What are you Playing Now? - Back to the Grind

[Wormerine]

2 hours ago, Helz said:

I had just unlocked the next difficulty level and it didn't seem to make much difference at first, but the game might have read my post because the very next mission I played, it handed me my ass. I went from never having a character knocked out to wiping 10 times before I got lucky with a 5 enemy KO. The henchmen are using new skills that I've never noticed before, so things have definitely taken a turn. I've also spiced things up by changing which heroes I'm using in every fight.

(...)

Midnight Suns is growing on me. I don't think I'll ever like running around and collecting stuff, but in the Emo Kids meeting when I had failed to gather enough ingredients, Majik just shrugged and said she hates doing that too 

If I remember correctly difficulty mostly just raises enemy health and attack, requiring more effective use of your skills. Complexity comes with story progression.

Stuff like collecting ingredients for EMO Kids just helps in acquiring cards quicker. Speaking of which, look for opportunities to upgrade your character's base cards by combinging two of the same kind. Heroes don't quite show their capabilities until you upgrade their cards (I can't remember how early this mechanic get introduced, but it took me too long to figure out how impactful it is)

[melkathi]

The training portal, playing solo against the fallen, can help better learn how characters play.

 

[Mamoulian War]

I have defeated the all “great demon lords” in Dark Souls and have put their souls into the Lordvessel. Fight against them were not that hard, the biggest issue as always was the Bed of Chaos. From the bosses of course  As always, when you feel, that you are having easier time fighting the bosses, you start to act more carelessly and sooner or later get owned by some easy peasy enemy, misstep out of bound or pressing some button to late, because you think, you have everything in control This is very unique thing this game offers, and therefore I enjoy it so much. I really feel, I am much more patient that when started to play the game for the first time, but on the other hand, the game can still lull me into false security and then hit me hard, when I expect it the least again and again and again (185 deaths so far )

[BruceVC]

I'm busy with NWN2 MoB and   Im  loving the narrative and the epic level gaming experience, Im about 20 hours in 

Obsidian really knows how to create captivating stories and as usual I appreciate the Forgotten Realms integration because its my favorite fantasy world with Elder Scrolls being my second 

I am  getting a little annoyed   with the mechanics of hunger and how you need  to feed but thats  because I misunderstood how it works and I let my energy drop to 10-15% so just to survive I am literally camping and feeding on animal spirits in the Ashenwood forest but  once  Im done with these quests I will feed properly on undead which will restore  my energy to manageable levels 

I got so frustrated I  was even considering loading a mod that lets you restore the energy immediately but I wont do that because that will  destroy the immersion and point of being a spirit eater....so it would be a   real   "cheat "  that undermines  the point of the game. So I decided not to do  that  

[majestic]

@BruceVC, You should really play Rogue Trader. You can live your dream to the fullest as fascist aristocrat.

Edited January 7 by majestic

[Wormerine]

Finished Returnal and main campaign of Uncharted4.

So Returnal

I am quite disappointed - not necessarily because it is that bad, but because I expected it to be the Sony port that will be for me. Roguelite third person bullet hell with little meta progression? Hell yeah. Unfortunately, outside audo-visual experience, I found it rather underwhelming. Procedural generation is minimal. While individual levels are swapped around, level layouts, and what you can find are pretty much the same, and enemy variety is pretty low, so runs do tend to feel the same. Biggest change run to run is what weapon you pick up (you can carry only one at a time: Booooo), and I found some weapons to be simply more effective than others. This is is even more visible for bosses, which will really make it really tedious if you enter the arena with a wrong weapon.

I dug the atmosphere and story and first, but unfortunately it turned out to be a convoluted allegory for a very basic thing, rather than a SF story.

 

Uncharted4.

Reallly enjoyed the story and characters. Game looks mostly great. But god, what an awful video game. Shooting is really clumsy and basic, and I feel bad for criticising Jusant for it's straightforward climbing - compared to U4 it was boundary pushing simulator. Worste of all - I really felt like game part didn't belong to the story part of the game. The set up is so slow, and characters so human, that when Nate starts gunning down auction house security in cold blood, it feels very off. In general, the unending army of Shoreline, white grab ledges, and conveniently marked grapple points feel like an artificial addition to what is a pretty good animated action adventure flick.

Oh, and I am still not sure if melee system actually exists or if it's a QTA mascareding as a melee system. But dang, I would watch an Uncharted movie. Well, not THAT movie.

[melkathi]

Trying out kingdom of heart.

Really dislike that early bobble head children on an island bit.

Ugh.

[Keyrock]

19 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Uncharted4.

Reallly enjoyed the story and characters. Game looks mostly great. But god, what an awful video game. Shooting is really clumsy and basic, and I feel bad for criticising Jusant for it's straightforward climbing - compared to U4 it was boundary pushing simulator. Worste of all - I really felt like game part didn't belong to the story part of the game. The set up is so slow, and characters so human, that when Nate starts gunning down auction house security in cold blood, it feels very off. In general, the unending army of Shoreline, white grab ledges, and conveniently marked grapple points feel like an artificial addition to what is a pretty good animated action adventure flick.

Oh, and I am still not sure if melee system actually exists or if it's a QTA mascareding as a melee system. But dang, I would watch an Uncharted movie. Well, not THAT movie.

Uncharted was obviously inspired by OG Tomb Raider but streamlined a lot of stuff. Then, NuLara Tomb Raider wound up aping Uncharted and ultimately doing it better in Rise and Shadow. Now Uncharted feels so dated because SotTR did it so much better. The circle is now complete.

[BruceVC]

I'm  close to finishing NWN2 MoB,  I'm  at the part where I have met The Founder  and now the full narrative is revealed  and   I have received  the Silver Sword and Im heading for  the Wall of the Faithless 

I mentioned this before but this game is an example of one of the best narratives I have ever experienced, its brilliant and I love how it ties into general  Forgotten Realms lore on an epic level. You get to meet Myrkul 

Games like this remind me of how significant  the narrative can be for the overall enjoyment of  the game 

 

 

 

 

[uuuhhii]

On 1/9/2024 at 4:29 AM, Keyrock said:

Uncharted was obviously inspired by OG Tomb Raider but streamlined a lot of stuff. Then, NuLara Tomb Raider wound up aping Uncharted and ultimately doing it better in Rise and Shadow. Now Uncharted feels so dated because SotTR did it so much better. The circle is now complete.

pretty sure played at least two of the new tomb raider game

couldn't remember much other than the horrible puzzle section

[Wormerine]

On 1/8/2024 at 8:29 PM, Keyrock said:

Uncharted was obviously inspired by OG Tomb Raider but streamlined a lot of stuff. Then, NuLara Tomb Raider wound up aping Uncharted and ultimately doing it better in Rise and Shadow. Now Uncharted feels so dated because SotTR did it so much better. The circle is now complete.

I would overall agree. I think Uncharted does story and characters much better than TR reboots, but TR sequels did land on a rather satisfying balance between cinematics and gameplay. Stealth, puzzles, combat and climbing is so, so much better and more robust.

[Keyrock]

Yeah, Naughty Dog's cinematic presentation is still top notch, but their gameplay is firmly stuck in the mid 2000s. They keep making PS3 games, except now with PS5 graphics.

[LadyCrimson]

Still occasionally glance around Steam for other sandboxy games. Apparently, just like with most other genres, in my old-fartness I'm too picky and thus I can't find anything I think I'd like. Thus

Still occasionally No Man's Sky.
I created a save/chr. whose express purpose was supposed to be actually rushing the main quest line to *finish* that, and teleporting to the supposed slightly higher odds of "lush" planets galaxy. Thus, one main chr. in starting Euclid, and one chr. hopping around in a 2nd galaxy. But 50ish hours later, that chr. is sitting at the final main quest (that aspect wasn't even close to 50 hrs, just to say) and every time I load in I do anything *but* finish that last quest/step. I have no idea why I'm so reluctant to do it. I just get to that point, have a junker ship/weapon ready to use (there's a reason for that) etc. But then ... "nah." 

 

Edited January 10 by LadyCrimson

[Hurlshort]

I finally got into Midnight Suns, and it's no surprise that I love it. The combat is a blast. Firaxis continues to nail the turn based combat stuff. I'm enjoying the storyline of The Hunter and his mommy issues. I'm also glad to see that the Marvel heroes are pretty different than their MCU counterparts. Plenty of parallels, but the Avengers are a lot more down to earth in the game. That being said, Blade and the non-Avengers are still the standouts for me. The base exploration and friendship building stuff is decent. It feels a lot more pulp comic bookish than movie based, so that is good.

I still think they could have done almost the same game without Marvel and it would have been as good. I'd argue that Xcom Chimera Squad was just as good at creating memorable teammates and unique combat, but I'm sure they felt they could reach a wider audience with the Marvel IP. I don't really agree and it seems like the sales numbers were underwhelming, so hopefully they realize they can stick with their own IP's going forward.

[melkathi]

I find the balance between tactical gameplay and abbey stuff just out of wack. Especially in the first half, you have an hour of chatting for twenty minutes of "playing"

[Hurlshort]

2 hours ago, melkathi said:

I find the balance between tactical gameplay and abbey stuff just out of wack. Especially in the first half, you have an hour of chatting for twenty minutes of "playing"

I agree, but I'm not sure what the solution is. Just adding more fights would just make it grindy. Minigames around the Abbey seems terrible too. Better puzzles, maybe. 

[melkathi]

It kinda highlights the limitations of the gameplay. The fights are enjoyable, but they didn't really manage to do anything with this system.

Magik can summon another character into the team for a round. But that character will not increase your actions - 3 for the whole team - instead they will dilute the card pool while there, since they won't increase the number of cards drawn. Same when Hunter summons their doggy. But they added summoning abilities because "Summoning is cool" (which it is).

Instead of, or because they didn't find enough to do with the tactical fights, they concentrated on writing marvel fanfiction and having players gather herbs as if this were Skyrim.

The feeling I am left with is a Marvel VN interspersed with light deck building and tactical fights, and gatcha loot as if it were a mobile game.

[BruceVC]

I have finished NWN2 MoB and  I have already summarized what I loved about this game so all that's outstanding  is  the anticipated and highly influential score  on the "   BruceVC  game rating system "...it gets a sold 78/100

Now Im playing Storm of Zehir,  I appreciate the  new mechanics  like the map and   how that  works and I know its going to be another rewarding Forgotten Realms D&D experience 

 

[Wormerine]

4 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Now Im playing Storm of Zehir,  I appreciate the  new mechanics  like the map and   how that  works and I know its going to be another rewarding Forgotten Realms D&D experience 

Zehir felt really oldschool to me - like playing a game from amiga era. I seems people aren't fond of it (which is understandable as it had to follow MotB), but I found it very charming.

[Mamoulian War]

20 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

Zehir felt really oldschool to me - like playing a game from amiga era. I seems people aren't fond of it (which is understandable as it had to follow MotB), but I found it very charming.

Same for me. It was actually the best part of NWN2 for me. Never played Westgate, due to the ridiculous DRM.

[Malcador]

Door Kickers 2's CIA missions aren't that fun for me. Guess I just suck at stealth. Wish my AI soldiers would realize an enemy isn't down after 2 shots and, y'know, shoot them again but they're soldiers not US cops, so.

Reminds me to check if Ready Or Not is any good.

[melkathi]

I have been playing The Bookwalker.

It is a small indy game with some first person walking about in the real world and isometric walking about inside the books.

In this setting, writers no longer writers don't use their imagination to write. They enter books and affect them from inside. As such they don't really write anything new, they just murk about with existing stories.

You play a writer who was sentenced to wear writer's shackles, to prevent you from doing writer stuff, until you work off your sentence. Of course you don't want to write drivel dictated by the state, so you do illegal writing for hire - basically you enter books and steal items from the books.

 

You can kinda tell it is a game made by two European developers wanting to make something different. It is rather charming.

 

People who may like this: Keyrock

[Humanoid]

12 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Zehir felt really oldschool to me - like playing a game from amiga era. I seems people aren't fond of it (which is understandable as it had to follow MotB), but I found it very charming.

SoZ is the only form of NWN2 I played with any seriousness, though even then I quit just at the doorstep of the final dungeon because I didn't feel like I needed closure.

I have very little memory of the original campaign, I couldn't even tell you if I got out of the tutorial because I don't remember anything other than something something village attacked, standard Obsidian temporary tutorial companion dies, then who knows. For MoTB I very clearly remember I quit the tutorial dungeon because a dungeon full of backstab-immune enemies is just no fun.

[ShadySands]

On 1/10/2024 at 4:05 PM, Hurlshort said:

the sales numbers were underwhelming

I don't know how prevalent this is but I know I was out as soon they announced it had cards and deck building. All interest immediately lost and never checked again.

[melkathi]

I think it was a combination of things:

The card combat put off their existing XCOM fanbase.

The campaign at the time that marvel is too woke, the mSHEu is ruining everything, removed a segment of the marvel fan base.

The focus of previews of how fun it was to organise a surprise birthday party and generally chat with characters further put off the tactics/XCOM fans.

The terrible performance at launch then hurt early reviews with objective critique points.

And then there was the silly price.

 

So for example for me, as someone on the political left, but who likes turn based tactics, loved chimera squad (and would have loved an xcom3 with what they learned from chimera), but doesn't care about marvel, even before launch, they had one point against (the abbey stuff), one point of "let's watch some let's plays" (the card combat), and one point that was indifferent to me (generic criticism of marvel). 

So price and combat already had me set to not buy at launch.