What game are you wasting time on?

[Borelli]

Just finished Game of Thrones RPG by Cyanide. Here are my thoughts on it:

The combat is real time with pause slowdown, not bad in concept but for most of the game it is too easy to engage you. The first time combat felt like fun was near the ending chapters when they throw some tougher encounters at you. In fact it reminds me of Dragon Age the most. When it comes to filler combat, most of the combat has story reasons for it but at certain parts the game wants to be a dungeon crawler and here it feels weird for you to scour the whole castle killing everything in sight, this would not be weird in other games but since i recently watched the GoT show i hold this to a more "realistic" standard. However even with this the total time spent in combat is much lesser than the other RPGs. Bottom line, boring but not so much that you want to stop playing the game.

Game's main problem is that the RPG elements are so useless, the skills and attributes are of +% variety which is just plain dull, ability selection is decent decent though, with lots of status effects and possible skill combos. The devs have managed to accomplish a lot given that all characters are just warriors. Secondly, there are coins at random barrels. Why? I can tolerate this shit in a JRPG made for schoolkids with too much free time who like to enter people houses and click on every pixel but in a "serious" game this totally messed up the mood. I don't remember people in the show stopping during dialogue to loot random barrels. Ok, i am overreacting, this doesn't really change the game but the total money you get from clicking around is like less than 5% (and this is a game where money is mostly useless). Some of the loot is slightly hidden which may seem like the game rewards exploration, but it really doesn't, the levels are mostly linear and having a LOOT BE HERE button popup when you walk near pickable objects isn't really exploration.

Graphically, the characters look good while the scenery is average, art style is very realistic with very little oversized armors and the like (although it has them a little, especially on the principal characters), what i didn't like is how many people are sporting full plates, fighting redshirts who are lightly armored is ok since the show has implied that heroes can easily beat several ordinary people, however with everybody wearing full plates muh immersion is being ruined, although i do not know if the game is based on the book or the show (the intro music led me to believe it was the show hence my nitpicking with the armors). Also, why so many people wear hoods?

The game is divided into small chapters which is good for the pacing but it makes the individual parts very linear, oh well you can't have it all. Side quests are few but very well made and fit the tone. The voice acting is ok, not bad but nothing extraordinary.

The story is ... really really good. Low key, no saving the world stuff, very little fantasy elements, gritty and mature (of course, since this is GoT we are talking about), following two separate character's intersecting storylines which ends up really interesting. The endings are depressing no matter how you choose it.

If i was a serious game reviewer i would have given it 3 trolls, but i am not so i leave it at 4. I liked the story that much.

 

[Gurkog]

played through Borderlands 2 a second time. Game is shit for replayability compared to the first. The new enemies are nice, but the creature spawns don't vary enough. I haven't played past the first difficulty though, so maybe it gets better later.

Xenonauts is definitely my goty so far... its also the only game from 2014 I have played.

 

[Cool name]

I just went and finished Cinders for the first time.

Spoiler

It is the first western Visual Novel I wish the Japanese would play. Most western visual novels try to be Japanese, and you can't but LOL - Some are good and some are bad, but there is always a Japanese one which is better. Cinders didn't try to be Japanese, it just took the medium and did its own thingie. If anything, it was the first western visual novel I did play which was much better than those Japanese ones which are like it.

Though it may be because of how I played it, and because of the ending I got. The story did play as a deconstruction of fairy tales in general and Cinderella in particular: The heroine became quite a manipulative and backstabbing bitch herself, the romance was simply a means to an end and the guy pretty much left her after playing his role at the end because he was utterly disgusted by the shit she pulled, the 'villains' were actually sympathetic and realistic enough for me to actually worry and care about one of the stepsisters and feel kind of bad when Cinders thoroughly ruined the stepmother by becoming even more of a bitch than she was, the 'fairy godmother' felt more like a deal with the devil from which Cinders managed to wiggle her way out simply by being more twisted and manipulative than the fairies themselves were, etc.

In a way it did remind me of, and felt a bit like, Gungnyeo, with women of high standing becoming ruthless 'monsters' while pursuing power and the agency which comes from it. And it also comes as a 'honest' take on feminism, devoid of both female warriors and women who come as idealized paragons of virtue alike - They reach for power through seduction, intrigue, backstabbing, and so on, and no judgement is passed on it: They are not 'evil', nor 'petty' - They are driven and ambitious and maybe selfish, and there are few 'positive' representations of driven, ambitious, selfish people in games so I loved it.

I also enjoyed the scale. It was pretty much a family drama, and nothing greater was at stake. In a way it reminded me of Always Sometimes Monsters as well, another C&C game with a story in which the stakes are personal and which uses the 'endgame' as a framing device. But Always Sometimes Monsters is limited by trying to turn the framing device into a 'twist ending' of sorts, which doesn't really works because it forces the main character to never truly develop beyond the constrains on which the 'twist ending' depends on, so much of the C&C will become 'cosmetic' at best and utterly nonsensical at worst. Cinders does it much better, in that the 'endgame' you know will eventually happen isn't one which contrains the story to go in a certain way but one which makes you wonder how will it play out based on the personality Cinders' developing and the plot she is concocting based on your choices.

And the visuals are bloody beautiful.

The only two things I truly disliked were the Captain of the Guard's clothes, which are utterly ridiculous and come as quite jarring considering everyone else is dressed sensibly, and that Sophia isn't a romance interest, because really... She's awesome, and the guys couldn't be more boring if they tried so I find impossible to ever pursue one of them as anything but 'pieces' in my Cinders' little plots. The ending I got kind of allowed for you to read Cinder's relationship with Sophia in a somewhat 'romantic' light if you want, but it just isn't the same. >.<

Anyway, now I am scared to play it again, because I fear it could turn to be simply not that good if I were to play it differently and obtain a different ending. >.<

Tl;dr: I have become something terrible. Something which cares about representations of feminism, the deconstruction of fairy tales, and personal stories in videogames. >.<

 

[Unkillable Cat]

A hampster?

 

[Tytus]

A hampster?

I would say it's more of a Guinea Pigster

 

[Blonsky]

I played Nitronic Rush as far as i could get with a keyboard, and i dont remember the last time i sweat this much over a game. Driving while stuff keeps poping out or falling down on the road, lasers, saw blades, jumping and flying, driving on walls. Im never going to finish it, but its ok because im sure i will play it a couple more times from the beginning just to beat my time records.

 

[Excidium]

Wizardry VII

Also, decided to finally play Phantasmagoria after picking it up at a thrift shop a few years ago.

What are the specs of that bad boy?

 

[garren]

Finally started shadowrun returns, pretty far on the first campaign, after that ill continue to dragonfall.

 

[Abu Antar]

Completed VVVVVV. tried to get all the trinkets but my platforming skills weren't good enough to collect some of them.

Also playing Kingdoms of Amalur. It's a decent game, even if I skip dialog sometimes and don't read many of the books I collect. I just like to explore and kill stuff. It does help that combat is better than many other ropgs of this type.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Replaying The Witcher 2 on Roche's storyline, not amused but nothing else to do until D:OS hits.

 

[dunno lah]

Crusader: No Remorse. Now at Mission 4 and getting my anus pounded by Thermatrons and what could probably be the most stiffest controls in a game like this. This game hurts so good. Why can't the controls be better??



WOW LOOK AT THE GRAPHIX! SO FALLOUT. DAT MUZAK!

 

[warpig]

Crusader is a wonderful game. I love it! The controls are not so bad, a bit awkward in the beginning but it was ok once I got used to it. The only annoying thing is the lack of forward roll in No Remorse and no option to remap keys. And yeah, the isometric graphics look nice and the music just KICKS ASS.

 

[dunno lah]

Could be DOSBOX or keyboard lag. I just cannot seem to transition smoothly from "modifier" movements like run to roll to sidestepping etc. Game wouldn't be so hard if not for this problem I'm having...

 

[Darth Roxor]

Crusader is a wonderful game.

And No Regret is even better

Crusader: No Regret has to be one of my favourite games ever made. And it was pretty much an improvement in every way over No Remorse, which already kicked ass. I even love the controls, they are so satisfying to use once you master them.

 

[warpig]

I don't think it's dosbox, the controls are a bit unresponsive, but It didn't bother me that much after some time of playing. Maybe I'm just tolerant to shitty controls. No Regret was an improvement, too bad the third game went down the shitter. Some kind of indie "spiritual successor" would be nice, assuming that it would be done properly.

 

[Dayyālu]

Why can't the controls be better?

It's weird, but I never found the control scheme of Crusader bad. The keyboard-only settings are quite good, with redundant control keys. Playing with the mouse is kinda painful and pointless. It's quite possible to put up some satisfying moves like awesome friendly fire "accidents" between guards and bots with good use of roll and the EMP emitter thingie.

Some kind of indie "spiritual successor" would be nice, assuming that it would be done properly.

Tony Zurovec in "recent" interviews was not interested. The kinda famous 2006 PSP tech demo looked quite bad, in my opinion. "doing properly" a Crusader game would be quite difficult: they're action games, but not shooting galleries with dozens of enemies, and I doubt that the focus on keycard-code hunting mechanic would be appreciated by the market of today. Sum that with the abysmal level design that plagues the contemporary action titles.... nay, it won't work.

I think that they work only as they are. A remake, or maybe simply an engine change, would quite surely break the alchemy and balance of the originals.

 

[warpig]

"doing properly" a Crusader game would be quite difficult: they're action games, but not shooting galleries with dozens of enemies, and I doubt that the focus on keycard-code hunting mechanic would be appreciated by the market of today. Sum that with the abysmal level design that plagues the contemporary action titles.... nay, it won't work.

You mean selling a properly made Crusader game would be difficult, you may be right. Especially the part about level design, there's a reason(modern retard gamer) for the oversimplified linear level design in most modern games. But maybe there's a niche to fill, it would be nice if someone took the risk...

 

[Abelian]

Some kind of indie "spiritual successor" would be nice, assuming that it would be done properly.

You mean something like this?

Spoiler

It's tribute mock-up screenshot done by Pyke, developer of STASIS.

 

[Darth Roxor]

You mean something like this?

;_;7

 

[DragoFireheart]

Haven't been in the mood for Dark Souls 2 or my various shooters (Deus Ex: HR, Red Dead Redemption, Farcry 3). Currently in the mood for Dragon Quest games. Currently playing DQ3.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Some kind of indie "spiritual successor" would be nice, assuming that it would be done properly.

You mean something like this?

Spoiler

It's tribute mock-up screenshot done by Pyke, developer of STASIS.

Hail Pyke !

 

[Pyke]

Some kind of indie "spiritual successor" would be nice, assuming that it would be done properly.

You mean something like this?

Spoiler

It's tribute mock-up screenshot done by Pyke, developer of STASIS.

Hail Pyke !

Fuck thats awesome....give me time bros. :D

 

[circ]

I've had Leviathan for a long time but never actually got around to installing it. So... I still don't understand Reapers any better, or the plot of ME. Started off better than Omega atleast but the ending was a fat guy doing a divebomb belly first.

EDIT: just cleared Horizon once again, ready to hit end game. Um, 73 asset points short of 4k - Shep breathing animation aka AWESOME ENDING. That's with Omega and Leviathan DLC. If I went ahead and installed Citadel DLC too I would still be um, like 7 points short or something. I could have spared this Oleg guy and that would have done it with Citadel included but fuck him. The ending is literally a DLC. Wow.

But yeah, the Citadel has been the most retarded area in all three games. WHY WOULD I WANT MOAR CITADEL BIOWARE? AND MY OWN APARTMENT TOO. UM. I'M GONNA FUCKING DIE AND I'M SUPPOSED TO DECORATE? WHUH?

EDIT: oh, if I actually bothered getting Allers I could probably pull off 4k. But never gonna happen.

 

[J_C]

I finally bought the Legacy of Kain series on GOG. I think I'm gonna dive right in.

 

[circ]

Changed difficulty to insanity now on my third playthrough as shit's getting too easy with everything maxed out - I played through ME1 twice to get the hardest difficulty and it wasn't any harder. But ouch, one shot killed by everything? I think you need to look up difficulty in a dictionary or something. Hardco is pretty hardco so that'll do. It's a shame the controls are such a piece of shit that fuck ups are due to that and not because shit hurts badly now.