What game are you wasting time on?

[Theodora]

Didn't feel very viable in all those tight hallways. Aka the horror that is a bethesda engine dungeon.

I think you're bashing Bethesda for the lulz here. New Vegas (and Fallout 3/4) combat is far from anything to write home about in the FPS style combat genre, but it's also not bad really. Not on PC anyway, I know nothing of the console versions. You get a cowboy rifle and click on the enemies and they die and it's fine. Inside dungeons you can use silenced pistols or shotguns and it's fine. Enemy health can be bloated but that's a typical RPG thing honestly. It's all fine... nothing great, nothing terrible. You play the game for other reasons the combat is just... there.

Nah, I truly loved Oblivion back in the day, I just really think the gunplay 'n all should've been better by then.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Personally I'm playing Legend of Grimrock III and it's pretty awesome. Didn't know that series before and it was suggested to me recently.

For a second, I thought I had stumbled into an alternate reality where Legend of Grimrock III actually existed.

 

[Stormcrowfleet]

Personally I'm playing Legend of Grimrock III and it's pretty awesome. Didn't know that series before and it was suggested to me recently.

For a second, I thought I had stumbled into an alternate reality where Legend of Grimrock III actually existed.

Yeah sorry I meant II.

 

[HansDampf]

Finished Teh Messenger. Of course, there were a few surprises ... well, mainly just one.

Spoiler

3 hours in, the game goes from linear Ninja Gaiden to open Metroid. It's kinda obvious from the way the levels are designed. The added gameplay twist is that you can seamlessly switch between two different time periods, represented by 8-bit and 16-bit style graphics and slightly different room layouts. But you can't switch manually. You have to go through portals, which are usually part of some light environmental "puzzle" design. Sometimes they also find some clever use in bossfights.

I'd say, this elevates the game from 'nice/10' to 'nice.5/10'. My biggest complaints are about the controls.
1) It's annoying that the Ninja automatically sticks to walls (for wall-climbing and jumping). I don't always want to do that, and then it ruins crucial timing. Just simple walls can turn into the most annoying obstacles.
2) Attacking downwards. I'll have to explain a bit. You can replenish your jump mid-air by hitting something with your sword. The entire game is built around this mechanic. Normally you'll do a simple forward attack. But you can also glide by pressing and holding the jump button again mid-air. And when you attack while gliding you'll swing your sword downwards instead of forward. Now what could possibly go wrong with this configuration? After you hit your target you'll want to jump again, maybe glide, then attack, jump, attack, and so on. But pressing the jump button just 1 frame before the attack button will cause you to attack downwards and miss your target. That's before the Ninja even begins his gliding animation. I hate this so much!
These 2 issues alone must have been the cause for two thirds of my deaths.

 

[cosmicray]

Restarted Half-Life on medium - at least I manage not to quicksave after every encounter. And holy shit, I forgot how awesome this game is. I don't even remember having so much fun with it. Lurking in vents was always my favorite part of gameplay in Duke Nukem 3d. Half-Life is on par, if not better, in that regard. Actually, I think Half-Life has a lot of level design elements similar to Duke. Vents, water levels, conveyor belts, platforming parts. They're different games, but in those aspects HL did remind me of DN3D.

 

[FreshCorpse]

Restarted Half-Life on medium - at least I manage not to quicksave after every encounter. And holy shit, I forgot how awesome this game is. I don't even remember having so much fun with it. Lurking in vents was always my favorite part of gameplay in Duke Nukem 3d. Half-Life is on par, if not better, in that regard. Actually, I think Half-Life has a lot of level design elements similar to Duke. Vents, water levels, conveyor belts, platforming parts. They're different games, but in those aspects HL did remind me of DN3D.

I think my reflection on Half-Life is that the single player levels are a bit variable. The intro is great initially but then goes on far too long, then some great levels once you open the "resonance cascade" or whatever but once you tackled the three tentacle things it gets a bit boring for a while until it picks up for the peak of Surface Tension which I remember as being the best part of the game. Then you get stuck in Xen shite and it ends. Think I've only gotten through Xen one time.

 

[Krivol]

Bard's Tale Trilogy is fucking great!

 

[PulsatingBrain]

Just killed the Gonarch in Black Mesa. That's a pretty cool fight
Still have not broken 3 days in Neo Scavenger
In Bannerlord I'm at that weird stage where I'm stronger and better regarded than a mercenary, but also don't really have the respect to get handed lands, or to take Cities or Castles by myself. I guess I'll just be making friends for a while
Also reinstalled Project Zomboid. I haven't played it in 3-4 years. Someone was posting screenshots from it where they were driving a car. I had no idea that was even a feature so I'm guessing it has changed a lot

 

[Squid]

Yeah I want to get DUSK too but I gotta finish Quake II now.

That's probably a waste of your time unless you're really having fun there.

Playing Quake II or Dusk?

I enjoyed Quake I. I hear II seems to be a different game or something but still good. Care to elaborate for me?

 

[Wunderbar]

Yeah I want to get DUSK too but I gotta finish Quake II now.

That's probably a waste of your time unless you're really having fun there.

Playing Quake II or Dusk?

I enjoyed Quake I. I hear II seems to be a different game or something but still good. Care to elaborate for me?

quake 2 isn't really a bad game, it's just kinda bland, boring, greyish and too easy even on harder difficulties.
You start in some grey military base, then you go to some grey military installation, then some grey military warehouse, etc. It's absolutely unmemorable.
Also the movement feels weird and floaty.

 

[DraQ]

Yeah I want to get DUSK too but I gotta finish Quake II now.

That's probably a waste of your time unless you're really having fun there.

Playing Quake II or Dusk?

I enjoyed Quake I. I hear II seems to be a different game or something but still good. Care to elaborate for me?

quake 2 isn't really a bad game, it's just kinda bland, boring, greyish and too easy even on harder difficulties.
You start in some grey military base, then you go to some grey military installation, then some grey military warehouse, etc. It's absolutely unmemorable.
Also the movement feels weird and floaty.

This mostly.

There is a lot of good elements in Q2, but the overall result is massively underwhelming.

 

[Ivan]

Underrail - finally finishing this beast. Forgot how much fun guerrilla tactics is in this game. Also forgot how tedious backtracking between maps is.

 

[mediocrepoet]

My original plan was to play PoE to finally actually play and finish the White March content and then move on to Deadfire. But once again, the soul crushing wall of boredom set in and has defeated me before I get anywhere near WM, making this aborted attempt #5 or so.

So, I've moved on to retracing the steps of the decline of Bioware, starting with DA:O and ME and ending with DA:I and ME:A. The goal here is to see if I can actually manage to play through DA:I and ME:A since I've never passed the first hour or so of either game before uninstalling in disgust. I just figured I'd first remind myself that I actually liked these game series at one point.

 

[DalekFlay]

My original plan was to play PoE to finally actually play and finish the White March content and then move on to Deadfire. But once again, the soul crushing wall of boredom set in and has defeated me before I get anywhere near WM, making this aborted attempt #5 or so.

I keep putting PoE2 off thinking I'll go back and play White March first, since everyone says it's good. Who knows if either will happen.

 

[JDR13]

My original plan was to play PoE to finally actually play and finish the White March content and then move on to Deadfire. But once again, the soul crushing wall of boredom set in and has defeated me before I get anywhere near WM, making this aborted attempt #5 or so.

So, I've moved on to retracing the steps of the decline of Bioware, starting with DA:O and ME and ending with DA:I and ME:A. The goal here is to see if I can actually manage to play through DA:I and ME:A since I've never passed the first hour or so of either game before uninstalling in disgust. I just figured I'd first remind myself that I actually liked these game series at one point.

You couldn't play through PoE, but you're going to play through the DA and ME trilogies?

 

[mediocrepoet]

My original plan was to play PoE to finally actually play and finish the White March content and then move on to Deadfire. But once again, the soul crushing wall of boredom set in and has defeated me before I get anywhere near WM, making this aborted attempt #5 or so.

So, I've moved on to retracing the steps of the decline of Bioware, starting with DA:O and ME and ending with DA:I and ME:A. The goal here is to see if I can actually manage to play through DA:I and ME:A since I've never passed the first hour or so of either game before uninstalling in disgust. I just figured I'd first remind myself that I actually liked these game series at one point.

You couldn't play through PoE, but you're going to play through the DA and ME trilogies?

Congrats, you're able to read. Gold star, pal.

Besides, I've beaten PoE several times, just not since WM has released. It was boring back then too.

 

[mediocrepoet]

My original plan was to play PoE to finally actually play and finish the White March content and then move on to Deadfire. But once again, the soul crushing wall of boredom set in and has defeated me before I get anywhere near WM, making this aborted attempt #5 or so.

I keep putting PoE2 off thinking I'll go back and play White March first, since everyone says it's good. Who knows if either will happen.

Seriously. I backed Deadfire and still haven't played it passed the opening sequences because I keep wanting to do WM first, but I find the first game's combat to be seriously dull. Even though that's supposed to be what WM is better for, I just can't get there.

 

[JDR13]

My original plan was to play PoE to finally actually play and finish the White March content and then move on to Deadfire. But once again, the soul crushing wall of boredom set in and has defeated me before I get anywhere near WM, making this aborted attempt #5 or so.

So, I've moved on to retracing the steps of the decline of Bioware, starting with DA:O and ME and ending with DA:I and ME:A. The goal here is to see if I can actually manage to play through DA:I and ME:A since I've never passed the first hour or so of either game before uninstalling in disgust. I just figured I'd first remind myself that I actually liked these game series at one point.

You couldn't play through PoE, but you're going to play through the DA and ME trilogies?

Congrats, you're able to read. Gold star, pal.

Besides, I've beaten PoE several times, just not since WM has released. It was boring back then too.

Sorry, I didn't realize I was going to unleash a torrent of butthurt there.

I was just taking aim at how boring the majority of DA and ME is.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Sorry, I didn't realize I was going to unleash a torrent of butthurt there.

I was just taking aim at how boring the majority of DA and ME is.

No butthurt, I was just congratulating you on your achievement.

Anyway, I don't actually disagree re: DA and ME (although I have a soft spot for both ME1 and DA:O, but basically dislike the rest of both series - hence retracing Bioware's decline). I just actually find the PoE core to be so dull in gameplay that I'm having a really hard time getting far enough into it again to actually play WM1&2, despite trying several times. It's also literally the only thing that's stopped me from really trying Deadfire. I guess I could reload an old character, but I really hate doing that in principle. Meh.

 

[JDR13]

So then why go back to games that you already know are mediocre? Just curious. Why not try something you haven't played yet instead?

 

[JDR13]

Seems like Crusty_Cuckleford is a big NuBioware fan.

 

[mediocrepoet]

So then why go back to games that you already know are mediocre? Just curious. Why not try something you haven't played yet instead?

That's a fair question. I'll spoiler this since I assume most people don't care. Feel free to PM me if you like.

Spoiler

The short version is I'm trying to clear through some of my backlog in a very roundabout way. My original plan was to finally play Deadfire, but PoE bored me again which sucked, but it might also be that I just spent a ridiculous amount of time (several hundred hours) on Pathfinder Kingmaker. So I figured I'd play a shooter as a palate cleanser. This led to me figuring I'd clear Andromeda from my backlog... but I had also been reading stuff that gave me a bunch of nostalgia goggles for both DA:O and ME1, so I figured I'd just run ME trilogy and then Andromeda... and then probably do the same for Dragon Age.

Ironically, I have tried some of both DA: Inquisition and ME: Andromeda. DA: I struck me as an abomination that I don't understand how anyone enjoyed - so I want to eventually play it or at least enough of it that I can sort of figure it out / remove from my backlog forever. ME: Andromeda seemed like it got patched into something passable when I tried it last, so I'll probably actually finish this one and not mind because I'm not much of a storyfag.

Final thoughts: I hope to not restart PoE again because it really has been something like 5+ restarts just to try and experience the White March content. But if I do, I'll probably run it on a lower difficulty just cuz. It just strikes me as being against the purpose, because I've always played it on Path of the Damned, so I'd like to experience the WM content like that and it won't let you change difficulty mid-run. But it makes the main game more tedious than it might be and I find some of Sawyer's system design decisions in PoE to be retarded which doesn't help any.

 

[JDR13]

So then why go back to games that you already know are mediocre? Just curious. Why not try something you haven't played yet instead?

That's a fair question. I'll spoiler this since I assume most people don't care. Feel free to PM me if you like.

Spoiler

The short version is I'm trying to clear through some of my backlog in a very roundabout way. My original plan was to finally play Deadfire, but PoE bored me again which sucked, but it might also be that I just spent a ridiculous amount of time (several hundred hours) on Pathfinder Kingmaker. So I figured I'd play a shooter as a palate cleanser. This led to me figuring I'd clear Andromeda from my backlog... but I had also been reading stuff that gave me a bunch of nostalgia goggles for both DA:O and ME1, so I figured I'd just run ME trilogy and then Andromeda... and then probably do the same for Dragon Age.

Ironically, I have tried some of both DA: Inquisition and ME: Andromeda. DA: I struck me as an abomination that I don't understand how anyone enjoyed - so I want to eventually play it or at least enough of it that I can sort of figure it out / remove from my backlog forever. ME: Andromeda seemed like it got patched into something passable when I tried it last, so I'll probably actually finish this one and not mind because I'm not much of a storyfag.

Final thoughts: I hope to not restart PoE again because it really has been something like 5+ restarts just to try and experience the White March content. But if I do, I'll probably run it on a lower difficulty just cuz. It just strikes me as being against the purpose, because I've always played it on Path of the Damned, so I'd like to experience the WM content like that and it won't let you change difficulty mid-run. But it makes the main game more tedious than it might be and I find some of Sawyer's system design decisions in PoE to be retarded which doesn't help any.

Fwiw, I've played through all the ME games and didn't think ME:A was completely terrible. The combat is smoother and more enjoyable than the older titles imo, but the game is way too bloated with repetitive and generic content. I thought it was slightly better than ME2 and ME3 at least, but that's not saying much. I enjoyed ME1 the most, but I tried to replay it after playing ME:A and it felt clunky as hell and badly dated. I think the series as a whole is overrated, and I don't see myself ever going back to it.

As for DA, I consider DA:O a decent game, but that's where it ends. I couldn't even finish the first chapter of DA2, and the trial version of DA:I didn't inspire me to play the full game. I did end up purchasing the GOTY edition for dirt cheap awhile back, so I might give it another shot one day.

 

[Abu Antar]

In Syberia, I've been solving issues in Barrockstadt. Gotta get that train rolling again. There are some nice looking backgrounds in this game, but it feels rather heavy on the backtracking. Compared to Broken Sword 2, which felt like it moved on to new locations all the time. The games have very different pacing.

I got the mod manager working properly in Pathfinder: Kingmaker. It kept crashing the game. I got a tip to run the game in full borderless windowed mode. I don't know why, but it helped. Been enjoying turn-based mode. Need to find who pointed out and thank them in the official thread. I'm running a monk, which might or might not get two kukris instead of unarmed combat. I got the fangberries for Bokken. While I beat the spider swarms, my first encounter with them was very humbling. Time to go after that pesky Tartuccio fellow next.

Other than those, I'm still playing Tales of Symphonia, Dragon Quest XI and Bravely Second.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Fwiw, I've played through all the ME games and didn't think ME:A was completely terrible. The combat is smoother and more enjoyable than the older titles imo, but the game is way too bloated with repetitive and generic content. I thought it was slightly better than ME2 and ME3 at least, but that's not saying much. I enjoyed ME1 the most, but I tried to replay it after playing ME:A and it felt clunky as hell and badly dated. I think the series as a whole is overrated, and I don't see myself ever going back to it.

As for DA, I consider DA:O a decent game, but that's where it ends. I couldn't even finish the first chapter of DA2, and the trial version of DA:I didn't inspire me to play the full game. I did end up purchasing the GOTY edition for dirt cheap awhile back, so I might give it another shot one day.

DA2 and ME2 were the one-two punch that made me stop buying Bioware games at full price. DA:I and ME:A made me regret continuing to buy them at all. I actually kinda liked ME3 since it was at least an ok shooter, while ME2 sucked on pretty much every level.