What Are You Playing Now: Gaming Lives

[LadyCrimson]

"Played" another hour of Outer Worlds.  In quote marks because I basically ran around it in circles close to the first town, taking pictures, killing a few animals/bandits while avoiding others, picking up any free loot containers, and talking to quest npc's but then completely ignoring them.  I dunno ... I find the landscape quite nice to jog around in but the desire to follow the plot or take "work" to make cash is nil. I need a pretty walking simulator with no boundaries for VR or something.

I was sort of interested in that new Occulus 2 VR because $299 would be an ok experimental price point to me, but then heard about Facebook account connection/login/integration required. I don't have a Facebook account, not going to get one.  So much for that.

[Chilloutman]

wtf? VR with mandatory facebook? Sounds like proper hell

[Labadal]

Playing Slime Rancher. It was a game I tried for fun. I'm now 10 hours in and have unlocked a lot of crap.

[Raithe]

Puttering around with Watchdogs Legion at the moment.

London looks very pretty, and I'm slightly curious how all the people used to playing out car chases on american city style sandbox games will take to winding narrow London road systems..

The whole concept of "anyone can be a member of Deadsec" that you recruit as you play and randomly switch to them when their skills might be useful... Eh, its nice in concept but the execution feels lacking. There's very little to any of these characters beyond a name, an outfit, an accent when they talk.  The skills they might bring rarely come into play, and the ones whose outfits might be useful - ie, can potentially wander into restricted areas without being noticed, aren't hugely effective.

You pretty much give everyone an infiltrator bot and can use that to run around and do most of the mission related stuff while you loiter just outside of the restricted zones.

I do kind of miss the sense of character interaction, I'm not getting a huge sense of pull into the story missions of it all just yet.

[Mamoulian War]

11 hours ago, Chilloutman said:

wtf? VR with mandatory facebook? Sounds like proper hell

Yup, lot of people got their Oculus bricked, because they were for some reason banned on facebook, be it legitimate ban or false positive. 

[Hawke64]

3 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

Yup, lot of people got their Oculus bricked, because they were for some reason banned on facebook, be it legitimate ban or false positive. 

That's disappointing, to put it mildly. Why a piece of hardware would need a social network account in order to function, I cannot understand (I really don't like the possible answer).

----

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning. I've completed the Teeth of Naros DLC (the final boss even managed to kill me once when I tried to tank all his attacks to see if I could) and hit the level cap, 40. I had hoped to get all abilities from 2 trees, but it is not going to happen, it seems. One DLC left to play, then I may replay the main story only on Hard with a pure Might build, it should prevent me from grossly overlevelling everything.

[melkathi]

How was performance in Teeth of Naros? In the original game it was far less optimised than the rest of the game and had a lot of stuttering.

The pirates of the Caribbean dlc was better made.

[Mamoulian War]

2 hours ago, Hawke64 said:

That's disappointing, to put it mildly. Why a piece of hardware would need a social network account in order to function, I cannot understand (I really don't like the possible answer).

----

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning. I've completed the Teeth of Naros DLC (the final boss even managed to kill me once when I tried to tank all his attacks to see if I could) and hit the level cap, 40. I had hoped to get all abilities from 2 trees, but it is not going to happen, it seems. One DLC left to play, then I may replay the main story only on Hard with a pure Might build, it should prevent me from grossly overlevelling everything.

Data harvesting. Console went ape-**** with this in next-gen as well. So far I am so much disappointed by it, that I despite bing big PS fan since 90ties, I am skipping PS5 for now, just because of the new **** they put in ToS...

[Tale]

Chaos;Head and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

Both I can recommend if you're into stories and have a bit of a weeb side. Chaos;Head is pure VN, where 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is 90% sidescrolling story game of high schoolers talking and 10% strategy game of giant robots fighting Kaiju. Though everyone pretty much looks like blue, yellow, or red dots. Don't expect to feel immersed in that part.

[Malcador]

Forgot why I was unimpressed with Deponia, the schtick of Rufus being a douchebag everyone laughs at is getting tired.

In for a penny, in for a pound though, got three of these games to push through.

[Keyrock]

Finished Yakuza Kiwami. It's a Yakuza game, it goes without saying that it's a great game, so pretend I didn't say that. Overall, not quite as holy **** amazing as Yakuza Zero, but what game is? The ending sequence was terrific. I shed a few manly tears during said ending.

[Hawke64]

8 hours ago, melkathi said:

How was performance in Teeth of Naros? In the original game it was far less optimised than the rest of the game and had a lot of stuttering.

The pirates of the Caribbean dlc was better made.

Haven't noticed any FPS drops there. There were only 1 graphical bug (shadow effects on characters in one of the dungeons) and 1 side-quest-related bug (the NPC became impossible to interact with).

[MedicineDan]

First, Hawke, I want you to recommend a game for me.  In my years following and often stalking without posting, I've found your input useful.  Ironically, considering your quote, I've found mel's advice useful also.  I still have that quirky little Lovecraft game that he recommended.  Hell, I've finished it twice!

Meanwhile, I started Amulet of Naheulbeuk (or something like that).  I was playing it on hard.  I guess 3rd highest setting out of 4?  I was managing to muddle through the fights, but I don't have the time to patients for that, so I put it on 2 out of 4.  Now I roll everying.  I don't care.  I get such little time to let loose.  I don't want challenge so much as distraction.

[melkathi]

Glad you enjoyed Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones

[Mamoulian War]

I kinda had no time to play anything last two weeks, because I've started organizing newcomer league for SimRacers in Czechia and Slovakia in Assetto Corsa on PC

So currently my Shadowrun HK is little bit on hold. And with it, everything else

Anyway back to DS2 gloating

Scorpioness Najka, second attempt. I messed up my first attempt at her 10%. The second one was much smoother, I even went for the lulz to pickup last item, which I have missed in my almost 100% playthrough in NG+

 

[melkathi]

My whole life feels like Mamoulian War's Shadowrun HK playthrough: on hold.

[Mamoulian War]

I think, most people feel that way last few months

[Hawke64]

18 hours ago, MedicineDan said:

First, Hawke, I want you to recommend a game for me.  In my years following and often stalking without posting, I've found your input useful.  Ironically, considering your quote, I've found mel's advice useful also.  I still have that quirky little Lovecraft game that he recommended.  Hell, I've finished it twice!

Meanwhile, I started Amulet of Naheulbeuk (or something like that).  I was playing it on hard.  I guess 3rd highest setting out of 4?  I was managing to muddle through the fights, but I don't have the time to patients for that, so I put it on 2 out of 4.  Now I roll everying.  I don't care.  I get such little time to let loose.  I don't want challenge so much as distraction.

Considering that I don't know what exactly you are looking for in games, here are 2 lists.
For RPGs and action-RPGs:

Spoiler

all Obsidian games;
the Avadon series had good writing, but rather simple combat;
the Dark Souls series had very satisfying combat and excellent design;
Death's Gambit - an action-adventure with RPG elements;
Dragon's Dogma had excellent combat, but was rather linear with little RP;
Ember - an indie adventure with RPG elements and radical environmentalism (which was amusing in the "let the world burn" kind of way);
the Fable series - action-adventure with RPG elements;
the Spiders' games all are action-RPGs (except Mars: War Logs, which was more of an action-adventure) with challenging at the beginning combat and some backtracking;
Hyper Light Drifter - an action-adventure with RPG elements;
Immortal Planet - an action-adventure with RPG elements;
Kingdoms of Amalur - an action-RPG, which I'm currently playing; satisfying combat, but the game is rather linear and poorly-balanced;
Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns - an action-adventure with RPG elements and a time limit system (which can be easily bypassed), might be not exactly good, but it was one of the few anime-styled games I've finished;
Lords of the Fallen - an action-adventure with RPG elements;
Lucah: Born of a Dream - an action-adventure with RPG elements; I did not quite understand the story, but the combat was engaging;
the Mass Effect series;
you've played Pathfinder: Kingmaker, if I'm not mistaken;
Pyre - an action-adventure with RPG and management elements;
the Shadowrun series - an RPG in cyberpunk setting with turn-based combat;
The Surge series had good combat and level design;
Torment: Tides of Numenera - text-heavy RPG with turn-based combat;
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (the GOG version includes the Unofficial patch).

For action and adventure:

Spoiler

Anima: Gate of Memories (a very difficult action-adventure);
Bastion;
Bayonetta;
Beyond Good & Evil;
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic;
the Dead Space series;
the Deus Ex series (the new one, I am yet to play the original);
the Devil May Cry series (the 3-in-1 port thing was ported very poorly, though);
the Dishonored series;
Furi;
Marlow Briggs (just a fun action game that stays engaging from start to finish);
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance;
Mirror's Edge;
Omensight (not exactly great; but somehow engaging);
the Portal series;
Prey (reboot);
Rime was a simple puzzle-adventure, but it looked great;
the Saints Row series (somehow similar to GTA, but without the dissonance between its gameplay and story);
Spec Ops: The Line (a caricature of FPS);
Sundered;
The Talos Principle;
Thief;
Vanquish;
Yuppie Psycho.
There's also the upcoming NieR remake, which I've played on PS3 (Gestalt). I liked the hero journey trope reversal, but it was a typical action game otherwise.

----

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning. Successfully claimed Gravehal Keep (Dead Kel DLC).
 

Edited November 3, 2020 by Hawke64

[MedicineDan]

No time to respond at length, but I appreciate the list.  I have many of the games you suggest already.  It's funny, but mel's game was some funny very low budget game that was mostly text with merely a nod at graphics.  Terribly clunky, but fun as hell.  That was some time ago.  Now, along with what I see on Hawke's list, I now need to purchase Stygian reign of the old ones.  Damn it!  However, in such a terrible year, at least we have games.  I think, sometimes, facing crazy assed darkness in games makes us feel better about facing dark realities in real life.  Anyhow, thanks, guys.  I'll definitely chime in after I've had the chance to try the suggestions.  This board is funny in that I've always gotten good pointers here.

[majestic]

Killed all the pasts in Enter The Gungeon, includig the two unlockable characters.

Time to start working on that final stage.

[melkathi]

Hmm low graphics low budget cthulhu game?

Daily Cthonicle?

That game had a lot of potential. Shame the dev ran out of energy and had to realize that most tiny indy games will never get noticed. I do think he actually finished it though. It's on my list of games I need to fire up again.

 

 

Also will eventually have to give Cultist Simulator another go.

 

Edited November 3, 2020 by melkathi

[marelooke]

21 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

I think, most people feel that way last few months

Aside from people constantly talking about the "human malware" nothing much has changed for me.

So...where can I pick up my hermit certification?

 

On the gaming front, been dabbling a bit in the Outer Worlds which I picked up now that it was available on Gog. Having a bit of the same problem LadyCrimson has: I just hike around looking and poking at things but don't really have any real drive to push the plot forward. Though the realisation that no matter what choices I make it's probably going to end badly might have something to do with it as well...

[Mamoulian War]

After Najka, it was again the encounter with the easiest boss of the game. Prowling Magus and the Congregation. Souls Spears made their jobs pretty quickly
 

 

[Malcador]

Deponia down.  Had trouble with some puzzles, mostly forgot to just harvest every screen and figure stuff out later though.  Still hate the character but the story was ok, setting was nice.  Time for the second game, apparently this is the best of the four

[majestic]

I just killed The Lich in Enter The Gungeon.

Which was kind of surprising to me. I was trying out the Rainbow Run modifier and that worked very much in my favor. Blank Bullets, Vulcan, Ancient Hero's Bandana meant that boss did... absolutely nothing. Just stood there shooting at it.

So the next time I get to the boss I'll probably die the miserable death I expected while trying to learn his bullet patterns. And I probably used up all the drop luck this game's ever going to give me.

Also managed to unlock the shortcuts, the boss rush mode and the Super Hot Watch.