What game are you wasting time on?

[ERYFKRAD]

Accidentally picked another title in way of the samurai 3. Only 4 more to go.
Once I have done those I can fully spend time on finding the perfect sword.

And done. That was easy.
Also unarmed>swords so the whole quest for a perfect sword is moot.

Spoiler

Gonna find it anyway.

Man I hope sorinmask and Pink Eye have tried the unarmed options in this series.

 

[The_Mask]

I've never played those games. I didn't even know they existed. But I'm always up to test their unarmed gameplay, if I can.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I've never played those games. I didn't even know they existed. But I'm always up to test their unarmed gameplay, if I can.

Definitely try Way of the Samurai 4 then

 

[Ivan]

Wolfenstein 2: New Colossus
Must like with the first entry, I don't find the gunplay compelling, made worse by the way the game magically spawns enemies, that and it only features hitscan enemies. The game's greatest strength is its production values. It looks great, and has traces of what made Escape From Butcher Bay Great, but this ain't it. I hope MachineGames can stretch those muscles again in the new Indiana Jones b/c their Wolf games are some of the worst AAA FPS I've played. Weak gunplay, frustrating enemies, cramped funnel-like level design. Avoid. Eh, at least the music is alright.


The Surge 2
Gave it another shot but uninstalled once again. Environment does feature onion-like design, but the sense of place isn't well established. Enemies feel like generic bodies. It feels souless. Combat also doesn't have the umph I expect from melee combat. Inventory and upgrades felt obtuse. Asked myself if I was having a good time. No, not good enough.

12 Minutes
A neat premise that opens with many interactive objects to play around with but the experience is quickly weighed down by the "proper" path needed to advance the plot. I quickly tired of hearing the same replies, the same banter, watching the same janky animations, until I stumbled upon what the devs wanted the player to do. While ultimately disappointed with much of the game's objects being a facade/farce, I think this idea could be better executed if it did accomodate for more of the player's choices instead of the oh so typical point and click retort "I can't do that."

Quake
I decided to check out Quake after the recent update, initally with the MachineGames expansions, but that soon led to replaying the older expansions, the original campaign, then Arcane Dimensions. Needless to say I got that Quake itch again and I'm loving it. I like that the setting sets up the possiblity to explore vastly different worlds, most evident in the Arcane Dimension maps. I find the arsenal and the beastiary to be mostly outstanding, with only the hopping jellies pissing me off with their wonky movement pattern, and the flying torso enemies as being the weakest aesthetically.

I went into the MachineGames' expansions with the expecattion of massacring everything, but quickly found myself out of ammo in some of the maps. There wwas one where I had to use the console to grant me either ammo or hp to get through. I chalk this up to my not being able to organically find secrets to resupply, but at the same time I see it as a failure on the level design to maintain a good flow of challenge/resources.

This almost never happened to me in BOTH the older expansions or in the original campaign (they also featured the Shambler far less than the newer expansions).

Arcane Dimensions: worth the hype. While not ALL of its maps blew my mind, this collection of community maps features SOME of the largest, most enjoyable maps I've ever had the pleasure to explore in any game. The gameflow (balance of challenge/resources) is just perfect across the better of the maps. Particular favorites of mine are gargantuan in scale and took me 30-40+ minutes to completed. The better ones do a fantastic job of doling out tought adversaries at you and feature levels that fold into themselves in the best ways. You know a game has done this well when it puts a smile on your face, Undead Burg style.

Psychonauts 2

The word that comes to mind after my first playsession is "cozy." This is probably the first time I've said, this game LOOKS like Psychonauts as I REMEMBER. It has a smooth (perhaps too smooth) presentation with a wonderful use of color and features many great details. I love how Raz's goggles move as he jumps. I loved how they change Raz's image when using clairvoyance on different NPCs. My little nitpicks thus would be a few technical bugs (wonky lighting during the intro to motherlobe cutscene, plus Raz's jacket clipping during cutscenees. While the voiceacting is overall great, I did find that some of the direction felt off, particulaly with regard to tone. I get it can't be perfect since there is A LOT of it but I still felt like emphasis was missed at parts. That said, this is a nitpick. I'm having a wonderful time exploring and came away impressed with the game feel. My only complaint on gamefeel would be the odd pause Raz does after dodging. There's a brief moment where you regains his bearings that prevents you from smoothly flowing from dodging to immediate movement. Perhaps this is tied to a player upgrade b/c it definitely feels noticeable.

Random thoughts: smart to have a fast travel system in the hub. combat, while easy, features enemies that are conducive for players to test out their psi powers. speaking of...I've just got the idea to use clairvoyance on the enemies, curious to see how they see Raz!

 

[octavius]

I've spent one month playing the Mirror of Galadriel user-made map for Age of Wonders.

It's day 40 in the game, so each turn takes lots of time, especially if you're a bit of a perfectionist and shudder at the thought of automatic combat. This is the most strategic map I've played for HoMM or AoW, and even if I did use auto-combat I'd still spend lots of time just planning and with the logistics.

 

[fork]

Ivan, did you play the original Surge, and if so, did you like it better than The Surge 2?

 

[Ivan]

Ivan, did you play the original Surge, and if so, did you like it better than The Surge 2?

I did not. Mind you I only got as far as the first boss in The Surge 2 and acknowledged the game wasn't resonating with me and moved on. In fact, I've not really found many more titles with an emphasis on z targeting combat that scratch the exploration itch the Souls games left me. I briefly tried Code Vein but I'm not keen on the anime aesthetic. I'm curious about trying out Mortal Shell and Ashen.

 

[Riskbreaker]

You tried Hellpoint? I enjoyed that one quite a bit more than Mortal Shell.

I tried the first Surge a bit and it did nothing for me. I actually enjoyed the combat somewhat but the setting was bland af, environments felt pretty unconvincing - the first outdoors location you explore feels like random, visually completely unappealing collection of wrecks and ruined structures. That pretty much all of it I can remember.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Seconding Hellpoint. It's the closest to Souls exploration I've found in a Souls-like.

 

[jackofshadows]

HellSign. Simulator of various supernatural creatures hunter in a small town. Array of short random generic missions which you choose freely is glued together by a bland and unengaging story. The gameplay loop is heavily burdened by tiresome process of searching for clues (somewhat similiar to The Witcher 3 senses if much more developed), thank fuck for speedhack. The game's grindy, testing and aquiring desirable gear takes a while. Despite all that, the action-aspect is fun, in the end I went full armored shooty-shooty guy instead of bothering with traps and had my joy. It's hard to properly rate, just an interesting indie game but not exactly great, looking forward to whatever these guys (core team 2 people) will come up with next.

 

[Poseidon00]

I would say the four years between Quake 3 (1999) and Call of Duty (2003) count as a distinctive era, yes.

More or less it is the era of the online-only PC FPS and the majority of them were arena shooters like Q3.

Things moved exceptionally fast by present standards: NVidia released five GPU generations during this four year period; clock speeds (remember those?) went up 5x so people threw away their entire computer and bought a new one each year; internet latencies dropped massively and deathmatch on broadband was night and day compared to 56k (though ISDN was noticeably better).

Even one year was an age at the time and games released >1y ago were "old". And throughout this period I played a lot of PC FPS but I don't think I played any single-player campaign on PC. Honestly, didn't care to.

I remember being a kid in that era. I thought you online and FPS lovers were fucking up gaming then and I still think so

 

[Grotesque]

 

[Fenix]

Tried to play Subterrain - some sci-fi horror survival game (craft and all that) - game takes action on Mars, where some prisoner was left behind, when some virus hit the colony. Revios claim it quickly become repetative, but it has maybe at least some novelty.
So I dived in. Turned out, game case to work after few hours, during area transitition.
What a SHAME!
Maybe you will be more lucky?

Also, got myself demo of Peripetea - Маша, я иду.

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS JUST BEAT BOSS ONE TIME IN DED CELLS

JUST A FANTASTIC GAME BUT ITLLOOKS LIKE NO POINT IN REPLAY UNLESS YOU GET DLC

STARTED A WARBAND GAME AGAIN GOT IT WORKING IN A CONTROLLER MY FUCKING HAND GOES NUMB WITH TOO MUCH MOUSE AND KB SHIT

NEXT GAME CHOOSING BETWEEN
REMNANT ASHES
HADES
NIOH
KINDOM COME DELIVERANCE

MAYBE NO MANS SJY VR

 

[Fenix]

Peripetea heat up my notebook as bitch.
Why? What?
If it will be like that on release I won't play it.

 

[Ezekiel]

Replaying Ninja Gaiden for the NES. As soon as I got away from my TV and PlayStation controller for this and moved to my desk and keyboard, my playing became much easier and more comfortable. Don't know why so many people just say controllers are better for controller games like it's a fact.

 

[Fedora Master]

Typical Cultivation Simulator problems:
My dog fed laxatives to his master while he was working on a breakthrough (think long complicated meditation).
As an ironic punishment I figured I'd feed the dog some laxatives as well, you actually need feces to create fertile soil. I was hoping the dog would get the shits and run to the field to fertilize everything.
No.
He runs to his master again and promptly falls asleep next to him.
So now there are TWO idiots in the room shitting themselves.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

You tried Hellpoint? I enjoyed that one quite a bit more than Mortal Shell.

I tried the first Surge a bit and it did nothing for me. I actually enjoyed the combat somewhat but the setting was bland af, environments felt pretty unconvincing - the first outdoors location you explore feels like random, visually completely unappealing collection of wrecks and ruined structures. That pretty much all of it I can remember.

I just managed to get a Hellpoint steam key for $2.00. Will check it out.

 

[curds]

NEXT GAME CHOOSING BETWEEN
REMNANT ASHES
HADES
NIOH
KINDOM COME DELIVERANCE

I just started Nioh today, played for 8 hours, it's pretty awesome. I recommend it.

 

[laclongquan]

Fallout New Vegas. But this time with Tale of Two Wasteland, basically playing Fallout 3 in FNV engine.

Pro: It give Courier a real history, a real homeland, instead of the imaginary homeland retold by the maddened rambling Ulysses. Start with this point, you can see Ulysses is... mental. Schizo. Possibly due to dying with regret. So he raved on and on. And the Courier in his telling is more like himself rather than Courier. Very interesting take on the whole Lonesome Road.

Con? It show the shortcoming (if that) of FNV original, as Mojave is a rpg game with medium-level combat thrown in. While Capital Wasteland portion is heavy tactical combat game with medium story-telling RPG element thrown in. The difference is actually quite critical.

 

[Puukko]

I wish there was a Wabbajack list for NV that was just a total overhaul without TTW. At the moment, the options are either vanilla+ (which is fine) or TTW integration (and New California, lol). I just find it very odd no one has had the idea. I don't know why everyone wants to taint the game with 3.

 

[No Great Name]

It's been a while (since 2019) since I last seriously posted what I've been playing as life became very busy for me. Here's is what I have played along with some thoughts up until now:

Shadow Hearts: Covenant (PS2): I really enjoyed the horror vibe from Koudelka and the first Shadow Hearts (less so but still there), but that has all but disappeared in the sequel unfortunately. Covenant is just a lot goofier and overall more childish which is a bit of a letdown to me, however it does have a deeper, more interesting combat system and a ton of optional content to do. Mixed thoughts on this game.

The Cat Lady (PC): Horrorish point-and-click which was decently fun and interesting to play although there isn't a whole lot of interaction with the environment and there's large amount of dialogue cutscenes compared to other point-and-clicks. Puzzles were a bit on the easy side but the main character grew on me a bit.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (PC): Another mixed bag of a game. I liked the characters, the character builds, the nonlinearity of the different worlds to explore, and the alternative ways to pursue quests , but I thought the romance stuff was just weird and combat was a bit too easy (I played on normal difficulty). Also exploration was garbage because your either walking a down a hallway where it's impossible to miss anything, or everything is just simply too compact and close together. I can't explain how the AI pathfinding works because sometimes it just doesn't work at all and most dark side dialogue choices were almost comical in how evil somehow means being a petty asshole to everyone and everything. Still fun overall but there were some definite headscratcher moments where things were just dumb.

Killer7 (Gamecube): This is a weird one, both to play and to talk about. The entire game somehow manages to simultaneously be very good and interesting while also being nonsensical and disappointing at the same time. Everything manages to be like this from the plot, to the characters, to the actual gameplay itself. I really don't know how else to describe it. What I can say is that the puzzles (non-puzzles really) are completely trivial and made me wonder why they were even in the game to begin with. Having said all of that, I don't think I will ever forget the sound of the enemies' laugh.

Ninja Gaiden (NES): Pretty simple but fun game. Wasn't as difficult as I expected based on what I've heard from others since dying wasn't actually too punishing with the exception of Stage 6 where to any of the last boss' forms sent you back all the way to the very beginning of the stage unlike any of the other stages.

Primordia (PC): I really liked this game. The characters are good, the setting is really interesting, the puzzles had that difficulty sweetspot where it wasn't too hard no too easy, and the environments were quite nice. I just wish the ending and final area could have been done a little bit better though I can't quite put my finger on why that is.

Spec Ops: The Line (PC): This game definitely gave me the impression that the devs thought they were being clever with the whole "look at how evil you are" thing but ended being incredibly cheap and hollow. The infamous using white phosphorous to kill civilians scenario particularly stood out to me on showing how heavy the game railroads you into the plot by presenting you with non-choices and then trying to throw them back at the player's face. There is no choice to be made here at all. The game will simply not progress until you use the white phosphorous to kill the soldiers and the civilians as the soldiers that spawn on the rooftop will do so infinitely until you use the white phosphorous. As far as combat goes, there's very little enemy variety and the cover shoting system makes it so that every single combat area feels functionally the same, which is a shame because some of the environments did look pretty nice.

Fear Effect (PS): Survival horrorish game that was kind of interesting at first but the later levels had too much backtracking for my taste. Similar style of puzzles and resource management like the first Resident Evil although the boss fights are more "puzzlely" than Resident Evil if that makes any sense. The banter between the characters were pretty fun, the environments looked good, and the fixed camera angles with tank controls were fine in my opinion although the game did overuse the "timed obstacle course"-type (not sure how to better describe it) of screen a bit too often.

Flower, Sun, and Rain (Nintendo DS): Gameplay was atrocious as it's 95% running and backtracking through the different locations (must have spent an hour just running from one side of the island to the other) and 5% reading through a large tour guide pamphlet for the clues and the answers to the puzzles, which are all numeric-based unfortunately. The plot had the potential to be good if it weren't for the fact that the dialogue was so masturbatory. Overall, a very boring and repetitive game with a handful of interesting moments.

Odin Sphere (PS2): Actually a pretty decent game once I got used to the combat. I have a bit of a soft spot for Shakespearean tragedy and this game definitely nails that. Playing as different characters and getting to see all of their different viewpoints on the events that happen was also a neat concept though it definitely took a bit of time before things really started coming together. Inventory management was a bit of a pain with its limited space, especially since access to the Village where you can exchange ingredients for experience didn't come often enough. Character designs are definitely on the strange side and I stuck with the Japanese voice acting because I thought the English voices were a bit too tryhard for my taste. Also fuck the entire enemy set in the Titania. Fucking slimes that part of the cast can't damage without using Napalm, the mini-boss that has ridiculously fast and damaging attacks, and the sorcerers that can only be stunned by hitting their knives back at them, because they just teleport away if you don't (and they like to attack with fireballs more often than their knives).

Penumbra: Overture (PC): Decent game although a bit formulaic on how each hub area is laid out. Spiders are annoying but they are easy to run away from and the wolves are pretty blind and deaf it seemed. The physics-based puzzles were different than the usual adventure game stuff and the environments were pretty creepy throughout the entire game. Ending is a very obvious cliffhanger that leads to its sequel.

Rayman (DOS): Hard as hell platformer with a really shitty continue system. Some of the levels seemed like they were designed by assholes and I don't quite like the fact that there are hidden cages, powerups, entire platforms, etc., unless you pass through a specific spot in the level. I also didn't really like the backtracking with the first handful of levels since you cannot get all of the cages until unlock all of your abilities later in the game. Very challenging overall, but it felt good to beat it.

Sanitarium (PC): Very strong first two thirds and then it stopped being creepy. The Aztec levels are definitely the weakest and the buggiest of the game. Otherwise a pretty good adventure game with decently challenging puzzles. It was fun piecing together the conspiracy behind the main character's amnesia. Movement is janky as it was really easy to get stuck on corners and object collision boxes and pseudo combat sections were just plain bad.

Dragon Warrior (NES): A very simple and straightforward game, if a bit grindy. The Sleep spell is very overpowered, especially when used against you but combat is basically attack until enemy dies. It's very repetitive.

Metal Gear Solid (PSX): Overall this game was disappointing. Stealth is a joke since enemies have a very narrow field of view and no peripheral vision which is a shame because the AI is definitely capable of some smart things like spotting footprints in the snow. Combat isn't that great since your aim doesn't properly lock onto the intended target sometimes. The plot also started out interesting enough but the dialogue went on some really weird tangents at times and the backtracking was a bit much, especially those elevators into the underground area that you have to ride multiple times and take forever. Having said that, there are definitely flashes of brilliance in the middle of all the muck, for example finding Meryl by waiting to see which soldier goes into the women's bathroom was a good moment without any handholding at all.

That's it for now. I'm currently playing Edna and Harvey: The Breakout which so far is a fun point-and-click adventure game with an incredible amount of interaction and reactions to every single combination of item usage and actions available which is actually pretty amazing.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Finished Albion. Very weirdo game in ways more than one.

The most fascinating part of it is probably how it stands with its legs apart in old and nuskool rpg design philosophies. On the one hand, it has dungeon crawling blobbery with all that entails, and on the other it has a lot of storyfaggotry. But both the aspects hardly feel finished, in fact I suspect the way Albion finally ended up is a far cry from its original vision. Stats that do nothing, mechanics listed in the manual that don't at all work like that in the game, big empty spaces of land, annoying cargo cult features, etc.

Still, I thought it was a cool game overall, if uneven or even downright confused. The beginning is very strong, and the first continent is alien enough to rival Morrowind in that aspect. And then you end up among space celts, wait what. Then there's a cool big continent with a complex and time-specific intrigue, which may have been the game's peak point. Then you meet the illuminati... and finally turn a space ship into a gigantic tree.

I liked the dungeons quite a bit though. A few of them may have been just a tad too long for their own good (druid HQ, kenget kamulos HQ), but they were true gauntlets that felt exciting to break through, and finishing them always felt like a relief after so much effort. Except the FUCKING equipment makers' lab, whoever designed that piece of shit should be sodomised with a rebar.

The backstory for the human presence on the alien world was also pretty weirdo, but in a good way. The people who made this game definitely had a lot of creativity, lots of things about it are very original.

 

[deuxhero]

Started a play of Fallout 2 for first time in forever. I forgot just how empty this (early?) game is. Skill checks are rare beyond straight speech, sequence is basically a straight line, quests only have one real solution and (sometimes) one that goes out of your way to be an asshole (rather than do it for your own benifit).

 

[Burning Bridges]

Most of playtime nowadays is Arma 3, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and sometimes X-Plane.

None of these games will interest anyone here but I also have discovered Hardspace Shipbreaker and that's an extraordinary time sink. Basically a work simulation in a science fiction setting that actually makes you feel like you accomplish something. They made dismantling the spacecraft enough of an intellectual challenge to keep things interesting and made sure all tools / activities feel rewarding to operate. The graphics are great and the physics are what you can expect from a 2021 game.