What are you playing right now?

[SonicMage117]

There ain't a single developer out there that could challenge Rockstar Games talent in storytelling. The plot/characters these fellas at R* create are better than most movies I've seen in recent years.

 

For that reason alone, I am willing to forgive R* for having used the GTA3 engine for the 5th time in past 18 years.

 

Edit: the whole 'we have employees at R* that work so hard they have to sleep under their desks' thing is also a very well fabricated publicity stunt, nothing more.

This is true. I'm still waiting for crpg's to catch up. crpg's generally have good storywriting but there are alot of problems and the fillers in the games don't make things any better. This is an Obsidian forum though, expect to get some opposition telling you that this is just "your opinion" or the usual excuse.

 

The level of storytelling in RDR2 is a testament to how writers and producers have evolved over the years and how we are just now being able to combine all these elements to create a masterful experience between story, gameplay, mechanics, depth and detail.

 

It's all there but I mean, unfortunately not everyone will accept that due to what they feel is "the high bar" and what it should be, also this being a forum where most peeps are crpg fans over anything else. It's kinda like going into a barber shop and you say "cut my hair" to where it's only an inch and they cut it to half an inch, then when you ask, the barber says "My inch is different from your inch" even though your measurement is the correct one

Edited November 6, 2018 by SonicMage117

[Starwars]

I'm playing Call of Cthulhu and... myeeeh. It's not exactly good.

 

Starts out pretty nice and I was definitely interested in seeing where it was gonna go. But I feel like it's just falling apart. It's hard pulling these types of stories together and this one doesn't succeed at all, throwing you into weird visions and dream sequences where you have to do gamey "puzzles" (using the term lightly). It feels very... "now this happens, now this happens and now this happens". It doesn't flow very well and I don't think it succeeds in the whole "slow unveiling of cosmic horror" that it's trying to do.

It's not scary in the least, which I didn't expect to be honest because RPGs rarely are. But the RPG side of things also feels very lacking and doesn't feel like it matters at all.

 

It's a shame because there's a lot of potential and it feels at times like they *almost* have it but it just doesn't come together into something that is interesting or even fun to play. I'm fully expecting the game to just completely fall apart anytime soon.

 

Started out promising but yeah... not particularly good overall unfortunately.

[GhostofAnakin]

 

Do I EVER get strong?  I feel like I keep leveling up, but I still get curb stomped by anything that isn't like a runt.

 

I've met the major players for the Berserkers and the Outlaws so far, and I'm up to around Level 7 or 8.  And I still get killed in fights if the enemy gets like more than 2 shots in on me.  Meanwhile, I hack and hack for days and the enemy will lose maybe a quarter of their health bar.

 

AND I'M PLAYING ON EASY!

 

That's a consequence of the 'flat' damage reduction system. If you're using a near starter tier weapon that does 20 damage a young wolf might have say 5 damage reduction, so most of the damage gets through and you might kill it in 5 or 6 hits depending on combos etc. An adult wolf might have 20 damage reduction though, so you get almost no damage damage even with any combo bonuses. That makes the young wolf manageable but the adult one disproportionately more difficult. But, as a consequence when you get to a low intermediate weapon that does 30 damage suddenly you're a lot more able to handle that adult wolf because your effective damage dealt increases ten fold- instead of doing 1 or 2 damage per hit you start doing around 10 per hit. However your effective damage against a young wolf doesn't even double so you still need 4ish hits to kill one so if you mess around with them too much they're still potentially dangerous; but instead of needing seemingly hundreds of hits to kill an adult wolf you 'only' need about ten.

 

It's a pretty good system for keeping things interesting in a long game since only the weakest enemies become absolute walkovers, but it's certainly a hard start because you have to get over that initial hurdle of only being able to handle the weak versions of a few enemies until you develop a bit.

 

As is tradition for Piranha Bytes games if you're really good or really patient you can kill just about anything with starter tier weapons, but it will take a very long time.

 

(n.b. numbers are illustrative only, I don't know the real numbers involved)

 

 

That's the other issue.  I'm still using my first tier weapons because it takes ages to level up the abilities needed to use higher tier weapons.  I've got a couple of weapons in my inventory that do quite a lot of damage, but at the rate I'm going leveling up it won't be for ages until I can actually use them.

 

It might seem like I'm hating it, but I'm not.  I'm enjoying the hell out of the game, in general.  It's just the combat where I find I'm either spending my entire time running away or dying after getting 2-hit killed by a mouse.

[Keyrock]

I just realized that the Return of the Obra Dinn came out a while back. For those unfamiliar, it's from the maker of Papers Please, and is also getting rave reviews like that game. Sadly, no Linux version yet, though Papers Please eventually came to Linux, and there's always Steam Play, so I'm hopeful. If and when it does come to Linux I'm all over it. It's a mystery puzzle game that's all about deduction and paying attention to details. That's squarely in my wheelhouse.

 

Anyone here play it yet?

[GhostofAnakin]

Okay, I'm kind of stuck at the moment in Elex because all my quests I currently have available require me to be able to take on or infiltrate bases with enemies who will attack me on sight, but I can't attempt any of them because I'm not strong enough.  But I can't get stronger because all the quests to gain XP are too difficult right now.

 

It's like a Catch-22 and I really don't know what to do.  I'll never level up just wandering around killing 5XP or 10XP weak animals.

[SonicMage117]

Cheese your way through with various potions, you mouse, you!

 

(That's all I can think of)

[Katphood]

Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition.

 

It's a great remaster of a remarkable shooter. This is how an fps game should be.

 

The original release had one of the worst marketing campaigns ever. They did so much but in the end, the advertising felt like what SEGA & Nintendo did in the 90's to appeal to hardcore gamers.

[Zoraptor]

Okay, I'm kind of stuck at the moment in Elex because all my quests I currently have available require me to be able to take on or infiltrate bases with enemies who will attack me on sight, but I can't attempt any of them because I'm not strong enough.  But I can't get stronger because all the quests to gain XP are too difficult right now.

 

It's like a Catch-22 and I really don't know what to do.  I'll never level up just wandering around killing 5XP or 10XP weak animals.

 

Got any companions available? YThey won't beat a chimera by themselves but they'll help a lot with the lower tier enemies. Otherwise you can find (or brew, though I suspect you won't have the skills for that yet) Elex potions to give you some extra points to spend on stats.

 

If you haven't found the domed city yet there are a lot of non combat quests there as well.

[Malcador]

Think I've won in Rome TW2, Britain is a client state now, all that is left is to pretend I am Alexander and march east.  Realized I never did finish Homeworld DoK so I am pushing on with that, seems that I can cheese the game by just being a hawk - air raiding every objective into oblivion right now as the enemy doesn't know was AA is.

[Fenixp]

There ain't a single developer out there that could challenge Rockstar Games talent in storytelling. The plot/characters these fellas at R* create are better than most movies I've seen in recent years.

Yea but... Is the mission design any good? I'm not talking about the writing, writing in Rockstar games felt mediocre at best to me - but ... Y'know ... Different folks and all that

 

the side missions definitely give you more freedom

To be fair, they did in GTAV as well, AFAIK

 

Edit: the whole 'we have employees at R* that work so hard they have to sleep under their desks' thing is also a very well fabricated publicity stunt, nothing more.

I mean... If you want to think that. Just remember it's not the first time information of that sort got out on Rockstar, so either is a recurring joke or just a reality of game development. Experience tells me it'll be the latter. Edited November 7, 2018 by Fenixp

[Hurlshort]

I have no doubt that Rockstar employees eat, sleep, and breathe their jobs. You don't get such realistic horse testicles without that kind of thing.

[Katphood]

Yea but... Is the mission design any good?

Uhm, no?!

 

It's the same as any other recent R* game.

[SonicMage117]

Although Fenixp probably won't see my comment sonce he blocked me, thought it w as worth a try to educate him, with this video..

[marelooke]

I'm playing Call of Cthulhu and... myeeeh. It's not exactly good.

 

Starts out pretty nice and I was definitely interested in seeing where it was gonna go. But I feel like it's just falling apart. It's hard pulling these types of stories together and this one doesn't succeed at all, throwing you into weird visions and dream sequences where you have to do gamey "puzzles" (using the term lightly). It feels very... "now this happens, now this happens and now this happens". It doesn't flow very well and I don't think it succeeds in the whole "slow unveiling of cosmic horror" that it's trying to do.

It's not scary in the least, which I didn't expect to be honest because RPGs rarely are. But the RPG side of things also feels very lacking and doesn't feel like it matters at all.

 

It's a shame because there's a lot of potential and it feels at times like they *almost* have it but it just doesn't come together into something that is interesting or even fun to play. I'm fully expecting the game to just completely fall apart anytime soon.

 

Started out promising but yeah... not particularly good overall unfortunately.

 

Bummer, I had been eyeballing that one, sound like it's a miss unless it suddenly picks up...

 

 

 

It's basically what you'd expect from Rockstar Games

Is the mission/quest/plot/whatever design improved from GTA V? I mean, is it a linear "go from objective to objective, shoot men and god forbit you stray 2 meters from the path" again once you start a story mission or did the missions themselves get a bit more open-ended?

There ain't a single developer out there that could challenge Rockstar Games talent in storytelling. The plot/characters these fellas at R* create are better than most movies I've seen in recent years.

 

For that reason alone, I am willing to forgive R* for having used the GTA3 engine for the 5th time in past 18 years.

 

Edit: the whole 'we have employees at R* that work so hard they have to sleep under their desks' thing is also a very well fabricated publicity stunt, nothing more.

 

How about CDPR?

 

Oh yes, been mostly playing Warframe, finishing up some stuff I had on the backburner before Fortuna launches somewhere this week.

Edited November 7, 2018 by marelooke

[Starwars]

I finished Call of Cthulhu and sadly enough it never recovers. The latter half just feels like a mishmash of "dream sequence storytelling", where the writers try to keep everything mysterious and mystical but it just ends up falling flat on its face. The gameplay also gets worse and worse. 

Also, I'm definitely not one to usually complain about pricing and short games but this was a game I actually felt like the pricepoint was too high. I guess there is some replayability as you can get different endings but it absolutely unfolds in a very linear way and is rather short to boot.

 

It's too bad.... there are many individual parts that are cool but it never feels like the devs tied it together in a satisfying package. And some of the gameplay is so... *tired* and cliché. Especially the "puzzles" (using that term lightly). Absolutely zero creativity there.

 

Ugh, it sounds like I'm describing the most horrible game ever, but it's really not. It just could've been so much more.

[Oner]

"There ain't a single developer out there that could challenge Rockstar Games talent in storytelling. The plot/characters these fellas at R* create are better than most movies I've seen in recent years."

 

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.... Good one mate.

[SonicMage117]

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!!

 

How about CDPR?

 

I forgave them for the first two Witcher games - which were nothing but average, when they released Witcher 3. Witcher 3 seemed like the game they originally wanted to make but took them three attempts. I have to give them credit, they knew absolutely nothing about developing, production value or programing when they first started and now are regarded as one of the highest favored devs in the industry.

 

Now, if Cyberpunk 2077 turns out crap - which is indeed a possibility, then I won't really care. But others here certainly may get their panties up in a bunch about it, hey?

 

Imagine the comments:

*hick*

 

Cyberpunk 2077 was a load of...

*hick*

Couldn't even finish the...

*hick*

 

 

^Dialogue style from one of our (as in forum members) favorite games

Edited November 7, 2018 by SonicMage117

[GhostofAnakin]

So ... save scumming comes to the rescue.  I got into the Domed City in Elex, but had to get those fake IDs made by the Outlaw dude in return for delivering a fake ID to his guy caught in the city.  Thankfully I saved prior to entering the city because when I handed the guy his fake ID, I got a "you've taken a side in the Abessa conflict".  I was like, wait, what?!  I gave a guy a fake ID, I didn't publicly proclaim myself siding with one faction!

[SonicMage117]

Interesting... That's a cheap way of the game making a definitive decision for the player I guess. A common flaw in rpg's which lack more detailed systems?

Edited November 7, 2018 by SonicMage117

[Oner]

So ... save scumming comes to the rescue.  I got into the Domed City in Elex, but had to get those fake IDs made by the Outlaw dude in return for delivering a fake ID to his guy caught in the city.  Thankfully I saved prior to entering the city because when I handed the guy his fake ID, I got a "you've taken a side in the Abessa conflict".  I was like, wait, what?!  I gave a guy a fake ID, I didn't publicly proclaim myself siding with one faction!

Yeah, most of the quests there lead to you supporting a side. Like helping a bunch of Outlaws clearly barred from the city gain entry to it.

It'll make more sense once you see what the quests lead up to.

[GhostofAnakin]

 

So ... save scumming comes to the rescue.  I got into the Domed City in Elex, but had to get those fake IDs made by the Outlaw dude in return for delivering a fake ID to his guy caught in the city.  Thankfully I saved prior to entering the city because when I handed the guy his fake ID, I got a "you've taken a side in the Abessa conflict".  I was like, wait, what?!  I gave a guy a fake ID, I didn't publicly proclaim myself siding with one faction!

Yeah, most of the quests there lead to you supporting a side. Like helping a bunch of Outlaws clearly barred from the city gain entry to it.

It'll make more sense once you see what the quests lead up to.

 

 

I mean, yeah, I can see the *why* of why it would be considered taking sides in the conflict after the fact.  But prior, I literally just wanted to enter the city and was trying to keep my end of the bargain.  Prior to that, there wasn't really much dialogue about making a choice like that meaning I was siding with one over the other.

[Oner]

IIRC it's a matter of which side you have more points with at the end so even if you "mess up" at the gates you still have plenty of opportunities to help another group.

[Katphood]

"There ain't a single developer out there that could challenge Rockstar Games talent in storytelling. The plot/characters these fellas at R* create are better than most movies I've seen in recent years."

 

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.... Good one mate.

Aren't you that fella I keep ignoring?! I hope you are not secretly in love with me.

 

[southern accent on]

You can kiss me if ya want...

[southern accent off]

[Keyrock]

Yeah, GhostofAnakin, you're going to do a lot more things where you "take a side in the Abessa conflict" so I wouldn't get too worked up about any 1 choice.