What are you Playing Now: Living the Game Life

[Keyrock]

I started up Assassin's Creed Rogue. It was dirt cheap, on account of being 786 years old, and it has the sailing, ship combat, and sea shanties that I liked so much in Black Flag. It holds up visually fairly well for a 786 year old game and I can crank all settings to max, even on my lappy that's starting to get slightly long in the tooth. So far I'm still in the beginning stages where they are still limiting me on where I can go and what I can do so they can do the first act of the story more or less linearly. What can I say, it's an AssCreed of the pre-Origins variety. I'm not expecting anything innovative. If I get essentially Black Flag 2  then that's great, that's all I want.

[melkathi]

So Skyrim goes into the list of games that I could never get into until something suddenly clicked and allowed me to have fun my way.

Here it was messing around with my avatar until I could have a goofy grin that makes all serious situations silly by my presence.

Since then I found you can adopt children, which first few times I had tried playing the game I never got to. So now I gather skill books around the world and add them to the bookshelf in my house, then stand proudly in a corner when one of the kids grabs a book to read. They'll be the most skilled children out there by the time I am done with the game.

I am considering assassinating the Talos preacher. I saw Sofia go sit on the bench where he preaches and listen to his preaching. He can believe whatever he wants and preach what he wants. But not to my daughter.  Next thing you know, Thalmor justiciars will be knocking on our door and high elf blood is a pain to get out of the carpet.

[Malcador]

21 hours ago, Raithe said:

Getting into ME3 Legacy edition.

Being reminded on just how much background feels you can get from those conversations you overhear. While the missions tend to push the war adventure, with occasional moments of emotion, it's the small things you overhear that make you consider the horror of the war. The refugees, the teenage girl waiting for her parents, all those little things that you might not actually pay attention to.

All I can think of is the tedium of farming those side quests by being a eavesdropping weirdo.  Shame I didn't get a chance to tell Joker I know how his sister died when he was being an ass after Thessia. Well or punch him.  Shame no option to get him killed in ME2, thinking about it.

[Hurlshort]

I picked up Wildermyth, and it is a fantastic experience. I love the generational gaming aspect. My early heroes are all close to retirement, and the next generation is getting ready to take over.

[kanisatha]

2 hours ago, melkathi said:

So Skyrim goes into the list of games that I could never get into until something suddenly clicked and allowed me to have fun my way.

Here it was messing around with my avatar until I could have a goofy grin that makes all serious situations silly by my presence.

Since then I found you can adopt children, which first few times I had tried playing the game I never got to. So now I gather skill books around the world and add them to the bookshelf in my house, then stand proudly in a corner when one of the kids grabs a book to read. They'll be the most skilled children out there by the time I am done with the game.

I am considering assassinating the Talos preacher. I saw Sofia go sit on the bench where he preaches and listen to his preaching. He can believe whatever he wants and preach what he wants. But not to my daughter.  Next thing you know, Thalmor justiciars will be knocking on our door and high elf blood is a pain to get out of the carpet.

I liked the adopting thing too. But that also was exactly what showed me what was so wrong about the game and what it could've been. Once you get married, and adopt a bunch of kids, your wife and kids don't have any new interactions with you. For the rest of the game they have nothing to say or do with you. That disappointed me.

[kanisatha]

Just finished my first (and very likely last) run through The Bard's Tale IV, a game I backed. The story and characters were okay, but combat was boring, simplistic, and repetitious, and the game was way too invested in puzzle-solving which was also repetitious and tedious. Yet another inXile crowdfunded project that had such potential but then failed to live up to that potential.

Now playing the small indie game Ember. It's good fun so far. The only comment to make is that it is so very unknown by anyone to the point where you cannot find any info relating to the game online. Googling for help is out if you find yourself stuck on something. So you're entirely on your own, like playing a game in the 1980s, which is both a good and a bad thing.

[melkathi]

We regularly play catch and hide & seek with the kids. They cheat at hide & seek - that is not counting to 10

They ask for an allowance occasionally.

Sometimes they gather flowers for me.

I got them dolls, so sometimes they play with those (Sofia more frequently than Lucia).

Sometimes they read (Lucia more often than Sofia) one of the books from the bookshelf.

I got them wooden swords, so they do some sword training at their training dummy.

Once they got into a huge fight and I had to step in and tell them to cut it out. "Both of you."

Sometimes they try to stay up past their bed time. Then we argue about whether they really need to go to bed right now even though they are not tired...

Since we live in Whiterun, they complain about Braith being mean to Lars and them.

 

These things may have been added with Hearthfire or what the DLC is called.

[the_dog_days]

2 hours ago, Hurlsnot said:

I picked up Wildermyth, and it is a fantastic experience. I love the generational gaming aspect. My early heroes are all close to retirement, and the next generation is getting ready to take over.

Yeah, the creeper quests were weird and very uncomfortable. Shame just about every side quest is a creeper quest.

[melkathi]

You could tell a Bethesda game by the bugs...

I fast travel to the middle of nowhere.

As I load, the game also loads a dragon nearby who flies in to attack me.

I dismount and run a short distance from the horse, as I don't want it hit by the breath weapon.

Dragon lands.

Dragon takes falling damage from landing.

Dragon dies.

[Theonlygarby]

7 hours ago, Malcador said:

All I can think of is the tedium of farming those side quests by being a eavesdropping weirdo.  Shame I didn't get a chance to tell Joker I know how his sister died when he was being an ass after Thessia. Well or punch him.  Shame no option to get him killed in ME2, thinking about it.

I'm playing legendary edition as well...  I forgot how much the paragon renegade choices annoy me.  it's extremely annoying having to be always good or always bad.  If you mix and match you just get crappy outcomes.  I'm fine with the tedium... I'm half enjoying the mako in ME1 for some reason

[Tale]

7 hours ago, Hurlsnot said:

I picked up Wildermyth, and it is a fantastic experience. I love the generational gaming aspect. My early heroes are all close to retirement, and the next generation is getting ready to take over.

Probably my game of the year, honestly. If it had a little more class variety and a little better story, it might have been my game of the decade. It helped fill the itch from the D&D group I lost during the pandemic.

 

Anyway, I finished the main campaign of Doom Eternal. I complained the the combat takes itself too seriously. This gets only worse when Marauders and Archviles show up. Might as well BFG the room so you can focus on these two enemies and their nonsense.

 

[Mamoulian War]

10 hours ago, melkathi said:

You could tell a Bethesda game by the bugs...

I fast travel to the middle of nowhere.

As I load, the game also loads a dragon nearby who flies in to attack me.

I dismount and run a short distance from the horse, as I don't want it hit by the breath weapon.

Dragon lands.

Dragon takes falling damage from landing.

Dragon dies.

Maybe it was just the kids who gained vast knowledge from all of the skillbooks you left for them in the library. You probably have raised next omnipotent stealthy leader of the Thieves Guild or powerful Lich Illusionist. Great Knowledge can be very dangerous if taught without proper supervision!

[melkathi]

Well, guess who is adding Spell Tomes to the bookshelf

[Raithe]

Ran through Priority: Thessia on ME3 Legendary.

Sigh.  The fun of doing it with Liara and Javik and the conversations between them. Great. The environment is aesthetically pleasing. The reveals on Asari superiority are nice.

Kai Leng. 

Goddamn Kai Leng.

That scripted fight sequence. The fact that he keeps crowing about his abilities even if you are kicking his ass.  Then you have the continuation of the ego of the assassin who had previously been stopped by a terminally-ill Drell, then only escapes from getting his ass thoroughly kicked by you due to a gunship using high explosives to take the floor out from under you and he then gloats that "he beat you".

Between the scripting of that fight and that writing, it sucks all the joy and delight out of that mission.

[Gromnir]

playing battletech again. we were gonna do heavy metal, but instead we started a new campaign, after which we will do the dlc material.  am using our backstabbing grasshopper a bit more than last time we played, but am still kinda using our headshot marauder even though we got assault mechs which look better on paper. marauders just kinda feel busted with the significant increased headshot chance, but until we got all the mechs we wanted via salvage, we had a hard time resisting the lure o' a kinda dependable "pilot incapacitated" after a head shot. 

blunder: dekker is effective in the grasshopper, but we shoulda' gone for ace pilot instead o' master tactician. being able to shoot and then move woulda' been a huge asset in the grasshopper.

regardless, while mechwarrior 5 is kinda fun, am still more a fan o' the turn-base battletech. too bad it looks like there is no more battletech from hairbrained anytime soon.

HA! Good Fun!

[ShadySands]

I'm really curious to see if Microsoft and/or Paradox will let HBS continue to work on Shadowrun and BattleTech. I want more of both but I fear I won't get more of either for a long, long time.

[mkreku]

I bought Horizon Zero Dawn in the Steam summer sale and started it up yesterday. I am shocked by how good it's been so far. It's gorgeous, runs great on my machine, has a compelling story and it's surprisingly well-written with (some) characters that I actually care about. Also, it just opened up the world for me and that did not make it less awesome!

Unless something happens after the lengthy intro, I am going to enjoy this game immensely.

[LadyCrimson]

Sekiro: your single autosave system sucks. Oh sure I can copy the save folder etc. but when you don't know what is going to trigger a boss or some BIG IMPORTANT scene, so you don't know when to pause the game to backup and not have to repeat an hour, it still sucks.

Yeah yeah ... it 'prevents' save scumming/cheating.  It's a difficulty style and that's fine.  But it also keeps me from repeating for better screenshots and videos (without tons of extra work I mean, obviously).  Just two save slots would've been fine! Pfffft. 

Edited July 7, 2021 by LadyCrimson

[melkathi]

So apparently the backstory for Lucia, the orphan girl in Whiterun, is that her parents died and her aunt and uncle took over the farm and kicked her out. She got to Whiterun, where nobody cared except for the drunk redguard beggar who thought her the basics of begging.

a) bastards in Whiterun pretending they are good and proper neighbours.

b) bastard Companions who pretend they are about honour and protecting the innocent.

c) Where is that farm? I want a word with aunty and uncle. I have two empty petty soul gems to help me check if they even have souls.

[BruceVC]

On 7/5/2021 at 6:37 PM, kanisatha said:

Just finished my first (and very likely last) run through The Bard's Tale IV, a game I backed. The story and characters were okay, but combat was boring, simplistic, and repetitious, and the game was way too invested in puzzle-solving which was also repetitious and tedious. Yet another inXile crowdfunded project that had such potential but then failed to live up to that potential.

Now playing the small indie game Ember. It's good fun so far. The only comment to make is that it is so very unknown by anyone to the point where you cannot find any info relating to the game online. Googling for help is out if you find yourself stuck on something. So you're entirely on your own, like playing a game in the 1980s, which is both a good and a bad thing.

I did warn you about Bards Tale IV, remember our chat? I said " dont play this game if you dont like puzzles " 

The puzzles  are part of the overall journey and intrinsic design and once you get use to the patterns they become much easier and less vexatious ...but they still can get annoying which is why I suggest game guides for certain puzzles 

It is a  good game but its not for everyone I would say primarily for what you posted

[melkathi]

Sometimes RNG makes for the best moments.

I just finished the long dungeon to get the Wolf Queen Potema's remains, to have them sanctified and prevent her resurrection. I travel back to Windhelm. When I get there it is getting dark and everyone is just locking up. So I go into the house, Lydia is standing around but the children aren't there. I look at Lydia a bit crossly, because it is getting dark and the girls should be home by now...

Door opens, the children come in. Sofia see me, runs up and goes "I got you a present! Hope you like it!"

It's a book titled "The Wolf Queen" describing the history of Potema.

 

Knowing Bethesda, if they had tried to script that, it would have bugged and the event wouldn't have triggered. The child would probably have fallen through a hole in the geometry trying to reach me. But RNG triggered the right event with the right random gift.

[kanisatha]

On 7/7/2021 at 11:08 AM, BruceVC said:

I did warn you about Bards Tale IV, remember our chat? I said " dont play this game if you dont like puzzles " 

The puzzles  are part of the overall journey and intrinsic design and once you get use to the patterns they become much easier and less vexatious ...but they still can get annoying which is why I suggest game guides for certain puzzles 

It is a  good game but its not for everyone I would say primarily for what you posted

You sure did, Bruce!

And I don't mind puzzles so long as they are not aggravating and/or repetitious. Thankfully the Director's Cut version of the game has a bard's song that allows you to bypass a lot of the puzzles and even some locked doors generally.

[BruceVC]

19 minutes ago, kanisatha said:

You sure did, Bruce!

And I don't mind puzzles so long as they are not aggravating and/or repetitious. Thankfully the Director's Cut version of the game has a bard's song that allows you to bypass a lot of the puzzles and even some locked doors generally.

But I also meant to say " thanks for funding  this game " , I know you didnt enjoy it  but your money wasnt wasted because it has its appeal. Just one final example,  the combat really becomes strategic and more complex as you progress and you do adopt different approaches  like teleporting spell casters to the front so your tanks can attack  them and quickly remove them from the field of battle and effectively using " hide " if you a thief but still attacking with poison weapons. It really is fun once your learn the  combat mechanics and obviously you need to be motivated and enjoying the game 

 

[kanisatha]

13 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

But I also meant to say " thanks for funding  this game " , I know you didnt enjoy it  but your money wasnt wasted because it has its appeal. Just one final example,  the combat really becomes strategic and more complex as you progress and you do adopt different approaches  like teleporting spell casters to the front so your tanks can attack  them and quickly remove them from the field of battle and effectively using " hide " if you a thief but still attacking with poison weapons. It really is fun once your learn the  combat mechanics and obviously you need to be motivated and enjoying the game

You're very welcome!   I don't at all regret having backed it (and don't ever see funding RPGs as a waste of my money even when a particular game doesn't quite pan out), which is also true of their other game, Torment, for which I truly hope to see a sequel some day.

As for the combat, yes actually the combat is interesting the first time within each dungeon level, and I did employ those very tactics you speak of, but subsequently it just became repetitious. I also didn't like the restriction of just being able to use only four of all your abilities at a time. It was a good game as dungeon crawlers go, but I was expecting a true cRPG and that it was not.

[LadyCrimson]

Me: "Remember Overlord? That sure was light, mindless fun. Those minions sure were cute/funny! Never did play the Raising Hell expansion, maybe I'll..."

Two days later:
Hubby:  *sitting on couch playing Overlord 1*

I also did install both Overlord/Raising Hell and Overlord 2 and took a quick reminder look, but hubby's the one who's been playing it every day. 
I tried to use a controller at first but you can't swivel view angle at all with it, camera is fixed/automatic based on actions.  Which sucks.  But for some reason with the pc mouse you can free-look, so ... KB/mouse it'll be. Allows me to set 4k resolution and it looks fine, so I'll leave it there. Minions are just as funny as I remember, putting pumpkins and pots on their heads.