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

[Chilloutman]

I liked Solasta gameplay wise but story was really extra meh

[Wormerine]

I meant to just see how Elden Ring runs, but here we are it's 3AM I sunk 3,5 hours into the game. I actually still don't know quite how it runs as I didn't reach the open world. So what happened is when creating my character I picked an item which as it turns out allowed me to open immediately a mini dungeon right after the tutorial. I am pretty sure I was underleveled but not that underleveled to discourage me from exploring. As I was about to call quits I run into the boss of the dungeon - Oscar the Grouch looking thing. One hit would take most of my life, but at one point enemy bugged out and I managed to bring him to the bring of death - and then he came back to life and that happened: 

I smelled blood. I got that close to the kill, can do it again. A lot of deaths later I learned enemy's moveset and I figured out how to take advantage of the game's new stagger mechanic. I started to find the combat quite managable. After what was probably an 1-2h worth of attempts, my first boss fight was won fair and square. I gained a summon, and 10+ thoughsands of souls.... ekhm runes. Now I need to progress so I can level up... because I didn't get that far into the game yet 

So from I played the game is haaaard. Or at least it allows me to do stupid stuff. I bet if I went out and returned later (which I will have to do, as the dungeon isn't fully explored, and I will definitely won't be doing that now, when I am carrying so many runes) I would have a far easier time. But so far it's very FromSoftware. 

[Chilloutman]

 

taking a break, waiting for few more patches and DLCs. Pathfinding is nightmare and AI sometimes just bugs out and my units just stand around not attacking or following my orders. Also no Blood for the Blood god DLC yet is REALLY WEIRD when you fight Khorn deamons in game constantly...

 

Also campaign was pretty meh. You just have to secure few provinces and basically wait for rifts to open again, and again and again...

[BruceVC]

14 hours ago, Wormerine said:

I meant to just see how Elden Ring runs, but here we are it's 3AM I sunk 3,5 hours into the game. I actually still don't know quite how it runs as I didn't reach the open world. So what happened is when creating my character I picked an item which as it turns out allowed me to open immediately a mini dungeon right after the tutorial. I am pretty sure I was underleveled but not that underleveled to discourage me from exploring. As I was about to call quits I run into the boss of the dungeon - Oscar the Grouch looking thing. One hit would take most of my life, but at one point enemy bugged out and I managed to bring him to the bring of death - and then he came back to life and that happened: 

 

  Hide contents

 

 

I smelled blood. I got that close to the kill, can do it again. A lot of deaths later I learned enemy's moveset and I figured out how to take advantage of the game's new stagger mechanic. I started to find the combat quite managable. After what was probably an 1-2h worth of attempts, my first boss fight was won fair and square. I gained a summon, and 10+ thoughsands of souls.... ekhm runes. Now I need to progress so I can level up... because I didn't get that far into the game yet 

So from I played the game is haaaard. Or at least it allows me to do stupid stuff. I bet if I went out and returned later (which I will have to do, as the dungeon isn't fully explored, and I will definitely won't be doing that now, when I am carrying so many runes) I would have a far easier time. But so far it's very FromSoftware. 

 

Nice Wormie, it sounds great 

[Wormerine]

Another pleasant, but not smooth performance wise, session in the whimsical world of the Elden Ring

It's very easy, until it isn't. 

[Lexx]

Why do you look like some samurai dude.

[Wormerine]

2 hours ago, Lexx said:

Why do you look like some samurai dude.

Cause I picked samurai dude class. 

[Lexx]

Is there a bloodborne dude class?

[rjshae]

On 2/24/2022 at 2:19 PM, Chilloutman said:

I liked Solasta gameplay wise but story was really extra meh

I find the story is comparable in quality to that of Drakensang: The Dark Eye. It's good enough in my view.

[rjshae]

On 2/24/2022 at 2:16 PM, kanisatha said:

Looks like their approach to this game will be to release new standalone campaigns for the game as DLCs every so many months. Sounds really good to me, as my only major complaint about the base game so far is that it is too short/would've liked more places and content to explore.

The discussion I've seen is that the final 20% was a bit rushed, and this shows in confusingly cut content and some rough edges. Hopefully they will be able to address that. I did find it a bit short, but that's mostly because it drew me in and I enjoyed the experience. It did last for fifty hours, which is normally plenty.

[Wormerine]

2 hours ago, rjshae said:

The discussion I've seen is that the final 20% was a bit rushed, and this shows in confusingly cut content and some rough edges. Hopefully they will be able to address that. I did find it a bit short, but that's mostly because it drew me in and I enjoyed the experience. It did last for fifty hours, which is normally plenty.

They work on the ending already, though I think they just made final battle less of a snooze fest. The new content they are working on, I think is just a new campaign. 

[melkathi]

I am not sure if you are talking about Elden Ring or Total War 3.

And only because there isn't a third AAA title just out I am aware of or aware of people here playing.

[Keyrock]

46 minutes ago, melkathi said:

I am not sure if you are talking about Elden Ring or Total War 3.

And only because there isn't a third AAA title just out I am aware of or aware of people here playing.

Plot twist: They are actually talking about Cooking Mama: Cookstar. 

[the_dog_days]

I got Mass Effect Remance Edition for free so I gave it a whirl. I played the original trilogy on PC and my code for ME:RE was for PC too. It's clear that the studio BioWare outsourced this to put in a lot of effort so I kinda feel bad saying it, but the originals were better. ME:RE's introduced lots of new bugs, mods for the OG games aren't compatible, but worst yet: a lot of the new lighting just isn't as thematic as the original.

Anyway, confirmed what I've always thought: Mass Effect 3's biggest problem isn't the ending but how boring it managed to make the end of all intelligent life in the galaxy.

Now to twiddle my thumbs until Elex 2 comes out.

[Theonlygarby]

Started playing cyberpunk.  The side quests are top tier honestly.  Sometimes I have to double check its not a main quest it seems so substantial.   Went with female V, sex scenes are weird, not sure I like being mounted like that.

 

Edit: okay the Silverhand sex scene was also awkward so it's not just being mounted that's weird

Edited February 27, 2022 by Theonlygarby

[Bartimaeus]

2 hours ago, the_dog_days said:

Anyway, confirmed what I've always thought: Mass Effect 3's biggest problem isn't the ending but how boring it managed to make the end of all intelligent life in the galaxy.

My feelings about those games are very complicated. I feel like the first game had the most right elements...but some quite poor execution in a lot of those elements that made it not quite always work, but not badly enough that the game collapsed in on itself. Space exploration should be fun and exciting without feeling like it was randomly generated or copy and pasted; there should be a good helping of interesting characters as well as dialogue/narratives/outcomes for said characters; there should be an interesting plot that can either be justifiably low-stakes or high-stakes; general gameplay should be fun without feeling repetitive.

They, probably unfortunately, went with extremely high stakes right off the bat...which creates the classic problem of constantly needing to make subsequent entries even more higherer stakes than the last, which...had the effect that it had in the third game. Whoops. Characters didn't quite get the attention they deserved, and their outcomes were awkwardly and very hamfistedly railroaded (the fact that you can't even choose not to romance someone when your options as a male character are Liara and...Ashley, is quite frankly absurd; it's about just as bad if you're a female character with Liara and Kaidan, becuase Kaidan and Ashley are both less than ideal, so if you don't happen to like bright-eyed Liara or you simply just don't feel like the romancing type at all to begin with...well, oh dear oh goodness). Space exploration that wasn't corridor/wall-barrier fighting almost entirely happened inside of the Mako. The equipment system was an incredible chore. Still...for 2007, it did enough right that it still felt like a pretty novel cinematic action space game at the time.

Second game got rid of most of the space exploration stuff (boy, I sure love launching them probes and wandering through and/or fighting in endless corridors...), but you got more and better character stuff in return, plus the main plot actually was a solid enough follow-up to the first without escalating things to the point of absurdity...too much corridor/wall-ducking shooting and not enough meaningful exploration by far, but it did enough right to still enjoy it.

Good lord, what in the hell happened in the third game? Mediocre to terrible character stuff, very bad and way over-escalated plot that the writers couldn't figure out how to deal with, a veritable endless gauntlet of no longer fun repetitive shooting in corridors...and when it wasn't in corridors, it was in wide-open spaces with enemies pouring in from every avenue and where you're getting hit from a hundred different angles which is also not very fun. The exciting space exploration stuff is dead, the fun character stuff is dead, any remains of an interesting or compelling plot is dead, and the shooting gameplay has so incredibly worn out its welcome by then - especially in the absence of other enjoyable elements to make you care in the least bit. It's just brutal...and all the while, the game is acting like it's some kind of high art with the embarrassing ending and the dream sequences and...oh gosh, I just remembered the pathetic samurai dude...

On second thought, let's not remember anything more about Mass Effect 3.

Edited February 27, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[the_dog_days]

22 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

(the fact that you can't even choose not to romance someone when your options as a male character are Liara and...Ashley, is quite frankly absurd

I always 'romance' Ashley and leave her behind on Virmire. BTW, I played mostly paragon (though I was balanced the first 2 games thanks to egregious abuse of exploits), did the control ending, started out as an engineer but became a sentinel (in my head cannon Cerberus gave me biotics), and was a dedicated bachelor who tried and failed to hookup with Samara (I'd make a Luke Skywalker and Shepard loving blue milk joke, but I'm too classy).

[Bartimaeus]

27 minutes ago, the_dog_days said:

I always 'romance' Ashley and leave her behind on Virmire. BTW, I played mostly paragon (though I was balanced the first 2 games thanks to egregious abuse of exploits), did the control ending, started out as an engineer but became a sentinel (in my head cannon Cerberus gave me biotics), and was a dedicated bachelor who tried and failed to hookup with Samara (I'd make a Luke Skywalker and Shepard loving blue milk joke, but I'm too classy).

Can't say I blame you for that approach - Ashley did deserve to die, and I hope she burns in hell. ...Okay, maybe she didn't quite rise to the level of that particular Samuel L. Jackson rant, but I sure didn't feel the least bit bad about sending her to her clearly telegraphed death.

I was...the Infiltrator in the first game, and boy, did that stink between not having disables and also because of the insane scope sway; switched to a Sentinel in the second game. Turns out, biotics are more fun and useful than whatever the hell I was trying to do before.

[BruceVC]

I am now 20 hours into the Forest so its a good amount of time for an objective view of the game.

Its great fun and I recommend it to people who like this type of genre which I classify as survival. I am using the map and compass because I dont want the hardcore experience which I can imagine is more rewarding but I am happy with my survival decision 

I have started crafting useful items like a Bow and I have some effective range weapons like a bomb and Molotov ****tail 

I also have started exploring the dangerous cave system and encountered enemies that are more than cannibals ...in fact they more than human 

I cant say I will definitely finish this game but I am having loads of fun and lots of scary moments 

[majestic]

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

On second thought, let's not remember anything more about Mass Effect 3.

Why is everyone always forgetting Andromeda?

edit: I love how Rich has to try really, really, REALLY hard not to burst out into laughter all the time.

Edited February 27, 2022 by majestic

[Wormerine]

3 hours ago, majestic said:

Why is everyone always forgetting Andromeda?

Mostly because I didn't play and as for years EA hid all their games from me on Origin it didn't remind it about myself. Now with gamepass I am considering jumping into Andromeda and DA: Inquisition, but I need to run out of things I actually want to play or replay before I get there. 

[Bartimaeus]

5 hours ago, majestic said:

Why is everyone always forgetting Andromeda?

Because nobody played it, as Wormerine said, . Origin-only + bad launch if you happened to blindly put your faith into EA and pre-order it + poor reviews made it so basically nobody I know that played the original trilogy even bothered to check this one out.

I haven't watched much PreRecorded, but I'm pretty sure I have watched this one. ...Yep, 20 minutes of sitting in silence, that's the one, .

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I thought the first Mass Effect was ok and the others were disappointing. An incomprehensible army of machines so old they believe they predate organic life? Really cool. A janitorial AI gone rogue? Boring.

Vanguard was fun to play though.

5 hours ago, majestic said:

Why is everyone always forgetting Andromeda?

Kevin Sorbo.

[Keyrock]

Mass Effect 1 had the strongest main villain and the most stat, skill, and equipment finagling, but the shooter mechanics were super garbage and the classes all felt really similar.

2 had much of the stat and equipment finagling stripped out but ironically allowed for much more variety in playstyle because the classes actually felt distinct. Also, the shooter mechanics were improved from super garbage to acceptable. Also also, while the game lacked a strong main villain, the overall story about assembling a rag tag group of misfits to save the galaxy was duper duper fun.

3 was a mostly joyless slog and it had Kai Leng, so it can **** off. The astonishing stupidity of the Strachild multicolored explosion endings was simplty the flies circling the pile of $#!+.

Andromeda... We don't talk about Andromeda. Beyond the memes, what is there to talk about?

P.S. I like Kevin Sorbo.

 

Edited February 27, 2022 by Keyrock

[the_dog_days]

15 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

P.S. I like Kevin Sorbo.

Marry me.