What are you Playing Now: Living the Game Life

[Hawke64]

Completed Solasta: Crown of the Magister. Solasta is a party-based RPG with four protagonists, closer to a dungeon-crawler or a tactical RPG, than other cRPGs. There are several NPCs who can temporarily (for one or two battles) join the party in combat. There are several classes, weapons, backgrounds and manners of speech. Backgrounds provide unique quests (1 per background) during the game. Most of the time the party uses auto-dialogue according to their personality tags, but there are dialogue options as well, which may affect the story. The main story is mostly linear (there are few choices), with new objectives appearing after completing the previous ones. There are several side quests. Combat is usually unavoidable (the game cannot be completed without it), but it is not possible to attack neutral or friendly NPCs without announcing your intention first (there is one exception, where the boss turned hostile after the party looted the room). In the situations when it is possible to use diplomacy, the XP reward is roughly equal to the one gained by killing the boss. The combat is turn-based with adjustable difficulty, from damage dealt to spell requirements to random encounters. There are also separate settings for AI. Maps are fully 3D and vertical movement is meaningful. The reputation system affects only the items available for purchase, but not the story. The crafting system is easy to understand and crafted equipment and consumables provide advantage without being balance-breaking. The graphics and sound are adequate, they fit the setting and do not distract from combat. The style is consistent and animations are expressive. GUI is comfortable to use, but relies mostly on the mouse and there are too few hotkeys. The controls are responsive and rebindable, 5-button mice are supported. Tutorials are easy to understand and helpful, but some important features are not mentioned, such as Identifying magical items. The number of save files is limited to 50 and they are located in AppData (why would a hidden folder) and names for custom characters cannot be repeated. I have encountered several small graphical glitches (animations not playing when speeded up; wrong portrait shown after combat), several small audio bugs (VA and subtitles did not match) and one softlock (during a late-game main quest, “The Mind of the Master”). Optimisation is lacking - frames per second dropped in areas with water, GPU temperature was high during gameplay.

Completed Boyfriend Dungeon. Boyfriend Dungeon is a rogue-lite/dating-sim. There are 2 dungeons, 4 bosses, several equipment pieces. The MC's name and appearance are customizable, level progression is completely automatic and linear (higher level = more HP and higher damage). Difficulty depends on the PC's level, because nothing scales and it is easy to out-level everything. There are no penalties for defeat in dungeons, XP and loot acquired are kept.
The controls are responsive and rebindable, 5-button mice are supported. The game uses 1 auto-save.
There are 7 weapons that are unlocked as the story progresses. It is impossible to alienate or antagonise them, they love the MC no matter what and always available to use after acquiring them.
Dialogue choices are rather limited, but often reflected in following dialogues. The main story itself relies heavily on the MC's passivity and lack of attention, while the main antagonist is extremely obvious and ridiculously incompetent.
There is no in-game journal or log. In general, clearing 1 floor of a dungeon is enough to trigger next event.
I have not encountered any significant bugs.
Recommended on sale, because the game technically achieves what it states on the store page - there are weapons who are possible to date, randomly-generated dungeons offer action-based combat, despite both aspects being shallow.

Replayed Mass Effect. Mass Effect is an action-RPG/cover-based third-person shooter. There are several classes, companions and weapon types. The game supports auto-/manual and quick saves. The character is customizable (class, equipment, appearance, background, first name). It runs on Windows 10. 2 DLC are available for free from the publisher's site*. The controls are rebindable, 4-button mice supported (the fifth button is not recognised).
Some in-game bonuses (i.e. +10% to shields or weapon proficiencies) are locked behind in-game achievements (not Steam achievements). The dialogue system is lacking - the answer shown can be very different from the spoken line; sometimes the player can choose only the tone, but not the meaning. The vehicle, the Mako, has very unusual physics and controls.

Replayed Dark Souls: Remastered. Still feels reasonably challenging and engaging. Also, unlike the Prepare to Die Edition, it is very comfortable to play with keyboard and mouse.

 

Not sure, if I should repost my reviews here, but why not.

Currently playing Black Legend. It is a tactical game with RPG elements. Good controls, combat, graphics, story, optimisation.

[BruceVC]

5 hours ago, Hawke64 said:

Completed Solasta: Crown of the Magister. Solasta is a party-based RPG with four protagonists, closer to a dungeon-crawler or a tactical RPG, than other cRPGs. There are several NPCs who can temporarily (for one or two battles) join the party in combat. There are several classes, weapons, backgrounds and manners of speech. Backgrounds provide unique quests (1 per background) during the game. Most of the time the party uses auto-dialogue according to their personality tags, but there are dialogue options as well, which may affect the story. The main story is mostly linear (there are few choices), with new objectives appearing after completing the previous ones. There are several side quests. Combat is usually unavoidable (the game cannot be completed without it), but it is not possible to attack neutral or friendly NPCs without announcing your intention first (there is one exception, where the boss turned hostile after the party looted the room). In the situations when it is possible to use diplomacy, the XP reward is roughly equal to the one gained by killing the boss. The combat is turn-based with adjustable difficulty, from damage dealt to spell requirements to random encounters. There are also separate settings for AI. Maps are fully 3D and vertical movement is meaningful. The reputation system affects only the items available for purchase, but not the story. The crafting system is easy to understand and crafted equipment and consumables provide advantage without being balance-breaking. The graphics and sound are adequate, they fit the setting and do not distract from combat. The style is consistent and animations are expressive. GUI is comfortable to use, but relies mostly on the mouse and there are too few hotkeys. The controls are responsive and rebindable, 5-button mice are supported. Tutorials are easy to understand and helpful, but some important features are not mentioned, such as Identifying magical items. The number of save files is limited to 50 and they are located in AppData (why would a hidden folder) and names for custom characters cannot be repeated. I have encountered several small graphical glitches (animations not playing when speeded up; wrong portrait shown after combat), several small audio bugs (VA and subtitles did not match) and one softlock (during a late-game main quest, “The Mind of the Master”). Optimisation is lacking - frames per second dropped in areas with water, GPU temperature was high during gameplay.

Completed Boyfriend Dungeon. Boyfriend Dungeon is a rogue-lite/dating-sim. There are 2 dungeons, 4 bosses, several equipment pieces. The MC's name and appearance are customizable, level progression is completely automatic and linear (higher level = more HP and higher damage). Difficulty depends on the PC's level, because nothing scales and it is easy to out-level everything. There are no penalties for defeat in dungeons, XP and loot acquired are kept.
The controls are responsive and rebindable, 5-button mice are supported. The game uses 1 auto-save.
There are 7 weapons that are unlocked as the story progresses. It is impossible to alienate or antagonise them, they love the MC no matter what and always available to use after acquiring them.
Dialogue choices are rather limited, but often reflected in following dialogues. The main story itself relies heavily on the MC's passivity and lack of attention, while the main antagonist is extremely obvious and ridiculously incompetent.
There is no in-game journal or log. In general, clearing 1 floor of a dungeon is enough to trigger next event.
I have not encountered any significant bugs.
Recommended on sale, because the game technically achieves what it states on the store page - there are weapons who are possible to date, randomly-generated dungeons offer action-based combat, despite both aspects being shallow.

Replayed Mass Effect. Mass Effect is an action-RPG/cover-based third-person shooter. There are several classes, companions and weapon types. The game supports auto-/manual and quick saves. The character is customizable (class, equipment, appearance, background, first name). It runs on Windows 10. 2 DLC are available for free from the publisher's site*. The controls are rebindable, 4-button mice supported (the fifth button is not recognised).
Some in-game bonuses (i.e. +10% to shields or weapon proficiencies) are locked behind in-game achievements (not Steam achievements). The dialogue system is lacking - the answer shown can be very different from the spoken line; sometimes the player can choose only the tone, but not the meaning. The vehicle, the Mako, has very unusual physics and controls.

Replayed Dark Souls: Remastered. Still feels reasonably challenging and engaging. Also, unlike the Prepare to Die Edition, it is very comfortable to play with keyboard and mouse.

 

Not sure, if I should repost my reviews here, but why not.

Currently playing Black Legend. It is a tactical game with RPG elements. Good controls, combat, graphics, story, optimisation.

Thanks for the details around numerous games , nice one 

[Amentep]

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