What Are You Playing Now: The Other, Other Thread

[Hawke64]

Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan. Action-adventure/beat-'em-up. It seems linear and very combat-heavy so far. I am unsure, if I am supposed to burn through consumables as I do during boss battles, despite the "strategic consumption" hint.
I successfully left the second village, which name I forgot, and explored the forest. The guards on the road to the Isao village told me to get lost, so the forest was the only option. The mobs were damage sponges and the NPC companion could heal me to full HP in seconds, so the combat was not particularly exciting. But I like the story (two newly-crowned and freshly-exiled monarchs must get stronger and reclaim their thrones) and the controls are reasonably comfortable and rebindable.

[MedicineDan]

This crazy assed noc shift schedule combined with school is killing my game time even more than previously.  I finally finished Episode 3 of Wintermute from The Long Dark.  Fun game, but they made changes that really dropped down the difficulty.  I don't mind, though.  I've played it on... Survivor?  Whatever the hardest mode is.  It's brutal game in sandbox, but I think the story mode really *should* be easier.  I think they had the vast majority of their players not finish the first episode because the learning curve was too high for most folks.  Maybe more people found this current episode more casual play friendly.

I think I'll finally go back to that Disco adventure game I started a while back.  I only got about five minutes in before I basically couldn't play for a while and now I want to explore it some more.  If it's too demanding, though, I'll have to wait for a while.  Always on the lookout for good games when I lurk on these boards.

[Skazz]

I'm looking for a recommendation. I'm three seasons into Brooklyn 99 and I have developed this urge play some kind of game focusing on running a police precinct and/or day-by-day work of policemen.

Does anything like that exist?

[Oner]

There's This is the Police 1-2, for starters. The SWAT games to a lesser extent.
Beat Cop is, well, about a beat cop.

[Skazz]

12 minutes ago, Oner said:

There's This is the Police 1-2, for starters. The SWAT games to a lesser extent.
Beat Cop is, well, about a beat cop.

Does any of the games on the list (SWAT excluded, since I've played some of those) involve - for the lack of a better word - managing stuff?  Or are they mostly single-playthrough narrative games?

I mean, from what little I saw of TitP on Steam, it seemed to me like an interactive novel more than anything else. I'd love to have some layer of tycoonish stuff to do.

Edited May 1, 2020 by Skazz

[Oner]

I've only seen videos of TitP 2, unlike the first one it seemed to be more about management and XCOM-style combat, though haven't played it myself. SWAT 2 is a strategy/simulator, not a tycoon game per se, but close enough I think?

If you're explicitly looking for a Sim Police Tycoon kind of game, I've never heard about one existing.

[melkathi]

There is also XCOM: Chimera Squad, but it only has the breaching and shooting people as you breach part of the police genre.

[Skazz]

1 hour ago, melkathi said:

There is also XCOM: Chimera Squad, but it only has the breaching and shooting people as you breach part of the police genre.

I'm aware of Chimera Squad, but as you said, it's kind of limited in the police aspect.

[melkathi]

3 minutes ago, Skazz said:

I'm aware of Chimera Squad, but as you said, it's kind of limited in the police aspect.

Want to manage the police? Play Majesty and build Guard Towers, then recruit Solarii.

There, dilemma solved.

 

Added benefit: Your flame will burn brighter.

Edited May 1, 2020 by melkathi

[Malcador]

2 hours ago, Skazz said:

I'm looking for a recommendation. I'm three seasons into Brooklyn 99 and I have developed this urge play some kind of game focusing on running a police precinct and/or day-by-day work of policemen.

Does anything like that exist?

Police Quest 1

[Skazz]

7 minutes ago, Malcador said:

Police Quest 1

Why 1 specifically?

[Keyrock]

You don't run the precinct in the Police Quest games, but you play a cop and Jim Walls, having been a cop himself, makes you follow correct procedures, especially in the first game. Also, you fall in love with a hooker, so the game is pretty true to life.

[Malcador]

27 minutes ago, Skazz said:

Why 1 specifically?

Well, felt that one was the most procedural as you spend more time being a traffic cop rather than detective.  There was a remake to use..uhh...SCI ? and with VGA graphics, so you avoid the parser and the stupid poker game.

[Keyrock]

Fun Fact: The Sierra text parser is where I honed my (laughable) typing skills as a wee lad. I can still type "open door" with a swiftness you would not believe.

[Malcador]

29 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

Fun Fact: The Sierra text parser is where I honed my (laughable) typing skills as a wee lad. I can still type "open door" with a swiftness you would not believe.

Mavis Beacon....with guns.

[LadyCrimson]

BL3 - best changes from the early console versions: 

--"town stash" is now upgradeable to 400 (vs 50 or 100 I think?). Scrolling through it is a nightmare tho. But I'll only need 3-4 mules instead of 8-12!  (to hold stuff I almost never use but still want to hold onto in case I feel like experimenting)
--ability to skip the first part of the game with new chrs to start in the main town hub immediately, at lvl13.

Not sure I like the way post-game Mayhem modes work now - by that I mean the attributes of the difficulty. Can take forever to reroll a combo you like and there's not as many different attributes to mix/match to boot. Normal feels like it was nerfed slightly (difficulty and loot drops).  Mayhem 1 now feels like how the "normal" game should be/was (loot drops, difficulty could be a tad higher).  Mayhem 2 ramps up, Mayhem 3 I'm gonna need a lot better loadout. Goes all the way up to M10 now.  I tried M5 with not-optimized gear - some spots I could manage but other areas - wow that's a crazy jump.

And of course, if you don't play "online" you can miss out on a lot of stuff over time.  Although I think you can access some past Events via someone in the town. Haven't tested that tho.

At least they didn't mess with my favorite grenade.  It still rules.  I've tried them all, and some can do a lot more single-target damage (if it actually hits anything....), but the one I like is still the best overall.  HOMING, BOUNCY, MIRV, MONEY, baby!

Edited May 1, 2020 by LadyCrimson

[melkathi]

On my second playthrough of Chimera Squad (the investigations change slightly based on the order you play them in and what Dark Event you choose to prevent).

I think the main problem I have with the game is that devs do not understand how repetition makes things stand out. When you head out to a mission, the squad rides out in an APC. The way the parking spot is modeled makes that maneuver by the APC pretty much impossible - basically the non visible side of the APC must be clipping through walls. On mission return they play the clip backward, which makes the parking painfully unrealistic. Now if those videos were only played a couple of times, most people wouldn't give it that much thought. Most likely my initial thought "Heh, that APC drives the way I do in Saints Row" is as far as I would have gotten. But I have seen it over 50 times in my first playthrough. Over 50 times leaving the base, over 50 times returning. That is when the "little things" have the time to stand out. If you will have players stare at a specific video repeatedly, more than anything else in the game, then you shouldn't cut corners there.

Same with the writing. Whisper (the not-Bradford of the game) is written as the person who tries hard to build team moral. He tries to strengthen camaraderie, is friendly and jovial. He also is the person who does mission briefings, which means this joviality is part of every mission. At the same time, one of the starting squaddies, and the game's only dedicated healer is also the team's joker. Terminal is just one joke after the other. But as she is someone everyone will have on their team, and because her levity will be part of her interaction with every otherwise not funny character, it upsets the balance. The game's writing is fine. The story is fine. The characters are fine. But the devs didn't consider how much facetime certain aspects would have and how all that would interact with everything else.

Edited May 2, 2020 by melkathi

[Mamoulian War]

I have finished today two more connected levels in Vaporum, The Riddle of Steel and the Boiling Point, both levels were pretty dark, and the secret buttons were hidden so good this time, that out of 7 secrets, I had to peek into maps 3 times to find them all But two of them were just me being completely blind, because they were kind of not very hard to spot. But the last one, even with the map, I was not seeing it, and I would probably be still searching for it, if I did not luckily hover over it with my mouse button...

[ShadySands]

On 5/1/2020 at 5:09 AM, Skazz said:

Looking for bacon simulator

Police Simulator games, there are several but I've never played any. 2 looks more like what you're describing. Saw a recommendation for Keep the Peace but it looks like one of those forever early access games. Police Tactics: Imperio but it has a rather low score on Steam.

Edited May 2, 2020 by ShadySands

[Hurlshort]

This is the Police is a pretty entertaining one, you manage the officers and send them out on calls. It's not quite the same tone as Brooklyn 99 though. I may have let the job of being a police chief corrupt me. It starts with a little bribe to look the other way so that your buddy can get out of debt, and it may have ended with me taking out a hit on an officer that decided to squeal to the IA.  

[Orogun01]

I've been playing Bannerlord, good to see that the Khergit (or whatever they're called now,Khuzait IIRC) are still overpowered as ****. I beat an army of 800 with 100 elite mounted archers. The spirit of Crassus looked at my gameplay and realized that, it could have been worse for him.

[Malcador]

Played some FM2018 as it's fairly laid back, sort of chuffed I did the treble with my FCSM team, won the league by one point and somehow beat Atletico in the final of the CL.  I guess this is a good point to leave the club and try a different league, but am attached to my virtual players who will eventually betray me to go warm the bench on Real Madrid or something. 

[melkathi]

Noticed a friend installing voice mods for XCOM2.

Alpha Protocol SIE voice pack, Alpha Protocol Scarlet Lake voice pack, Alpha Protocol Mike Thorton voice pack.

Noticed an inexcusable lack of a Sis voice pack.

[Keyrock]

2 hours ago, melkathi said:

Noticed a friend installing voice mods for XCOM2.

Alpha Protocol SIE voice pack, Alpha Protocol Scarlet Lake voice pack, Alpha Protocol Mike Thorton voice pack.

Noticed an inexcusable lack of a Sis voice pack.

The Sis voice pack comes pre-installed with the base game. You just go into the audio options menu and slide the voices slider to 0%. The more important question: Who installs all of that but DOESN'T install a Steven Heck voice pack?

I decided to take a bit of a break from X4 to play Get Even. It's from The Farm 51 and has mixed reviews from both journalists and gamers alike. I played Deadfall Adventures from these developers and that game was largely panned while I really really liked it; what can I say, I have weird tastes. Anyway, it's a FPS, but it's not just shooty shooty, the game is suppesed to be kind of a mind****.

Edited May 4, 2020 by Keyrock

[Mamoulian War]

Vaporum levels 10 and 11. This was really painful. Lot of tough enemies, lot of teleporters and lot of ultra hidden buttons to find. Thankfully I had enough energy to overheal the damage from the mobs. Else I would still be dieing while trying to find my daughters teddy bear These two levels caused the game to go from solid 5/5 to 4/5. We'll see what awaits me in the last level...