What are you Playing Now? Games = Life

[BruceVC]

Im about 35 hours into AC Odyssey and still in the "Ubisoft honeymoon " period, I am really enjoying killing mercenaries, cultists and animals. I am not particularly fond of Naval combat because the mechanics I find arent elegant and I seem to have to rely on ramming to defeat most enemies

But so far so good 

[LadyCrimson]

Tales of Arise - bought it.

First 2-3 hours is a long set-up. After that you feel like the gameplay actually starts.
Five hours in doing simple early story and side missions. Dialogues (English VA) are sometimes so ... cheesy? over the top, shouty, dramatic? ... that I snorted good-naturedly several times. I hear it becomes better/more significant later. Very linear. Wandering maps/dungeons are so far small but serviceable. That arena combat becomes a little annoying as a system - the constant am-walking but then interrupted feeling - but at least "mobs" are quick even without being a master of timing dodging or artes. I hear some bosses are tough - but I always have Wemod if I get old-fart stuck. Haha.

Kind of feels like a cross between a virtual novel (with the storyboard like dialogue method for some of them) and an action-rpg. Silly as some of them are, I'm actually rather enjoying the party dialogue bits, whether while out and about or during campfires - the back and forth. Haven't skipped any yet. Graphics are pretty charming/decent overall, it's like anime and Borderlands had a baby. Anyway, enjoying it as a light romp, like I thought I would.

[Mamoulian War]

10 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Ah, I suppose that makes some sense. I only stayed in the starter area to get the idea of basic combat/minor other things. Didn't follow the quest.
Do you have the full game? Does it have a manual save system at all or is it all checkpoints?

I know about the $20 worth of certain costume DLC that have Titles/skills or traits or something, which feels a bit extra greedy but whatever - not sure if I'd want those. Maybe only min/maxers would care about them.

Still can't fully decide but since I'm "game bored" I might say screw it and just get it....

I have the game, but I am crazy busy at the moment, so I have not launched it yet. All Tales had manual save on checkpoints and last two games had also a quicksave anywhere on the map, so I think, this should be the case for Arise as well.

[Mamoulian War]

41 minutes ago, LadyCrimson said:

Tales of Arise - bought it.

First 2-3 hours is a long set-up. After that you feel like the gameplay actually starts.
Five hours in doing simple early story and side missions. Dialogues (English VA) are sometimes so ... cheesy? over the top, shouty, dramatic? ... that I snorted good-naturedly several times. I hear it becomes better/more significant later. Very linear. Wandering maps/dungeons are so far small but serviceable. That arena combat becomes a little annoying as a system - the constant am-walking but then interrupted feeling - but at least "mobs" are quick even without being a master of timing dodging or artes. I hear some bosses are tough - but I always have Wemod if I get old-fart stuck. Haha.

Kind of feels like a cross between a virtual novel (with the storyboard like dialogue method for some of them) and an action-rpg. Silly as some of them are, I'm actually rather enjoying the party dialogue bits, whether while out and about or during campfires - the back and forth. Haven't skipped any yet. Graphics are pretty charming/decent overall, it's like anime and Borderlands had a baby. Anyway, enjoying it as a light romp, like I thought I would.

Heh only noticed this post now, and yes, it is very similar to previous Tales games, they needed 30 - 120 minutes of initial "set-up" before the story starts to get faster pace Also same with the linear progression, which starts to open after few hours as well. Glad, you are enjoying it

[Malcador]

Thought Gamedec was out yesterday but guess it's today.  Caesar 3 is almost done, using Warehouses to route food around is unsightly but is working well enough. Seems warehouses do not need roads when "Getting Goods" though, so that is something interesting to learn about a game 22 years late.

Also left my beloved Brno in FM18, for Arsenal. Who are 17th.  And have signed strikers who are mediocre all earning 150k a week. Was funny when I let the AI manage them against my Brno team and Brno beat them 4-0.  Might just go back to my old save

[Hawke64]

Completed Black Legend. 

Black Legend is a tactical game with turn-based combat. The story is linear with 1 choice at the end. There are side quests with different objectives, which do not offer any choice story-wise, but include a lot of backtracking.

The character development system is class-based and classes are unlocked with equipment. In turn, equipment provides active abilities (they can be used with another class) and passive ones (only for their class). Stat growth depends on the class chosen. Equipment includes weapons (possible to dual-wield), armour, trinkets (various bonuses), and consumables (from healing potions to grenades). It is possible to customize the appearance and the name of the player’s (main) character (but they can't be a person of colour or left-handed for reasons unknown - the PC's appearance is never referenced and animations are independent). There are two unique companions, other mercenaries are random.

The combat system is focused on Humours. Humours are passive status effects, they do not do anything by themselves, but can be Catalysed, causing damage. There are also more typical status effects, such as Bleeding and Poison, buffs and debuffs.

The areas become available as the story progresses. Combat encounters respawn, sometimes with different enemy types and numbers. Some of them are possible to avoid. There are shortcuts within areas and a fast travel system between them. The latter becomes available only by the end-game, thus it is recommended to do side quests after unlocking it. The equipment did not seem random as the most powerful items were located in the second-to-last area.

The controls are comfortable and customizable. The saving system supports manual, quick- and auto-saves (possible to set the number before rewriting) and it is possible to save the game mid-combat (on Normal difficulty; blocked on Hard). Combat animations can be sped up.

The artstyle is consistent and fits the narrative, units and interactive objects are easy to see. The game has one of the best armour and weapon models I have ever seen in games. The voice acting and music are adequate.

There were minor bugs, mostly graphical and harmless. Once a boss’ loot did not drop. 

[Malcador]

First mission in Gamedec is fun enough, some rather interesting characters, if not somewhat tropey, so far.  Will need to screw up that unicorn guy on another playthrough, am a super charismatic hacker type - even though I managed to piss off two hookers or something so no information from them. It's no Disco Elysium, but feel confident I'll get my money's worth.

[melkathi]

People ask me if I sleep late.

I wake up at 7:30 in Skyrim, so I am up before the kids wake up at 8:00...

[LadyCrimson]

Tales of Arise:

Reached the point where I get a third party member, so still fairly early I think. Still overall/casually enjoying the game.

Couple "not seriously negative but not overly positive" observations:
---at first I liked the skits. But there are so many of them and I keep playing them thinking I might miss something "good." (some you cannot choose when to play, they are triggered by events instead) More and more they feel a little like info-dumps vs.interesting convo's with campy vitality. So now I read quickly and click thru faster, not waiting for the VA's. It's not that I dislike them - it's just there's too many/too long winded for me.
---on Normal difficulty, early combat becomes too easy too fast. You don't even have to bother with dodging/evading.  Which doesn't really bother me in my "old age" ways, but it makes me feel like I'm still in tutorial mode and thus I'm afraid to up the difficulty, certain that the next "act boss" is going to 3 second whomp me without warning as a "here's the REAL combat, don't you wish you'd spent time mastering that dodging/evading!" taunt. 

To balance that out:
---I have yet to feel a need to "grind" for anything, just to keep going/do the few early weapon upgrades, so that's nice such doesn't feel required. Seems well balanced in that regard.
---I really do like the graphical look (well, most of the time). It's not cutting-edge super high fidelity but that sorta cell-shading or watercolor softness or whatever it is, is pleasing.
---the owls, man, the owls. Must...find...all the owls.

Edited September 18, 2021 by LadyCrimson

[Malcador]

Sort of funny that the protagonist in Gamedec owns a lot of ships in the ersatz Star Citizen game   Also got to blow some teenager's head off, so good stuff.

Had to redownload the game due to GOG somehow seeing my copy as invalid. Haven't encountered too many bugs.  Did have one character speak to me in Polish and one puzzle seems to have glitched out but I solved it by fluke, looking back at it.

Edited September 18, 2021 by Malcador

[Malcador]

Pressing onward in Gamedec, the skill system is a bit weird, finding it hard to get the red points I need.  Some of the professions are amusing, at least the Infotainer one where you are just someone with a large Twitter following.  Odd to use that to intimidate a drug dealer    Pretty sure I did the wrong deductions in one mission after breaking drones that would have given me evidence as I didn't go about figuring out the hacking puzzle first, maybe will save scum and re-do that.

Still, is pretty fun, there's a lot to read as well although the in game Codex is broken in some places but is good for world building.  Note - increase the text size.

[Keyrock]

Finished a "regular" playthrough of Encased. It's a very good old skool RPG. I mean let's just call it what it is, it's Fallout 1/2. The weakest part of the game is the combat; it's not terrible, it's just fairly basic  and not particularly exciting. The combat is functional, that's the best way I can put it. The good news is that there's as little or as much combat as you want there to be; there are alternate ways, often multiple, to solve or bypass every problem. I'm definitely going to play the game again and do either the low IQ or the ghost run. I may do both at some point.

[Malcador]

And finally beat Massilia. Forgot market ladies pick granaries based on distance also some weird preferences or so it seems - they always walk to the leftmost path.  Was wondering why everyone to the right seemed to be ignored.  Also realized that theaters/amphitheaters/colloseums need to have shows to count for Culture points, and I had like 1 generator building for the plebs

So have beat Caesar 3 on Hard using the alternate paths from what I recall choosing back in 1999-2000.   Only 20 years late to finish a game off.  Caesar 4 will be next I guess, after Gamedec

[Malcador]

Finished first run through Gamedec, all in all not a bad game. It's not as grand, for lack of a better term, as Disco Elysium but I had fun with it.  The consequences of your actions they leave up to the end, I am regretting (as I sort of expected) blowing that teenager's head off.   The twist near the end is what you'd expect it to be.  I did enjoy the cases, if the game had better backing would have been nice to have more of them.

Took me 12 hours or so to clear.  I guess I'd recommend to grab it on sale.

[BruceVC]

Im on level 20 in AC Odyssey and still not bored, I have become proficient in naval combat and hand to hand combat is great fun. I also love the overall artistic design, Ubisoft really does an amazing job at creating realistic historical worlds that are beautiful to explore. And I havent had 1 crash that I can recall so the game is just incredibly stable 

 

[LadyCrimson]

Tales of Arise:

---Got my 4th party member, Law. He's a hands/feet melee guy. He seems to kick butt and now the party feels more balanced.
---there sure are a lot of loading screens for entering small areas. It's fine on SSD but sometimes it feels like every 10 seconds you're running thru one.
---Some attack moves require two simultaneous button presses, which is hard on my arthritic thumbs. So I finally looked at some combat option menus. Saw default overall combat-style was on "Semi-Auto".  There was also Manual and Full Auto. Hm...what is full auto, I wondered? Is it ... what it sounds like?

Set it to that. My leader charged into battle by himself...I only had to sit and watch, mostly. Camera still focused on 'leader' but I could move the camera more freely, see everything from different angles, finally notice what the other party members were doing. I started to laugh. I fired up WeMod and toggled unlimited CP/AP (eg mana, action-points, similar), toggled the no-HUD mod I have, and proceeded to run through the next section in this full-auto combat mode. I laughed like a loon, every single time. For some reason it was utterly hilarious to me and I was delighted.

A game where I don't have to do anything! Perfect!

Edited September 21, 2021 by LadyCrimson

[kanisatha]

Given the rise of games like Gamedec and Disco Elysium, and even Encased presumably (i.e. true RPGs with no combat, or minimal combat, or combat that can mostly be avoided), can anyone recommend any similar games (Western RPGs only) that are in a medieval setting/world, or at least a pre-industrial/no firearms world? Thanks in advance!

[Hurlshort]

1 hour ago, kanisatha said:

Given the rise of games like Gamedec and Disco Elysium, and even Encased presumably (i.e. true RPGs with no combat, or minimal combat, or combat that can mostly be avoided), can anyone recommend any similar games (Western RPGs only) that are in a medieval setting/world, or at least a pre-industrial/no firearms world? Thanks in advance!

Hero U, of course:

[Mamoulian War]

I've just bought after 55 hours of game-time the most expensive ship in Rebel Galaxy, just few minutes after I've reached the 50 million credit net-worth. At start I was not able to get weapons for all turrets, because money of course, but it is a complete game-changer. I am now able to fight against the hardest opponents, I have also found another ultra-rare material in the space, and found out the end-game enemy race.

On the other hand, I just hit 65 million Gald in Fairy Fencer F, 35 to go for the insane trophy And on Thursday, I will be attending my hardest race in Assetto Corsa Trained Monkey Modding Pilot Challenge on V.I.R. track, driving their newest mod Cupra Leon 2020 TCR .  If I survive T1, I'll probably crash after tyre change, because cold tyres are extremely dangerous on this track

 

[Keyrock]

I'm playing Lost Judgment on PS4 (Pro). Technically, it doesn't release until Friday, but since I "pre-ordered" it I get to play it early. I put "pre-ordered" in quotes since buying a game a few days before launch when reviews have already been out in the wild (RGG and SEGA have confidence in their game so they lifted the review embargo well before launch) is rather different than pre-ordering months ahead of time with nothing but trailers and media hype to go on.

Anyway, it's a Ryu Ga Gotoku game, if you like their games, and I most definitely do, you will almost certainly like this. The Judgment series is in essence continuing what the Yakuza series did during the Kiryu Kazuma saga with action combat where you smash thugs with bicycles. Meanwhile, Yakuza is continuing with turn-based JRPG Dragon Quest-esque combat, presumably with the lovable Ichiban Kasuga as the main protagonist.

The one... I hesitate to call this a misstep since it's critical to the main story, but one of the main areas the game takes place is a school and as Takayuki Yagami you get to beat the **** out of some kids. Granted, these kids are *******s but it still feels weird and wrong to be kicking the crap out of children as a middle-aged guy with a wallet chain. That quibble aside, you get to make friends with some of the kids, help them resolve issues, and get into wacky shenanigans like getting roped into helping the dance club choreograph their dance routine. It's the standard juggling act of crazy tonal shifts between very serious dramatic issues and hilarious hijinks that has no right to work but somehow always does because RGG are really good at this. It's how well the characters are written and acted that helps carry this. You meet a kid like Kyoko Anasawa from the Mystery Research Club and you can't help but want to get wrapped up in her story because she's so likable.

As an aside, I wonder what will happen after this game. The rumor is that the reason the Judgment games aren't on PC is because the agency representing the actor who plays Yagami is blocking it (because... ??? ). If the rumors are to be believed, RGG and SEGA are rather unhappy about this because RGG is obviously quite capable and comfortable in putting their games on PC (all the Yakuza games are on PC minus the weird Japan-only spinoffs) and they are losing out on another source of profit. I heard they plan to cut bait with the actor after this game so we may get a different protagonist in future games.

Edited September 22, 2021 by Keyrock

[BruceVC]

9 hours ago, Hurlsnot said:

Hero U, of course:

I funded this game and I have yet to play it, I also always assumed this was a adventure game especially with the Heroes Quest history but they do market it as an "RPG\Adventure " game 

[BruceVC]

12 hours ago, kanisatha said:

Given the rise of games like Gamedec and Disco Elysium, and even Encased presumably (i.e. true RPGs with no combat, or minimal combat, or combat that can mostly be avoided), can anyone recommend any similar games (Western RPGs only) that are in a medieval setting/world, or at least a pre-industrial/no firearms world? Thanks in advance!

Planescape Torment, apparently you can avoid combat in it but I did use combat and its got an amazing narrative 

And their are semi-Romance arcs  but not true Romance 

Edited September 22, 2021 by BruceVC

[Wormerine]

6 hours ago, BruceVC said:

And their are semi-Romance arcs  but not true Romance 

My memory is a bit fuzzy, but why are they semi-romances? As far as I remember they are more or less what came in later titles (BG2 onward). 

[BruceVC]

16 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

My memory is a bit fuzzy, but why are they semi-romances? As far as I remember they are more or less what came in later titles (BG2 onward). 

You can develop a relationship with companions like  Grace but you dont end up actually Romancing her which is why I said " semi-Romance "  but remember in RPG Romance starts with getting to know the companion, being nice to them and or completing completing companion quests

But yes it not like BG2 and the beautiful and seductive Viconia 

[melkathi]

40 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

but remember in RPG Romance starts with getting to know the companion, being nice to them and or completing completing companion quests

 

And then people wonder why nice guys feel entitled to a date for being nice guys