What game are you wasting time on?

[AndyS]

Playing Betrayal at Krondor for the first time since it was released. I'm on chapter 2 right now.

 

[mold]

I haven't had a great gaming year so far, but here's what I've played in the past few months:

Games I finished:

Solasta: Crown of the Magister - Expected more from this. First I was annoyed that I had to buy DLCs to get access to my favorite classes, and then I was annoyed with myself for having wasted money on this because the game was such an absolute bore that I started losing interest before I was even halfway through. Slow combat, one or two interesting fights. Had some serious performance issues. My computer is old but it shouldn't have been that bad.

Point & click adventures:
Blackwell series (minus the first one which I played a couple of years ago) - Too easy but otherwise ok.
Boxville - Decent short game with traditional puzzles seen too many times before.
Catie in MeowmeowLand - Not much of a game but interesting to look at.
Clothes Line - Granny game. Very short and simple.
Unavowed - Even easier than the Blackwell games. Liked nothing about this except the visuals.

Suzerain - The Sordland story was exciting. I was playing centrist and things didn't end well. That was fun. Didn't care for the Rizia story. Royals are always boring and everything was always going the way I wanted it to go.

--

Games I dropped:

Dysmantle - Mindless casual game where the player destroys stuff and fights respawning monsters.
Elderborn - Barbarian game. First person melee. Nice music, bland gameplay. But it's short so I might go back and finish it.
Machinarium - Unbearably slow walking speed.
Obduction - Can't play because I get motion sickness. Tried changing graphics settings but didn't help.
Outward - Gave up on this really fast. The survival stuff sounded interesting but the combat felt awkward.
Sanitarium - Meh.
Seasons After Fall - Wanted to try something new but I'm not into puzzle platformers (or any platformers). Seemed very easy.
The Inner World - Too talky for a point & click adventure.
The Technomancer - Not my kind of game.

--

Played a few hours of old favorites Age of Wonders and Master of Orion 2, but was disappointed to discover I don't love them like I used to. I was hoping to try some newer turn-based strategy games (I haven't played anything newer than HoMM5), but maybe the genre isn't for me anymore.

Also played some Project Zomboid. I love the atmosphere but the game can be a bit tedious, and once a character survives a couple of months, I start playing so carefully it stops being fun. And then I die in some stupid way anyway.

--

Currently playing:

Cryptmaster - Word game dungeon crawler. Started this about a month ago but haven't made much progress. It's a nice game, but it's not very fun having to type the same words over and over in combat.
Wasteland 2 - It's all right. I didn't get very far when I first tried it and might not make it to the end this time either, but we'll see.

 

[Zlaja]

I intend to start my first playthrough of Wasteland 3 today. Wish me luck against those potheads in Colorado.

 

[BadassNonbinaryPrincess]

I've been playing through Unreal Tournament just against bots. So many maps, such good AI and modes, one of the best games ever made.

 

[Spike]

I haven't had a great gaming year so far, but here's what I've played in the past few months:

Games I finished:

Solasta: Crown of the Magister - Expected more from this. First I was annoyed that I had to buy DLCs to get access to my favorite classes, and then I was annoyed with myself for having wasted money on this because the game was such an absolute bore that I started losing interest before I was even halfway through. Slow combat, one or two interesting fights. Had some serious performance issues. My computer is old but it shouldn't have been that bad.

Point & click adventures:
Blackwell series (minus the first one which I played a couple of years ago) - Too easy but otherwise ok.
Boxville - Decent short game with traditional puzzles seen too many times before.
Catie in MeowmeowLand - Not much of a game but interesting to look at.
Clothes Line - Granny game. Very short and simple.
Unavowed - Even easier than the Blackwell games. Liked nothing about this except the visuals.

Suzerain - The Sordland story was exciting. I was playing centrist and things didn't end well. That was fun. Didn't care for the Rizia story. Royals are always boring and everything was always going the way I wanted it to go.

--

Games I dropped:

Dysmantle - Mindless casual game where the player destroys stuff and fights respawning monsters.
Elderborn - Barbarian game. First person melee. Nice music, bland gameplay. But it's short so I might go back and finish it.
Machinarium - Unbearably slow walking speed.
Obduction - Can't play because I get motion sickness. Tried changing graphics settings but didn't help.
Outward - Gave up on this really fast. The survival stuff sounded interesting but the combat felt awkward.
Sanitarium - Meh.
Seasons After Fall - Wanted to try something new but I'm not into puzzle platformers (or any platformers). Seemed very easy.
The Inner World - Too talky for a point & click adventure.
The Technomancer - Not my kind of game.

--

Played a few hours of old favorites Age of Wonders and Master of Orion 2, but was disappointed to discover I don't love them like I used to. I was hoping to try some newer turn-based strategy games (I haven't played anything newer than HoMM5), but maybe the genre isn't for me anymore.

Also played some Project Zomboid. I love the atmosphere but the game can be a bit tedious, and once a character survives a couple of months, I start playing so carefully it stops being fun. And then I die in some stupid way anyway.

--

Currently playing:

Cryptmaster - Word game dungeon crawler. Started this about a month ago but haven't made much progress. It's a nice game, but it's not very fun having to type the same words over and over in combat.
Wasteland 2 - It's all right. I didn't get very far when I first tried it and might not make it to the end this time either, but we'll see.

Sorry but Outward is a stupendous, wonderful game. I am slow to finish Elderborn too, though, even though it is cool and decently fun.

 

[Ezekiel]

Tent was too big after I had changed it as Mumbo, allowing me only to become the big T-rex. Had to go back to Mumbo's house and get him again, shrink the tent again, go back to Mumbo's house once more to play as Banjo and Kazooie again and then go to the tent a third time to become the small T-rex.

I preferred the simplicity of the first game. Sequel is too big.

 

[Yeoman]

Rum & Gun - recently released pirate-themed ARPG / twin-stick shooter. I like the emphasis on ranged combat and movement in this game. The healing system is slower and not as powerful as typical ARPGs, you can't just spam potions while face tanking damage (one of my pet peeves with the genre). Drinking rum from your flask puts away your weapons and slows you down. And although enemies drop plenty of rum, you can't carry much of it at a time, only slightly more than enough for a full heal. I also like the greater freedom in its equipment socketing system that lets you freely socket and remove runes at will.

Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 (PS3, emulated via RPCS3) - fans of the original GR often recommend that we stick to the PC ports of the GRAW games but I do not find them to be true to the GR experience at all. The linear levels and poor enemy AI (but frustrating aimbots) in the GRAW PC ports just do not make for a fun experience. Although the singleplayer campaign of the console version of GRAW 2 is indeed very arcadey, I find its multiplayer maps very well designed and true to the sandbox style maps of the OG GR. I am currently playing either the firefight mode against enemy AI or the co-op mission mode. There are 32 maps, with 6 having (well-designed) co-op missions. I think this game has the best incarnation of the terrorist hunt mode in Tom Clancy games. You cannot bring squad AI with you like in OG GR or in the Rainbow Six games, but I've always found the squad AI severely lacking for the terrorist hunt/firefight modes anyway, they function as little more than mules for your special equipment/grenades.

Saints Row 2 - we all know the PC port sucks, and I've always considered it unplayable despite the various efforts of the mod community (Gentlemen of the Row, Powertools, etc). However, to my surprise, a new community performance patch for this was released lately, the Juiced patch and it's been working very well for me. It's the first time I've gotten the game to work without weird slowdown / speed-up issues. Fans of the game should give it a try.

 

[Renfri]

Pathifinder: Wrath of the Righteous and I hate moving camera around to reveal pathways in the Abyss with passion.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I've been playing a shitload of Gothic 1 and 2 for the past month or two. Our area was hit with a huge power and internet outage that lasted for the better part of a week. The only gaming device I had on-hand was the trusty 'ol Nintendo Switch, which I remembered having downloaded the Gothic 1 port onto. I never played Gothic 1, only NOTR, and it seemed as good a time as any.

Having only played G2 Gold many years ago after picking it up in a bargain bin, it was good to finally get through the original. After running around the colony, and knowing the area like the back of your hand, the weight of Ch.2 G2 really hits differently. Finally making the connections between Bloodwyn, Thorus, Raven, and all the incidental characters you meet along the way makes for a much better experience, although G2 does a pretty good job introducing you into the world if you've never played the original. The Switch port of G1 wasn't terrible, IMO, outside the game crashing quite a bit. I think they adapted the game's controls pretty nicely, and frankly I was just happy to have something inclined to play while the power was out.

G2 really is just a lot of fun, and I've been running through the first few chapters with different builds over and over again. I never got much into the game's mechanics much back in the day. I don't think I even bothered with using scrolls, levelling up 'optimally', or any of that. Not much to say about Gothic 2 that codexers haven't put more succinctly than I could over the years- but it really is a good time, and I never get tired of combat system. The 1-on-1 fights almost remind me of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, in a way.

--

Having sunk some time into a ___ 'Gold' game already, I decided I'd boot up Sacred 1 Gold and give it a spin. Made a Seraphim, was enjoying it for 10 or so levels but after awhile its performance issues were just bugging me too much to deal with. I've tried a bunch of the fixes out there- dgVoodoo (which causes the game to fail to launch, probably due to my ineptitude more than anything), different compatibility modes, running the game under a single core, trying an 'HD mod', none of it made an impact and the game just runs like dogshit when zooming out. I know there's a Reborn mod out there but I hear it also makes a bunch of balancing changes and I wanted to play the game vanilla. Oh well.

Still, now I'm in the mood for an ARPG where I can play a waifu like the Seraphim. I've played D2, POE and Grim Dawn to death. But I don't think there's anything out there.

 

[NecroLord]

I'm playing Hitman 2: Silent Assassin after finishing Codename 47.
"Invitation to a party" is one of the best missions in the series.

Good stuff.

 

[cioran]

The Witcher 2

Much better and less forced than TW3 which I never bothered to finish...

 

[Naraya]

Finished (again) BGEE (ignoring the "EE" content as usual). Still one of the best CRPGS EVER.

 

[Yeoman]

Having sunk some time into a ___ 'Gold' game already, I decided I'd boot up Sacred 1 Gold and give it a spin. Made a Seraphim, was enjoying it for 10 or so levels but after awhile its performance issues were just bugging me too much to deal with. I've tried a bunch of the fixes out there- dgVoodoo (which causes the game to fail to launch, probably due to my ineptitude more than anything), different compatibility modes, running the game under a single core, trying an 'HD mod', none of it made an impact and the game just runs like dogshit when zooming out. I know there's a Reborn mod out there but I hear it also makes a bunch of balancing changes and I wanted to play the game vanilla. Oh well.

Still, now I'm in the mood for an ARPG where I can play a waifu like the Seraphim. I've played D2, POE and Grim Dawn to death. But I don't think there's anything out there.

It's too bad dgVoodoo2 isn't working on your end, that's what solved the performance issues for me. You should only have to copy the contents of the \MS\x86\ folder into the same folder as the game .exe and it should work fine right away. However, extra tweaking with dgVoodoo2's control panel is required for things such as getting the game to run at the resolution / aspect ratio you want.

Sacred 1 has decent combat-feel and exploration but the character building is too shallow for me. Sacred 2 greatly improved upon the character building but is worse in everything else, it's a shame.

 

[AndyS]

Had a good time finishing off Quake. Now to get back to Betrayal at Krondor. I forgot the rations are sometimes spoiled, causing Gorath to keep getting sick...

 

[Ezekiel]

All these shrines finished so far on this second playthrough years later, sixty hours, and still not one divine beast. Having all abilities from the start and no special items that open paths (because the map is too big for that) makes the "dungeons" and main story so boring. Much easier to get lost in than the stale GTA structure of the other modern open world games, though.

I also wish the look of Zelda was more consistent. The designs are all over the place (and time).

 

[Abu Antar]

I'm als playing Breath of the Wild (for the first time). 40ish hours, 40ish shrines done, and two divine beasts defeated.

 

[NecroLord]

I've been playing some Vice City, one of those games that relaxes me.
Successor to GTA 3, gameplay is more or less the same, as are the graphics (though perhaps only slightly improved).
Soundtrack is pure 80s, also the atmosphere of the game is pure 80s flash and neon light candy.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Got Horizon: Zero Dawn for cheap.

It started out fairly intriguing, with little Aloy plunging into a cave and roaming the ruins. But now only 7 hours in, I feel it's dragging. This game keeps throwing collectable shit every two steps at me, and I cannot not pick it up. I feel being manipulated. The combat is so-so but doesn't feel like it's evolving fast. Can I safely skip all the side content and just plow ahead with the main quests? If this doesn't pick up in pace or story I'm just gonna uninstall.

 

[Ezekiel]

I'm never gonna shoot as well as I shot six years ago. Only wish third person shooters had matured before I got old.

 

[NecroLord]

Alright, so I successfully completed those annoying haitian missions in Vice City without failing a single time.
Rather pleased with that.
Now it's time to cap that raging midget Diaz and take over his operation.

Soundtrack is, as always, awesome.
VRock and Wave 103 are my favorite radio stations.

 

[Fargus]

I hate mini heli mission in Vice City. I somehow finished it once when i was a teen. Don't want to go through this torture ever again.

But the trilogy still much better than GTA4 and especially 5.

 

[NecroLord]

I hate mini heli mission in Vice City. I somehow finished it once when i was a teen. Don't want to go through this torture ever again.

But the trilogy still much better than GTA4 and especially 5.

You gotta know the controls and how to direct the heli.
If you do that, then it's not so hard.

 

[Fargus]

You gotta know the controls and how to direct the heli.
If you do that, then it's not so hard.

Im always filtered by flight shit in these games, in SA i think my friend or step bro helped me finish the flight school. Which is funny because he couldnt finish the final mission because he sucked at shooting unlike me so i completed the shooting sections for him.

 

[Zlaja]

I just blew up a huge clown car in Wasteland 3. Felt good. God, I hate clowns.

Also, there's a suprising amount of Mexicans in Colorado. I'm in the process of commiting a genocide.

 

[Ezekiel]

Three of four divine beasts now abandoned on this replay. I keep quitting them to go exploring again, thinking I'll go back later, because they're just that crappy. Nothing like the old dungeons.