What game are you wasting time on?

[Abu Antar]

I haven't played a new Football Manager game in 7-8 years. Today, I spent 12.5 hours playing FM20.

As a Liverpool fan, it was obvious which team I would pick. So far, 1 game lost vs Wolves and the rest have been victories.

I plan to play with some lower league teams in the future, but it's fun to try out the big clubs.

Of the 12.5 hours, 3 hours were online with my cousin. He's coaching Real Madrid and I chose Barcelona. I'll kick his ass. With that said, I've sat for such a long period of time that my butt cheeks actually hurt.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

The New Camp is too full of thugs

10/10 best camp.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I'm trying out the games I bought in the Steam Summer Sale, and first up is Bendy and the Ink Machine. You control Henry, a former animator at the 1930s Joe Drew cartoon studio, who has been asked to visit the studio 30 years later. What follows is a first-person walking simulator with minimal gameplay (mostly collecting things) trying to be scary and horrific, but only succeeds in being Bioshock drenched in ink. Everything about it feels tired and done to death before by other games, and the 'extended gameplay' via tryhard-achievements doesn't help either. The game should not be dismissed outright though, as the original game (Episode 1) was put together in just one week, and the following four episodes in 18 months, which is a very short development time... but sadly doesn't leave much time for game balancing. The five chapters vary greatly in quality, with the final one probably being the best one. For $20 it's very hard to recommend this title to anyone, but it goes for low prices during sales.

A spin-off title is also available, Boris and the Dark Survival which stars one of the side characters from the Bendy game, just trying to survive in the depths of the studio. This results in the game being a top-down perspective rogue-like collectathon where each level consists of Boris walking around gathering the required supplies of the day, and possibly finding the secret items that will unlock new parts of his hideout, while dodging the nasty critters stalking each level. While the game quickly becomes very repetetive, it's kinda hard to fault it when it only costs a buck, and it's still in active development, so it may improve with time.

Overall I think these two games are best for parents looking to give their kids scary games that don't actually have any adult content. No one's gonna care if a inkblot gets massacred right before one's eyes... right?

 

[Citizen]

Playing through Rayman Redemption (with infinity lives like a pussy I am), it's fucking great. The phenomenal amount of work was put into this, the game is better than any official remaster could ever be.

Also dying constantly in risk of rain 2, very fun roguelike

 

[Yldr]

Spoiler

Pandemonium on PS1 (1996)

The rich levels and varied gameplay gimmicks are solid value already, but the visuals are even more impressive: the camera often pans back during high jumps and floating segments to reveal absolutely gorgeous backgrounds with a striking feeling of verticality and gigantism.

As a general rule I'm pretty numb to retardo / cartoon games so this was part of an attempt to force myself through Mario and other retro platformers. I went in with no expectations (only vaguely dabbing into it on PC decades ago) and was completely blindsided by how good it is.

 

[Daemongar]

Finally picked up Inside at the Steam sale - around $6. I liked Limbo, and the video looked intriguing. Both very stylish games. Finished it in 6 hours. The animation in this game is actually astounding in some parts, and all around it's fun to explore and play. However, it wasn't perfect - but wasn't bad for $1 an hour.

My thoughts with spoilers

Spoiler

Liked the game, graphics, and mechanics, but the story seems pointless? The game was a huge improvement over Limbo, but at least that game seemed to have some kind of arc. This game was all dressed up, but no place to go. The ending didn't make any sense. Huh - he's on the outside, so he runs inside to get outside again. Some guys are doing experiments with bodies or humans as slave labor. They create a big blob with arms and legs for no reason. You become the blob. Then escape and die. As opposed to Limbo - guy can't find sister - finds sister! The end!

I can see that the developers are in a rut of just creating artistically fancy with large amounts of interpretation, but you know - you start with the kid, play 95% of the game as the kid, then you turn into a blob and die. If I have one more game circumvent expectations I'm going to stop playing completely.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

The next Steam sale game of the summer (which I picked up at a whim from spotting it in the Steam Sales-thread) is Dustbowl, a post-apocalyptic adventure game with RPG elements, while doing its damndest to look and feel like a C-64 game.

Sounds like a winning combo, right? Except it takes the "look and feel like a C-64 game" too far, complete with bad UI and game design decisions one would only see due to the technological limitations of the platform in question. The UI isn't as bad as it sounds but it still finds ways to annoy players (you DO NOT make a combat mechanic requiring pixel perfection in a game with input latency) but the way the game handles 'random' encounters (the indoors ones) is terrible, to the point of breaking the game. Certain rooms are designated as Encounter Zones, and the game uses RNG to determine whether you meet a monster there or not. Most monsters are too tough at the start of the game, meaning running is the safer alternative... except that usually means two free attacks against the player by the monster... and the game always takes you to the last room you visited... which may also be another Encounter Zone... and despite being RNG-based, the game loves remembering what monster you were running away from in the first place. This can (and will) create "Damned if you do, damned if you don't"-scenarios where either choice will lead to death, regardless of choices. Something as simple as traversing six screens and back to plant a bomb becomes an absolute nightmare because half of those rooms are Encounter Zones... and that's one of the earliest quests of the game.

(Another fact that helped sour the experience for me was for my second play attempt the game refused to log any achievements. It may have something to do with me forcing the game into fullscreen mode, and that combined with the numerous typos showed this to be a lackluster effort overall.)

Despite it having an instant appeal to many Codexers and it literally oozes good atmosphere, I think that asking $9 for this is a rip-off, but the sale price of $1.80 is quite acceptable. There's a game in there somewhere, but it'll take knuckle-dragging stubborness to get much enjoyment from it.

 

[lightbane]

The UI isn't as bad as it sounds but it still finds ways to annoy players (you DO NOT make a combat mechanic requiring pixel perfection in a game with input latency)

I remember not bothering to aim at limbs or anything, as you pretty much did similar damage no matter what, and it's not worth testing your reflexes to achieve headshots.

There's a game in there somewhere, but it'll take knuckle-dragging stubborness to get much enjoyment from it.

It's tough to play, yep. Still, if you scavenge everything you can cheese it quite easily.
I remember getting an unique AK assault rifle hidden in a theme park of some sort that turned out to be the best weapon of the game due its sheer damage output, easily surpassing the plot-related guns you get later on.

The worst part IMO is the ending/s:

Spoiler

You get 3 choices that seemingly come out of nowhere, eahc of which has terrible implications for your character or your people. The ending also seems to ignore the game's intro, which stated aliens were responsible for this mess (and they still attack you in certain random encounters), and yet the ending seemingly forgets about that.

The devs made another game, Castle Agony, which is like a NES game, clunky as well. Sadly it is not very fun to play.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

lightbane I got the feeling early on that the ending would be anti-climactic, thank you for sparing me the pain of it.

 

[Daemongar]

Also picked up Salt and Sanctuary and Kerbal Space Program on sale.

Salt and Sanctuary - played for three hours. There is a good game in there, but I just really hate the combat system. It has a lot of nice touches, the style, the way you level up, and some of the death mechanics. The game allows you to pick from 8 different classes and create hybrids as you level. The eight classes are traditional D&D type classes.

However the combat really hurt the game so much I just don't think I can play much more. For example, you keep running into enemies that can fire ranged weapons that will always hit where you are standing where they fire. This I wouldn't mind if any of the classes besides archer had or could use a ranged weapon. Now, it wouldn't be horrific if they gave you something to hit those folks from a distance, even something cheap. But you have to hop all over the damn place and everything is melee. So a lot of time I have to run around waiting for an enemy to drop down before I can fight. I tried the spell casting classes - mage and cleric. Both have swords - the mage gets a spell they can cast in a few directions, while the cleric gets the ability to heal himself 3 times between rests. Overall, eh... I know some folks like this but I just can't do it. Not designed for mouse/keyboard and it shows.

Kerbal Space Program - well, I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Not ready to say anything. Looks interesting at least.

 

[lightbane]

lightbane I got the feeling early on that the ending would be anti-climactic, thank you for sparing me the pain of it.

The ending is weak indeed, although the final area is interesting, if clearly rushed. There's a hint you would go to the village of the "Mole People" to get a specific helmet, but I wasn't able to find out how. Instead, you have to take the helmet from a dead body hidden in a home in the middle of nowhere you might easily overlook.

 

[Ovg]

Verdun and Tanneberg
Like Red Orchestra just set in the previous war, those are somewhat realistic WW1 FPS multiplayer stuff.

The main attraction is the frontlines mode. In Verdun one team starts defending, the other attacking across trenches and no man's land and if sucessful, the roles switch, the defender counterattacks. Two ways to win. One is to slowly grind through the map, take trenches, hold trenches, push them back to the border and then win the attack. The other is a point counter thingy that counts down until stalemate, or if one team managed to push the other back a bit, victory.

Tannenberg has a different and faster feel to it. You start with one sector (your base), there are more to capture and hold. The winning move is to cut off the enemy base (or capture everything else) and then storm them. Of course as in, verdun, there's a point counter, so you can just stalemate or push the opposing team back and win.

Of course a stalemate is the lulziest ending, since nobody won and it makes you feel that western front feel.

It's brutal, fast (as in prepare to die in less than a few minutes) and has gas in it. Also artillery and a suprisingly wide range of guns.

 

[Krivol]

Verdun and Tanneberg
Like Red Orchestra just set in the previous war, those are somewhat realistic WW1 FPS multiplayer stuff.

The main attraction is the frontlines mode. In Verdun one team starts defending, the other attacking across trenches and no man's land and if sucessful, the roles switch, the defender counterattacks. Two ways to win. One is to slowly grind through the map, take trenches, hold trenches, push them back to the border and then win the attack. The other is a point counter thingy that counts down until stalemate, or if one team managed to push the other back a bit, victory.

Tannenberg has a different and faster feel to it. You start with one sector (your base), there are more to capture and hold. The winning move is to cut off the enemy base (or capture everything else) and then storm them. Of course as in, verdun, there's a point counter, so you can just stalemate or push the opposing team back and win.

Of course a stalemate is the lulziest ending, since nobody won and it makes you feel that western front feel.

It's brutal, fast (as in prepare to die in less than a few minutes) and has gas in it. Also artillery and a suprisingly wide range of guns.

I haven't play Verdun for few months, but I still have it installed. Now I see it was good decision.

 

[octavius]

I'm hitting a wall in Gothic.

I'm now lvl 10, Master in both One Handed Weapons and Bow, and have the Bloodfly Sting mace and a Field Bow. I can now kill Snappers and Lurkers from a distance, Wolves and Black Goblins in small packs (3-4), and single Skeletons, and I'm running out of places to explore.
AND I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND A SINGLE ARMOUR.
It's like the whole goal of the first part of the game is to be accepted into a faction so that you can buy better armour.

I've done quests for all of the camps, but I suspect doing the Test of Faith for Diego means the New Camp will never accept me, unless there is another item than the Item List I can steal.

In the Old Camp I've helped Whistler, I've stolen the Heal recipe from the alcemist in Swamp Camp (he was so immersed in his work that he didn't notice me lockpicking his chest), but I haven't returned Nek's Amulet to Sly, and I was beaten by the junior challengee in The Arena. I didn't have a chance (at lvl 6-7 or something) and now I can't challenge him again, and the other dude looks much tougher. According to Diego the master thief says I can still improve my skills. Do I need Pickpocketing or Master Open Locks?

In the Swamp Camp, I've brought Dusty and I convinced the guru at the entrance, but no luck with the other gurus so far. I need to cast a spell to impress one of them, but I have no magic skill, only some scrolls. Will casting Heal or Telekinesis from a scroll work? If so I need to level up and spend 5 skills points so that I get enough mana to actually cast the spell.
There's also the lazy hippie who doesn't want to work. I've tried both talking to him and kicking him, but neither works. I suspect his guru is the one that will supply me with a Sleep spell if I complete this quest and get him to like me.

EDIT: Turned out giving that amulet to Sly was what I needed to do to get Diego to sponsor me. I guess an alternative is to level and use/waste skill points on Pickpocketing.

 

[Mark Richard]

Took another look at Dead in Vinland. It's such a bizarre combination of a brutally hard survival management sim and light-hearted family sitcom, with early medieval characters using modern-day language. If you can tolerate the RNG and teenage banter, there's a wealth of shlocky writing to enjoy. The game includes several recruitable characters from varying backgrounds, including a samurai, pirate, and witch. In the base game their interactions are restricted to the core Norse family, but in the Norse Side Stories DLC they verbally spar with each other as well. Should've been a free update in my opinion.

Too bad the gameplay can't sustain Dead in Vinland beyond the early stages. Exploration, building, combat - its all implemented with the depth of a mobile game. Juggling the needs of ten characters gets old fast, and once you're no longer in danger of starving to death it becomes readily apparent how tedious the gameplay loop is.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I'm hitting a wall in Gothic.

I'm now lvl 10, Master in both One Handed Weapons and Bow, and have the Bloodfly Sting mace and a Field Bow. I can now kill Snappers and Lurkers from a distance, Wolves and Black Goblins in small packs (3-4), and single Skeletons, and I'm running out of places to explore.
AND I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND A SINGLE ARMOUR.
It's like the whole goal of the first part of the game is to be accepted into a faction so that you can buy better armour.

I've done quests for all of the camps, but I suspect doing the Test of Faith for Diego means the New Camp will never accept me, unless there is another item than the Item List I can steal.

In the Old Camp I've helped Whistler, I've stolen the Heal recipe from the alcemist in Swamp Camp (he was so immersed in his work that he didn't notice me lockpicking his chest), but I haven't returned Nek's Amulet to Sly, and I was beaten by the junior challengee in The Arena. I didn't have a chance (at lvl 6-7 or something) and now I can't challenge him again, and the other dude looks much tougher. According to Diego the master thief says I can still improve my skills. Do I need Pickpocketing or Master Open Locks?

In the Swamp Camp, I've brought Dusty and I convinced the guru at the entrance, but no luck with the other gurus so far. I need to cast a spell to impress one of them, but I have no magic skill, only some scrolls. Will casting Heal or Telekinesis from a scroll work? If so I need to level up and spend 5 skills points so that I get enough mana to actually cast the spell.
There's also the lazy hippie who doesn't want to work. I've tried both talking to him and kicking him, but neither works. I suspect his guru is the one that will supply me with a Sleep spell if I complete this quest and get him to like me.

EDIT: Turned out giving that amulet to Sly was what I needed to do to get Diego to sponsor me. I guess an alternative is to level and use/waster skill points on Pickpocketing.

I haven't played Gothic since 2004 or thereabouts, so my memory is hazy on this. There are other Codexers who can easily answer this, let's hope they see this and lend you a hand.

But there comes a point when you have no other choice to progress but join one of the camps. Yes, the first part of the game IS all about getting accepted into a faction. Your mileage may vary, but in the Old and New camps you can train with Mages and learn spells up to the sixth circle, but only up to the fourth circle in the Swamp Camp. IIRC that is somewhat offset by the Swamp Camp offering better training perks with two-handed weapons.

I think you're getting close to the part of the game where you have to start cheesing the game, and I have two suggestions on that end:

# There's a quest in the Swamp camp where you're supposed to gather some plant to the south or something similar, in the swamp infested with giant worm-like things. While the quest doesn't expect you to hunt them all down (they're tough cookies) you can take them down with a good bow and some luck. And where to get a good bow? Well...

# A HUGE early-game advantage can be achieved with some luck and meta knowledge. Down at the bottom of the Old Mine there's a spot where you can go beyond where the guards are and enter monster territory. Just beyond that point there's a room with skeletal remains, two minecrawlers and the Bone Bow. It requires 18 DEX and does ridiculous damage compared to what you've been seeing. There's even a ring of +5 DEX in that same room if you bother climbing the ladders. The only problem are those two minecrawlers, just lead them back to the guards and watch them get butchered. (SAVE first before attempting this, because you're screwed if any of the named characters present die to the minecrawlers.)

Lastly, I don't recall having much need for Pickpocketing in Gothic 1, but getting good at picking locks proved to be really useful.

 

[octavius]

Thanks for the info. A bit too detailed, though, so I only skimmed it.
I decided to wait with handing in that amulet (every point of AC helps at this point), and recalling that the mage in the New Camp sells spell scrolls I tried to impress a guru with a Light spell:

I guess it was the wrong discipline.

So I decided to explore some more, braving Bloodhounds. I killed one with a bow, and then I had to jump into the water to escape the next one, but he jumped after:

This opened up a new area to explore. The tower in the background leads to a cave full of skeletons, so that was a dead end.

But venturing into Orc land I found this baby:

Most exciting session of Gothic so far.

 

[Rahdulan]

AND I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND A SINGLE ARMOUR.
It's like the whole goal of the first part of the game is to be accepted into a faction so that you can buy better armour.

I think you can get some armor prior to joining any of the Camps, but it's not much. Novice's Loincloth for 500 Ore at the New Camp is probably the best out what's available. I can't exactly remember, but looking at your screenshots it seems like you already got Diggers Dress if that's the one you can get for free in the New Camp.

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

The Sinking City.

Not bad. But not good either. You have to be a hardcore lovecraft fan to endure the Fedex system.

 

[Thac0]

I'm hitting a wall in Gothic.

I'm now lvl 10, Master in both One Handed Weapons and Bow, and have the Bloodfly Sting mace and a Field Bow. I can now kill Snappers and Lurkers from a distance, Wolves and Black Goblins in small packs (3-4), and single Skeletons, and I'm running out of places to explore.
AND I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND A SINGLE ARMOUR.
It's like the whole goal of the first part of the game is to be accepted into a faction so that you can buy better armour.

I've done quests for all of the camps, but I suspect doing the Test of Faith for Diego means the New Camp will never accept me, unless there is another item than the Item List I can steal.

In the Old Camp I've helped Whistler, I've stolen the Heal recipe from the alcemist in Swamp Camp (he was so immersed in his work that he didn't notice me lockpicking his chest), but I haven't returned Nek's Amulet to Sly, and I was beaten by the junior challengee in The Arena. I didn't have a chance (at lvl 6-7 or something) and now I can't challenge him again, and the other dude looks much tougher. According to Diego the master thief says I can still improve my skills. Do I need Pickpocketing or Master Open Locks?

In the Swamp Camp, I've brought Dusty and I convinced the guru at the entrance, but no luck with the other gurus so far. I need to cast a spell to impress one of them, but I have no magic skill, only some scrolls. Will casting Heal or Telekinesis from a scroll work? If so I need to level up and spend 5 skills points so that I get enough mana to actually cast the spell.
There's also the lazy hippie who doesn't want to work. I've tried both talking to him and kicking him, but neither works. I suspect his guru is the one that will supply me with a Sleep spell if I complete this quest and get him to like me.

EDIT: Turned out giving that amulet to Sly was what I needed to do to get Diego to sponsor me. I guess an alternative is to level and use/waste skill points on Pickpocketing.

You can join the new camp without ever pickpocketing someone. I forgot how but the camps are not locked by your available skills.
And yes, the entire point of factions is that they give you better armor when you increase your reputation with them enough. Armor is a status symbol in Gothic.
There was some shitty armor you could buy or find before joining a camp, but the camp armor is the first major powerspike your character gets.

 

[octavius]

AND I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND A SINGLE ARMOUR.
It's like the whole goal of the first part of the game is to be accepted into a faction so that you can buy better armour.

I think you can get some armor prior to joining any of the Camps, but it's not much. Novice's Loincloth for 500 Ore at the New Camp is probably the best out what's available. I can't exactly remember, but looking at your screenshots it seems like you already got Diggers Dress if that's the one you can get for free in the New Camp.

Yes, I bought some Digger's Trousers, but in all my exploring I have yet to find a single armour, only Nek's Amulet that gives +5 AC.

 

[Darth Roxor]

in all my exploring I have yet to find a single armour

good luck with that

 

[Wunderbar]

AND I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND A SINGLE ARMOUR.
It's like the whole goal of the first part of the game is to be accepted into a faction so that you can buy better armour.

I think you can get some armor prior to joining any of the Camps, but it's not much. Novice's Loincloth for 500 Ore at the New Camp is probably the best out what's available. I can't exactly remember, but looking at your screenshots it seems like you already got Diggers Dress if that's the one you can get for free in the New Camp.

Yes, I bought some Digger's Trousers, but in all my exploring I have yet to find a single armour, only Nek's Amulet that gives +5 AC.

armor is a factions thing.

 

[Apostle Hand]

playing Oblivion

interesting game, lots of european style architecture

 

[pakoito]

I'm in scenario 8 of the first Kingdom Under Fire: Crusaders campaign and I'm not having fun. It's puzzly, which I kind of enjoy, and at the same time it's neither flexible nor enjoyable enough to lose 10+ minutes each retry. I may stop playing unless someone tells me the other campaigns are better.