What are you Playing Now? No really, tell us more...

[melkathi]

Meanwhile...

 

Shiva: "I got beaten up by a character called Beefstik. Beefstik! That's it. I am going back to FF. They may have literally objectified me by turning me into materia, but at least nobody called Beefstik beat me up. Doesn't even spell the name with a C..."

[Keyrock]

4 hours ago, melkathi said:

Doesn't even spell the name with a C..."

Atlus only saw fit to give me 8 characters each for the first and last name. Also, I'm fairly certain I've had a character named Beefstick in a Final Fantasy game, so buggering off to play with Moogles is no guarantee of avoiding Beefsticks.

[melkathi]

I figured it was a character limit thing and also that you could just give that name to a moogle.

[Keyrock]

If I remember correctly, Shiva in Final Fantasy is usually a lady and bears very little, if any, resemblance to the Hindu God of Destruction. In MegaTen Shiva is the Hindu God of Destruction.

[melkathi]

You remember correctly.

[Mamoulian War]

Just finished the second arc in Megadimension Neptunia VII and started the third one. Unlocked only two trophies, and a lot of them needs to be grinded for. So far, I am having as much fun as I can in between the Platinum Grinding. It is much less tiresome than the crazy Fairy Fencer F, so I am keeping up with the story

[BruceVC]

53 minutes ago, Mamoulian War said:

Just finished the second arc in Megadimension Neptunia VII and started the third one. Unlocked only two trophies, and a lot of them needs to be grinded for. So far, I am having as much fun as I can in between the Platinum Grinding. It is much less tiresome than the crazy Fairy Fencer F, so I am keeping up with the story

Mamie you havent asked me for my banking details so you can transfer money for my Christmas present.....when must I give it you? Remember Christmas is tomorrow so you running out of time !!!!

[Mamoulian War]

I am sorry, but Christmas here was already this evening, you are to late, no more presents by Dedo Mráz left for you

[melkathi]

I uninstalled Encased. After a very positive first impression, I can't seem to find the energy to bother with a game, where devs try to throw roadblocks into player enjoyment. The abysmal heal on rest is a terrible design decision. Especially as the main story will force the player to get damaged at times. Add the bad luck of getting crit hit by an opponent at one point or the other, and suddenly players end up playing the game at the brink of death, because the game doesn't let them heal. Of course you could just rest for a week with breaks for eating and drinking. Drinking you can do from the toilet too, for free. But that means the rest system doesn't work. If in other games I'd sleep 8 hours and continue playing, but here I have to sleep 80, all I will end up doing is sleeping 80 hours. Might as well have let me be done with 8. And of course nothing has been added to my game experience. At least nothing positive.

Not that this dev attitude is unique to Encased. Camping supplies in Pillars of Eternity were just as stupid an idea. Dragon random encounters in Skyrim were even worse.

In Skyrim I ended up hitting the console, clicking on opponents and typing "kill". It made the game more bearable by a thousand fold. Even though I already had toggled godmode to be able to ignore the encumbrance system.

 

Devs should really be forced to start actually playing games. Possibly even their own.

[Malcador]

Rebel Galaxy is fun enough, feels a lot like EV Nova.  The UI is a pain to deal with, surely swapping turrets around could be less clunky than they've done it here.

[Keyrock]

I finished SMT V with the true neutral ending on hard difficulty. Not surprisingly, it definitely feels like this ending, which I'm assuming is the canon ending, was not intended to be achieved on a first playthrough, regardless of difficulty setting. The reason I think this is that the Shiva battle, which was an optional side quest only necessary for the true neutral ending, was much harder than anything in the end-game boss rush. Only hardcore MegaTen lunatics, like me, should do this ending on the first run. Anyway, I don't care about getting 100%, hence I see no reason to get the other 3 easier endings. The only thing left is to load up my save from just before the final battle and face the ultimate challenge, the Demi-Fiend.

Edited December 29, 2021 by Keyrock

[melkathi]

I started pathfinder kingmaker.

Not convinced, but due to too many AD&D campaigns in my teens, I will soldier through it for now

[melkathi]

Well, Kingmaker sure feels as if I was playing a teenager's D&D campaign...

 

Resting is pretty much as stupid as in Encased. While healing with it is good, the stat decrease spam from many opponents early on in the game makes it so you need to rest multiple days in a row just to be able to get back in the fight.

 

The starting party is also basically crap. Devs want to make a game that is just a standard D&D campaign, but then they want you to have useless characters in the party so they can break the mold.

[Malcador]

FInished Rebel Galaxy campaign, such as it was. Serviceable, did most of the last parts in an Arcturus, got lucky with some drops so was tanky with a Mk6 shield and armour.  Really do want to screw around with a Blackgate though, so will farm a bit for that. 

Overall, 40 hours into it, was a fun experience, again could do more but can say that with anything.  The OST gets a lot of love but holy is it repetitive

[kanisatha]

19 hours ago, melkathi said:

Resting is pretty much as stupid as in Encased. While healing with it is good, the stat decrease spam from many opponents early on in the game makes it so you need to rest multiple days in a row just to be able to get back in the fight.

The stats affecting conditions is one thing that is best turned off in the difficulty settings. They're just an annoyance that has nothing to do with making things challenging.

[Mamoulian War]

Just few days after finishing the last game, I have decided to boot up Hyperdimension Neptunia VII on my PS4, for a second playthrough. The goal was to finish the game with the True Ending and before the end of 2021, while unlocking at least one annoying luck-based trophy before starting the final Platinum Run. Luckily I was able to unlock both of them. The Card Master trophy, where you need to get 33 cards out of the virtual bags of chips, became one of the least favourite trophies, I've ever got. I had to open probably more than 1000, to get the 4 super-rare cards, to get this trophy out of the way. Still, this game is definitely the most enjoyable Idea Factory game, which I've played.

[Wormerine]

On 12/29/2021 at 12:24 PM, melkathi said:

I started pathfinder kingmaker.

Not convinced, but due to too many AD&D campaigns in my teens, I will soldier through it for now

Good luck. There is a lot of it to soldier through.

[uuuhhii]

On 12/29/2021 at 7:24 PM, melkathi said:

I started pathfinder kingmaker.

Not convinced, but due to too many AD&D campaigns in my teens, I will soldier through it for now

owlcat simply put too many anti player and ancient nonsense into their game because they do not have the time and effort to fix pathfinder 1e

wotr have a lot more user friendly features

but still horrible enough to require at least 400 page of reading to have a basic understanding of the system

[melkathi]

7 hours ago, kanisatha said:

The stats affecting conditions is one thing that is best turned off in the difficulty settings. They're just an annoyance that has nothing to do with making things challenging.

 

I can't find anything in the options to turn them off. I only have the "remove on rest" thing, but that only removes a single stack of each.

[kanisatha]

On 12/30/2021 at 6:03 PM, melkathi said:

 

I can't find anything in the options to turn them off. I only have the "remove on rest" thing, but that only removes a single stack of each.

Huh. For some reason I thought there was such an option. It's been quite a while since I last played it. Sorry.

May be a mod?

[melkathi]

Started a new character for Kingmaker. Went into the spider cave. In the time it took Linzi to toss an alchemist's fire at the spider swarm, it had managed to bite half the party and reduce the strength of both front row fighters.

Decided it just isn't worth going through this for maybe a hundred hours or what this game requires.

Uninstalled.

 

[Mamoulian War]

 

49 minutes ago, melkathi said:

Started a new character for Kingmaker. Went into the spider cave. In the time it took Linzi to toss an alchemist's fire at the spider swarm, it had managed to bite half the party and reduce the strength of both front row fighters.

Decided it just isn't worth going through this for maybe a hundred hours or what this game requires.

Uninstalled.

 

have you tried TB mode?

[the_dog_days]

Still playing the Witcher 3. I have over 90 hours and I'm only halfway through.

[Malcador]

Rebel Galaxy done and dusted.  Time to make Brno great again in FM then maybe Starpoint Gemini 2

[Mamoulian War]

Still playing Megadimension Neptunia VII. Having toruble with a platformer dungeon Neplunker Zero I have finished it once, but still there is one quest and one treasure chest for the Platinum Trophy

Anyway here is the complete list of my finished games in 2021, which I've played in between racing in Assetto Corsa

2021

10 games – 5 GoG games, 1 PS2 game, 1 PS3 game and 3 PS4 games

 

1 - January 12, 23:30 – First finished game in 2021 is second playthrough of Tales of Zestiria – The Strength of a Knight DLC on my PS4. Pretty quick run this time. Just went for all of the treasure chests, remaining trophies, some equipment fusions and Lord of the Land Blessing upgrades.

2 - January 24, 21:00 – I have finished Shadowrun Hong Kong - Extended Edition Deluxe – Bonus Campaign from GOG. The bonus campaign was little bit more fight ready than the main one and less to talk. Despite me being more the guy who like to solve the things the peaceful way, I think the main campaign was to much verbose even for my playstyle So I've enjoyed this campaign more.

3 - February 27, 16:45 – In-between busy work life, I've managed to finish another game from my big backlog: Torchlight II from GOG. I picked Engineer class and decided to pick skills, which amplify the Cannon damage and use of bot summoning. All three Acts were finished in few 1 hour long sessions, while trying to finish all the side-quests. Unfortunately, I somehow missed at least one instance of Gathering the Robot Parts one. Anyway, the game was very good way to clear my head during the latest pandemic situation and I hope the third Torchlight will be released soon and as much fun as the first two installments.

4 - June 6, 17:30 – While alternating in-between few other games, I've managed to finish the Main Arc of Tales of Legendia on PS2 for a first time. At the beginning, the combat felt little bit awkward, especially against flying enemies, but after a while, I've got used to it. The game, despite not aging the best, was really enjoyable. The more I've played, the more I wanted to uncover where the storyline goes. It has few unpredictable plot-twists and at one point, it is making fun of predictable story outcomes in other games And because of the story, the game is currently my second favourite Tales of game, right behind Xillia. We'll see, if it will stay so high, after I start the post game content.

5 - June 20, 20:45 – After a short break I went back to Druidstone – The Secret of the Menhir Forest from GOG and finished my goal, to complete the game on Hard Difficulty. The difficulty is pretty challenging, and to get all the missions on three stars, the player needs a lot of patience. The only downside of the game is little bit cheesy storytelling, but it pretty much fits the art and the gameplay. I am still missing three star award on one mission, so the next goal to finish is already set .

6 - June 27, 23:45 – I've started and finished Deadlight: Directors Cut from GOG. Pretty nice and fun zombie platformer, with occasional shooting and for me very frustrating Second Act . Despite that, I've enjoyed the gameplay, even though platformers are not my cup of tea, and I tend to be very bad playing them . This game was not an exception, so the 5 and half hours to beat the game was perfect for me.

7 – August 22, 13:00 – I've started and finished Tales of Arise Demo on my PS4. I have preordered the game, and wanted to have some glimpse on the gameplay and visuals, and I am now very satisfied with that decision. Both field and characters are really gorgeous, English voice acting is high quality as well. Unfortunately, the combat is not as satisfying as in some of the previous Tales of titles. I hope that this will change in the final version of the game.

8 – October 30, 14:30 – After pretty long journey, I've finally finished main story-line of Rebel Galaxy from GOG. When I started it, I've really not expected, that I ever finish this game, but my long lost love for space simcades has successfully engulfed me and I moved slowly through all of the sectors pursuing the main story-line and missions to become neutral with local pirates . I was able to get all but one achievement. To shoot 500 torpedoes, which will be the most boring thing, if I ever decide to get it. Despite a lot of grinding for the Red Devils Pirates, I pretty much had a lot of fun with this game, and I am very sad, that almost no one is making these type of games . Thankfully Double Damage Games have released a prequel to this game, which I will be getting soon.

9 – December 11, 19:30 – After finally acquiring 100 million gold and defeating 10,000 enemies, I have finished my third playthrough of Fairy Fencer F on PS3. This time, I have unlocked Eryn's Ending, and with it, I have obtained the Platinum Trophy as well . I have arrived in final dungeon after just few days of playing, but to get the Platinum, I had to do loads of farming at the Shukesoo's Tower top floor, to get enough gold to get one crazy trophy. It became pretty boring fast so I spent more than 7 months playing the game for one or two hours in a week, while playing other games. If I do not count this grind, the game was fun enough, to play it three times .

10 – December 30, 14:30 – Just few days after finishing the last game, I have decided to boot up Hyperdimension Neptunia VII on my PS4, for a second playthrough. The goal was to finish the game with the True Ending and before the end of 2021, while unlocking at least one annoying luck-based trophy before starting the final Platinum Run. Luckily I was able to unlock both of them. The Card Master trophy, where you need to get 33 cards out of the virtual bags of chips, became one of the least favourite trophies, I've ever got. I had to open probably more than 1000, to get the 4 super-rare cards, to get this trophy out of the way. Still, this game is definitely the most enjoyable Idea Factory game, which I've played.