What are you Playing Now? Volume XIX: The New Beginning of the End of the Middle

[Lexx]

Nah, I skipped hunters march. Since it's an optional area and apparently very tough, I figured to try to do it later.

[perkon]

Yeah, I get what you mean — the tone in Hogwarts Legacy can feel a bit all over the place. On one hand it’s all about the magic and wonder of Hogwarts, and on the other you’re mowing down goblins and poachers without much thought. Still, like @BruceVC said, the exploration and atmosphere made it easy for me to just enjoy the game despite those oddities.

[Amentep]

Old thread:

 

[Amentep]

Old thread:

 

[ShadySands]

Been playing a bit of Star Trek Online and just finished another game of Rogue Trader.  Nothing is really interesting me right now.

[MrBrown]

In time for the sequel. Though I actually have other stuff to play, so will probably wait a bit.

[Mamoulian War]

On 9/9/2025 at 7:03 PM, ShadySands said:

Been playing a bit of Star Trek Online and just finished another game of Rogue Trader.  Nothing is really interesting me right now.

I am now in a same pickle, I am not "able" to boot anything, even though I know, that as soon as I start one of the games, which are on my backlog, I will have a great time. But the mood is just not there... For now, I am just enjoying organizing some Fighting Games tournaments again, despite it being only once in a month. 

[Lexx]

Have to say that Silksong in act 2 is *a lot* easier than act 1. So far nothing was pissing me off as much as that stupid Moorwing and that moss thing. People complained about Hunters March a lot, but even that... I pretty much breezed through it. I've also been through most of the obvious citadel parts and again, it's not that big of a deal. Feels pretty much on par with the original HK experience.

Seems they really just had the beginning cranked up a bit too much... it would never have been such a huge pain in the arse if the difficulty curve wouldn't have pulled up so hard right away.

[Wormerine]

10 hours ago, Lexx said:

So far nothing was pissing me off as much as that stupid Moorwing and that moss thing.

Yeah, Moorwing was the only thing so far to which I died more than couple of time. I think Team Cherry are working on nerfing him a bit, as well as some other early game bits.

Still, I don’t see what the fuss is about. Most enemies build on the same archetypes. Late game is definitely harder, but skill set from early encounters carries over. Are you sure something just didn’t click for you as to how the game works?

[Lexx]

Well, of course my skill likely has improved. All the platforming and jumping off of objects helped greatly. But it 100% is also related to boss design. For example, I'm faring *a lot* better with anything that does not have random elements in it. That means, apparent random movement changes (Moorwing hovering lower from one moment to the next, without telegraphing it), or spawning extra mobs which also move randomly. There is more luck involved than skill.

Sister Splinter for example felt really easy to me - her movements were super predictable. Yet I still had to repeat it a few times, just because those stupid mobs (that also deal 2 dmg each), felt completely random.

The widow took me a bit, but only because phase 2 was so extremely fast and the screen was cluttered with objects which distracted me a lot.

Worth to mention: Cogwork dancers was a great boss fight. 100% systemic, even at high speed. Reminded me a lot of the Mantis Lords from HK, which I also liked a lot.

tl;dr - the one thing that I struggled the most with was the random in early game. Mid-game so far doesn't have a lot of bosses with random crap, at least as far as I have experienced so far.

Edited Thursday at 08:58 AM by Lexx

[majestic]

Just unlocked the double jump. Path of Pain was a lot shorter, but also harder, and also switched to the Crest of the Wanderer due to its massively increased attack speed. The short range isn't really an issue so far outside of some really annoying flying enemies. Can't quite grasp why you guys struggled with Moorwing so much, outside of doubling his blade attack shortly before he dies he doesn't do anything spectacular or problematic.

Found the Last Judge's second phase much more annoying. I really hated the way one has to wait for a decent opening to attack, and he kept doing his Nightmare King Grimm tribute fire column ability. Which of course always ended up having a fire column right next to him. Impatience killed me a couple of times there.  

[Lexx]

Last Judge was incredibly easy compared to Moorwing. Took me less attempts to beat her than trying to get to the boss, lol.

Yesterday I've also unlocked the double jump. One thing that kinda pisses me off in act 2 is that... you basically do Path of Pain. But then you are not done, no. Next area you do Path of Pain again. But that's not all! In the next area... guess what, Path of Pain!

I'm at a point now where generic mobs don't really bother me much anymore, but instead the environment is just one "sawblade" after another.

Anyways. Steam says I'm playing for 40 hours now. It's getting to a point where I will probably take a break due to exhaustion. Based on experience, I can do maybe another 20 hours (so this weekend ) but then it's enough for a year or two. 
Maybe it's best to take a break anyways, and wait for the inevitable free dlc updates. Despite how cool this game is, I'm not sure if I would have the strength to ever replay it once I'm done with it.

Edited Friday at 06:34 AM by Lexx

[Wormerine]

Anyone wants 2XKO beta key? I got an invite and have three additional keys to spare. 

[Mamoulian War]

16 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Anyone wants 2XKO beta key? I got an invite and have three additional keys to spare. 

Do you need Riot Launcher for playing beta?

[Mamoulian War]

I have booted today my first playthrough of XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012). I have purchased this some time ago, but never had the mood to boot it up. For now, it seems to me likeable. There are some things, which did not hit the right spot for now (the start up of the game feels slow paced to me - Normal Difficulty), so I hope it will get better lately. 

[majestic]

I enjoyed the platforming in Hollow Knight, and White Palace and Path of Pain. They were a little more difficult, but relatively short. Silksong, on the other hand, is nothing but a kaizo hack of Hollow Knight, answering a question that nobody ever asked: what if all of Hollow Knight was like White Palace?

On 9/12/2025 at 8:32 AM, Lexx said:

Yesterday I've also unlocked the double jump. One thing that kinda pisses me off in act 2 is that... you basically do Path of Pain. But then you are not done, no. Next area you do Path of Pain again. But that's not all! In the next area... guess what, Path of Pain!

I'm at a point now where generic mobs don't really bother me much anymore, but instead the environment is just one "sawblade" after another.

Nothing of it is ever as long and complicated and without break - at least so far - as Path of Pain was, but it certainly feels like the game after the first act was the result of an AI prompt asking for a full game in the vein of White Palace. One of the great things of Hollow Knight, the fun of exploring the world, has been lost. This I cannot quite quantify, the areas are connected enough, but the game lacks something that the first one had. 

Reaching a new environment is not like discovering a new world of wonders as they're also not nearly as distinct as Hollow Knight's were. Each one in Silksong feels so interchangeable because the design is too similar, even if the assets are different. Different enemy designs, but super similar movesets and enemy types. There are sawblades in the citadel, hanging spikes in the Sinner's Road, weird cushions in various places or the exploding poison bulbs of Bilewater. They're all variations on the same thing, something to pogo-jump off of. 

The worst part though? This is the game equivalent of The Force Awakens. That film has no true quiet moment where you could take everything in. Silksong has no quiet moment to enjoy the artwork or the environments, because it is loaded to the brim with platforming and enemies, but without the game design that usually goes along with games like this. For the amount and kinds of platforming nonsense you have to pull in, say, Bilewater, for instance, there are not nearly enough benches for it to remain fun to do. 

In some way the decision to include the crests and different movesets with them is part of the problem, I think. They had to design every platforming part in a way that is doable with all of the various downward strikes you can do, from Hornet's original diagonal downward slash to the slow Reaper slash and the fast Wanderer slash and whatever the hell you do with the Beast slash, the weird very short diagonal slash of the Architect... well, you get the idea.

TL;DR: Beyond the first few, every enrivonment feels the same in Silksong. The devs made the mistake of stuffing everything to the brim with platforming and enemies, making it a chore to explore areas more than fun. Having to balance the platforming for different movesets also left them all being very similar, just with different skins. I'm still having fun, and I can't quite knock the game at the asking price, but it sure is a step down from the first game. 

Edited 10 hours ago by majestic

[Wormerine]

11 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

Do you need Riot Launcher for playing beta?

Yes. And Vanguard anti-cheat Riot thing. If it doesn't scare you and want to dip in, send me a message and I will send you the code.

4 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

I have booted today my first playthrough of XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012). I have purchased this some time ago, but never had the mood to boot it up. For now, it seems to me likeable. There are some things, which did not hit the right spot for now (the start up of the game feels slow paced to me - Normal Difficulty), so I hope it will get better lately. 

I have such fond memories of XCOM2012. Sequel was a bit improvement, but I like the vibe of the first one much more. If you like the first playthrough well enough, Long War mod is worth giving ago. It injects much life and strategic/tactical choice to the game, though actual full campaign can get mercilessly long (spoiler: never completed one). 

[Lexx]

2 hours ago, majestic said:

Silksong has no quiet moment to enjoy the artwork or the environments, because it is loaded to the brim with platforming and enemies, but without the game design that usually goes along with games like this.

Yes, that's kinda what I meant with my Path of Pain-post. It's true that the maps are smaller and with more benches inbetween, but those areas pop up non-stop later. You think you're done with it for a while, but then it just keeps going. For me it's too exhausting. I'm not a good enough player to do this stuff in first try. Usually I need 10 or more, to learn everything... The last thing I did was trying to get that mask shard in the bottom right corner of the map... with the lava pit. I can beat the mobs if I concentrate, but then running away from the lava fast enough... it's yet another area that I have to learn slowly, and it just feels too much now. 

Took a break since then and instead booted up Diablo 2 Resurrection again for lolz. Grinding some mobs with my level 90 Amazon. It's not super hard and a nice change of pace..

[Malcador]

Space Colony HD.  It's ok, wish I could zoom in a bit more and the UI is a bit odd, but it is an old game.  Every character being some stereotype is remarkable too, hah