What game are you wasting time on?

[DalekFlay]

Replaying Mafia 2. Originally it was to try the "Definitive Edition" but that version is really buggy. It does mostly look better outside of the weird eyes and a few minor quibbles, but there's just too much shit wrong with it including broken animations, missing grass, flashing textures and other little things. Also massive framerate drops in heavy physx areas, even with a 2070. So after comparing for a while I stuck with the original version and am now halfway through or so. It's such a weird game, not just for being a linear game in an open world, but also for forcing you to do mundane things so you feel like you're "living the life." I think this works well sometimes, like handing out cigarettes for a while before a rival gang comes to hassle you, but when you're just driving slowly from place to place multiple times a mission it can get pretty fucking tedious. Still, it has a style and mood that I dig and a once a decade replay sounds about right.

Also played the first two levels of Halo 3 and so far it's much better than 2, especially the first level which felt like a nice return to form.

 

[cosmicray]

Finished Talos Principle and Road to Gehenna DLC and I enjoyed it. The main game has quite easy puzzles and a interesting story while the DLC is quite a bit more difficult and is much weaker in the storytelling department. Its a easy recommendation for a puzzle fans, if you liked games like Portal you will love this.

Yep, Gehenna is way harder. I think I quit it on some puzzle I couldn't solve despite acquiring every block and star in the main game.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Portal 2. Never played 1. Fun stuff. Puzzles seem just the right difficulty for me. Always loved the Source engine and it accommodates the physics here very well. Nice to take a break from Unity-based shit.

 

[jackofshadows]

Finally get my hands on ToEE (imagine being hopeless braindead Troika fanboy and didn't play it) and quickly stumbled on some nasty bug:

Spoiler

Google says install co8 but I don't wanna install any mods, at least yet. Is there any known work-around maybe?

 

[Jvegi]

Is there any known work-around maybe?

Yes. Installing mods. Temple+.

Don't be dumb.

Spoiler

The game needs all the help it can get

 

[jackofshadows]

But isn't that mod adds bunch of other unnesessary stuff? I'm fine with small pool of races, classes "content" in general, it's just this kind of bug so early a bit too much.

 

[markec]

Finished Talos Principle and Road to Gehenna DLC and I enjoyed it. The main game has quite easy puzzles and a interesting story while the DLC is quite a bit more difficult and is much weaker in the storytelling department. Its a easy recommendation for a puzzle fans, if you liked games like Portal you will love this.

Yep, Gehenna is way harder. I think I quit it on some puzzle I couldn't solve despite acquiring every block and star in the main game.

I didnt have a lot of problems with Gehenna until I got to star level puzzles. I solved all of them quickly, but on last one "Small Space Big Solution" I got stuck. I spent like an hour trying to solve it before getting angry and went to find a hint online. I would have probably solved it myself If I spent some more time with it but I just wanted to finish the game and move on.

 

[Jvegi]

Temple+ did not run for me, but I think you can install it without Co8. Co8 has an option without new content. There is still a bit of new content added though. Not much.

The thing that matters is that the game is a fucking annoying mess. The UI, although commendable, will make you suffer, either through bugs or just its shortcomings. Temple+, to my knowladge, fixes all major bugs, and adds MUCH needed functionality.

But play vanilla if you like. Just be prepared to google bug fixes a lot.

 

[jackofshadows]

Alright,

I think I'll try more but if this will come up again and again, then I'll give up. I mean, I'm not good at these games and need the damn loot.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Finally get my hands on ToEE (imagine being hopeless braindead Troika fanboy and didn't play it) and quickly stumbled on some nasty bug:

Spoiler

Google says install co8 but I don't wanna install any mods, at least yet. Is there any known work-around maybe?

Install Temple+, you can disable most non-bug fixes on the launcher.

co8 isn't needed, it's the one that adds extra content.

 

[jackofshadows]

Thanks, I have installed Temple + and ready to go after I fucked up with Arcanum start: took Idiot Savant to spice things up a bit with an eye to technology as well and after reaching Tarant and squeezing money for explosives manual saw that it gives me 1 (one) expertise point.

Turns out,

Characters with the Idiot Savant background will gain 1 point of expertise per manual, regardless of their Intelligence. This may be a bug, as the Idiot Savant background implies that the character should have no problem handling logical and abstract concepts, only social matters. Even characters with 4 or less Intelligence (but without that specific background) will still gain the expected level of expertise from a manual, e.g. 3 points if their IN is 3.

 

[maximusriley]

Playing Civilization 4 scenarios on Diety. Nothing but frustration and aggravation for the most part, but I still keep clicking that End Turn button...

 

[Kabas]

Stronghold HD
One of those childhood games that i kinda missed. That mission where you need to kill everyone in pig castle under a time limit made me realise just how much i hate the pathfinding in this one. Other than it's a pretty good game, looks beatiful and it didn't take long for the adviser quotes to burn into my brain.

Rune classic
This one i did try a bit during my childhood but very barely. Didn't even leave the starting village or something? Can't remember.
So, now i am playing it properly. A lot of "I want to avoid using the rune powers and have fun because of how rare they're and i can beat this encounter without them anyway". And a lot of lizard eating.

I hope i am not missing out on anything because i choose to play the classic version instead of gold one. I heard that the some levels were simplified a bit compared to the old version. Intro logo was definitely way cooler back than, this i can remember.

 

[DalekFlay]

Finished Mafia 2. It's alright, I dunno. Very immersion focused, probably to a fault, but it works most of the time. Nailed the setting and such, but the story is pretty basic and just copies mafia movies most of the time. Combat is Gears of Mafia, which didn't bother me a ton since it's not really the focus of the game but it's pretty meh.

Quickly played through Splinter Cell: Conviction again. What a shit game. I had vague memories of it having some fun predator style "action stealth," which I guess it does here and there, but overall it feels like a clunky cover shooter. There are segments you can do in pure stealth early on, but the second half of the game they just throw huge waves of enemies at you one after another with no real way to stealth the encounter. Even if you want a Gears of Clancy game, it's not a good one because of its clunky feel and poor shooting mechanics outside of headshots. The story is also pretty boring and basic, with Fisher not feeling at all like the great character he was in the first three. Also the fucking thing had framerate variances all over the place even on modern hardware, going from 120fps to 55fps depending on which way the camera's facing (a well known issue according to google). Just kind of a dire experience, I blew through it action style in like 4 hours and wondered why I did.

Just installed Prey. I pleasure delayed this motherfucker for years, time to bang that hottie...

 

[mk0]

Done with System Shock 2, again I would've enjoyed this more if it weren't for the respawning enemies. The game also started to drag near the end, same issue that Alien Isolation had funnily enough, oh well.

So, Thief Gold... I was having an amazing time with it until I reached the Thieves' Guild, that level is fucked up.

 

[Viata]

Today I'm planning to see how long it takes to finish DQ1 on NES if I play the game the whole day, without stopping. No guides, too. It's been a long time since I played it, but the game tells most of what to do by talking to NPCs.

 

[Ghulgothas]

Decided on a whim to install and sample Dark Messiah of Might & Magic for the first time today. It's the only one of Arkane's catalogue I haven't touched yet, and I've been hungering for a fresh immersive sim to dig my teeth into since I wrapped up my GMDX playthrough a month ago. I'm also playing with the Unlimited Edition mod installed without any of the mini-mods it's packaged with.

 

[Viata]

Decided on a whim to install and sample Dark Messiah of Might & Magic for the first time today. It's the only one of Arkane's catalogue I haven't touched yet, and I've been hungering for a fresh immersive sim to dig my teeth into since I wrapped up my GMDX playthrough a month ago. I'm also playing with the Unlimited Edition mod installed without any of the mini-mods it's packaged with.

 

[Machocruz]

Finally survived a run in This War of Mine. It was only my second attempt, but that first attempt was years ago. I lost a character deep into the game and was too demoralized to continue like that. This time things went smoother. I used the starter team of Marko, Bruno, and Pavle. Was on the way to a pacifistic run, but a civilian who was peaceful before decided to attack me when I returned to the location, so I wound up putting them down with a shovel, which put bitch ass Marko into the 'broken' emotional state. That was the biggest hiccup in the game. Pavle almost died in a scuffle because I thought an icon I clicked put me in hiding, but it was just cover. That was easily treated with a bandage and a couple days of sleep, so not a major setback. Resources presented little problems. I want to do another run, but go the opposite way being scummy and aggressive. Now that I have a clear under my belt, I feel free-er to experiment with mechanics, take risks, explore the locations completely, etc. One of the best indie games I've played, easily.

 

[Wyatt_Derp]

Broke my no-buy early access game covenant with Grand Tactician: Civil War. And yep, it's early access alright.

 

[pakoito]

Root Digital is an adaptation of the popular boardgame. It's an asymmetric wargame lite, and the adaptation is serviceable. Recommended

 

[Abu Antar]

Yakuza 5
I've completed all taxi driving missions. Well, I did fail one mission, but I didn't bother to retry. I was driving a passenger that had an urgent need to pee, and he was also late to his job. I failed, he peed himself, and on top of that, he's now unemployed. I checked my completion % and it still counts, so I'm good. Now, I have two out of nine races left. I'll deal with those in time. Did all the training sessions with Komaki, and I'm almost level 20. I picked up all the trash I need to get an S rank, and I have finally moved on with the story. Kiryu is best Yakuza, but I can't wait to play as Akiyama. His fighting style is the most fun, imo. The game seems to be massive.

Geneforge 3
I'm just plowing through this. I don't think that I have that much left. This time around, I am playing as a shaper and I have 4 creations with me. It makes things easier overall, but I do reload if one of them dies. It's a pita to level them up again.

Eye of the Beholder 2
This is so far better than the first game. I imported my party from the first game, and I've already recruited a companion. There have also already been more variety in monster than the first hour of the first game. I would also say that the difficulty is higher in this one. So far, I have had three game overs, and I don't think that I'm even that far in. Srew gelatinous cubes, over and out.

I'm also slowly getting through Underrail and Dragon Quest XI. Once two of these five games are beaten, I will go back to Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Dungeon Rats.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I played and completed SOMA. Not bad for a walking simulator, and very atmospheric even though I felt like I had seen most of it done before. It had a nice take on the nature of consciousness and what "you" are, and the conclusions it seemed to draw mirror my own thoughts on the matter.

Worth playing if you can buy it cheaply.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Eye of the Beholder 2
This is so far better than the first game. I imported my party from the first game, and I've already recruited a companion. There have also already been more variety in monster than the first hour of the first game. I would also say that the difficulty is higher in this one. So far, I have had three game overs, and I don't think that I'm even that far in. Srew gelatinous cubes, over and out.

If you've reached the Gelatinous Cubes, you're already 4-5 possible companions in.

I've recently come to realize that EotB1 is by far the best game in the series due to its game- and level-design. Six races and six classes, but no mandatory requirement or needless restriction placed upon any of them in regards to viable party builds. A party of four Mages is a plausible (but slow) method to beat the game, just like a party of four Fighters. It's extremely difficult to achieve a Living Dead-failstate, where you're incapable of beating the game because you missed an item somewhere.

The level design is very fluid and free-flow, once you reach the third floor you begin to find alternate paths to take through the dungeon, which then branch out and branch out. You can even skip a few floors and still beat the game! There are virtually no artificial barriers in place.

Compare that to EotB2. With only a handful of minor exceptions you are set upon the One Path, with Artificial Gates in place to make sure you don't run ahead and skip anything. You must first descend into the dungeon, you must then ascend the Silver Tower (better find all those bugels!) and so on and so forth. And there are several occasions where you can miss out on an essential item and either find it very difficult, or outright impossible, to backtrack to retrieve it. At least the six races and classes are still free-form and non-restrictive, but I'm unsure whether a pure Mage-party can survive some of the traps on EotB2 - so many of them solely consist of tanking unavoidable damage. But because EotB2 looks so much cooler (those cutscenes are gorgeous!) and becomes quite atmosphereic at times, everyone proclaims it as the best one in the trilogy.

(Things get even more bizarre if we add EotB3 into the mix. Let's just say that while EotB3 sucks ass, it's not that far from its prequel.)

EDIT: Typo.

 

[Sceptic]

I've always put Eob1 ahead of Eob2 mainly because of the level design, I'm glad you appreciate it as much as I do. I pretty much agree with you about the other aspects as well, Eob2 looks so much better and is more challenging, the traps are more devious, but I think that aspect of design being better does not compensate for the sheer joy of Eob1's multiple approaches and solutions to problems. There's a ton of content in Eob1 that you can miss without even realizing it's there.

I think Eob3 is the worst not just because its design is the same linearity as Eob2 but poorer, but also because the engine tries to look and feel the same but is much clunkier, and at the time it was MUCH more hardware demanding for no apparent reason. The game does have some original tricks (like the underwater level).