What game are you wasting time on?

[Puukko]

Well, and after that start a new game, go to BBI asap and solo the whole thing. Or solo the main game first and then BBI and do the BBI solo asap run after that. Or take your main pawn only. Play fashion dogma. Mod the game. Min/max a character. Farm the top equipment on BBI... ah damn, the game is so great, too bad I already played it to death, twice.

I've done four playthroughs. I am gonna say I probably can't do more at this point, but I know it'll suck me in again at some point.

All this put me in the mood for some open world exploration. Hmm...

 

[fork]

I'm done unfortunately.

I can't remember how many times I played through the game, definitely more than seven times, but I brought two characters to max level, did 100% achievements on two copies, soloed everything etc. There is just no life left in the game for me, and I really wish I could play the game blind again, more than most other games. It's just that good.

 

[Machocruz]

The achievements /trophies in DD were very reasonable, but not no-effort. Another feather in its cap.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Had the urge to do another run of NEO Scavenger, since it's been a while. Things are going well, I made a ranged character, found clothes and boots for both feet, crafted a bow and some arrows, all that remains is to lift a 12-gauge off some poor schmuck and I'll be invincible-- oh, hey, is that a Dogman coming towards me?

The player has died from severe blood loss.

See you in three months, NEO Scavenger.

 

[Caim]

Might as well say that I've been playing some more Doom Eternal here on page 666. Just the regular campaign, still need to play Ancient Gods 2 again after completing it on launch.

 

[Vlajdermen]

I remembered I have the original Ratchet and Clank downloaded and decided to postpone this ps3 shit until after I beat it. It's a great game, albeit a little rough around the edges. The combat could've used some work, I like how they went for a more tactical approach with the weapons, like since you can't strafe running and gunning isn't an option, but by the end it just devolved into spamming rockets and decoys. What makes up for it is the game's general creativity, in both the levels and weapons. It's the same thing I liked about Resistance 3 (my current favourite ps3 exclusive), where it's a genre we've all seen before but the execution of everything is so fun and fresh, you can't not love it. The difficulty is just right and I beat a good chunk of the game in one sitting.

This is one of the few times when I played the game with the sound on instead of while listening to a podcast. The soundtrack is killer, though the sound effects get old fast. The cutscenes were at their best when it's just characters talking, playing off each other, not cracking any laugh-out-loud funny jokes but still boasting lots of charm and personality. It reminded me of Rango in that regard. The more serious scenes were awkward, but not too bad.

Next I'll play either Quest for Booty or A Crack in Time.

 

[Sceptic]

Heretic

Playing the Playstation Doom games really made me want to revisit this one too. Nothing like a good old fashioned shooter.

Over the decades since their release I haven't played Heretic (or Hexen for that matter) as much as both Doom games, and it's been a very long time since I last played through it. I remembered E1 most (probably because I'd also played it so much back when I only had shareware Heretic) but so many of the setpieces from E2 and E3 came back to me when I ran into them.

I don't think I've always been fair to Heretic. I always liked the game, but kinda dismissed it as just a fantasy paint job on Doom. It actually plays quite differently, and I only finally put my finger on why: your weapons can be either projectile or hitscan (like Doom), but there's isn't a single hitscan enemy (unlike Doom). A simple difference on paper, but it does change the way you prioritize enemies quite a bit. I'd also forgotten that the maps tend towards slaughterfests much more quickly than Doom's - I think halfway into E1 I was already above 150 enemies per map, and it doesn't really go down from there. It's still fun, and while I don't hate Doom hitscanners as much as some I'm enjoying the complete lack of them. You could still play popamole style in Heretic, but why would you when running circles around Ophidians while keeping your distance from the Saberclaws while Gargoyles pelt you with fireballs is so much more fun. The music is very action-oriented and really fits this style of play too. The regular weapons are pretty much reskins of Doom's, except the Firemace (and I just realized that one isn't even mentioned in the manual...) but the tomed-up versions have some REALLY fun stuff going on, I almost wish the game was more generous with Tomes. At least knowing excess items reset every level makes me so much more willing to use them and have fun with them, instead of hoarding them for that one time I might need them that never arrives.

GZDoom in Truecolour Software is really nice. Everything looks as it should be, but in higher resolution.

I plan on playing through the Shadow of the Serpent Riders E4 and E5, then go through some PWADs before tackling Hexen. I have such fond memories of that one, I'm a bit worried it won't live up to those memories.

 

[octavius]

Terror From the Deep, courtesy of OpenXcom.

When I was in 1994 mode I had little problems with the UI of the first X-Com game, but now that I'm in 2001 mode and have already played JA2 the UI feels more cumbersome and takes more time getting used to (TFTD is really just a reskin of the first game, with no UI improvements that I've noticed).
Still, I'm enjoying it so far, and I'm playing it more ruthlessly than I did the first game, using the weakest squad members as expendable scouts.

In the first month we shot down a couple of subs and kicked alien ass in San Fransisco:

 

[Fenix]

Kenshi man!
I play it for 3 days, barely distracting at anything else. Like they said - I have a BLAST with this game.
This game succesfully achieved everything that Todd tried to do for years and failed, and what mother's game for Exanima promised to do, with the only difference it doesn't have stats and require players skill, while the only skill player can use in Kenshi is to move out of the way were opponents awing at you.
Kenshi is incredibly good at things it tries to do, systems are there, and are perfectly crafted.

Spoiler

Terror From the Deep, courtesy of OpenXcom.

When I was in 1994 mode I had little problems with the UI of the first X-Com game, but now that I'm in 2001 mode and have already played JA2 the UI feels more cumbersome and takes more time getting used to (TFTD is really just a reskin of the first game, with no UI improvements that I've noticed).
Still, I'm enjoying it so far, and I'm playing it more ruthlessly than I did the first game, using the weakest squad members as expendable scouts.

In the first month we shot down a couple of subs and kicked alien ass in San Fransisco:

I recentl tried to re-play it without saves, on ironman mode... anal rape it was ahaha, I tried to did first terror mission, without gauss rifle...
even thoug I used high explosive packs, and gas cannons - powerhorses of early game, eliens simply teared me apart.
They did that even when I reloaded the game.

 

[JDR13]

Days Gone

It's better than I was expecting. Easily the best zombie apocalypse game I've played since Dying Light.

 

[Ezekiel]

Just played Battlefield 2 again for the first time in years. Forgot how engaging it can be. But boy is it a waste of time.

 

[Ezekiel]

Man, shutting down the EA servers and then shutting down Battlefield 2 Revive really killed the community. There are only a few populated servers, most with not enough players.

 

[Ninjerk]

Had some good times on BF2, but I think I enjoyed BFBC2 quite a bit more.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

(TFTD is really just a reskin of the first game, with no UI improvements that I've noticed).
Still, I'm enjoying it so far, and I'm playing it more ruthlessly than I did the first game, using the weakest squad members as expendable scouts.

Your observation on the UI (and most of the game itself) is absolutely correct, but the devil is in the differences, and on that front TFTD is a whole new beast.

By now you've run into the Aquatoid, which looks like the sickly-green cousin of the Sectoid. That's pretty much the only alien that's unchanged from its UFO-counterpart. When it comes to the bestiary of TFTD, you'll find much of it is just the same stats/abilities swapped around... and in some cases the end result is outright lethal. Also, certain missions you'll undertake are much tougher than in UFO... UFO only had one two-parter mission. There are tons more in TFTD (and the end mission is a three-parter).

On the X-Com side, the only real addition is the introduction of melee weapons. At first they seem redundant, but they hold a secret that may prove invaluable to your survival.

But yeah, have fun. You're in for tons of it.

 

[Average Manatee]

By now you've run into the Aquatoid, which looks like the sickly-green cousin of the Sectoid. That's pretty much the only alien that's unchanged from its UFO-counterpart.

Wrong, mid rank aquatoids (on mid-size ships) have MC where sectoids only had it on leaders and commanders. But it's weaker, on the level of something that you can generally deal with as opposed to being forced to cheese on superhuman by figuring out a bait soldier and eventually running all psi-immune people. In fact I think every MC-capable unit in TFTD is weaker than the weakest of UFO

IMO TFTD is actually better balanced than UFO. Probably entirely accidentally, but there's a lot less randomness and fewer instances where you have to abort missions on turn 1 to avoid a total squad wipe. On the whole TFTD enemies are actually a lot less lethal and dangerous. Instead it's the maps that work against you along with the fact that you yourself are a lot less lethal again them (can't win the game in TFTD with just the laser rifle equivalent like you could in UFO).

 

[Ghulgothas]

All done with Clear Sky. Part of me wonders if that faction war stuff is done better in Call of Chernobyl, but I'm not crossing my fingers. While the Sky Reclamation Project did it's duty for the bulk of the game, it unfortunately fell out of step right at the final yard. My final minutes with Clear Sky were spent zapping Strelok in point blank after he glitched off a bridge, and I after him. The built-in regeneration of my Exoskeleton granting me the life I needed to carry out his execution by railgun fire whilst he tersely asked me to put it away if I wanted to speak with him, such is life in the Zone.

Doing prelim mod research before I jump into S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat. Currently mulling between the incomplete Gunslinger or OWR, to go along with the usual suite of graphic upscalers that is.

 

[Ezekiel]

Crazy Taxi is pissing me off. The Steam version ALWAYS crashes by two hours and fifteen minutes or at slightly over two hours. Never before. Almost like the game is trying to tell me not to play with the time set to maximum/easy, like all the world record holders do. It just happened again.

Spoiler

No responses on Steam about it. Might just have to move on to something else.

Edit: It occurred to me after typing this out that it might be the Nvidia recording that is somehow interfering, since the duration is always fairly close. I'm gonna try it one more time, maybe tomorrow, and pause to start a new recording after an hour. If it happens again, then I'm done with the game. Probably.

Edit: Nope, recording it as two parts didn't help. It's not ShadowPlay. Just happened again at around 130,000 dollars, as usual. Screw it. I'll just watch some cartoons.

Memory leak. Check the memory consumption in the Task Manager.

I don't know if a memory leak is related, but it stopped happening when I started using regular recording instead of instant replay, which I had just gotten so used to using in other games. Instant replay sucks anyway. Playback tends to be more broken and choppy.



1:36:49 - I missed that green customer. I didn't even notice until I skimmed through the recording. I've been able to get much higher scores since I started driving for tips, which means not always getting to the destination as quickly as possible, but also trying to get more "Crazy Throughs." Knowing that, I may try again setting the traffic to the highest density.

 

[Doktor Best]

Man am i triggered by the sheer shittyness of the second Birkin bossfight in Resident Evil Remake 2 right now. I mean i could forgive bossfights like that back in the day when people were still figuring out 3D and had the computing power of a sack of potatoes. But why make them equally shitty if not shittier in the remake? So people would get nostalgic and go "wow, its shit, just like back in the day"?

Fuck off.

 

[Abu Antar]

I beat God of War (4). Game looks incredibly good, jaw droppingly so. The story works for AAA entertainment. I'll not think much about it, but it wasn't as cringe as I feared. My beef with the game is the combat, and my biggest disappointment of all, not many boss fights or cool encounters.

Camera is too close, almost the way it is in third person shooters. It feels stiff and slow compared to the combat I came to like in the series. Some might say that the old combat got too stale, that the series needed change. Maybe, but make it better, in that case. The best fights were from a side quest. Fight nine different valkyries. I found four of them. They were very challenging for me at first, but they felt similar, so I only did four. The last fight was also cool, I must admit, but I don't want to wait 20 hours for that sort of thing in freaking God of War of all things. Exploration was decent. Either do main stuff, or stray and do side stuff. In the end, I didn't even visit every realm, if I remember correctly.
I was sceptical before playing. I was fearing great production values and boring mechanics, and it's exactly what I got.

I also beat Front Mission 3, or rather, I beat the second campaign. Both of them took me 91 hours according to my save file. I hadn't played the game in forever, but rembered most of the stuff going on. While, yes, it does have jrpg tropes, it's a fairly grounded sci-fi game. More focused on the overall plot/politics than the usual j-drama. What I had most fun with (and also missed) was to fiddle with my wanzers, setting upp the builds I enjoy playing. In both campaigns, I opted not to use sniper user much. They are great when the actually hit the part you want, but that didn't happen enough for my liking.

The game is addicting as hell. The combat is fun, my only wish is that it would be possible to use five or six people. Story is cool, and the music is solid. I should look into more games in the series. I only played FM1 and FM3.

Other than that, I am playing Solasta and Maneater. The former is turn-based goodness, while the latter started out as silly fun that I might stop playing due to some sort of save bug.

 

[Mojobeard]

Vermintide 2. Co-op, L4D-ish, melee focused Warhammer Fantasy.
So Fatshark really killed the game after launch, focusing on the console release, and it felt like every two months they changed how the combat system works. Every time I came back, everything was different and nothing was better. Kind of like they did with the first game.
The DLCs that were released had only a couple of maps, and costed way too much. When really games like this need to be pumping out new maps like Payday 2 in its prime. Back to Ubersreik doesn't even feature all the VT1 maps, only three.
Nailing that coffin shut, basically.

But last year, if I understand this right because I haven't touched this since EA, some community members started balancing everything, making everything work like it's supposed to.
Fatshark took that community patch, made it official, AND then released a sort of roguelike game mode called Chaos Wastes. For free this time. CW is absolute madness and really fun, even with randoms. If you wipe, you'll be laughing.

The director is still schizophrenic sometimes, spawning every type of enemy there is at the same time, in pairs. There's still an embarrassing amount of bugs. The Winds of Magic DLC costs about four times as much as it should.
But VT2 is absolutely in the place it should have been years ago.

Front Mission 3

These were fantastic games to find during the current drought. Can't recommend them enough, 3 especially. Turn and grid based mecha fighting, C&C, the type of not too wordy and just deep enough writing all video games should strive to. Mmhmm.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Finished Dishonored 2 finally, low chaos Corvo run. Like the first game the gameplay is bifurcated with all the fun toys relegated to the 'bad' way to play, while pure stealth is limited to blink and choking out dudes. Although once I got a bonecharm to regen mana from water faucets I could time stop all I wanted. Overall the game is too stingy with powers--I think with every available rune you unlock less than a third of them fully. That means you don't have a 'build' so much as two powers out of a dozen you base your entire playthrough around. Sucks if you pick windblast or something.

I might do a high chaos ng+ run just to brutalize everyone and blow off some steam.

 

[Poseidon00]

Switching between MK11 and MK Armageddon. Yeah MK11 is the better fighter mechanically but MKA has a create a fighter and create a moveset mode, which should be fucking standard nowadays. Or at least not as rare as it is. Can't think of a single other fighter outside of some N64 one that has it.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

Can't think of a single other fighter outside of some N64 one that has it.

I remember Soul Calibur 3 had it, I think its been in every game since then. One Must Fall 2097 had a very limited CAF. Quite a few seem to have customize a pre-existing character as a compromise, but that feels kind of lame in every game I've tried.
Of course, the problem with create a fighter in fighting games is that every one these days is obsessed with becoming some big tournament hit. This means every character must be extensively balanced so nobody is OP, and naturally a CAM mode would be a balancing nightmare. Sigh...

 

[Poseidon00]

Fuck I forgot about soul calibur. Which was good in 3 and quickly declined after that. Now there are no custom movesets, just mirrors of existing characters and far less customization options for appearance. Total decline.

MKA let you customize every move and combo, including special moves, and even with all the flaws in that game it's hard not to like it for that and for all of its wacky broken shit.

 

[Caim]

Soul Calibur dropped the ball after 3 because the premier feature of the series (picking another weapon gives you bonuses to a certain type of playstyle) got phased out or made unwieldy to use.