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

[Chilloutman]

So I hunted for few achievements with new DLC and suddenly Spanish inquisition (well I started as proto-portugees but wth) happen to western Africa because I needed 10 independent kings in my dynasty.... and then I vassalised them again. And in last 50 or so years every wanted to get vassalised by me for some reason- very unplanned but in the end I enjoyed that run very much. I noticed that there were 0 holy wars against eastern Europe WTF? When I played there previously they were crusading me constantly... I could get more land but last 10 or so years I was not able to force myself to conquer every county on its own as I was not able to get claim on whole empire for some reason....

I guess next run will be restoring Roman Empire!

[LadyCrimson]

Since I dont have my desktop pc, been goofing off a tad with Diablo3 on ps4. Noticed current season has the Diable pet as reward, but to get it you have to finish all goals on Season. Which as solo I would never do. Would it be possible... sure, if I had the full 3 months and played every day. As is...oh well, guess I shall remain miniDiablo petless. 

just let me optionally buy one for 10-15 bucks. Its cosmetic. We dont all want to grind forever and ever for cute pets. pfffffft. yes im lazy now.

[Hawke64]

On 2/13/2022 at 10:18 PM, BruceVC said:

Hi Hawke

Nice to chat again. Great review and it sounds like a worthwhile game 

Any Romance options...I know you mentioned the taciturn nature of the protagonist but you never know ?

Hello.

There is 1 romance, though between NPCs, whom you might never meet.

[majestic]

Tried Lost Ark to see what the hype is about. Can't say I get it. The controls are unresponsive, I have to play US East Coast because Amazon can't spawn new servers in the hopelessly full European region, and the controls are unresponsive. That's like the single most important thing in these games, when I'm holding down auto-attack and press a skill button I expect that skill to go off. Now. Instantly. Or at least start casting or channeling, depending on what it does.

Not "auto-attack animation finishes first, then we do something. MAYBE. Depends on when you pressed the button."

It's not rocket science, really. A pity because - presentation aside, can I please not play as ludicrous fanservice character? - it seems solid enough so far, but I don't think I'll get over how it plays...

[Keyrock]

Every few years I go through a 4 step process with MMOs:

1) Hmm, I haven't played a MMO in a long time maybe I should give one a try?

2) Let's give <insert game name> a try. *Downloading Intensifies*

3) *Boredom Intensifies* Give up.

4) Oh yeah, that's right, I don't like MMOs. 

I'm currently at step 1. I should probably just do the smart thing and skip directly to step 4. 

[Humanoid]

Ended up blasting through Privateer in one day, though I'm thinking the next time I do so I might just cheat my way through the Delta Prime exploratory section.

Haven't decided whether I'll go on to Righteous Fire straight away, or maybe try out the new and improved Cyberpunk.

[majestic]

11 hours ago, majestic said:

Tried Lost Ark to see what the hype is about. Can't say I get it. The controls are unresponsive, I have to play US East Coast because Amazon can't spawn new servers in the hopelessly full European region, and the controls are unresponsive. That's like the single most important thing in these games, when I'm holding down auto-attack and press a skill button I expect that skill to go off. Now. Instantly. Or at least start casting or channeling, depending on what it does.

Not "auto-attack animation finishes first, then we do something. MAYBE. Depends on when you pressed the button."

It's not rocket science, really. A pity because - presentation aside, can I please not play as ludicrous fanservice character? - it seems solid enough so far, but I don't think I'll get over how it plays...

Responsivity is a whole lot better when the servers aren't too busy to keep up, so that's one thing that works better depending on the time you're playing. At the end of the day it's ARPG gameplay with an MMO dressing. Kinda weird, but it's all right.

11 hours ago, Keyrock said:

Every few years I go through a 4 step process with MMOs:

1) Hmm, I haven't played a MMO in a long time maybe I should give one a try?

2) Let's give <insert game name> a try. *Downloading Intensifies*

3) *Boredom Intensifies* Give up.

4) Oh yeah, that's right, I don't like MMOs. 

I'm currently at step 1. I should probably just do the smart thing and skip directly to step 4. 

I have a feeling that Lost Ark isn't going to convince you, unless you always thought "Wouldn't it be nice if Guild Wars 2 played like Diablo!", then that could be totally your thing.

[Wormerine]

Finished Death's Door. The start was slow - but the more time I spent with the game the more I enjoyed it. It's a simple, zelda-like affair, with a minor touch of mandatory Dark Souls influence but it's well done. Enjoyed exploration quite a bit. The only disappointment was end game - after main story there is "true ending" you can pursue. But outside two new combat encounters it is just running around empty maps 100% find-them-all chores. Payoff wasn't even remotly worth it. 

[Bokishi]

Started Horizon Forbidden West. Best looking game right now. Also replaying Cyberpunk with the new patch

Edited February 18, 2022 by Bokishi

[Oner]

So I'm trudging along in Dying Light 2, having fun.

Then STORY happens and I'm caught at crossbow-point and have to make a timed choice how to negotiate the situation:
-We could help each other..
or
-Try me!

Turns out this is a secret faction choice. 5 minutes after the game already gave you an obvious faction choice but apparently that one didn't count. And I won't even go into how dumb said faction choice panned out. Did I mention the game uses only one save and it saves after this cutscene?
 

[BruceVC]

46 minutes ago, Oner said:

So I'm trudging along in Dying Light 2, having fun.

Then STORY happens and I'm caught at crossbow-point and have to make a timed choice how to negotiate the situation:
-We could help each other..
or
-Try me!

Turns out this is a secret faction choice. 5 minutes after the game already gave you an obvious faction choice but apparently that one didn't count. And I won't even go into how dumb said faction choice panned out. Did I mention the game uses only one save and it saves after this cutscene?
 

Great decision to play DY2, Im glad you enjoying it and I have heard mostly good things about it 

I am going to play it in the next 3-4 months once the first patch\update is available 

[melkathi]

I have a theory that Bruce just pretends to be the forum's friendly nice guy and in reality his posts are all meant sarcastic.

"Great decision to play DY2"

[BruceVC]

10 minutes ago, melkathi said:

I have a theory that Bruce just pretends to be the forum's friendly nice guy and in reality his posts are all meant sarcastic.

"Great decision to play DY2"

Why would you think that, I made a post a while  ago about how much I was looking forward to playing DY2 and very few people were excited about it so its good when I read a post that someone is playing it and enjoying it  because its bodes well for my experience

I wouldnt pretend to like games and be excited about it, you have to just trust me on that Melkie 

Edited February 19, 2022 by BruceVC

[Hawke64]

Completed Lost Words: Beyond the Page.

Content warning: 

Spoiler

The grandmother dies.

 The black dog is impossible to pet.

Lost Words: Beyond the Page is an adventure-platformer. There is no combat and very few sequences requiring precision or speed. The level design is very linear, collectibles are mostly close to the main path. There is little interactivity and the player's choices are insignificant, but they are reflected well throughout the playthrough, though there is only one ending. The main appeal lies in the story and graphics, not the gameplay, despite it being well integrated.

The plot follows a young girl rushing through the five stages of grief at a breakneck speed, while writing a story in a fantasy setting. These two storylines are deeply interwoven and the fantasy part is affected greatly by the RL one. It also possesses the pacing and logic fitting for a ten-year old aspiring writer.

The graphics are gorgeous. The RL segments use mostly water-colour-like style with fluid animations and words used as platforms - next platform/line usually appears when the main character reaches the end of the previous one. Also there are very, ridiculously easy “puzzles”, such as combining 4 mosaic pieces into an object. The fantasy parts feature 3D models, but they are 2D design-wise. The protagonist can interact with very specific objects in the environment by applying magical words to them (right mouse button click to open the list of the words available, then dragging one of them to the object with the left mouse button). The number of words is very limited and only one word can be used on an object - for example, it is impossible to “break” or to “ignore” a gate, only to “rise”.
The symbolism is extremely obvious and transparent, e.g. a large black dog (whom I attempted to pet at every opportunity) represents guilt or depression.

The controls are not rebindable, but comfortable and intuitive enough. The game saves the progress every few seconds and in the case of falling, the playable character usually respawns on the previous platform or the upper left corner of the page. I have not encountered any bugs.

The soundtrack is beautiful and fits the game well. VA is excellent and all lines are fully voiced. They also appear on the screen, as platforms for the RL part and in the background for the story ones. The language used is specifically British English.

Spoiler

Possibly, because I am quite far from the target audience or because I was not playing it alone, it was somehow hard to relate to the emotions of the protagonist, beyond "Aha! That's stage #3, bargaining". RiME was similar in terms of topic, but it had some gameplay to back it up. There is also Guacamelee, but there are 2 endings. If the story was presented from the perspective of the grandmother, it could have been slightly more impactful. Or if there were more interactivity in the story and gameplay.

Recommended on sale.

[Wormerine]

2 hours ago, melkathi said:

I have a theory that Bruce just pretends to be the forum's friendly nice guy and in reality his posts are all meant sarcastic.

"Great decision to play DY2"

Ah, that made sense why he defended BG3 so much. 

[BruceVC]

14 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

Ah, that made sense why he defended BG3 so much. 

Funny you mention  BG3 but thats my most anticipated game for 2022 but latest update from Larian is full release is probably only next year and Im waiting for the full release before playing it 

But ELEX 2 should be out this year and thats another " day 1 purchase " for sure 

But Wormie speaking of games we cant wait to play....Elden Ring is out in a week or so. Are you planning to play it straight away ?

[melkathi]

Now that your secret is out, you know you won't be able to convince people

[marelooke]

Since Lost Ark is unavailable in my region due to gambling laws I started another Cyberpunk 2077 playthrough.

Boy, must I have gotten lucky with my first playthrough because I've had to redo missions so many times because of bugs I'm seriously considering just giving up at this point. Not to mention quite a few graphical glitches.

I barely had any issues prior to 1.5, but now the game is just a mess.

Couple of examples, helping the monk:
 

Spoiler

I go in, knock everyone out, but dump a few bodies in dumpsters to hide them. Game treats it as if I killed them, so the monk goes off at me for being a murderous bastard. Yay?

Jotaro gig:

Spoiler

I remembered from my last playthrough that you get a bonus if you keep him alive. So I shot up the place and clubbed the MVP. Game treats him as dead.

Had a few annoying glitches as well. Like people stuck in the floor and Jackie's motorcycle randomly being in the middle of the street (without Jackie). Also got hit (literally) by the "stuff spawns behind your back" "feature". Look around before crossing street, you know, as one does... Get driven over by car that spawned behind me. Ugh.

The mission bugs might be ones I just managed to dodge before, since I went full stealth last playthrough.

[Zoraptor]

Elex 2 will be out this year, really.

It's out in literally 9 days* (March 1st). Suppose I should even pre-order, since GOG will give me 10% off and I'll buy it for sure anyway.

*I would have to admit I only found that out last week, and was pretty surprised myself it was so soon. And I thought I'd been following it pretty closely. They don't seem to have been exactly shouting the date from the rooftops.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Zoraptor

[ComradeYellow]

5 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Elex 2 will be out this year, really.

It's out in literally 9 days* (March 1st). Suppose I should even pre-order, since GOG will give me 10% off and I'll buy it for sure anyway.

*I would have to admit I only found that out last week, and was pretty surprised myself it was so soon. And I thought I'd been following it pretty closely. They don't seem to have been exactly shouting the date from the rooftops.

Oh cool.  The 1st one had lots of potential but real bad balancing kinda hampered it quite a bit.  Hopefully they've addressed these issues.  You gotta hand it to PB, they never give up even when they stumble aka Gothic 3.

[BruceVC]

34 minutes ago, ComradeYellow said:

Oh cool.  The 1st one had lots of potential but real bad balancing kinda hampered it quite a bit.  Hopefully they've addressed these issues.  You gotta hand it to PB, they never give up even when they stumble aka Gothic 3.

Gothic 3 is still my favorite Gothic of the series, I have even played it twice and this is not the general consensus of Gothic fans who mostly say 2 is the best

But I think my view is influenced by the fact its the first game I ever played when I got back into gaming in 2007 after not gaming  for 12 years or so  

But ELEX 1 is my favorite game by far from PB and I have played them all and enjoyed them all including Risen 

Edited February 20, 2022 by BruceVC

[ComradeYellow]

4 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

Gothic 3 is still my favorite Gothic of the series, I have even played it twice and this is not the general consensus of Gothic fans who mostly say 2 is the best

But I think my view is influenced by the fact its the first game I ever played when I got back into gaming in 2007 after not gaming  for 12 years or so  

But ELEX 1 is my favorite game by far from PB and I have played them all and enjoyed them all including Risen 

I always liked Gothic 1 the best.  I mean yeah it is kinda "Prison Pimp" and virtually no women to speak of other than sex slaves but I always liked the atmosphere and the leveling.  The pacing was also good. 

I liked Gothic 2 but Night of the Raven was too hard for me. 

Gothic 3 could have been the best in the series if it had another 1 year of development time for polish and even PB admitted that they tried to do too much with too little time and budget hence the somewhat broken release.  I think if they removed the whole desert area and just focused on Myrtanna and Nordmar it could have been a much better and more focused experience.  Love the soundtrack, one of my all time favorites.

[uuuhhii]

risen was personal favorite

risen 2 have some good idea but didn't really go anywhere

gothic 3 are far too massive and janky

still remember how low level character stun enemy to death or die in one hit

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, uuuhhii said:

risen was personal favorite

risen 2 have some good idea but didn't really go anywhere

gothic 3 are far too massive and janky

still remember how low level character stun enemy to death or die in one hit

Risen gets the most criticism but I enjoyed the pirate themes and exploring the islands. Also the Voodoo magic was an interesting component for magic users which is typically the class or path I choose in these types of RPG 

[Wormerine]

15 hours ago, BruceVC said:

But Wormie speaking of games we cant wait to play....Elden Ring is out in a week or so. Are you planning to play it straight away ?

Still waiting for reviews to make sure that nothing got botched, but yes, I plan to jump in on day1. It should be interesting - never played FromSoftware game before it was figured out completely.