What are you playing right now?

[melkathi]

It's fine on my PC, but this also runs XCOM fine. It seems to be unity based, so shouldn't be too rough. I think it is more in line with Shadowrun in what it should require.

[Tale]

Runs XCOM 2 fine? I run XCOM 1 fine. 2 runs rough. Shadowrun runs great, too.

[melkathi]

Game runs better than XCOM 2. Far better than War of the Chosen (Firaxis broke things there I feel).

[Tale]

Now I'm sold on buying it.

[melkathi]

Just note that it is not a big game or a difficult game It is a fun small tactics game with some clever mechanics. But at 9 hours I am 41% done.

[Fenixp]

Fun tactics game with some clever mechanics is quite good enough for me.

[Lexx]

Ok, played through RDR2 completely now. As a Rockstar game, I was surprised how there was no racing mission. Usually Rockstar likes to put at least one crappy racing mission into all of their games (that I have played).

 

More random thoughts:

 

- Prologue was nice and much longer than the prologue in RDR1.

 

- Near the end of the game I had a couple cutscene bugs that required me to restart the game, but other than that didn't noticed any issues.

 

- Most of the time the controls are ok. Once you get used to it, there was no problem for me anymore... most of the time. Occasionally they completely failed and I was unable to interact with certain objects or the player character made dumb crap, I couldn't get correctly into cover, etc. This was annoying, but not sure if I would blame the controls per se for this.

 

- Especially later missions are way, way, way too heavily scripted. More than once I was riding to a position, got off the horse, then got yelled at by everyone to get back on the horse, just so I would be riding another half a meter to trigger a cutscene with me getting off the horse.

 

- I must have killed thousands of men.

 

- Story was good, but the middle part was too long. Should have cut some stuff out of it, imo. Just thinking about these parts makes me not want to replay the game...

 

- ... but eh, not much replay value anyway. There are no choices or anything like that. Also I think you can replay any mission from within your current game, as there are also medals / ranks to achieve. Haven't tried it, though.

 

- Stealth missions are weird. You can try, or you just start shooting right away. Usually they just end in all out gunfights anyway.

 

- I HATE how the game forced weapons on me. In some of the later missions you won't be able to get weapons from your horse, sometimes a cutscene will replace my rifle with another rifle, and sometimes when I died and had to replay a checkpoint, I had a different loadout entirely. I even lost my first Mauser pistol due to this... and later my sniper rifle. Didn't bothered with buying a new sniper rifle, though, as I luckily had the unique variant already.

 

- Not sure how the hat system works. Apparently you keep certain hats that you find, but not just any. If you pick up the hat of a random guy, it likely won't be saved. But then occasionally you have a random guy in a mission who loses his hat, which then will be saved in your inventory. Why can't I just collect any hat that I have with me? There's a crapton of annoying stuff to collect anyway... so why not do that collectible thing with something that is actually kinda fun?

 

I guess they could get this game so big, because of its linearity. Obviously it's a big difference if you're writing e.g. The Witcher 3 / Fallout New Vegas due to their complex dialogue trees. RDR2 doesn't care about any of this, so the time was spend on expanding the scope. The endgame alone is pretty nice. Damn, just imagine New Vegas getting such an endgame treatment...

 

Despite its flaws, all in all the game is pretty good. I enjoyed it a lot and likely will continue playing for a while. Also gonna check out that online mode at the end of the month. For now, I'd give it a solid 8/10.

However, if I would not rate it as an action / shooter game, but as an RPG like SonicMage does, it probably would get a 4/10 or worse. It's just not an RPG, just because there are NPC schedules and simulation elements in it.

 

 

Still curious why they added most of the RDR1 map, though. I've explored it a lot today and it's mostly... empty. The big towns got some excuse added to explain why they are empty, but other than that... that's it. Big desert, barely any events. Found 3 train robberies in half an hour, got attacked 2 times by a group of mexicans, killed some animals for their pelts and feathers, checked some of the RDR1 locations that I've remembered and admired them, and that's that.

 

There is not much here, so why add it unless it has a purpose in the future? I could see this as some harsh survival territory for multiplayer... Kinda similar to the dark zone in The Division. Maybe that's what it will be in the online mode. Who knows. Bit of a waste, imo.

 

Edited November 21, 2018 by Lexx

[Keyrock]

I started playing The Shapeshifting Detective.  It's a FMV game, so it plays mostly like a visual novel, except with live action FMV instead of mostly static anime.  On the surface, your job is to solve a murder case, but there's usually something else going on in these types of games, and the choices you make determine how deep you get yourself into whatever other wacky stuff is going on.  The unique mechanic in this game, as the title implies, is that you can shapeshift into any character you have already met.  Another cool mechanic in this game that I don't believe I've seen in a FMV or visual novel game before (not that I've played all of them or anything) is that you can often stay silent rather than replying.  You need to feel it out when it might be better to hold your tongue and let the person you are speaking to ramble on and when it is better to press them for information.  I've already met one character who is obviously lying through their teeth, though that doesn't necessarily mean they are the killer, but it definitely means that person is hiding something.

 

As a neat little bonus, whenever you go back to the guesthouse a radio plays some weird story.  Some are fairly short, some run for quite a few minutes.  I don't think they're related to the game's plot at all, they're just there as a bit of a diversion, and I don't know how many there are, but I haven't heard a repeat yet.

 

Obviously, this type of game is rather niche and won't appeal to a lot of gamers, since there isn't much in the way of gameplay.  It's all about listening, picking up on details, and using deductive reasoning and manipulating the characters you interact with to get them to spill things they are trying to hold back; detective work, essentially.  This type of game is definitely my jam, as I'm always into games that rely more on using your brain than using hand to eye coordination, in no small part due to my hand to eye coordination slowly deteriorating as I get older and it not being particularly exceptional in the first place.  Anyway, I'm having a blast so far.

Edited November 21, 2018 by Keyrock

[GhostofAnakin]

Question for the Elex folks:

 

A bit of metagaming here, but what cold level do you have to be for Kallax to not die in the fight?  I'm intuitive (one below neutral, I believe) and he dies every time I fight him.

[Starwars]

Stll replaying SOMA, coming up on the end parts of it.

 

Man, that ocean floor segment... less stressful now that I know what's going to happen but talk about intense. Remember playing the first time when the game was released and the moment when the little "guide robot" gets snatched by the sea creature, I don't think I'd ever felt such a sense of panic and "alone in the dark" feeling ever in a game. I mean, if you keep your head the path is always obvious but yeah... they did such a fantastic job on making you feel like there's no chance of finding your way even though the game is always leading you on. With a bit of stress in your body it really feels like you're stumbling blindly, even though you're not.

 

And then the anglerfish (which I promptly avoided this time around).

[SonicMage117]

Soma may just be a walking simulator and just a horror game but I found its story to be very unique. It's also short and that enabled it to be better written and more focused than most games, even linear ones.

 

My favorite part was the ending because it kinda makes you just sit in awe and think "Something like this can actually happen in the distant future". It's fully believable, every part and that's the goodness of Soma.

Edited November 21, 2018 by SonicMage117

[Keyrock]

@GhostofAnakin - Sounds like you're further than I am, so I can't help you any more at this point.

 

@Starwars - Yeah the final ocean floor segment in SOMA is among the most frantic segments I can remember in a game, really masterfully designed.  I think it's even more intense than Amnesia's famous water segment.

[Starwars]

Amnesia hit me harder (as did the Penumbras) but I think it was more due to the fact that it was released in a different time. But SOMA is just such a solid package overall and I feel it always tells you just enough, and teases a bunch of stuff if you really want to dive into it deeper. The whole angle with the Carthage company for example isn't something I *really* picked up on on my first playthrough.

[Zoraptor]

Question for the Elex folks:

 

A bit of metagaming here, but what cold level do you have to be for Kallax to not die in the fight?  I'm intuitive (one below neutral, I believe) and he dies every time I fight him.

 

No idea I'm afraid, he died for me as well but I wasn't really paying attention to my cold level so I'm not sure what it was.

[GhostofAnakin]

^I looked online and it seems like you need a high cold level (ie. Jax needs to lack emotion and be all about logic) for him to survive, but I can't find the exact cold level you need.  I guess either I'll just have to go ahead with the story with him being killed, or I'll have to spend the next few hours (game-wise) chugging elex potions to increase my cold level.

[Oner]

Sorry, I never got around wrapping up the game so I can't tell you either. 

[GhostofAnakin]

I tried to do a second play through, this time joining the Outlaws.  But that's stalled for two reasons.  One, holy hell the Outlaw-specific abilities suck compared to the ones you get as a Cleric or Berserker.  And two, you can't do any of their quests or pretty much any quests near or around the Fort early in the game, so I pretty much have to spend my time doing Berserker stuff until I reach a decent level.  I don't know if I have the patience for that.

[Katphood]

I have this PS2 slim connected to an old Sony crt. So I jokingly start playing Drakengard on it and now, I have no valid reason to go back to RDR2.

 

Yoko Taro is GOD!

[Malcador]

Tried leaving my club in FM but just couldn't as I found it annoying to watch the youngsters I picked succeed without me in charge   It definitely sucks being IF Elfsborg, sure I get into CL but I end up in a group with PSG, Man U and Bilbao so I just get murdered by players who earn more than my entire organization.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Tried leaving my club in FM but just couldn't as I found it annoying to watch the youngsters I picked succeed without me in charge   It definitely sucks being IF Elfsborg, sure I get into CL but I end up in a group with PSG, Man U and Bilbao so I just get murdered by players who earn more than my entire organization.

I love that you've picked Elfsborg out of all Swedish teams. "De gulsvarta" (The Yellow-Blacks"), from the city of Borås, which for a very long time was the heart of the textile industry in Sweden. It still was when I grew up. It's a working class team, and bigger Swedish teams, like IFK Göteborg in Gothenburg, they still give them flak for being hillbillies and backwater and such. We've had at least one prime minister from Borås, and he's a devoted Elfsborg fan, obviously. IF Elfsborg, the club now being 114 years old, with its heydays in the mid 1900s, flared up yet again as a successful team in the years 2005-2010, something like that, as they had a few key national team players, performing excellently and consistently, plus a great coach.

[Chilloutman]

Indra is Swedish, noted

[Mamoulian War]

I have this PS2 slim connected to an old Sony crt. So I jokingly start playing Drakengard on it and now, I have no valid reason to go back to RDR2.

 

Yoko Taro is GOD!

That's just nostalgia blinding your judgement!

 

[/sarcasm_off]

Edited November 22, 2018 by Mamoulian War

[IndiraLightfoot]

Indra is Swedish, noted

I was only naturalized as a Swedish citizen as an adult, but yeah. Heja Sverige!

[Chilloutman]

 

Indra is Swedish, noted

I was only naturalized as a Swedish citizen as an adult, but yeah. Heja Sverige!

 

 

now you sparked my interest, where are you originaly from if its not secret? (feel free to PM, I will not share it)

[the_dog_days]

 

I have this PS2 slim connected to an old Sony crt. So I jokingly start playing Drakengard on it and now, I have no valid reason to go back to RDR2.

 

Yoko Taro is GOD!

That's just nostalgia blinding your judgement!

 

[/sarcasm_off]

 

 

Code correction: [/sarcasm_0]