On 5/9/2026 at 3:42 AM, Hurlshort said:

I really disliked the smuggler playstyle at release

I also played a smuggler at release and did get to 50, but it was absolutely wild how they were absolutely set on making a melee spec for the smuggler, and so achieved that by forcing them to use a gun that only works at melee range. Yeah...

To be fair, I have no idea how much of the concept of a melee gun was made up by the SWTOR team and how much is actual Star Wars lore.

For what it's worth, I only ever got two classes to 50 because it took so incredibly long back then. One was the smuggler, solo, and the other was a consular in a co-op run. I think I got an inquisitor to around 30-40 some time later but ran out of momentum (and double XP weekends).

play bakery diary for 1 hour

really suck at it

I play Trash Goblin. I don't suck at it

I am somewhere mid-game in Lost Eidolons. It is a turn-based tactical game in a fantasy setting. It is generally playable, the controls are rebindable, the saving is functional, the writing is readable (as in coherent and grammatically correct). There are some interesting systems, such as Aides (a party member who does not participate in an encounter provides passive bonuses to another who does and gains XP) and the ability to explore the camp with the over-shoulder camera. It is also possible to teleport around via the map.

The combat itself is rock-paper-scissors, with what beats what being shown in the lower right corner at all times. There are also some terrain effects and magical status effects which can work together.

Now, there are a few issues that annoy me. The most noticeable one is that the character models look generic (and the characters of the same class look almost identical) and the general palette is the grey-brown of the 00's shooters. On the lower resolutions, it is quite hard to see the UI icons, while most portraits, as mentioned, are too similar to tell apart.

There is an incredible amount of small talk and fetch quests with little to no player's input. Even with the in-camp teleportation and skipping, it still takes a lot of time. The character development system is functional - gain enough XP in the relevant skills and the class will unlock, the problem is that the high-tier classes and skills are locked behind the main story, so I've had the party maxed out for the last 5 or so chapters (I am at 14 of 27). As a character cannot carry an arsenal or switch between armour suits in combat, I do not understand why I would want my Barbarian-to-become to learn throwing fireballs.

The story itself is generally decent (a mercenary company accidentally offs a local lord and decides to join the rebels to avoid persecution by the Empire) and the MC is a generic Chaotic Good MC with a few points in CHA. Despite the opening mission spoiling the main antagonist, it is interesting to see how it gets to that point.

In terms of performance, I have not noticed FPS drops or crashes, but the game occasionally runs hot. I've had one hardlock when I tried to skip an enemy turn.

Probably, I would have had a better experience if I did not play right after Symphony of War (better visual style, more complexity and variety), but I also would not have played now if I had not played SoW.

I've tried the demo of the stand-alone spinoff of The Lost Eidolons, the Veil of the Witch. The improvement in the visual design and UI are remarkable. The characters are distinct and recognisable, with a wide breadth of active and passive abilities and a good pace of upgrades, the UI and animations are expressive and quick, and the dialogues are concise and on point with the options to ask for more information. I love that the avatar is nameable and the appearance is slightly customisable.

While I prefer more hand-crafted encounters and controlled upgrades, the overall experience feels like an enormous improvement over the first game. The demo offers about 2-3 hours of gameplay, the starting party, and 1 boss, so I hope to purchase it on the next sale (unless I forget).

In the original game, I have reached Chapter 17 and the tier 3 classes.

trying news tower

have some great qol feature

still struggle with the tiny font

eyesight really getting bad in recent year

really want to play tropico again

but those tiny npc are so stupid and slow when they always walking around instead of working

Finished Mixtape. Pretty good experience. Though it's less a game and more some sort of interactive story, I guess. The visuals are very nice. They kinda copied Life is Strange but made it feel like its own thing, which is great.

Makes me feel nostalgic for a time that I never even experienced. It's like those 90s inspired artworks where if you have lived through the 90s, you recognize all the details, but it just wasn't like that if you get what I mean.

Anyways. pretty good. Would like to have more. Best part: No super powers. Holy ****. Is that even possible? A teenage drama game without special super human abilities? Yes, yes it is. The characters are remembering things from the past, and because of that, everything is kinda dream-like and open for interpretation. IMO it's well done. Really hope there will be some more in the future.

Subnautica 2 - It is definitely Subnautica. So far I'm enjoying exploring a new ecosystem. The story seems pretty good, a bit more developed than the first one.

edit: This morning I was swimming laps in RL, and I had one of those weird moments where the real world and the game kind of blend. Also I realized how difficult it would be to swim like my character. I'm exhausted after an hour in the pool.

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by Hurlshort

Subnautica 2 too. Having fun so far. As @Hurlshort mentioned, there is nothing wildly different about it.

Also having fun with HoMaM Olden Era. The nostalgia is of the charts on this one and so far it's not losing steam.

Some grindy bits left in D4 for the season journey. I hope they change a bit here and there for the next season. The devs are really high on their own farts if they think leaving the Mephisto fight in the game like that, with its two minutes of unskippable cutscenes (vis-a-vis a 10 second actual battle because lol) was a good idea.

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by majestic

I just completed Hero-U after about 35 hours and I had a great fun. Its an excellent successor to the Quest for Glory games and highly recommended if you enjoy these types of adventure\RPG hybrids

The mechanics around increasing your skills is well done and its exciting exploring the catacombs and sea caves. The combat is more complex than I first assumed, especially when you use certain items to fight undead

I ended up winning Rogue of the Year, I completed most of the main quests like ending the Drat invasion

I hope we see a Hero-U 2 someday 🐲