What are you playing right now?

[Fenixp]

and I am still a bit sore they dropped the previous themes. :/

And Bethesda are a bunch of a-holes.

 

Arkane really realized their dream of creating a System Shock 3 tho.

 

Edit: To be fair, Prey genuinely is missing presence of a powerful antagonist. Arkane went out of their way to create aliens that actually feel alien - they are in fact so difficult to connect to in any way that I don't feel anything towards them. Hatred, sympathy, nothing - they're just there, doing their thing, with barely anybody even beginning to understand why. I think I'm starting to understand why does sci-fi tend to portray aliens human-like. That said, I really appreciate Arkane taking this path, it makes the aliens feel rather intriguing. Nonetheless, SHODAN and Many were antagonists I will remember with my dumb human brain incapable of empathizing with completely unknown.

 

I do feel a plot twist coming tho.

Edited May 6, 2017 by Fenixp

[Keyrock]

I figured out the issue with running Star Wars: Dark Forces.  For whatever reason, the game doesn't play nice when you have core=auto in the [cpu] settings (that's the default setting).  Changing the setting to core=normal allows me to load levels and play.  Dosbox can be a fickle mistress, but I can tame her. 

[Hurlshort]

I am trying to resist the urge to buy Prey, since I have a backlog, it is expensive, and I am still a bit sore they dropped the previous themes. :/

 

I failed. 

[Katphood]

I wanted to give in to the hype too but then I realized that I didn't have any money left.  

 

But on a more serious note: I still have Persona 5 & Silent Hill 2 to finish.

[Majek]

 

I am trying to resist the urge to buy Prey, since I have a backlog, it is expensive, and I am still a bit sore they dropped the previous themes. :/

 

I failed. 

 

You can still let it waste away on the shelf/HD, like my friend is doing. You  gave in and bought it and now it can wait.

[IndiraLightfoot]

 

I am trying to resist the urge to buy Prey, since I have a backlog, it is expensive, and I am still a bit sore they dropped the previous themes. :/

 

I failed. 

 

Haha!

 

One pretty unique feature that never gets old in this new Prey is your newly acquired fear of anything inanimate, like a crumpled note or a broken bracket. You get to distrust your environment big time and perceive any hint at motion as a potential threat.

[Raithe]

I've been focusing on the  Human skill tree in Prey. Apart from picking up Remote Manipulation, because I couldn't be arsed waiting half an hour for an operator to turn up and unlock the Morgue....

[Fenixp]

You could use the squeaky crossbow to do that, Raithe. But I too grabbed a Typhon skill, namely mimicking. Thought it'll help stealth.

 

It didn't really. But at least I'll get to squeeze into places I couldn't previously. Incidentally, Prey is the game that introduced me to problems that may arise from roll of toilet paper being shaped like a roll.

 

One pretty unique feature that never gets old in this new Prey is your newly acquired fear of anything inanimate, like a crumpled note or a broken bracket. You get to distrust your environment big time and perceive any hint at motion as a potential threat.

There was a floating chair. I thought it was a glitch, but... More importantly, it wasn't a chair. Edited May 7, 2017 by Fenixp

[mkreku]

I recently realized that I have Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor in my Steam library, so I fired up that.

 

Aside from not getting it to run at my monitor's default resolution (1440p, running at 1080p for some reason), I'm having a blast trying to learn the combat system and the world. I think I've gotten a hang of it now.. 7 hours in and 0 main missions completed.

 

That's how you know you've created a great game mechanic, when I forget about doing missions because just running around fighting is so damn fun.

[Raithe]

You could use the squeaky crossbow to do that, Raithe. But I too grabbed a Typhon skill, namely mimicking. Thought it'll help stealth.

 

It didn't really. But at least I'll get to squeeze into places I couldn't previously. Incidentally, Prey is the game that introduced me to problems that may arise from roll of toilet paper being shaped like a roll.

 

One pretty unique feature that never gets old in this new Prey is your newly acquired fear of anything inanimate, like a crumpled note or a broken bracket. You get to distrust your environment big time and perceive any hint at motion as a potential threat.

There was a floating chair. I thought it was a glitch, but... More importantly, it wasn't a chair.

 

 

I keep forgetting about that danged crossbow.

 

The disruptor gun is great when you get into the crew quarters.

Managed to modify the shotgun to the max, which has its useful moments. 

I'll admit, I've gotten into the habit of every now and again it's that run back to the Hardware labs to take out the corrupted operators and get fresh repair supplies.

[Chilloutman]

So back at Expeditions: Vikings - for some unknown reason I am forced to search for timber in barrels all over the world while I own forest next to my village and my vikings are unable to hop over even the lowest fences. Its driving me nuts

[Starwars]

It's not an easy game to like, despite there being a few things to *really* like (roleplaying in a historical setting being the numer one thing imo).

[Katphood]

Playing Silent Hill 2 for the first time.

 

After having played through Nier: Automata and Titanfall 2, this is the perfect "break". Psychological horror at its finest.

[majestic]

So question for everyone playing Expedition: Vikings at the moment, how bad is the time limit really?

 

I thought about giving the game a try but I've read some user reviews about how the time limit is really crippling the experience and I really don't like overall time limits in RPGs or games about exploration.

[melkathi]

The time limit to start the expedition is generous enough that you can ignore it if you are not actively wasting time. What happens after you start the expedition I can't tell. I did not get that far. I don't know if I will anytime soon. Have put the game aside.

[SonicMage117]

 

I am trying to resist the urge to buy Prey, since I have a backlog, it is expensive, and I am still a bit sore they dropped the previous themes. :/

 

 

I failed. 

If you paid full price, you may as well play it now to get your money's worth, write up a review about it, etc. If you wait to play/finish it then you may as well just waited to buy it on sale.

 

I'm planning to pick and pucker it up on sale, the title interests me but not enough for me to justify spending full price.

 

Enjoy!

[Labadal]

I played and beat an Invizimals game I got with PS+. I'm not joking.

 

Currently playing a lot of Paladins and Tale of Wuxia.

[Fenixp]

Okay, so after 20 hours with Prey (still haven't finished the damn thing), I think I have finally formed a decent picture about the game.

 

Let me start off by two things I am personally enjoying very much: The writing and the level design. Sooo...

 

The Good

 

So far, my favorite space station in a videogame ever was Citadel in System Shock, because it felt like a connected, living place - in spite of its level design being rather nonsensical more often than not, it gave me an impression of a place that no other ships/stations in any other game I have played since managed. Well, I firmly believe Talos 1 replaced it on that imaginative list. Arkane has always shown aptitude to create excellent and believable gaming environments, and in Prey, talking about 'levels' is not even applicable anymore. Talos 1 is an actual, believable place that you could imagine living in, not only with relaxation biodomes, living quarters and workplaces but all of this connected in ways that make sense with everyday life in mind (it doesn't take long to get from living quarters to just about anywhere, for instance - which also helps gameplay, obviously). There are some issues, naturally - but someone actually looked and thought long and hard about how could this place function before it was turned into a videogame environment, and it really shows.

 

As for the gameplay aspect of the space station, it's an absolute joy to explore. The extreme attention to detail makes sure there's always something interesting to find, be it stories, details of what was happening in this particular bit of the station or just some items to make your life easier. This aspect alone makes this game irresistible to me, getting to explore a believable space station in a big budget title capable of realizing something like this was my dream since the original System Shock and now it's been fulfilled.

 

And the best part is that you don't only get to explore the interior of the station - you actually get to put on a suit, jetpack and go on your marry way around it too. This can actually serve as a way of fast-travel as any airlock opened from the inside can then be accessed from the outside, in addition to giving player another massive space to explore and giving him sense of sheer scale of the station.

 

As for writing, I still have no real idea what's going on and who to trust, but I have finished a fair share of side quests, read a whole bunch of emails and listened to many audiologs (which happen to be placed fairly logically, finally). The game keeps me constantly feeling uneasy, constantly feeling like even the stories I thought I have explored have something missing that I have not quite been able to spot. Additionally, many side-quests tend to have smaller or larger twists to them that I find rather enjoyable. Do like.

 

Generally, you pick up quests while exploring outside the critical path, and they often contain environmental puzzles you need to deal with before progressing (and no, the game usually doesn't tell you how to solve them.) I'd like to point out that this aspect of the game is why the game hovers around 90% user reviews on Steam. The game doesn't treat the player like an idiot, is chock-full of hidden items and pieces of information that always contribute to the story somehow and wants you to believe that you are part of an offworld research project first and foremost. Immersive sim at its finest? Quite possibly.

 

But... But. There are downsides to this. Many may just be a me-thing, but they're worth mentioning nonetheless. Sooo...

 

The Bad

 

The combat. Man, that combat is so bad. Until you level up your weapons and your weapon skills considerably, you feel like you're firing peas at your enemies - and it doesn't get much better even then, they just die faster. Prey is trying to do the whole "Each combat is a puzzle" thing where most enemies can be rather dangerous even at the end of the game and ... It just ended up feeling really annoying eventually, to the point where I knocked down the difficulty so that it would be over faster. There is a rudimentary stealth system that allows you to avoid the opponents, but since they have hardly any patrol paths and they often stalk around valuable items (not to mention being irritating to keep avoiding), you end up taking them out anyway and only use evasion against the most powerful ones (read: The most annoying ones to defeat.) Enemy variety is really impressive and I do like the way different enemies behave, but... Dear Lord that combat system is unsatisfying.

 

Dem graphics. Visually, the game is also superb, everything feels like a real place. But ... I kinda feel that's the issue really. Pretty much everything is rather drab, minimalist and ... Well, a bit visually unimpressive. I suppose I feel like walking through an extremely fancy shopping mall while exploring Talos 1, everything having its purpose, everything being as non-distracting as possible. In a way that's an achievement I suppose, but at the end of the day, I guess I could have lived with the station being a bit more stylized (like Alien: Isolation!) Or a bit less stylized? I'm finding it really hard to identify what do I dislike here :-P

 

Lastly, quality of life stuff. It has not happened too often thankfully, but I got stuck on bits I should have not gotten stuck on, climbing is often much more cumbersome that it could have been and moving heavy items is incredibly finnicky. Honestly, I'd expect experienced developers to flesh out things like that, alas... That didn't happen.

 

The verdict so far?

 

All in all, Prey is fantastic. I've played it for 20 hours past the last 3 days, more or less completely ignoring real life in the process - it takes a special game to make me do something like that. Exploration, finding out what happened on the station and discovering what kind of beings Typhon are is a superb experience. At the end of the day tho, Prey is essentially System Shock 2 with bits of Bioshock in it. It's neither very ambitious nor particularly innovative game - it just does what its predecessors did damn well, and there's never enough of games like this.

 

TLDR: If you liked System Shock or Bioshock and are not a Katphood, buy Prey. You won't be sorry.

Edited May 7, 2017 by Fenixp

[ShadySands]

So question for everyone playing Expedition: Vikings at the moment, how bad is the time limit really?

 

I thought about giving the game a try but I've read some user reviews about how the time limit is really crippling the experience and I really don't like overall time limits in RPGs or games about exploration.

It wasn't an issue for me at all in my first playthrough but they do give an in-game reason for it so I wasn't overly bothered

 

There is also a console command that you can use to set the time backwards if it becomes an issue that you don't want to worry about

 

Edit- Also, this game doesn't have the same free exploring of the previous game

Edited May 7, 2017 by ShadySands

[Chilloutman]

ok, now game thrown me into fight 8 (enemy) vs 6 (me) where enemy have 4 archers in cover (you can't shoot back) miles away from me, I am in open field without any cover and enemy have first turn. I think I will soon end in on psychiatry ward....

 

Edit:

 

After 15 attempt I barely managed to win the fight, than game glitched and I was unable to start conversation at my next objective, loading quick save didn't helped - almost  got hearth attack, luckily game auto saved after winning that major battle so after 4rd load conversation kicked in. At this rate I will not survive till end of this...

Edited May 7, 2017 by Chilloutman

[Labadal]

ok, now game thrown me into fight 8 (enemy) vs 6 (me) where enemy have 4 archers in cover (you can't shoot back) miles away from me, I am in open field without any cover and enemy have first turn. I think I will soon end in on psychiatry ward....

Expeditions: Vikings? Always start with everyone equipped with shields. You have two weapon sets. It will help. If it's not about said game, I'll show myself out.

[Raithe]

Finished off Prey.

 

Hm. I think it's one of those you definitely have to sit down and play. The combat, as has been pointed out isn't particularly brilliant, but does push the survivalist mentality (along with resource management).

 

It does have a slight twist in the tail at the ending, which makes me wonder if they have plans to pick it up with a follow-on game.

 

But I will admit it did throw me in that some of the points made for the ending seemed to be counter to things I'd actually done in-game. But then towards the end I did have a couple of odd things kicked in where some side-quests did the "You succeeded!"  at the same time you got "You failed!" messages for the exact same quest. Or where you save some people from a situation, only to receive a message from those same people that they were doing a boneheaded manoeuvre to save themselves after you'd already defused the situation.

 

Heh. I did find about 97% of the crew (living or dead) across the station, but there were a couple of small areas I couldn't open because I never found the keycards for - Notably the damn IT storage cupboard where about 5 people were hiding, and the Tulips storage area. But I think I covered most of the place well enough. I had picked up a handful of special items, that never actually had to do anything with, but possibly seemed as background elements you pick up doing some of the side-quests that add colour to characters you find dead or read about in emails. 

[Chilloutman]

 

ok, now game thrown me into fight 8 (enemy) vs 6 (me) where enemy have 4 archers in cover (you can't shoot back) miles away from me, I am in open field without any cover and enemy have first turn. I think I will soon end in on psychiatry ward....

Expeditions: Vikings? Always start with everyone equipped with shields. You have two weapon sets. It will help. If it's not about said game, I'll show myself out.

 

 

yeah vikings, how far you are? and don't worry, already know that trick with shields...

[Orogun01]

 

ok, now game thrown me into fight 8 (enemy) vs 6 (me) where enemy have 4 archers in cover (you can't shoot back) miles away from me, I am in open field without any cover and enemy have first turn. I think I will soon end in on psychiatry ward....

Expeditions: Vikings? Always start with everyone equipped with shields. You have two weapon sets. It will help. If it's not about said game, I'll show myself out.

 

I find shields to be the worst.

Archers>dualwield daggers>dualwield axes>spears> shield&axe>shield&sword>>>fist>>>>>>>>>>slingshot.

 

[ShadySands]

Shields aren't great for your actual fighting set but great to keep in your default set so you don't get slaughtered at the start of combat since the enemy goes first most of the time. I agree with you on archery and dual wielding daggers also throwing is good for another free attack if you can swing it, I do like dane axes more than spears though.

Edited May 8, 2017 by ShadySands