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What game are you wasting time on?

Billi205

Novice
Joined
May 31, 2021
Messages
17
I mainly play turn-based games so started playing Dungeon of Naheulbeuk. It sounds like a solid game from other thread and it happens to be on Steam sale.

So far so good. I find the humour decent, great voice acting and the combat is quite challenging. Looking forward to unlocking more skills. All chars are at level 4 atm.
 

amb

Novice
Joined
Apr 29, 2021
Messages
6
Location
Germany
Playing a lot of Minesweeper lately, got a sub two minute expert clear a couple of days ago, it's good fun - aiming for sub 100s next.



Other than that: I'm about to finish Wizardry VI pretty soon, I think. Made it past River Styx and Temple of Ramm yesterday.
 

Sceptic

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 2, 2010
Messages
10,871
Divinity: Original Sin
I've been replaying through Hexen and its expansion. It's been a very long time and I'd actually forgotten a lot more of the puzzles and maps than I thought. What a marvelous game.

People always say the cleric is the easiest class because of his obscenely overpowered flechettes and Wraithverge. While this may be true, and he's certainly the most versatile, his play style is not the most straightforward early on, and the 2 hubs before you get Wraithverge require more careful playing. The fighter is in some ways easier; sure he needs to be up close and personal most of the time, but his high speed and innate damage reduction make it rather easy to do that. You get the Axe very early on, and the Hammer is actually a very potent range weapon (and until you get it, you can always use grenade-flechettes). I started as a cleric but ended up switching to fighter, and found that gameplay was much faster. Quietus is extremely satisfying against bosses, and both Heresiarchs went down very fast (Korax himself was a pushover, but then I had plenty of Kraters and Icons).

Let's talk about the much-maligned puzzles. If you thought the switch-hunts in Doom/Heretic detracted from gameplay than I can completely understand being infuriated with Hexen's and the comparatively glacial pace that they create. I happen to love Hexen's puzzles, but it's a fair criticism. That aside however, and judging the puzzles purely on how they are designed, I don't agree with complaints about their specific implementation (again, notwithstanding whether we think the should even be there). The game is actually VERY good at handing out clues and hints on where you need to go (sometimes in messages, sometimes in the level design itself). When you pull a switch and see "stairs have risen on Seven Portals", the teleport back to that map opens up right next to you; when you arrive you see (and HEAR) the stairs immediately rise right in front of you; they have a very distinctive floor tile, and there are 2 identical stretches of this tile nearby; the next 2 times you see "stairs have risen on Seven Portals", you really should know where to go. Same with "one sixth of the puzzle has been solved on Shadow Wood", once you find the temple there and see the 6 tiles, each of the 3 pairs with the same symbol as the keys and matching doors, and corresponding tiles lighting up, it doesn't take long to figure out what this is about and what needs to be done. The puzzles are superbly designed that way, and while there is some backtracking, you almost always have a very clear indication when you need to come back and where. It helps the levels aren't very big, so if you miss something you can usually narrow down the search area to something manageable. The only exceptions where no hints are given is with secret levels, and that's fine; there are only a couple of critical puzzles that are too obscure, and I admit these are not well designed, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

I think the instant death traps are probably the most annoying thing about the game, especially since some are not indicated at all and at least one depends on millisecond-perfect reaction time. The very limited weapon selection really hurts too, though the weapons fulfill different roles nicely. Combat is even slower-paced than Heretic, and I was surprised at the monster count on some maps (skill 4). Level design is excellent, with some nice architecture once in a while, and I felt almost every level has a distinctive look and feel, as in Doom and moreso than Heretic. The scripting capability was quite impressive, and is used quite creatively sometimes (annoying traps notwithstanding). I really think it's a great game even if I understand those who don't like its puzzles.

Deathkings of the Dark Citadel is more of the same but much, MUCH harder. I finished it on skill 4 but was exhausted by the end, and if I replay it it'll be on skill 3. Nothing new here except more maps. Most are good, on average about the same as the base game, with a few cool surprises. Puzzles are about the same level of difficulty, though they do assume you've played the base game and know how things work, so they don't hint as much. It's a fun expansion, though obviously if you dislike Hexen don't even bother. If you thought Hexen was too easy then this is for you.
The original HexDD release didn't play any music due to an oversight. There's a patch for the WAD to fix this, but I think most ports will fix this themselves (I know ZDoom does).
 

curds

Magister
Joined
Nov 24, 2019
Messages
1,098
Over the last few days I started a new game of Demon's Souls (PS3 version, of course :obviously:) and finally completed it. Played it on easy mode, lol (AKA select Royalty class at character creation).

I'd started two playthroughs previously (as the Soldier and the Knight) but lost momentum both times. Though I did enjoy those unfinished playthroughs, coming from (the much better game, imo) Dark Souls, I was put off by Demon's Souls' more primitive take on the formula.

This playthrough, for whatever reason, I enjoyed the game much more. I'm sure steamrolling most opponents with Soul Ray had something to do with it, as well as the foreknowledge of the majority of the game that I had at this point, but I also really appreciated the atmosphere this time around, too.

For me, DeS now ranks 2nd in the series after DaS1, with DaS2 and 3 in a tie at third place.

Now, to finish up my halfway-done Dark Souls III playthrough on PC, and after that I may track down a cheap PS4 and finally try Bloodborne.
 

cosmicray

Savant
Joined
Jan 20, 2019
Messages
436
VtM:Bloodlines. Haven't played since 2005, I think. The world feels fantastic. No map, nor gps/arrow bullshit, because yYou learn where to go. Although, obviously the hub design doesn't have lots of routes to get lost.
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2014
Messages
514
Location
In a ship with cooked grenade
I jumped ahead of my backlog to play that new Sniper game.

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 or something. Did not play previous ones.

It looks great, runs great but most of all plays awesome. No bullshit, no MP, straight to the point.

It is now sort of open-ended, you scavenge for bullets, alarms are better avoided, levels are bit more open. It feels inspired by good mechanics of MGS V plus gory-meaty sniping which just never gets old. Engagements over 1km, ability to replay levels, stealth possible, sort of funny guards' dialogues. It makes you feel like the predator hunting its prey (heat vision included).

I think devs just had fun making it and it shows. Nothing groundbreaking but pretty solid. It's fun. Recommended for those who liked MGS V and/or Crysis and/or Sniper Elite.

----------------

My obsession with Driver continues. I installed Driver Syndicate and it is exactly what I wanted - good physics and handling, tight and varied missions, cop AI plus modern graphics. There is just something which appeals to me in its design - 70s aesthetics, realism of handling, straight-forward gameplay design which is easy to understand but hard to master and tests your skills. Driver Syndicate is free.
 

Machocruz

Arcane
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Messages
4,318
Location
Hyperborea
Now, to finish up my halfway-done Dark Souls III playthrough on PC, and after that I may track down a cheap PS4 and finally try Bloodborne.
Thinking of doing the same because my laptop can't play a lot of the games that came out last gen well. Would you get a PS4 Pro? They don't seem to have gone down much, almost cost as much as the new consoles.
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2014
Messages
514
Location
In a ship with cooked grenade
Thinking of doing the same because my laptop can't play a lot of the games that came out last gen well. Would you get a PS4 Pro? They don't seem to have gone down much, almost cost as much as the new consoles.

This is my opinion but given recent CBOMB debacle regarding PS4 (and possibly PS5) I would NOT spend money on Playstation because decent PC can play all of its games (minus like 2 exclusives which will probably come to PC anyway). At least it works whenever, can be upgraded and also can be used as emulation machine, while PS4 does only PS4 games and some of them just poorly. You can also hook up controllers to the PC, hook it to the TV, etc.
 
Unwanted

Kalin

Unwanted
Dumbfuck Zionist Agent
Joined
Sep 29, 2010
Messages
1,868,264
Location
Al Scandiya
nooo.png


 

Kabas

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Feb 10, 2018
Messages
1,258
Warhammer 40000 Mechanicus - heard that it turns too easy after awhile so i decided to start on hard difficulty.
Made my first pair of tech-priests an explorator(melee specialists) and dominus(ranged). Early missions proved to be a bit challenging, was struglling at the beginning with keeping the melee guy alive.
Currently at 46% awakening, things are indeed getting a bit easier now that i ranked-up my priests, got some gear and a bunch of skitarii to play with.
Music is awesome and Khepra is a cute.
 

JDR13

Arcane
Joined
Nov 2, 2006
Messages
3,930
Location
The Swamp
After finishing Days Gone, I started up Dying Light since I was still in the zombie killing mood and wanted to see how they compared. I hadn't played it since 2016, but the atmosphere is still every bit as good as I remembered.

Also about to start a game of ToEE with CO8 and Temple+.
 

Ghulgothas

Arcane
Joined
Feb 22, 2020
Messages
1,598
Location
So Below
All done with Call of Pripyat, had to work through a bug where the game hung during the emission that precedes that evacuation. But definitely the best of the three, where the concepts and ideas gelled and fermented for two games resulted in something truly unique. Note to self whenever I come back in 10 years time to play the finished Gunslinger, don't make the mistake of joining Freedom twice. The Vintorez is the one true rifle you'll ever need and more shit for the PKM to spew is better than the gay camo pajamas you'll get otherwise.

I'll be slav-detoxing with some Thief 2 FMs in the meanwhile.
 

PulsatingBrain

Huge and Ever-Growing
Patron
Joined
Nov 5, 2014
Messages
6,164
Location
The Centre of the Ultraworld
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Codex+ Now Streaming! Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit. Pathfinder: Wrath
Playing a lot of NFS Heat. It's the first NFS since Hot Pursuit were I really love how it feels. I don't think the open world adds much to racing games, but it is nice to just cruise around sometimes.

Finally trying Dragon Age 2. I just finished the Deep Roads expedition (I think that means I'm in act 2 now, not sure). I'd say it's not as bad as I've read, but it certainly hasn't excited me much either.

Messing around a little with Shadwen. It's a 3rd person stealth game were time only moves when you do. It's gimmicky but pretty cool. Enjoying it for like half an hour here and there
 
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Machocruz

Arcane
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Messages
4,318
Location
Hyperborea
This is my opinion but given recent CBOMB debacle regarding PS4 (and possibly PS5) I would NOT spend money on Playstation because decent PC can play all of its games (minus like 2 exclusives which will probably come to PC anyway). At least it works whenever, can be upgraded and also can be used as emulation machine, while PS4 does only PS4 games and some of them just poorly. You can also hook up controllers to the PC, hook it to the TV, etc.
Yes I'd rather get a better PC, but I was trying to go the cheap route to play a few AAA games. I only have that laptop and a desktop that was built during the Core Duo days. I'd have to buy or build a whole new machine, which for something decent (e.g. minimum i7 with a 3070/3080) I calculate no less than 1500 based on prebuilt figures, having read that prebuilts are at or near cost parity with building...
 

Jvegi

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Nov 16, 2012
Messages
5,065
Half Life 2 Trying to finish it again. It's cool, but the first game was better. I like all the physical interactions, none of that context-sensitive bullshit. Almost. The physics puzzles seem like a gimmick now.

Morrowind I don't care this game has books and a story buried deep within. It doesn't jive with the gameplay. Perhaps I'll change my mind this time, after 20 years, but all those TES games get super fucking boring after 10 character levels.

Disco Elysium Still great. Took me until the 3rd day to discover the fishing village. It's like a good book ( the Bible).

Basically playing stuff for an hour or so. I've tried Wizard of Legend and Chuchel, but meh.
 

Jack Of Owls

Arcane
Joined
May 23, 2014
Messages
4,279
Location
Massachusettes
Been playing Days Gone due to someone above comparing it to Dying Light (one of my all-time favorites). It's an apt comparison but its skill tree seems more convoluted than it needs to be. Still rather fun but no parkouring or ziplining and is heavy heavy storyfag-flavored compared to DL. Also, I get motion sickness (as I did with Dying Light) but changing the FOV from 70 to 80 helped. It's slick and competent and it's nice to see american developers based in the pacific northwest doing this sort of thing for a change but it's still no Dying Light. However, if you liked DL, you'll probably like this.
 

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