What are you Playing Now? - Games don't make you violent, lag does

[Humanoid]

13 minutes ago, Malcador said:

Back to trying to finish off all of Wing Commander 2, sort of sucks wingmen only die when the plot warrants it, but eh.  The voice acting is...wow.

And you had to pay $19.95 for the privilege!

[bugarup]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Look, I get that Malkavians are insane, but what the hell? Go be insane in some other style, please. Ventrues definitely got the best options, both male and female IMO.

That's tame compared to Nozzies, who get to wear bondage gear. Ventroos look like boring office drones which is fitting because they are boring office drones. My favourite lady would be Tremere and dude Toreador. Also, I want to play it again. Of course. Good thing I never uninstall it anymore.

[Bartimaeus]

15 minutes ago, bugarup said:

That's tame compared to Nozzies, who get to wear bondage gear. Ventroos look like boring office drones which is fitting because they are boring office drones. My favourite lady would be Tremere and dude Toreador. Also, I want to play it again. Of course. Good thing I never uninstall it anymore.

Yeah, I saw the Nosferatus...boy, that is some rough stuff. As for the Ventrues, I would say classy goth office drones, which I think is great. But I generally like severe/muted colors and understated design, and I usually think the less skin, the better. To each their own. I definitely did not pick the right clan for that, .

[uuuhhii]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

From "Light Clothing"...

...to "Heavy Clothing"...

Oh, of course, because I didn't already look like a streetwalker in the cheerleader outfit, now I'm straight up tasteless too! I'm gonna ice that Fat Larry (note: that is his actual name) bastard that sold me this garbage. And I just checked, the next armor upgrade somehow manages to look even worse...I knew I should've been a Ventrue: all her clothing options are dope (especially the "Light Leather" armor), while it looks like I'm going to have to stick with this skimpy cheerleader outfit the entire stinking game. Why did being insane have to mean not being able to wear any decent clothing - maybe she has sensory issues and can't handle it...or maybe she just straight up doesn't care what she wears or even mind being scammed? Well, I do, so I guess I wasn't cut out to be a Malkavian after all. Bah humbug!

nothing can beat that fluffy tall hat

 

would be better if malk come with clown face paint

[Malcador]

2 hours ago, Humanoid said:

And you had to pay $19.95 for the privilege!

Ahh, I miss the old days of gaming

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

18 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I usually think the less skin, the better.

[Wormerine]

21 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Wretched stuff.

Ah yes. That was more or less the reason I bounced off Masquarade on my first attempt, and never were particularly fond of the game, even though I think it is great. I find the vibe of the game rather offputting. Nightclubs were the worst.

[Bartimaeus]

5 hours ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

 

Perfection.

Ignore that I stripped the quote of the image, it means nothing.

5 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Ah yes. That was more or less the reason I bounced off Masquarade on my first attempt, and never were particularly fond of the game, even though I think it is great. I find the vibe of the game rather offputting. Nightclubs were the worst.

If VtMB is any indication, nightclubs in real life would probably look very silly if they didn't have A. the insane lights that half-blind everybody, and B. enough people to make it look like stuff is actually going on. As it is, 5-10 people flailing around in static lighting is just...not quite my idea of a lively nightlife, . On the other hand, if other games are any indication, trying to move around in locations that are way too crowded is really annoying, so it's probably for the best even if it's completely unimpressive visually. This game came out in two thousand freaking four, I really can't complain too much about that - nearly 20 years ago!

As for the general vibe of the game...yeah, I mean, I'd accept just having more options at this point. When the literal prostitutes in the game are dressed less outrageously than you are and you can't really do anything about it, I think there's a problem. They have this corset, miniskirt, and nylon stockings that look rather modest (and certainly more stylish) in comparison to what I have - exactly who's prostituting who here, anyways? At least their clothes cover their butts!

In other news, I found the werewolf. It was extremely anticlimactic: after having done a couple of Bad Things(TM) recently, my humanity is down to 8/10, and the moment the fight started, my character went into a frenzy for the very first time and literally just about instantly melted the werewolf. I couldn't do anything before he died, and I wasn't even sure what was happening before it was over. It was pretty weird, especially since you only start out with 7/10 in the beginning of the game and I hadn't experienced a frenzy up until now. I ended up reloading to give it a more honest try and found out that the Mac-10 is the worst gun in the history of guns, maybe ever, because the recoil is...well, possibly fairly realistic for a tiny untrained woman trying to shoot it at a werewolf a few feet away from her while backpedalling. Meanwhile, somehow every bullet from Fat Larry's was somehow able to hit me... Ended up going back to my katana and doing some hit-and-run stuff, which took care of it after a couple of tries. Good enough. And this werewolf was not the guy from the diner whom I mentioned earlier, and whom I presume I will meet somewhere else down the line.

Edited May 30, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

25 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Perfection.

Ignore that I stripped the quote of the image, it means nothing.

Best armor in the game. And whomst amongst us does not feel like a flayed man who is in hell.

[Chilloutman]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

In other news, I found the werewolf. It was extremely anticlimactic: after having done a couple of Bad Things(TM) recently, my humanity is down to 8/10, and the moment the fight started, my character went into a frenzy for the very first time and literally just about instantly melted the werewolf. I couldn't do anything before he died

oh you sweet summer child

 

there is only one werewolf in the game, and I think you didn't met him yet if I read well where you are in the progression

[Bartimaeus]

Okay, good, because that sewer dude wasn't that tough. I wasn't sure if he was a werewolf or just a really ugly nosferatu. The other guy, the guy I met in the diner that you're not supposed to attack but I did, killed me in like two hits. I suspect he's the one you're talking about, and if I have to fight that guy, even much later, it's prooobably gonna be pretty trough.

[Hawke64]

If I remember correctly, the werewolf is to be encountered somewhere in the late-game.

Finished Hob. It looks good and the changes in the areas are quite original - a lot of them literally rise from the ground, but the fixed camera angle, poor collision detection (worked more often in my favour in combat), and the somehow simple combat are disappointing. The worst aspect is the story and its presentation - there are no spoken dialogues or written texts, the characters just gesture vaguely, then a quest marker appears. Maybe. When it does not, trying to guess how to progress, when you also do not know the objective due to the lack of dialogues, is somehow unpleasant. The map takes some time to get used to and still does not cover the dungeons, but it is serviceable when it works. Additionally, there is one unique boss, the rest are regular foes with armour. Occasionally, it is not clear when killing everything on the screen is required to progress. The most reliable indication is an inactive mechanism in the room. If it is still inactive when everything is dead, then the battle was optional. The character development system is present - the health can be improved, the sword can hit harder, the glove can charge faster. There are also outfits that change the stats, but I was unable to unlock them - they required both to be found, then to be unlocked with XP points, which seem to be better spent on the glove.

[Lexx]

That werewolf was a huge pain in the arse on my first playthrough.

[HoonDing]

Sucks playing a clan without time dilation.

[melkathi]

What put me off Hob was that after not being able to play a couple of days, I had no idea where I was going and where I had been.

I felt I had to dedicate time to playing it consequently to be able to finish it.

[Gorth]

14 hours ago, Chilloutman said:

oh you sweet summer child

 

there is only one werewolf in the game, and I think you didn't met him yet if I read well where you are in the progression

I'm fairly sure we'll hear about it when he meets it

[SellSwordDev]

On 5/25/2023 at 11:08 PM, Gfted1 said:

Watch out for the werewolf.

Damn, hated that part. 

[Wormerine]

All I can think of is:

 

[Keyrock]

System Shock (2023) - It's a very faithful remake of one of the most important games in vidya game history. There are some quality of life improvements, though you're still going to be playing inventory Tetris, and the visuals are vastly improved, I mean, of course they are, the original is 29 years old. But yeah, the game looks great, it's got a pixelated art style, but not 8-bit pixels, or even 16-bit pixels, much much higher definition that, and the game makes fantastic use of light and color, it's wonderfully vibrant. At its core, it hasn't been changed much. It's still brutally unforgiving and Citadel Station is a maze of corridors to travel through, as it should be. You're going to get killed, numerous times, there is a rogue AI trying to murder you, after all. I very much appreciate how you can set different difficulties for each facet of gameplay. I kept all of the settings on normal difficulty except I cranked puzzle difficulty up to hard, since puzzles are my jam.

I see that you are still receiving transmissions from Earth. We'll have no more of that

Anyway, you sh...

*static*

[Helz]

I've been playing Gloria Victis for the past couple of months. I've played M&B: Warband (and all its flavors) heavily since 2011. This has combat similar to that, but inside a PVP focused MMORPG. I'm nearly at level cap despite spending almost all of my time riding around and fighting. I swore off grinding anything except kills, and the game lets me do that. It's niche and janky, but a replacement for Warband was practically the holy grail.

[melkathi]

I finished Showgunners.

Overall a positive experience, with only a few minor points of criticism based on personal preferences.

It is a turn based tactics game made by the people behind Hard West and Phantom Doctrine, where the player takes the role of Scarlet, a contestant in a Runningman style reality TV game show.

The game has 7 "episodes", as the show follows the protagonist over a span of a week. Each episode has the player explore a map, avoiding traps, fighting minor ambushes, signing autographs. and entering combat arenas for the large highlight battles of the show. There is nothing random in the episodes - the ambushes and other surprises are scripted.

Between episodes the player rests at a hub location, where they can interact with team mates and npcs.

The plot is predictable but works.

The combat is fun.

Character progression has you spending points to unlock bonuses and abilities, but at max level everything will be unlocked - you choose the order in which you unlock, not what.

You also unlock sponsors based on your fame and personality. The choice of sponsors is the only thing that really changes between playthroughs.

A playthrough is around 15 hours.

 

I would have liked each episode to have had a named mini boss instead of simply introducing a new enemy type.

I would have liked npc contestants at the hub, to better show how others are participating in the show.

I find it silly they went out of their way to make one character Ukrainian.

[Hawke64]

Record of Lodoss War-Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth-. I have realised that I should have watched the anime (or at least read the summary) first - the MC recognises NPCs and bosses, but does not elaborate on their background nor there is an in-game wiki (that I could find). The elemental system (Fire and Air spirits charge one another when the MC attacks foes, and when the charge at level 3, the MC regenerates HP and MP) is rather convenient, but it feels slightly OP. Then again, it also seems to be incorporated into the boss battles - when you get hit by a Fire/Wind attack and the corresponding spirit is active, you take no damage and regenerate MP.

17 hours ago, melkathi said:

Character progression has you spending points to unlock bonuses and abilities, but at max level everything will be unlocked - you choose the order in which you unlock, not what.

...

You also unlock sponsors based on your fame and personality. The choice of sponsors is the only thing that really changes between playthroughs.

Thank you for the information. Could you elaborate if there is any branching in the story, alongside the sponsors (what do they affect)?

[LadyCrimson]

Above Snakes: finished the straight-forward quest-story a couple times, spent a lot of hours map fiddling already. It is indeed pretty short quest/story if you do just the minimum to get them done. But to me that's fine because that's when the sandbox mode starts. The variety of items and the biome transition tiles isn't all that large (and forget about base-farming aspect, it's not effective) but enough to keep me in an undo/redo loop even if there isn't any game goal for it. Or to repeat wholesale to see how fast/efficient one can do the quests/unlocks.  Map grid is 47x47 and I'm gonna pointlessly fill every corner, at some point, darn it.

The dev is/was good at patching/fixing some issues very quickly, and made some quick changes based on feedback. So good on them. As much as I personally like messing around with it, I do think the average Steam user would likely think the price should be lower for what it is, however. Like, $13-16 maybe. It's not enough survival-difficulty, nor enough farming/base-deco sim. Good ideas, limited execution etc.

Edited June 3, 2023 by LadyCrimson

[SellSwordDev]

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. That crap Gollum game persuaded to give this a try having already played Shadow of War. Only one hour into it so far but it's been a damn good time. I'm not even a LOTR fan either.

[melkathi]

6 hours ago, Hawke64 said:

 

Thank you for the information. Could you elaborate if there is any branching in the story, alongside the sponsors (what do they affect)?

No branching and no real surprises. It's a pretty straightforward story. They added a couple of twists, and one of them I didn't see coming. At least not the way it did. But the story itself held no surprises.

The sponsors are irrelevant to the story. It is just a secondary upgrade system, where at each game threshold you get to choose between three rewards. First choice is 1000xp or 3 medkits or 3 frag grenades. Later a choice is between a 10% melee damage boost for all characters or a unique implant for the main character or... can't remember. So just small boosts. 

Play the game once, you have seen everything and unlocked everything.

 

For people who like xcom style gameplay and running man like plots, this is a recommendation if you get it at a price you are okay paying for 15 hours of gaming time.

Because unless you say you want to play the exact same content a second time, you won't get more playtime out of it. There is only a handful of arenas where you have enough choices of characters to play them with a different line up.