What game are you wasting time on?

[Hag]

Finally tried Golden Light. The art style and atmosphere looked my kind of weird stuff. After playing 80 minutes I asked to refund.
Most of the game seems quite good, the design feels sound, balanced if quite hardcore, visual and soundscape make for a good immersion in this Gut world where you need to dive to find your loved one. But simply said, it's not fun, at all. Levels are tiny cramped mazes where monsters hides but since the view distance is five meters at best you spend your time walking slowly, hoping you don't trip on some enemy. Yes, the walking speed is terrible, but the levels are so small it doesn't matter. Gameplay loop reminds me of The Binding of Isaac, random floors with a few weapons, gold and perks. They say it the deeper the weirder but for my first play it was all very boring. Basic weapons. Useless perks. You can't dodge attacks so you always take damages, whether you fight or you flee. You are always on the brink of death. Very good for tension, but about as fun as getting bashed in the head and saying it's ok because you somehow survived it and are willing to try again. Maybe there is a story or lore hidden down there but all the notes and PNJs talk are random gibberish.
While the game is not bad nothing makes me want to play further, so fuck it.

Moved to Chessmaster 9000. It's very good for the newbie I am. The built-in lessons and exercises are well designed and do a good job of introducing you to basic tactics. The program is very well designed, I don't like much the 3D chessboard but who cares, I don't play chess for the visuals.

 

[BLOBERT]

Quadrilateral Cowboy

Definitely the meatiest of Brendon's games thus far, Quadrilateral Cowboy is a thief-like puzzle game with an emphasis on tactile tools the player employs to infiltrate interiors. It slowly adds new tools to your toolbelt and what's neat is its levels focus on the utilization of each tool in more difficult ways. Soon the game presents levels that force you to employ your tools in conjunction, then it adds a time element, all told it does a great job of keeping things fresh through its campaign. As in the previous games, the character work and wolrdbuilding is well done, without forcefeeding or screaming your ear off with any forced narration. There's enough detail, in-game props, environments, and set-pieces to sell you on the characters and the world. The music, mostly licensed, is excellent as well. Minimal sound design but lots of neat touches that go back to the emphasis the game has on tactility.

cons: I did suffer some CTD, and it kinds sucks that you can't save mid-level, though the levels are short once you've mentally "solved" them

BRO GOOD TO HEAR I BOUGHT THIS ON ITCH TO SAY I SUPPORT UKRAINE WITHOUT REALLY DOING ANYTHUNG

 

[octavius]

I've spend most of my gaming time with Age of Wonders maps this year, and most of the rest on HoMM 3 maps.
So I needed something different, like OpenXcom - Terror From the Deep. I'm playing it Iron Man on Veteran.

 

[Keshik]

Replaying Cyberpunk 2077 with the 1.5 patch, trying an SMG build now. The changes since I last played seem okay so far, at least I 'm not getting bombarded by fixer calls and messages. Having gigs open up is also nice. Trying to be stealthy without using too much hacking.

Just killing time until Syberia 4 launches next week

 

[ghostdog]

The Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos...

I'm blown away by the quality of this mod. Maybe equal and at times even even better than the original Gothic 2 Notr. After playing Fallout of Nevada and then this, the reality is that 2 of the best RPGs of the recent years are fanmade mods. Those crazy Pollacks did a fantastic job with Myrtana.

Be sure to get the Polish VO, even if you don't understand a thing (I don't). It's great, it provides a lot of atmosphere. Better than 90% professional VOs out there.

 

[Kabas]

Was in a mood for some commandos-like tactics so while choosing between first Desperados, that Robin Hood game and the original commandos i decided to play them all at the same time and compare them directly.

Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
The one that birthed the genre if i am not mistaken. Overall looks good even if a bit drab. Kinda fitting given the WW2 setting.
I do apreciate the simplicity. Here are your dudes, here are the stuff they can do - now go and complete the mission.
Encountered some techincal issues on win10 like sound dissapearing and the occasional crashes.

Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive
It's fucking beautiful. I didn't encounter any technical issues thanks to the game being remastered or something which is nice.
Trying to do stealth or succesfully executing a loud shootout both feels satisfying.

Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood
It's fucking beautiful, you wish your average fantasy rpg looked half as good. I am kinda biased towards this one as this is the only commandos-like game i played during my childhood.
Installing the performance fix solved the in-game slowdown problem but in turn slowdowns are now in the menu and the cursor now leaves tracks on the screen(thankfully only in the menu or during dialogue pop-ups). Well, at least the game itself is playable.
Compared to the previous two you have an access to hub in which merry man you didn't take on a mission can produce consumables or raise their combat skills.
I am not exactly the fun of the game encouraging me to spare lifes. What's the point of giving my main character a bow if he can't shoot people with it?

Commandos 2: Men of Courage
Compared to the first one in which the help menu quickly shows you all you need to know about gameplay in this one you definitely should read the manual first. The tutorial scenarios don't explain some important stuff like how to peek into windows or that jumping into one and lockpicking the door from the inside is how you play as a new thief character
Not sure what to feel about the introduction of the inventory but i do like the new interactions you can do like steal the wirecutters(which are not exclusive to sapper anymore) from the worker to cut the fences or combine the sleeping pills with the dog food to deal with the enemy dog. Almost feels like i am playing an isometric adventure game.
I definitely dislike the constant need to rotate the camera but at least the maps are now kinda prettier compared to the first game. Another additions to the original team of 6 are women and a dog that your characters can put in their backpack, looks cute.

Unrelated, but i also played Cruasader: No Remorse. Already 10-11 missions deep.
I don't think they make action games like this anymore. Controls take a bit being used to but once you do it's fun rolling from the corners and suprising motherfuckas.
These FMV cutsences are oozing with charm.

 

[Rahdulan]

Since you're in the mood you might as well try out Star Trek: Away Team. Also, I remember the first Commandos looking way better in my head.

 

[octavius]

Was in a mood for some commandos-like tactics so while choosing between first Desperados, that Robin Hood game and the original commandos i decided to play them all at the same time and compare them directly.

Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
The one that birthed the genre if i am not mistaken.

I assume they are real time, then?

 

[Strange Fellow]

Fired up Troubleshooter yesterday for the first time in a month or two, and it turns out that saved games are stored server-side. Either that or they've been deleted by updates or something. All I know is that I never deleted any saves or even uninstalled the game, and yet they're all gone. Why is modern gaming the way that it is?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Unrelated, but i also played Cruasader: No Remorse. Already 10-11 missions deep.
I don't think they make action games like this anymore. Controls take a bit being used to but once you do it's fun rolling from the corners and suprising motherfuckas.
These FMV cutsences are oozing with charm.

my favorite ultima game

 

[BruceVC]

​

So Im having a break for a day or two and just playing some RDR2 single-player casually but with John and from the end of his story, its great fun because Im playing as a murderous sociopath who kills people for any reason and commits numerous illegal acts and crimes

 

[Kabas]

Since you're in the mood you might as well try out Star Trek: Away Team. Also, I remember the first Commandos looking way better in my head.

Checked some gameplay videos on youtube. I would say on the scale of "a bit drab" to "fucking beautiful" it's closer to ''a bit drab" in terms of visuals but overall looks interesting.

 

[Abu Antar]

I'm not 100%ing it, but I am playing Way of the Samurai 4. Probably, I will end up with a few different runs just for fun.

 

[thelegend]

Finished Bayonetta 2. I enjoyed the combat. I feel it is a mediocre game (not 10/10 - ign) when compared to other hack and slash games.

 

[Zizka]

I’ve started playing Fallout: Nevada (Extended).
Random things I noticed (mostly nitpicking)

Spoiler

*I had to scale down the resolution as I couldn’t see the road post to use as a lever.

* The intro was intriguing with a good atmosphere. I want to know what happened. Amnesia might a played out trope it’s still a good plot device to me.

* At the beginning, I have my party of three set up to go outside.
I try: “you must gather your party before venturing forth”.
I try to get the two other guys closer. Try again:
“you must gather your party before venturing forth”
I try again. Doesn’t work.
There’s only one last guy left to talk to. I talked to him before and had picked the choice: “Fine stay behind then”.

Well it turns out you can’t leave him behind. I was getting “you must gather your party before venturing forth” because I hadn’t convinced him of coming with me…

This wasn’t a good first impression but nothing major. If I don’t have the choice of bringing him along to go outside why bother giving the choice? I was reluctant to try a fan mod because I was concerned of amateur fumbles like this one. I’ve never played a fan made content mod for that very reason: not everyone has the skill to be a good dev but a lot of people want to.

Nothing to stop from playing mind you but an oversight.

After levering the stones you get the message that they have rolled down the cliff. I looked down the cliff and there was nothing, the rocks had just vanished. Again, nothing major but just moving the pile of stones further down would’ve been a nice touch.

The talking head I’ve seen was a bit lacking but I might have too high expectations.

I was hoping for new traits for character generation but they’re the default one. Would’ve been nice to have new options.

I’ve seen a couple of new assets which was a pleasant surprise.

The voice acting of the intro is no Ron Pearlman but good enough. The intro cinematic is also good enough.

So I’ll keep going for now. The native village was a good and creative idea, I liked it.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I'm not 100%ing it, but I am playing Way of the Samurai 4. Probably, I will end up with a few different runs just for fun.

Picked out a favorite style yet?

 

[BruceVC]

I have decided to play Oblivion next. I played it in 2008 but this time I will using mods

Its a public holiday on Monday in SA so I basically have nice long weekend to really get into Oblivion again

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I’ve started playing Fallout: Nevada (Extended).
Random things I noticed (mostly nitpicking)

I gave Fallout Nevada a brief go last week.

What made me drop it were two things: The UI and the design decisions of the modders.

It's a sad fact that the Fallout 1 & 2-UI is pretty bad. Much has changed and improved in the 25 years since these games were new, to the point that this feels decrepit. Were it not for the fact that I'm well familiar with the UI I wouldn't have bothered for as long as I did.

The "design decisions"-part were the clear intentions of having only one way to resolve certain scenarios, and to make that way purposefully obscure.

Two examples where I'm trying to avoid spoilers:

# Very early on there are two doors literally facing each other, and neither door can be opened by normal means. One is described as being bolted and can only be opened from the inside, and the other is locked and secured from the inside. So one would think that the solution is only needing to get on the other side somehow, possibly via an alternate path. Nope! The areas beyond those two doors are linked together; one leads to the other. There's nothing in-between them that aids the player. Quite the opposite, there's a third door along the way which needs to be opened (which is done via resolving a quest).

So how does one get through this? By finding the right 'key'. In another map there's a building with a locked door (that makes four doors now) which must be picked open (as I sure couldn't find another way through it) and inside is the 'key' to the second door mentioned above. But the 'key' cannot be just used on the door, either from the inventory or straight from the hand. No... due to *reasons* the key must be thrown at the door. It's the only way that works. It's not the lack of context that bothers me about this, it's getting the game to acknowledge that you want to use the key on the door.

This is a terrible thing to have at the start of a game, or a mod for that game. A good modder would have found ways of having an early-game puzzle more accessible... right?

# The general idea that you need to spot near-microscopic details in the game world, in the graphics of FO1 and FO2, with an added layer of maliciousness by using the limitations of the graphics to hide things from view.

Needing to literally pixel-hunt in Fallout 1? You can fuck right off with that.

The writing looked decent (amnesia-based main plot aside) and the setting seemed sound - but when it's clear the mod is designed around 'Russian'-level difficulty, I just lost interest. A pity, but I won't lose any sleep over this.

 

[Abu Antar]

I'm not 100%ing it, but I am playing Way of the Samurai 4. Probably, I will end up with a few different runs just for fun.

Picked out a favorite style yet?

Ayade Swordfighting is my favorite from the PS2 days, but for now, I have not done a hard run to unlock it.

I have been trying Impenetra Swordfighting for now.

 

[Krivol]

After finishing every campaign of Shogun 2 on hard, I decided to try Empire Total War, and... this game is fun but yet full of crap :D.

I love the scale, I had to get used to UI quirkiness (Shogun 2 has much better UI), battles feel great but...

AI is shit in a funny way - both on Strategic and Tactical maps. Getting into the middle of my country to raze and burn with a strong stack that will be killed with my units that were occupying cities on their back? Sure, why not! Having 3:1 advantage in numbers with all supporting armies, and yet not waiting for them and attacking 1 UNIT by 1 UNIT? Sure, great idea!

I thought that S2 AI is quite stupid, only capable of "get in line, attack in formation, don't do anything spectacular", but ETW is a new level of bad :D. Especially when you should expect from the game that shows "line infantry" tactics to do... well... some line formations. Still, I have a ton of fun with this game and it's not impossible to lose a battle when outnumbered (very badly outnumbered and drunk). I hope Napoleon is much better about this.

How is it possible Rome 2 has bad AI? I mean from ETW to S2TW they improved it a lot.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I'm not 100%ing it, but I am playing Way of the Samurai 4. Probably, I will end up with a few different runs just for fun.

Picked out a favorite style yet?

Ayade Swordfighting is my favorite from the PS2 days, but for now, I have not done a hard run to unlock it.

I have been trying Impenetra Swordfighting for now.

I see you are a fellow Jodan enjoyer as well.

 

[Zizka]

After downloading 70+ GB for Stranger of Paradise, the game won’t launch. Then I found out it’s your party is A.I. controlled and knew I was actually blessed. A.I. controlled, dear god.

It's a sad fact that the Fallout 1 & 2-UI is pretty bad. Much has changed and improved in the 25 years since these games were new, to the point that this feels decrepit. Were it not for the fact that I'm well familiar with the UI I wouldn't have bothered for as long as I did.

Yes, I have to agree. It could be improved upon to be more user friendly.

So how does one get through this? By finding the right 'key'. In another map there's a building with a locked door (that makes four doors now) which must be picked open (as I sure couldn't find another way through it) and inside is the 'key' to the second door mentioned above. But the 'key' cannot be just used on the door, either from the inventory or straight from the hand. No... due to *reasons* the key must be thrown at the door. It's the only way that works. It's not the lack of context that bothers me about this, it's getting the game to acknowledge that you want to use the key on the door.

The key thing is 99% likely a bug. There’s no other explanation for it. I think I know which area you’re talking about. Couldn’t get in there. I’m still starting out so I don’t know if this a recurrent problem yet.

# The general idea that you need to spot near-microscopic details in the game world, in the graphics of FO1 and FO2, with an added layer of maliciousness by using the limitations of the graphics to hide things from view.

Yeah as mentioned before, the adventure game intro is the opposite of Fallout. This never happened in F1 and F2. Adding more ways to overcome the challenges would’ve been so much better (high strength to clear the landslide, high perception to indicate an important object is nearby like for traps, etc…).

Again, I don’t mind amnesia. I don’t like the idea that it can never be used again as a plot device. I mean, sure, it’s been done to death but it could still be implemented well.

Restart:
I had to restart for a pretty bizarre reason. I’ll try to remain non-spoiler about it.

At some point, an npc told me to go somewhere for the main quest. I clicked continue too fast and missed where it was. So I bring up my journal and look up the quest to find out where I need to go. Quest says: “Find out about x”, it wasn’t updated to where I need to go which I just found out.

So while I think that’s something which should’ve been recorded I talk to the guy again so he can repeat where I need to go. No dice. He doesn’t. So I only use a single quick save, there are no auto saves, can’t find out where I need to go. I could explore everything to eventually find out but I don’t want to guess my way through. I also don’t use guides.

To be honest, my first character was kind of a bad build so I didn’t really mind but having a journal which doesn’t record important information is a shortcoming.

Another thing: I clear area as part of a quest. I’m 50 XP short of a level. I talk to the relevant npc and get no xp for clearing the quest. This happened twice already for two different quests…

Now, I will continue playing the game. It’s not F1 or F2, there’s no comparison here in my book. Not even close. It is what it is: a fan made game with warts and all. I’m tempted to try Resurrection to see if suffers from the same issues.

I still think it’s good enough to play however, at least for now. I wish the modders were still working on it, there’s still work to be done. One thing that kind of bothered me were the multiple versions with non-descriptive titles: “crazy edition”, “extended”…

There are so few alternatives sadly. Everything is action/“rpg” now so you either play UnderRail for the 60th time or try content mods who seldom live up to the originals.

Speaking of which:
Nostalgia is a funny thing. I forgot how few character sprites Fallout 1 & 2 had. As I’m exploring Nevada, I keep thinking: “This model again?” I’d need to read on how they made the characters, whether it’s 2D or 3D sized down. I remember being bothered that by using a sword the knife sprite was showing up (in Fallout 2).

For instance, when the character needs to move straight down, he just keeps zigzagging down as if he was having a seizure. I guess it’s unavoidable with isometric.

I can draw PIP boy and I’m sure others can. It would’ve been so nice to see new perks!

Fallout in all it’s glory could be improved upon. Some skills should be merged to make them more enticing or eliminated entirely. Do people ever put skill points in outdoorsman? Having hunger/thirst mechanic would make the skill worthwhile. Couldn’t repairing be merged with science? Or have equipment wear out to that repairing is more useful than just a couple of quests? Is gambling ever worth it? You could argue they all have their uses. But some skills are more equal than others.

So if you can accept this for what it is, it’s still worth it, if only because there’s nothing else like.

 

[thesecret1]

I just beat Mount & Blade: Viking Conquest. It was... interesting. Compared to warband, you get the historical setting (a big plus, I liked that they clearly put some research into the period), naval combat (it was kinda repetitive, nevertheless I enjoyed it. It was a nice change of pace compared to the usual battles), different units and equipment (equipment actually had worse variety, so that kinda sucked. Units seemed alright), a massive map (that you'll curse whenever you need to sail from one end to the other) and a story campaign!

So of course I played the story campaign, trying to see what's up. It starts off pretty strong. Really strong, actually, it's a simple tale of revenge that works pretty good, and you kinda feel like your rival is actually doing shit to harm you; I liked that part a lot. Then early game ends and it all falls off from a cliff – the up until then really interesting story takes a turn towards the generic and honestly is kinda shitty. What the hell happened? Did the devs get bored or something? You get to decide whether you wanna join the vikings or saxons, after which point everything turns to shit. I joined the vikings. Maybe the saxon story was more interesting? I heavily doubt it. Once the story ends you can continue in sandbox, but by then you've probably already seen sort of everything the game has to offer.

Overall it was an interesting spin on warband, but doesn't offer anything that'd make you want to replay it. Fun enough for one playthrough, provided you enjoy the setting and period, but otherwise, there's no reason not to reach for one of the better mods on warband instead.

 

[Jvegi]

Still NWN OC. Rarely was the "wasting time" expression more accurate.

 

[flyingjohn]

Tested a couple of stealth games for a hour/two.

Ghost of a tale:
What i expected:
The ultimate story fag mouse game with basic stealth/rpg elements.
What i got:
The ultimate story fag mouse game with basic stealth/rpg elements.
Strengths:
-Game really looks nice.Especially the animations.
-No ability to permanently knock off enemies
-Lore/story is really good and non cinematic
-Level design is decent with plenty of stuff to backtrack/explore.No real verticality though.
-A basic disguise system that works with a trade off
-No overabundance of crafting garbage
-Even when crouch walking you create sound
-Save spots are generous(you can save in any object that you can hide)
Weakness:
-AI is quite mediocre.It ain't blind,but it can be cheesed easily by abusing corners.
-The rpg elements are quests that are mostly just fetch quests and outfits that give you passive/active bonuses.
Score:


Republique:
What i expected:
Cinematic stealth game
What i got:
A escort "hacking" stealth game
Strengths:
-The aesthetic gets the clean dictator look
-Hacking stealth games where you guide are rare(i don't remember any others except the experiment and some other adventure games)
-Your escortee can't hoard stuff and there is a resource connected to your abilities(battery)
Weakness:
-Constantly switching between normal and hack view gets tedious
-Camera angles are bad and require constant jumping to another camera to accomplish anything
-The game is very cinematic with a heavy focus on reading guards emails and their phone conversations.The writing isn't good enough to make these stand out.
-The AI is bad.It is easy to maneuver around and has goldfish memory.
-Checkpoint only saves
-Levels are small and linear
-Nonexistent failure state
-Pathfinding works but even then there are issues where your escortee gets stuck in some loop.
Score:


Seven enhanced edition:
What i expected:
Isometric Thiefus.
What i got:
Isometric stealth Witcher.
Strengths:
-It combines multiple genres(open world,stealth,action adventure)
-The writing is nothing special but not bad.
-It gives you plenty of toys/abilities to play with.Opening up a tutorial with a disguise system is a always a plus for me.
-The level design is boring but the added verticality makes up for it.
-Save anywhere.
Weakness:
-Camera is atrocious.You constantly see building elements appear and disappear since verticality is a big thing for this game.
I never played a isometric game with such a basic problem.
-The AI is one of the worst stealth ai i have ever seen.They are blind and easily loose track of you if you just run for a little bit.
-Combat is just button mashing boredom.
-Controls are not as tight they need to be.
-Bugs are still present in the enhanced edition.I jumped on some piped and they disintegrated.Also every time i loaded i was under shocked,if it is intentional it is weird.
-The crafting system completely ruins the game.There is so much garbage in this game littered everywhere.And every time you want to collect something,you have to wait a couple of seconds.
-No real sense of progression.
-Assassin Creed like map icons everywhere.
-Mandatory combat segments for a "stealth" game.
Verdict: