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

[Malcador]

2 hours ago, Hurlshort said:

2. Space Haven - You manage a spaceship and crew. The game just entered beta, I bought it like 2 years ago. It is pretty polished at this point. The way you build your ship reminds me of the spaceships I used to make with legos as a kid. I'm having fun with it and plan on continuing my playthrough.

Building a platform rather than something seeming to be a space ship bothered me about it.  Think my previous playthrough died as I could barely find the energy crystals and food.

 

[Hurlshort]

3 hours ago, Malcador said:

Building a platform rather than something seeming to be a space ship bothered me about it.  Think my previous playthrough died as I could barely find the energy crystals and food.

 

I had to play through a good chunk of the tutorial to figure out the systems. But the AI does seem to be way better than it was in alpha, so at least my people aren't too dumb anymore. I'm still playing it on the easiest difficulty. 

The platform style base is different. They've introduced asteroid bases and fleet options, so there is more variability, but it's still very platform-y.

[Wormerine]

Finished original Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Pretty cool, but flawed game. I really enjoyed the setting and an immersive nature of the game. I also liked characters, though felts fairly bored by the plot, especially by the end. In general, I enjoyed it more when the game allowed me to roam free and offered a more freeform way of solving objectives. I really liked the early and mid game, but I felt the game overstayed its welcome. The nature of leveling system means that about halfway through the game, I was an unstoppable force of violence and charisma. Not having to specialize always dampers my enjoyment of an RPG. Also, I also felt that the better my character got the worst the game became. There was something appealing about vagueness of the early game, and once I understand how the game works I was far less invested - gameplay wise, those are not exactly great systems. Still, looking forward to the sequel, though I will take a break from the IP for now.

Modded my arcade stick a bit - put in larger actuator and a mid tension spring. I am still getting used to it, and while it didn't solve my most common input fumbles, it made double tapping for dashing and certain specials much much easier due to shorter stick travel distance. Very helpful in SF6. My hand is getting tired again, though, after longer play session.

Edited May 13 by Wormerine

[BruceVC]

On 5/13/2025 at 1:22 PM, Wormerine said:

Finished original Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Pretty cool, but flawed game. I really enjoyed the setting and an immersive nature of the game. I also liked characters, though felts fairly bored by the plot, especially by the end. In general, I enjoyed it more when the game allowed me to roam free and offered a more freeform way of solving objectives. I really liked the early and mid game, but I felt the game overstayed its welcome. The nature of leveling system means that about halfway through the game, I was an unstoppable force of violence and charisma. Not having to specialize always dampers my enjoyment of an RPG. Also, I also felt that the better my character got the worst the game became. There was something appealing about vagueness of the early game, and once I understand how the game works I was far less invested - gameplay wise, those are not exactly great systems. Still, looking forward to the sequel, though I will take a break from the IP for now.

Modded my arcade stick a bit - put in larger actuator and a mid tension spring. I am still getting used to it, and while it didn't solve my most common input fumbles, it made double tapping for dashing and certain specials much much easier due to shorter stick travel distance. Very helpful in SF6. My hand is getting tired again, though, after longer play session.

Nice Wormie, its always good to see another example of  the " BruceVC game rating system " not letting anyone down 

Have a break before you play KCD2, it makes sense and you will appreciate the IP more as you said 

 

[BruceVC]

Im still playing  the Kingmaker  DLC Beneath Stolen Lands 

I want to finish this DLC before I play WoTR. Its fun but its just one big dungeon crawl with combat. There is no real narrative or companion side quests by design

I typically wouldnt play an RPG like this with no narrative and just combat but I will finish it because I enjoy the Pathfinder combat mechanics 

I think Im on level 50 and I have only killed 1 end boss, the Captor. Im not sure how many more levels there are but hopefully it ends  sooner than later 

 

[majestic]

On 5/15/2025 at 2:11 PM, BruceVC said:

Im still playing  the Kingmaker  DLC Beneath Stolen Lands 

I want to finish this DLC before I play WoTR. Its fun but its just one big dungeon crawl with combat. There is no real narrative or companion side quests by design

I typically wouldnt play an RPG like this with no narrative and just combat but I will finish it because I enjoy the Pathfinder combat mechanics 

I think Im on level 50 and I have only killed 1 end boss, the Captor. Im not sure how many more levels there are but hopefully it ends  sooner than later 

You know, if you're playing roguelike mode then you'll be looking for the final floor for a, uhm, long time.  

[BruceVC]

 

14 hours ago, majestic said:

You know, if you're playing roguelike mode then you'll be looking for the final floor for a, uhm, long time.  

Yes I misunderstood the purpose of this DLC or there is some bug

I have now completed " reach level 50 in rogue mode " 3 times in Steam Achievements but I  have only found 1 end boss

I thought Rogue mode was configured in Last Azlanti option which is not enabled  in my game?

But anyway I have stopped playing it and Im moving onto WoTR 

 

[majestic]

Done with the Diablo 4 season. As far as I am concerned Blizzard's on probation now. Another season like that and I'll quit playing. Playing the lair bosses in Torment IV was decidedly unfun, even with a full meta build's worth of damage. Making all the mechanics more or less one-shot you in a boss fight is not a great idea when the boss mechanics were never designed to be completely unavoidable, are hard to see and can layer on top of each other. 

Switched to the sorcerer meta build to top the season off because with a sorcerer at least you get teleport and a four second invulnerability negating the most troublesome of mechanics. I don't know, perhaps these problems existed in the past season too and were just avoided by being able to pop bosses in half a second. I don't really mind the difficulty spike, but the bosses should be redesigned with better mechanics.

At least Blizzard's finally fixed the Varashan builds.

 

[BruceVC]

Started on WoRT yesterday and I have so far just defeated Hosilla at the end of the Maze so its prologue chapter, very early days

I feel its going to be an excellent game, so far some things I like
 

• I am going to completely customize my party, after playing P:K I am comfortable now with the rules to not use the auto-configuration when companions advance
• I have enabled the Crusader quests, I made a "mistake " by auto managing Kingdom advancement in P:K and I want to participate in all components in WoTR
• So far I like the overall main narrative, I am looking forward to meeting some hot Succubi 
• I see there is an obvious good vs evil path you can choose and that is represented in different ways like which companions you can choose, as usual I will choose good and the Angel Mythic Path
• They have added some new mechanics like the way you disable traps and more advanced camera options. These seem to be improvements on P:K

[kanisatha]

9 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Started on WoRT yesterday and I have so far just defeated Hosilla at the end of the Maze so its prologue chapter, very early days

I feel its going to be an excellent game, so far some things I like
 

• I am going to completely customize my party, after playing P:K I am comfortable now with the rules to not use the auto-configuration when companions advance
• I have enabled the Crusader quests, I made a "mistake " by auto managing Kingdom advancement in P:K and I want to participate in all components in WoTR
• So far I like the overall main narrative, I am looking forward to meeting some hot Succubi 
• I see there is an obvious good vs evil path you can choose and that is represented in different ways like which companions you can choose, as usual I will choose good and the Angel Mythic Path
• They have added some new mechanics like the way you disable traps and more advanced camera options. These seem to be improvements on P:K

Yes, some significant improvements over P:Km. And it's a very long game. So take your time and enjoy the ride.

Relatedly but separately, have any of you done Owlcat's community survey? I think it is a very useful exercise:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/P9XHP2L

[BruceVC]

26 minutes ago, kanisatha said:

Yes, some significant improvements over P:Km. And it's a very long game. So take your time and enjoy the ride.

Relatedly but separately, have any of you done Owlcat's community survey? I think it is a very useful exercise:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/P9XHP2L

Thanks for posting this survey, I completed it 

[Mamoulian War]

6 hours ago, kanisatha said:

Yes, some significant improvements over P:Km. And it's a very long game. So take your time and enjoy the ride.

Relatedly but separately, have any of you done Owlcat's community survey? I think it is a very useful exercise:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/P9XHP2L

Yes I did it already few days ago  

[Malcador]

Kathy Rain 2 released, so going through that. First hour is pretty good, just doing basic investigations, took me a while to notice I can ask people about things on screen, hah.

Eileen's VA needs a better mic

[LadyCrimson]

Since Tainted Grail is out, gonna download the demo just to see if I like the early mechanics. Supposedly you can largely ignore the MQ if you want, decent difficulty options etc. Skyrim and Elder Scrolls had a baby? Maybe I'd like it more than either of those on their own, so to speak.

Or not. We'll see.

[melkathi]

Bah, that game released and my facebook is full with people wanting to join the facebook group but who don't answer the safety question. Come on people, how hard is it to name one game made by the company who made the game the group for which you want to join?

[LadyCrimson]

Well, I liked the prologue demo (it was still .9 vs. 1.0) enough to buy Tainted Grail. It is sometimes a bit janky/unpolished, combat is ok and so far straightforward, although for those that like "hit impact impression" or smarter AI - probably not going to find it here. Easy difficulty for me is almost too easy, Normal sponged it up more than I like. Wish there was an inbetween but oh well.

It has the learn by using/doing, which led me to crouch-walk into a wall for 10 minutes just to see if that worked, and it did. Haha. The wandering around picking up everything, cooking, alchemy, swimming out to see if a boat was lootable, copious lore notes everywhere, satisfies the exploration/looter in me - that aspect doesn't feel "empty" and the pacing/design of exploration is quick/good, at least so far.

I haven't yet had any major performance issues or trouble finding decent settings vs. 60ish fps, but there is occasional (shader loading?) singular hitching sometimes, like on a first spell cast. It wasn't in the demo, so perhaps a patch will come along.  Dunno if I'll like it to the end, but it certainly has that early "lI'll just look around one more corner" vibe down pretty well.

[LadyCrimson]

Tainted Grail - ok, I officially like this game. I don't think I'd say I love the game, but I sure do enjoy it. My description of overall gameplay/feel, from my game-life experiences, might go something like this: Elder Scrolls+Might and Magic 7 (or similar)+Diablo (the darker themes).

--There's this weird charm, and old-school crpg flavor/nostalgia (including the jank and cheese here and there) that I'm getting while playing and exploring. I can't explain it.
--I was in a tavern and some drunk side npc's at a table started debating to each other whether if you removed Excalibur but damaged it slightly, but then repaired it, was it still Excalibur (in the sense you could still become King for removing it). Their convo went on and on and I just stood on the stairs listening to it. It was pretty funny.
--dual wielding two different spells, baby
--initial slow rate of progression or good gear finds feel satisfying

That said, there's still my personal  "too many quests, bah!" irritation. More than half the NPC's I talk to want to give me little side quests and my log gets bigger and bigger. . I so have issues re: "I'll head off in that direction for that" but then totally sidetracked by finding an underground huge water cave/secret and forget. 

Temper expectations (it's not a polished AAA/uber graphic game) and for the $45, it's a pretty fun time.
I'll be very interested in what this dev team comes up with next.

Edited May 25 by LadyCrimson

[Hurlshort]

Enshrouded updated their graphics, and it looks pretty good. I started a new world on the lighter difficulty, because I think I just like to wander around and rebuild all the cool stuff. The game has come a long way.

[kanisatha]

After giving it almost two months, I've decided to quit my replay of DA:I. As much of a slog as the game has been, surprisingly it was dealing with the main quest in the Winter Palace that finally did me in. Trying to get the final quest outcome I wanted was just too painful a chore because the game requires you to have everything work out perfectly a certain way through a very long quest. One little misstep or oversight and you're locked out of the preferred outcome. That's just way too much pressure and stress I don't need in my life right now. So, DA:I is done, very likely never to be revisted again.

[majestic]

A long, long time ago in a... uhm, just a long time ago I bought a game in early access called Between the Stars because it looked like it could scratch an itch that I had for a while. The game was kinda really, like, really really unfinished and I shelved it until release. The clock ticked, the Earth turned, and turned, and turned, and weeks turned to years, and back in 2022 I checked to see if any more work was done on the game - and lo! - nope. Read a bit on forums here and there and most posters seemed to agree that the game's been abandoned.

I was just going through my library and noticed that it actually had a proper release last year. Well color me orange and call me Sunkist, looks like I'll be playing the game now. Reviews say that it's still plenty janky, but as long as it actually works it's going to be fine, I guess.

[Sven_]

On 5/19/2025 at 7:57 AM, BruceVC said:

Started on WoRT yesterday and I have so far just defeated Hosilla at the end of the Maze so its prologue chapter, very early days

I feel its going to be an excellent gam

Every single time (mind you, haven't yet tried Rogue Trader).

 

 

 

You could cut like 40% of both Pathfinder games -- and they'd be improved 400%.   Finished Kingdom Come 2 yesterday. Noticed a few Owlcats when the credits rolled. Seems they didn't leave a sour aftertaste on this one -- the latter chapters actually offer some of the highlights of the game. Not wanna spoil, but in every other AAAA RPG, "mundane" stuff that occurs here would have been a two minutes cutscene. And that would have been a loss, as turning it all into a bit of questing and interacting with characters makes the final all the more emotionally engaging. 




 

Edited May 26 by Sven_

[BruceVC]

36 minutes ago, Sven_ said:

Every single time (mind you, haven't yet tried Rogue Trader).

 

 

 

You could cut like 40% of both Pathfinder games -- and they'd be improved 400%.   Finished Kingdom Come 2 yesterday. Noticed a few Owlcats when the credits rolled. Seems they didn't leave a sour aftertaste on this one -- the latter chapters actually offer some of the highlights of the game. Not wanna spoil, but in every other AAAA RPG, "mundane" stuff that occurs here would have been a two minutes cutscene. And that would have been a loss, as turning it all into a bit of questing and interacting with characters makes the final all the more emotionally engaging. 




 

I never had that issue with Kingmaker so I doubt  that will happen in WoRT

I have read some of the criticisms of both games around them being too long and dragging or things becoming repetitive 

That was never my experience and I think its because I have breaks between sessions so I dont get  bored by how the game unfolds  

 

 

 

[BruceVC]

14 hours ago, kanisatha said:

After giving it almost two months, I've decided to quit my replay of DA:I. As much of a slog as the game has been, surprisingly it was dealing with the main quest in the Winter Palace that finally did me in. Trying to get the final quest outcome I wanted was just too painful a chore because the game requires you to have everything work out perfectly a certain way through a very long quest. One little misstep or oversight and you're locked out of the preferred outcome. That's just way too much pressure and stress I don't need in my life right now. So, DA:I is done, very likely never to be revisted again.

Did you install any mods?

I played DA:I about 3-4 years ago and it was fun but I wont play it again 

I thought the War room mechanics were well done and a good feature and I enjoyed the exploration part of the game 

 

[uuuhhii]

On 5/13/2025 at 4:59 AM, Hurlshort said:

I've been jumping around games a lot lately. 

1. Hollywood Animal - This game lets you build a movie studio from the ground up. It is still early in development, but it is very well done. 

2. Space Haven - You manage a spaceship and crew. The game just entered beta, I bought it like 2 years ago. It is pretty polished at this point. The way you build your ship reminds me of the spaceships I used to make with legos as a kid. I'm having fun with it and plan on continuing my playthrough.

3. Dune: Awakening beta weekend - If you like Conan Exiles, this fits the mold and gives you a brand new setting to explore. I'll be playing it on release in June. I am concerned about no single player option. I don't want to worry about other people, or worry about my stuff eroding when I take an extended break. I have a feeling Funcom will change their mind about that down the road.

4. Those Who Rule - Pretty nice Tactics type game. The story and characters are better written than a lot of the jrpg tactics games. 

 

had high hope for hollywood animal

it doesn't seem to waste time of player with furniture placement like most management game

[Zoraptor]

Did WotR ever get a dlc/ patch that upped the level cap? Because that's what did for my playthrough, not so much the slog itself but it being utterly pointless slog.