What are you Playing Now? - Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about rock-n-roll

[Gfted1]

You probably have to stand at a particular spot while taking the picture? Does Tab highlight anything?

[LadyCrimson]

8 hours ago, Gfted1 said:

You probably have to stand at a particular spot while taking the picture? Does Tab highlight anything?

I just had a bug. I found another guide page for photo-ing that had pics of the looking thru camera view vs. just a "this is the spot/object in the garden", and you're supposed to get a "Take picture/hotkey" text when you're aiming right. I was not getting that prompt, no matter where I stood/aimed etc.

I tried the Restart Checkpoint vs. Continue option and that seemed to get rid of the bug. Text prompt appeared, I had to repeat-run around again, it worked.

 

Edited December 11 by LadyCrimson

[Malcador]

Grinding along in Venetica. Grows on you after a while.  That said, so does an infection.  But definitely isn't worth the 47/100 score I see it has on GOG, is a bit jank.  I find the bad guys funny, especially in the way they abuse the rules to become immortal - cast immortality on yourself and then kill yourself which works somehow.

[rjshae]

Finish Rogue Trader after 86 hours. It was mostly pretty good, with almost no bugs. I'm not sure how much replayability it's going to have, so I'll wait for the rest of the DLC before trying again.

[LadyCrimson]

I remember in the original Tombraider, you'd enter a room, look about, and start hitting the jump key to see what ledges you could grab onto. Or you'd try jumping a chasm from different spots until you found the right "spot". eg, there were no icon prompts, you had to trial and error quite often. I miss those days.

In other words, this Indy game - I am reminded of the cat Stray game, where you were not allowed to do anything if there was no icon prompt. It's not quite as severe as that, but it's the feeling I have while roaming the tightly designed/linear areas/dungeons. Glance all around looking for prompts to tell you where you can go. In Stray it bothered me not because of the very simple type of game that was. Plus, y'know, cute kitty. In this Indy game, where it's supposed to be a grand adventure or something, it's a bit deflating. edit: I see no option to turn icon prompts totally off EDITEDIT: oh, also, constant unasked for chr. voice hints, even with the puzzle setting not on easy. I would like a "shut up" option.

The main things about the Indy game seem to be: story/cutscene factor, lore, the occasional simple puzzle (so far, occasionally a little pattern recognition or clue brain work needed but nothing major) filling out all the collectable lists (which often are part of some sidequest), and if you so desire, purposely aggroing lots of fascist Nazi's (vs. 1-3 at a time via stealthy) to see if you can not die.

The "tomb exploring" is at least starting to be more vicariously enjoyable tho. Atmosphere, graphically, hoping one doesn't miss a collectable etc.
EDIT: I have been half ignoring most sidequests. I keep picking up stuff that triggers them, and/or finding collectables related to them, but I haven't been purposely tracking them. Focusing on main story and general map exploration.Some areas are locked initially etc.

Edited December 11 by LadyCrimson

[HoonDing]

Seems a huge pain in the ass to find pill bottles/relics in the Vatican, even marking relics on the map doesn't help at all.

[LadyCrimson]

5 hours ago, HoonDing said:

Seems a huge pain in the ass to find pill bottles/relics in the Vatican, even marking relics on the map doesn't help at all.

Don't know about the medicine (I think I only bothered to find 11/15 while wandering/questing/sneaking) and I also did not bother to find most/all the Relics, but I can say that re: the latter (location concept spoiler, but not direct/specific).

 

they are not all found roaming the general city. You will find while doing the MQ advancements and certain sidequests, meaning not all are open areas to you without having/doing those quests. And in one late case, I found one by

failing in a certain way (I fell, and where I landed, I saw a relic, you would/could totally miss it if you were perfect/didn't fall - it's not 100% that you'd miss it, but highly possible many might).

 

I have reached Gizeh (this is how it's spelled in the game):
---RIP Tony Todd, you were great, and will be missed
---I would enjoy this game without Gina a lot more. I don't like that she gets in my way at times while being largely an AI-chat bot. They did however give some simple 2-person task excuses for her to be there. She fits the themes of the films, also. But in the game - I could do without. Just me ofc.
---There are times when Indy's face looks more like Troy Baker's face. Just for micro seconds. This is because I know what Troy Baker looks like, tho. And I know it was motion capture tech. But it's funny.
---I still feel like there's very little actual gameplay, as in player involvement/brain-engagement/things to do.  This is not necessarily bad. I totally understand the perspective of others wanting that from an adventure game. It's just not what I personally get tons of joy out of.  That said, because it's Indy, I've chuckled some times and it really does feel like a new movie in a way.

Edited December 12 by LadyCrimson

[BruceVC]

About 60 hours into Underrail  and its still going exceptionally well

I havent been to Core City yet and Im on level 15, I just completed the Beast quest in the Foundry.

Great quest and I have now completed most of the side quests and I will going to Core City when I hit level 16

What I do is explore side tunnels and lower tunnels and get XP like that and you often come across Easter Eggs through exploring like the Hanging Rat pub

I was looking up how many people work at Stygian software and its looks like a tiny number, 2 developers

https://rocketreach.co/stygian-software-management_b72b3e40c44c5428 

And then 5 if you count the artists

https://stygiansoftware.com/about.html

I would never have believed such an entertaining and brilliantly mechanically designed game would have only 5 staff members?

Does anyone know confirmed staff numbers, is this accurate?

 

[kanisatha]

I'm replaying Dragon Age: Origins after a very long time. It's going great so far, though after a lot of aggravation initially just to get the game to run. I first tried running my Steam version, which would launch some sort of "Configuration Utility" which immediately kept crashing. No matter all the tricks I found online I could not get it to run. So that was a waste of $4 buying the game on Steam. Then I tried running my original copy of the game in the EA App. That worked, but it crashed constantly if I used a graphics setting higher than the default setting, or if I used any mods involving graphics/cut scenes upgrades. But once I fixed all that, and only limited myself to a handful of gameplay mods, it's been running fine.

But clearly there is a reason why there are so many mods out there for the game. The game has so many small issues that simply would not be tolerated in a contemporary game. So I have to wonder why EA hasn't moved to create an enhanced/remastered version of all three older DA games like what they've done with Mass Effect Legendary Edition. That I would surely pay for.

[Sven_]

19 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

I remember in the original Tombraider, you'd enter a room, look about, and start hitting the jump key to see what ledges you could grab onto. Or you'd try jumping a chasm from different spots until you found the right "spot". eg, there were no icon prompts, you had to trial and error quite often. I miss those days.

In other words, this Indy game - I am reminded of the cat Stray game, where you were not allowed to do anything if there was no icon prompt. It's not quite as severe as that, but it's the feeling I have while roaming the tightly designed/linear areas/dungeons. Glance all around looking for prompts to tell you where you can go. In Stray it bothered me not because of the very simple type of game that was. Plus, y'know, cute kitty. In this Indy game, where it's supposed to be a grand adventure or something, it's a bit deflating. edit: I see no option to turn icon prompts totally off EDITEDIT: oh, also, constant unasked for chr. voice hints, even with the puzzle setting not on easy. I would like a "shut up" option.

 

 

As said, biggest cancer in gaming: Nintendo trusting its audience more than even M-rated games by other studios out there (not saying that Indy is M-rated). Clearly there is something very off in what happens during playtesting already -- or at least things have become far too severe. I remember Josh Sawyer posting horror stories about that here too... even from back then. Like people not even buffing before fights in Icewind Dale, thus complaining fights were too hard.  I mean, I was a total D&D newb back. But no buffs, really???? The problem of course isn't the feedback. But what's then done with it.  I'm going into Indy with the "blockbuster" mindset -- to be fair, Indy has always been popcorn even at the cinema. Just the very best of it.



It's ironic that back as a kid I used to play games that seemed to treat me like an adult -- whereas as an adult, I face many games that treat me like a kid! But yeah, in today's climate... I think this interview says a lot about it.

“It was a long process to figure out exactly what puzzles should and shouldn’t be in the game,” Andersson continues. “For a big adventure game like this, there often aren’t many good references for how to integrate interesting and challenging puzzles. We wanted a bigger challenge than you normally see in big action-adventure games out there, something where you actually have to think, while still being accessible to a ton of people and making sure that the player never gets stuck. Mechanisms Become Mechanics: Inventing Puzzles for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - Xbox Wire

"Bigger challenge than what you normally see" has become rather relative.  
 

 

Edited Thursday at 03:51 PM by Sven_

[LadyCrimson]

@Sven_  ROFL at that bioshock video. Using a Sherlock montage was hilarious. And yeah, that's how a couple of puzzles felt like to me. Note that I am definitely in a category of one who doesn't like super hard puzzling games, but even I find the ones in Indy brain dead.

There are a number of locked chests/safes in the game with a number code to open - I didn't bother with them all but there would be clues scattered about to figure out the right numbers to input. I am not sure but I think the game considers those puzzles. I would not, since it's just random number odds and the only way to figure out would be to input a zillion combos for 20 hours, or ... find the notes easily found (because they glow) that tell you.

The bigger issue is that reward for some things is not worth it. I have collected/stolen "money" but nothing to spend it on, outside of one thing, at least nothing worthwhile. No weapons/gear. You get enough adventure points (to increase some combat/skill stuff a tiny bit) even w/out getting sidequest finished rewards etc.

The enemy AI is abysmal, the YT videos on that are accurate.
The one time I thought "aha, here's a Tombraider like dungeon traversal difficulty spike", in the end it was ... no. And most big "action" moments are very scripted/QTE-like things, hard to really fail etc. eg, vicarious fun but not much else.
I think Gizeh will have a bit more tomb adventuring so we'll see. Could still improve a little.

Edited Thursday at 07:40 PM by LadyCrimson

[LadyCrimson]

^ Oh, as usual, to be clear, I am not saying "Indy game sucks." There's fun to be had, it is what it is. Certain audience types will love it to death I'm sure. But it's main draw is nostalgia for Indiana, his character and original films. Just don't expect interesting/deep gameplay, mechanics, AI, reward-motivation, action, etc.

I suppose I was hoping for at least a little more old school tombraider-ing feeling perhaps. The answer to that is no.
I'm not sure I'll finish it, really. Depends what Gizeh offers.

Edited Thursday at 07:46 PM by LadyCrimson

[marelooke]

On 12/4/2024 at 7:28 PM, Azdeus said:

My gog galaxy says I'm only 100 hours into Stalker 2, but that is most definetly a lie, I suspect that the crash I had a few days ago messed up the galaxy logging, I've spent atleast 12 hours a day in the zone on average, so about 150 hours in. Still haven't gone to finish the game or do much of the main story line, I've just been exploring every nook and cranny, parkouring my way into places I really shouldn't be.

If GSC Gameworld continues this frenzy of dropped patches, we will be at stalker 2 2.0 in just a few months

Eh, they're not exactly releasing them often enough for how broken the game is.

The longer I've been playing the more major bugs I've been encountering, from quick items not working (animation plays, nothing happens), to outright crashes to desktop, my 2nd weapon magically getting swapped out by something I didn't even have in my inventory, and now a progression stopper bug that's been there since release. So guess I'm setting the game aside, because I'm not exactly left with any other choice.

On top of that as time went on general design issues are just becoming more and more apparent, from weapon balance (such as it is) to just mission, world, and progression design.

The game may look like a duck, but whether it quacks like one...

Edited Thursday at 11:07 PM by marelooke

[Tale]

I gave up on Veilguard. It commits the cardinal sin of being just... boring. Boring gameplay and boring characters.

Jumping around between games now. Silent Hill 2 has some areas that are a bit long in the tooth, like the prison. Cyberpunk 2077 replay is stalling. Replaying Disco Elysium and loving it, but still not scratching whatever itch I'm clearly looking to have scratched.

I've played a bit of Indiana Jones. It's fun enough, but also probably nothing special. Has its charm, though.

[Lexx]

Did more Indy yesterday. It's slowly beginning to really take me in. What was muffling my experience at first was the not so great interface when it comes to maps, notes, etc. Somehow it's hard to find stuff, and even now, just a few hours in, it's so full with things... if I pick up a new document and just take it without reading, I'm having a really hard time finding it again. Slowly getting used to that now, I guess, so it gets better.

Love the graphics so far. The environment just looks nice. Climbing is too slow, though. Can't wait to visit egypt - on screenshots it looks like this is going to be my thing a lot.

Oh, one more thing... I'm using the "easy" puzzle mode, because usually I have a hard time to get arsed but now I noticed that it might be a little much help.. one of the puzzles in the Vatican completely stopped being a puzzle and ended up nothing more than a "go to x, press all buttons, do as Indy says", since Indy commented literally on everything I was supposed to do. That kinda ruined the experience for me and I was a bit disappointed.

/Edit: I just remembered another thing. Is it just me or is the sound sometimes really weird? Especially in the beginning, with some(?) characters when they talk and I look into a different direction or walk a bit away, it sounds like they are speaking through a tin can. Really weird.

Edited Friday at 07:11 AM by Lexx

[Sven_]

@LadyCrimson

Not sure how legit it is, but I'm gonna try with Indy -- my GPU should arrive today or tomorrow.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2677660/discussions/0/598512725180576448/

Edited Friday at 08:28 AM by Sven_

[LadyCrimson]

Ok, Gizeh more engaging in some ways. Perhaps I simply like "outdoors" locations than "cramped historical city" locations. All issues/nitpicks I personally have with the game overall are still there, mind, but the "map/location" design improves it. There seem to be more secrets and tiny cavern holes and brief surprises to stumble on to. Nothing expansive re: exploration/tomb-ing, but at least it's more interesting to navigate.

Also, my advice: unless you're a mega-completionist type (which is fine if you are, I mean no offense!), I would maybe stick to mostly the main quest (Adventure) and the larger sidequests (Fieldwork). The rest are largely busy/filler/collection work. That said, the occasional Mystery was interesting, and if you trigger anything/can do it right then, why not.

The game loop (largely the same format/cycle as Vatican) gets repetitive fast, but Gizeh is definitely better as a map. Plus one of the cutscenes/story was ... hilarious. Voss is a good Indiana Jones villain.

[LadyCrimson]

16 minutes ago, Sven_ said:

Not sure how legit it is, but I'm gonna try with Indy -- my GPU should arrive today or tomorrow.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2677660/discussions/0/598512725180576448/

Yeah, I know about that. I don't really care about combat stuff, since I'm not looking for the hardest combat difficulty, and I like stealthiness or avoidance vs. leroy tactics. it is nice that you can mix and match the options vs. the defaults if one wants it. Guns imo are last resort/boss only, imo .... there's reasons, but I don't want to spoil. And maybe some would like it anyway.

The adventure menu (puzzling) changes nothing. There is no "puzzle difficulty=full", it's just moderate/off/off, which is what the "overall adventure exp" Moderate settings does by default. If you picked Puzzle-Light at the start, you could change it to Moderate, but it doesn't get any better than that.

[Sven_]

Reminds me...

The reason I bought Elden Ring back then wasn't primarily difficult combat also.

But finally being able to experience a triple-A Open World game again that DOES NOT FEAR I'D GET LOST IN MY OWN BATHROOM WITHOUT A TOUR GUIDE.




Wait, that smiley is wrong. This bugs me way too much. It's great that games are made for everyone. That does not mean that every game has to offer something for everybody, though.  And if your experience is about open exploration, YOU BETTER LET PEOPLE ACTUALLY EXPLORE. Else it will be a worse experience for everyone.


Daily rant over. 

Edited Friday at 09:52 AM by Sven_

[melkathi]

This is your bathroom.

Here you can clean and relieve yourself.

Let's use the toilet.

Move two tiles to the highlighted tile, then click End Turn.

Well done! You have reached the toilet!

You will notice, the toilet is closed! Oh no!

Do not fear, we can open it.

To open the toilet, left click the Interact button in your hotbar, then select the toilet. Alternatively you can right click on the toilet and select interact from the radial menu. Let's open the toilet now.

The toilet is open, well done!

[Sven_]

Just now, melkathi said:

This is your bathroom.

Here you can clean and relieve yourself.

Let's use the toilet.

Move two tiles to the highlighted tile, then click End Turn.

Well done! You have reached the toilet!

You will notice, the toilet is closed! Oh no!

Do not fear, we can open it.

To open the toilet, left click the Interact button in your hotbar, then select the toilet. Alternatively you can right click on the toilet and select interact from the radial menu. Let's open the toilet now.

The toilet is open, well done!

Would be funny if it weren't so accurate.

First thing in Witcher 3 you're gonna see be like: "Push x to open door." Well, and some female breasts laid bare.


Truly mature game.  

[melkathi]

The sad part about the toilet tutorial is that it is before they teach you to use consumables in your inventory and you don't actually need to go. So right away they have you go to the sink and wash your hands, then grab a towel, use it in the inventory, then remove it from the inventory to place it back on the rack.

[Wormerine]

So while Epic, Multiplayer and Immersive Sim isn't what I like hearing together, one a face value I do see a potential appeal. VS encounters from Deathloop were easily the most interesting part in that game, as setting up a competitive thief like experience could be interesting. Of course, multiplayer brings bunch of challenges on top of usual Immersive Sim - netcode and balance - and in general I am rarely compelled by multiplayer games - but will be keeping an eye on this one.

[Wormerine]

That's looks... like more Outer Worlds that for sure. I am looking forward to hearing about the improvements to the combat and/or roleplaying systems, as while I liked OW1 it did feel too shallow for it's length already, so twice as much of Outer Worlds doesn't sound as enticing, even if it is prettier (aka. require pricier hardware to run).

[HoonDing]

12 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Also, my advice: unless you're a mega-completionist type (which is fine if you are, I mean no offense!), I would maybe stick to mostly the main quest (Adventure) and the larger sidequests (Fieldwork). The rest are largely busy/filler/collection work. That said, the occasional Mystery was interesting, and if you trigger anything/can do it right then, why not.

Yeh, you really need to be very attentive and search every nook and cranny to find the relics.

I don't like the boxing but love the slapstick fights taking down fascists with plungers, brooms and feather dusters.