What Are You Playing Now: The Other, Other Thread

[213374U]

2 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

Wing Commander is the best with the story. If you get over graphics and difficulty of 1 and 2 you get awesome storyline about war of Humans with Kilrathis. If not you can still start with 3, which are kind of decent in these time as well. Shame that Origin was butchered after 5, because they started new awesome storyline

I liked WC3 story-wise, but I hated the style changes to the Kilrathi.

I'd recommend Standoff, if you're looking to scratch that Kilrathi war itch. A WC2-era fan game based on the WCP engine that featured a whole new campaign away from Bluehair, including branching paths depending on your performance like in WC1.

[majestic]

9 hours ago, Hurlshot said:

I have Everspace in my library. Maybe that is more my speed? I don't know, I was looking for something more chill too. I want to just trade in goods like an honest merchant!

Everspace is an arcade shooter dressed up as space sim and while you can do some very perfunctory trading it's really just there to gather crafting materials to build new equipment and consumables. It's very beautiful and you can explore interesting locations for a while but you have a time limit per sector that manifests itself as a fleet of giant killer warships that follow you wherever you go, wanting nothing more than to blast your behind to a thousand pieces, and you'll be constantly harrassed by ships, missile silos and defense drones. It also has permadeath with unlockable ships and ship upgrades.

It's a great game but it's very much the opposite of chill. It's also fairly difficult, even on "easy".

[Tale]

I loved the heck out of Everspace.

I'm playing Final Fantasy VII Remake and loving every minute of it. Enough that I'm going to be doing a full playthrough of the original soon, too.

[majestic]

12 hours ago, 213374U said:

I liked WC3 story-wise, but I hated the style changes to the Kilrathi.

I'd recommend Standoff, if you're looking to scratch that Kilrathi war itch. A WC2-era fan game based on the WCP engine that featured a whole new campaign away from Bluehair, including branching paths depending on your performance like in WC1.

Wasn't that a Freespace 2 total conversion mod once? Or was that a completely different fan project attempting to tell the same storyline?

[Malcador]

18 hours ago, Chilloutman said:

i really played only freelancer. I kinda like space sims i guess, which one to pick bois? Isnt elite online only?

Freespace 2.  Better story than Wing Commander.

X-Wing Alliance is also good, shame we never got a TIE Fighter sequel out of that though.

Still mucking through Surviving Mars here, playing as a European oligarch now - previous game had a map with no rare earth and barely any metals, so funding became a critical issue. 

[213374U]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Wasn't that a Freespace 2 total conversion mod once? Or was that a completely different fan project attempting to tell the same storyline?

Hmm, not that I know of. You may be thinking of WC Saga, which is based on the Freespace 2 engine. I haven't played that one.

 

 

59 minutes ago, Malcador said:

X-Wing Alliance is also good, shame we never got a TIE Fighter sequel out of that though.

Yeah, XWA was pretty great. I rather enjoyed the change of pace flying a Corellian transport in the family missions. An imperial campaign that went back to the sort of gameplay of the first campaigns in TIE Fighter with some Assault/Escort Transport action here and there would have been cool.

I also remember playing a mod that ported the first seven tours of duty from TIE Fighter to the XWA engine, but I can't seem to find it anymore.

[majestic]

23 minutes ago, 213374U said:

Hmm, not that I know of. You may be thinking of WC Saga, which is based on the Freespace 2 engine. I haven't played that one.

Ah, yes, that's the one I was thinking of. But I read that is set after the Battle of Terra, not the events before. Looks like I mixed them up a little. I played the WC Saga prologue and thought it was pretty awesome. Gotta give it a go at some point.

[Gorth]

I really know the world is ending in a giant apocalypse soon... because I've become addicted a bit to a mobile game

 

Lost last nights sleep to a game called World Conqueror 2. Still early days, but having taken Poland, Denmark and Norway, it's time for operation Sea Lion.

 

Turn  based strategy goodness.

[LadyCrimson]

Hubby kept looking a wee hopeful then sad every time BL3-PC came up and I'd say "Have you seen the price for the package option that will have all DLC included? I'd like to wait for a sale, since we already played it" etc. Finally I said "You're a big boy, just buy it yourself if you can't wait."   So he did. He has a 1050ti in his machine (only thing that would fit in his case). It runs /looks/fine on Low/1080. He should get a bigger case and a 1660ti, pfft.

But checking it out I noticed it actually has offline/LAN capability.  Last I thought I heard it wasn't going to have that.  Which means I then had to buy it too.  4k/Ultra = the usual 60ish fps. Turn some things down, 80-90ish.  Put resolution scaling at 150%, 40ish.  Hah! 

I swear, hubby is going to pull out BL1, 2, and 3 once a year and play thru each once, until we die. He'll never play anything else.   Sigh. 

 

Edit:  pc version does have a nice qol feature for controllers - being able to switch icon styles. So if Steam wants to put the xbox icons up (which it does half the time) you can in-game make them ps4 icons. 

Edited April 14, 2020 by LadyCrimson

[Hawke64]

The Surge 2. Defeated Little Johnny. It took much longer, than I had hoped, and in the end I used turrets to destroy the cooling tanks on his body, because I could not reach them myself. Then I spent half an hour running around the area and looking for the entrance to the Underground I saw earlier. To proceed it required a tool I did not have yet, so I returned to the main quest - reporting Johnny's death to his brother who had requested it. The reward was another boss battle, this time against Eli and two other cultists. It became very obvious that I was supposed to directionally parry his attacks, which I could not do reliably, so I kept dodging and carefully counter-attacking. Unfortunately, I killed Eli before I managed to cut off his right hand and, most likely, missed the chance to obtain his weapon.

The interconnectivity is as high as in the first game, judging by the first two locations - there was a single med-station ("bonfire") and a lot of shortcuts. Though, it was hard to remember where to go.

Edit.
Tales of Aravorn: Seasons Of The Wolf. It is VN/RPG from the developers of Loren. I've reached Act III, which, I assume, about 50-60% of the game. The story seems smaller - nothing particularly epic or significant, the art became more realistic. It also has randomized colour-coded loot in abundance, which I strongly dislike. There seems to be more combat and management in general - HP does not restore after battles and there are time limits for side quests. And sounds in combat are somehow off. I can't say that I like it as much as Loren, but it could be worse, I suppose.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Hawke64

[Keyrock]

I've been grinding away, doing a bit of trading and doing simple missions in Teladi Company territory in X4, building up my bank account and building up my reputation. Eventually, I hit the threshold where I ranked up and they now consider me an ally. I went ahead and invested in their trade guild at the same time as I ranked up. It costs 80K credits, but it's well worth it since it gives you access to tons of missions everywhere in Teladi space, so it pays for itself quickly. More importantly, the rank up carries with it a military equipment license, which gives me access to some of the higher grade Teladi ships and weapons. I've put the main mission on hold for a while, because I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to do some fighting soon, and I didn't want to do it in the piece of junk Elite Vanguard they started me out in. I mean, you can upgrade it to make it a halfway capable fighter, but I'd rather just get a fighter that's good to begin with and be able to upgrade it to a great ship.

Right now I'm working on getting enough money to buy a Teladi Buzzard Vanguard. The Vanguard variant of ships is faster and more maneuverable while the Sentinel variant has a more armored hull. The Teladi Company sells the Vanguard variants while the Ministry of Finance sells the Sentinel variants. They are both Teladi factions and not openly at odds with each other, but you have separate reputation with each and all my rep is with the Teladi Company, so the Vanguard variant it is. The Buzzard is a very capable fighter. It has 3 weapon hardpoints and 2 shield slots. It presents a small target from the sides and the front and back, and a big target from above and below, so it's important to keep enemies on the same plane as you. I can actually afford the ship now, but I don't see the point in buying a stripped down fighter. I might as well wait until I can buy it with at least most of the bells and whistles, that way I'm ready for serious combat the minute I roll off the assembly line.

[majestic]

Played and finished Ori and the Blind Forest.

 

Well that was fun, if a bit short.

[Bartimaeus]

14 hours ago, majestic said:

Played and finished Ori and the Blind Forest.

 

Well that was fun, if a bit short.

Everyone and their mom seem to love that game, but I forced myself to play it for like two hours and the controls were just so clunky and floaty that I could never get into or enjoy it.

[melkathi]

I haven't played it and neither has my mum.

[Malcador]

Clicking along well in Surviving Mars, although I have renegades (rather disappointed none are named Arkady), so hopefully the colony doesn't fall apart.

[majestic]

4 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Everyone and their mom seem to love that game, but I forced myself to play it for like two hours and the controls were just so clunky and floaty that I could never get into or enjoy it.

The controls really do take some time getting used to, especially if you're coming from Celeste or Hollow Knight, but once I got used to the momentum Ori seems to have when running and jumping they became serviceable. Except for the charge jump system, that remained awkward for the entire run, but that's also the last and least used ability you'll get, so it's a minor one.

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, platformers like Celeste are way more my style, so that probably explains why I can't get into it.

[Raithe]

Having a brief pause from my AC: Odyssey foray.

Took a short spin of Planetbase for some basic management/build a colony play.

[algroth]

Playing Fallout for the first time in over fifteen years, and oh boy, is this game a tough pill to swallow nowadays. To say it's aged badly is an understatement, there's things here that almost feel designed for the express intent of obfuscating basic mechanics and frustrating the player. At the same time it's somehow a lot of fun on that level too - it's fun to do something akin to a post-mortem run of it, to break down all the places where the game could be improved in the modern day and think about all these flaws. It's one of those cases that feel very rewarding as a case study of what not to do.

Of course the game still holds in a fair few departments and is overall quite fun in spite of its age. Mark Morgan's score especially does a lot of heavylifting throughout.

[Keyrock]

I managed to unlock the Unworthy Entrepreneur starting scenario in X4, along with another starting scenario called The Accomplished Scientist. I was 1 step away from doing it all along, so I could have unlocked it days ago. It's all good, though, I've managed to get a lot more comfortable with the game during the time, and starting over with the Unworthy Entrepreneur starting scenario still puts me further along economically, since I'll have a sunrise flower production station to start. I'll have to work to get a decent fighter again, since you start with a scout and a freighter, but with all the knowledge I have gained and a station running from the get go, I'll get the credits quickly.

Edit: Now I need to think of a good Teladi name. The have 3 names and a roman numeral at the end, and they tend to be very long and sorta Greek sounding.

I got it, Keyrockaethom Thaxymperum Kresusiso IX

Edited April 17, 2020 by Keyrock

[BruceVC]

I have been  playing RDR2 Online during the lock-down  and for those that loved the single player game I highly recommend it

The Online game basically enhances and expands the game world and provides dozens of new things to do like the various roles you can adopt like Bounty Hunter, Collector and Trader and there are literally dozens of new " free roaming  " missions . You also really start appreciating crafting and collecting plants to make items that cost money which is always in correct short supply unless you use RL money to buy the default currency of gold bars. I used RL money only in the beginning so my character survives in the online economy through normal quests and gaining legitimate wealth by trading 

And then finally the online community  is great, there are generally only a small number of people active when I logon. Normally about  20-35 and of those  a few people who sometimes attack you for no reason but I dont think its malicious 

So in summary RDR2 is an excellent online choice for those that enjoy these types of things 

Edited April 17, 2020 by BruceVC

[MedicineDan]

I've been lucky in that I work in an essential service and so I can get out.  The Long Dark is great, but I find it unfulfilling.   I just haven't had time to get into a totally new game since Pillars 2.

[BruceVC]

16 hours ago, algroth said:

Playing Fallout for the first time in over fifteen years, and oh boy, is this game a tough pill to swallow nowadays. To say it's aged badly is an understatement, there's things here that almost feel designed for the express intent of obfuscating basic mechanics and frustrating the player. At the same time it's somehow a lot of fun on that level too - it's fun to do something akin to a post-mortem run of it, to break down all the places where the game could be improved in the modern day and think about all these flaws. It's one of those cases that feel very rewarding as a case study of what not to do.

Of course the game still holds in a fair few departments and is overall quite fun in spite of its age. Mark Morgan's score especially does a lot of heavylifting throughout.

I have never Fallout 1 & 2 and your honest review has put me off playing these games ....you bad person you 

[Chilloutman]

[Azdeus]

On 4/13/2020 at 5:46 AM, Hurlshot said:

Elite Dangerous has a solo mode, but you may still need to be online to play it. I think I'm in over my head and need a more arcadey game, but it does have some cool stuff going. You can actually land on planets and rover around. All I've done is run some courier missions at this point though, and I'm still trying to figure out how to fly efficiently. I spent 10 minutes trying to get to a planetary outpost last night because I entered orbit too soon.

I have Everspace in my library. Maybe that is more my speed? I don't know, I was looking for something more chill too. I want to just trade in goods like an honest merchant!

I love Elite in VR. Even my eye tracker improved that game a crazy amount!