What game are you wasting time on?

[octavius]

I thought you could always buy mana pots. They are standard items at the alchemist/magic item dude back in the cities.

Apparantly it was introduced in the 1.10 patch.

The Bowazon had always been about hit and run. That was the problem with a solo archer. Always had been. You always needed the pets to tank for you.

True. But I'm not playing a pure Bowazon. On Normal I found it easier to tank the bosses before Diablo, but I haven't been able to find a better spear weapon to socket than a 4 socket Pike. I used a javelin + shield with resistances against Nightmare Diablo.
Getting the Valkyrie also changes things.

 

[Cael]

I thought you could always buy mana pots. They are standard items at the alchemist/magic item dude back in the cities.

Apparantly it was introduced in the 1.10 patch.

The Bowazon had always been about hit and run. That was the problem with a solo archer. Always had been. You always needed the pets to tank for you.

True. But I'm not playing a pure Bowazon. On Normal I found it easier to tank the bosses before Diablo, but I haven't been able to find a better spear weapon to socket than a 4 socket Pike. I used a javelin + shield with resistances against Nightmare Diablo.
Getting the Valkyrie also changes things.

Ugh. I haven't played that game for far too long. I am currently doing a nostalgia run of Master of Magic. Probably going to do a fame run with 6 heroes with the Legendary or Legendary* skills. Either that or wizard supreme with 6 caster heroes adding to his casting skill.

 

[octavius]

I am currently doing a nostalgia run of Master of Magic.

That's one game I regret never playing back in the days.
I love the Age of Wonders games which are inspired by MoM, but when I tried MoM some years ago I found myself wanting to play AoW instead.

 

[Achiman]

I was playing Catherine on PC but rage quit it at the sixth day. once they started to introduce puzzles where I was fighting the camera and giant ants, that was enough.

Other games I've got going are
Blasphemous - Spanish kickstarted hollow knight/salt and sanctuary/darksouls 2d rip off. (has insta-kill spikes) which is just fucked in a game that involves backtracking to collect your 'souls'
Same deal with Death's gambit, bought this ages ago, probably a bit more player friendly.
Last weekend I smashed out Spec-ops the line in one sitting. It's a popamole cover shooter, but was worth playing for the story imo.

 

[Ovplain]

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.

Spoiler

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.)

Fifth 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.')

Sixth bunch:
Far Cry 4 (Just had to wrap it up, finished it in a couple hours. Was probably fun enough the first time I played it.)
Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition (Finished the original campaign way back when, never got around to going through the EE. Until now. Great game, enjoyable game, but can't imagine I'll ever go back again.)
Assassin's Creed Origins (Didn't expect to enjoy this one much. But I did! Not as much as Odyssey, but still. Played it for a solid week, finished it even. Ptolemaic Egypt looked great.)
Cities: Skylines (Liked it, but ultimately just got a city to 75000 people and quit, considered the game 'finished' at that point. F'ing traffic!)
Mass Effect: Andromeda (Liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Felt kinda bad even that there does not seem to be a new one on the horizon. Would love to visit Andromeda some more. Will happen eventually, I'm sure!)
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (Finished an old save from about 2/3 through the game. Always nice to go back to Baldur's Gate.)
Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear (Playing this right now and hey! I'm enjoying myself well enough. Not digging through deeply into it, but as it is, it's just more 'Baldur's Gate' to me. Looks good too!)

Latest Bunch:
Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition (Been forever since I last played it, at least a decade. Felt great going back.)
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (Same thing as with Planescape really. You really can go home again!)
Assassin's Creed Odyssey - New Game Plus + DLC (This goddamn thing. Played more than 200 hours now all together and I just couldn't get enough of it! I hope it's really over now. )
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Liked the previous two nü-tomb raiders. More of the same here, fun, exciting, liked the tombs. Looked great on my ultra-wide too!)
Prey (Shouldn't have put this off for this long. Had a blast. Intentionally left a fistful of side stuff unifinished so I can eventually go back for NG+.)
Abzû (Looked pretty on ultrawide! Music was nice. Did get a little tired of it about an hour in but it did draw me back in towards the end.)

 

[Cael]

I am currently doing a nostalgia run of Master of Magic.

That's one game I regret never playing back in the days.
I love the Age of Wonders games which are inspired by MoM, but when I tried MoM some years ago I found myself wanting to play AoW instead.

I played Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic, and made a few campaigns for it as well. The problem with that game is that you max out at 20 stat including all bonuses from items. That basically meant that you will eventually end up with heroes that are carbon copies of each other, regardless of where you started at. And given how combat there works, it basically means that even your strongest heroes will die to middling units if they get unlucky. AoW:SM has the most brutal RNG I have ever seen in any game.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I'll 100% phantom pain yet, dammit.
Other than that checking out Savage: Shard of Gosen.
Fuck, it's amazing how a single dude can make a game that is so perfectly captures the feel of a Robert E Howard work, and Funcom gives us Conan Exiles instead.
Watch this game men.

 

[ebPD8PePfC]

Telling Lies - This is Her Story 2, which means it's a bunch of videos you watch by typing keywords into a box, trying to piece together a complete narrative. The first one felt like a semi puzzle where you had to figure out what happened, while this one is more of a random story with tragic bits. The game suffers from the same problems that plague most sequels - it offers little new in terms of mechanics, and instead opts for more - more videos, more story, better acting, better gui, better budget. But at the end of the day it doesn't innovate enough, or change enough about the formula to surpass the first game, which at the very least was innovative. It's not a bad game, but there's nothing exceptional about it that's worth talking about.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Started another playthrough of Shadow Warrior to wash off the bad taste Ion Fury left in my mouth.

I swear, I crack up each time I hear "ancient Chinese secret".

 

[Abu Antar]

Today, I completed The Witness. Took me 20 something hours to get all lasers and reach the ending. There's apparently more, but I'm satisfied with what I accomplished and ready to move on.

Other than that, I played three demos:
Solasta: Crown of the Magister, D&D turn-based rpg with a party of four characters, where vertical exploration/combat is a big part. It was fun enough for me to back this with €22 from my war (pizza) funds.
Urtuk: The Desolation, hex based tactical rpg. Was tougher than I expected. Got my ass beat but slowly learned what I was doing wrong.
Realm of the Tempest. First person rpg with turn-based combat and random encounters. I think this is actually the game in progress, more than a demo. It has cool atmosphere and decent combat, but in its current state, encounter rate is way too high. It also has no controller support.

 

[flyingjohn]

Playing mario rpgs.

I really am annoyed that they use gimmicks for basic moves.It gets tiresome really fast.But these games have a lot of charm to them.Plus playing as bowser is nice.

If you are looking for a rpg based on mario then forget about it.(the only exception being thousand year door and that is a big maybe)
If you are looking for a mario game with stats and charming characters and stories,then they work.

Paper mario series recs:
Thousand year door is the only one worth it.

Mario and luigi series:
Bowser inside story 3ds if you have the original 3ds since emulation has issues .
Superstar saga 3ds remake.

Everything else is just bad.

 

[the_shadow]

Currently playing through Cold Dreams (1995). It's an obscure puzzle-platformer that I played when it first came out, but could only get past the first level or two because it was too complex for my child brain.

It's a gorgeous looking game as far as platformers go. The graphics aren't that good for 1995, but the art style is quite good. It's got an ancient Egyptian theme (even though the game is technically set 'in space') with a lot of blue. The music really creates an eerie atmosphere, and in some places reminds me of the music from Ultima 8: Pagan.

The gameplay itself is a bit tricky, even a bit unfair at times. You scarcely ever have enough ammo to deal with the enemies, and while it makes sense to avoid them to conserve, you sometimes need to kill some generic enemy to get a quest item (key) to progress. Also, when you get a key, you might race to the exit to use it, only to find that there is a second locked door barring the exit. What you were actually meant to do was use the key earlier in the level to access an area with two keys, but now it's too late. So you have to commit suicide in game. And yes, there is a 'Suicide' button in the game (that's what they call it!). No way they could get away with that today.

Some levels also give you a little robot which you can control to collect quest items and unlock barriers. But if that robot takes one hit, it's destroyed, and you can't progress any further in the level. There aren't multiple paths or methods to reach the exit, just one pre-determined formula.

Even though I'm whinging a bit about some of the tricky components, it's pretty good for a platformer once you know to never save after using a key, and to reload after losing your robot. It's also got heaps of secret areas, which is a plus in my book.

 

[Curratum]

I bought the Contra Anniversary Collection over the weekend, thinking I will ace the first two games like I could as a kid. I ran out of continues on Snow Field.

I don't even want to get into how horribly difficult the SNES and MD / Genesis games are...

 

[Zibniyat]

Finished Ori and the Blind Forest. Twice in a row. First time I needed 12 h to finish it, with about 80% of its content explored/obtained. The second time it took me 9 h, and I played through 99% of the content. Both times I played on hard difficulty, the only more difficult option being "hardcore" with only 1 life available for the whole play-through , so of course I have no intention of even trying it.

It is truly a remarkably beautiful game, a true pleasure to play. Even sometimes when it's infuriatingly difficult it still never amounts to lasting frustration and a desire to "rage quit"; I simply exit the game, and do something else, returning later to continue. The soundtrack is beautiful too, very fitting to the game, and I even obtained it so I can listen to it outside of the game, for example when I'm lifting weights in the gym. :D

The positives of this "little" game are numerous. Even the plot has unexpected nuance; the antagonist is not some ancient and "really really bad" evil as many games stupidly try to portray them as, despite at first seemingly looking like one, there is reason and I will even dare say to a degree justifiable reason for why the antagonist became and acts as one, but it is revealed gradually. Being aware of how cliched this may sound, but the plot, "good guy" and the antagonist are portrayed with a sense of proportion, there is no "absolute" good or evil here, and somehow it all works wonderfully to create a touching and moving story. Even if the story really is secondary to my enjoyment here, primary being the sheer artistic beauty - both visual and aural.

The negatives are few, but of course they exist as in every piece of anything in this world. One major is the often times too linear and "scripted" sequences, I say "scripted" because the player has full control over the character and its actions, and yet the actions themselves are limited in the sense that only a certain set of actions will yield success, everything else leading to failure (or death), even when (at least seemingly) there was ample space for the developers to try alternative solutions to certain sequences, not necessarily easier, just different. This means that the game relies on your memorization of the proper sequence of actions, perfectly timed and executed, instead of trying to engage you creatively in solving said sequences or other problems. A shame, there was a potential for much more there.

However, despite the negatives, the positives are so enormous and so much outweigh them that I literally started a new game a day after I already finished it. That is a very rare reaction from me a game has elicited. So on a scale of 1 to 10 of enjoyment and quality, I will give this game 10. It is not perfect of course, but giving it less than 10 would be a disservice and injustice.

~~~

The sequel titled Ori and the Will of the Wisps will apparently be Windows 10 exclusive And I hate that OS.

 

[Zibniyat]

And I'm already checking the ways to purchase Windows 10, and what else I need to get the sequel.

 

[eXalted]

Heroes III adventures in fan-scenarios thanks to octavius continue.

Sentinel Recognition - Managed to beat it on the 3rd try. This time the enemy hero managed to come near my castle. Unfortunately for him, in front of the gates is an event that killed him. Pretty fun story and interesting concept with the wives of both brothers locked in the middle of the map.

Amaranth Soul Shift - This was a pretty nice map. The event descriptions really gave a good flavor to the whole adventure. Kinda didn't like the endless spawn of enemies but it wasn't that bad.

Corruption - No way I am able to beat this map. On the 3rd month, a hero named Avatar starts strolling around the map evaporating everything (thanks to his 100 titans) and I just can't collect an army big enough to escape through that portal and take the final castle.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Still playing MGS:TPP. Whew, catching Quiet was a bitch but worth it. Now that's what I like in a woman - absolutely beautiful, fast, deadly and mute. I don't think she's human though and you get the feeling that you'd be hitting that and she'd turn into the bathtub girl from The Shining or the yōkai from The Terror: Infamy mid-coitus. Just about to hit Africa and people say it's all downhill from here (not unlike Pathfinder Kingmaker - is this a trend with new games? Great first-half/two-thirds, then the game might just as well be over and done with) but I'm still having fun. That giant Metal Gear thingie is the scariest fucking mech ever... real tension in trying to evade it so your chopper can land and you can get the fuck out of there.

 

[octavius]

Trying out the Assassin class in Diablo 2.
Of the classes I've tried (all but Druid) she seems like the best boss killer so far, and my only character that kills bosses in one hit. Having already found three Rare Katars at lvl 5 helps.

 

[Cael]

Trying out the Assassin class in Diablo 2.
Of the classes I've tried (all but Druid) she seems like the best boss killer so far, and my only character that kills bosses in one hit. Having already found three Rare Katars at lvl 5 helps.

She is quite powerful when you get her charged up and ready to rock. However, there are times when charging up or keeping charge can be difficult.

 

[BlackGoat]

Finished off The Last Crusade (eehh, was not that into it) and now readying myself for Loom, can't wait to get to the middle period LucasArts games (having only played Secret of Monkey Island). I'm slowly finishing up Blasphemous which was initially enjoyable (due to aesthetic and inherent pleasure of playing a new metroidvania) but has quickly become rather tiresome as I tediously crisscross the map completing obscure quests so that I can 100 percent this thing and then forget about it. I feel like it was a mistake to buy and play this so soon instead of waiting for patches (tweaks to movement and platforming, quality of life shit like more teleporters). Also finishing up Alone in the Dark (1992) which is pretty legit and makes me want to deep dive into Survival Horror (Resident Evil, Silent Hill, etc) since I've played approximately none of them, but what's up with this cave bullshit at the end with all the monsters and platforming?

 

[Gregz]

WoW Classic

 

[Sranchammer]

Been designing my front yard using Sketchup.

Does that count?

 

[Modron]

Been designing my front yard using Sketchup.

Does that count?

Post your designs.

 

[Valky]

And I'm already checking the ways to purchase Windows 10, and what else I need to get the sequel.

Any chance pirates would make it work in windows 7?
Otherwise, just drop it and don't look back, don't give any ground to microshit and wangblows 10 downgrading.

 

[BlackGoat]

Also been playing a little Red Baron recently. And I dicked around a bit with Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe and F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter. Digging the hell out of old flight sims, tho I've been playing with an xbox controller as I haven't quite justified a joystick purchase to myself yet (but I'm edging closer). Gonna jump into TIE Fighter at some point soon