What Are You Playing Now: The Other, Other Thread

[Hurlshort]

12 hours ago, Azdeus said:

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

It does look like the perfect VR game, given how well they've simulated being in the schlongpit. 

[Azdeus]

1 hour ago, Hurlshot said:

It does look like the perfect VR game, given how well they've simulated being in the schlongpit. 

It is, but it does get kind of hard to get your hands on the joystick again if you let it go for a moment. The members area displays makes much more sense aswell.

[Hawke64]

The Surge 2. I've successfully cleared Gideon's Rock (a park). The vegetation and nanites were slightly problematic, because the former hid many (most of) optional paths and the later happened to cause damage if I stood in it. There were several NPCs with quests. The most remarkable was the garden droid - it asked me to collect and plant 5 seeds (I spent about 15 minutes looking for the last one, which was on top of the hub) and gave me a staff as the reward. The boss of the area was the nanite beast from the tutorial area. During the first attempt I discovered that my PC did not particularly liked the boss or the arena (I blame particle effects). Thus, after careful consideration I turned on the aggressive dynamic resolution mode. The first phase of the battle was fairly easy - the boss had large hitboxes and slow attacks, so as long as I had stamina, it was safe. The second phase was much harder, mostly because the boss' hitbox changed and I was plainly unable to hit it and ended up using the drone. The third phase required me to use charged attacks and I realized it (looked up a guide) only on my second attempt.
Then there was another vision of the kid and the boss - Athena had sent it to save the PC. I did not know that she could control it nor that it was at the detention facility specifically to get me out.
Besides the weapon, the boss dropped its brain. I was to deliver it to the CREO Institute of Technology. The entrance was within the area, so there was no reason to delay. I could not find the other hunters, the non-hostile ones, which was odd, considering that we had agreed to share the reward. At the CIT I finally met Jonah Guttenberg, I had heard of him in The Surge 1 and assumed that he had died. For obvious reasons the area around him was marked as non-combat. Guttenberg asked me to rescue his granddaughter, Athena, who apparently was held at the A.I.D. Command Center with other children. So it was my next destination.

Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf. Act III was somehow more engaging than the previous two - the structure was clearer and there were less trash mobs. Also Legendary (unique) weapon started to appear.

Edit. The Surge 2. I've cleared the A.I.D. Command Center. "Cleared" as in "slaughtered everything remotely hostile, grabbed everything that was not nailed down, completed every quest available". One of the NPC I've met turned out to be the protagonist of the first game, Warren. He did not participate in combat, but his quest chain has been great so far (uncovering what and why had happened). I finally found the Force Hook, only to realize that there was also a Lift Hook, thus I could travel only down exo-lines, not upwards. The force hook was at the highest point of the area and this tool was necessary to reach the boss. An NPC near the med-station asked me to give him the hook and warned that I would have to get another one at the same point as the first. That was unexpected, but with all shortcuts unlocked another run through the area was much faster.
From the narrative standpoint, the area was depressing. Athena was the last surviving child in the center. The thing I don't understand is why she needed a human to save her, if she could control that nanite beast, which was arguably stronger.
Then I went to face the boss, Major General Ezra Shields. There were two scenes before the battle. I suppose, they were meant to inspire to brutally murder the general. That part did not go as planned - the target had power armor. A really sturdy large suit with a flamethrower, a laser and a mini-gun. All of them regenerated, if destroyed. I managed to separate them, the armor still was at the arena and shot at me. The general himself used only power gloves and had another armor suit, fortunately, normal-sized. After many attempts I defeated him (my first "hardcore" kill), only to see Athena dying.

Also there was a warning before the boss battle about it being a point-of-no-return. Not exactly immersive, but really nice.
The Surge 2 has infuriatingly hard, proper bosses. I somehow missed it.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Hawke64
Added the second part for The Surge 2 here to avoid double-posting.

[ShadySands]

Star Trek Bridge Crew. I'm having fun playing solo but I bet it'd be even better with 3 Trek friends.

I wonder what Billy Shatts is up to

Edited April 18, 2020 by ShadySands

[Keyrock]

I start playing a space sim and all of a sudden everybody wants to hop into a schlongpit and be a pilot or captain. 

On a serious note, I have reached nearly the same point in X4 where I got to last time (that unlocked a couple new starting scenarios), and now I've got a decision to make. So, at this point in the story I'm going to have to sacrifice a ship. That's not an issue, that's what the Kestrel scout is for. The issue is, what do I fly after the Kestrel goes bye bye? I have a Vulture freighter, but I have assigned that ship to be a subordinate of my Sunrise Flower Farm, so basically that ship operates on its own, resupplying that station and selling off wares as needed. Along the way, the pilot and crew gain experience and get better at their jobs (I've also upgraded the ship a bit, to be faster and have better shields, and will do so in the future again). I intend to leave the Vulture as is, so I will need to buy a new ship. I have enough money right now that I could buy a fully decked out Buzzard, like I had in my last run; I could instead afford a stripped down Peregrine gunship or Osprey frigate, then upgrade it later. They are fairly close in price (the Osprey is slightly more expensive) and essentially the same amount of firepower when maxed out. The difference is that the gunship is much faster while the frigate has a much beefier hull and a larger cargo hold. I'm leaning toward the Osprey frigate, since the cargo hold is big enough that I can use it as a makeshift freighter while I have little to no weapons. Eventually it will become a proper warship, but until then the cargo room will be great for trading.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Keyrock

[rjshae]

Finally went back to play Shadowrun: Hong Kong. It's decent so far, but has way more text than is really needed. Will they make any more, I wonder?

[Mamoulian War]

1 hour ago, rjshae said:

Finally went back to play Shadowrun: Hong Kong. It's decent so far, but has way more text than is really needed. Will they make any more, I wonder?

I hope they'll do, I really liked the first two Shadowrun games. HK is still on my backlog though.

[ShadySands]

11 hours ago, rjshae said:

Finally went back to play Shadowrun: Hong Kong. It's decent so far, but has way more text than is really needed. Will they make any more, I wonder?

Dunno, since HBS got acquired by Paradox and I have no idea the terms of their licensing agreement with Microsoft. 

Personally, I'd like to see Obsidian take a crack at it but wouldn't mind HBS having another go.

[LadyCrimson]

Couldn't stay entirely away from Death Stranding, so I keep hopping in for an hour or two occasionally. There's a total of 500 Premium orders you can do. I'm up to 385 or so. I suppose if I keep on this way I might actually "Platinum" the game. Not that I care about the trophy.  But some of those orders are really annoying or tough to fullfill, I might only get to 450 or so. 

Between that and running through BL3 again (hubby's the Siren, I'm Flak again because Flak is Best) I have enough game per week to keep me busy.
BL3 seems to have issues re: two different resolution monitors, which drove me batty.  It has a setting to choose which monitor you want to play the game on, but even tho it would open/play on the 4k TV and you'd set it to 4k resolution setting, it was still registering as 1440 (screenshots/vids, for example).  Some weird scaling being done maybe.  Had to do the make TV "main monitor" thing instead. Useless (the in-game setting). FFXV still the only game I have that dealt with 2 different/extended resolutions properly.

[Hawke64]

Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf. Apparently, I have completed the main game and unlocked the DLC (haven't figured out how to start it with another ending). The game felt surprisingly anticlimactic from start to finish. There were no clear goals or coherent narrative, just a story about a bunch of normal people trying to survive. Roleplay was very limited - PC's class was not referenced nor it was possible to choose a personality. The combat encounters in the last act were less numerous and more meaningful - each concluded a part of the main quest, and I appreciate that. The final plot twist explicitly informed that I had made a mistake when I had chosen the character. I suppose, I should admire it, as subverting tropes and expectations is ultimately a  good thing, but there was no warning at any point, so I am just quite disappointed at the moment.
The song from the credits was rather nice. I don't get the connection to the story, though.

Spoiler

 

 

[melkathi]

The only song that had anything to do with the games was Planet Stronghold. Maybe they felt that one was too on the nose

 

 

[Malcador]

Have colonists killing themselves, which is annoying but unfortunately Earth is in WW3 so no one is going to be coming to replace them.  Still holding strong, so hopefully will last until some side wins the war.  Trying to keep up electronics and machine parts production is definitely troublesome,  I guess I need to figure out a good dome layout - had thought a dome full of residences connected to domes with work or services would go ok, but there's a penalty for working in another dome (I guess commuting via a tunnel is onerous...).

[Hawke64]

The Surge 2. I've successfully infiltrated the Cathedral of the Spark (power plant) and reached the boss, Matriarch Celeste. At the beginning of the story I might have accidentally killed her sons, then one of them respawned and I had to kill him again. Unfortunately, Eli got resurrected again just as I was closing on the target (the "Spark" itself). He escaped the arena with it, leaving me with the matriarch. Celeste used an electrified staff or a spear, flew (literally) and had quite impressive reach in combat. The arena itself became electrified as well during the second stage. I have not defeated her yet.

[Chilloutman]

I am still playing a lot of Doto and I am was trying to play Pathfinder with turn based mod but I really can't stomach original characters so I am restarting with custom team again - going full Warhammer this time. I am trying to come up with group. I guess its going to be slayer Gotrex, bard Felix, Luthor warpriest, I think i will get transmutation wizard Balthasar Gelt. Any other idea?

[Hawke64]

The Surge 2. Defeated Matriarch Celeste and attempted to follow Eli. He was faster. By the time I reached the CREO Institute of Technology, he managed to kill Jonah Guttenberg. I absorbed what remained of the nanite brain, which allowed me to break through nanite barriers, and went after Eli.
Harold the AI fell to the cultists as well and one of his rigs (bodies?) attacked me in the main hall.

I was relieved that I did not have to go through all 13 levels of the building.

[the_dog_days]

Just finished Trails of Cold Steel 3. Can't say too much 'cause it is the third of four games in the mini series and the eighth in the series as a whole, but wow. Not going to lie. There was a lot of talking at the end, though there usually is in Trails games. At one point I went about 4 hours of nothing but talking. Not a cut scene, mind you, but just walking around talking. There's way less combat in this one than in any of the others. This is a crossover event moreso than even Trails of Zero so newcomers will range from confused to not caring about what's going on. As much as I love the first two, CS3 ranks right up there with Trails in the Sky 3 for me. My favorite new character was Ash and my favorite NPC was Jingo (and her dog, Cerberus).

A welcome change to the series for me was spreading the character profiles out enough that you can unlock them all in a single playthrough. In CS2 especially they had a bunch of final pages hidden behind bonding scenes in the last chapter, forcing you to NG+ to unlock all the profiles on a single save. Not that I won't NG+ CS3, but it's nice to be able to unlock all the collectibles in a single playthrough (which I did except for one combat note). They also separated link levels and bond levels into different things which works out great seeing as how I managed to nearly max out both categories for all the characters anyway.

The second best new addition was the in game CCG, Vantage. There was a card game in CS1 & 2, but the decks were standardized. Vantage is a bit like gwent in that it is a single player game where you challenge other players and win cards to use to build a better deck. There were a couple of cards that are specific to certain NPCs, meaning they aren't things you can win. I was highly tempted in the dramatic moments before leaving for the final dungeon, with everyone looking very serious and concerned, to go around challenging the other players to a game just for the sheer hilarity of it, but decided not to.

Total, the game was about 140 hours of an absolute blast.

Edited April 23, 2020 by the_dog_days

[Raithe]

I've spent about 70 odd hours on AC: Odyssey over the past couple of weeks.  Gone through what I believe are large swathes of it, Just sorted out the Sparta and unearthing which Spartan King is with the cult. But now I've suddenly hit that wall of.. Just not being in a mood to sit down and game.

So that's hanging there in the background.

[melkathi]

I quit Sentinels of Freedom since the story has gone pure Red Scare and I can't find an inner McCarthy to embrace to enjoy it.

[Skazz]

42 minutes ago, melkathi said:

I quit Sentinels of Freedom since the story has gone pure Red Scare and I can't find an inner McCarthy to embrace to enjoy it.

Jenny or Melissa?

[melkathi]

Jenny is the anti-vaxxer?

[Skazz]

17 minutes ago, melkathi said:

Jenny is the anti-vaxxer?

Yup.

 

[Hurlshort]

After struggling to be any good at Elite: Dangerous, I decided to give No Mans Sky another try, and I've been enjoying it. I don't remember if it was this good when I first played it, or I was just in the right mood, but it is a nice exploration game.

[thepixiesrock]

1 hour ago, Hurlshot said:

After struggling to be any good at Elite: Dangerous, I decided to give No Mans Sky another try, and I've been enjoying it. I don't remember if it was this good when I first played it, or I was just in the right mood, but it is a nice exploration game.

Damn I almost started that back up the other day having not played in over a year. Are you playing on normal difficulty or survival?

[Hawke64]

The Surge 2. Defeated Harold. It seems that I am close to the ending, as important NPCs have started to die. The city of Jericho had changed a lot since the beginning and it became much harder to traverse, despite the fast travel system between non-combat zones. The journal told me to go to the Great Wall and I had a quite vague idea how to reach it, despite that the Wall and Athena in her new form were visible from almost any point of the city. The nearest location I remembered was the Gateway Brave and it was the last non-combat zone to revisit, so I headed in its general direction. Fortunately, the entrance location was still there and I was able to get to the A.I.D. Command Center. Its layout changed as well. It seemed that something just crushed through walls and buildings. When I approached the hospital, the statue I had seen before at the lobby turned out to be a boss. It took just 3-4 attempts to defeat.

[Hurlshort]

3 hours ago, thepixiesrock said:

Damn I almost started that back up the other day having not played in over a year. Are you playing on normal difficulty or survival?

Normal. I'm no glutton for punishment.