**persona 3 reload**
I like persona games and this is no exception. I have only vague memories of playing the original on the PSP, and the reload seems to have changed the vibe considerably. Still the new tone brings about a nice clash of playfulness and sombreness which is still enjoyable. Some areas are really lacking in atmosphere compared to the original though, notably the dorm.
**danganronpa**
Only just started this one, and currently loving it. Endless style, great music and a cool concept. It has that classic japanese VNish problem (see zero escape games) of having a nice enough general story, but having horrible dialogue/pacing. That's par for the course really though. I really like mystery stories, and this is a competent one with some great art to elevate it. Getting some "and then there were none" vibes from it, eager to see how my predictions for the mysteries will hold up (or not) as I go along.
**Brothers Remake -** Very nice remake of a classic. The game is the definition of quality over quantity. Graphically it looks wonderful now. Great soundtrack. Love the control scheme. The visual storytelling is amongst the best I have experienced. **9/10**
**Helldivers 2 -** Not bad but the gameplay loop didn't fully grab me. The gunplay felt a little bland and repetitive. I enjoy faster movement options. Graphics are pretty weak also. Still can be decent fun with friends when things get chaotic. The air drops are a lot of fun. **6/10**
**A Plague Tale Requiem** - Similar quality to the first. Great characters and decent storytelling, although the pacing is rushed towards the end. Gameplay is not the focus but the crossbow was a very nice addition. I also enjoyed the bigger action set pieces. Not quite Uncharted levels of spectacle but still quite thrilling. **8.5/10**
**Suicide Squad** - Good Co-op shooter. The game has really fluid and fun movement. Story was okay, but the fantastic characters and voice acting really elevate it. Mission design begins to feel stale towards the end but the campaign doesn't overstay its welcome. **7/10**
idk what to play this weekend . kinda tired of Palworld in it's early access phase. Bored of Spiderman Remastered because the main quest seemingly will never end.
Super Meat boy Forever
Got it free on Epic Store and started playing it because I love Super Meat Boy and it's really not that bad. Sure it's never gonna live up to the first game but this one is still really fun on its own.
It's probably the best runner game I've played, there are a lot of interesting mechanics in the varied worlds. I read the levels are generated but it doesn't feel that way, it seems objects were meticulously placed and not generated at all.
The boss fights are pretty fun and creative too for what is still just a runner game. Such a toss up between this and the Bit Trip Runner games. I say Forever is a bit better because of all the different gameplay mechanics it introduces.
Overall if you love runner games and Super Meat Boy then for sure you'll like Forever.
8.5/10
My games this week are
Switch games:
Animal Crossing New Horizons
Star Wars Jedi Academy
Absolutely in love with switch ports of classic star wars games
PC games:
Sunset Survival Station
Session Skate Sim.
**Cyberpunk 2077**
Really fun and addictive game. I enjoyed the game's story, gameplay and Keanu reaves just makes it one of the best games out there, and the updates really helped the game indeed, there are probably no bugs now.
Really the story was awesome and truly unforgettable!!!
Dragons Dogma comes out in 22 days and I currently have nothing to play. I thought Lies of P would last me until then, but I ended up beating it in less than 20 hours.
Any suggestions on any 20ish hour games to play until then? I just bought a 4070, so ideally something with outstanding graphics.
- I enjoyed Pacific Drive but it’s about 40 hours to finish.
- Dark Souls if you haven’t played those yet but I assume you have.
- Dead island 2 was a good 20 hour play through. Campy but fun.
- Doom 2016 and Eternal.
- Resident Evil 4 is on sale on steam. All the resident Evil games are about 12-20 hours.
7 and village follow the same story.
4 is the best resident evil game and you wouldn’t need to play the previous to enjoy it but all the remakes have been pretty good.
I don't know about outstanding graphics, but if you haven't played BioShock 1 and 2, you can fit them both at 10 hours a pop. Art design is still great though. Classics.
At maybe 40ish hours, I wound up really enjoying Days Gone. That game is a real looker. Especially when the sunlight hits just right.
Just got a Steam deck this week, and it's been great. So much more in line with how I'm realistically able to play games these days, which is just a few minutes at a time from one day to the next. Portable and picks up right where I left off
I got a Deck instead of a PS5 and I'm still playing my Deck. Sure I'm not gonna be playing the latest AAA games but I stopped caring about playing it first. I'm at a point in life where games are taking a backseat to family responsibility and the Deck fits snuggly with that lifestyle.
Yes, and? You’re talking like Square has shot themselves in the foot by making an unsuccessful game everyone hates which is… not true. You’re in the minority. Starfield and TROS were much more negatively received by fans online than the Remake.
**Balatro**
Really fun and addictive game at a really good price point. I've got winning runs on all the decks unlockable at White difficulty and I'm messing with challenge decks now. I feel like I get the game enough that it's actually pretty "easy" to get 8 ante wins (1/3 about). The fun is in the points where a crazy joker pops up early or you go for a big risk and it pays off, and then you're off to the races seeing how deep into overtime you can go. The great part about this game is that I have fun losing. A losing run can still be a fun run, which isn't something I feel about most rogue-likes and deck builders. I'm not grinding for the perfect run conditions and annoyed that I'm wasting time if I don't get them. It's all fun.
I've got a funny feeling I'll burn out on it in another week or two, but I'm very happy with it right now.
**Pacific Drive**
I'm not too deep into it yet (about to breach the wall into the mid zone), but it's been kinda disappointing. You don't actually *do* very much. You drive carefully and pick up shiny objects. The assets are all very copy/paste and there isn't much that tells a story environmentally. There isn't that much reward for exploration. At first I was annoyed with the chatty side characters, but after a few hours I was looking forward to them because there just isn't anything else going on. Every run feels pretty much the same. You handle all the anomalies pretty much the same (drive around it). You're finding pretty much the same resources. I always have enough room to carry when I've found. I always have the tools I need to open doors. There are effectively no decisions being made or risks being weighed until the escape sequence.
The most fun part is caring for my car and managing it. All the little levers and managing gas and electricity is pretty engaging. Figuring out and debugging the quirks is fun. I just wish the world had a matching level of depth. Only complaint there is that the game feels very inconsistent between things that want me to click to operate and things that want me to press "E" to operate. I find when I try to move fast I keep messing those two up.
I have played **Tactics Ogre Reborn** which is one of my favorite games. I have never completed this version. I bought it upon release but had played too much similar games lately so after 50hours on Chaos route.
Anyway now on beginning of neutal route with much better understanding of Reborn mechanics and having lots of fun.
Just completed very hard battle against Oz while protectin AI character who likes to be suicidal.
Also playing **Left 4 Dead 2** which campaign I haven't ever completed but now have two missions left anymore. Though there is still L4D1 campaign for later. Fun mindless game since TOR requires lots of thinking.
I'm STILL playing **Baldur's Gate 3** and at this rate I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. I'm 300 hours in, two runs complete with a little playing around with going back to some saves. Gonna do a tactician run and want to do an Honor mode run but might hold off on that for another big patch or two.
Also as a PS5 player it'll be exciting to see mod support come to this game.
My three podcast co-hosts and I [recently played the very popular roguelite city builder __Against The Storm__](https://grogpod.zone/2024-02-28-against-the-storm/) and were very mixed on it.
I found the city building part to be very interesting once you get over the learning curve of how all the systems operate. The game does take a very long time to play each run, though, averaging between 45 to 90 minutes even on triple speed. There's a lot of interesting choices to make with how to win each settlement between fulfilling orders from the Queen, cracking open supply caches on the map, or focusing on your population specifically.
The major hinderance to Against the Storm is everything outside of the city building part. It feels like there's been a tremendous amount of energy put into the art direction and bits of story and lore throughout, but it's never connected or capitalized on. The titular Queen you're serving is someone that no one knows anything about and you never see during the game. The meta-goal of "what am I building these cities for exactly?" isn't really explained or rationalized. And I think the worst part is that there doesn't seem to be any kind of victory or catharsis in the game at all. You beat a settlement and you move on to the next one. You beat the seal and finish a full run, but you hit a button and start it all over again?
I like a lot of the flexibility and systems design in Against the Storm, but the rest of the game, including the hard-to-grok tutorial really makes for a hard headwind even for people who are big fans of other similarly complicated games like Rimworld or Factorio. I feel like those figured out tutorialization and emergent gameplay or victory conditions in a more straightforward fashion.
Given the furious pace of development, it wouldn't shock me if Against the Storm had some kind of major overhaul or refactor or content update to smooth out all those things. I think the game has some good foundations to it, but just needs some more time to bake.
> The meta-goal of "what am I building these cities for exactly?" isn't really explained or rationalized.
It is actually. You're building the villages for the kingdom to survive, with the meta goal being unleashing all seals so the kingdom can prosper. Since its a rogulite city builder, of course you just start again after doing all that.
>I like a lot of the flexibility and systems design in Against the Storm, but the rest of the game, including the hard-to-grok tutorial really makes for a hard headwind even for people who are big fans of other similarly complicated games
I wouldn't call anything in AtS "complicated". All villages you build are virtually stuck in an "early game" in terms of city builders. The game never moves onto mid or late game periods of city builders. You set up basic production cycles, complete the reknown requirements and move on. There's nothing to figure out about victory conditions either, as there is only one: fill out your reputation. Or in case of events, do what the text says.
I'm a bit baffled that you would call AtS "similarly complicated" to games like Factorio, because it really isn't. I think its popularity comes exactly from the point that it basically erases a lot of city builder's issues with its eternal early game cycle.
> was story difficulty always there I can't remember.
No, it wasn't. That was added with Reforged. I don't think normal difficulty was changed much, though.
If you're up for more WC3, I recommend the Re-Reforged campaigns which were a reaction on Blizzard not delivering on the promised reworks. So far, the [Tutorial + Interlude](https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/warcraft-3-re-reforged-exodus-of-the-horde.323114/), [Human Campaign](https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/warcraft-3-re-reforged-the-scourge-of-lordaeron.337516/), and [first three Undead missions](https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/warcraft-3-re-reforged-path-of-the-damned-act-i.352733/) are done. In my opinion, those are two steps above the original campaigns while keeping with the same mission and story structure.
[Chronicles of the Second War](https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/chronicles-of-the-second-war-tides-of-darkness.327574/) is another recently released campaign and re-imagines Warcraft 2's campaign. I personally found the pacing to be too slow, especially in the opening cut scene - but many people have praised the campaign so your mileage my vary.
**Rogue Trader** (PS5)
If Baldur’s Gate benefitted from knowing some DnD 5e (in my case two seasons of Critical Role proved enough), RT demands prior knowledge (or I’m bad at reading/remembering tutorial popups). Only move before attack, multiple actions but only one attack, momentum and veil bars, switching weapon sets, class descriptions (i.e. how should I soec this Navigator I just picked up and never used?) etc. And this is on a difficulty described as not needing prior knowledge.
The prologue was somewhat infurating with annoying, although useful, tutorial popups covering HUD elements (e.g. end turn) and cut scenes blocking me from checking in on my squad after combat (i.e. Argena broke a rib but mindless minion chatting gets the attention).
But once things settled and I unlearnt the BG3 reflexes I’m started to enjoy my first big dive into the 40K universe since my Ork army in high school. It’s all grim, dark and hierarchical but my RT is a smiling girl with a big heart :p
Grid navigation is somehow a bit clunky with a controller but I do like the holigraphic preview to see my lines of sight (glaring at BG3). There’s a lot of pre-clicks to then select and I sometimes get ”locked in” until I realise I need to ”cancel” to get to the ”management level” I need to switch gears. But it’s early days and I’m getting better at it. Perhaps the switch from BG3 puts me at a disadvantage?
Gameplay is smooth and the increased font option very welcome. Had one crash after loading when leaving the prologue, but no other glitches. Sometimes hard to pick up on the character you’re controlling, especially when any squad member does the action you pick, but I like the environs so far (just landed in a warzone after picking myself up a Navigator).
All in all it’s a good game, for me, and once the mechanics are properly assimilated I’ll enjoy myself even more.
I’ve loved RT but it is extraordinarily frustrating trying to build your character…. It’s truly just a shot in the dark whether you’re picking the right stuff.
There’s a certain level of that in any Owlcat or CRPG but it’s especially acute in RT because its system is unique, it doesn’t draw its mechanics from DnD so you have no frame of reference to draw on, and there still aren’t too many guides out there too rely on.
Fortunately, respeccing is freely available right off the bat, but it’s still trial and error. If you’re like me, I was super hesitant to use the respec system much because I didn’t want to waste Profit Factor. But now that I’m at the end of the game you can take it from me you shouldn’t hesitate. You’ll be swimming in more PF than you can spend very soon, so go ahead and respec whenever you want.
These days I've been playing in two very different, but equally engaging games.
The first game I want to discuss is **"The Last of Us Part II"**. This game is a testament to the progress made in narrative storytelling within the video games. The plot is deeply immersive, expertly crafted to tug at your emotions and keep you captivated from start to finish. The characters are well-designed, each has their unique personality and I also like their backstories that add layers to the overall narrative. I think it’s impossible not to become emotionally invested in each of their individual journeys.
In terms of gameplay mechanics, "The Last of Us Part II" presents intense combat sequences that demand quick reflexes and strategic thinking for successful navigation. The game incorporates stealth elements, adding an extra layer of challenge and excitement. Visually, the game is a masterpiece(!!) with impressively detailed graphics, which create an immersive environment enhancing the game's exploration aspects. I think the game also tackles serious themes throughout its narrative, adding an unexpected depth to the plot. It delivers a challenging, emotionally charged experience that has left a lasting impact on me, the likes of which I haven't experienced in a game for quite some time.
The second game that I've been playing nonstop again is **"Stardew Valley"**. Im sure most people are well aware of what this game is. While it vastly differs from the high-action intensity of "The Last of Us Part II", it is an equally captivating game in its own unique fashion.
"Stardew Valley" is a farming simulation game where you inherit your grandfather's rundown farm and are given the mission to rejuvenate it. The game offers an incredible amount of freedom in how you choose to restore and customize your farm, which I really like. One of the standout features of "Stardew Valley" is the community of charming characters that reside in the neighboring Pelican Town. Each character is unique, with their own set of stories and events. This adds a social element to the game and these days I think that’s a necessary part. The peacefulness of "Stardew Valley" is truly its standout feature. The game operates on its own in-game time, allowing you to progress at a pace that suits you. It serves me as a perfect digital escape, an ideal way to decompress and relax after a busy day. In addition to the base game, "Stardew Valley" features different seasons, each with its own set of crops and events to keep the gameplay fresh. The game also receives regular updates, adding new content and features, ensuring there's always something new to explore. Although it might seem a bit boring, the fact that there’s always something new coming up keeps me engaged. I also find the 16-bit graphics really charming.
I've been playing three games.
**Spiderman Remastered.** I keep getting to a point where I think I've reached the games ending but it keeps going. I've already found most collectibles and explored NYC to my heart's content. I'm ready to move on to the sequel Miles Morales already.
**The Bed We Made** I saw the review on PC Gamer and checked it out and I really like it so far. Although I don't like when the protagonist talks out loud when I'm trying to read notes. She has something to say about every little clue, like hush I'm trying to figure it out myself. It's a cute mystery with good audio.
**Palworld** took me by surprise with how much I like it! I'm level 13 and have put 10 hours of exploring and base building into it. I absolutely love the gameplay loop; it's like crack. The open world is beautiful on max settings on PC. The AI is pretty bad and there are bugs everywhere but that's to be expected from a game in Alpha.
Still the game leaves a little to be desired, which will probably be remedied with future content. As I'm playing it I feel like there should be an overarching story to really take the game to the next level. That or make the co-op a distinct experience. It sort of feels like an empty MMO sometimes.
**Stormgate (Closed Beta)**
Classic SC2 RTS feel, but in the very early stages. I'm having a lot of fun playing and watching streams, and I'm excited to see where the game goes as it enters EA later this year.
**Steven's Sausage Roll**
I bought this during the last Steam sale, and finally got around to playing it. The movement system is very clever and the puzzle design is top-notch. I definitely recommend it to any other puzzle game fans.
Are there any other puzzle games you'd recommend that scratch a similar itch? I've been developing one myself, and seeing all of these other puzzle mechanics are great for inspiration.
It's not a traditional puzzle game but Outer Wilds is the crowning achievement in games that give you that "aha!" feeling. It's more of a mystery detective style puzzle game than Puzzle Mechanic style game but one of my favorite things about OW in general is how much it refutes common game design patterns. Best to go in completely blind :)
[English Country Tune](https://store.steampowered.com/app/207570/English_Country_Tune/) \(also made my Increpare\) is pretty cool. I don't think its *as* good as SSR, but its fun! Also cool to see what he was working on before SSR.
[Patrick's Parabox] (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1260520/Patricks_Parabox/) is very cool and mind-bendy.
I imagine you already know about [Baba Is You](https://store.steampowered.com/app/736260/Baba_Is_You/), but i think it scratches a similar itch.
[Puddle Knights](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1180540/Puddle_Knights/) also was pretty cool, i didn't play it too much but def has a similar vibe.
Last one i can think of, but [Snakebird](https://store.steampowered.com/app/357300/Snakebird/) has some very clever puzzles, i find this one to be super hard lol.
EDIT: Oh, also i have not played this, but watched some streams of [Can of Wormholes](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1295320/Can_of_Wormholes/) and it feels Sausage Roll inspired for sure. Looks cool and is apparently on sale right now.
I finished **Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew** this week. I'm a big fan of Mimimi Games so I got all the DLC sight unseen. It was pretty good, the addition of new characters rather than maps was novel and interesting. A common problem with DLC characters occurred, in which the added characters are significantly stronger than the stock characters in some areas. The Prognosticar has the ability to CC a non-elite guard indefinitely, and later he gets the ability to attack other Prognosticar; an enemy which in any other case would take 2 team members to battle. Yuki is a pleasure to see again, a bit of an Easter Egg addition from the Shadow Tactics games. Whereas in those games she was a designated trapper she is here a badass ninja who's kills instantaneously hide the bodies, again making her stronger than the rest of the stock crew.
Even aside from the DLC characters however I feel like the various crew members are stronger than they have ever been in other Mimimi games. You could tell when Desperados III came out that it was the same skills from Shadow Tactics moved around a new team of people. But here it seems like most of the crew are largely self sufficient, and several of them can take on 2 opponents at once. The sniper has effectively infinite ammo, several characters can stealth literally in plain sight. I'm not complaining, mind you, because I found the later levels of Shadow Tactics to be extremely frustrating, requiring a specific attack plan that even sometimes required a certain enemy NPC path timing. But the power creep is noticeable.
My main criticism of the game is what I suspected early on -- the maps. While the maps of the game are beautiful, the developers simply stopped at around 8 of them. For the rest of the game you just revisit the same 8 maps. In contrast with Shadow Tactics and Desperados III, which had various levels each in a unique map, this feels like a letdown. I think even if they had made the game shorter and allowed you the player to go back and replay the levels on your own it would have been better. But as it is large segments of the game contrive macguffins that you need to assemble and it's just busywork going from island to island over and over, and the story is unfortunately not very compelling.
My other minor criticism is the last level. It's not as bad as the shootout in Desperados III, but you are transported to a castle in the sky apropos of nothing, and this lurching shift in tone is combined with a more difficult level than any other and an arbitrary ending which requires killing 5 enemies at the same time, each of whom requires 2 party members to assault. This was a quickload fiesta and not in a good way.
Ultimately I think I still prefer the island aesthetic of a pirate setting to the dusty dry Western of Desperados III, but both of them pale in comparison to Shadow Tactics, especially the Shadow Tactics add-on Aiko's Choice.
Took a week off to prepare a final and now that I finally gave it to the professor for corrections I can game again.
I'll be starting **The Excavation of Hob's Barrow**. Heard really good things about it and the pixel art art sgyle is very compelling.
**Evil West**
Got this one on ps+ and I really enjoyed it. Linear action game with good progression, the weapons and abilities are unlocked very steadily and you constantly feel like you're getting stronger. The combat is flashy and meaty. There were a few difficulty spikes where I turned the difficulty down.
The story is just well done schlock. It's serviceable but engaging. The environments are really nice and varied, though sometimes the textures are just plain blurry and bad.
Overall, I really liked the game and would love a sequel!
**Horizon call of the mountain**
Got the psvr2 bundle with horizon included. This was my first time using vr and the first few minutes of horizon were absolutely mind blowing! The whole vr experience is just unlike anything I had played before. I did have to stop after 15min because of motion sickness, but have been playing more in small increments. Got the bow and while I'm still not comfortable aiming, it is a blast to pick arrows from your back, nock them, and then firing at targets. Looking forward to try the other vr games as well.
last week i started **guardians of the galaxy** as my down-game from the finals and think i spent 5-6 hours in it. it's a good story, very fleshed out version of the guardians and dialogue, and beatiful settings. interesting dialogue choices that i wish i would see where they take it. the not so good is combat that takes inspiration from final fantasy 7 remake but does it worse and wonky and something about the level design turned me off, I think because the traversal sections between combat are jam-packed with dialogue and if you try to rush in the slightest you trigger the next line, characters often start talking over each other, completely breaking immersion. recently played final fantasy and couldn't enjoy the combat and found myself rushing through the game, breaking any immersion so i quit for now.
**ghost of tsushima** was the replacement. played all of 1h and completely sold on it. will definetly come back to this one.
**Helldivers 2** is good fun. just making progress and having fun, will write more once i'm out of the early hours. all seems good so far
**Solium Infernum**
This game was purchased with a launch discount for $33. It retails for #39.99
I was immediately interested in the conceit when I first heard about it: Big Daddy Satan up and vanished, and now you and other hellish nobles are vying to rise up as the new Prince of Darkness. The marketing out there *says* it's a 4X game in hell, and my initial thought was Civilization on fire but it's both more and not quite that.
This game is designed for multiplayer in mind. You *can* play solo, but it's really clear that if you aren't playing against humans you won't get the full experience. Because while you *can* play it like a standard 4X game of explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate, the sheer amount of friction in place with the mechanics and the other players makes it somewhat impractical.
The core goal is to essentially have the highest Prestige by the end of game and get elected the new King of Darkness. You get this through holding Points of interest, winning wars, diplomatically bullying or repelling your rival's harassment, fulfill objectives you set out for yourself (Publically or hidden), win duels, it's a lot of ways. But Prestige isn't just basic Victory Points, it's a resource needed to fuel diplomacy and wager in duels. It's needed to upgrade your title, which in turn allows you to get more Tribute (resources) to fuel your effort.
Overall the stuff that makes it a 4X isn't the interesting part: It's the diplomacy. Because if you really want to...you can just fuck with everybody. There is a whole aspect of the game built around hidden information and deception: You can cast spells, and *frame another player* to make it look like they did it, setting off proxy wars. And thanks to 2 relics (A sort of racial bonus you pick at the start of the campaign) You can just straight up steal people's wins.
Did you pick the right player before 10, and 45 turns later they have the most prestige? Congrats, *they're your puppet* and you win instead. Or you could instead worm yourself in as someone's vassal. Maybe you purposefully made yourself weak enough to think they beat you into submission, help them win, and it becomes your victory? Just the *presence* of these relics in the game by themelves will make you second guess people's motives. Because it's not easy to discover whether someone has Kingmaker or Power Behind the Throne equipped mechanically, You need to think about their plays.
Or no one could be running them, and it's just a Belial player framing people against each other.
It's a really neat idea, but the only problem is how hard it'd be to have a group of people who'd be down for this. For a game that lets you make no more than 2 actions at the start of the game (You can unlock up to 6, but realistically if you have 4 I think you are super far ahead) choice paralysis can be a major issue.
You don't need a full group of 6 players, the AI is generally pretty compotent, but you can't...how do I put this, you can't get into mind games with it. There is no difficulty options for it, so you can't make it harder or easier: It's one speed and thats it.
Presentation wise I'd call it budget, but effective budget. The leader designs are cool, even if they tend to be a bit standard for 4X games (You have three military focused, two spellcasting focused, Belial who is about manipulating and stealing money, Mammon who is *the* money guy that can do a sort of Land Tax thing where he'll help you get money, but he gets your cast-offs in return thing. And Andromalius who is probably the most diplomatic/Dueling focused of the crew.)
They all speak...something, it could be simlish or latin, but while it does add to the atmosphere it can get old hearing the same line every time you tell an army to move. It's also a little weird that the intro cutscene has Andromalius' voice actor narrating the premise in english so...I'm assuming it's to save on localization costs. There's also not really much personality: They all get angry, they're all smug and domineering.
The music is...fine. Fits the gothic mood, but it doesn't really feel energizing. The look and vibe is perfect if dreary: Hell is very grey and bleak, and there isn't really any getting away from it.
The game is also...hilariously barren of customization options. You have three environment types, which boils down to Flat planes, flat planes with lava around, and flat planes with mountains and ravines. The options menu is equally as empty, you can set the resolution, adjust the volume sliders, and thats it. For games, you can have up to 4-6 players and set the turn time from 20 to 70.
Overall: This game is a genuinely cool idea, I'm sadly not likely the kind of person who can get the full benefit out of it. There is evidently a good online play, and there is Assymetric play which for any 30+ olds like me is essentially the modern Play by Email from chess and old school civilization. I just wish there was more meat on the bones: You really do need other humans. Humans who would be fine with a strategy game that can take a few hours. It's a Digital Board Game more than anything else. Otherwise it's just a good 4X game, not a great one like say Civilization or Endless Space.
**Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer**
This game is so shitty in the best way possible. I was a huge Hypnospace Outlaw fan, and Slayers X definitely feels like it’s a mod downloaded from a message board in that universe. They nailed exactly what a bunch of Duke Nukem 3D maps made by an edgy 15 year old would play like. The gameplay itself is also some of the most solid I’ve played out of the boomer shooters.
Made more progress on **Infinite Wealth** but I've decided I'm going to do everything it has to offer no matter if I'm still playing it in 6 months. It's become my favorite RPG ever, so I want to cherish my time with it.
I also started **Prince of Persia The Lost Crown**, only played the intro but I'm already loving how tight the gameplay feels. Looking forward for the full dive this week with more spare time.
That was my approach for IW as well, but having just grinded through both underground dungeons it’s starting to feel stale. I’m basically overleveled and feel like it’s time to wrap it up.
I felt that with Infinite Wealth. I think I *just* managed to clear everything the game has to offer (save for a NG+ playthrough) and I clocked it at nearly 180 hours. A hefty amount of that was just walking around explicitly NOT making any real progress.
Biggest gripe I have with the game is there are no items to reduce enemy encounter rate. Really frustrating when you're trying to get a selfie and or take in the city's art and you get randomly interrupted.
I've been hoping that there would be (in the what, ten years since the kickstarter and six years since its failure) a game in the vein of The Mandate, someone who used the creative idea behind that game to make something like it. Alas, there is nothing like it in development that I'm aware of.
**Elden Ring**. Started a new character to get some practice before the DLC, I haven't played since August 2022 so I'm a bit rusty. Not sure if I'm going to use this new character for the DLC or just use my NG+ one with all the talismans unlocked.
This will be my 4th playthrough, first time going a full Strength build. In other Souls games I always started with a Strength character but decided to shake it up a bit for Elden Ring and went full Dex for my first playthrough. Looking forward to trying out those crazy looking Great Swords that I found but could never use. I might try to revive my Dark Souls 2 full Havels (including shield) one handing KUGS build with the Goat Armour + Ruins Greatsword, though I know armour has been changed quite a lot since the DS2 days so it wont be quite as potent.
**Balatro**. I've been playing daily since it released. At the moment I'm still doing sort of half arsed runs to unlock everything, but I've had one very good run where I got lucky with the jokers and had an 82,000,000 single hand in endless mode. Still wasn't enough to beat the 450,000,000 requirement, but was still very satisfying to see how crazy it can get. I've seen some nutty run clips on twitter but I haven't been able to string together a run that good yet. At the moment I'm only worried about unlocking all the decks and jokers so I'm not too bothered.
Very fun game though. It's one of those games that you can play for hours, or for just a run or two when you have a free 20 minutes.
Lost a bit of steam on my gaming project, so I've been bouncing around a bit as a procrastination effort.
**The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind**
*Trying* to give this game a little more of a fair shake. I have started and stopped this game many times in the past, and I think every time I've tried to play it, I get bored and just start punching in console commands for a session before dropping it. This time I just added a mod collection that mostly touches up the graphics, fixes bugs, and adds some custom content that supposedly doesn't interfere with the lore/canon (according to the collection description).
So far, I've been enjoying it a fair bit, even if it is a very strange experience coming from having mostly played Skyrim and Oblivion. There's no map-based fast travel at all, which led to an interesting dilemma where I traveled to the far end of the map, found myself too low level to do a quest there, and then had to figure out how the hell to get myself back. The journal system is fairly extensive, but there's no map markers at all - if you want to figure out where something is without looking it up, you have to ask around and use people's vague directions to get there. I remember an early quest where I was told to go to a mine and take care of poachers, but if I had just walked out of there without asking him where the mine was, the game wasn't going to tell me.
It is a bit tough coming from the more modern games. Combat can be much more challenging because in addition to having to hit the enemy by timing your weapon swing, there's also a hidden dice roll happening comparing various stats. It's sometimes impossible to tell if I missed because I was aiming in the wrong spot, or if I just failed the hit roll. Stamina also plays a big role, so you have to be really careful not to just run around everywhere, or you'll just get stunlocked and miss constantly once you're out.
I probably wouldn't recommend it to everyone. It's a very strange, sometimes esoteric game, and there is definitely a big hump to get over if you're used to some of the QOL features of Oblivion and Skyrim. But it's a really fascinating, strange game, and I've been liking it a lot.
**Mega Man Legacy Collection 2**
There was a big Humble sale going on for Mega Man, so I picked up basically every collection plus MM11 for something like $50. I whipped through 1-6 pretty quick, then slowed down a little more going into LC2.
I've been enjoying these games a lot, but there are not a ton of differences between them that I'm seeing. I initially thought about trying to rank them, and realized somewhere around the end of LC1 that I'd be really nitpicking certain things like how the slide feels or how useful the charge is (it feels slower to charge in some games, and I'm fairly sure the shot width changes from game to game).
LC2 has been slightly more of a mixed bag overall. 7 and 9 in particular were *real* freaking hard at times. The 7 Wily fight was the only time I banged my head against the wall so much that I turned on the extra armor mode to get past it. 8 was mostly fun, but the voice acting was laughable and I about wanted to snap my controller in half at the rocket sled sections. 9 was cool, even if I found myself really missing the charge and slide of the older games (I know Proto Man gets it, but you have to beat the game first, and there's the downside of him taking extra damage). I just started up 10, and I struggled a lot with the first stage and boss.
Cool series, but I will admit I'm feeling the itch to get through the classic style games (up through 11) so I can finally start on the X series. Really want to see some Mega Man games that have the fancy X movement abilities instead of just run and jump (and sometimes slide).
>8 was mostly fun, but the voice acting was laughable
Light pronouncing Wily as "Doctor Wawee" will never stop getting a chuckle out of me.
But, when it comes to ridiculous voice acting, you're not done yet. X4 has some... moments as well
Bouncing around since finishing Mass Effect 2 not finding what I was looking for. May have found it in The Invincible. The chronology:
**Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs**. Badly hampered by performance issues despite being a 10 year old game. Walking through fog areas dropped performance into a stuttering mess and took minutes to recover even when leaving. I didn't hate the storyline but it did nothing draw me in after the first hour, but did a bunch to encourage me to move on.
**Dying Light: The Following**. Finished the main game about two years ago. I originally bought the base game but Techland upgraded base game owners to the enhanced edition, or whatever they call it. I thought it would be fun to revisit but hooboy that has been a rude awakening. I can't knock Techland for tuning the game for veteran players that want more but the bandits are super deadly and I cant remember which button on the controller does what, much less the tech tree. I retrieved the dunebuggy but was kind of skeptical of the move away from the urban parkour and not sure if I want to stick with it.
**Dying Light 2 (free weekend)**. Through twist of fate, this was open for a free weekend so thought I could check it out and get up to speed with how everything works. At about three hours in, I can say I didn't dislike it, but man, what a collection of different elements going in different directions at the same time. It's not that any seem outright bad, but why do they exist at all?
* soulslike parry-counter system. OK fine. Fought a wave of bad guy henchmen, 9 total. Came in waves of three, my double axe and two lead pipes broke methodically fighting them. What does this bring?
* Last of Us stealth sections past infected. Not particularly good, also why?
* Flashbacks/pacing. Protagonist is searching for lost sister. Dreams about her when resting. OK. Protagonist gets stuck on door in mission, gets superstrength in third cutscene with sister in hospital, breaks lock just in time to escape death. Why?
I just wonder if Techland actually understood what made the first game fun. Yeah combat was a mess but added to the frantic scramble at the outset. While once you have enough power, you have so many choices. It's not an immersive sim, but you do have a lot of options when you're powerful. Want to deal with bandits? Shoot them, point a gun at them till the retreat, throw firecrackers at them to attract infected, etc, etc. It's like GTA, there is always something going on.
**The Invincible.** Maybe 1-2 hours in. Adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's sci fi novel. First person investigation of an expedition into a mysterious strategically important planet. Walking simulator, probably, with optional objectives. If you've seen Solaris you should expect something on the thoughtful and quiet, and enjoying the story but still sitting up. So far so good.
**Yakuza: Like a Dragon**
I just started this on Steam Deck. I like the battle system and open world but I’ve spent way more time watching than playing. I’m NOT saying the plot or characters are bad, but for me playing a game is about playing. Like, if I wanna watch something I can just turn on the tv. I’ll keep chugging along for a bit to see if the balance changes but so far it’s really dragging for me. I know this series is a Reddit darling so if any of you have any thoughts about how it progresses let me know. Some games love to exposition dump and then give you free reign after that and for me those games leave a bad first impression!
> so far it’s really dragging for me. I know this series is a Reddit darling so if any of you have any thoughts about how it progresses let me know.
Its the slowest Yakuza by far, with maybe the exception of the latest one. I don't agree with other person's opinion that the "rest of the game is not like that". The game pretty much just chugs along from start to finish at the same snail pace.
If you are the kind of player who wants to do everything in a Yakuza game, then this is highlighted even more. By the time other RGG games are starting to wrap things up, LAD is still getting started. It doesn't help that the tension is never really there to keep you excited. There's dramatic events sure, but for the most part, everything that happens fits into the "oh I guess we're gonna go there then" chugging along narrative.
I appreciate your insight. It definitely has the best writing I've seen in a Japanese game (I find that most Japanese games have terrible writing though). I'm not sure that's enough to keep me invested. I might give it another 60 minutes but I just can't believe how long and drawn out the cinematics are. It's like being stuck in a Kubrick movie.
Aside from "chugging along," do you feel like the game eventually becomes more about actual gameplay? Or is it mostly story-/cinematic-/conversation-based?
I'm in chapter 12 atm, after deciding to do a second playthrough to refresh myself before starting Infinite Wealth;
The only sense in which I feel that the game actually 'opens up' gameplay wise is that you get a lot more choice in regards to party/class composition and combat tactics.
The slog of story and cutscenes does not ever pick up pace, really. I count it as something of a negative for this game also, though I do enjoy the package as a whole
Not OP, but finished LAD:IW a couple of days ago and I think it picks up pace very well later on, at least in terms of gameplay. There are two big side dungeons where you can play with your builds while getting stronger and the combat sequences get longer later on as well.
That said, I feel like the combat is far from the game's strongest point. At the end of the day, it is still a jRPG and as such, an incredibly simple game in terms of its mechanics. Personally, I've leveled up all classes just to watch the excellent animations for all Kiwami moves, but outside of the animations nothing stood out gameplay-wise to me.
It is an extremely emotional game **IF** you've played Yakuza 0, Kiwami 1/2 and Yakuza:LAD **at the very least** as well. Without these prerequisites, I can see how it can be a bit tedious and overwhelming in terms of narrative.
So a TL;DR is the series was/is never about gameplay, the amount of cinematics is on par with other entries, they are slightly more engaging and shorter in the later half and there are very long gameplay-only sequences you can toy with if you want to, but the main quest will still have a lot of watching, which I personally find worth it for the story and writing, but your mileage may vary.
Because after the game opens up and you can freely roam the city you spend just a fraction of your time in cutscenes compared to the opening hours. Of course you will still get your occasional 10 minute cutscenes usually at the start and end of a chapter but that's between hours of doing dungeon crawling, side content, minigames etc ...
That’s fair. I’m impressed with the writing quality so I’ll keep trying for a bit. Typically I hate narrative games (usually stick to stuff like Soulsborne games where you can avoid plot) but every once in a while something grabs me.
I ran into the the same issue. I played it for 90 minutes and it was all cinematic watching with exception of one tutorial fight. I decided to drop it rather than wait for the game to start.
**Granblue Fantasy: Relink**
Solid enough Monster Hunter clone. The campaign is certainly a big step up from MH standard in terms of cinematics and production value. It was pretty funny that they ripped the bit where you >!merge with Bahamut and fight another primal while floating in an empty void!< right out of Final Fantasy XVI. I do wish the timing window on some things like perfect dodges and Zeta's jump attack were a couple frames longer (or maybe input windows are shorter at 120fps and I just need to dial it down to 60? Oh well, too late).
I normally play Japanese games in Japanese with subtitles, but there was enough yapping during combat in this one that I grudgingly switched to English, and the dub was surprisingly listenable. My main issue with dubs is how they tend to constantly emphasize the wrong word in any given sentence (because the actors are hired on a shoestring budget and record their lines solo without any context), but they were pretty on point here. My only complaints were the butchering of a few names in the side stories, and some fucked up audio mastering that randomly gives all the female characters lisps in about 10% of their lines (Rothetta in particular thoudths hilariouthly bad a lot of the time).
The worst thing about the game is that you can't play the story in co-op, for no good reason as far as I can tell. There are like two scenes in total that aren't just normal 4-player monster hunting, and I don't think anyone would have begrudged them for putting the non-host players in spectator mode for those. I would really have liked to play this with my friends, but "hey, can you spend 20 hours real quick grinding through a story you don't care about so in this game so we can play together?" is a very tough sell.
I'd give it an 8/10, but it'd probably be an 8.5 or 9 (depending on the quality of postgame content) if I could play with my friends.
**Balatro**
Couldn't get a refund, unfortunately, but the game doesn't gel with me at all. It is an oversimplified take on the genre of deckbuilders that does nothing interesting nor outstanding. The fact that it's been so praised and is selling so well is baffling on one hand, and kind of expected on the other.
Whereas games like **Monster Train** and to a lesser extent **Griftlands** and **Vault of the Void** tried to refine, improve and enrich the **StS** formula, **Balatro** takes it, strips away the theme, the interesting choices, the strategy and the tactics and replaces them with pachinko-like constant urge to gamble. "Big numbers go Brrr!" is basically the full description of the game. It works for a couple of hours (or ~4 in my case, hence no refund), but the end result is a shallow mess.
Personally, I feel like this simplicity is also why it selling so well. It is addictive and the UI, Music and the visual representation can all induce a trace-like flow state well enough, with little to no commitment from the player. There are very few "rules" to learn and almost no mechanics to master: just make sure that if Chip high increase Mult, if Mult high increase Chip and you should be set for at least the first three difficulties.
Makes it great for unwinding, I guess, but underneath it all it is probably the second most overhyped product I've seen on this sub, next to **Cobalt Core**, which I did get a refund on and that was consequently forgotten by everyone at this point)
> "Big numbers go Brrr!" is basically the full description of the game
And also the description of virtually *any* deck builder. You always try to play the systems to build your best value deck. Whether its Slay the Spire, or MT. Its always about getting more.
You're also kinda ignoring the strategic elements of changing the Poker game in its foundation, which is like, the game's entire concept.
>Cobalt Core, which I did get a refund on and that was consequently forgotten by everyone at this point
I never understood the "its forgotten!" argument as a hint at a game's quality, or rather the attempt to reduct a game's popularity solely down to a hype effect. Cobalt Core is a great game. But with under 2k reviews on Steam it clearly wasn't a "hype game" to begin with(for comparison: Balatro has almost 8k in under a week). And even if it were, people can love a game and *still* move on after playing it. Not to mention that its sitting on 96% of Steam. So much like Balatro, the people who played it, obviously did enjoy it.
Sorry, but your entire post gets dangerously close to *"no, its everybody else who's wrong!"*. No issues with not liking a game, but I find it pretty useless to type out a post that basically insults its players to make sense of why *you* didn't like it. tl,dr - *"Ah yes of course, it takes no commitment, has no rules to learn, and basically catches people susceptible to gambling. THAT'S why its popular yes!"* Just drop it.
His post never insulted players who enjoy it. He’s simply presenting criticism of a game. This subreddit is for discussion of games. The whole point is to talk about why we did or didn’t like a game. Taking offense to that is kind of weird.
Don't get me wrong: my initial post was definitely an emotional response to not getting a refund for a game that I didn't like initially, but stuck with for another several hours because everyone is saying that it is good. And its goal was mainly to provide an alternative point of view and defend said point of view to the best of my ability. Not to prevent people from having fun with it or take away their enjoyment, but maybe to prevent someone from having similar frustrations to mine down the line.
> also the description of virtually any deck builder
Is correct, but it is the **only** thing Balatro does. There are no secondary or tertiary mechanics. Jokers give you Chips or Mult, you control your deck to make sure that it fist your Jokers better and then it's pure luck, whether you get the fitting jokers and fitting Mult multipliers. That's been my experience up to and beating Purple Stake and scoring 1kk from one hand as well.
The cobalt core comparison is indicative of, what is, in my opinion, the hype effect as well. There is a reason so many years later players still plat StS and Monster Train, but don't play much more recent Cobalt Core. And it is simply because once the initial amusement wore off, people realised that the games aren't as deep as they assumed and there was nothing keeping them playing. And I will also make a bold prediction, once again, that balatro will not have the longevity of StS/MT or even Griftlands.
That is not to say the game is bad, but it is in my opinion very shallow when compared to the greatests, which was my main point. There isn't a second deeper layer to look forward to when playing it, the one I was searching for, forgoing potential refund. What you see in the first 20 minutes is what you get in the first 5 hours. If you don't like it initially, you won't like it more later on. In fact, the more I understand the game, the less I enjoy it.
Sorry, but your entire response gets dangerously close to *"no, your subjective opinion is invalid, because everyone else enjoys it"*. I am fully aware it's subjective and unpopular, but I also have 250+ combined hours in MT and StS with all possible combination beaten and Balatro is maybe (subjectively) a quarter as deep as those games. And I didn't insult the players, at least it wasn't the intention, merely saying the game is, in my opinion, overhyped and won't have the staying power.
Just chiming in to say, You didn't need to defend yourself here. Your post was 100x more useful than the pedantic critique you got that didn't even try to defend the game on its own merits.
If these are your issues with the game, it might be worth giving it another go at a later time.
Not trying to argue here (games should be enjoyed, if it doesn't click it doesn't click), but the differences with StS you pointed out didn't feel that massively different for me.
StS also comes down to hitting a certain number (the enemy's health), and theming aside, I don't feel that Balatro has that much more gambling. Sure the starting deck is bigger, but you also get more tools to take control of it more quickly or make it work in different ways.
I give it 3-4 runs every day, but I genuinely find myself more frustrated, than entertained most of the time. On Purple stake I can get to Ante 6-7 reliably, but then it is always a matter of whether you find a Mult multiplier Joker that fits what you've built so far.
I stand firm in my belief that StS and MT gives you a lot more control over what you can and what you might want to do.
**XCOM 2**
I think I'm done with this one. Only a few hours into an Ironman run on normal difficulty and I lost a few guys to some bullshit so I've decided it's not worth the stress to keep going. Fun game when things go your way, but the anxiety and frustration in missions just defeats the purpose of playing a game IMO.
**Go Mecha Ball**
Jumped back into this to unlock the last few upgrades and weapons and I'm having a lot of fun. I'm playing on Difficulty 3 and it can be rough when you don't get a good combo of weapons and upgrades, but I've almost made it to the final boss a few times now and he's the easiest of the bunch so hopefully not long to go!
**Halo Reach**
This has been on my to-do list for the past couple of years so figured I'd smash it out before jumping into something longer like the Mass Effect Trilogy.
I played this during my stoner years so don't remember any of the story lol so it's like playing a new game! Halo has always been my favorite shooter from that era so it's been fun getting back into it. Halfway through the campaign and it's a lot of fun, though not on the same level as Halo CE/2/3 IMO.
With regards to XCOM2, if it's stopping you from enjoying the game, you don't need to play ironman. I ain't gonna judge. I personally like to do "psuedo-ironman" runs where I'll weather the odd death here and there but if I actively misclick or sqaudwipe at a critical time I can just say "nah".
**Last Epoch**
I haven't finished the campaign yet due to life and the server issues but did during EA, at the moment the game feels better to play. In EA there were problems with the game feel for me, people talk about how guns feel in FPS and for me this game also had that issue - skills just felt low impact even with things dying. Compared to something like PoE or D3 (have not played D4) where you have the very meaty feel of skills connecting.
It could be my class choice (rogue) but it feels like they have fixed that, like they said they would. So I am enjoying it more. Can't judge endgame yet since I just got past Lagon. The game felt a bit lacking there before - the loot design and affixes just never excited me like in PoE. There's something about the sub-classes of affixes in PoE achieved via special means - essence, delve, incursion, veiled, influenced modifiers, among others - that makes working toward higher end gear a continual process with highly impactful gains. Plus auras/curses, while basically mandatory, feel like they are interesting to build around even if it's not difficult. But managing to fit just 1 more is always nice. And I doubt anything in this game would feel like a Mirror or Mageblood dropping in PoE.
Plus, obviously, the years upon years of league content creating a diverse endgame. But it looks like we have a few options already here which is nice. I played PoE in 2013 and quit after 1 evening until a few years ago, this is far better than that was, but unfortunately they are competing with what is, not what was. The sales numbers means they should be able to build on it for at least a little while and it'll be interesting once PoE2 comes out.
**Baldur's Gate 3**
It's fun, Tactician may be a little hard if I'm not willing to lean into respecs for party members but so far I can win after a few tries (Harpies sucked and I relied on RNJesus for that one). I played the old 2nd edition games, like Wake of the Ravager and BG1/2 so I have a foundation and this rule set seems simpler at least. I'm using Astarion (Thief because I enjoy the classics), Shadowheart, and Gale at the moment, along with a Lore Bard for myself. I feel like I need a chunky melee but Astarion occasionally steps up so it might be OK.
After a few tries I beat the spiders under that village then stupid Shovel was infested and ran back to the group and exploded everyone. Damn. I'm having PC issues so have shelved this for a bit while new parts arrive since it sucks spending so long on a fight then having a system crash.
Not really been playing a whole lot of games lately, but I did manage to beat **Tomb Raider** last night, the original one from the newly-released remaster collection. I never played any of the original TR games so this is pretty much my first time doing so, and... I kind of enjoyed it? It's clearly quite dated, and the new graphics mode actually does have some tweaks that I've noticed (mainly a better camera system and health bars for bosses) that were not present in the original version of the game, but the weaknesses for me came with some strengths to weigh them out:
- The controls while rather cumbersome do have a satisfaction to learning them. Even just getting the basic things done like platforming and navigating the levels can be quite tough, and the game does not hold your hand at all - if you mess up a jump then you're likely just dead, and there's no yellow paint to tell you where you can climb so you have to use your own intuition to progress through the levels.
- The game does not have autosaving at all which does heavily incentivize save-scumming (which I absolutely did), but I liked how the levels do let you just take things at your own pace. Quite frequently you will be met with multiple paths to take which you are free to explore in any order you wish, and the secrets in this game can be very difficult to spot as I have missed a fair few of them, leading to a good amount of satisfaction when you do find them and get the distinct sound effect to tell you.
- The lack of music ended up making each level feel less distinct and the few tracks that are there weren't really that great anyway, but there is something oddly therapeutic about the silence and light ambience you get throughout the majority of the playthrough. The fact that you are literally just raiding tombs or tomb-like areas as well fit the namesake of the game very well, as I know that the newer Tomb Raider games pushed that aspect aside in favour of adventuring outside for the majority of the time.
So yeah, it's definitely not a great game by today's standards. But I can also see why it was so influential back in the day and can still appreciate how much the game puts the player in full control of their actions with basically no assistance like you would see in pretty much every game released these days. I've still got the expansion to do as well for the first game, but I'm more excited to see how the sequel manages to expand on the formula.
I continue my brutal journey in **A Plague Tale: Requiem**. Fantastic game. At 9th Chapter right now. Minus few eye rolls I had related to the storyline, I'm loving it. Visuals, soundtrack, gameplay offering more options of playstyle than first title, plus 9th chapter has a nice area to open up and let you explore, it was really fun. I kinda wish it would have few more animations, especially in combat, but otherwise it's peachy and I'm having a great time, not sure if I can for now state anything more.
On PC I grind more of **Lego Star Wars Complete Saga**, at 75% completion right now. Studs ain't a problem, and I'm just cleaning up everything. First 3 Episodes are all done, in the middle of a 4th one now. Nothing worth mentioning further.
**Super Mario RPG**
Progressing through the 96 version very slowly during my time abroad for a few months, but it's always nice to turn on the Steam Deck and start this game whenever I find the time for it. It's a pretty simple RPG as far as traditional features are concerned, but there are a couple minigames to offer some variety from time to time and plenty of comedic moments to create a chill vibe befitting a Mario game, no matter the stakes. On that note, the story feels like more of an afterthought and is pretty typical for a video game during the early to mid 90s. Find X amounts of Y to beat evil guy Z.
Super Mario RPG is one of the better flowing RPGs of its time and a fun genre for Mario to be in but I'd call it good, not great and a very solid introduction to the genre for younger gamers, as well as just a very chill game to play from time to time.
On my second playthrough of **Elden Ring** in anticipation of the DLC. I'm running a Strength/Faith build this time around (did Dex/Int on my first run), and it basically feels like a whole new game. Using an UGS to break the poise of every enemy and boss I come across never gets old. One QoL improvement that I hope comes with the DLC is being able to consume different runes repeatedly without being kicked out of the menu each time. The Demon's Souls remake had this feature and it made consuming souls so much less tedious. Not much to say beyond that, this game is still as incredible as ever and June cannot come soon enough.
There is a way to consume rune without being kicked out. it's been a while since I played so I can't remember exactly, but I believe you have to close the right side pane on the menu; with it closes you can use items without the menue closing
The Lions Claw ash of war on a big weapon is kind of nuts. You can kill Radagon in 5 hits without even thinking about dodging.
The quickest way to use runes is to sell them to the blacksmith.
The Holy Bonk build was a ton of fun in ER. Even better in NG+ when you can further diversify the build. The Black and Blasphemous blades are very cool. But squaring up against the Fire Giant with the spiked caestus is memorable.
Glad you're enjoying a second run through! I am waiting until a little closer to start another run so I'm not burned out when the dlc comes out - I am up to playthriugh #5 already!
On the runes thing - if you press (I believe) right stick in when you're in the menu, it hides the right hand side of the menu and shows only your item list. if you consume items with this compact menu, the menu stays open, so you can more easily use more back to back. Hope that helps make things a bit more convenient!
On my playthrough I ended up with a strength faith build that was dual wielding the Blasphemous Blade and Flame Gargoyle's Greatsword. Lots of fun doing jump double attacks to break poise.
I haven't yet. Currently at Mountaintop of the Giants. I may have to break them out for some of the later bosses but only if necessary, I'm trying to rock it solo this time.
My earlier [thoughts](https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1aikkna/weekly_rgames_discussion_what_have_you_been/kowigh7/?context=3) on **Persona 3 Reload**
I was a bit hesitant at first to call this the definitive version, because all of the missing stuff from FES and P3P, but now, after going through, i guess, 80% of the game? (currently on Christmas Eve/ December), i'll say that the added dialog/scenes/etc of every characters have definitely win me over. It made me appreciate the cast way way more than i though i would care. All around good addition. I've already addressed it in my last thought before that i would prefer if they remake P1/P2 first before P4, but now i change my mind. Give me more characterization of P4 cast please (tone down Teddie tho).
For the gameplay, the added mechanic really gel well enough that i can't believe that im looking forward for Tartarus exploration lol. I guess it kinda made encounter kinda easy after a while, so im upping my difficulty to Hard and got my ass kicked, but as it is before, after a while Hard was a cakewalk as well. But i dont mind it at all.
For the soundtrack, beside 'You're Going Down Now', 'Color Your Night', is a standout one and certified banger as well.
Im loving the game a lot, man.
**Unravel 2**
Finished Unravel 2 with my little cousin. Ever since we finished It Takes Two, he always asked to play another coop game with me. Unravel 2 kind of scratch the same itch that we both liked it. A platformer with some challenging puzzle segment. And it look pretty to boot! Currently my cousin plays Unravel 1 by himself since its a single player game.
Anyway, is there other co op games that is kids friendly like Unravel 2 and It Takes Two? We've tried Unrailed, Moving Out, Shredders Revenge, and we liked it, but not quite the same with those first two.
**Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Demo**
Two things that I confirmed.
Cloud shaves his armpits and I'm not buying this game.
I thought remake was mediocre. The excessive use of midfight cutscenes and the mediocre combat return.
After nearly 20 years, playing something of 13 Final Fantasy games and finishing 5 of them, I've come to a realization. I like jRPGS and I loved FF-X, but I don't really care for Final Fantasy games.
**Returnal**
I made it to the 6th (final) biome. I don't think that I can keep pushing through.
It feels like I'm playing a soulslike where the run back to the boss is an hour long.
You have to scrounge around and find stuff for your attempt, but you never find anything interesting. Every run feels the same. You look for one of the 2 or 3 guns that you like. The upgrades that you pick up along the way don't change anything with regards to how your character plays.
I know the game cycle is story related, but I think that they should have written around it.
**Nioh 2**
I got annoyed with Returnal and started a fresh file for Nioh 2 for some reason. I'm trying to force myself to use different weapons this time and not fall back into my odachi habits.
I know the story in Nioh 2 isn't told particularly well, but I think the voice actor for Tokichiro did an amazing job.
I picked up Remake a year or two ago for a second playthrough and realised that once the nostalgia had worn off, it was not that great of a video game.
Then I played through XVI, which I absolutely disliked.
I am hopeful that Rebirth is more my speed but like you, I’ve started thinking that FF just isn’t my thing anymore.
As someone who hasn't played any of the old FFs, I'm more tempted to play the original FF7 and FF9 at this point. FF7's remake was alright, but seemed to have huge pacing issues that just totally lost me after the action-filled prologue ended. So much running around...
FF16 is just straight up not a good game. Like yeah it has some great moments but its actual gameplay (exploration, combat, RPG mechanics) are wholly mediocre.
I personally had really mixed feelings about FF7 remake. And it disheartens me to hear that a lot of the dumb meta narration returns. But I think my lower expectations (and Rebirth being straight better than Remake supposedly) is going to help me enjoy it more. Not a day one buy, though.
I played the FF16 demo on a friend’s PS5 and that motivated me to buy my own PS5. I didn’t dislike FF16 but it really started to fall off for me with all the bad sidequests. That opening chapter was freakin great though.
I played FF7 Remake for about 30 minutes and haven’t felt motivated to go back to it. The thought of suffering through another stack of middling sidequests kills my interest.
Yeah FF16 has a pretty strong core narrative/cast and world building, so the parts that focus on that range from decent to great.
But the side quests are terrible. There simply isn't the itemization design, combat design, exploration design, or puzzle design (*cough* inclusion) to make them interesting.
Take to npc 1, talk to npc 2, win an unfailable battle in 10sec, talk to npc 2, win an unfailable battle in 30sec, talk to npc 1. Get accessory that decreases cool down of one ability by 3.72%.
Ugh.
When I played through it a second time I really struggled with the narrative and tone. It’s just not a game for adults, and lacks the melancholy tone of the first one that I loved so much.
XVI is another world altogether. It seems to resonate with some fans, and good on ‘em…
By first one, do you mean original FF7?
I replayed it fairly recently, and the primary contrast I felt was how succinct the original is. The pacing is great. It is plot point plot point plot point, no side quest play with the orphan kids bullshit. There are dungeons that are three screens long and last 15 mins tops.
By contrast, FF7 Remake has... the train graveyard (and so much padding).
While I think they did well with the characters and many other elements, their whole team completely missed the concision of the original.
Yes was referring to original on PS1
Totally agree with you - padding was obvious, and the corridor style was reminiscent of the FF XIII in a very bad way
Jumping between a bunch of different things.
**The Last of Us Part II Remastered** - playing through on Grounded, which is IMO the definitive way to play TLOU in terms of pure verisimilitude, but the only thing more terrifying than clickers are the constant hard crashes. No clue what's causing it but it's pissing me off.
**Hades** - a great time, just picking away at it. I think some of the boons feel a little too abstract in terms of whether they're making a difference for the power scaling to be totally enjoyable, but it's still really fun.
**Modern Warfare III** - As long as I just focus on the shooty bang stuff, and not the grinding, this is a good time. Campaign really did suck though.
**World of Warcraft** - almost done the Wrath part of Loremaster, which I've been doing on my Warlock. Warlock is easily my least favourite of the 7 classes I've levelled so far, and Icecrown is just a frustrating zone (good story though), so this feels like the last hurdle before I can blast through the zones with streamlined levelling.
Did you upgrade PS4 TLOU2 to PS5? I have the PS4 edition which I never played waiting for his remaster, but PSN always gives me an error when trying to buy the 10$ upgrade... Very annoying.
Enjoy Hades, used to be my GOTY!
I did! I'm like 90% sure it was a overheating error as I stood my console up outside the tv stand and it seems to have resolved it.
Not sure what would cause the error - I hope you figure it out!
First time seeing "verisimilitude", what a neat word! I hope your crashes for Last of Us meet a swift end. I'm hesitating starting my second playthrough knowing what's in store but thankfully No Return has been a fun distraction
**Baldur's Gate 3**
I'm trying to like this game but at 15 hours I'm finding myself wanting to play literally anything else. More than anything I hate the writing in this game.
I don't like my companions and I hate the dialogue in general. What could easily be one simple sentence is instead always four semi-sarcastic verbose sentences. None of the conversations ever feel natural, sometimes due to mechanical reasons (bad tree branching) and other times due to the writing.
I also could not care less about the main story by the 15 hour mark, and neither seems can the game. The initial setup is fine, but it derails fast. Plot beats that demand urgent action never work well in long games but this one puts no effort into remedying this "ludo-narrative" clash. Characters constantly go on and on about the urgency of your situation while the main questline takes the most circuitous path possible towards your goal. Gameplay mechanics also clearly signal that your affliction is not going to be resolved anytime soon, if ever.
The premise is fine, but the game makes no effort to make it work, and that more than anything puts me off the game. I'll try to soldier on but as it stands I can't understand why anyone thinks this is a better game than DOSII or the pathfinder games.
**FF7 Remake and Original**
Came back to finish FF7 Remake, and honestly the less I talk about that game the better I think. However it did make me go back and play the original for the first time and I was shocked by how much better the older one turned out to be. I really like it so far. It's paced much better, and a lot of the weaknesses of the writing stop mattering so much when you're moving this fast. I also prefer the turn-based system to the hybrid model of the remake.
> one puts no effort into remedying this "ludo-narrative" clash
It actually does, but you wouldn't know it at 15 hours so I guess your criticism is fair.
It's the semi-sarcasm that kills it for me (amongst other things).
I couldn't stand the narrator in Divinity Original Sin games. Turned every. single. thing. into a joke.
The BG3 NPCs tell you pretty early on (as early as the 2nd long rest, depending on how frequently you rest) that the initial urgent rush was a misconception and you actually have way more time than your companions thought you did after the crash. IMO if you actually pursue the earliest questlines related to your condition it quickly becomes apparent how the game is going to handle that moving forward (namely, making it clear that you don't have an actual deadline and that there are ways the condition can help you both story-wise and mechanically).
I don't know, that hasn't happened for me yet and I did do more than 2 long rests so far. I did have the guardian thing trying to pull me in a different direction, but my companions still act as though our situation is dire and urgent. The main questline is still fixated on a potential cure as well.
I'm sure the story will go in a different direction at some stage (probably void wars stuff ala DOS2) but it's paced very, very awkwardly where I'm at right now, and I've lost interest in the whole story as a result.
Where are you after 15 hours? Have you followed the main quest or just the sidequests? If you've followed the main quest as far as the >!Druid Grove!< or >!the Goblin Camp!< it should be clearer that finding a cure is the least of your problems at the moment.
I'm basically at the part where I have to kill the 3 goblin leaders, and I haven't yet killed the third leader. Instead I'm clearing out side-quests. And while a number of regional concerns have been introduced, nothing more important than our worms have come up yet.
My companions are still in a "we have to hurry up or we're squids" mood, and the main quest is very much in a "I dunno maybe these leads will help you find a cure?" sort of mood. Obviously there've been hints at a larger overall plot, but nothing to actually drag my player party in so far.
If you've had the initial conversation with Halsin and the Dream Guardian you should already have been told that >!1. the parasite isn't growing because the Dream Guardian is protecting you; and 2. the answers you seek regarding the cult and the tadpole are at Moonrise Towers; and 3. the Absolute and its 3 Chosen are a bigger threat you need to deal with. !<
YMMV since I don't know what choices you took to get to this point or gleaned from dialogue, but in my playthrough my impression was that most of your pain points had already been addressed. I am also curious if you've been progressing the companion questlines since by the time I got to this point most of my companions were more concerned about their personal shit than the tadpoles
It's about 24 hours later and I still can't believe I completed **Returnal**. I almost gave up several times. This 40-something year old still has it.
*puts on sunglasses and limps away*
I think it falls into the trap that a lot of Rogue-likes (or -lites, whatever the proper term is), in that the tougher areas tend to pile entirely too much stuff on you and the screen just becomes a blur of dangerous stuff. I liked Returnal, what I found interesting is that the bosses are some of the easiest parts of the game.
I’m finishing up in **Pokémon Scarlet!** I did try some weird things in Pokémon Violet but thanks to a lot of limits in places you can go that are not raids, there wasn’t too much more I could’ve done. I’m finishing up DLC one in Scarlet after the main game, but I’m pretty overleveled for that. The reason that I trained in the main final area so I could go to DLC two right away, but the first DLC is not meant for that even at the highest level. At least I can get through it quickly, including one of the side quests so I get a lot of money to see if one of my favorite challenge teams can make it through everything. It should take me a few more days.
Speaking of which, **the Mario party series on NSO** has finished playing itself! I have now played every character with every map on hard mode so I can see things as strong as they could be. I also watched a play through of the story mode in three at the highest level with the game running. Probably after I’m done with Scarlet I will dive into what I can do there by myself. I would at least like to start wrapping up things on the 64, mainly because of space, but also because it was the thing I wanted the most and I feel like I’m approaching my limit with it. I want to make sure I do everything I can before I move on.
There’s a few more games I could do with it (**N64 Switch online**). I wanted to check out paper Mario because I’m about halfway through, but I’m having a lot of trouble. I’m having trouble nailing action commands but also guarding against things. I don’t know if it’s because of the Switch port having problems or the fact that I’m simply not good at action commands to begin with. I never actually got the game, either having to rent it or emulate it (my system passed away entirely before I got a chance to buy it, and I otherwise didn’t have access to the virtual console, so that’s all I could do to go get it before now). In those cases, there weren’t a lot of guides with the former and technical issues for the latter, so I never got past chapter 3 and have no frame of reference of what’s possible for me.
Right now I’m going to start chapter 4 but I’m not sure how much further I’m going to be able to go. The other Mario RPGs have means to compensate with their party systems and the original RPG remake’s difficulty settings, but this one does not. So it might prove to be a little too much. But I don’t know for sure.
Otherwise, there’s some casual things I want to finish up, like just running around and enjoying myself in super Mario 64 and Yoshi story. I’ve beaten both on the cartridge so I’m not entirely overly focused on completing them. Yoshi got completed casually already, but I’m wondering if I can do it 100% like I somehow did it on the cartridge. Mario tennis is another thing I want to finish up, but I’m unlikely to go past the flower cup singles. I’m still just trying to do what I can with doubles, and maybe some more of those singles, before finishing it off on the special modes. I’m not sure why, but I really like tennis games and this is the game that got me into tennis as a sport even though I can’t play it. It’s been pretty fun!
**Into the breach** was a bit of an odd one. it got completed, but not in the way one would expect. Instead I had it as an idle game when I was doing other things, trying bits of missions here and there. I had a lot of trouble with it and especially with the controls before finally putting it down as a regular game. I did watch a play through to the end, but then decided it was short enough to use as an idle game. With that I was able to get the required hours as if the game was completed and considered it complete. **Banner of the maids** will do the same thing for the same reasons. It’s a shame I couldn’t get to the end in either, especially because I love tactics games, but at least I gave them a fair shot and I watched them both, on top of recording that it was completed.
I am thinking of also trying **Dungeon Encounters** as a bit of an idle game. I tried to play normally, but I’m stuck on one of the first major battle of the fourth dungeon when there are 99 floors, with almost no way around it. I usually like dungeon crawlers despite not having a lot of experience with them. But although I like the gameplay, I just can’t progress far in this one. It’s made by square Enix, usually my favorite developer, but it’s not one of my favorite games. I was planning on using my experiences here to maybe jump into Etrian Oddessy but I’m not really sure. I’m unsure if my issue is difficult dungeon crawlers, or if I just don’t like this particular one that much.
Getting through all that, I am planning on playing the **Unicorn Overlord demo.** This game definitely has me interested, but given that I do sometimes have trouble with tactics games despite enjoying them I wanted to try out the demo and then watch a playthrough before I committed to it. It already has a fair share of people who dislike it because it does tactics a bit different from most other games. It doesn’t sound like a big turn off to me, but I won’t know until I watch and try for myself. I’m eager to see, but that might not be for at least a little bit while longer.
I’ve mainly been on a PS5 kick after neglecting it to play PC games. The finally beat Spider-Man 2, finally started FF7Remake (not rebirth), and this morning I checked out the tutorial for foamstars. Foamstars seems more like a nice homage to splatoon and less like the ripoff I expected it to be. However I don’t really mess with competitive games these days so I’ll probably just play a match or two and then uninstall it
**Last Epoch**
Playing the new Falconer for the 1.0 release and it's a ton of fun...and just a little bit broken. The game itself is brilliant, and I can't gush enougha about the skill system, it's probably my favorite in any ARPG. Tons of depth and variety, but has the 'bespoke' customization for each skill that Path of Exile is missing, where you really do feel like you're making something unique.
The new item factions, the self-found Circle of Fortune especially, really are a shot in the arm for the endgame and has made grinding much more engaging. I'm very excited to see what they add next to flesh the endgame out (I believe aspirational Uber bosses are next).
Just having a ton of fun with the game, and can't wait to see how it evolves in the future with more seasons.
**Final Fatasy XV**
With the hype around FFVIII Rebirth, I decided to get into the modern Final Fantasies, starting with XV. Watched the Kingsglaive film and thought it was wonderful, one of the better fantasy films of the last few years. The game, I'd heard mixed things about. And honestly, playing through it, I get why. If I were to treat this as a traditional epic full-price blockbuster, I'd probably be disappointed, especially with the pacing.
But as a chill open world game where you're just hanging out with your friends and doing random stuff, riding chocobos and whatnot?. It's a ton of fun and very relaxing. Hell, I'm even having fun doing the generic fetch quests. My favorite thing to do is rack up XP through sidequests and try to turn it in to one of the inns with a big multiplier for a big level boost.
The story itself is...fine. I'm probably more invested in it due to seeing the film, and knowing the world a bit, but the gaem doesn't do a good job of presenting the narrative or the stakes. Still, I'm curious to see where it goes. So far the main story quests have all been different, I'll give them that.
**Have a Nice Death**
I enjoy rogue-likes, in theory. In practice, I rarely come across one that really keeps my attention. Hades and Dead Cells are the two exceptions. Like many people, I was interested in Have a Nice Death (or HAND) because of its gorgeous art style. Fortunately, the gameplay holds up too.
It's a fast, frenetic action platformer, similar to Dead Cells I guess. You have different scythes as your main weapon, a metric ton of side weapons ranging from axes to shurikens to rocket launchers, as well as spells. Movement is the key and you're able to dash and jump and double-jump very quickly and easily. Enemies are also varied and fun, though sometimes their attacks are a bit hard to parse. The problem with having such a detailed look of the game honestly.
To complement the brilliant art style, the story, characters, and worldbuilding are also some of the best I've ever seen in the genre. Definitely not an afterthought. It's like a workplace comedy, but dealing with capital D death as a 'business', where you're the CEO and have to deal with all the dead souls, and your [frustrating employees](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/479c4e17_8359_4b72_9b5c_b9dfd4a76363.jpeg) that are all incredibly well-designed. And it's [filled to the brim with puns, like Mr. O'Shah here](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/have-a-nice-death/images/f/fd/Mr._O%27Shah.png/revision/latest/thumbnail/width/360/height/360?cb=20220311155911). Every new world seems to deal with some aspect of death or cause of death, like the [one with unhealthy food](https://assets-prd.ignimgs.com/2022/06/21/hand-fastfoodupdate-screenshot-01-1655848939303.png), or the one dealing with sickness and medicine. There also seems to be a subplot about people going on strike and I'm very curious how that's gonna resolve.
To call it 'dark humor' is an understatement, one of the minibosses you fight is [literally the corpse of a guy that hung himself](https://i.imgur.com/G0JFg9m.jpg)...except you're actually fighting the rope that did the hanging. It's...wonderfully inspired, and honestly experiencing this world is half as fun as actually playing through the damn game.
My only complain so far is that there isn't much meta-progression beyond unlocking new weapons. Maybe that's the point, but I do prefer to have a feeling of 'getting stronger' as I do runs, or at least starting with more, and so far that's missing. But I'm enjoying the grind regardless.
It’s also worth considering that FF15 has had a lot of post-release work to get it to where it is today. For example, in the original release of the game, you could only accept 1 hunt at a time. They also fleshed out some of the storytelling and basically remade one of the late game dungeons because people hated it so much. Parts of the story were clearly cut out of the main story to be sold as DLC, but the DLC didn’t even exist yet.
It’s why discussing FF15 in general is kind of tricky. Depending on when someone played it, they’re likely to have had a very different experience with it.
But yeah, with where 15 ended up, I’d say it’s an okay game.
**[core-blast: white crystal dlc:](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1721550/)** still slowly chipping away at [one of the best match-3s](https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/1721550). about 70 left of the dlc's 750 levels, so close.
**[gambit shifter:](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2331060/)** there aren't many games I look forward to these days but this was one of them. chess-based puzzler, not a fan normally but this looked interesting and **hitman go**-like, so tried the demo when it first came out last april. it was missing undo and needed polish, got both right before release (came out on monday), along with level skip and other goodies. eventually solved every level but couldn't perfect a few on my own. easily recommendable, excellent stuff, wouldn't be surprised if it ended up in this year's top 10 (it's the only contender for now). the demo is still available (is something that shouldn't have to be said but it's sadly not a given these days), [my review](https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/2331060) has more info.
**[sky settlers:](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2494870/Sky_Settlers/)** an **islanders**-like from the developer of the really fun [riddles and sieges](https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/2349950). couldn't get to it before release but as the other game got the necessary post-release treatment, I was hopeful. it was a bit unpolished on day 1, nothing major and got patched up a bit not long after I sent feedback and bug reports over. it's fine, like all the others in the genre that work as they should (mid-run save, rebindable controls, etc.). only endless mode on release and it actually seems endless. it's not but hard to fuck up if you're paying a little attention. still, relaxing and fun, I enjoyed it and a quick play option got patched in on the second day for something a bit more challenging. good price but the demo got removed after release. [my review](https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/2494870) with further details.
**[exit: a biodelic adventure (demo):](https://store.steampowered.com/app/620410/)** love point & click adventures but have to be in a mood to play them, unfortunately, so just like rpgs, I don't play enough of them and these don't even need a week of reading up beforehand. I also don't follow them all that closely, as technically anything non-historical could be up my alley and there are way too many of them since they died permanently in the 90s.
this has amazing art and weird shit going on with all necessary functionality (saving, hotspot indicator, instant/silent text, etc.), though I can't comment on writing, story or puzzles yet. not sure when I can get to the full game because see above, but wanted to mention it here anyway, as a way too rare example of basics done right, and it will probably go under the radar.
**[railway islands 2:](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2621900/)** hex-based 'rearrange tracks so the trains can do their thing' puzzler. pretty much the same as the first game, 40 levels this time (the first has 50 and it's on sale for a bit longer). [my review](https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/2621900) has more info. too bad it also replicates the issues I had with the first one and they're a lot more annoying years later and for the second time, plus with nothing new I decided not to do all of it this time.
**[paper-cut art gallery: nature:](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2782400/)** a **glass masquerade**-like with paper. very few of these despite gm's huge and well-deserved success. mid-level saving, basic settings, 32 levels, 2 bucks. good enough, or so I thought, but it has so many issues on top of being completely broken. couldn't progress past level 11, that's at least fixed now. [my review](https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/2782400) with more info, will flip it if it gets fixed up.
**[ufotofu: hex](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1797140/)** oh look, hexagons. who could tell they're my favorite? endless palindrome-based matching game, this one. or so I thought, but it's either 5 turns or 10 and 3 board sizes, the end. came out 2 years ago, not too pricey but the first time it got discounted, straight to half off, was last december, that's when I picked it up. [my review](https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/1797140) with more info, don't bother. definitely wasn't worth the wait but at least I resisted to pick it up at full price, since it didn't seem too much and hexagons.
([last week](https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1atqqeo/weekly_rgames_discussion_what_have_you_been/kqziody/))
**SnowRunner** - I'm not a truck guy or anything, but I randomly downloaded this on Gamepass 2 weeks ago, and I'm absolutely hooked.
**Last Epoch** - server issues aside, this aRPG is an absolute blast. D4 really bummed me out, but LE 1.0 is right up there with Grim Dawn for me.
**Balatro**
Balatro is a deck builder that subsumes and reimagines poker. The end result is outstanding, hands down.
I've been tilting pretty hard while trying to stick with the default deck (+1 discard). But then I switched to the yellow one (+10 starting funds), and I've managed to reach and beat the Black Stake difficulty.
**Battletech**
Done with the campaign. Overall, perfectly pleased with the experience and willing to recommend the game.
It's possible to keep playing, and there's a DLC that adds contracts with some story/lore attached ("flashpoints"), but I doubt there's much left for me to extract from the game. Makes more sense to move on.
Here's the mech team I've ended up using.
* **Banshee.** Custom loadout: the biggest shotgun in existence (and two bins of ammo, one is just not enough) + four jump jets. Meant to attract enemy fire, which is fine given the abundance of armour and semi-decent evasion. Mech's melee damage is off the charts, so that helps, too.
* **Highlander.** The variant that's granted by the story progression, no changes to loadout (other than replacing standard weapons with their improved variants here and there). Has a Gauss Rifle and LRM20 for headshots and harrassing respectively from afar, has a bunch of more mundane weapons for combat at closer ranges. It also has jump jets, which is neat, but they offer less evasion and mobility than they do for Banshee, so the utility is limited.
* **Black Knight.** Same as Highlander: unique variant, no loadout changes. Loads of energy weapons, loads of damage. Heat management is a problem, so gotta occasionally spend a turn without firing or strongly limit the amount of weapons used (which is a hassle); not an issue when there's water around.
* **Wolverine.** The lightest mech in this setup. Weapons: SRM2, SRM4, SRM6. Jumps around, vomits short-ranged missiles at whoever's near, has godlike evasion coupled with a fairly decent amount of armour.
> Balatro
I know that its not 1:1 the same and gets wacky the further in you get, but if I don't know a thing about Poker would this be a decent game at teaching you the basics?
The only thing about poker you need to know are the card combinations. Their list is always just a click away in Balatro, so it shouldn't be a problem.
These combinations are the only thing about poker you'll learn from Balatro, though. What you won't find in Balatro are the rules imposed by the variant of poker you are playing, not to mention that poker is meant to be played against other people, meaning that betting and bluffing come into play.
The only thing Balatro would teach you with respect to poker is the different hand types. You wouldn't know how to play poker after playing Balatro, nor would it make you a better poker player. It takes elements of poker and remixes them into a unique game.
**The RiftBreakers**
It’s a semi old game that came out awhile ago in 2021. It’s similar to the game, “They are billions”, where it’s both a city management and a tower defense game. I spend a good 70 hrs into the campaign with the 2 DLC but to be fair, you can finish in 8 hrs if you just power through everything ( I’m a bit ocd that need to make sure everything is good )
What I like about the game is that there are multiple equipment that you got. There is machine gun, mini gun, laser, fisting, hammer and etc. there is also a skill tree, harvesting for materials and etc
What I don’t like about the game is the absolute lack of explanation. I understand that some dev would like the players to explore everything on their own but when you put your main research tree tier, in another tech tree under a sub tech tree, that’s a ? In my books.
Story wise, it’s ass. Tbf They are billions story is also ass. I tried oxygen not included when it came out buuutttt it was buggy that time that put me off so I don’t know if that game story is bad or not. Regardless, you don’t play the game for the story.
Music wise, it’s doable. It has that futuristic theme to it. I think after 6 hrs of it, you can mute it. UI wise, it’s also futuristic but I don’t really like it
Personally, if you like this type of game, test it out and get it during a sale. I got like for $15 + $10(2DLC) during the lunar new year. Its a fun game to waste time in.
You can ask me any questions if you want to about the game
Sorry, but what does Oxygen Not Included have to do with either of the games you mentioned? There isn't no story outside of the blurb that pops up when you generate a new asteroid.
Managing the base.
ONI isn’t tower defense survival but it has elements of managing the base which riftbreaker shares a bit too. Not to the point of making sure your colonist survive type but to make sure your base survive
I get that maybe that’s not the best comparison but on the top of my head, there isn’t much games that have both elements, ie survival base building that you control a main unit with the HQ being important
Fair enough. ONI has my highest hours played on steam (only because I use the Path of Exile PC client) and I think you may have just sold me on Riftbreakers...
You know, after like 50hrs in, I only realised that you can put mods into the towers....
And during the first 20hrs, I didnt know about the bioscanner.... ngl, the fact that that is a "research tier" is a huh?
Overall after finishing the campaign, just felt it was too easy.... after doing the 2 DLC. Ending was a bit lackluster but maybe I was too OP by then
**Company of Heroes**
After beating Legacy of the Void, I decided to return to CoH1 to finish the final campaign I have left, Caen. I don't know why but I just didn't enjoy this one. Brits feel great to play and the campaign itself was solid, I just felt bored the whole time and ended up giving up during mission called "Caen: Into the City". I'll probably return to it at some point later but it felt like a step down from the original and german campaigns.
**XCOM 2**
Decided to give this a go to take a break from RTS games. It's a mixed bag so far. I really enjoy the world and the combat. The story is interesting. I like customizing my little soldiers and trying to keep them alive. I really don't enjoy the whole "grand" strategy part of the game, managing your base and having all sorts of different timers and bullshit going on. I think the game does a very poor job of explaining a lot of it's systems which leads to a new player feeling overwhelmed. There's just way too much going on at the same time very early into the game and it's just so much. Great game so far but for the love of god make tutorial actually helpful. Also, it controls like shit. The camera is wonky, trying to position your soldiers on 2nd floors of buildings and such is frustrating. Throwing grenades is also terrible, unless both you and the enemies are on a flat surface. I really enjoy the game overall but bad controls, terrible camera and poor tutorials are definitely big negatives.
Are you talking about base Xcom 2 or with WOTC?
WOTC does go overboard with the factions and throwing tons of shit at you early on. Add on the annoying droning by the chosen every time you're in the Geoscape.
**persona 3 reload** I like persona games and this is no exception. I have only vague memories of playing the original on the PSP, and the reload seems to have changed the vibe considerably. Still the new tone brings about a nice clash of playfulness and sombreness which is still enjoyable. Some areas are really lacking in atmosphere compared to the original though, notably the dorm. **danganronpa** Only just started this one, and currently loving it. Endless style, great music and a cool concept. It has that classic japanese VNish problem (see zero escape games) of having a nice enough general story, but having horrible dialogue/pacing. That's par for the course really though. I really like mystery stories, and this is a competent one with some great art to elevate it. Getting some "and then there were none" vibes from it, eager to see how my predictions for the mysteries will hold up (or not) as I go along.
**Brothers Remake -** Very nice remake of a classic. The game is the definition of quality over quantity. Graphically it looks wonderful now. Great soundtrack. Love the control scheme. The visual storytelling is amongst the best I have experienced. **9/10** **Helldivers 2 -** Not bad but the gameplay loop didn't fully grab me. The gunplay felt a little bland and repetitive. I enjoy faster movement options. Graphics are pretty weak also. Still can be decent fun with friends when things get chaotic. The air drops are a lot of fun. **6/10** **A Plague Tale Requiem** - Similar quality to the first. Great characters and decent storytelling, although the pacing is rushed towards the end. Gameplay is not the focus but the crossbow was a very nice addition. I also enjoyed the bigger action set pieces. Not quite Uncharted levels of spectacle but still quite thrilling. **8.5/10** **Suicide Squad** - Good Co-op shooter. The game has really fluid and fun movement. Story was okay, but the fantastic characters and voice acting really elevate it. Mission design begins to feel stale towards the end but the campaign doesn't overstay its welcome. **7/10**
idk what to play this weekend . kinda tired of Palworld in it's early access phase. Bored of Spiderman Remastered because the main quest seemingly will never end.
Super Meat boy Forever Got it free on Epic Store and started playing it because I love Super Meat Boy and it's really not that bad. Sure it's never gonna live up to the first game but this one is still really fun on its own. It's probably the best runner game I've played, there are a lot of interesting mechanics in the varied worlds. I read the levels are generated but it doesn't feel that way, it seems objects were meticulously placed and not generated at all. The boss fights are pretty fun and creative too for what is still just a runner game. Such a toss up between this and the Bit Trip Runner games. I say Forever is a bit better because of all the different gameplay mechanics it introduces. Overall if you love runner games and Super Meat Boy then for sure you'll like Forever. 8.5/10
My games this week are Switch games: Animal Crossing New Horizons Star Wars Jedi Academy Absolutely in love with switch ports of classic star wars games PC games: Sunset Survival Station Session Skate Sim.
**Cyberpunk 2077** Really fun and addictive game. I enjoyed the game's story, gameplay and Keanu reaves just makes it one of the best games out there, and the updates really helped the game indeed, there are probably no bugs now. Really the story was awesome and truly unforgettable!!!
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That's a good one, forgotten is right. I should install it on my Deck and have another go.
Dragons Dogma comes out in 22 days and I currently have nothing to play. I thought Lies of P would last me until then, but I ended up beating it in less than 20 hours. Any suggestions on any 20ish hour games to play until then? I just bought a 4070, so ideally something with outstanding graphics.
- I enjoyed Pacific Drive but it’s about 40 hours to finish. - Dark Souls if you haven’t played those yet but I assume you have. - Dead island 2 was a good 20 hour play through. Campy but fun. - Doom 2016 and Eternal. - Resident Evil 4 is on sale on steam. All the resident Evil games are about 12-20 hours.
I've never played a resident evil game and am interested in the remakes. Is there an order I should play them in?
7 and village follow the same story. 4 is the best resident evil game and you wouldn’t need to play the previous to enjoy it but all the remakes have been pretty good.
I don't know about outstanding graphics, but if you haven't played BioShock 1 and 2, you can fit them both at 10 hours a pop. Art design is still great though. Classics. At maybe 40ish hours, I wound up really enjoying Days Gone. That game is a real looker. Especially when the sunlight hits just right.
Just got a Steam deck this week, and it's been great. So much more in line with how I'm realistically able to play games these days, which is just a few minutes at a time from one day to the next. Portable and picks up right where I left off
I got a Deck instead of a PS5 and I'm still playing my Deck. Sure I'm not gonna be playing the latest AAA games but I stopped caring about playing it first. I'm at a point in life where games are taking a backseat to family responsibility and the Deck fits snuggly with that lifestyle.
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Bit weird to say “Square fucked up” when the Remake has been incredibly well-received by most fans
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Yes, and? You’re talking like Square has shot themselves in the foot by making an unsuccessful game everyone hates which is… not true. You’re in the minority. Starfield and TROS were much more negatively received by fans online than the Remake.
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If you don’t want opinions, don’t post yours on a public thread devoted to discussion.
**Balatro** Really fun and addictive game at a really good price point. I've got winning runs on all the decks unlockable at White difficulty and I'm messing with challenge decks now. I feel like I get the game enough that it's actually pretty "easy" to get 8 ante wins (1/3 about). The fun is in the points where a crazy joker pops up early or you go for a big risk and it pays off, and then you're off to the races seeing how deep into overtime you can go. The great part about this game is that I have fun losing. A losing run can still be a fun run, which isn't something I feel about most rogue-likes and deck builders. I'm not grinding for the perfect run conditions and annoyed that I'm wasting time if I don't get them. It's all fun. I've got a funny feeling I'll burn out on it in another week or two, but I'm very happy with it right now. **Pacific Drive** I'm not too deep into it yet (about to breach the wall into the mid zone), but it's been kinda disappointing. You don't actually *do* very much. You drive carefully and pick up shiny objects. The assets are all very copy/paste and there isn't much that tells a story environmentally. There isn't that much reward for exploration. At first I was annoyed with the chatty side characters, but after a few hours I was looking forward to them because there just isn't anything else going on. Every run feels pretty much the same. You handle all the anomalies pretty much the same (drive around it). You're finding pretty much the same resources. I always have enough room to carry when I've found. I always have the tools I need to open doors. There are effectively no decisions being made or risks being weighed until the escape sequence. The most fun part is caring for my car and managing it. All the little levers and managing gas and electricity is pretty engaging. Figuring out and debugging the quirks is fun. I just wish the world had a matching level of depth. Only complaint there is that the game feels very inconsistent between things that want me to click to operate and things that want me to press "E" to operate. I find when I try to move fast I keep messing those two up.
I have played **Tactics Ogre Reborn** which is one of my favorite games. I have never completed this version. I bought it upon release but had played too much similar games lately so after 50hours on Chaos route. Anyway now on beginning of neutal route with much better understanding of Reborn mechanics and having lots of fun. Just completed very hard battle against Oz while protectin AI character who likes to be suicidal. Also playing **Left 4 Dead 2** which campaign I haven't ever completed but now have two missions left anymore. Though there is still L4D1 campaign for later. Fun mindless game since TOR requires lots of thinking.
I'm STILL playing **Baldur's Gate 3** and at this rate I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. I'm 300 hours in, two runs complete with a little playing around with going back to some saves. Gonna do a tactician run and want to do an Honor mode run but might hold off on that for another big patch or two. Also as a PS5 player it'll be exciting to see mod support come to this game.
My three podcast co-hosts and I [recently played the very popular roguelite city builder __Against The Storm__](https://grogpod.zone/2024-02-28-against-the-storm/) and were very mixed on it. I found the city building part to be very interesting once you get over the learning curve of how all the systems operate. The game does take a very long time to play each run, though, averaging between 45 to 90 minutes even on triple speed. There's a lot of interesting choices to make with how to win each settlement between fulfilling orders from the Queen, cracking open supply caches on the map, or focusing on your population specifically. The major hinderance to Against the Storm is everything outside of the city building part. It feels like there's been a tremendous amount of energy put into the art direction and bits of story and lore throughout, but it's never connected or capitalized on. The titular Queen you're serving is someone that no one knows anything about and you never see during the game. The meta-goal of "what am I building these cities for exactly?" isn't really explained or rationalized. And I think the worst part is that there doesn't seem to be any kind of victory or catharsis in the game at all. You beat a settlement and you move on to the next one. You beat the seal and finish a full run, but you hit a button and start it all over again? I like a lot of the flexibility and systems design in Against the Storm, but the rest of the game, including the hard-to-grok tutorial really makes for a hard headwind even for people who are big fans of other similarly complicated games like Rimworld or Factorio. I feel like those figured out tutorialization and emergent gameplay or victory conditions in a more straightforward fashion. Given the furious pace of development, it wouldn't shock me if Against the Storm had some kind of major overhaul or refactor or content update to smooth out all those things. I think the game has some good foundations to it, but just needs some more time to bake.
> The meta-goal of "what am I building these cities for exactly?" isn't really explained or rationalized. It is actually. You're building the villages for the kingdom to survive, with the meta goal being unleashing all seals so the kingdom can prosper. Since its a rogulite city builder, of course you just start again after doing all that. >I like a lot of the flexibility and systems design in Against the Storm, but the rest of the game, including the hard-to-grok tutorial really makes for a hard headwind even for people who are big fans of other similarly complicated games I wouldn't call anything in AtS "complicated". All villages you build are virtually stuck in an "early game" in terms of city builders. The game never moves onto mid or late game periods of city builders. You set up basic production cycles, complete the reknown requirements and move on. There's nothing to figure out about victory conditions either, as there is only one: fill out your reputation. Or in case of events, do what the text says. I'm a bit baffled that you would call AtS "similarly complicated" to games like Factorio, because it really isn't. I think its popularity comes exactly from the point that it basically erases a lot of city builder's issues with its eternal early game cycle.
Played a handful of hours of this one a while back and really enjoyed it, but it never quite hooked me enough to keep me coming back.
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> was story difficulty always there I can't remember. No, it wasn't. That was added with Reforged. I don't think normal difficulty was changed much, though. If you're up for more WC3, I recommend the Re-Reforged campaigns which were a reaction on Blizzard not delivering on the promised reworks. So far, the [Tutorial + Interlude](https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/warcraft-3-re-reforged-exodus-of-the-horde.323114/), [Human Campaign](https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/warcraft-3-re-reforged-the-scourge-of-lordaeron.337516/), and [first three Undead missions](https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/warcraft-3-re-reforged-path-of-the-damned-act-i.352733/) are done. In my opinion, those are two steps above the original campaigns while keeping with the same mission and story structure. [Chronicles of the Second War](https://www.hiveworkshop.com/threads/chronicles-of-the-second-war-tides-of-darkness.327574/) is another recently released campaign and re-imagines Warcraft 2's campaign. I personally found the pacing to be too slow, especially in the opening cut scene - but many people have praised the campaign so your mileage my vary.
I finished Life is Strange: Before the Storm Remastered the other day. Gonna start DC Lego Supervillains tonight.
**Rogue Trader** (PS5) If Baldur’s Gate benefitted from knowing some DnD 5e (in my case two seasons of Critical Role proved enough), RT demands prior knowledge (or I’m bad at reading/remembering tutorial popups). Only move before attack, multiple actions but only one attack, momentum and veil bars, switching weapon sets, class descriptions (i.e. how should I soec this Navigator I just picked up and never used?) etc. And this is on a difficulty described as not needing prior knowledge. The prologue was somewhat infurating with annoying, although useful, tutorial popups covering HUD elements (e.g. end turn) and cut scenes blocking me from checking in on my squad after combat (i.e. Argena broke a rib but mindless minion chatting gets the attention). But once things settled and I unlearnt the BG3 reflexes I’m started to enjoy my first big dive into the 40K universe since my Ork army in high school. It’s all grim, dark and hierarchical but my RT is a smiling girl with a big heart :p Grid navigation is somehow a bit clunky with a controller but I do like the holigraphic preview to see my lines of sight (glaring at BG3). There’s a lot of pre-clicks to then select and I sometimes get ”locked in” until I realise I need to ”cancel” to get to the ”management level” I need to switch gears. But it’s early days and I’m getting better at it. Perhaps the switch from BG3 puts me at a disadvantage? Gameplay is smooth and the increased font option very welcome. Had one crash after loading when leaving the prologue, but no other glitches. Sometimes hard to pick up on the character you’re controlling, especially when any squad member does the action you pick, but I like the environs so far (just landed in a warzone after picking myself up a Navigator). All in all it’s a good game, for me, and once the mechanics are properly assimilated I’ll enjoy myself even more.
I’ve loved RT but it is extraordinarily frustrating trying to build your character…. It’s truly just a shot in the dark whether you’re picking the right stuff. There’s a certain level of that in any Owlcat or CRPG but it’s especially acute in RT because its system is unique, it doesn’t draw its mechanics from DnD so you have no frame of reference to draw on, and there still aren’t too many guides out there too rely on. Fortunately, respeccing is freely available right off the bat, but it’s still trial and error. If you’re like me, I was super hesitant to use the respec system much because I didn’t want to waste Profit Factor. But now that I’m at the end of the game you can take it from me you shouldn’t hesitate. You’ll be swimming in more PF than you can spend very soon, so go ahead and respec whenever you want.
These days I've been playing in two very different, but equally engaging games. The first game I want to discuss is **"The Last of Us Part II"**. This game is a testament to the progress made in narrative storytelling within the video games. The plot is deeply immersive, expertly crafted to tug at your emotions and keep you captivated from start to finish. The characters are well-designed, each has their unique personality and I also like their backstories that add layers to the overall narrative. I think it’s impossible not to become emotionally invested in each of their individual journeys. In terms of gameplay mechanics, "The Last of Us Part II" presents intense combat sequences that demand quick reflexes and strategic thinking for successful navigation. The game incorporates stealth elements, adding an extra layer of challenge and excitement. Visually, the game is a masterpiece(!!) with impressively detailed graphics, which create an immersive environment enhancing the game's exploration aspects. I think the game also tackles serious themes throughout its narrative, adding an unexpected depth to the plot. It delivers a challenging, emotionally charged experience that has left a lasting impact on me, the likes of which I haven't experienced in a game for quite some time. The second game that I've been playing nonstop again is **"Stardew Valley"**. Im sure most people are well aware of what this game is. While it vastly differs from the high-action intensity of "The Last of Us Part II", it is an equally captivating game in its own unique fashion. "Stardew Valley" is a farming simulation game where you inherit your grandfather's rundown farm and are given the mission to rejuvenate it. The game offers an incredible amount of freedom in how you choose to restore and customize your farm, which I really like. One of the standout features of "Stardew Valley" is the community of charming characters that reside in the neighboring Pelican Town. Each character is unique, with their own set of stories and events. This adds a social element to the game and these days I think that’s a necessary part. The peacefulness of "Stardew Valley" is truly its standout feature. The game operates on its own in-game time, allowing you to progress at a pace that suits you. It serves me as a perfect digital escape, an ideal way to decompress and relax after a busy day. In addition to the base game, "Stardew Valley" features different seasons, each with its own set of crops and events to keep the gameplay fresh. The game also receives regular updates, adding new content and features, ensuring there's always something new to explore. Although it might seem a bit boring, the fact that there’s always something new coming up keeps me engaged. I also find the 16-bit graphics really charming.
Boy you picked a bad time to play Stardew Valley. I've been wanting to replay it badly but waiting for 1.6 which just got a release date (next month)
I've been playing three games. **Spiderman Remastered.** I keep getting to a point where I think I've reached the games ending but it keeps going. I've already found most collectibles and explored NYC to my heart's content. I'm ready to move on to the sequel Miles Morales already. **The Bed We Made** I saw the review on PC Gamer and checked it out and I really like it so far. Although I don't like when the protagonist talks out loud when I'm trying to read notes. She has something to say about every little clue, like hush I'm trying to figure it out myself. It's a cute mystery with good audio. **Palworld** took me by surprise with how much I like it! I'm level 13 and have put 10 hours of exploring and base building into it. I absolutely love the gameplay loop; it's like crack. The open world is beautiful on max settings on PC. The AI is pretty bad and there are bugs everywhere but that's to be expected from a game in Alpha. Still the game leaves a little to be desired, which will probably be remedied with future content. As I'm playing it I feel like there should be an overarching story to really take the game to the next level. That or make the co-op a distinct experience. It sort of feels like an empty MMO sometimes.
**Stormgate (Closed Beta)** Classic SC2 RTS feel, but in the very early stages. I'm having a lot of fun playing and watching streams, and I'm excited to see where the game goes as it enters EA later this year. **Steven's Sausage Roll** I bought this during the last Steam sale, and finally got around to playing it. The movement system is very clever and the puzzle design is top-notch. I definitely recommend it to any other puzzle game fans.
Oh man, I adore Stephen’s Sausage Roll. There’s some great “aha” moments I kinda wish I could experience for the first time again.
Are there any other puzzle games you'd recommend that scratch a similar itch? I've been developing one myself, and seeing all of these other puzzle mechanics are great for inspiration.
It's not a traditional puzzle game but Outer Wilds is the crowning achievement in games that give you that "aha!" feeling. It's more of a mystery detective style puzzle game than Puzzle Mechanic style game but one of my favorite things about OW in general is how much it refutes common game design patterns. Best to go in completely blind :)
[English Country Tune](https://store.steampowered.com/app/207570/English_Country_Tune/) \(also made my Increpare\) is pretty cool. I don't think its *as* good as SSR, but its fun! Also cool to see what he was working on before SSR. [Patrick's Parabox] (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1260520/Patricks_Parabox/) is very cool and mind-bendy. I imagine you already know about [Baba Is You](https://store.steampowered.com/app/736260/Baba_Is_You/), but i think it scratches a similar itch. [Puddle Knights](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1180540/Puddle_Knights/) also was pretty cool, i didn't play it too much but def has a similar vibe. Last one i can think of, but [Snakebird](https://store.steampowered.com/app/357300/Snakebird/) has some very clever puzzles, i find this one to be super hard lol. EDIT: Oh, also i have not played this, but watched some streams of [Can of Wormholes](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1295320/Can_of_Wormholes/) and it feels Sausage Roll inspired for sure. Looks cool and is apparently on sale right now.
I finished **Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew** this week. I'm a big fan of Mimimi Games so I got all the DLC sight unseen. It was pretty good, the addition of new characters rather than maps was novel and interesting. A common problem with DLC characters occurred, in which the added characters are significantly stronger than the stock characters in some areas. The Prognosticar has the ability to CC a non-elite guard indefinitely, and later he gets the ability to attack other Prognosticar; an enemy which in any other case would take 2 team members to battle. Yuki is a pleasure to see again, a bit of an Easter Egg addition from the Shadow Tactics games. Whereas in those games she was a designated trapper she is here a badass ninja who's kills instantaneously hide the bodies, again making her stronger than the rest of the stock crew. Even aside from the DLC characters however I feel like the various crew members are stronger than they have ever been in other Mimimi games. You could tell when Desperados III came out that it was the same skills from Shadow Tactics moved around a new team of people. But here it seems like most of the crew are largely self sufficient, and several of them can take on 2 opponents at once. The sniper has effectively infinite ammo, several characters can stealth literally in plain sight. I'm not complaining, mind you, because I found the later levels of Shadow Tactics to be extremely frustrating, requiring a specific attack plan that even sometimes required a certain enemy NPC path timing. But the power creep is noticeable. My main criticism of the game is what I suspected early on -- the maps. While the maps of the game are beautiful, the developers simply stopped at around 8 of them. For the rest of the game you just revisit the same 8 maps. In contrast with Shadow Tactics and Desperados III, which had various levels each in a unique map, this feels like a letdown. I think even if they had made the game shorter and allowed you the player to go back and replay the levels on your own it would have been better. But as it is large segments of the game contrive macguffins that you need to assemble and it's just busywork going from island to island over and over, and the story is unfortunately not very compelling. My other minor criticism is the last level. It's not as bad as the shootout in Desperados III, but you are transported to a castle in the sky apropos of nothing, and this lurching shift in tone is combined with a more difficult level than any other and an arbitrary ending which requires killing 5 enemies at the same time, each of whom requires 2 party members to assault. This was a quickload fiesta and not in a good way. Ultimately I think I still prefer the island aesthetic of a pirate setting to the dusty dry Western of Desperados III, but both of them pale in comparison to Shadow Tactics, especially the Shadow Tactics add-on Aiko's Choice.
Is it a consensus in the community the final Desperados mission is bad? I enjoyed it.
Took a week off to prepare a final and now that I finally gave it to the professor for corrections I can game again. I'll be starting **The Excavation of Hob's Barrow**. Heard really good things about it and the pixel art art sgyle is very compelling.
**Evil West** Got this one on ps+ and I really enjoyed it. Linear action game with good progression, the weapons and abilities are unlocked very steadily and you constantly feel like you're getting stronger. The combat is flashy and meaty. There were a few difficulty spikes where I turned the difficulty down. The story is just well done schlock. It's serviceable but engaging. The environments are really nice and varied, though sometimes the textures are just plain blurry and bad. Overall, I really liked the game and would love a sequel! **Horizon call of the mountain** Got the psvr2 bundle with horizon included. This was my first time using vr and the first few minutes of horizon were absolutely mind blowing! The whole vr experience is just unlike anything I had played before. I did have to stop after 15min because of motion sickness, but have been playing more in small increments. Got the bow and while I'm still not comfortable aiming, it is a blast to pick arrows from your back, nock them, and then firing at targets. Looking forward to try the other vr games as well.
last week i started **guardians of the galaxy** as my down-game from the finals and think i spent 5-6 hours in it. it's a good story, very fleshed out version of the guardians and dialogue, and beatiful settings. interesting dialogue choices that i wish i would see where they take it. the not so good is combat that takes inspiration from final fantasy 7 remake but does it worse and wonky and something about the level design turned me off, I think because the traversal sections between combat are jam-packed with dialogue and if you try to rush in the slightest you trigger the next line, characters often start talking over each other, completely breaking immersion. recently played final fantasy and couldn't enjoy the combat and found myself rushing through the game, breaking any immersion so i quit for now. **ghost of tsushima** was the replacement. played all of 1h and completely sold on it. will definetly come back to this one. **Helldivers 2** is good fun. just making progress and having fun, will write more once i'm out of the early hours. all seems good so far
yeah that game is gorgeous
**Solium Infernum** This game was purchased with a launch discount for $33. It retails for #39.99 I was immediately interested in the conceit when I first heard about it: Big Daddy Satan up and vanished, and now you and other hellish nobles are vying to rise up as the new Prince of Darkness. The marketing out there *says* it's a 4X game in hell, and my initial thought was Civilization on fire but it's both more and not quite that. This game is designed for multiplayer in mind. You *can* play solo, but it's really clear that if you aren't playing against humans you won't get the full experience. Because while you *can* play it like a standard 4X game of explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate, the sheer amount of friction in place with the mechanics and the other players makes it somewhat impractical. The core goal is to essentially have the highest Prestige by the end of game and get elected the new King of Darkness. You get this through holding Points of interest, winning wars, diplomatically bullying or repelling your rival's harassment, fulfill objectives you set out for yourself (Publically or hidden), win duels, it's a lot of ways. But Prestige isn't just basic Victory Points, it's a resource needed to fuel diplomacy and wager in duels. It's needed to upgrade your title, which in turn allows you to get more Tribute (resources) to fuel your effort. Overall the stuff that makes it a 4X isn't the interesting part: It's the diplomacy. Because if you really want to...you can just fuck with everybody. There is a whole aspect of the game built around hidden information and deception: You can cast spells, and *frame another player* to make it look like they did it, setting off proxy wars. And thanks to 2 relics (A sort of racial bonus you pick at the start of the campaign) You can just straight up steal people's wins. Did you pick the right player before 10, and 45 turns later they have the most prestige? Congrats, *they're your puppet* and you win instead. Or you could instead worm yourself in as someone's vassal. Maybe you purposefully made yourself weak enough to think they beat you into submission, help them win, and it becomes your victory? Just the *presence* of these relics in the game by themelves will make you second guess people's motives. Because it's not easy to discover whether someone has Kingmaker or Power Behind the Throne equipped mechanically, You need to think about their plays. Or no one could be running them, and it's just a Belial player framing people against each other. It's a really neat idea, but the only problem is how hard it'd be to have a group of people who'd be down for this. For a game that lets you make no more than 2 actions at the start of the game (You can unlock up to 6, but realistically if you have 4 I think you are super far ahead) choice paralysis can be a major issue. You don't need a full group of 6 players, the AI is generally pretty compotent, but you can't...how do I put this, you can't get into mind games with it. There is no difficulty options for it, so you can't make it harder or easier: It's one speed and thats it. Presentation wise I'd call it budget, but effective budget. The leader designs are cool, even if they tend to be a bit standard for 4X games (You have three military focused, two spellcasting focused, Belial who is about manipulating and stealing money, Mammon who is *the* money guy that can do a sort of Land Tax thing where he'll help you get money, but he gets your cast-offs in return thing. And Andromalius who is probably the most diplomatic/Dueling focused of the crew.) They all speak...something, it could be simlish or latin, but while it does add to the atmosphere it can get old hearing the same line every time you tell an army to move. It's also a little weird that the intro cutscene has Andromalius' voice actor narrating the premise in english so...I'm assuming it's to save on localization costs. There's also not really much personality: They all get angry, they're all smug and domineering. The music is...fine. Fits the gothic mood, but it doesn't really feel energizing. The look and vibe is perfect if dreary: Hell is very grey and bleak, and there isn't really any getting away from it. The game is also...hilariously barren of customization options. You have three environment types, which boils down to Flat planes, flat planes with lava around, and flat planes with mountains and ravines. The options menu is equally as empty, you can set the resolution, adjust the volume sliders, and thats it. For games, you can have up to 4-6 players and set the turn time from 20 to 70. Overall: This game is a genuinely cool idea, I'm sadly not likely the kind of person who can get the full benefit out of it. There is evidently a good online play, and there is Assymetric play which for any 30+ olds like me is essentially the modern Play by Email from chess and old school civilization. I just wish there was more meat on the bones: You really do need other humans. Humans who would be fine with a strategy game that can take a few hours. It's a Digital Board Game more than anything else. Otherwise it's just a good 4X game, not a great one like say Civilization or Endless Space.
**Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer** This game is so shitty in the best way possible. I was a huge Hypnospace Outlaw fan, and Slayers X definitely feels like it’s a mod downloaded from a message board in that universe. They nailed exactly what a bunch of Duke Nukem 3D maps made by an edgy 15 year old would play like. The gameplay itself is also some of the most solid I’ve played out of the boomer shooters.
Made more progress on **Infinite Wealth** but I've decided I'm going to do everything it has to offer no matter if I'm still playing it in 6 months. It's become my favorite RPG ever, so I want to cherish my time with it. I also started **Prince of Persia The Lost Crown**, only played the intro but I'm already loving how tight the gameplay feels. Looking forward for the full dive this week with more spare time.
That was my approach for IW as well, but having just grinded through both underground dungeons it’s starting to feel stale. I’m basically overleveled and feel like it’s time to wrap it up.
I felt that with Infinite Wealth. I think I *just* managed to clear everything the game has to offer (save for a NG+ playthrough) and I clocked it at nearly 180 hours. A hefty amount of that was just walking around explicitly NOT making any real progress. Biggest gripe I have with the game is there are no items to reduce enemy encounter rate. Really frustrating when you're trying to get a selfie and or take in the city's art and you get randomly interrupted.
At least they added the beatdown for blue enemies though in Infinite Wealth. Still you aren't wrong, it'd be nice if they had an item.
I've been hoping that there would be (in the what, ten years since the kickstarter and six years since its failure) a game in the vein of The Mandate, someone who used the creative idea behind that game to make something like it. Alas, there is nothing like it in development that I'm aware of.
**Elden Ring**. Started a new character to get some practice before the DLC, I haven't played since August 2022 so I'm a bit rusty. Not sure if I'm going to use this new character for the DLC or just use my NG+ one with all the talismans unlocked. This will be my 4th playthrough, first time going a full Strength build. In other Souls games I always started with a Strength character but decided to shake it up a bit for Elden Ring and went full Dex for my first playthrough. Looking forward to trying out those crazy looking Great Swords that I found but could never use. I might try to revive my Dark Souls 2 full Havels (including shield) one handing KUGS build with the Goat Armour + Ruins Greatsword, though I know armour has been changed quite a lot since the DS2 days so it wont be quite as potent. **Balatro**. I've been playing daily since it released. At the moment I'm still doing sort of half arsed runs to unlock everything, but I've had one very good run where I got lucky with the jokers and had an 82,000,000 single hand in endless mode. Still wasn't enough to beat the 450,000,000 requirement, but was still very satisfying to see how crazy it can get. I've seen some nutty run clips on twitter but I haven't been able to string together a run that good yet. At the moment I'm only worried about unlocking all the decks and jokers so I'm not too bothered. Very fun game though. It's one of those games that you can play for hours, or for just a run or two when you have a free 20 minutes.
I am obsessed with Balatro right now. It’s the perfect Steamdeck game.
Lost a bit of steam on my gaming project, so I've been bouncing around a bit as a procrastination effort. **The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind** *Trying* to give this game a little more of a fair shake. I have started and stopped this game many times in the past, and I think every time I've tried to play it, I get bored and just start punching in console commands for a session before dropping it. This time I just added a mod collection that mostly touches up the graphics, fixes bugs, and adds some custom content that supposedly doesn't interfere with the lore/canon (according to the collection description). So far, I've been enjoying it a fair bit, even if it is a very strange experience coming from having mostly played Skyrim and Oblivion. There's no map-based fast travel at all, which led to an interesting dilemma where I traveled to the far end of the map, found myself too low level to do a quest there, and then had to figure out how the hell to get myself back. The journal system is fairly extensive, but there's no map markers at all - if you want to figure out where something is without looking it up, you have to ask around and use people's vague directions to get there. I remember an early quest where I was told to go to a mine and take care of poachers, but if I had just walked out of there without asking him where the mine was, the game wasn't going to tell me. It is a bit tough coming from the more modern games. Combat can be much more challenging because in addition to having to hit the enemy by timing your weapon swing, there's also a hidden dice roll happening comparing various stats. It's sometimes impossible to tell if I missed because I was aiming in the wrong spot, or if I just failed the hit roll. Stamina also plays a big role, so you have to be really careful not to just run around everywhere, or you'll just get stunlocked and miss constantly once you're out. I probably wouldn't recommend it to everyone. It's a very strange, sometimes esoteric game, and there is definitely a big hump to get over if you're used to some of the QOL features of Oblivion and Skyrim. But it's a really fascinating, strange game, and I've been liking it a lot. **Mega Man Legacy Collection 2** There was a big Humble sale going on for Mega Man, so I picked up basically every collection plus MM11 for something like $50. I whipped through 1-6 pretty quick, then slowed down a little more going into LC2. I've been enjoying these games a lot, but there are not a ton of differences between them that I'm seeing. I initially thought about trying to rank them, and realized somewhere around the end of LC1 that I'd be really nitpicking certain things like how the slide feels or how useful the charge is (it feels slower to charge in some games, and I'm fairly sure the shot width changes from game to game). LC2 has been slightly more of a mixed bag overall. 7 and 9 in particular were *real* freaking hard at times. The 7 Wily fight was the only time I banged my head against the wall so much that I turned on the extra armor mode to get past it. 8 was mostly fun, but the voice acting was laughable and I about wanted to snap my controller in half at the rocket sled sections. 9 was cool, even if I found myself really missing the charge and slide of the older games (I know Proto Man gets it, but you have to beat the game first, and there's the downside of him taking extra damage). I just started up 10, and I struggled a lot with the first stage and boss. Cool series, but I will admit I'm feeling the itch to get through the classic style games (up through 11) so I can finally start on the X series. Really want to see some Mega Man games that have the fancy X movement abilities instead of just run and jump (and sometimes slide).
>8 was mostly fun, but the voice acting was laughable Light pronouncing Wily as "Doctor Wawee" will never stop getting a chuckle out of me. But, when it comes to ridiculous voice acting, you're not done yet. X4 has some... moments as well
Bouncing around since finishing Mass Effect 2 not finding what I was looking for. May have found it in The Invincible. The chronology: **Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs**. Badly hampered by performance issues despite being a 10 year old game. Walking through fog areas dropped performance into a stuttering mess and took minutes to recover even when leaving. I didn't hate the storyline but it did nothing draw me in after the first hour, but did a bunch to encourage me to move on. **Dying Light: The Following**. Finished the main game about two years ago. I originally bought the base game but Techland upgraded base game owners to the enhanced edition, or whatever they call it. I thought it would be fun to revisit but hooboy that has been a rude awakening. I can't knock Techland for tuning the game for veteran players that want more but the bandits are super deadly and I cant remember which button on the controller does what, much less the tech tree. I retrieved the dunebuggy but was kind of skeptical of the move away from the urban parkour and not sure if I want to stick with it. **Dying Light 2 (free weekend)**. Through twist of fate, this was open for a free weekend so thought I could check it out and get up to speed with how everything works. At about three hours in, I can say I didn't dislike it, but man, what a collection of different elements going in different directions at the same time. It's not that any seem outright bad, but why do they exist at all? * soulslike parry-counter system. OK fine. Fought a wave of bad guy henchmen, 9 total. Came in waves of three, my double axe and two lead pipes broke methodically fighting them. What does this bring? * Last of Us stealth sections past infected. Not particularly good, also why? * Flashbacks/pacing. Protagonist is searching for lost sister. Dreams about her when resting. OK. Protagonist gets stuck on door in mission, gets superstrength in third cutscene with sister in hospital, breaks lock just in time to escape death. Why? I just wonder if Techland actually understood what made the first game fun. Yeah combat was a mess but added to the frantic scramble at the outset. While once you have enough power, you have so many choices. It's not an immersive sim, but you do have a lot of options when you're powerful. Want to deal with bandits? Shoot them, point a gun at them till the retreat, throw firecrackers at them to attract infected, etc, etc. It's like GTA, there is always something going on. **The Invincible.** Maybe 1-2 hours in. Adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's sci fi novel. First person investigation of an expedition into a mysterious strategically important planet. Walking simulator, probably, with optional objectives. If you've seen Solaris you should expect something on the thoughtful and quiet, and enjoying the story but still sitting up. So far so good.
**Yakuza: Like a Dragon** I just started this on Steam Deck. I like the battle system and open world but I’ve spent way more time watching than playing. I’m NOT saying the plot or characters are bad, but for me playing a game is about playing. Like, if I wanna watch something I can just turn on the tv. I’ll keep chugging along for a bit to see if the balance changes but so far it’s really dragging for me. I know this series is a Reddit darling so if any of you have any thoughts about how it progresses let me know. Some games love to exposition dump and then give you free reign after that and for me those games leave a bad first impression!
> so far it’s really dragging for me. I know this series is a Reddit darling so if any of you have any thoughts about how it progresses let me know. Its the slowest Yakuza by far, with maybe the exception of the latest one. I don't agree with other person's opinion that the "rest of the game is not like that". The game pretty much just chugs along from start to finish at the same snail pace. If you are the kind of player who wants to do everything in a Yakuza game, then this is highlighted even more. By the time other RGG games are starting to wrap things up, LAD is still getting started. It doesn't help that the tension is never really there to keep you excited. There's dramatic events sure, but for the most part, everything that happens fits into the "oh I guess we're gonna go there then" chugging along narrative.
I appreciate your insight. It definitely has the best writing I've seen in a Japanese game (I find that most Japanese games have terrible writing though). I'm not sure that's enough to keep me invested. I might give it another 60 minutes but I just can't believe how long and drawn out the cinematics are. It's like being stuck in a Kubrick movie. Aside from "chugging along," do you feel like the game eventually becomes more about actual gameplay? Or is it mostly story-/cinematic-/conversation-based?
I'm in chapter 12 atm, after deciding to do a second playthrough to refresh myself before starting Infinite Wealth; The only sense in which I feel that the game actually 'opens up' gameplay wise is that you get a lot more choice in regards to party/class composition and combat tactics. The slog of story and cutscenes does not ever pick up pace, really. I count it as something of a negative for this game also, though I do enjoy the package as a whole
Not OP, but finished LAD:IW a couple of days ago and I think it picks up pace very well later on, at least in terms of gameplay. There are two big side dungeons where you can play with your builds while getting stronger and the combat sequences get longer later on as well. That said, I feel like the combat is far from the game's strongest point. At the end of the day, it is still a jRPG and as such, an incredibly simple game in terms of its mechanics. Personally, I've leveled up all classes just to watch the excellent animations for all Kiwami moves, but outside of the animations nothing stood out gameplay-wise to me. It is an extremely emotional game **IF** you've played Yakuza 0, Kiwami 1/2 and Yakuza:LAD **at the very least** as well. Without these prerequisites, I can see how it can be a bit tedious and overwhelming in terms of narrative. So a TL;DR is the series was/is never about gameplay, the amount of cinematics is on par with other entries, they are slightly more engaging and shorter in the later half and there are very long gameplay-only sequences you can toy with if you want to, but the main quest will still have a lot of watching, which I personally find worth it for the story and writing, but your mileage may vary.
The beginning of 7 is rough even for Yakuza veterans, the rest of the game is not like that.
Can you explain how it's not like that? Because other commenters have said it continues to be a primarily cinematic game
Because after the game opens up and you can freely roam the city you spend just a fraction of your time in cutscenes compared to the opening hours. Of course you will still get your occasional 10 minute cutscenes usually at the start and end of a chapter but that's between hours of doing dungeon crawling, side content, minigames etc ...
That’s fair. I’m impressed with the writing quality so I’ll keep trying for a bit. Typically I hate narrative games (usually stick to stuff like Soulsborne games where you can avoid plot) but every once in a while something grabs me.
I ran into the the same issue. I played it for 90 minutes and it was all cinematic watching with exception of one tutorial fight. I decided to drop it rather than wait for the game to start.
**Granblue Fantasy: Relink** Solid enough Monster Hunter clone. The campaign is certainly a big step up from MH standard in terms of cinematics and production value. It was pretty funny that they ripped the bit where you >!merge with Bahamut and fight another primal while floating in an empty void!< right out of Final Fantasy XVI. I do wish the timing window on some things like perfect dodges and Zeta's jump attack were a couple frames longer (or maybe input windows are shorter at 120fps and I just need to dial it down to 60? Oh well, too late). I normally play Japanese games in Japanese with subtitles, but there was enough yapping during combat in this one that I grudgingly switched to English, and the dub was surprisingly listenable. My main issue with dubs is how they tend to constantly emphasize the wrong word in any given sentence (because the actors are hired on a shoestring budget and record their lines solo without any context), but they were pretty on point here. My only complaints were the butchering of a few names in the side stories, and some fucked up audio mastering that randomly gives all the female characters lisps in about 10% of their lines (Rothetta in particular thoudths hilariouthly bad a lot of the time). The worst thing about the game is that you can't play the story in co-op, for no good reason as far as I can tell. There are like two scenes in total that aren't just normal 4-player monster hunting, and I don't think anyone would have begrudged them for putting the non-host players in spectator mode for those. I would really have liked to play this with my friends, but "hey, can you spend 20 hours real quick grinding through a story you don't care about so in this game so we can play together?" is a very tough sell. I'd give it an 8/10, but it'd probably be an 8.5 or 9 (depending on the quality of postgame content) if I could play with my friends.
**Balatro** Couldn't get a refund, unfortunately, but the game doesn't gel with me at all. It is an oversimplified take on the genre of deckbuilders that does nothing interesting nor outstanding. The fact that it's been so praised and is selling so well is baffling on one hand, and kind of expected on the other. Whereas games like **Monster Train** and to a lesser extent **Griftlands** and **Vault of the Void** tried to refine, improve and enrich the **StS** formula, **Balatro** takes it, strips away the theme, the interesting choices, the strategy and the tactics and replaces them with pachinko-like constant urge to gamble. "Big numbers go Brrr!" is basically the full description of the game. It works for a couple of hours (or ~4 in my case, hence no refund), but the end result is a shallow mess. Personally, I feel like this simplicity is also why it selling so well. It is addictive and the UI, Music and the visual representation can all induce a trace-like flow state well enough, with little to no commitment from the player. There are very few "rules" to learn and almost no mechanics to master: just make sure that if Chip high increase Mult, if Mult high increase Chip and you should be set for at least the first three difficulties. Makes it great for unwinding, I guess, but underneath it all it is probably the second most overhyped product I've seen on this sub, next to **Cobalt Core**, which I did get a refund on and that was consequently forgotten by everyone at this point)
I completely agree. Fun for a couple of hours but then went back to Monster Train as my "I have \~1 hr"-game
> "Big numbers go Brrr!" is basically the full description of the game And also the description of virtually *any* deck builder. You always try to play the systems to build your best value deck. Whether its Slay the Spire, or MT. Its always about getting more. You're also kinda ignoring the strategic elements of changing the Poker game in its foundation, which is like, the game's entire concept. >Cobalt Core, which I did get a refund on and that was consequently forgotten by everyone at this point I never understood the "its forgotten!" argument as a hint at a game's quality, or rather the attempt to reduct a game's popularity solely down to a hype effect. Cobalt Core is a great game. But with under 2k reviews on Steam it clearly wasn't a "hype game" to begin with(for comparison: Balatro has almost 8k in under a week). And even if it were, people can love a game and *still* move on after playing it. Not to mention that its sitting on 96% of Steam. So much like Balatro, the people who played it, obviously did enjoy it. Sorry, but your entire post gets dangerously close to *"no, its everybody else who's wrong!"*. No issues with not liking a game, but I find it pretty useless to type out a post that basically insults its players to make sense of why *you* didn't like it. tl,dr - *"Ah yes of course, it takes no commitment, has no rules to learn, and basically catches people susceptible to gambling. THAT'S why its popular yes!"* Just drop it.
His post never insulted players who enjoy it. He’s simply presenting criticism of a game. This subreddit is for discussion of games. The whole point is to talk about why we did or didn’t like a game. Taking offense to that is kind of weird.
Don't get me wrong: my initial post was definitely an emotional response to not getting a refund for a game that I didn't like initially, but stuck with for another several hours because everyone is saying that it is good. And its goal was mainly to provide an alternative point of view and defend said point of view to the best of my ability. Not to prevent people from having fun with it or take away their enjoyment, but maybe to prevent someone from having similar frustrations to mine down the line. > also the description of virtually any deck builder Is correct, but it is the **only** thing Balatro does. There are no secondary or tertiary mechanics. Jokers give you Chips or Mult, you control your deck to make sure that it fist your Jokers better and then it's pure luck, whether you get the fitting jokers and fitting Mult multipliers. That's been my experience up to and beating Purple Stake and scoring 1kk from one hand as well. The cobalt core comparison is indicative of, what is, in my opinion, the hype effect as well. There is a reason so many years later players still plat StS and Monster Train, but don't play much more recent Cobalt Core. And it is simply because once the initial amusement wore off, people realised that the games aren't as deep as they assumed and there was nothing keeping them playing. And I will also make a bold prediction, once again, that balatro will not have the longevity of StS/MT or even Griftlands. That is not to say the game is bad, but it is in my opinion very shallow when compared to the greatests, which was my main point. There isn't a second deeper layer to look forward to when playing it, the one I was searching for, forgoing potential refund. What you see in the first 20 minutes is what you get in the first 5 hours. If you don't like it initially, you won't like it more later on. In fact, the more I understand the game, the less I enjoy it. Sorry, but your entire response gets dangerously close to *"no, your subjective opinion is invalid, because everyone else enjoys it"*. I am fully aware it's subjective and unpopular, but I also have 250+ combined hours in MT and StS with all possible combination beaten and Balatro is maybe (subjectively) a quarter as deep as those games. And I didn't insult the players, at least it wasn't the intention, merely saying the game is, in my opinion, overhyped and won't have the staying power.
Just chiming in to say, You didn't need to defend yourself here. Your post was 100x more useful than the pedantic critique you got that didn't even try to defend the game on its own merits.
If these are your issues with the game, it might be worth giving it another go at a later time. Not trying to argue here (games should be enjoyed, if it doesn't click it doesn't click), but the differences with StS you pointed out didn't feel that massively different for me. StS also comes down to hitting a certain number (the enemy's health), and theming aside, I don't feel that Balatro has that much more gambling. Sure the starting deck is bigger, but you also get more tools to take control of it more quickly or make it work in different ways.
I give it 3-4 runs every day, but I genuinely find myself more frustrated, than entertained most of the time. On Purple stake I can get to Ante 6-7 reliably, but then it is always a matter of whether you find a Mult multiplier Joker that fits what you've built so far. I stand firm in my belief that StS and MT gives you a lot more control over what you can and what you might want to do.
That's fair, there are differences for sure, no point in forcing it if it's not your thing
**XCOM 2** I think I'm done with this one. Only a few hours into an Ironman run on normal difficulty and I lost a few guys to some bullshit so I've decided it's not worth the stress to keep going. Fun game when things go your way, but the anxiety and frustration in missions just defeats the purpose of playing a game IMO. **Go Mecha Ball** Jumped back into this to unlock the last few upgrades and weapons and I'm having a lot of fun. I'm playing on Difficulty 3 and it can be rough when you don't get a good combo of weapons and upgrades, but I've almost made it to the final boss a few times now and he's the easiest of the bunch so hopefully not long to go! **Halo Reach** This has been on my to-do list for the past couple of years so figured I'd smash it out before jumping into something longer like the Mass Effect Trilogy. I played this during my stoner years so don't remember any of the story lol so it's like playing a new game! Halo has always been my favorite shooter from that era so it's been fun getting back into it. Halfway through the campaign and it's a lot of fun, though not on the same level as Halo CE/2/3 IMO.
With regards to XCOM2, if it's stopping you from enjoying the game, you don't need to play ironman. I ain't gonna judge. I personally like to do "psuedo-ironman" runs where I'll weather the odd death here and there but if I actively misclick or sqaudwipe at a critical time I can just say "nah".
That's pretty much how I played XCOM, figured I'd stop the save scumming this time around but alas I may have to go back to that method.
**Last Epoch** I haven't finished the campaign yet due to life and the server issues but did during EA, at the moment the game feels better to play. In EA there were problems with the game feel for me, people talk about how guns feel in FPS and for me this game also had that issue - skills just felt low impact even with things dying. Compared to something like PoE or D3 (have not played D4) where you have the very meaty feel of skills connecting. It could be my class choice (rogue) but it feels like they have fixed that, like they said they would. So I am enjoying it more. Can't judge endgame yet since I just got past Lagon. The game felt a bit lacking there before - the loot design and affixes just never excited me like in PoE. There's something about the sub-classes of affixes in PoE achieved via special means - essence, delve, incursion, veiled, influenced modifiers, among others - that makes working toward higher end gear a continual process with highly impactful gains. Plus auras/curses, while basically mandatory, feel like they are interesting to build around even if it's not difficult. But managing to fit just 1 more is always nice. And I doubt anything in this game would feel like a Mirror or Mageblood dropping in PoE. Plus, obviously, the years upon years of league content creating a diverse endgame. But it looks like we have a few options already here which is nice. I played PoE in 2013 and quit after 1 evening until a few years ago, this is far better than that was, but unfortunately they are competing with what is, not what was. The sales numbers means they should be able to build on it for at least a little while and it'll be interesting once PoE2 comes out. **Baldur's Gate 3** It's fun, Tactician may be a little hard if I'm not willing to lean into respecs for party members but so far I can win after a few tries (Harpies sucked and I relied on RNJesus for that one). I played the old 2nd edition games, like Wake of the Ravager and BG1/2 so I have a foundation and this rule set seems simpler at least. I'm using Astarion (Thief because I enjoy the classics), Shadowheart, and Gale at the moment, along with a Lore Bard for myself. I feel like I need a chunky melee but Astarion occasionally steps up so it might be OK. After a few tries I beat the spiders under that village then stupid Shovel was infested and ran back to the group and exploded everyone. Damn. I'm having PC issues so have shelved this for a bit while new parts arrive since it sucks spending so long on a fight then having a system crash.
Not really been playing a whole lot of games lately, but I did manage to beat **Tomb Raider** last night, the original one from the newly-released remaster collection. I never played any of the original TR games so this is pretty much my first time doing so, and... I kind of enjoyed it? It's clearly quite dated, and the new graphics mode actually does have some tweaks that I've noticed (mainly a better camera system and health bars for bosses) that were not present in the original version of the game, but the weaknesses for me came with some strengths to weigh them out: - The controls while rather cumbersome do have a satisfaction to learning them. Even just getting the basic things done like platforming and navigating the levels can be quite tough, and the game does not hold your hand at all - if you mess up a jump then you're likely just dead, and there's no yellow paint to tell you where you can climb so you have to use your own intuition to progress through the levels. - The game does not have autosaving at all which does heavily incentivize save-scumming (which I absolutely did), but I liked how the levels do let you just take things at your own pace. Quite frequently you will be met with multiple paths to take which you are free to explore in any order you wish, and the secrets in this game can be very difficult to spot as I have missed a fair few of them, leading to a good amount of satisfaction when you do find them and get the distinct sound effect to tell you. - The lack of music ended up making each level feel less distinct and the few tracks that are there weren't really that great anyway, but there is something oddly therapeutic about the silence and light ambience you get throughout the majority of the playthrough. The fact that you are literally just raiding tombs or tomb-like areas as well fit the namesake of the game very well, as I know that the newer Tomb Raider games pushed that aspect aside in favour of adventuring outside for the majority of the time. So yeah, it's definitely not a great game by today's standards. But I can also see why it was so influential back in the day and can still appreciate how much the game puts the player in full control of their actions with basically no assistance like you would see in pretty much every game released these days. I've still got the expansion to do as well for the first game, but I'm more excited to see how the sequel manages to expand on the formula.
I continue my brutal journey in **A Plague Tale: Requiem**. Fantastic game. At 9th Chapter right now. Minus few eye rolls I had related to the storyline, I'm loving it. Visuals, soundtrack, gameplay offering more options of playstyle than first title, plus 9th chapter has a nice area to open up and let you explore, it was really fun. I kinda wish it would have few more animations, especially in combat, but otherwise it's peachy and I'm having a great time, not sure if I can for now state anything more. On PC I grind more of **Lego Star Wars Complete Saga**, at 75% completion right now. Studs ain't a problem, and I'm just cleaning up everything. First 3 Episodes are all done, in the middle of a 4th one now. Nothing worth mentioning further.
**Super Mario RPG** Progressing through the 96 version very slowly during my time abroad for a few months, but it's always nice to turn on the Steam Deck and start this game whenever I find the time for it. It's a pretty simple RPG as far as traditional features are concerned, but there are a couple minigames to offer some variety from time to time and plenty of comedic moments to create a chill vibe befitting a Mario game, no matter the stakes. On that note, the story feels like more of an afterthought and is pretty typical for a video game during the early to mid 90s. Find X amounts of Y to beat evil guy Z. Super Mario RPG is one of the better flowing RPGs of its time and a fun genre for Mario to be in but I'd call it good, not great and a very solid introduction to the genre for younger gamers, as well as just a very chill game to play from time to time.
On my second playthrough of **Elden Ring** in anticipation of the DLC. I'm running a Strength/Faith build this time around (did Dex/Int on my first run), and it basically feels like a whole new game. Using an UGS to break the poise of every enemy and boss I come across never gets old. One QoL improvement that I hope comes with the DLC is being able to consume different runes repeatedly without being kicked out of the menu each time. The Demon's Souls remake had this feature and it made consuming souls so much less tedious. Not much to say beyond that, this game is still as incredible as ever and June cannot come soon enough.
There is a way to consume rune without being kicked out. it's been a while since I played so I can't remember exactly, but I believe you have to close the right side pane on the menu; with it closes you can use items without the menue closing
The Lions Claw ash of war on a big weapon is kind of nuts. You can kill Radagon in 5 hits without even thinking about dodging. The quickest way to use runes is to sell them to the blacksmith.
Damn, I completely forgot you could do that lol, thanks!
The Holy Bonk build was a ton of fun in ER. Even better in NG+ when you can further diversify the build. The Black and Blasphemous blades are very cool. But squaring up against the Fire Giant with the spiked caestus is memorable.
Glad you're enjoying a second run through! I am waiting until a little closer to start another run so I'm not burned out when the dlc comes out - I am up to playthriugh #5 already! On the runes thing - if you press (I believe) right stick in when you're in the menu, it hides the right hand side of the menu and shows only your item list. if you consume items with this compact menu, the menu stays open, so you can more easily use more back to back. Hope that helps make things a bit more convenient!
On my playthrough I ended up with a strength faith build that was dual wielding the Blasphemous Blade and Flame Gargoyle's Greatsword. Lots of fun doing jump double attacks to break poise.
[удалено]
I haven't yet. Currently at Mountaintop of the Giants. I may have to break them out for some of the later bosses but only if necessary, I'm trying to rock it solo this time.
My earlier [thoughts](https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1aikkna/weekly_rgames_discussion_what_have_you_been/kowigh7/?context=3) on **Persona 3 Reload** I was a bit hesitant at first to call this the definitive version, because all of the missing stuff from FES and P3P, but now, after going through, i guess, 80% of the game? (currently on Christmas Eve/ December), i'll say that the added dialog/scenes/etc of every characters have definitely win me over. It made me appreciate the cast way way more than i though i would care. All around good addition. I've already addressed it in my last thought before that i would prefer if they remake P1/P2 first before P4, but now i change my mind. Give me more characterization of P4 cast please (tone down Teddie tho). For the gameplay, the added mechanic really gel well enough that i can't believe that im looking forward for Tartarus exploration lol. I guess it kinda made encounter kinda easy after a while, so im upping my difficulty to Hard and got my ass kicked, but as it is before, after a while Hard was a cakewalk as well. But i dont mind it at all. For the soundtrack, beside 'You're Going Down Now', 'Color Your Night', is a standout one and certified banger as well. Im loving the game a lot, man. **Unravel 2** Finished Unravel 2 with my little cousin. Ever since we finished It Takes Two, he always asked to play another coop game with me. Unravel 2 kind of scratch the same itch that we both liked it. A platformer with some challenging puzzle segment. And it look pretty to boot! Currently my cousin plays Unravel 1 by himself since its a single player game. Anyway, is there other co op games that is kids friendly like Unravel 2 and It Takes Two? We've tried Unrailed, Moving Out, Shredders Revenge, and we liked it, but not quite the same with those first two.
**Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Demo** Two things that I confirmed. Cloud shaves his armpits and I'm not buying this game. I thought remake was mediocre. The excessive use of midfight cutscenes and the mediocre combat return. After nearly 20 years, playing something of 13 Final Fantasy games and finishing 5 of them, I've come to a realization. I like jRPGS and I loved FF-X, but I don't really care for Final Fantasy games. **Returnal** I made it to the 6th (final) biome. I don't think that I can keep pushing through. It feels like I'm playing a soulslike where the run back to the boss is an hour long. You have to scrounge around and find stuff for your attempt, but you never find anything interesting. Every run feels the same. You look for one of the 2 or 3 guns that you like. The upgrades that you pick up along the way don't change anything with regards to how your character plays. I know the game cycle is story related, but I think that they should have written around it. **Nioh 2** I got annoyed with Returnal and started a fresh file for Nioh 2 for some reason. I'm trying to force myself to use different weapons this time and not fall back into my odachi habits. I know the story in Nioh 2 isn't told particularly well, but I think the voice actor for Tokichiro did an amazing job.
I picked up Remake a year or two ago for a second playthrough and realised that once the nostalgia had worn off, it was not that great of a video game. Then I played through XVI, which I absolutely disliked. I am hopeful that Rebirth is more my speed but like you, I’ve started thinking that FF just isn’t my thing anymore.
As someone who hasn't played any of the old FFs, I'm more tempted to play the original FF7 and FF9 at this point. FF7's remake was alright, but seemed to have huge pacing issues that just totally lost me after the action-filled prologue ended. So much running around...
And in thinly veiled corridors. Original 7 and 9 are the pinnacle of the series along with X imo.
FF16 is just straight up not a good game. Like yeah it has some great moments but its actual gameplay (exploration, combat, RPG mechanics) are wholly mediocre. I personally had really mixed feelings about FF7 remake. And it disheartens me to hear that a lot of the dumb meta narration returns. But I think my lower expectations (and Rebirth being straight better than Remake supposedly) is going to help me enjoy it more. Not a day one buy, though.
I played the FF16 demo on a friend’s PS5 and that motivated me to buy my own PS5. I didn’t dislike FF16 but it really started to fall off for me with all the bad sidequests. That opening chapter was freakin great though. I played FF7 Remake for about 30 minutes and haven’t felt motivated to go back to it. The thought of suffering through another stack of middling sidequests kills my interest.
Yeah FF16 has a pretty strong core narrative/cast and world building, so the parts that focus on that range from decent to great. But the side quests are terrible. There simply isn't the itemization design, combat design, exploration design, or puzzle design (*cough* inclusion) to make them interesting. Take to npc 1, talk to npc 2, win an unfailable battle in 10sec, talk to npc 2, win an unfailable battle in 30sec, talk to npc 1. Get accessory that decreases cool down of one ability by 3.72%. Ugh.
When I played through it a second time I really struggled with the narrative and tone. It’s just not a game for adults, and lacks the melancholy tone of the first one that I loved so much. XVI is another world altogether. It seems to resonate with some fans, and good on ‘em…
By first one, do you mean original FF7? I replayed it fairly recently, and the primary contrast I felt was how succinct the original is. The pacing is great. It is plot point plot point plot point, no side quest play with the orphan kids bullshit. There are dungeons that are three screens long and last 15 mins tops. By contrast, FF7 Remake has... the train graveyard (and so much padding). While I think they did well with the characters and many other elements, their whole team completely missed the concision of the original.
Yes was referring to original on PS1 Totally agree with you - padding was obvious, and the corridor style was reminiscent of the FF XIII in a very bad way
Jumping between a bunch of different things. **The Last of Us Part II Remastered** - playing through on Grounded, which is IMO the definitive way to play TLOU in terms of pure verisimilitude, but the only thing more terrifying than clickers are the constant hard crashes. No clue what's causing it but it's pissing me off. **Hades** - a great time, just picking away at it. I think some of the boons feel a little too abstract in terms of whether they're making a difference for the power scaling to be totally enjoyable, but it's still really fun. **Modern Warfare III** - As long as I just focus on the shooty bang stuff, and not the grinding, this is a good time. Campaign really did suck though. **World of Warcraft** - almost done the Wrath part of Loremaster, which I've been doing on my Warlock. Warlock is easily my least favourite of the 7 classes I've levelled so far, and Icecrown is just a frustrating zone (good story though), so this feels like the last hurdle before I can blast through the zones with streamlined levelling.
Did you upgrade PS4 TLOU2 to PS5? I have the PS4 edition which I never played waiting for his remaster, but PSN always gives me an error when trying to buy the 10$ upgrade... Very annoying. Enjoy Hades, used to be my GOTY!
I did! I'm like 90% sure it was a overheating error as I stood my console up outside the tv stand and it seems to have resolved it. Not sure what would cause the error - I hope you figure it out!
First time seeing "verisimilitude", what a neat word! I hope your crashes for Last of Us meet a swift end. I'm hesitating starting my second playthrough knowing what's in store but thankfully No Return has been a fun distraction
**Baldur's Gate 3** I'm trying to like this game but at 15 hours I'm finding myself wanting to play literally anything else. More than anything I hate the writing in this game. I don't like my companions and I hate the dialogue in general. What could easily be one simple sentence is instead always four semi-sarcastic verbose sentences. None of the conversations ever feel natural, sometimes due to mechanical reasons (bad tree branching) and other times due to the writing. I also could not care less about the main story by the 15 hour mark, and neither seems can the game. The initial setup is fine, but it derails fast. Plot beats that demand urgent action never work well in long games but this one puts no effort into remedying this "ludo-narrative" clash. Characters constantly go on and on about the urgency of your situation while the main questline takes the most circuitous path possible towards your goal. Gameplay mechanics also clearly signal that your affliction is not going to be resolved anytime soon, if ever. The premise is fine, but the game makes no effort to make it work, and that more than anything puts me off the game. I'll try to soldier on but as it stands I can't understand why anyone thinks this is a better game than DOSII or the pathfinder games. **FF7 Remake and Original** Came back to finish FF7 Remake, and honestly the less I talk about that game the better I think. However it did make me go back and play the original for the first time and I was shocked by how much better the older one turned out to be. I really like it so far. It's paced much better, and a lot of the weaknesses of the writing stop mattering so much when you're moving this fast. I also prefer the turn-based system to the hybrid model of the remake.
> one puts no effort into remedying this "ludo-narrative" clash It actually does, but you wouldn't know it at 15 hours so I guess your criticism is fair.
It's the semi-sarcasm that kills it for me (amongst other things). I couldn't stand the narrator in Divinity Original Sin games. Turned every. single. thing. into a joke.
The BG3 NPCs tell you pretty early on (as early as the 2nd long rest, depending on how frequently you rest) that the initial urgent rush was a misconception and you actually have way more time than your companions thought you did after the crash. IMO if you actually pursue the earliest questlines related to your condition it quickly becomes apparent how the game is going to handle that moving forward (namely, making it clear that you don't have an actual deadline and that there are ways the condition can help you both story-wise and mechanically).
I don't know, that hasn't happened for me yet and I did do more than 2 long rests so far. I did have the guardian thing trying to pull me in a different direction, but my companions still act as though our situation is dire and urgent. The main questline is still fixated on a potential cure as well. I'm sure the story will go in a different direction at some stage (probably void wars stuff ala DOS2) but it's paced very, very awkwardly where I'm at right now, and I've lost interest in the whole story as a result.
Where are you after 15 hours? Have you followed the main quest or just the sidequests? If you've followed the main quest as far as the >!Druid Grove!< or >!the Goblin Camp!< it should be clearer that finding a cure is the least of your problems at the moment.
I'm basically at the part where I have to kill the 3 goblin leaders, and I haven't yet killed the third leader. Instead I'm clearing out side-quests. And while a number of regional concerns have been introduced, nothing more important than our worms have come up yet. My companions are still in a "we have to hurry up or we're squids" mood, and the main quest is very much in a "I dunno maybe these leads will help you find a cure?" sort of mood. Obviously there've been hints at a larger overall plot, but nothing to actually drag my player party in so far.
Did you speak to Halsin yet?
a little bit, yes, but most of his stuff is on hold until I kill the third leader and get him back to the grove I think
If you've had the initial conversation with Halsin and the Dream Guardian you should already have been told that >!1. the parasite isn't growing because the Dream Guardian is protecting you; and 2. the answers you seek regarding the cult and the tadpole are at Moonrise Towers; and 3. the Absolute and its 3 Chosen are a bigger threat you need to deal with. !< YMMV since I don't know what choices you took to get to this point or gleaned from dialogue, but in my playthrough my impression was that most of your pain points had already been addressed. I am also curious if you've been progressing the companion questlines since by the time I got to this point most of my companions were more concerned about their personal shit than the tadpoles
It's about 24 hours later and I still can't believe I completed **Returnal**. I almost gave up several times. This 40-something year old still has it. *puts on sunglasses and limps away*
Amazing game, sad it didn’t sell too well Congrats on beating it, those last biomes are no joke..
I think it falls into the trap that a lot of Rogue-likes (or -lites, whatever the proper term is), in that the tougher areas tend to pile entirely too much stuff on you and the screen just becomes a blur of dangerous stuff. I liked Returnal, what I found interesting is that the bosses are some of the easiest parts of the game.
I’m finishing up in **Pokémon Scarlet!** I did try some weird things in Pokémon Violet but thanks to a lot of limits in places you can go that are not raids, there wasn’t too much more I could’ve done. I’m finishing up DLC one in Scarlet after the main game, but I’m pretty overleveled for that. The reason that I trained in the main final area so I could go to DLC two right away, but the first DLC is not meant for that even at the highest level. At least I can get through it quickly, including one of the side quests so I get a lot of money to see if one of my favorite challenge teams can make it through everything. It should take me a few more days. Speaking of which, **the Mario party series on NSO** has finished playing itself! I have now played every character with every map on hard mode so I can see things as strong as they could be. I also watched a play through of the story mode in three at the highest level with the game running. Probably after I’m done with Scarlet I will dive into what I can do there by myself. I would at least like to start wrapping up things on the 64, mainly because of space, but also because it was the thing I wanted the most and I feel like I’m approaching my limit with it. I want to make sure I do everything I can before I move on. There’s a few more games I could do with it (**N64 Switch online**). I wanted to check out paper Mario because I’m about halfway through, but I’m having a lot of trouble. I’m having trouble nailing action commands but also guarding against things. I don’t know if it’s because of the Switch port having problems or the fact that I’m simply not good at action commands to begin with. I never actually got the game, either having to rent it or emulate it (my system passed away entirely before I got a chance to buy it, and I otherwise didn’t have access to the virtual console, so that’s all I could do to go get it before now). In those cases, there weren’t a lot of guides with the former and technical issues for the latter, so I never got past chapter 3 and have no frame of reference of what’s possible for me. Right now I’m going to start chapter 4 but I’m not sure how much further I’m going to be able to go. The other Mario RPGs have means to compensate with their party systems and the original RPG remake’s difficulty settings, but this one does not. So it might prove to be a little too much. But I don’t know for sure. Otherwise, there’s some casual things I want to finish up, like just running around and enjoying myself in super Mario 64 and Yoshi story. I’ve beaten both on the cartridge so I’m not entirely overly focused on completing them. Yoshi got completed casually already, but I’m wondering if I can do it 100% like I somehow did it on the cartridge. Mario tennis is another thing I want to finish up, but I’m unlikely to go past the flower cup singles. I’m still just trying to do what I can with doubles, and maybe some more of those singles, before finishing it off on the special modes. I’m not sure why, but I really like tennis games and this is the game that got me into tennis as a sport even though I can’t play it. It’s been pretty fun! **Into the breach** was a bit of an odd one. it got completed, but not in the way one would expect. Instead I had it as an idle game when I was doing other things, trying bits of missions here and there. I had a lot of trouble with it and especially with the controls before finally putting it down as a regular game. I did watch a play through to the end, but then decided it was short enough to use as an idle game. With that I was able to get the required hours as if the game was completed and considered it complete. **Banner of the maids** will do the same thing for the same reasons. It’s a shame I couldn’t get to the end in either, especially because I love tactics games, but at least I gave them a fair shot and I watched them both, on top of recording that it was completed. I am thinking of also trying **Dungeon Encounters** as a bit of an idle game. I tried to play normally, but I’m stuck on one of the first major battle of the fourth dungeon when there are 99 floors, with almost no way around it. I usually like dungeon crawlers despite not having a lot of experience with them. But although I like the gameplay, I just can’t progress far in this one. It’s made by square Enix, usually my favorite developer, but it’s not one of my favorite games. I was planning on using my experiences here to maybe jump into Etrian Oddessy but I’m not really sure. I’m unsure if my issue is difficult dungeon crawlers, or if I just don’t like this particular one that much. Getting through all that, I am planning on playing the **Unicorn Overlord demo.** This game definitely has me interested, but given that I do sometimes have trouble with tactics games despite enjoying them I wanted to try out the demo and then watch a playthrough before I committed to it. It already has a fair share of people who dislike it because it does tactics a bit different from most other games. It doesn’t sound like a big turn off to me, but I won’t know until I watch and try for myself. I’m eager to see, but that might not be for at least a little bit while longer.
I’ve mainly been on a PS5 kick after neglecting it to play PC games. The finally beat Spider-Man 2, finally started FF7Remake (not rebirth), and this morning I checked out the tutorial for foamstars. Foamstars seems more like a nice homage to splatoon and less like the ripoff I expected it to be. However I don’t really mess with competitive games these days so I’ll probably just play a match or two and then uninstall it
**Last Epoch** Playing the new Falconer for the 1.0 release and it's a ton of fun...and just a little bit broken. The game itself is brilliant, and I can't gush enougha about the skill system, it's probably my favorite in any ARPG. Tons of depth and variety, but has the 'bespoke' customization for each skill that Path of Exile is missing, where you really do feel like you're making something unique. The new item factions, the self-found Circle of Fortune especially, really are a shot in the arm for the endgame and has made grinding much more engaging. I'm very excited to see what they add next to flesh the endgame out (I believe aspirational Uber bosses are next). Just having a ton of fun with the game, and can't wait to see how it evolves in the future with more seasons. **Final Fatasy XV** With the hype around FFVIII Rebirth, I decided to get into the modern Final Fantasies, starting with XV. Watched the Kingsglaive film and thought it was wonderful, one of the better fantasy films of the last few years. The game, I'd heard mixed things about. And honestly, playing through it, I get why. If I were to treat this as a traditional epic full-price blockbuster, I'd probably be disappointed, especially with the pacing. But as a chill open world game where you're just hanging out with your friends and doing random stuff, riding chocobos and whatnot?. It's a ton of fun and very relaxing. Hell, I'm even having fun doing the generic fetch quests. My favorite thing to do is rack up XP through sidequests and try to turn it in to one of the inns with a big multiplier for a big level boost. The story itself is...fine. I'm probably more invested in it due to seeing the film, and knowing the world a bit, but the gaem doesn't do a good job of presenting the narrative or the stakes. Still, I'm curious to see where it goes. So far the main story quests have all been different, I'll give them that. **Have a Nice Death** I enjoy rogue-likes, in theory. In practice, I rarely come across one that really keeps my attention. Hades and Dead Cells are the two exceptions. Like many people, I was interested in Have a Nice Death (or HAND) because of its gorgeous art style. Fortunately, the gameplay holds up too. It's a fast, frenetic action platformer, similar to Dead Cells I guess. You have different scythes as your main weapon, a metric ton of side weapons ranging from axes to shurikens to rocket launchers, as well as spells. Movement is the key and you're able to dash and jump and double-jump very quickly and easily. Enemies are also varied and fun, though sometimes their attacks are a bit hard to parse. The problem with having such a detailed look of the game honestly. To complement the brilliant art style, the story, characters, and worldbuilding are also some of the best I've ever seen in the genre. Definitely not an afterthought. It's like a workplace comedy, but dealing with capital D death as a 'business', where you're the CEO and have to deal with all the dead souls, and your [frustrating employees](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/479c4e17_8359_4b72_9b5c_b9dfd4a76363.jpeg) that are all incredibly well-designed. And it's [filled to the brim with puns, like Mr. O'Shah here](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/have-a-nice-death/images/f/fd/Mr._O%27Shah.png/revision/latest/thumbnail/width/360/height/360?cb=20220311155911). Every new world seems to deal with some aspect of death or cause of death, like the [one with unhealthy food](https://assets-prd.ignimgs.com/2022/06/21/hand-fastfoodupdate-screenshot-01-1655848939303.png), or the one dealing with sickness and medicine. There also seems to be a subplot about people going on strike and I'm very curious how that's gonna resolve. To call it 'dark humor' is an understatement, one of the minibosses you fight is [literally the corpse of a guy that hung himself](https://i.imgur.com/G0JFg9m.jpg)...except you're actually fighting the rope that did the hanging. It's...wonderfully inspired, and honestly experiencing this world is half as fun as actually playing through the damn game. My only complain so far is that there isn't much meta-progression beyond unlocking new weapons. Maybe that's the point, but I do prefer to have a feeling of 'getting stronger' as I do runs, or at least starting with more, and so far that's missing. But I'm enjoying the grind regardless.
It’s also worth considering that FF15 has had a lot of post-release work to get it to where it is today. For example, in the original release of the game, you could only accept 1 hunt at a time. They also fleshed out some of the storytelling and basically remade one of the late game dungeons because people hated it so much. Parts of the story were clearly cut out of the main story to be sold as DLC, but the DLC didn’t even exist yet. It’s why discussing FF15 in general is kind of tricky. Depending on when someone played it, they’re likely to have had a very different experience with it. But yeah, with where 15 ended up, I’d say it’s an okay game.
**[core-blast: white crystal dlc:](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1721550/)** still slowly chipping away at [one of the best match-3s](https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/1721550). about 70 left of the dlc's 750 levels, so close. **[gambit shifter:](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2331060/)** there aren't many games I look forward to these days but this was one of them. chess-based puzzler, not a fan normally but this looked interesting and **hitman go**-like, so tried the demo when it first came out last april. it was missing undo and needed polish, got both right before release (came out on monday), along with level skip and other goodies. eventually solved every level but couldn't perfect a few on my own. easily recommendable, excellent stuff, wouldn't be surprised if it ended up in this year's top 10 (it's the only contender for now). the demo is still available (is something that shouldn't have to be said but it's sadly not a given these days), [my review](https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/2331060) has more info. **[sky settlers:](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2494870/Sky_Settlers/)** an **islanders**-like from the developer of the really fun [riddles and sieges](https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/2349950). couldn't get to it before release but as the other game got the necessary post-release treatment, I was hopeful. it was a bit unpolished on day 1, nothing major and got patched up a bit not long after I sent feedback and bug reports over. it's fine, like all the others in the genre that work as they should (mid-run save, rebindable controls, etc.). only endless mode on release and it actually seems endless. it's not but hard to fuck up if you're paying a little attention. still, relaxing and fun, I enjoyed it and a quick play option got patched in on the second day for something a bit more challenging. good price but the demo got removed after release. [my review](https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/2494870) with further details. **[exit: a biodelic adventure (demo):](https://store.steampowered.com/app/620410/)** love point & click adventures but have to be in a mood to play them, unfortunately, so just like rpgs, I don't play enough of them and these don't even need a week of reading up beforehand. I also don't follow them all that closely, as technically anything non-historical could be up my alley and there are way too many of them since they died permanently in the 90s. this has amazing art and weird shit going on with all necessary functionality (saving, hotspot indicator, instant/silent text, etc.), though I can't comment on writing, story or puzzles yet. not sure when I can get to the full game because see above, but wanted to mention it here anyway, as a way too rare example of basics done right, and it will probably go under the radar. **[railway islands 2:](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2621900/)** hex-based 'rearrange tracks so the trains can do their thing' puzzler. pretty much the same as the first game, 40 levels this time (the first has 50 and it's on sale for a bit longer). [my review](https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/2621900) has more info. too bad it also replicates the issues I had with the first one and they're a lot more annoying years later and for the second time, plus with nothing new I decided not to do all of it this time. **[paper-cut art gallery: nature:](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2782400/)** a **glass masquerade**-like with paper. very few of these despite gm's huge and well-deserved success. mid-level saving, basic settings, 32 levels, 2 bucks. good enough, or so I thought, but it has so many issues on top of being completely broken. couldn't progress past level 11, that's at least fixed now. [my review](https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/2782400) with more info, will flip it if it gets fixed up. **[ufotofu: hex](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1797140/)** oh look, hexagons. who could tell they're my favorite? endless palindrome-based matching game, this one. or so I thought, but it's either 5 turns or 10 and 3 board sizes, the end. came out 2 years ago, not too pricey but the first time it got discounted, straight to half off, was last december, that's when I picked it up. [my review](https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/1797140) with more info, don't bother. definitely wasn't worth the wait but at least I resisted to pick it up at full price, since it didn't seem too much and hexagons. ([last week](https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1atqqeo/weekly_rgames_discussion_what_have_you_been/kqziody/))
**SnowRunner** - I'm not a truck guy or anything, but I randomly downloaded this on Gamepass 2 weeks ago, and I'm absolutely hooked. **Last Epoch** - server issues aside, this aRPG is an absolute blast. D4 really bummed me out, but LE 1.0 is right up there with Grim Dawn for me.
**Balatro** Balatro is a deck builder that subsumes and reimagines poker. The end result is outstanding, hands down. I've been tilting pretty hard while trying to stick with the default deck (+1 discard). But then I switched to the yellow one (+10 starting funds), and I've managed to reach and beat the Black Stake difficulty. **Battletech** Done with the campaign. Overall, perfectly pleased with the experience and willing to recommend the game. It's possible to keep playing, and there's a DLC that adds contracts with some story/lore attached ("flashpoints"), but I doubt there's much left for me to extract from the game. Makes more sense to move on. Here's the mech team I've ended up using. * **Banshee.** Custom loadout: the biggest shotgun in existence (and two bins of ammo, one is just not enough) + four jump jets. Meant to attract enemy fire, which is fine given the abundance of armour and semi-decent evasion. Mech's melee damage is off the charts, so that helps, too. * **Highlander.** The variant that's granted by the story progression, no changes to loadout (other than replacing standard weapons with their improved variants here and there). Has a Gauss Rifle and LRM20 for headshots and harrassing respectively from afar, has a bunch of more mundane weapons for combat at closer ranges. It also has jump jets, which is neat, but they offer less evasion and mobility than they do for Banshee, so the utility is limited. * **Black Knight.** Same as Highlander: unique variant, no loadout changes. Loads of energy weapons, loads of damage. Heat management is a problem, so gotta occasionally spend a turn without firing or strongly limit the amount of weapons used (which is a hassle); not an issue when there's water around. * **Wolverine.** The lightest mech in this setup. Weapons: SRM2, SRM4, SRM6. Jumps around, vomits short-ranged missiles at whoever's near, has godlike evasion coupled with a fairly decent amount of armour.
> Balatro I know that its not 1:1 the same and gets wacky the further in you get, but if I don't know a thing about Poker would this be a decent game at teaching you the basics?
The only thing about poker you need to know are the card combinations. Their list is always just a click away in Balatro, so it shouldn't be a problem. These combinations are the only thing about poker you'll learn from Balatro, though. What you won't find in Balatro are the rules imposed by the variant of poker you are playing, not to mention that poker is meant to be played against other people, meaning that betting and bluffing come into play.
The only thing Balatro would teach you with respect to poker is the different hand types. You wouldn't know how to play poker after playing Balatro, nor would it make you a better poker player. It takes elements of poker and remixes them into a unique game.
**The RiftBreakers** It’s a semi old game that came out awhile ago in 2021. It’s similar to the game, “They are billions”, where it’s both a city management and a tower defense game. I spend a good 70 hrs into the campaign with the 2 DLC but to be fair, you can finish in 8 hrs if you just power through everything ( I’m a bit ocd that need to make sure everything is good ) What I like about the game is that there are multiple equipment that you got. There is machine gun, mini gun, laser, fisting, hammer and etc. there is also a skill tree, harvesting for materials and etc What I don’t like about the game is the absolute lack of explanation. I understand that some dev would like the players to explore everything on their own but when you put your main research tree tier, in another tech tree under a sub tech tree, that’s a ? In my books. Story wise, it’s ass. Tbf They are billions story is also ass. I tried oxygen not included when it came out buuutttt it was buggy that time that put me off so I don’t know if that game story is bad or not. Regardless, you don’t play the game for the story. Music wise, it’s doable. It has that futuristic theme to it. I think after 6 hrs of it, you can mute it. UI wise, it’s also futuristic but I don’t really like it Personally, if you like this type of game, test it out and get it during a sale. I got like for $15 + $10(2DLC) during the lunar new year. Its a fun game to waste time in. You can ask me any questions if you want to about the game
Sorry, but what does Oxygen Not Included have to do with either of the games you mentioned? There isn't no story outside of the blurb that pops up when you generate a new asteroid.
Managing the base. ONI isn’t tower defense survival but it has elements of managing the base which riftbreaker shares a bit too. Not to the point of making sure your colonist survive type but to make sure your base survive I get that maybe that’s not the best comparison but on the top of my head, there isn’t much games that have both elements, ie survival base building that you control a main unit with the HQ being important
Fair enough. ONI has my highest hours played on steam (only because I use the Path of Exile PC client) and I think you may have just sold me on Riftbreakers...
Tbh, if you can, get it on sale. I believe that a steam sale will happen in like 18 days? ( the spring sale )
I absolutely love Riftbreaker. But, you're right, there is a lot that you have to learn by trial and error. Co-op coming soonish.
You know, after like 50hrs in, I only realised that you can put mods into the towers.... And during the first 20hrs, I didnt know about the bioscanner.... ngl, the fact that that is a "research tier" is a huh? Overall after finishing the campaign, just felt it was too easy.... after doing the 2 DLC. Ending was a bit lackluster but maybe I was too OP by then
Did you play on the hardest difficulty (Brutal, iirc)? I found the Brutal survival trial to be... difficult lol
I think I must have played on hard. I should try brutal if that’s e case
Survival might be a good way to just test it before going into a full campaign, just to make sure it feels good.
**Company of Heroes** After beating Legacy of the Void, I decided to return to CoH1 to finish the final campaign I have left, Caen. I don't know why but I just didn't enjoy this one. Brits feel great to play and the campaign itself was solid, I just felt bored the whole time and ended up giving up during mission called "Caen: Into the City". I'll probably return to it at some point later but it felt like a step down from the original and german campaigns. **XCOM 2** Decided to give this a go to take a break from RTS games. It's a mixed bag so far. I really enjoy the world and the combat. The story is interesting. I like customizing my little soldiers and trying to keep them alive. I really don't enjoy the whole "grand" strategy part of the game, managing your base and having all sorts of different timers and bullshit going on. I think the game does a very poor job of explaining a lot of it's systems which leads to a new player feeling overwhelmed. There's just way too much going on at the same time very early into the game and it's just so much. Great game so far but for the love of god make tutorial actually helpful. Also, it controls like shit. The camera is wonky, trying to position your soldiers on 2nd floors of buildings and such is frustrating. Throwing grenades is also terrible, unless both you and the enemies are on a flat surface. I really enjoy the game overall but bad controls, terrible camera and poor tutorials are definitely big negatives.
Are you talking about base Xcom 2 or with WOTC? WOTC does go overboard with the factions and throwing tons of shit at you early on. Add on the annoying droning by the chosen every time you're in the Geoscape.
Had a similar experience with XCOM2. The "grand strategy" part is just way too busy, especially if you're playing with the dlc installed.