What game are you wasting time on?

[Mark Richard]

Dungeons 3 - A Dungeon Keeper-inspired title where the villain wears a Santa hat and quotes Die Hard? Christmas presents surrounding the Dungeon Heart? What's going on here? Apparently the game has a couple of free seasonal DLCs which kick in for a limited time during the holidays. No idea how they work, maybe setting a new date on the computer can trick the activation sequence...

Dungeons 3 is supposedly a big improvement over its predecessors. Certainly the campaign requires some actual effort this time, as the enemy's aggression actually allows for the possibility of them overrunning the underground lair. Even if every level can be boiled down to intervals of defence then counterpunch, it's a damn sight better than Dungeons 2 which was so reluctant to interrupt the dungeon building phase that its incursions amounted to little more than a timid knock on the player's door. 'E-e-excuse me... could you please conquer, the surface world. I m-m-mean... if you're finished here and it's not too much t-t-trouble.' A sandbox mode might pacify the folk who're now complaining about being rushed, though I'm not sure the game has enough complexity to make such a mode compelling.

One cool thing is the traps. They were all automated in Dungeons 2 if memory serves, and you'd barely see them in action because every hero party had a bard to deactivate them. Dungeons 3 splits traps between automated and manual, and because manual traps are so powerful, they're very satisfying to trigger. Oh and the best part? No bards. Setting up an obstacle course of death is the best line of defence and preferable to literally throwing a legion of orcs at the problem.

This is also a comedy game, or it tries to be. The jokes are a mixed bag, relying too much on altered quotes from popular movies/television shows for my taste. The constant forth wall breaks and petty narrator succeed in raising a few smiles - it's the same narrator from The Stanley Parable, Kevin Brighting. He continues his stellar performance from the previous game with a voice so British that it makes a plate of tea and biscuits materialize right on your desk.

 

[Zep Zepo]

I need some new pop-a-mole for my PS4 (Just finished Red Dead 2)

What I'm looking at..

God of War
AssCred Odyssey
Spider Man

Which should I buy (or any better suggestion than those 3).

Edit:
I've already played DQXI and nuTomb Raider

Zep--

 

[Ivan]

Was generously gifted A Hat In Thyme here in the Codex and I've been playing it after work for two nights now. While the game is brimming with charm and whimsy, I'm finding the game too lacking in challenge. There's so little conflict here that I quickly become kind of sedated. I hear it's a short game so I will push on through.

The exploration and comedy reminds me a lot of Psychonauts. Will report full thoughts at end of playthrough. Also, may dip my toes in the DLC since I hear that's where the tougher challenges are.

 

[McPlusle]

Mainly playing Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. I've started it over and over and over again repeatedly since like 2006, but I've decided that it's high time that I finally beat the damn thing. Other than that, I'm almost too overwhelmed by my GOG library (which grew by 44 games during this sale) to pick any other games to play on the side.

 

[Ivan]

My first playthrough was abandoned once I hit Shark Town. I had an absolute plast up until then. How close to the end is that, 60%?

 

[Baron Dupek]

Castlevania - Lords of Shadows
got from that deal on GMG (LoS1+ mirror of fate +LoS2) for like $3?

It is playable on kb+m?
For most of the time - yes, it plays without pad very well.

The only issue was, surprise surprise, QTE.
In the boss fight to be precise.
Second titan boss throw rocks at you and your job is to grab it and swing the stick on the gamepad or press W->A->S->D->W (good riddance with the latest) to throw it back.
And there is at least one more boss with such garbage QTE.

Game have fuckton of short levels that you can (must?) replay to unlock previously inaccesable item. P.cool voiceacting too, there is Patrick Stewart and Mentor from Dungeon Keeper games voicing first Lord of Shadows.
I failed to finish it before 2019 but oh well.

edit:
I checked DLCs for LoS1 and what you know - both DLCs are cut out finale segments of the game.
lmao

 

[Squid]

Been playing Planescape Torment when I get the chance too. It's been about 40 hours for me so far. I'm not sure how far along I actually am though. About to go meet a special someone in a maze, is this the halfway mark?

 

[octavius]

Completed Heroes Chronicles: Clash of the Dragons with a score of 2115.

Overall far too easy, even on Impossible, but it is HoMM 3 so still enjoyable, especially the building up phase before you realize how pathetic the enemy is, and just blitz them. Some of the middle maps I completed in 6-7 days in-game time.
The enemies simply start with too small armies and never develop enough to be a threat, and there's a very strong dissonance with some of the monster stacks, which are much stronger, like 5 or 7 Azure Dragons in a garrison.

On the last map there's a very elaborate quest where you can give away like 10 Archangels, 10 Gold Dragons, 2 Fairy Dragons and so on to different Seers and then give all the rewarded artifacts to a ninth Seer to get some fabulous reward that I never needed, and never bothered with.
Tarnum at the end had about 500 Sharpshooters which is much more than he needed, and in the end Mutare the Dragon Lady was beaten by my secondary hero equipped with Armageddon's Blade (from Dragon Utopia) with 8 Gold Dragons, 5 Angels and a couple of hundred Centaurs and Dwarves.

But the most annoying was the fanfic level writing about Valita, light of my life, fire of my loins (yeah, right). I didn't even free her on the second map, and still every friggin' text message was about her.

It will be nice to return to Armageddon's Blade again!

 

[Shadenuat]

 

[MicoSelva]

Tomb Raider, the original one. I've never played it before (or any other Tomb Raider game for that matter*) and graphics aside, it still holds up to the hype it got 22 years ago. Really, really fun game. I love the precision platforming, exploration and puzzles, combat is ok too, especially jump-dodging.

For curiosity's sake I also tried playing the remake (TR: Anniversary, from 2006), but while also fun, it did not draw me in as much as the original.

*I did play Lara Croft GO and those co-op twin-stick shooters, "Lara Croft and the something of something", though

 

[Melcar]

Did you play the porn games yet?

 

[Okagron]

Been playing Atom RPG and i'm enjoying it so far.

 

[Abu Antar]

Mother Russia Bleeds and Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight are both good games but I have decided to put them on hold. I reached a point in both games, where they simply kick my behind. I intend to come back at some point, though.

Currently, I am playing Odin Sphere: Leifdrasir (Yes, that's how it's supposed to be spelled, not with th). I'm on the second character story. Cornelius is really fun to play. He's kicking some ass. Love his moves and his agility. I slightly prefer his story to Gwendolyn's.

The Witcher is the game that I am mostly focusing on. I've been to Vizima and done lots of quests, also reached the swamps. Those fucking big plants are really annoying. Igni has been used a lot! In general, I think that I prefer this game over TW3. Probably more than TW2, too. The game has also aged much better than I thought. I wasn't sure what I was expecting in that regard, as it is my first time playing it.

Last but not least, I am playing Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time for PSP. It is the last PSP game I have to beat, then I will retire it for good. Any PSP game that I play in the future will be played on PPSSPP emulator.

 

[Astral Rag]

Recently beat the Witcher 3 and the Blood and Wine expansion.

Then I started playing Elite Dangerous but I'm drinking way too much these days to learn how2play properly. It will have to wait until January or maybe February 2019...

I started playing Toy Soldiers Cold War and The Long Dark instead. I also play Larry Reloaded or Gloom when I only have access to my laptop. And I started playing Rain World with my godchild.

Also installed my g27 which I presently use mostly to roleplay a drunken slav truck driver.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Started playing Bayonetta. Honestly this shit is kind of ridiculous. 5 minutes of gameplay, 15 minutes of cutscene. What the fuck? Just let me stab dudes ffs.

 

[sullynathan]

Started playing Bayonetta. Honestly this shit is kind of ridiculous. 5 minutes of gameplay, 15 minutes of cutscene. What the fuck? Just let me stab dudes ffs.

Eh, it gets better. Not as many cutscenes later on, Just skip the cutscenes in the early game

 

[Darth Roxor]

Eh, it gets better. Not as many cutscenes later on

Yep, fortunately it does.

P. cool game, I rate it 4 sassy scantily clad womyns out of 5 (one womyn subtracted by instakill QTEs in bossfight cutscenes)

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

Started Jagged Alliance 2 the other day, and I fell in love with it. Everything in this game possesses a lot of charm, clearly so much love and soul was put into it. And I like the setting and plot premise very much. The interface is quite annoying to use sometimes, but it's a minor thing. My impressions so far are by a great margin positive.

 

[Serious_Business]

Started Thief Gold today - I hope there is a good reason for me to bear the game's seeming clunkiness and terrifying visuals.

No. Fuck off. You don't deserve this

So you're arrogant and prideful and think so high about yourself just because you played certain games back in the day which someone didn't?

Yes I am, my friend

Yes I am

(didn't read the rest, but good effort, I recognize your emotions)

 

[RK47]

ATOM seems to just mimic Fallout blindly and failed to improve upon the outdated UI.
I'm pretty confused when they put Stealth as a passive skill. So I guess I wouldn't know when I'm supposed to be 'sneaky' or not? How does it work? What is the point of pumping a skill with a hidden dice roll in it?
I took Pickpocketing, I'm seeing good results in stealing rubles off shopkeepers. So I paid for my purchase and did the 100% cashback afterwards. This works to a certain extent, until I pumped it to 107 at Level 3 and decide to try my luck at stealing from some guards at bandit camp. 12 failures in a row on a hidden failure % - is it unreasonable to ask for consistency here?

A guy with 107 Rifle would've hit 80% of his shots consistently, not miss 12 times in a row and risks the wrath of an ENTIRE city?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Starting a playthrough of Tower of Time. Haven't played since the early access, really liked it then.

ATOM seems to just mimic Fallout blindly and failed to improve upon the outdated UI.

I don't think they ever tried to pretend to be anything but Russian Fallout. It's an okay game, especially from a brand new studio.

 

[sullynathan]

instakill QTEs in bossfight cutscenes

Yea this was shit, but Jeanne and Balder final bosses wouldn't be the same without them

 

[laclongquan]

I tried ATOM and the first area bored me so much I had to switch off the BGM and just play youtube music over it.

I do hope it gets better. I also play with random people in Dawn of War Soulstorm. Should really pick it up on sale, it's one of those unique RTS.

My impression of Atom is not that Fallout-inspired, but more like Odium. The small UI interface, for one.

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

Started Thief Gold today - I hope there is a good reason for me to bear the game's seeming clunkiness and terrifying visuals.

No. Fuck off. You don't deserve this

So you're arrogant and prideful and think so high about yourself just because you played certain games back in the day which someone didn't?

Yes I am, my friend

Yes I am

That's pretty pathetic, then.

 

[Villagkouras]

The MISSING: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories

Seriously, how the fuck this game has no mentions in the Codex? It's a puzzle/platformer, something like Inside but with real puzzles and not so much relying on set pieces (I have to note that I'm about at 30%-40% of the game). The puzzles are really interesting because in order to solve them you have to cause injuries to yourself like mutilation, burning etc. Yep, the game is weird, it's about our lesbian partner who goes missing and we (the other partner) try to find her. I don't know where this will end but it's really interesting. I didn't know this game existed at all, I just saw it in a couple of best of 2018 lists and unless something extremely bad happens, it will probably make my top of 2018 list as well.