What game are you wasting time on?

[Maculo]

I tried to play Dawn of War 3 again, but I just don't have the stomach for it. Even on the hardest difficulty, it feels brain dead. It shocks me that the developer thought these missions were presentable, especially with Starcraft 2 on the market. Starcraft 2 and Blizzard deserves shit for various reasons, but every mission was somewhat unique and play-tested. In contrast, let's take the first Ork mission, where the "highpoint" of the mission is protecting a canon that doesn't come into play until the very end of the mission. Before you get to that point, you have banal attack-move across the map. When you finally get to the canon, you have to defend it against waves of enemy Eldar. . .that focus fire not on the canon, not on your forces, but any structure you may have built. Thus, building an HQ building slightly off from the canon ties up most of the waves, and because the eldar units don't bring any anti-building/siege units it takes ages for the HQ to go down. It is as though the developers never tested the mission.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

We should have a "Games You're Kinda Sorta Thinking About Playing But Probably Won't" companion topic to this one. Now that I can relate to with my advanced case of choice paralysis. Continuing in that vein, I'm kinda sorta thinking about playing a Ratchet and Clank game because I never really played one since I never got into consoles much after the 16-bit era. I did play the first few minutes of an R&C title on my old PS3, however, and noticed one thing immediately - slowdown, and more slowdown. But the first Rachet and Clank game for PC (Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart) has finally hit Steam, I noticed.

 

[Caim]

But the first Rachet and Clank game for PC (Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart) has finally hit Steam, I noticed.

Am almost seven hours into that one. It strongly builds on the previous games in the series, so most of the characterization and the alternate counterparts of established characters will be lost on you. The gameplay is fantastic and is a refinement of everything Insomniac has learned from 20 years of making Ratchet & Clank games. Current generation power allows for much less of the rectangular levels from the earlier games, and in some levels there's speed both on land and swinging around unlike anything seen before. The arsenal is great and the upgrade system is straightforward, granting power with every upgrade. The story at a basic level is more "multiverse lmao" stuff you've seen before, but each of the four main characters has their own conflict to deal with. The voice acting is on par with the rest of the series, with all major players sounding just like they have before. Rivet and Kit are nice additions to the cast, and they pulled off a genderswap version of a male character without it being cringe. The soundtrack is nice but there's no standout tracks so far, and they got Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo fame to do the music.

Unfortunately where the game falls a bit flat is the port quality: while there's assloads of visual and gameplay settings there's slowdown even on my rather beefy system, and I've had several visual and gameplay bugs and even a few crashes to desktop.

While I love this game enough that I can somewhat overlook the technical issues, I don't think this should be your first Ratchet & Clank game at all. This builds way too much on the previous entries in the series, and half the conflict will go right over your head if this is your starting point. I'd advice that you first play, at the absolute least, Up Your Arsenal and the Future trilogy (Tools of Destruction, Quest For Booty and A Crack in Time), with QFB being a shorter inbetween for ToD and ACiT).

 

[Leechmonger]

Continuing in that vein, I'm kinda sorta thinking about playing a Ratchet and Clank game because I never really played one since I never got into consoles much after the 16-bit era.

The first two games are a lot of fun, they're definitely worth playing on the PCSX2 emulator. The first one is more of an adventure game whereas the second one has a greater emphasis on shooting (and is easier).

 

[Ivan]

Judgment

I like it, not as much as peak Yakuza, but definitely not bad. I like the side cast, the sidequests, and the primary mystery is well done. The game drops the ball when it comes to the combat encounters. Most of them are way too easy and can be resolved in the first 10 seconds. The game has an annoying mechanic whereby random combat encounters are increased via a gang invading Kamurocho. I don't care for the ability based items that grant new moves, I find them gimmicky.

Combat aside, what I love about Yakuza is present here in spades. The primary campaign DOES have many annoying instances of "return to your base" which adds extra boring navigation. That said, I do feel this game has the strongest implementation of "romance quests" in any RGG game I've played thus far. I'm surprised by their quality and how unique each feels.

 

[Valestein]

This horror themed ARPG. It manages to create a real unsettling atmosphere between the visuals and the music.

 

[NecroLord]

Kotor is done.
The Star Forge is swarming with enemies, so I recommend a strong party setup, a caster (Jolee in my case) and two other melee beatsticks (Canderous and myself). You will do A LOT of fighting, try to conserve some of your force points.
Bastila can be redeemed if you are persuasive (easier to do if you romanced her), just do not bring up the Jedi Council.
Malak himself is a monster, hits like a truck and has very high saving throws. Being a Scout/Guardian melee beatstick I kicked his ass rather easily.
Hurray for Revan, savior of the Republic.



Kotor 2 is a lot darker in tone, more nuanced, deconstructing both the philosophies and code of the Jedi and the Sith.
Peragus is a chore, but does have a sense of dread as you discover how the facility was sabotaged.
I did Nar Shaddaa as my first planet. Atton has now become a Jedi Sentinel (and has quite a backstory himself as a killer of Jedi), I levelled him up to 11 Scoundrel, mostly for Sneak Attack and he is an excellent companion. Handmaiden has also become a Jedi Guardian and melee monster (you have to train with her three times in order to teach her the ways of the Jedi and must be level 18). Bao-Dur is also a Jedi Guardian. Mira is a Jedi Sentinel, only levelled her up to 9 Scout (force powers are way more powerful and useful than her scout feats).
I am a Jedi Consular/Jedi Weaponmaster - 15/4. It's insane how well these two classes mesh together.
Space Jesus is heading out to Dantooine next.

 

[Kabas]

Still going thru Dungeon Lords steam ver., this game is going to take awhile.
Further impressions

 

[Hag]

After reading enthusiast reviews of Hollow Knight, I decided to give it a try. Two hours in, I find it mostly underwhelming. Level design is ok, visuals are good, soundscape is disappointing. It is not bad but not very fun either, in a what-the-point way. I basically have no incentive to play further, no objective, no punchy music, no exhilarating fights. I guess I'll play a couple sessions more now I've reached a new area but I may not even.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

After reading enthusiast reviews of Hollow Knight, I decided to give it a try. Two hours in, I find it mostly underwhelming. Level design is ok, visuals are good, soundscape is disappointing. It is not bad but not very fun either, in a what-the-point way. I basically have no incentive to play further, no objective, no punchy music, no exhilarating fights. I guess I'll play a couple sessions more now I've reached a new area but I may not even.

I feel the same. Sometimes I feel this game has been blown out of proportion.

 

[Gromlintroid]

Rolled a Sorcerer for Season 1 of Diablo 4, alright so far, only like level 25 though, seems like a lot of complaints are about the end game, which I'm nowhere near yet.

 

[Frank Capicoli]

Trying Remnant 2. Another game with dogshit scaling systems that remove any sense of character progression.

I've complained in Team Ninja game threads like Nioh or Stranger of Paradise that those games have a loot system that is fatiguing to sift through all the garbage drops for something useable, Remnant 2 is on the opposite side of the problem where 90% of what you'll find are rings that boost 5% of this or that.

When you actually do find a weapon, or material to craft a weapon enjoy grinding souls scrap for hours just to find out it probably sucks compared to the literal starting weapons. You can't upgrade armor so as the level scaling increases enjoy it being more and more useless.

2023 really has been a great year for releases.

 

[Abu Antar]

I beat the first Ace Attorney game. I have the AC Collection, which includes the first three games. The games are silly af, but amusing. There's some thinking to do, but you will probably succeed in all cases if you pay attention.

INSMNIA: The Ark is an interesting game. Very janky, with performance issues on my PC, but the setting is cool, and so far combat is serviceable. I think the perspective change is holding it back, though. I will play it for as long as I can avoid any game stopping bugs. I just had a quick look at YouTube, and there are many lets plays that got abandoned due to some bug or another. I'm not that far in. Just got a package to deliver somewhere, but first, I must explore places that have nothing to do with my objective.

Did I write that I am done with Devil Survivor 2? I don't remember, but it is done at 59h. I found the game to be more challenging at the start, but from mid-game, I had demon setups that could obliterate encounters very quickly, and in some cases, even win within one round. But the final boss was whole new level of crazy. I did beat it on my first try, but I barely scraped by, and would not had the slightest chance to win if I didn't have such an OP party. Even that party barely won it. The story was merely okay, but the characters were not good, imo. I didn't really feel that any of them were really well written. Their designs weren't much better. On the other hand, there were many cool demon designs. Music was mostly top notch, so no complaints there.

 

[Shuruga]

After reading enthusiast reviews of Hollow Knight, I decided to give it a try. Two hours in, I find it mostly underwhelming. Level design is ok, visuals are good, soundscape is disappointing. It is not bad but not very fun either, in a what-the-point way. I basically have no incentive to play further, no objective, no punchy music, no exhilarating fights. I guess I'll play a couple sessions more now I've reached a new area but I may not even.

It picks up a bit if you stick with it -- you'll learn more advanced attacks, moves, and power-ups. The bosses get more involved, too.

I'm not much of a 2D/metroidvania person but I picked this up for the Switch for my kids, and I've ended up playing some myself and watching quite a bit of them playing it. You might not end up liking it at any stage but it definitely is more underwhelming in the beginning than it is in the middle.

Since I'm posting in this thread I'll mention that I just beat Dark Souls 2 and have started Wasteland 3. Dark Souls 2 was a lot of fun; I rolled a pure caster (sorcery + pyro) to contrast with the pure melee build I ran with Dark Souls. I like switching around genres a bit so I shifted over to Wasteland 3, which is fun, if tonally "interesting" a few hours in. After that it'll probably be Jade Empire, which I picked up during the summer sale and is one of the last old school Bioware games I haven't played yet.

 

[flyingjohn]

Daemon x Machina, a mech action game.
Do you like Zone of the Enders? Well, you ain't getting anything resembling said fast mecha action here unfortunately.
Do you like Armored Core? Well, you ain't getting any decent customization or interesting bosses here unfortunately.
Do you like extremely cringy anime tropes and characters constantly yapping? The game delivers in spades, unfortunately.

There is s a ice cream shop that gives you boosts, that is nice. But I prefer Deep Rock Galactic's beer.

 

[BruceVC]

I finished Gothic 2 after about 100 hours and as I mentioned in a previous post its a highly recommended, classic PB design game which includes all the things we love about PB games which are

• no level scaling and no map hand holding
• an open world and multiple ways to advance skills and lots of side quests

I played as a Paladin and I also used scrolls in certain combat strategies. I adopted a good approach to defeat the dragons which included a Summon Demon spell and then I attacked while the dragons were distracted

G2 gets a well deserved 70/100 on the globally respected " BruceVC game rating system "

Now the next exciting question, what next to play? I have several options which I will post later

 

[tred]

After reading enthusiast reviews of Hollow Knight, I decided to give it a try. Two hours in, I find it mostly underwhelming. Level design is ok, visuals are good, soundscape is disappointing. It is not bad but not very fun either, in a what-the-point way. I basically have no incentive to play further, no objective, no punchy music, no exhilarating fights. I guess I'll play a couple sessions more now I've reached a new area but I may not even.

The same happened to me the first time I tried Hollow Knight. However, years after the first attempt I gave it another chance and was absolutely blown away.
Give it real a chance and some good hours. The map is gigantic, exploration is top notch, the combat gets *much* better in time.
It is absolutely the best of the best in the metroidvania genre. Very few games even come close to it.

 

[Krivol]

The same happened to me the first time I tried Hollow Knight. However, years after the first attempt I gave it another chance and was absolutely blown away.

Same here. At first, I thought it will be a fun, colourful game with bugs (I mean protagonist etc, not code errors) but found it quite depressing. But after a few months, I tried again and it clicked (I haven't finished it, as the game is hard as fuck sometimes).

 

[Abu Antar]

I thought it was merely okay, with a poor map.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I liked Hollow Knight well enough, but it felt very tiresome to play.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

>play SWOS in career mode
>my team does so so, lacks goal scoring power
>train against the b team
>they beat my a team 2-0 with ease, and the sub goalie, which i wanted to sell, blocks every single shot

this is me right now

 

[Krivol]

Don't give up, mate!

 

[PulsatingBrain]

Nearly attacked this lovely gal again!

Dark Souls 2 is certainly more enjoyable once you become a rolling death machine. Still the stinker of the series for me, but it's not the slog I was bracing for.

Getting screenshots off the PS4 is much more convenient when you realise that you can send it as a message, then access it on the phone app. Still ridiculous, but better than the USB method.

 

[flyingjohn]

Trying to get ff vii pc versions to work.
Newest one is the windoes store one, yeah nope.
Second newest is the 2013 steam version. It requires you to login to your square account to play. And when you "bypass " that, it crashes.
Tried the oldest one( the original 98 version) , it works when you use everything from the pcgamingwiki wiki. I was shocked it was able to be installed, especially on windows 10.

Now why would i bother with the pc version? The newthreat mod is a hardmode exclusive to pc.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

View attachment 39489

Nearly attacked this lovely gal again!

Dark Souls 2 is certainly more enjoyable once you become a rolling death machine. Still the stinker of the series for me, but it's not the slog I was bracing for.

Getting screenshots off the PS4 is much more convenient when you realise that you can send it as a message, then access it on the phone app. Still ridiculous, but better than the USB method.

that bird has such a big ass though