What are you Playing Now? - the man sez Video games are bad for you - fight the man!

[Mamoulian War]

I have started a week ago Chaos Playthrough of Star Ocean 5. As I have now crazy tight work schedule again, I am moving at slower pace as I would like, but still enjoying the game. And I still think that this game was a better Square Enix game than Final Fantasy XV, despite probably 50x lower budget. I am probably somewhere in the middle of the playthrough, right before the Treikuran Slaughterhouse raid.

[Hurlshort]

MLB The Show - I haven't played since 2019, but they've definitely improved the Road to the Show since I last played. You start in High school and get a chance to go to college before you end up in the minors.

One slightly odd new feature is the ability to upload your own face for the character. So I did it, using the companion app. It is eerily accurate. So now my 40-something bald guy is trying to break into the big leagues after winning his High School championship. My wife is creeped out by all of this. 

[Wormerine]

With some weeks left on my GamePass subscription I gave "Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess" a go.

I quite like it so far. Art is beautiful, and gameplay is simple but enjoyable. It's top down action-strategy, where you play as samurai spirit thing, as you escort a priestess to purify Torii gates in various villages. You can assign villagers various roles to help you fend of the attackers. It feels like a throwback indie title, but with superb craft and production of Capcom.

[BruceVC]

Because of the imminent release of the new Styx game I decided to play Of Orcs and Men 

Its a simple game but fun. The combat mechanics grow on you, in the beginning I was like " WTF ....this is boring " 

But it  really becomes entertaining, I did end up in most tough  battles adopting  an effective strategy where Arkail   drew the aggro but he was defeated and then Styx  run away  and let the enemies chase him and then he resurrected Arkail and so the battle continued 

It looked silly but it worked, sometimes I had to resurrect Arkail 3-5 times 

 

 

 

[BruceVC]

I decided to play Arcanum, its the last CRPG from that era I have never played

Im loving it, there is something utterly compelling about these types of isometric games. I have only installed one mod which is UAP 

Its taken me time to learn the mechanics and skills advancement and whats effective  but I'm comfortable with most of whats different about Arcanum 

Im only 7 hours in but great experience so far, lots of different quests and lore and very little map hand holding which I always prefer because I like to explore 

 

Edited Saturday at 08:41 AM by BruceVC

[melkathi]

Things to know about Arcanum:

AoE works through walls. So the Jolt spell (if I remember the name) can clear most dungeons easily by walking along walls and killing the monsters on the other side.

Generally magic is stronger than technology.

The living one will be reborn on wings of fire.

You can skip half the game by exploiting teleportation on the world map.

You can't trust gnomes.

Good and evil playthroughs are different enough to make a second playthrough worthwhile.

[Lexx]

I can't play Arcanum with magic. For me it's a game where I must wear a powered armor with top hat and a cool pistol / rifle.

[Wormerine]

1 hour ago, Lexx said:

I can't play Arcanum with magic. For me it's a game where I must wear a powered armor with top hat and a cool pistol / rifle.

While I replayed Arcanum handful of times, I am still yet to full tech playthrough.

It's such a gem. Troika's RPG triumph. I wish someone would remaster it and tweak few things here and there.

[melkathi]

With the current craze of turning everything into an open world survival crafting game, it may be better if they don't remember some old games.

[Lexx]

Is that still a thing? Thought this trope is slowly dying now.

[melkathi]

Dein Wort in Gottes Ohren...

[BruceVC]

18 hours ago, melkathi said:

Things to know about Arcanum:

AoE works through walls. So the Jolt spell (if I remember the name) can clear most dungeons easily by walking along walls and killing the monsters on the other side.

Generally magic is stronger than technology.

The living one will be reborn on wings of fire.

You can skip half the game by exploiting teleportation on the world map.

You can't trust gnomes.

Good and evil playthroughs are different enough to make a second playthrough worthwhile.

There is   so  much variation and customization that Arcanum provides around game style, its massive 

One of the things I  came across a lot in my research  is that the game is very buggy but so far my only constant bug has been around graphics, I cant ALT-TAB and sometimes I experience these "glitches " where the screen becomes blurred when I run but then when I bring up any menu it goes away

Hopefully this maintains. I have no intention of skipping parts of the  game through any kind of exploits. Lots to do and explore and lots of Easter egg quests that you find through randomly   talking to people 

Its your quintessential CRPG type design and game  

 

 

[melkathi]

I like that the exploit in itself is an easter egg.

 

You <redacted>, so you find <redacted>. You can <redacted>. There you <redacted>. And that takes you directly to the ending. And it all makes sense.

[Lexx]

Just finished Death Stranding. That ending sure was not ending, oh boy. I believe it is almost comparable to one of those MGS4 cutscenes that never end.

[majestic]

Finished It Takes Two. We needed ten hours, and it started to drag in the middle. The ending was decently paced. Odd to say that the game started to drag while it was only 10 hours long, but I guess that's partially having to play it with a 12-year-old whose interest is in doing everything but what he's supposed to.

On the bright side it wasn't gutter level trash like Human Fall Flat or a sandboxy make your own adventure like Wobbly Life.

[kanisatha]

On 3/22/2025 at 9:10 AM, Wormerine said:

While I replayed Arcanum handful of times, I am still yet to full tech playthrough.

It's such a gem. Troika's RPG triumph. I wish someone would remaster it and tweak few things here and there.

Arcanum is the one game from that era that I also have never played, but which I have wondered about playing. And then I keep telling myself to wait for a remasterd/enhanced version to come out.   But maybe I should play it now before it gets way too old to enjoy.

[majestic]

Arcanum really is in dire need of a remaster. A remaster that makes it playable. I have no idea how you guys can stand "playing" that game.

[Lexx]

It's pretty bugfree with the unofficial patch. But yeah, many of its elements need some overhaul. The one thing that I always hated was how Virgil tried to heal my wounded character over and over even though his magic had no effect on my technology-character for a long time. Kinda annoying.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Arcanum really is in dire need of a remaster. A remaster that makes it playable. I have no idea how you guys can stand "playing" that game.

I tried to play it years ago and spent more time trying it get it to work than actually playing it.

[BruceVC]

9 hours ago, Lexx said:

It's pretty bugfree with the unofficial patch. But yeah, many of its elements need some overhaul. The one thing that I always hated was how Virgil tried to heal my wounded character over and over even though his magic had no effect on my technology-character for a long time. Kinda annoying.

That inconsistency seems better now, Virgil focuses on the main character but also heals other companions. Its just important he has enough fatigue 

But I also use my healing potions and items to heal companions in battle 

 

14 hours ago, kanisatha said:

Arcanum is the one game from that era that I also have never played, but which I have wondered about playing. And then I keep telling myself to wait for a remasterd/enhanced version to come out.   But maybe I should play it now before it gets way too old to enjoy.

Dont wait, it will never become too old because its a CRPG and  it has lots of features and designs that are very worthwhile 

Just make sure you  install the UAP (unofficial Arcanum patch). You can run it at high resolution with wide screen with this mod as well

Use these install instructions for this patch 

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2311393823

 

 

 

 

[Wormerine]

19 hours ago, kanisatha said:

Arcanum is the one game from that era that I also have never played, but which I have wondered about playing. And then I keep telling myself to wait for a remasterd/enhanced version to come out.   But maybe I should play it now before it gets way too old to enjoy.

I would just pull a trigger and play it. I am doubtful if anyone will be willing to invest the money to give this game a refresh (though they absolutely should). Unofficial Arcanum patch is a must, like with all Troika releases. If you dealt with old Fallout interface, you will be fine with Arcanum. At least on GOG the game works from a get go.

edit: Finally started to getting around to giving Kingdom Come: Deliverance a go. I like it so far, though the game works really hard to reinforce how much of a dufus Henry is. What I like less is how little agency I had so far. Henry seems to get into scrapes and challenges his betters and leaves me to deal with the aftermath. I hope the game will let go of the reins soon. I really enjoy the setting though.

Edited yesterday at 10:46 AM by Wormerine

[Sven_]

7 hours ago, Wormerine said:

edit: Finally started to getting around to giving Kingdom Come: Deliverance a go. I like it so far, though the game works really hard to reinforce how much of a dufus Henry is. What I like less is how little agency I had so far. Henry seems to get into scrapes and challenges his betters and leaves me to deal with the aftermath. I hope the game will let go of the reins soon. I really enjoy the setting though.

 

You're likely still in the part that back then disappointed me, as I was expecting something way different. You'll know when it's over -- let's just say that both KCDs have the longest introductions to any games out there.  

Edited yesterday at 06:01 PM by Sven_

[Wormerine]

17 hours ago, Sven_ said:

You're likely still in the part that back then disappointed me, as I was expecting something way different. You'll know when it's over -- let's just say that both KCDs have the longest introductions to any games out there.  

I just did the hunting mission. So far the story felt urgent so I was reluctant to wonder off. So can I safely assume that I can just follow the story for now, and there will be a more natural break for exploration later?

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Wormerine said:

I just did the hunting mission. So far the story felt urgent so I was reluctant to wonder off. So can I safely assume that I can just follow the story for now, and there will be a more natural break for exploration later?

Wormie have you initiated the Romance arc with Theresa?

 

Be a gentleman, take your time and say nice things 

[Wormerine]

4 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Wormie have you initiated the Romance arc with Theresa?

No, I have been too busy trying to be a responsible citizen.