What game are you wasting time on?

[jackofshadows]

too few starting points to make as distinct characters as one could in Fallout.

It's all about background. I liked it much more than the possibility of stat min-maxing from classic Fallout games. It's also cool how AoD/CS while were inspired by that, don't allow to have stats lower than 4 but then you see ATOM and now Encased which took the old approach yet again.

 

[Strange Fellow]

The outdoors area maps are far too large and empty

You're supposed to fast-travel to Tarant, not walk.

Spoiler

Spoiler

I've walked to Tarant. Just to see if it could be done!

 

[Ivan]

more gamepass:

Katamari Damacy Reroll
So this caught me by complete surprise. What I had thought to be a shallow loop turned out to hide a hypnotic, momentous game flow that makes for a zen-type of game loop. It's like pacman in an open hub where you have to prioritize targets by size. Upon first boot the controls were as alien to me as Gothic's. I quickly got the ropes down though, and am now able to turn pretty well. It's awesome how quickly your play improves once you start to wrap your head around the odd control scheme. Aesthetically, there are so many comedic elements and visuals peppered throughout each level that make exploration a joy. Around every corner there's something new that either made me laugh or just put a smile on my face. The soundtrack is also whimsical and poppy. Very much looking forward to seeing this one through to the end, as I'm enjoyin the brief story snippets in between levels.

A few grievances: I wish the camera was more reactive when climbing/descending slopes, I wish you could end a level upon meeting the goal requirement


The Artful Escape

A sidescroller, rhythmic pop-a-mole game that follows a musician escaping the legacy of his family and goes on a psychedelic trip to form his unique identity (e.g. Ziggy Stardust). It's a visual treat, each level reminded me of something out of Mobius' The Incal. I found it mechanically boring all the way through. Really, I don't think the game mechanics serve the experience at all and came away with the feeling that this shouldn't have been a game to begin with. I kept at it b/c I enjoyed the visual spectacle, the excellent voice work, and the eclectic soundscape. Not a horrible experience, but one that I was consistently questioning the choice of the medium.


Superliminal *shelved*

Shelved this one much faster than I expected. I wasn't engaged by the main mechanic of re-sizing objects to solve puzzles. Stylistically similar to The Stanley Parable, but there wasn't much else aside from the main gimmick to keep me invested in this one (sterile visuals and not much going on in the audio department to reel me in).

9/17 New Super Lucky's Tale

A cutesy kid's platformer with nice visuals, simple mechanics, and a solid variety of enemies. Put in a good few hours but I eventually grew tired of the limited moveset. The game lacked a speed-up mechanic to encourage me to zip through the levels. Again, I didn't hate it but I recognized that I wasn't really enjoying it so I've decided to shelve it. Funnily enough, the most fun I had with this was with the sliding-block puzzles that the game sprinkles over the overworld map.

Flynn: Son of Crimson

A solid, snackfood-like 2d sidescroller. It has a world map like Super Mario World, wherein you start off on a linear path that quickly branches out, with keys needed to venture into the alternate paths. Some of these require story abilities you acquire, others open up gauntlet type levels. I quickly grew tired of the combat, the enemies felt spongey and I feel like they didn't pose enough of a challenge such that I often found myself bypassing them and just doing the platforming. The latter of which was satisfying, had it not been I would have likely dropped this. The music is nice, as are its pixel art visuals. In sum, not something I'd go out of my way to recommend, but I saw it on the buffet line and a gave it a try. No complaints but I'm not hungry for more.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

So I'm playing it almost blind (I've read very little detailed discussion about Arcanum), and the setting, story, writing, quest stuff is good enough that I'm enjoying it quite a bit (as such it reminds me very much about Dark Sun). But it's a pity that it's such a decline compared to Fallout 1-2 in some other areas.

I haven't played Arcanum in 20 years, but if I had a starter-tip for anyone, it would be to start with a CHA 9+ character, so you coud recruit that Half-Ogre at the bar in the first village. He would literally turn the tide of any melee-fight in your favor.

HOWEVER, since you're already playing a Half-Ogre, I don't think any of that matters. Have fun!

 

[samuraigaiden]

I just killed Minax and ended the blight in my life that has been Ultima 2.

As many of you may know, this game has a lot of problems. Some stuff is a straight up downgrade compared to the first one. At a systems level, Ultima 2 is a disaster. It makes the player grind for money from the first to the last minute. This just murders any sense of pace.

But I have mixed feelings about this one. The time portals to different periods make exploration way more interesting than in the first game. Visiting different planets is awesome, even if there isn't much to do in them.

I wish this game just raised stats when leveling up like a normal goddamn RPG. This wouldn't fix all the problems, but it sure would improve it a lot.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

So I'm playing it almost blind (I've read very little detailed discussion about Arcanum), and the setting, story, writing, quest stuff is good enough that I'm enjoying it quite a bit (as such it reminds me very much about Dark Sun). But it's a pity that it's such a decline compared to Fallout 1-2 in some other areas.

I haven't played Arcanum in 20 years, but if I had a starter-tip for anyone, it would be to start with a CHA 9+ character, so you coud recruit that Half-Ogre at the bar in the first village. He would literally turn the tide of any melee-fight in your favor.

HOWEVER, since you're already playing a Half-Ogre, I don't think any of that matters. Have fun!

Besides, the only bad character in Arcanum is the one built aimlessly.
Just got to Shrouded Hills again myself. Maybe I will finish it this time.

 

[Caim]

I've been giving Mental Omega (mod for Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge) a spin. Visual presentation is excellent and looks almost entirely in line with the base game. Unit voices are easy to discern between the new and the old, but still pretty good. The new launcher menu works very well, and the extra options you have when setting up a game are extensive. It's also self-updating, so just download the most recent version, the music, boot it up and the launcher does the rest.

What I don't like is the whole slew of support powers. The base game had only a few minus superweapons, and it worked. Generals also had a couple, but they were a lot more restrained. In Mental Omega we're talking Tiberium Sun 3/Red Alert 3 levels of powers, and it's just ridiculous. From what I can tell you can't turn them off, which is a letdown. Also the AI has been significantly improved. Even at its lowest difficulty which I picked to get into the flow of things with the new units the AI was constantly on my ass, a significant difference between the mod and the base game. So if you want to give this a spin you'll have to git gud on the double.

Download link

/

 

[Darth Roxor]

Following recent developments, I've decided to dust off Jagged Alliance 1. The last time I played it was over 20 years ago, and I sucked at it pretty bad because I treated it as any other strategy game and just sent dudes to their deffs.

Now on day 3, cool game so far, but I feel like it's significantly more unforgiving compared to JA2. Being limited to just 1 quick save slot during the day (bonus points if you don't enable saving in combat), not being allowed to assign dudes to doctor duties in the middle of a day, and getting obliterated if caught in an enemy zone when the day ends has already made me rage quit two times.

Also, it's always funny to recognise voice actors from across Sir-Tech's games. I'm pretty sure Vinny also voices the rattkin in Wiz8.

 

[Gromlintroid]

Currently playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey, about 15 hours in, pretty fun just goin around the map killing people

 

[octavius]

Following recent developments, I've decided to dust off Jagged Alliance 1. The last time I played it was over 20 years ago, and I sucked at it pretty bad because I treated it as any other strategy game and just sent dudes to their deffs.

Now on day 3, cool game so far, but I feel like it's significantly more unforgiving compared to JA2. Being limited to just 1 quick save slot during the day (bonus points if you don't enable saving in combat), not being allowed to assign dudes to doctor duties in the middle of a day, and getting obliterated if caught in an enemy zone when the day ends has already made me rage quit two times.

Just hire Ivan.

Also, it's always funny to recognise voice actors from across Sir-Tech's games. I'm pretty sure Vinny also voices the rattkin in Wiz8.

Yo-o-o-h!

 

[samuraigaiden]

I played JA1 for a while before I realized crouching was a thing. Makes a big difference when your dudes are in a tight spot

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

and getting obliterated if caught in an enemy zone when the day ends has already made me rage quit two times.

That ruins what was an otherwise pretty good game for me. I tried it twice, once the DOS version, and again on that strange Nintendo DS port. One moment you're about to win and next half your guys need to recover. Thankfully, while Deadly Games still has a time limit, it doesn't hurt you if you hit that timer, and I think that makes one of the few times an expansion surpasses the game its an expansion for.

 

[Wasteland]

Currently playing through of Pillars of Eternity. I'm at the best part so far--towards the end of Act 2, after finishing with White March, at which point you stop playing for three weeks to browse Codex for new game ideas instead. There's excellent game play here: the most rewarding encounter was when I ran into GoG Galaxy, and realized that I could link it to my other accounts for a comprehensive list of all the shit I've bought on sale or gotten for free brilliant un-played titles in my library.

Prior to that, I spent some time setting up for a replay of the Knights of the Old Republic games, which I hadn't touched since they launched at the turn of the century. Modding the first game to accommodate 16:9 resolutions took a little fiddling, but the payoff was a surge of near-priapistic nostalgia that lasted all the way through Taris. Even the repetitive insect-creature battles on Dantooine didn't phase me. Then I encountered Bastila's mother and was instantly immersed in a bitchy woman simulator that reminded me of a virtual trip to my in-laws. Thus KoTOR was shelved, though I may jump straight into the sequel at some point in the near future. Never got to play it with the restored content mod.

Prior to that, I played through Star Traders: Frontiers twice, on Hard. This is a great game, and I have a Codex thread to thank for the recommendation--quite challenging, particularly in the planet-bound Xeno fights. Lot of replay value too, and not just because the game's RNG can give you a punishingly bad start, encouraging do-overs. My only complaint is that there was no downside to bigger ships; I did complete one play-through with a smaller ship, because I'd convinced myself that speed/fuel efficiency was worth the trade-offs, but then I played again the "meta" way and boy was I wrong. The Star Traders developers appear to be very active, though, constantly updating, so it's possible my complaint is out of date.

Prior to that, lots and lots of strategy gaming, mostly Europa Universalis IV, followed by a long interlude with Stellaris. I don't have to describe Paradox's awful DLC system here, though I will say that Stellaris is notable for having been flat-out redesigned 2-3 times. Stellaris 3.0 is quite literally a different game from Stellaris 2.0, which was quite literally a different game from Stellaris 1.0. I suppose that's one way of adding replayability. These Swedes are more indecisive than a Bioware developer trying to choose a gender.

I'm thinking of taking Deus Ex for a nostalgia spin next. Or I might try Lords of Xulima. Appreciate the site and this discussion. Learned a lot.

 

[flyingjohn]

Finished the ashes dlc for grim dawn.
"Hey guys,you know how our engine barely handles path finding in cluttered terrain?Well we made the entire last act a giant cluttered city for your entertainment ! "
Minus the skeletor dungeon,it was pretty meh in terms of loot and content.The somewhat interesting wendigo/Cthulhu themes just die off mid first act.
Hoping forsaken sands does a better job.

 

[Fenix]

Prior to that, I played through Star Traders: Frontiers twice

Try ProspectorRL from which this game was completly borrowed and say what you like more.

 

[Ivan]

Black Mesa

A damn fine remake of HL1 with a wonderful re-imagining of Zen. I played the mod years ago, so I knew what quality of polish to expect going into this. The animations are top notch and I feel like there's much more VO to flesh out the NPCs. I do take issue with the action tracks that play, finding them often cheesy and overblown. I did however enjoy the moody ambient tracks that punctuate certain moments. Gunplay: I found the grunts to be aggressive, and was happy to see them use grenades pretty liberally, which often kept me moving. I don't like the slight delay in-between switching weapons that prevents you from firing. Now on to the new stuff: Zen is wonderful. It's better than I had imagined. This is a full re-imagining of it. It reminds me of a Metroid Prime. It's a beautiful area with a wonderful soundscape. There's a greater emphasis on environmental exploration/puzzle solving that reminds me of the first half of the game (my preferred half).

Zen is generously expanded, I was surprised just how good a chunk of content it comprises. As previously mentioned, it starts off strong with a great slice of exploration and puzzle solving. Further along the way you experience chase sequences, platforming, and some combat gauntlets. These are my least favorite since resource management isn't as important since the game offers you environmental props that offer ammo for your energy weapons. At least these sections make good use of the jump pack, still I found the endgame encounters to be on the easy side with too many healing pools around. The final encounter was a little surprise, it ditches the teleportation/floating aspects in favor of a wide moveset. It actually kinda felt like a nu-Doom boss fight. Different, but not bad. I was still hoping they'd retain the jump pads. In the end, Zen is definitely the highlight of this project. A wonderful re-imagining and expansion upon the original.

 

[octavius]

So I'm playing it almost blind (I've read very little detailed discussion about Arcanum), and the setting, story, writing, quest stuff is good enough that I'm enjoying it quite a bit (as such it reminds me very much about Dark Sun). But it's a pity that it's such a decline compared to Fallout 1-2 in some other areas.

I haven't played Arcanum in 20 years, but if I had a starter-tip for anyone, it would be to start with a CHA 9+ character, so you coud recruit that Half-Ogre at the bar in the first village. He would literally turn the tide of any melee-fight in your favor.

HOWEVER, since you're already playing a Half-Ogre, I don't think any of that matters. Have fun!

Those half-ogre guards at the bridge are only lvl 2, but they hit harder than lvl 30 characters, and knock the wind out of you in no time. It's like the game is saying you are not supposed to fight them. With lots of reloading I may be able to wound them enough with a grenade, but with no Throwing skill the grenade can end up anywhere.
Anyway, I was able to Persuade Lukan to let me pass, tell about the Thieves Guild and even pay me. Not bad for a Half-Orc with 5 Int, who has just learnt to talk properly (funny how the first entries in the log was revised).
I'm currently exploring Tarant and getting a Gypsy Blood Curse (-2 Charisma) does not excactly endear me to gypsies.

 

[jackofshadows]

It's like the game is saying you are not supposed to fight them. With lots of reloading I may be able to wound them enough with a grenade, but with no Throwing skill the grenade can end up anywhere.

There was a stun grenade as well and with it you can murder them without much trouble. It's entirely possible to brute force them too. IIRC the game gives you two fate points at once basically if you persuade them to leave and then right away murder anyway.

 

[octavius]

I tried the stun grenade, but the duration is so short that it's virtually useless.
Overall combat is quite glitchy. It's supposed to be turn based (in Options it is), but now it always starts real time. And sometimes I have to switch back to real time in combat for the combat to progress.

But at least itemization is one thing that is better than in the Fallouts.

 

[Azalin]

Finished Yakuza 6 and with it the whole Kiryu saga.It uses the newer dragon engine like Kiwami 2 so graphics look great,the gameplay is mostly like that of Kiwami 2 and so is the leveling up system including the whole food porn thing.Of course since this is the first game of the dragon engine everything feels a bit less refined and smooth than they do in K2 but they everything is still good and enjoyable.The story is mostly good,it revolves around Haruka,apparently the little slut started riding dick the moment she grew a pair of tits and as a result she got pregnant and is now a mother at the young age of 19,effectively making Kiryu a grandpa.Thankfully she spends most of the game in a coma and Kiryu has to try to find out who the father is and what happened in the years she was missing.My main problem with the story is that it doesn't feel like a real sendoff to the long time protagonist of the series ene though it could have been with a few adjustments.It's still good though and the characters are mostly likeable,I liked the small time yakuza in this one a lot more than the ones in 3,also Beat Takeshi.Recommended

 

[deuxhero]

Playing Metroid Prime 2, having just finished the Bog, and wow is this game the rare example of how not to do a sequel that's also not a terrible game. It's still a solid 4/5 game, but it's clearly worse than the original in just about every way.

The most obvious issue is the lack of atmosphere due to various little things that are missing. Enemy scans lack ecological info and are reduced to straightfoward comments on how things attack and how to kill them. Artificial areas are obviously designed to fit Samus's abilities and nothing else when in Prime 1 the only really blatant ones were part of the Chozo Ruins (the people who invented these abilities and had a prophecy about someone with them saving the planet).

The two new beam weapons depend on ammo, which has terrible execution. They're barely better than the free power beam, but their consumption is way too high to bother with them when fighting anything less than a mid-boss if they're not required. Contrast this with missiles in Prime 1 where you got so many of them you'd freely use them on enemies and you could afford to power missile or ice beam+missile a few enemies you didn't like dealing with normally to be rid of them quickly. Adding to this is that to get more ammo you have to kill/break something with the opposite beam (you can use a beam with no ammo by charging it to fire a normal power shot) which means you're even further discouraged from using other beams in a fight since getting the ammo back is overly difficult. Light beam weak enemies also far, far outnumber dark beam weak ones (especially considered most dark beam weak enemies are weak themselves).

Bosses tend to be more tedious than anything due to combining high HP and low periods of vulnerability. This is made worse by bosses, very, very clearly not letting you damage them more than allowed per cycle as they just turn invincible after hitting a particular damage amount but don't exit the state that signals they're vulnerable. The one boss that was actually hard so far, Boost Guardian, was hard for the wrong reasons (unpredictable movement, luck based when HP pickups spawn, low period of vulnerability) and I'm told that one is even worse on earlier releases. Grapple Guardian was so slow and tedious I was convinced I was doing something wrong and looked up a video on it and saw the top comments were all things like "This boss wasn't hard, just annoying and tedious. I came to this video to see if there was a faster way to kill it, turns out there wasn't lmao".

Exploration is more tedious. Where MP1 lets you skip large parts of rooms while backtracking due to upgrades, MP2 rarely does despite looping back on itself much more frequently. In MP1, if you knew where you were going and how to get there you could just ignore most of the enemies and killing them was more so you got more time to think and look around. That's much less of a case in MP2, where enemies directly block paths and have larger "homes".

 

[Tweed]

FTL and Hand of Fate, I never finished either one. The unlock system on FTL is retarded and forces the player to go out of their way to get things. Hand of Fate has a great style though it's casual as hell.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Hand of Fate has a great style though it's casual as hell.

Sequel is way better

 

[Darth Roxor]

Hand of Fate has a great style though it's casual as hell.

Sequel is way better

I don't know what degenerate would prefer Malcolm's Revenge over Hand of Fate but I guess there's a first for everything.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Hand of Fate has a great style though it's casual as hell.

Sequel is way better

I don't know what degenerate would prefer Malcolm's Revenge over Hand of Fate but I guess there's a first for everything.

One of us is at cross purposes here. I was not talking about Legend of Kyrandia, for the record.