What are you Playing Now? - Back to the Grind

[melkathi]

I tried out the Underspace demo.

It is a Freelancer type of game. You fly about in a terrible rust bucket, earn money to get a better ship, earn money to equip the ship and buy an even betterer ship.

It is lacking some quality of life features that Freelancer had - no cycling targets for example or goto button when selecting a waypoint.

What it does have is weird space storms where you fight eldritch monsters while dodging tentacles.

[BruceVC]

I am about 15  hours into Far Cry 5 and its delivering on exactly what I expect from FC games

Ubisoft uses the same successful design with these types of games, you have your standard main quests but you have open world around how to complete them. Using resistance points is a genius way to give the player choice on how they want to progress

Its also a beautiful game and Im running it on Ultra graphic settings and I enjoy the various companions and there stories 

Lots of activities and side quests means Im not bored yet and as usual with Ubisoft games I wont focus on the main quest until I start getting bored

 

 

[kanisatha]

I decided to change up from playing RPGs to playing city builder survival game: Patron. I had tried playing this game when it first came out, but found it not very interesting or fun. Now, more than a year later and with many changes and upgrades, the game is pretty good. I've been playing for a few days and have not yet lost interest. As always with this type of game, I know I will start losing interest once my city gets really big and exponentially harder to manage. But for now in its early stages, the game is pretty addictive and fun.

[Hurlshort]

Picked up Goblin Stone, which looks delightful. 

https://www.orcchopgames.com/

[Raithe]

On 3/9/2024 at 5:33 PM, melkathi said:

I am not sure if all stories are still accessible. At least some early arcs may have gone when the meteor crashed into Galaxy City, destroying the second hero starting area, to have the players concentrated in one busier zone.

 

There are the "Echo" zones that can be accessed via Ourouboros time travel shenanigans and such-like for a lot of the things that would no longer be available in the "normal" game.

[melkathi]

Mender Silos is as trustworthy as Morty the skull.

[Hurlshort]

As expected Goblin Stone is fantastic and addicting. I haven't had much luck breeding my goblins though.

[melkathi]

I have had that on my wishlist for years.

[BruceVC]

I have heard very good  things about  Underrail, is it a good party  based RPG? Has  anyone got  any views  

[BruceVC]

On 3/12/2024 at 4:20 PM, kanisatha said:

I decided to change up from playing RPGs to playing city builder survival game: Patron. I had tried playing this game when it first came out, but found it not very interesting or fun. Now, more than a year later and with many changes and upgrades, the game is pretty good. I've been playing for a few days and have not yet lost interest. As always with this type of game, I know I will start losing interest once my city gets really big and exponentially harder to manage. But for now in its early stages, the game is pretty addictive and fun.

Like I often mention  its  always good to have breaks from playing the same type of genre

That way I never get bored  and I miss my favorite genre which is fantasy RPG 

 

[InsaneCommander]

Rebel Transmute. A metroidvania that looks a lot like Metroid. I reached the second map and I'm enjoying it a lot. The only problem I have so far is the map that has some areas that don't look connected while they actually are. It's a little confusing when backtracking.

[LadyCrimson]

On 3/12/2024 at 7:20 AM, kanisatha said:

I decided to change up from playing RPGs to playing city builder survival game: Patron.

I haven't played that since initial release/purchase period, although it's still installed/been updated etc. I enjoyed it a fair bit but after figuring out how it worked/mastering efficiency (a me thing), which didn't take too long, it was limited and didn't find it super replayable (limited maps/no map generator or editor). I think it does have a map editor now. Maybe it's time to try it again.
=============
My biggest irritation with (most) modern 3d/more AI city-builders is drastically decreasing performance vs. population/size of cities (huge fps drops over time or AI glitches starting). Limits designs/expansion re: map sizes even w/beast PC's. Often CPU limitation. Some newer ones it starts to occur even at just 400-500pop depending on one's rig.  Where in old ones like C3/Pharaoh it's essentially just limited by map size (even back on pc's of that day). 8000+ pop. in C3 is nothing, good luck getting that in most modern ones.

Yes I know, most people probably don't care about filling up entire maps, trying to squeeze just one more little city block in that corner over there. But doesn't mean it's not an irritating gameplay limitation. Not that it stops me from buying/trying, mind.

[Hawke64]

The Blackwell series. Finished. While it looks mostly (different games have slightly different styles) good, the logic of the puzzles often eluded me, while the story included a bit too many holes. Though, I do not play adventure games often. Also, the games should have been bundled together more explicitly - each of them is short and the story in the later ones does not work well on its own.

Steelrising. I suppose, while the level design in Spiders' games has never been their strength, combined with the awful visual design (every surface shines) and terrible performance (at least, it stopped frying the CPU with the said CPU safely throttled), it is significantly more noticeable and does not make a good impression. On the positive side, the controls are rebindable, 5-button mice supported, the Assist Mode allows to disable losing "souls" on dying, which is convenient (considering that parrying with 25 FPS is rather challenging).

Saints Row. Slowly progressing. So far, it seems like a very nice story about friendship and comradery (or PG13-appropriate gang violence in the US), which is rather nice.

Death of a Wish. An excellent surreal action game with engaging combat and unique visual design.

[melkathi]

50 minutes ago, Hawke64 said:

 

Saints Row. Slowly progressing. So far, it seems like a very nice story about friendship and comradery (or PG13-appropriate gang violence in the US), which is rather nice.

 

How far in are you? Has the larp started yet?

 

Edit:

Saw the picture thread, I see you summoned the mighty bowelrod and smote thine enemies.

 

Edited March 16 by melkathi

[Hawke64]

21 minutes ago, melkathi said:

How far in are you? Has the larp started yet?

 

Edit:

Saw the picture thread, I see you summoned the mighty bowelrod and smote thine enemies.

 

29% on the save file, I think? Just got the actual recruits and started planning to rob a train.

And yes, the quest line was fun. The dialogue with Gwen was good as well (as a rather friendly rivalry).

Edited March 16 by Hawke64

[melkathi]

Team bonding is important. Can't rob a train without proper preparation.

 

The percentage of course counts all the optional activities for your criminal empire and the murder app. Not sure if it counts hidden collections, photo hunts and tourist attractions.

 

By the way, the contract to kill the Necromancer was my favourite.

[Hurlshort]

Goblin Stone was super grindy. It is still very charming, but I think 10 hours in, I'm going to set it aside. I don't regret the $20 I dropped on it though. 

I think I'll play Mount and Blade 2 for a bit. 

[Malcador]

On 3/9/2024 at 3:24 PM, LadyCrimson said:

Caesar3-

When you know a game well enough from the past, to think you'll breeze through, but have forgotten certain key elements and lose half a block to "pestilence" because you didn't place any Clinics.

Also, remembered there was a map editor. So I installed that and have since spent more time adjusting freeplay scenarios+making a couple from scratch then playing the missions. Which I likely will never actually play (my made maps). Why is it so fun to hand-place fertile farmland, trees, water etc. one dot at a time?

Reminds me I have Caesar 4 to finish again.

 

[LadyCrimson]

3 hours ago, Malcador said:

Reminds me I have Caesar 4 to finish again.

 

lol, I'm becoming a little "bored" of messing around in C3 again, and was considering installing/checking out C4 myself.
I never did finish the campaign for that one. Maybe 2nd to last map. Being the early 3D attempt, even some of the bigger the maps felt so small and restrictive, so you couldn't build with great design variety. So near the end of campaign I found it all too fatiguing.

Later impressions games, like Pharaoh/Emperor, I did also like, but I couldn't stand the monument building (and never "mastered" them as a result). I'd clear all objectives and then have to sit and wait for stupid monuments to finish.

[rjshae]

On 3/14/2024 at 8:07 AM, BruceVC said:

I have heard very good  things about  Underrail, is it a good party  based RPG? Has  anyone got  any views  

I've played it several times, but never really got into it. It's not party-based and you seem to spend a lot of time with your character walking from place to place. The character building process seems unbalanced, but the game has a lot of unique detail. For me, a comparable game play-style-wise would be Divine Divinity, although I enjoyed DD much more.

[LadyCrimson]

Caesar 4 - every time I open the advisors panel to check something: (animated group of people doing verbalized voice lines)

"Our city needs more workers.
We do not have enough jobs for all of our workers.
More attention must be paid to the city's prosperity.
Rome considers your efforts ... mediocre.
Our city needs more workers.
We do not have enough jobs for all of our workers.
Our city needs..
Rome considers...
We do not have..
More attention must be..
Our city.."

OMG SHUT THE HECK UP, I just want to check how much grain is in the granaries. 

[BruceVC]

Im about 40 hours into Far Cry 5 and Im not happy with how the Resistance points work. It was fine in the beginning but its now becoming laborious and repetitive

In order to complete the 3 maps you need to gain Resistance points and you  need between 10k-13k for each map  and you get different amounts of points for each task or quest you complete so in the beginning it was fun because you can choose what tasks you can select so its like open world

But then I  completed all the main  quests on map 1 which is John Seed and I had only achieved 6.5k Resistance points which means you have to now grind the activities which respawn. And this is the problem, there are only 5-6 activities like free hostages and destroy a roadblock and it gets  boring very quickly doing the same activity over and over again 

And the same progression is designed the same way for each map. Its getting so boring I may even quit the game but I will probably finish it through  hours of grinding because I dont like quitting any game 

But the Resistance points become a really bad design as you progress in the game 

 

[Gfted1]

@BruceVC Are you sure youre clearing all the story missions? If Im reading this article correctly, even the lowest amount of missions (Jacob 41) rewarding the lowest possible value (600 points) should yield enough resistance points to advance the hardest region (24,600/13,000): Far Cry 5: Fastest Ways To Get Resistance Points (gamerant.com)

[BruceVC]

3 hours ago, Gfted1 said:

@BruceVC Are you sure youre clearing all the story missions? If Im reading this article correctly, even the lowest amount of missions (Jacob 41) rewarding the lowest possible value (600 points) should yield enough resistance points to advance the hardest region (24,600/13,000): Far Cry 5: Fastest Ways To Get Resistance Points (gamerant.com)

It might be related to a mod I loaded  that  I uninstalled  after  completing the main quests  on map 1.  I havent been to map 3 yet so  I  will see  if  I get more  Resistance  points  for completing  main quests  on that final map

You could be right because I noticed when I completed  1 quest  on  map  2  I got  800 points  and that  was  after  I removed the  mod  as  well  

[LadyCrimson]

Caesar 4:

--I found/remember the UI button that turns off the Advisor speech lines. Phew.
--I am remembering all the things I didn't find enjoyable re: C4, which includes some UI usefullness irritations (not the speech) and the terribad army/combat stuff and glitches.
--I used a cheat (these are dev-built into the game, not 3rd party mods) to "unlock" all campaign scenarios to be visible under the "custom scenario" tag so I can play any whenever I want vs. forced campaign order.
--I then used a cheat code to give myself denarii at start of map and have been using every mission map as a freebuild map. This might make me play C4 for longer than two days.

 

Edit: I miss Prima's paper game guides. I still have C3 and C4's, which I have been using to remind myself of stuff like housing stage requirements. So much more useful then some random YT video or poorly organized/used wiki. >.>
 

Edited March 18 by LadyCrimson