Effect 2 (Man, this one. Sex & violence in space. Goofy to the 10th power! Laughed my ass off several times and I liked it, goddammit!)
Mass Effect 3 (Less entertaining than the previous one, wasn't QUITE as 'out there.' The last third of it really seemed to take forever.)
Scribblenauts Unmasked (Fun puzzle game, though I'm sure it would've been a whole lot more fun if I was a DC fanboy.)
Transformers: Devastation (I'm 2 hours into it now and I like it. Feels nice! Liked the cartoon a bunch as a kid and this definitely feels like the cartoon.)

Third bunch:
Middle-earth: Shadow of War - Definitive Edition (The first game I bought since I really started going after my backlog. Also the game that probably made me swear off buying any kind of DLC for good. Could've taken just the base game for 12,5 bucks, HAD to get the complete one for 25. Quickly came to the realization that I just didn't care enough about the extra crap. And that the days of trying to 100% games are just done! Ended up ignoring pretty much all of the DLC stuff. And after like 15 hours into the game I just tried to get it over with as soon as possible. No chance in Hell I was going to do the 'epilogue' either. Still had fun though!)
Fallout 4 (There's never been a video game that I've hated more than Fallout 3. Seems times have changed because I didn't have much of an issue with Fallout 4. It's not the Fallout I remember, but that's fine, I'm fine with Fallout being dead. Had a lot of fun exploring the wasteland for the 50 hours or so it took me to finish. And playing a chick, a mother, the main questline threw me for a solid spin in the second half of the game.)
Assassin's Creed Syndicate (Had a huge urge to get Oddyssey on sale. For whatever reason. 'Forced' myself to fire up Syndicate instead. Gotta keep chipping away at that backlog! Anyway, I had fun! Started to get a bit boring after 15 hours or so, this is Assassin's Creed afterall, but I just bulldozed my way through the last couple of chapters and wrapped the whole thing up in about 20 hours.)
Shadowrun: Hong Kong - Shadows of Hong Kong (Really like the Shadowrun games, but this thing was just a slog. Didn't even bother with the side-missions, just wanted to wrap it up ASAP and did.)

Fourth bunch:
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (I really liked the first one, put 600+ hours into it even! Across 2-3 completed playthroughs and several aborted ones. Won't be doing that with PoE2 but I did have a lot of fun with it for the 60-70 hours it took me to get through it.)
Assassin's Creed Odyssey (Second game I bought since I started attacking my backlog. And I couldn't get enough of this one! Clocked in around 85 hours as the broad Kassandra, ultimately forced myself to just stick to the main missions towards the end and wrap it up 'early.' Probably could've gone 100+ hours otherwise. GOTY 2018! Then again I only played two other games released in 2018, PoE2 and Battletech. Unexpected! Had an inkling I was going to like this one, didn't think it'd be that much. Curse you, Ubisoft!)
Age of Mythology: Extended Edition (I recall really loving this one back in the day. It definitely doesn't have the same impact nowadays! Shit didn't age too well. Shudder to think how I'd feel playing AoE 1 now, or even crap like WarCraft 1/2 or C&C! Loved those games as a kid, really glad I don't own any of them now, glad I don't have to play them now. Still, AoM was OK, got through the main campaign fine, there was no chance in hell I was going to do the expansion stuff.)
The Room Two (A pretty simple puzzle game, something different for me, was OK for the two hours it took me to beat it.)
The Cave (Kinda funny puzzle platformer from Ron Gilbert. Pretty easy, a bit clunky, but I didn't mind dragging three people through it.)

Latest bunch:
Mark of the Ninja (Great 2D stealth platformer! Could barely stop playing once I started.)
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (Played it once before on the PS3 so the emotional impact was way weaker this time around, still had a nice time, game still looks lovely, plays great.)
The Banner Saga 2 (Played the first one a while back, no idea why it took me this long to get around to playing the second one. Liked the story, loved the art, got a bit tired of the combat.)
The Banner Saga 3 (Finished the second one, had to finish the third one as well. Same as with part 2. Maybe this one was a bit short, at least I didn't like how this whole epic saga was just wrapped up with a, 'Hey, that sure was something, huh? Alright, bye!')
Thimbleweed Park (Thought I was going to like it way more than I did. It was fine! Just didn't like how the main characters would barely acknowledge eachother. You'd have them cooperate with eachother to solve puzzles but it never really made much sense why they'd want to.)
Dishonored 2 (Loved the first one, I really did. Gave this one a go, but for some reason wasn't really feelin' it so I bailed after a couple of hours. I'll be back though!)
Far Cry 5 (Felt like playing this instead. Picked it up for 12€, my first gaming purchase of the year. And so far, so good. Like the world, I'm having fun, don't like the way the 'story' keeps hassling me. Just weirdly done. I'm out there, I don't know, doing something silly, something fun, and the game will just decide,'OK, buddy, that's enough of that! Time for one of the boring villians to talk at you for 5 minutes.')
 

Azalin

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
7,305
Played Bud Spencer & Terrence Hill:Slaps and Beans for a couple of hours before uninstalling it,the graphics and the general atmosphere are good and remind you of their old movies,there are even song and music from their old films.The problem is that the main beat em up gameplay is uninspired and not that good,yep they managed to make beating people up as Bud Spencer and Terrence hill boring.After I got stuck and had to quit the game because of a bug that wouldn't let me move on a couple of times I uninstalled it,didn't want to replay the same level for a fucking third time.Not recommended.
 

janior

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
Messages
3,616
Location
Café del Mar
Played a lot of the original Diablo over past two weeks, unmodded and modded.
Had an absolute blast playing it, holds up perfectly, mainly due to amazing atmosphere and music, the story is also well executed. I'll admit, falls apart on last few levels of the maze but the ending twist keeps it coherent. There's something immensely satisfying about chopping down hordes of monsters and seeing your character becoming an absolute killing machine, the good thing is that you never become untouchable, one wrong move and you get swarmed, real time gameplay only adds to tension.
From mods I'd highlight 'The Hell', QOL changes, adds ironman mode - no going back to town, no going up the floors, increased magic find, much improves moment to moment action, makes every fight feel like it could be your last one and well I only got as far as level 14. Itemization is kinda scuffed, probably thanks to the vast amount of new classes, quite unnecessary.
I gave Diablo 2 another chance(Played it as a kiddo and hated It) and yeah, got through act 3 and game is fucking joyless, crap sequel.
 

octavius

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
19,184
Location
Bjørgvin
I'm on map 5 of the Keepers Campaign in Age of Wonders.

I remember maps 1 to 4 well, 3 being the The United Cities which you always play, and 4 being the very large, complex and rather exhausting Earthquake at Deepmire. 5 is the short and simple, and rather boring Mining Outpost. I think I abandoned a playthrough during this map, 'cause I can't remember map 6 Hall of Heroes at all.
And HoH increases the difficulty quite a bit; I lost a size 3 city, and a Frostling Yeti seems to have teleported in near the starting city which I had just upgraded.
Starting with 0 mana and very few troops means forces are spread out thin, and it's against my nature to sit idle and accumulate forces. Not sure how the scenario transfers work, but I had 312 points to spend which happened to be the excact same amount my lvl 11 Hero cost.
 

agentorange

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 14, 2012
Messages
5,256
Location
rpghq (cant read codex pms cuz of fag 2fa)
Codex 2012
Still playing Field of Glory 2 PBEM daily. I've definitely gotten better, won a game with only 2% of my guys routed, but I still manage to get obliterated by some veteran players. It's amazing how differently every game plays out considering how basically simple the ruleset is.

Started playing Gabriel Knight 2 finally, been meaning to play it since I finished GK1 last year. So far I'm liking it a lot like. The German setting and the, what I assume is a, werewolf based plot grabs me more than the voodoo material of the first (although I ended up really liking the voodoo, New Orleans stuff the more I played it). I like the FMV graphics. The acting isn't great or anything, but it has a moody quality to it, and some quite unsettling moments (like when you first enter the hunter's lodge).
 

No Great Name

Arcane
Joined
Jan 24, 2014
Messages
572
Location
US
Next up I'm playing Parasite Eve II for the Playstation.
You are in for a treat.
Protip: levelup power = free mp recovery. And Energyshot is most useful for your initial investment~
I have already beaten the game before I saw this since it was shorter than I thought it was going to be and I ended up never leveling Energyshot since I didn't know. I had Healing, Metabolism, Antibody, and Pyrokinesis maxed out instead.

I'm going to finish writing my review of it first before I share my thoughts on the game.
 

Ivan

Arcane
Joined
Jun 22, 2013
Messages
7,474
Location
California
playing through West of Loathing and loving it. I may get to Sexy Brutale and Thumper before March...

Devil May Cry and Sekiro in the same month
:shredder::bounce:
 
Self-Ejected

unfairlight

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 20, 2017
Messages
4,092
I completed a 5 hour long Arma 3 fan mission called Hunter Six.
It was really neat. It's a open world mission with randomly generated objectives and such, where you can select your own AI squad from like 15 dudes although I just did it with 3 other guys. It has a radio system where you can call in close air support or transport copters of varying sizes to get you in and out of places, however both your AI teammates and the helicopters are permadeath. If they crash or die, they're gone for good. There's also a reputation and intel system, where you can interrogate locals or search their houses to get more info, but if you push them too hard or search their house you will lose reputation. Having low reputation will mean you will see more AI threats around the world since more will join the rebels. It reminds me a lot of MGS V in a lot of ways.
Oh yeah: NOTHING disappears. That technical with a HMG I disabled 4 hours ago? I went through that area again, and it was still there. Things stay around forever. Even dropped weapons attachments will never disappear. Possibly this is the reason as to why performance degraded over time in the mission.
A few gripes though:
Every so often, helicopters would bug out. Twice they completely ignored orders.
CAS has dubious usefulness, since it takes so long to arrive even at 4x speed time. Since the AI isn't that deadly I might as well hose them down with a grenade launcher or MG from afar.
The rebel enemy corpses disappear after you search (walk over) them for intel, the disappearing just too fast and it's hard to loot their bodies at times. They also don't carry any ammo (exception being RPG soldiers carrying a few rockets) which is kinda lame.
Selection of weapons was a bit too low. I had hoped to carry a Carl Gustav with anti personnel shells, but alas there was no such option for it. I probably could have used mods to do it anyway, though. On that note, I don't think your ammo at the main base in the weapons cache regenerates. There is an absolute total of 20 40mm grenades, that is nothing. That is how much I will use in just 2 firefights, so you can run out quick if you don't conserve your munitions.
I lost all of my saves first time in which was rather unfortunate.

It's cool stuff though, check it out.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=310594159
 

ironmask

Arbiter
Joined
Jan 12, 2019
Messages
416
I have been playing a lot of doom lately. The original 90's doom to be specific. I have been playing with some wads like speed of doom and doom: the way id did. both are good wads though speed of doom has some very bullshit levels. Sometimes I get sick of doom and take mini breaks by playing thief.
 

Tse Tse Fly

Savant
Joined
Dec 26, 2017
Messages
622
Having almost completed my first Jagged Alliance 2 playthrough (currently doing the Meduna sectors), I think now is appropriate time to put my thoughts together and summarise the experience I've had with it, so I'm gonna leave here my immensely subjective opinion and impressions.

First of all, it's really impressive how complete and cohesive the whole thing feels, inspiring a belief that working on the game the developers had a clear, very well perceived idea of what they wanted it to be and what it's going to be about. The gameplay and setting fit each other perfectly, nothing seems redundant or as if it's there just for the sake of adding fake complexity, everything perfectly makes sense within the boundaries of the game. Every detail is carefully done to fit the setting and the story
even the ability to send flowers to Deidranna feels sensible and appropriate, not being just an easter egg or an incidental thing that's completely unrelated to the events of the game, a small lovely feature that adds to the charm of the game and its specialness, splendidly complementing the rest of the composition.

The characters are one of the most precious assets of Jagged Alliance 2. The wonderful portraits are what I especially liked about them, they were drawn to look very lovely and have a lot of personality. The adorable artstyle gives a sweet heartwarming look to the characters, whether it's delicate and seductive Fox or tough and brutal Bull, they're all likable and display a lot of charm, but still retain individuality and their characteristic features and don't end up looking unconvincing or overly cartoonish. The style serves the purpose of realistically depicting human being and at the same time makes the art look truly special and recognisable (all previously said remains true for the NPCs). Not only the artwork, but also beautiful voice-acting is what makes the characters rather remarkable, encouraging you to try out all of them and find out yourself how they will react to various situations, how it characterises them and expresses their unique personality. This is a pleasant distinctive feature I loved about Wizardry 8 as well, but in JA2 it's done even better, because now you're given complete meaningful characters with their backgrounds.

Speaking about the gameplay, I do like its complex and versatile (but still very coherent) structure, small 'missions' strewn throughout the map add an adventure side to JA2, making it a bit more than just a squad-based tactics game. I appreciate the mere presence of it, though I didn't do much of the in-area content, and I am not sure whether it has to do with my general laziness and inertness or it's due to it being actually tiresome to explore the sectors in real time, my reasons for that are the following:
1) there is no way to increase the speed of game
2) sometimes, when the target is far away from your mercenary, he is unable to determine the path to it (the game says the path is blocked or something like that)
3) you cannot set your mercenaries always running (you have to always double-click)
4) your mercs move at different speeds, and there are always mercs who are lagging behind and reach the object point some delay after the others, they all get scattered (I'm struggling to find a better word for this) along the route and you can't tell them to stick close to each other, which is just annoying.
The tactical gameplay is rather fun and addictive (I played the game for hours and hours), and is complex enough to make the player appreciate and enjoy the tactical quality of Jagged Alliance 2, inducing a rewarding sensation when you overcome your enemies. The way it was done not only compels you play carefully and tactically, but makes you feel that iron man is the only true way of playing this game, and the realistic setting even reinforces this attitude (indeed, I hope someday I'll be able to complete it with only one save).
A noteworthy drawback to the gameplay would be the enemy AI being not very sensible at times (though it didn't make the game much less fun and not challenging for me personally), one major flaw that I noticed is that quite frequently enemies act foolishly and try to take on your team on their own, getting blasted one after another, as if being unaware they're not the only ones defending the sector. Enemy soldiers also don't seem to ever use medkits, they either don't come equipped with any in the first place or don't know how to apply them (maybe both).

The music is great enough and fits the theme of the game nicely, and although there doesn't seem to be that many battle compositions, it doesn't get old to listen to them again and again, at least in your first playthrough. This is NOT to say I wouldn't have preferred that there were more and varied tracks, because I would, and that not being the case is a bit disappointing.

I also must drop a few words about the game's interface. When I was beginning my playthrough, my main complaint was the seemingly awkward UI of the game, but in fact it turned out to be quite usable once I learnt the controls. The trick is to try to use the graphical interface elements as little as possible, otherwise you will soon get tired travelling kilometres with the mouse to make thousands of clicks. It was really a sensible idea to make it so almost all the actions could be performed using the keyboard keys. The interface for giving your mercs assignments on the strategic screen could've been organised better, though, you have to use the mouse all the time which is bothersome and tiring, and I frequently missed entries. Overall, for a game as complex as this, the interface is implemented fairly well, having keyboard controls helps a lot.

There are a few more points I'd like to note (regarding the setting, the story and the game's visuals, for example), but I've got a bit weary writing this already, so overall, I say: Jagged Alliance 2 is an exceptional game, true masterpiece that absolutely holds up to the praise it's been getting, and playing through it one can clearly see why it's regarded not only one of the best tactical games, but one of the greatest (PC) games ever. Sir-Tech is my favourite (now regrettably defunct) game developer now.


That's where I conclude. Now gonna try out Might and Magic VI.
 
Last edited:

Deleted member 7219

Guest
Playing Valkyria Chronicles 4. I’m up to chapter 10 now and finally we’re getting back to the main plot of the series. The earlier chapters were just a retread of the first game in terms of ‘WW2-esque setting”, but for me the best part of VC is when it tries to go off and do something original. I think the Valkyria stuff is quite interesting.

I also started playing Trails in the Sky again. I’m NG+ on nightmare, all the fights will be a cakewalk until the final dungeon I am sure, but already I’ve been drawn back into that world and feel fully immersed. Even better to be playing it on my Steam Link hooked up to my TV rather than sat at my computer desk. Much more relaxing for the second playthrough.
 

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