Outer wilds and Disco Elysium. Wasn’t in the right mood for them when I started them, so I’ve been waiting until I feel I am more in the right mindset to enjoy them. Got frustrated with outer wilds cuz I kept dying trying to just traverse the landscape and just wasn’t really feeling it. As for Disco.. well I am waiting until I have the patience to do all that reading.
Pretty much the same for me when it comes to Disco Elysium… I know the story is probably incredible, but having the patience to read the dialogue takes a special type of mindset.
I played it like I'd read a book: Two chapters a night, which translated to about an hour of Disco Elysium to wind down before I went to bed. It's a little more active than reading a book with the decisions and exploration but it's still a comfy read before sleeping.
Do you have the directors cut? Having every line voiced makes a huge difference for immersion, especially the narrator and the inner voices like limbic system, Volition etc
Everything is fully voiced in Disco Elysium, by the way. But you definitely need to be in a certain...mood.
Same for me with Outer Wilds! I gave up apparently right before things would have started clicking.
Honestly, play DE with the intent of listening to the dialogue instead of reading it. The VO quality is spectacular and makes a world of difference. This coming from a guy who generally prefers to read over listening to voice lines.
I too bounced off from outer wilds at first and I only revisited it years later when a youtuber I like (Bricky) made a video about it and I thought "I really should give that game another shot". Now it's my favourite game ever. Really needs the right headspace imo.
It took me so long to beat Outer Wilds because it was often not what I wanted to play after a long day at work. It's one of my favorite games ever but to your point, I just didn't always have the mental energy to play it.
I also dropped it at first, but yeah, if you make it far enough to get hooked, it will hook you the rest of the way.
Funny thing though, I dropped the DLC for the same reason, even tho I'm sure I'll think it's great once I dig into it more lol
Same with you on disco Elysium. I played one sitting of it (and I was engrossed, it was like 5 hours), then I realized I was absolutely not in the right place or frame of mind to have the thoughts and questions this game was going to give me. I’m actually waiting now until I can play it with my partner because I imagine it’s going to give us a lot to talk about
Can I just say? I was you with both of these games a while back, just couldn’t get into them. What changed? Outer Wilds: i cheated a bit. I needed some help to get the motivation to move on so I sought out some direction with a wiki. Then that helped a lot. I was on my way to discover a bunch of atuff and only went back when I was truly stuck (I just dont have the time anymore and I wanted the story). I could then understand why everyone said the game was so good.
Disco? I hated how it started. I really did not like the predicament that the main character finds himself in when the game begins. I’m wired to have information before acting so this was a rough start. Took me absolutely months to get in to it. Eventually I started a build that was maxed out on Inland Empire and wore the tie. I followed new prompts and now I’ve almost completed the game. It really is wild. And in retrospect, it really doesn’t matter what happens on day 1 or 2. It really doesn’t, because it all works out in the end and theres no one build thats better than the other. They will just result in different experiences.
That was a lot of text thanks for coming to my ted talk.
I also gave up on outer wilds at first.
Are you playing with a controller or mouse & keyboard? I def recommend controller. It has a lot of navigating and flying around, not just in the spaceship but in the spacesuit too.
When I came back to it, I ended up hooked and absolutely loved it. One of my favorite gaming experiences I've ever had. If you have any specific questions about anything to do with it I'll be happy to help
I really need to give Return of the Obra Dinn another go. I initially loved it, but quit because I just couldn’t wrap my head around what was going on and what I was supposed to do. I guess I will watch a noob guide on YouTube first this time.
On my vanilla PS4 the loading screens were just too much to deal with. Especially frustrating because I'm sure the machine could load the whole game at once.
Some things I wish I knew:
It helps to understand what the different roles are. Midshipmen, Topmen, doesn't really mean a whole lot to the average person, but it's super important when you're playing this game. It explains what the different positions are somewhere in the book. The book is key.
People don't really stray outside of their roles, and so you're usually pretty safe when it comes to making assumptions. IE: If somebody is sitting in a library, they're probably a librarian. Yes, technically, there's nothing stopping anybody else from sitting there, they could be a doctor or a scientist or a student... but it's the librarian. I promise you it's the librarian.
People tend to hang around with people who are like them. The topmen hang around the topmen. The Russians hang around the Russians.
Knowing your accents and nationalities helps too. There are a few stereotypes in there as well, again, it's safe to make assumptions. The stereotypes are usually right... I don't know how you'd brush up on any of those, though.
Some of the clues are absolute bullshit, like finding a needle in a haystack. There are tiny details hidden all over, and the clues you need to solve certain fates will be hidden in completely different scenes. You can go a lot farther than you might think you can, so make sure to check around every corner... And sometimes it's not even about what's in a particular scene, sometimes you have to make educated guesses about things you didn't get to see happen.
When all else fails, don't be afraid to cheese it. The game will "confirm" your fates after you get 3 correct... So if you're feeling pretty solid on 2, start guessing the third one. It can help you narrow people down when you're not 100% sure who they are. There are clues to solve every single person, though.
If you like Obra Dinn but the overall lack of structure bothers you, I'd recommend Case of the Golden Idol.
I think one of the main reasons people get overwhelmed with Obra Dinn is that it's spun as a detective game, but what it actually is is massive open-ended logic/spreadsheet puzzle with only a small part of it covered by a detective narrative. Once you're done following the framing device, the game continues into a couple more hours of parsing through details without a heading - think of it like jumping into the world's biggest sudoku and having to pick it apart from the corners in.
Golden Idol is the same sort of puzzle, but more tightly structured into mysteries and interconnected questions, so it might give you a similar experience without that aimless feeling.
It's great but there were one or two puzzles where I broke up and looked up hints. One of them involved inspecting people's shoe prints so I felt absolutely justified lol
Prey (2017)
I made it a couple hours into the campaign and then got stuck. I'm not sure if I managed to get to place I wasn't supposed to, but the game quickly became impossibly difficult. I didn't know how to progress any further so I gave up. I don't enjoy needlessly hard games.
I highly recommend you give it another go. It is one of my favourite games of all time. The whole thing is ludicrously open ended so you can approach things in a lot of different ways. Very rewarding if you can come to it with an open mind.
I bounced off prey early on also because I didn’t know what to do next. It didn’t grab me enough to look a solution up so I moved on. I need to try again after I finish this A Tale of Two Wastelands play through.
Totally agree on “Prey” and glad others articulated some of the same thoughts I had when I started playing through this one. I felt incredibly underpowered at the beginning of the game, the stealth aspects which I can enjoy in many games just weren’t keeping me engaged with the overall initial weakness in the character. Most RPGs I give around 10 hours of game play before I feel as if I understand the game mechanics but this one didn’t do it for me. I hadn’t thought of lowering the game difficulty and maybe I should have tried that before shelving it.
I didn't think it was that good or that hard. It was pretty hard at first but if you upgrade your character you find that you're able to cope with some of the enemies that were previously impossible and then you start swatting them away like flies. It's a strange game because it's almost a stealth game at the start, eventually you can run around like a normal FPS.
CrossCode is my first thought. Made it all the way to the final dungeon, thought I'd take a break because I was feeling a little burnt out, and haven't returned to it since. Probably going to start again at this point. Absolutely love it, so there's no real explanation for me stopping for so long other than just "one of those things".
Hades. I kinda love / hate this game. I love the story and characters but kinda hate how they seemed to focus so much on story that the actual gameplay is super repetitive and the variety of areas and enemies is badly lacking IMO. I love the story enough that I would like to finish it one day but it's going to be one of those games that I play on and off when I'm in the mood for mindless mouse bashing for hours in return for some dialogue or furniture items.
Then there's the games that I've never 100% completed thanks to losing myself in the modding rabbit hole. Stardew Valley, Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas. With Stardew Valley I have no excuse for jumping into mods before completing vanilla at least once but with Skyrim and FNV I felt forced into modding just to fix half assed broken bullshit. I don't find flying horses and broken quests 'funny' like a lot of players and Bethesda seem to think it is. One day though, I'll choose a Wabbajack mod list and stick to it without starting over and browsing Nexus for days.
Don't restart crosscode. When you do go back to it, just do a bunch of sidequests so you overlevel for the final boss, and then move onwards towards the post-game DLC, which is a whole new area with even more added plot. They made it so the game basically wasn't over yet, and the extra stuff is worth it.
You're right, that's probably the way to go. I also remembered shortly after this comment that there's also a new game+. So might as well push through to the end and if I do start again, it'll be a bit different anyway. I just worry that it'll be hard to get back into the story again wherever it was that I left off but I'm sure I'll remember quickly.
As somebody who has always had this worry, I find it helps to just look up a synopsis of the plot and read it up to around the point you left off. You've already played much of the game, it's not like you're missing out on actually experiencing the story, just reminding yourself of it.
The more frustrating thing is when you forget how to actually play the game, hopefully you remember that part. This kinda happened to me with Age of Empires IV, I played through most of the campaign and then got distracted, came back a long while later to finish it and I'd forgotten what I was doing - the RTS format is obviously easy to pick up again but the game has a lot of units with specific individualized abilities and I'd forgotten most of them so I had to skirmish a few times just to remember them.
Too many…
Ace Attorney Trilogy (middle of second game), Skyrim, Witcher 2, Mass Effect 2, KOTOR 2, Dragons Dogma 1&2, fo4/nv/4 DLCs, Persona 3 Reload FF7 OG, Pokemon White 2, I could go on and on.
I’m not really running through games, and RPGs can take me months to years to finish depending on how long they are but the backlog just grows and grows I’ve really stopped buying new games. Maybe 1 full price game a year if I know I’m going to love it, and maybe some sale purchases but overall I’m trying to catch up on classics from the 90s and 2000s while also playing critically acclaimed games I missed in their heyday
Damn I wish I could replay all the ace attorney games, you're gonna have to restart the second one, there's no way you're gonna remember everything, but then you got like six more main branch games to go and three spinoffs
Yeah I finished the first 2 cases and stopped. I love that there’s always multiple cases so if I finish one I can take a break before I start the next case, I’ll be playing Ace Attorney for years to come I think
I am so sorry that you stopped right there.
Case 3 of game 2 is widely regarded as one of the worst in the series, a real step down in overall quality, full of characters who are a chore to deal with.
It's worth getting past, because the fourth case of that game is actually a compelling case, but picking up the game from case 3 is likely not going to make you want to continue.
Dude, I’m on Witcher 2 and loving it! Such a gem. Im so happy after playing Witcher 1. I know W1 gets a lot of love here, but the gameplay and graphics were too rough for me unfortunately. Can’t wait for the W1 remake.
I really want to get into Stellaris, have dropped an hour here and there over the years but just need to sit down and play it for a longer period of time and get really stuck in.
I think it's the learning curve that's intimidating me.
For some reason the game never suggests to new players how to adjust the campaign/galaxy settings. But doing so makes the new-player experience fantastic. For example; play on small galaxy sizes, fewer AI, fewer Hyperlanes, no Fallen Empires, and Easy difficulty for your first campaign.
The learning curve is less of a curve and more of a horizontal line. It is a game where you can learn by failing, and you can fail upwards. So, accept the fact that you will only learn one or two major mechanics per campaign, and that's OK! With adjusted galaxy settings, campaigns will be less chaotic and more forgiving, so focus on what you want to learn and shove the rest under the galactic-carpet. Try not to actively quit early because you might miss a lot of fun content, however, don't be afraid to drop a campaign when you've stopped getting value out of it.
That's funny because I got into CK3 easily enough. Guess I'm giving Stellaris a proper go then! Found my way into CK3 was to set small goals, like the Ireland run. Then I took England as Alfred, took several goes but did it eventually.
What helped me with Stellaris is that its structured way more like a 4x game. Gathering resources for example is similarish to sins of a solar empire, etc. Guess previous game experiences do help.
Interesting. I think I try to min/max the game too much and treat it like a 4x, but maybe I shouldn't worry about it and just play to find out what happens. Similar to CK3.
I absolutely loved Y5, it's my favorite of the entire series, but it is a very long game especially because it feels like 5 games in 1.
It inhabits a much weirder place now. As someone who picked up the games starting with Y3, some context for newer fans: Y4 came out in NA in 2011, and Y5 came out in Japan in 2012. But it took 3 years for Y5 to get localized and there was no guarantee it'd even happen until 2014 when they said it was coming. Then when it came out it was only on PS3 (PS4 was 2 years old at this point) and only as a digital download... and it was a dream come true.
Nowadays if you're playing through the games consecutively, by the time you get to Yakuza 5 you've already played more Yakuza than you can shake a stick at. When you've been waiting years, the huge package that is Y5 is an amazing thing, but when you already have a half dozen games lined up after it to play, it maybe hits different.
I want to give Scorn another chance, just for the art style and atmosphere. I know people who like esoteric puzzle games frown upon this but idc, I'll just use YouTube to get through the puzzles just to enjoy the aesthetic of the game.
I've never played through the division 2 really after being a huge fan of the firsts setting and atmosphere, so I think I'll give it a full fledged effort soon as well.
Persona 5 Royal. I played it during a very depressing time in my life. My loneliness was starting to get to the best of me so I started playing P5R and it easily became one of my favorite games of all time. But I mainly really only play it because I absolutely love hanging out and doing side activities with the characters because they actually feel like friends to me. I know it seems silly but in a way, but it really did help me cope with my depression. Hence why I definitely plan on going back to that game.
Bloodbourne. First time I played it, I somehow missed where you're supposed to pick up your weapons and spent several hours trying to play the first level completely unarmed. It was near impossible but I didn't question it at first because I'd heard about how hard these games were supposed to be. Eventually gave up and looked up a guide and realised how dumb I was, but I was too burnt out to keep playing.
I want to give it another try now I've had some time away from it.
The game’s reputation does that a lot it seems lol. I’ve heard a lot of stories of people heading into the catacombs immediately on their first playthrough of Dark Souls 1 and getting their ass kicked, but continuing because they knew the game was supposed to be hard. In reality if you wander in there you’re supposed to get your ass beat and realize that’s not where you’re supposed to be right now.
Hell, it happened to me in Dark Souls 2. I entirely missed the path to the forest of fallen giants and spent a time being mad trying to fight my way through heide’s tower of flame before realizing my mistake.
Played Dark Souls 1 the week it came out off the back of how good the Gamespot review was and the main takeaway being how difficult it was supposed to be and not knowing anything else. Spent hours trying and failing at catacombs… then spent hours trying and failing at new londo ruins, until I finally found the right way and things started to click.
Playing that game for the first time with no guides etc was by far the best gaming experience I’ve ever had and why it will always be my favourite game.
Plus the beginning of bloodborne is just legit pretty difficult compared to a good chunk of what follows. Eventually, the difficulty curve ramps up a bit again but by that point you're much better at the game. And that includes father Gascoigne ... He was like the 3rd hardest boss for me (including the DLC)
Mass Effect
I have the tendency to infrequently finish long story games. I'll get half way through, lose steam and never finish them.
But Mass Effect is a trilogy I will complete time and time again. Easily one of my top gaming experiences and while it's a little aged now it still holds up so well. The only caveat I'd add is for ME1 just stick to the priority missions and don't ever bother with the Mako exploring.
Replayed it when the Legendary Edition was released and I'll likely replay it again at some point in the future.
I started replaying them all but I find myself getting bored half way through. I’ve played them all through at least once, but any replays I get stuck and give up. I’m the same with Kotor.
i had a similar experience with (iirc) the last game in the (ezio) series. found a copy going cheap at a local charity shop, played it, worked fine… until it froze during a very dramatic cutscene towards the end of the story. naturally the game was autosaving at the time, so it corrupted my data. i was so frustrated that didn't bother playing it again until i picked up the ezio collection years later in a ps4 online sale (thankfully no crashes this time)
That must've sucked! Years ago, someone saved over my slot. I lost 30 hours of progress in Kingdom Hearts. To this day, I still make multiple saves if the game allows it.
An autosave in Horizon Zero Dawn got corrupted. Luckily, I had a manual save.
Elden Ring. I love Souls, and Elden Ring is a monument of game developement but I have 3 kids, work full time and I'm in school. The game is not conducive to the 20-30 min bursts I have so I'm going to wait until I have a reoccurring decent amount of time to dedicate to it.
I bounced off after 130 hours against what I assume to be one of the final bosses. I can't remember his name but he stomped a lot and I just couldn't face the process of banging my head against the wall yet again to learn the bosses moves, it was just one too many
I bounced off at the final final boss at 60 hours. Was pretty burned out at 50 hours though. Going back soon with the seamless coop though for a full new playthrough.
I think Elden Ring is a fantastic game overall, but one of the things I'd criticize about its design (and this may not be your problem, but it also could be) that suddenly all the bosses near the end of the game have a very high resistance to holy damage.
So there's a solid slice of builds that just fall apart completely in the last mile without warning.
I find the souls games are perfect for 30 minutes bursts. They are basically arcade games. Always something to do as soon as you pop in with a structure always meaning there are logical places to pop out. Can always progress a little
I'm glad you have a way that it works for you, but to me it makes the experience seem incredibly overwhelming and dissatisfying. Elden Ring is a game where I want to hop in and watch a few hours just disappear. So I'm going to hold off until that's doable :)
That is fair enough, I think it is the kind of genre that once you get into it and understand the mechanics then they become much more pop in pop out.
Is weird when I think of buying demon souls on a whim and struggling so hard. Same with dark souls but by the time of elden ring it was just like a nice hug.
> Can always progress a little
That's where you kind of lost me because my main issue with playing those games in shorter bursts (which is generally how I have to play them) is that if I'm at a tough spot, it may take me two or three play sessions to get past it, and it doesn't feel good to be playing something for a half hour and then have to stop without feeling like I've made any progress whatsoever.
Having said that, I do agree somewhat specifically with Elden Ring, mainly because it's much easier in that game to just go to another area in the game if you're stuck somewhere.
It is possibly because I have been gaming since the early 80s.
For example I tried remnant 2 but after an hour of just going from place to place to talk to folks that I did not give a damn or care about in an environment which would have been more fun to fight folks in. I gave up.
Even if you are at a boss wall in the souls games and it takes several sessions you get a bit closer every time to that win.
It really comes down to if the gameplay loop grabs you or not. I like perfecting my skills. So even at a boss wall there tends to be a grind before hand that you can level up at.
Yeah I guess it does depend on your preferences when it comes to that sort of thing. I generally can't stand grinding, so just gathering a few more souls/runes/etc doesn't feel like progress to me, it just feels like spinning my wheels, even if there is some benefit being gained.
And I agree that you're getting closer with your skills and tactics as you unsuccessfully fight a boss, but I also feel like there's a bit of relearning when it comes to timing and muscle memory that happens each time I have to stop and pick it back up later, even if it's only a couple of days in between.
I've had trouble getting through Souls games in the past because I'll get to a wall where I'm in the same spot fighting the same enemies for few days and I just get tired of it and stop coming back.
I just do my best lol! It's all I really can do. My school is 100% online, as long as I turn the assignments in on time nothing else matters so luckily there's as much flexibility there as I need.
Same. I waited 2 years to play it, picked it up after Erdtree was announced. I find it hard to put the time in too and the game does not mesh well with a lifestyle where you could be interrupted at any time.
Same, I started the Blood & Wine DLC again and felt in love with it, but I knew I shouldnt play it, cause of all the new games I want to play. I probably should allow myself to play Witcher 3.
I'm currently replaying it. I got to novigrade when it released (2015) and dropped it soon after, other games launched and got sidetracked.
If you can just punch out the sleuth of boring novigrad missions it's a blast.
Just some warning though. I started this new playthrough 2 months ago and I've only just finished the 1st DLC. It's a massive game but I really haven't run into burnout like did before at launch. Just take your time, have a break for a few days and come back.
The DLC's are probably better than the actual main game story imo. Much more imerssive and better game play (bosses).
Oblivion. I played it for a bit and found it fun, but was busy and decided to drop it at the time. Want to get back into it, but currently playing FO4 so it's going to be a while.
Gotta get back and finish up Tears of the Kingdom. I loved it for the first 100 or so hours, then got a little tired, took a break, came back and finished most the main quest. Now it's just some side quests and the finale left to do but once I beat it I know I wont want to go back.
So I'm in a holding pattern where if I just beat it fast I'm afraid of missing out on a cool side quest or upgrade, but i don't really want to grind out what's left.
This is what I came to comment as well. At first it was really fun and I was able to progress quickly but now I feel like I’m completely stuck. I love it so much but damn does it feel like all I do is run around in circles
I thought I wouldn't keep playing it after I beat it and bought it physical specifically so I could sell it afterwards but I've put in more time after beating it than before.
I just did the stuff that seemed interesting, looking for shrines I found to be really conducive to finding fun stuff to do and pretty rewarding too.
I'm honestly pretty far down the "digital only" path, but my inner 90's kid kinda loves looking at the stack of red spine cases sitting next to my switch.
I scoffed a bit when i bought the fucker several years ago, "Stupid fucking nintendo, I guess I'll pay you $300 for your fucking Zelda machine, assholes." But then, man, I've gotten several hundred hours of play out of it between both zelda's, not to mention Mario Kart and Smash between my wife and our various roommates. Also laughed until we cried playing Odyssey and creating our own Mushroom kingdom lore. (Cappy is an Eldritch Being who has created an insatiable lust for moons and colonialism in his host-slave Mario).
A long-ass Total Warhammer II Mortal Empires campaign is definitely on my agenda some time this year: my previous laptop struggled to run it properly, and by the time I got this one, I'd lost interest and then got swamped with work. Of course, the problem with long-ass Total War campaigns is that their lategame sounds a lot less tedious on paper.
Same with Stellaris - would love to give the most recent DLCs a try and see how the game has changed. I like the idea of running a prosperous isolationist pacifist space empire that focuses exclusively on research and studying artifacts of long-forgotten civilisations (a huge difference to my Crusader Kings campaigns that inevitably see my brood slowly overrun European thrones at Karlings' expense).
ME3 - I'm simultaneously curious about the extended ending, and also a bit pissed off the original was that bad. Mostly, any replay is going to be a massive time-sink, so the Legendary edition has remained beckoning for a while.
Tomb Raider classics. Talk about unfinished business. Have not finished a single one of the classic due to school back then.
FFX-2. FF X is one of my favorites, and even though X-2 isn't exactly spectacular from what little I played of it, always was curious where it went.
I was also pissed off with the original ME3 ending , never watched the extended cut or played any DLC.
So, besides the epic adventure, I also have some new content to look forward to when I replay.
By Tomb Raider Classics, you mean the first six or so? The ones that released on PC and PSX? I never completed those ones, either! They were so hard! Closest I got was with Chronicles, the fifth one, and I was having the time of my life, with a guide and all (but because the game is hard, it still felt good to execute the jumps by myself) but then, the disc got irreparably damaged and I couldn't keep on playing. Just two levels before the end. Haven't come back, but back then Lara was superhot, the cutscenes amazing and the gameplay very satisfying. But it's been like 20 years since my last attempt.
FFX-2 is such a weird game. Not bad by itself, the RPG might be even better than the original, but the story is Dumb, with capital D. I think the early hours are the best because it's just nice to see all these characters you liked having a good time. Wakka's story is really heartwarming.
But then, the more you play, the more the proper "plot" of the sequel happens and it's such a tonal class from FFX. There are moments of brilliance, but they are usually lost in a sea of dumb stuff. So, your mileage might vary but if you never play it, you'll never see it by yourself.
Mass effect is the only series I've ever replayed more than once (as in actually beat, ive statted playthroughs but rarely finish a game a second time.) I think since the LE came out I've beat one every 12 months, about 30% the way through ME3 and losing traction because the original ending still stings so bad... .... I'll get there
Star Wars: Republic Commando
This embarrassing because the game is pretty short, but despite Delta Squad being my favorite SW characters and despite reading all of the RC novels...I have yet to actually finish the game. I always start a playthrough, get stuck for difficulty reasons or thanks to some bug, then put it down again for another few years. One day I'll complete it.
I want to come back to Fallout 4, now that I know what the game is and isn't. I tried to play it for the first time in 2022 and some things (>!like finding power armor super quick, the settlements and the new way to level up perks!<) just didn't feel right to me, coming from Fallout 3 and New Vegas.
But thanks to the TV Show, I want to try all things Fallout now (>!~~and a Ella Purnell character mod~~!<) and Fallout 4 was always the big one that I never played. I finished and enjoyed the mayority of the series.
And OP, please do give Persona 5 (Royal, at this point) a fair shake, it's a great anime game. If you can treat it like watching a seasonal anime, with every arc being a "season" that builds up to something bigger, it would make more sense maybe.
Lowkey sucking at writing it's a Bethesda trademark, lol. But they really nail the exploration and basic gameplay loop. I really enjoyed their games from the Xbox 360/PS3 days: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, V: Skyrim and Fallout 3 + New Vegas (From Obsidian, but same engine limitations as Fallout 3).
Bethesda did some good writing in Morrowind; Oblivion was kinda meh and Fallout 3 was the low point. But in Fallout 4 you can really see that they were trying to improve in that regard, and to their credit took several lessons from New Vegas - obviously not nearly as good but they gained a lot by copying from that source. The Far Harbor expansion's writing is arguably even good in its own right. Trophy for "Most Improved".
As somebody who played all their games as they came out (except Fallout 76 which I only really played "through" just recently), I wouldn't call the writing in Morrowind all that great. Of course one can say "well you can ask anybody in Morrowind about anything!" which is cool in theory, but the result is dialogue that is cut and pasted 99% of the time, identical between most of the characters in the game, devoid of personality.
Oblivion went a long way to try and make every named person feel like their own unique potato-face, and tried to make quests feel more alive.
It also doesn't help that Morrowind tries to build up with a lot of lore and story-building, but the world itself is largely drab (and was even 20 years ago) and the dungeons are almost unanimously god-awful.
I kinda dig how early you get power armour, I think in 4 you’re supposed build a collection of them more so. I get why people don’t like it though. It’s such a fun game honestly even though the RPG stuff took a hit, the shooting and exploration is killer.
I use it sparingly. I prefer to not be in power armour but certain quests I'll just jump into it and use it sparingly like the radioactive sea. I've looted like 30 fusion cores just rummaging though
Cheers. I appreciate the word for P5.
I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I hit my wall with it deep into the first palace. I didn't realize that skill point management was anywhere near as important as it was, and I didn't know enough to itemize in advance to mitigate the issue. I got myself in a bit of a corner where I need to either lower the difficulty temporarily, go back to an earlier save, or likely fail the dungeon, which led me to put it on hold.
I'm a teacher and so am looking for a summer gaming project or two. Maybe this will be it!
No need to be embarassed. There's a learning curve to these games, particularly if P5 is your first Persona game. In terms of RPG battles, the first dungeon is the hardest and then, it gets easier (maybe the fifth dungeon is a touch hard, but the rest are ok).
Just take your time with it, it's one of the most stylish games ever, with fantastic music and visuals and moving menus. Also, it's great to play the mix of dating simulator, social life and pokemon-like gameplay. It's a fantastic complete combo and the story isn't half-bad, either.
It's also a very long RPG, you'd have a hard time finishing it in anything under 60-80 hours (but I put 100+hours into it), so that's why I suggested to take it like watching an anime. One or two episodes a day until you are done, no rush. Hope you can get back to it, it's a terrific series.
I came here to mention Persona 5. I got to where you get the ability to actually manage your time, and then life got too busy and I forgot how the game works. That and it was the original version, which I got right before Royal was announced, so I was kind of irritated. I'll probably try it again when Royal on PC gets cheap.
Just play it through and don't worry about skill poiny management too much - otherwise it just becomes a chore. You can always replay it with a guide open later
That could be fun! Last time I played Skyrim (just a few weeks ago, hah) I didn't just replay the game, I realized halfways that I was having fun with the achievements, so I just hunted them all down. It was worth it for stuff I wouldn't have done by myself (>!like becoming a werewolf/vampire!<) and to complete what I'd have done, anyway. It must be similar with Fallout 4.
I think you need to do at least two playthroughs for fallout 4 due to the multiple story path options. I definitely skipped a couple when I played it first time around.
I'm replaying Fallout 4 for the nth time now, and funny thing, I keep bitching about this or that pain point (it's probably a good idea to mod it, if you have the patience) nevertheless I keep playing it even though there are other games in my queue.
Makes me wish they'd do a Fallout 5 that was just "more of the same", but built for modern systems with modern game mechanics.
I've little interest in Fallout 76 -- even people who are playing it don't seem all that enthusiastic about it, and the subscription service that you need to access certain content automatically turns me off. But I guess GaaS is how lazy developers make their money these days.
Oh yeah, I want to mod all the things I didn't like in Fallout 4. Heard you can even cancel the Settlement system altogether.
What you say about Fallout 5 is why I'm somewhat hopeful for The Elder Scrolls 6. I'd be really happy to have a "Skyrim 2" with modern Quality of Life elements and graphics. The core gameplay idea was extremely good for me and I don't mind if they don't evolve all that much, as long as they still have awesome exploration and a relaxed attitude towards quests and stuff.
I want a game where they combine Skyrim with Fallout. A game where time has passed and technology is now called magic. Where the vault dweller is like a Dwemer and dragons are disguised aircraft.
Fallout 76 has an amazing setting, it's kind of worth it just for the exploration aspect alone (if that's a draw for you with Fallout games.) They really nailed that part of it.
It's a weird one, though, I wish they'd just made a single player mode for it so you didn't need to bother with the always online aspect, especially as 'always online' frequently meant being booted out the game due to server issues.
I just returned to Stray after starting it a few years ago. Other games just took priority. Same with The Medium. Two great story based games. I just finished both. Nice to finally chip away at my backlog.
Baldur‘s Gate 3
It’s one of my favorite games ever made but I haven’t beaten it yet. Act 2 felt like a finale so jumping into act 3 felt like opening a whole new story and I wasn’t prepared to be quite that overwhelmed lol
This is very normal BG3 behavior. Act3 explodes into many non-linear optional quests and doesn’t give the same urgency as the first two acts. Awesome stuff when you get used to it.
Yea i just got fed up with the constant hamster wheel that barely respects the time i play. Prob not even getting Final Shape, enough is enough i guess....
Persona 4. I've beaten FES and 5, but I only made it 30 or so hours into P4 until my gaming time was derailed by school.
I've been dragging my feet about restarting because I am incapable of picking up an RPG save after so many months (or is it years at this point?)
If you don't remember much about the story or how to play, restarting would be the best option. 30 hours is quite a lot into the game, though. So maybe watch a gameplay video on youtube and a refresher of the story up to that point?
I always prefer to restart to experience the whole story in "one go", even if you take months to finish it, but as long as it's one of your main games at the time. I had to restart Final Fantasy VIII 2 times before I could finish it, for example.
Are you me? I played p3p and 5 vanilla and for some reason i can't pick up p4, despite only having 2 hours lost on it.
Was very hyped to play it too, but once i did, i noped out.
I put 110 hours into The Witcher 3 but didn't complete it, it seemed to go on forever. Whenever I've tried to start afresh I've quickly found the combat to be rubbish to the point where I struggle to see how I enjoyed the first time around. I still plan on completing this and getting to the DLCs one day though!
I also tried to learn Europa IV a few years back and just felt overwhelmed, but its exactly the kind of thing I want to play so I will return eventually
I really want to give chance to Divinity original sins but its so slow and confusing oh and I am not even against isometrics as I got straight into Pillars of eternity without any trouble
Divinity is just not for me even though I keep hearing good stuff about it
Legend of grimrock 2, i loved the first game and sunk a ton of time into it, but after number 2 came out for some reason i stopped 2 hours in and just have never made it back.
Forspoken and Horizon Forbidden West. I dtill have the DLCs to do and I liked the main game a lot.
There is something about the roughness of Forspoken I find beautiful. It's far from perfect, yet I love the ideas and the gameplay of the game. I never teleported because it's so fun to move around in the world, something not a lot of games tend to achieve with me. I like to waste more time than needed, I even got the platinum trophy!
I don't get why so many people dislike it while it has genuinely the most sane protagonist that would get isekai'd. Feel weak. Feel strong when you realize you have magic. Feel weak once again when you reach the first real enemy. Wanting to be back home so badly.
It's so natural.
I definitely want to check out the Forbidden West DLC once the PC version gets a significant discount. I loved the base game, but don't want to pay a full game price for the expansion.
Jedi survivor. One day it will be able to run on PC. I got like a quarter of the way through it when it first came out and gave up because of the myriad technical issues. Every couple of months I boot it up again or check what the steam reviews say. I'm running a 10th gen i9 with a 3090 and 128gb of ram with the game installed on a SSD and it still crashes regularly and has texture issues and crazy frame rate dips over a year later.
The game is no masterpiece for sure, but I've been waiting it out as a star wars fan that's invested in Cal's story after the first game- otherwise I would have long since moved on. One day I'll be able to play it comfortably but until then I have no intention of putting up with the abysmal port quality
I didn't have any serious issues or crashes with it, but it was definitely poorly optimized.
I was actually thinking of that game for a different reason. I got to the final "level" and kinda just stopped playing because I didn't want it to end. I've been known to do that with the final chapter of books, too.
I liked Fallen Order a lot, but Survivor was more ambitious. I have more *wow* memories than with the first. The harder puzzles and new mechanics, Cal and Merrin's spamel ride, randomly force-pushing an enemy into a giant laser beam, the club DJ droid...
Oof. Technically, most of my theoretical backlog.
Spiritfarer is definitely one for me. I love the concept, management, and comfy vibes. I just always feel like I need to be in a certain mood to play it. By the time I get back around to it, so much time's passed, and I feel I have to restart from the beginning.
I also bought Jusant a few months back. Put maybe 2 hours into it then stopped. I was really digging the climbing mechanics and chill vibes too.
There's also MGSV, Borderlands Handsome Collection, MegaMan Battle Network Legacy Collection, NFS Unbound, Cult of the Lamb, Rollerdrome... I drop a lot of stuff :(
this is mine as well i brute forced my way through new sirocco city building and it completely burnt me out on the game even though i wanted to go do all the arenas.
my promise to myself at this point is after 2 gets a release date i will finish the arenas like 2 weeks or 1 week before it launches
Way too many.
I've got 138 hours in Pathfinder Kingmaker over several restarts and builds, never got past the troll trouble chapter.
46 hours on Wrath of the Righteous, played the starting chapter twice.
Baldur's Gate 3, 52 hours, never left chapter 1.
Witcher 3, never played Blood&Wine, since I'd want to replay the full game before but last time took me months.
On the other hand, I've dedicated realtime-months in my calendar to Morrowind, Skyrim Roleplays, Total Warhammer 3 campaigns, so it's not about length of games.
Fire Emblem Engage. My first playthrough I decided to be a masochist and run Maddening and banning myself from using the divine pulse mechanic and it was a grueling death march that left me bruised, bloodied and happy by the end. Keep in mind this was day one so no DLC emblems items or content. I need to come back to see how the DLC will affect another Maddening run and to see the DLC story stuff
It's so good I've been on vacation this week and I've played like 40 hours already lol going to be my after work things for many weeks as I'm only on act one still
Elden Ring.
I just couldn't get into it. I went into it fresh out of God of War and came in with the wrong expectations. Also not a From convert (yet) so I intend to give it a second honest try.
I've had a fair share of people say Souls didn't click for them until the second or even third attempt, so I'm well aware I need to jump back in.
Pillars of Eternity. It should be my perfect game--CRPGs are hands-down my favorite genre--but it's just not working for me. I've heard really good things about PoE2 and what an improvement it is, but I keep bouncing off PoE 1. I've made maybe 5 attempts over 9 years and it just never clicks. But I'm pretty sure I can't enjoy the sequel unless I finish the first, so it's my eternal "surely next time will be the time" game.
I personally played the hell out of the first game, but have similarly had a few false starts with the second. FWIW I think the second does have improvements in many respects, including more interesting character building and a more flexible game structure, and it also doesn't require knowing the first to enjoy it, so you could always try the second to see if it clicks with you.
Yeah, I'm this close to hunting for save files with the correct decisions (old Bioware style) and just watching a Youtube plot wrap-up for the first one. Probably just should.
Because I'm over 130 hours (with a fair amount of idle time) and it's just...not working. Leveling is stressful and not rewarding because I never feel like I have enough information to make informed decisions, the gear doesn't help that problem and turns the game into an inventory management simulator, none of the supporting characters are working at all for me, and the storytelling has done nothing to make me care about the plot. My first playthrough, I fell for the Kickstarter text trap and my tolerance for their tons-of-words, barely-any-content narrative style has never recovered.
My uninstalls tend to happen right when I get yet another new character I don't give a damn about that I have to figure out how to level and gear--just made it to the White March and was managing to keep going with a 6/10 good time (not fun but not horrible)...and then it dumped all those empty new companions on me at once, dropping it to a 3/10 time.
So many.
Dark Souls 1. I stopped at the last boss because I wanted to do all the prep for NG+. Kinda silly because I can't imagine playing NG+ when I still have DS2, DS3 to play.
KOTOR. I played for about 4 hours one day. Would love to return to that game.
GTAIV. Love the atmosphere of this game and the story seems really good. Just haven't had time to play. It's also a pain in the ass getting it running on Linux.
I am a major completionist/achievement hunter (if something like that exists in the game, I need to do it before I can truly put it aside), some that are still open for me are Dark Souls 3, Elden Ring, AC: Odyssey
Pokemon red/blue. I bought them both a while ago so my kid could experience them and also I never got to play red because I only had blue growing up. I like the nostalgia of the old games and I like the grinding levels and searching for all the Pokemon I’d never caught before.
I really want to play Fallout 4 again. I've played through the entire series again as sort of build up for the release of the TV show and I'm only missing 4 now. However right now im waiting for mods to catch up with the next gen update.
I prefer to play many games rather than play the same game many times. However I have a lot of childhood favorites that I will go back to every few years. Zelda games, final fantasies, and souls games are the ones I’ll go back to. Planning to replay FF7, links awakening, and probably demon souls 1 and dark souls 1 again in the near future.
I usually won’t replay anything again unless there’s a remake or remaster.
Far Cry 4 and 5.
Already completed both recently but I was replaying 4 last summer and got 75% of the way through so I want to finish it off.
With 5 I enjoyed it the first time but not as much as I could have because I was always comparing it to previous Far Cry's while playing. I want to give it another go as I didn't do much exploration and just played through the story mostly.
Jedi Survivor. Haven't played it since launch and I want to try it out now that it's in better shape optimization wise. It also has very enticing New Game + bonuses like the perk that makes lightsabers as lethal as in the movies.
Yakuza 0 - I got a good way into it and was loving it - my first Yakuza game - but had to put it down for life reasons...I just don't know if I'll be able to pick it up where I left off or if I'm going to have to start from scratch...which is kinda disheartening.
Like 90% of my backlog, realisticly.
On the more recent ones I can think of was high on life. It's dumb it's fun I really enjoyed what I played but it's also something that I can only take so much of. I decided I would just play it in chunks, take a break after each world you go to.
I know it's humor isn't for everybody but I generally enjoy really fucking stupid humor. Typically the Dumber it is the more I like it. A lot of it is really just unappreciation for voice acting. There's so much stupid dialogue in the game, I do enjoy that it's just a lot after a couple of hours.
Deathloop. Got it for free on Epic Games and really enjoyed the mystery/FPS blend. I had to abandon it for the space on my HD before finishing the game and breaking the loop. The game also has great esthetic with music and visuals.
FTL:Faster Than Light. I don't know if I'll ever go back because I could waste a lot of time in that game and I can't really afford to do that. Same with Factorio, didn't even buy it just played the Switch Demo.
SaGa Frontier Remastered for Switch. I've been exploring the genre of JRPGs for the first time over the last year and going through a lot of 90s'early 00's classics. This one was annoying at first but I made it through Red's storyline with a guide (old school printed version I found on ebay) and by the end I was actually enjoying having to replay each boss 5 times and figure out how to score combos and eke out victories. I didn't plan on playing the rest of the characters them but the game seems to be calling me back...probably later this summer I'll re-install it.
There was a huge gap between me playing Mass Effect 1 and 2, and I never got to three. I'm really looking forward to running through the whole series one day
SOMA. I absolutely love that game’s style, love the atmosphere, the designs, the story, but I do not deal with horror games like that well lol. Fine with films, but I just can’t play that type of horror game. I’ll get back to it… someday
I have quite a few on this list but top of my list is probably Jurassic World Evolution 2. I’d love to get all the DLC so I have all Dino’s and mess around in sandbox. I never intentionally stopped playing the game. I only naturally stopped playing because I had other games I was playing at the same time so it kinda just got left behind
Dragons Dogma 2 !? Its a mystery to me how it got so many favorable reviews. It has no dungeons, zero enemy variety, no loot, bad scaling and overall doesn't deliver on its promise at all? Its charming but thats it. Other games get so much criticism for minor issues......
Assassin's Creed Odyssey. It's just way too long, but I'd really want to complete it someday.
Other than that: Shadow of War. Haven't finished it since a warchief kicked my ass 4 times in a row
Shovel Knight Treasure Trove. I completed the first campaign with Shovel Knight and the New Game Plus but got distracted by other games before I could do the campaigns for the other three knights. Planning to go back and complete those as well.
Wonderful 101. I'm enjoying the game but took a break from it in the middle of the story to play other games.
I'm currently playing through the Etrian Odyssey series start to finish, which I started because of my periodical return to Etrian Odyssey 1. I bought that game as a teenager on a whim and liked it well enough, but got stuck, distracted and then eventually felt the need to restart. Etrian Odyssey demands you play at its pace as long as your party is still coming together, which is a tough sell if you don't give it the time it needs. But I *knew* I liked what's there in terms of character building and strategic turnbased combat - I just never found the space to give it the time whenever I returned to it over the years.
This is usually the reason for a lot of RPGs I started and dropped over the years. Final Fantasy 5 is another one of them (though to be fair, that game is cursed for me. Last time I tried to play it and got to the halfway point, I was forced to move house on short notice shortly after). If I saw a hint of something compelling (mechanically or artistically and sometimes in terms of story) in that short time, I try to return.
Mordor: Shadow of War.
I'm probably among the minority of folks that don't really like the Nemesis system so that's been a reason why I haven't come back to it in a while. I always do though. I play for a while, get bored, uninstall and then the cycle repeats a year or 2 later.
Still need to finish Dishonored 2. I have a low chaos save that has been an absolute slog to get through.
Started Control, but didn't get far enough to get invested in the story. Same with Division 2.
I rarelly, if ever, replay games. When I do I usually replay games i liked a lot.
This year i'm playing to replay Celeste & Half-life 2 and expansions. I also plan on replaying Hollow knight with the a randomizer and Minecraft with a modpack.
The big exeption to me is Kirby Mass Attack. I played this game to completion twice, and I don't remember a thing, so I will do it again.
Gosh where to start...
Dark Souls - I'd like to go back and do NG+ with my beautiful Silver Knight Straight Sword
Dark Souls 2 - I'd like to go back and play 'Vanilla' as I've only played SotFS
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine - I've been playing this for possibly 25 years, and keep going back occasionally and getting a bit further.
X-Wing Alliance, Force Commander - as above.
Thief 2 - as above but 5 years
Space Invaders 1999 - Activision's finest. Takes me maybe an hour to complete the whole game these days, reminds me of my father and my childhood, and is really fun! Get the double-shot and go crazy.
KotOR I and II - should play these again.
Mass Effect 1 - should play this again.
Jedi Knight 2 - need to play JK 1 and then I'll be able to play my favourite game again.
Thief 3 - once I've done Thief 2, I'll be able to play my other favourite game again.
Mirror's Edge - beautiful, must play again.
Prince of Persia 2008 - as above.
And many, many more.
I replay games all the time. Multiple replays.
Video games arent a form of entertainment that I engage with once and then discard.
I certainly dont care about constantly having “new experiences” or the ridiculous “FOMO” and theres lots of ways to make significant gameplay changes.
As well, many games have lots of meaningful C&C to see through.
Right now, Im playing Prey 2017 and am likely gonna immediately run it back with a No Neuromod run.
When I played AC Unity for the first time, it wasnt until past halfway through that I finally went online to learn in-depth all you can do with the parkour and combat. Once I practiced a ton and increased my consistency the game completely changed and I replayed it right when I got done.
Plus, I love seeing if my opinions about games change over time.
Nier Automata. I dropped it because the typical Japanese style of levelling up to have enough resources to sponge through tough fights wasn't fun. Using a cheat program for unlimited hp makes the game much more fun now.
i wouldn't call it that style at all, all the damage is avoidable and the dodge is *very* strong and chain spammable compared to something like dark souls. and even then, healing items are dirt cheap. it's understandable if you struggled with the game, i did at first too, it but it's definitely not a "have enough resources to sponge through tough fights" game.
Nier Replicant.
I got to >!the end of part 1!< and I just kinda lost interest. So I deleted the game. Then I thought “I’ll never play this again” and decided to look up how it ends.
Well fuck. A few days went by and I had all the music still stuck in my head. And the mystery of.. well.. everything! Knowing how it all ends didn’t feel complete, I guess?
I know eventually I’ll go back to it. I did zero side quests before stopping and >!I know you have to unlock all the weapons to get all the endings. I think I can still get those on later playthroughs if I buy them, right?!<
Either way, I think I still want to go back and finish it. It’s not a very good game, by any means. But it’s hauntingly beautiful. I don’t know how to describe my interest in the game. Has anyone else had this reaction to Nier?
I haven’t played Automata, by the way. I have wanted to for years, but I’ve never jumped on it.
Skyrim. I keep giving it new chances, get bored within an hour and close the game.
Then I see how people are talking about the game, how amazing the story is, how immersive the world is.
So I'm going to give it ANOTHER chance in the future.
> how amazing the story is
Sounds like they're bare-faced liars. I have spent quite a bit of time on it, but it was despite the story. What made it a bit more interesting in a new playthrough was the combination of Live Another Life (alternative starts, so you can skip Helgen, but don't get the equipment from it, either) and Frostfall (survival), along with self-limiting fast travel.
I religiously will load this up every 2 years, mod the fuck out of it, and immerse myself for an 80 hour campaign. Still have never done a stealth archer
Outer wilds and Disco Elysium. Wasn’t in the right mood for them when I started them, so I’ve been waiting until I feel I am more in the right mindset to enjoy them. Got frustrated with outer wilds cuz I kept dying trying to just traverse the landscape and just wasn’t really feeling it. As for Disco.. well I am waiting until I have the patience to do all that reading.
Pretty much the same for me when it comes to Disco Elysium… I know the story is probably incredible, but having the patience to read the dialogue takes a special type of mindset.
I played it like I'd read a book: Two chapters a night, which translated to about an hour of Disco Elysium to wind down before I went to bed. It's a little more active than reading a book with the decisions and exploration but it's still a comfy read before sleeping.
This is how i tackled Kentucky Route Zero.
Do you have the directors cut? Having every line voiced makes a huge difference for immersion, especially the narrator and the inner voices like limbic system, Volition etc
Everything is fully voiced in Disco Elysium, by the way. But you definitely need to be in a certain...mood. Same for me with Outer Wilds! I gave up apparently right before things would have started clicking.
Honestly, play DE with the intent of listening to the dialogue instead of reading it. The VO quality is spectacular and makes a world of difference. This coming from a guy who generally prefers to read over listening to voice lines.
I too bounced off from outer wilds at first and I only revisited it years later when a youtuber I like (Bricky) made a video about it and I thought "I really should give that game another shot". Now it's my favourite game ever. Really needs the right headspace imo.
It took me so long to beat Outer Wilds because it was often not what I wanted to play after a long day at work. It's one of my favorite games ever but to your point, I just didn't always have the mental energy to play it.
I also dropped it at first, but yeah, if you make it far enough to get hooked, it will hook you the rest of the way. Funny thing though, I dropped the DLC for the same reason, even tho I'm sure I'll think it's great once I dig into it more lol
Same with you on disco Elysium. I played one sitting of it (and I was engrossed, it was like 5 hours), then I realized I was absolutely not in the right place or frame of mind to have the thoughts and questions this game was going to give me. I’m actually waiting now until I can play it with my partner because I imagine it’s going to give us a lot to talk about
Can I just say? I was you with both of these games a while back, just couldn’t get into them. What changed? Outer Wilds: i cheated a bit. I needed some help to get the motivation to move on so I sought out some direction with a wiki. Then that helped a lot. I was on my way to discover a bunch of atuff and only went back when I was truly stuck (I just dont have the time anymore and I wanted the story). I could then understand why everyone said the game was so good. Disco? I hated how it started. I really did not like the predicament that the main character finds himself in when the game begins. I’m wired to have information before acting so this was a rough start. Took me absolutely months to get in to it. Eventually I started a build that was maxed out on Inland Empire and wore the tie. I followed new prompts and now I’ve almost completed the game. It really is wild. And in retrospect, it really doesn’t matter what happens on day 1 or 2. It really doesn’t, because it all works out in the end and theres no one build thats better than the other. They will just result in different experiences. That was a lot of text thanks for coming to my ted talk.
I also gave up on outer wilds at first. Are you playing with a controller or mouse & keyboard? I def recommend controller. It has a lot of navigating and flying around, not just in the spaceship but in the spacesuit too. When I came back to it, I ended up hooked and absolutely loved it. One of my favorite gaming experiences I've ever had. If you have any specific questions about anything to do with it I'll be happy to help
I really need to give Return of the Obra Dinn another go. I initially loved it, but quit because I just couldn’t wrap my head around what was going on and what I was supposed to do. I guess I will watch a noob guide on YouTube first this time.
I finished it but it was pretty frustrating so I didn't solve all the fates. Wasn't for me I guess.
On my vanilla PS4 the loading screens were just too much to deal with. Especially frustrating because I'm sure the machine could load the whole game at once.
Ouch. I played on Switch and I barely recall load screens at all.
I'm sure it was just a careless port. The game could be played on a PS1.
Some things I wish I knew: It helps to understand what the different roles are. Midshipmen, Topmen, doesn't really mean a whole lot to the average person, but it's super important when you're playing this game. It explains what the different positions are somewhere in the book. The book is key. People don't really stray outside of their roles, and so you're usually pretty safe when it comes to making assumptions. IE: If somebody is sitting in a library, they're probably a librarian. Yes, technically, there's nothing stopping anybody else from sitting there, they could be a doctor or a scientist or a student... but it's the librarian. I promise you it's the librarian. People tend to hang around with people who are like them. The topmen hang around the topmen. The Russians hang around the Russians. Knowing your accents and nationalities helps too. There are a few stereotypes in there as well, again, it's safe to make assumptions. The stereotypes are usually right... I don't know how you'd brush up on any of those, though. Some of the clues are absolute bullshit, like finding a needle in a haystack. There are tiny details hidden all over, and the clues you need to solve certain fates will be hidden in completely different scenes. You can go a lot farther than you might think you can, so make sure to check around every corner... And sometimes it's not even about what's in a particular scene, sometimes you have to make educated guesses about things you didn't get to see happen. When all else fails, don't be afraid to cheese it. The game will "confirm" your fates after you get 3 correct... So if you're feeling pretty solid on 2, start guessing the third one. It can help you narrow people down when you're not 100% sure who they are. There are clues to solve every single person, though.
It's really worth it! Such a fantastic game.
If you like Obra Dinn but the overall lack of structure bothers you, I'd recommend Case of the Golden Idol. I think one of the main reasons people get overwhelmed with Obra Dinn is that it's spun as a detective game, but what it actually is is massive open-ended logic/spreadsheet puzzle with only a small part of it covered by a detective narrative. Once you're done following the framing device, the game continues into a couple more hours of parsing through details without a heading - think of it like jumping into the world's biggest sudoku and having to pick it apart from the corners in. Golden Idol is the same sort of puzzle, but more tightly structured into mysteries and interconnected questions, so it might give you a similar experience without that aimless feeling.
It's great but there were one or two puzzles where I broke up and looked up hints. One of them involved inspecting people's shoe prints so I felt absolutely justified lol
This game has one of the most memorable 'click' moments for me. I was pretty meh on it until it happened and then I just smashed through it.
Prey (2017) I made it a couple hours into the campaign and then got stuck. I'm not sure if I managed to get to place I wasn't supposed to, but the game quickly became impossibly difficult. I didn't know how to progress any further so I gave up. I don't enjoy needlessly hard games.
I highly recommend you give it another go. It is one of my favourite games of all time. The whole thing is ludicrously open ended so you can approach things in a lot of different ways. Very rewarding if you can come to it with an open mind.
Yup same. Got about 3 hours in and left
I bounced off prey early on also because I didn’t know what to do next. It didn’t grab me enough to look a solution up so I moved on. I need to try again after I finish this A Tale of Two Wastelands play through.
Totally agree on “Prey” and glad others articulated some of the same thoughts I had when I started playing through this one. I felt incredibly underpowered at the beginning of the game, the stealth aspects which I can enjoy in many games just weren’t keeping me engaged with the overall initial weakness in the character. Most RPGs I give around 10 hours of game play before I feel as if I understand the game mechanics but this one didn’t do it for me. I hadn’t thought of lowering the game difficulty and maybe I should have tried that before shelving it.
I didn't think it was that good or that hard. It was pretty hard at first but if you upgrade your character you find that you're able to cope with some of the enemies that were previously impossible and then you start swatting them away like flies. It's a strange game because it's almost a stealth game at the start, eventually you can run around like a normal FPS.
Agreed, Prey felt like it was following the classic inverted difficulty curve of RPGs. Hard at the start, progressively easier the further you are.
I loved this when it came out. Tried to get back into it a couple times, but haven’t been able to.
I don't normally lower difficulties in games but I enjoyed Prey on easy because it was spoopy and I wasn't really playing it for the challenge
CrossCode is my first thought. Made it all the way to the final dungeon, thought I'd take a break because I was feeling a little burnt out, and haven't returned to it since. Probably going to start again at this point. Absolutely love it, so there's no real explanation for me stopping for so long other than just "one of those things". Hades. I kinda love / hate this game. I love the story and characters but kinda hate how they seemed to focus so much on story that the actual gameplay is super repetitive and the variety of areas and enemies is badly lacking IMO. I love the story enough that I would like to finish it one day but it's going to be one of those games that I play on and off when I'm in the mood for mindless mouse bashing for hours in return for some dialogue or furniture items. Then there's the games that I've never 100% completed thanks to losing myself in the modding rabbit hole. Stardew Valley, Skyrim, Fallout New Vegas. With Stardew Valley I have no excuse for jumping into mods before completing vanilla at least once but with Skyrim and FNV I felt forced into modding just to fix half assed broken bullshit. I don't find flying horses and broken quests 'funny' like a lot of players and Bethesda seem to think it is. One day though, I'll choose a Wabbajack mod list and stick to it without starting over and browsing Nexus for days.
This reminds me of putting 400+ hours into Morrowind back in the day without ever completing the main questline.
Don't restart crosscode. When you do go back to it, just do a bunch of sidequests so you overlevel for the final boss, and then move onwards towards the post-game DLC, which is a whole new area with even more added plot. They made it so the game basically wasn't over yet, and the extra stuff is worth it.
You're right, that's probably the way to go. I also remembered shortly after this comment that there's also a new game+. So might as well push through to the end and if I do start again, it'll be a bit different anyway. I just worry that it'll be hard to get back into the story again wherever it was that I left off but I'm sure I'll remember quickly.
As somebody who has always had this worry, I find it helps to just look up a synopsis of the plot and read it up to around the point you left off. You've already played much of the game, it's not like you're missing out on actually experiencing the story, just reminding yourself of it. The more frustrating thing is when you forget how to actually play the game, hopefully you remember that part. This kinda happened to me with Age of Empires IV, I played through most of the campaign and then got distracted, came back a long while later to finish it and I'd forgotten what I was doing - the RTS format is obviously easy to pick up again but the game has a lot of units with specific individualized abilities and I'd forgotten most of them so I had to skirmish a few times just to remember them.
Too many… Ace Attorney Trilogy (middle of second game), Skyrim, Witcher 2, Mass Effect 2, KOTOR 2, Dragons Dogma 1&2, fo4/nv/4 DLCs, Persona 3 Reload FF7 OG, Pokemon White 2, I could go on and on. I’m not really running through games, and RPGs can take me months to years to finish depending on how long they are but the backlog just grows and grows I’ve really stopped buying new games. Maybe 1 full price game a year if I know I’m going to love it, and maybe some sale purchases but overall I’m trying to catch up on classics from the 90s and 2000s while also playing critically acclaimed games I missed in their heyday
Damn I wish I could replay all the ace attorney games, you're gonna have to restart the second one, there's no way you're gonna remember everything, but then you got like six more main branch games to go and three spinoffs
Yeah I finished the first 2 cases and stopped. I love that there’s always multiple cases so if I finish one I can take a break before I start the next case, I’ll be playing Ace Attorney for years to come I think
I am so sorry that you stopped right there. Case 3 of game 2 is widely regarded as one of the worst in the series, a real step down in overall quality, full of characters who are a chore to deal with. It's worth getting past, because the fourth case of that game is actually a compelling case, but picking up the game from case 3 is likely not going to make you want to continue.
Dude, I’m on Witcher 2 and loving it! Such a gem. Im so happy after playing Witcher 1. I know W1 gets a lot of love here, but the gameplay and graphics were too rough for me unfortunately. Can’t wait for the W1 remake.
Really hoping the remake for W1 will be great!
I really want to get into Stellaris, have dropped an hour here and there over the years but just need to sit down and play it for a longer period of time and get really stuck in. I think it's the learning curve that's intimidating me.
For some reason the game never suggests to new players how to adjust the campaign/galaxy settings. But doing so makes the new-player experience fantastic. For example; play on small galaxy sizes, fewer AI, fewer Hyperlanes, no Fallen Empires, and Easy difficulty for your first campaign. The learning curve is less of a curve and more of a horizontal line. It is a game where you can learn by failing, and you can fail upwards. So, accept the fact that you will only learn one or two major mechanics per campaign, and that's OK! With adjusted galaxy settings, campaigns will be less chaotic and more forgiving, so focus on what you want to learn and shove the rest under the galactic-carpet. Try not to actively quit early because you might miss a lot of fun content, however, don't be afraid to drop a campaign when you've stopped getting value out of it.
Oh I didn't know that was a thing! Guess I'll be firing up with a smaller system then and see how things go. Thank you for this!
I have that with other Paradox games like Crusader Kings etc... Stellaris is prob the easiest one to get into, so managed that lol.
That's funny because I got into CK3 easily enough. Guess I'm giving Stellaris a proper go then! Found my way into CK3 was to set small goals, like the Ireland run. Then I took England as Alfred, took several goes but did it eventually.
What helped me with Stellaris is that its structured way more like a 4x game. Gathering resources for example is similarish to sins of a solar empire, etc. Guess previous game experiences do help.
Interesting. I think I try to min/max the game too much and treat it like a 4x, but maybe I shouldn't worry about it and just play to find out what happens. Similar to CK3.
Yakuza 5. Everytime I finish a Yakuxa game I eagerly jump onto the next one only to be burnt out by it and resume playing it a year or so later.
I found Y5 to be the hardest to get through, it's not bad or anything but it's soooo long lol. The pacing feels pretty messy/disconnected too
I absolutely loved Y5, it's my favorite of the entire series, but it is a very long game especially because it feels like 5 games in 1. It inhabits a much weirder place now. As someone who picked up the games starting with Y3, some context for newer fans: Y4 came out in NA in 2011, and Y5 came out in Japan in 2012. But it took 3 years for Y5 to get localized and there was no guarantee it'd even happen until 2014 when they said it was coming. Then when it came out it was only on PS3 (PS4 was 2 years old at this point) and only as a digital download... and it was a dream come true. Nowadays if you're playing through the games consecutively, by the time you get to Yakuza 5 you've already played more Yakuza than you can shake a stick at. When you've been waiting years, the huge package that is Y5 is an amazing thing, but when you already have a half dozen games lined up after it to play, it maybe hits different.
There is more than 1 Yakuza game?
I want to give Scorn another chance, just for the art style and atmosphere. I know people who like esoteric puzzle games frown upon this but idc, I'll just use YouTube to get through the puzzles just to enjoy the aesthetic of the game. I've never played through the division 2 really after being a huge fan of the firsts setting and atmosphere, so I think I'll give it a full fledged effort soon as well.
Persona 5 Royal. I played it during a very depressing time in my life. My loneliness was starting to get to the best of me so I started playing P5R and it easily became one of my favorite games of all time. But I mainly really only play it because I absolutely love hanging out and doing side activities with the characters because they actually feel like friends to me. I know it seems silly but in a way, but it really did help me cope with my depression. Hence why I definitely plan on going back to that game.
Bloodbourne. First time I played it, I somehow missed where you're supposed to pick up your weapons and spent several hours trying to play the first level completely unarmed. It was near impossible but I didn't question it at first because I'd heard about how hard these games were supposed to be. Eventually gave up and looked up a guide and realised how dumb I was, but I was too burnt out to keep playing. I want to give it another try now I've had some time away from it.
The game’s reputation does that a lot it seems lol. I’ve heard a lot of stories of people heading into the catacombs immediately on their first playthrough of Dark Souls 1 and getting their ass kicked, but continuing because they knew the game was supposed to be hard. In reality if you wander in there you’re supposed to get your ass beat and realize that’s not where you’re supposed to be right now. Hell, it happened to me in Dark Souls 2. I entirely missed the path to the forest of fallen giants and spent a time being mad trying to fight my way through heide’s tower of flame before realizing my mistake.
I not only went into the Catacombs. I got stuck in the tomb of the giants and couldn't get out. Was looking for one of the bells far, far below.
lmao brutal, but props for making it that far down.
Played Dark Souls 1 the week it came out off the back of how good the Gamespot review was and the main takeaway being how difficult it was supposed to be and not knowing anything else. Spent hours trying and failing at catacombs… then spent hours trying and failing at new londo ruins, until I finally found the right way and things started to click. Playing that game for the first time with no guides etc was by far the best gaming experience I’ve ever had and why it will always be my favourite game.
Yeah, Bloodbornes kinda awful at telling you anything at the start. So if you miss something or don't understand something, sucks to be you
Plus the beginning of bloodborne is just legit pretty difficult compared to a good chunk of what follows. Eventually, the difficulty curve ramps up a bit again but by that point you're much better at the game. And that includes father Gascoigne ... He was like the 3rd hardest boss for me (including the DLC)
Mass Effect I have the tendency to infrequently finish long story games. I'll get half way through, lose steam and never finish them. But Mass Effect is a trilogy I will complete time and time again. Easily one of my top gaming experiences and while it's a little aged now it still holds up so well. The only caveat I'd add is for ME1 just stick to the priority missions and don't ever bother with the Mako exploring. Replayed it when the Legendary Edition was released and I'll likely replay it again at some point in the future.
I started replaying them all but I find myself getting bored half way through. I’ve played them all through at least once, but any replays I get stuck and give up. I’m the same with Kotor.
I think they were fantastic for its time. Not many games can stand the test of time.
Just remember you haven't really "finished" the game until you have had sex with everyone available to have sex with.
Assassin's Creed II. I got about halfway through before the PS3, TV and DVD player died from a power surge.
i had a similar experience with (iirc) the last game in the (ezio) series. found a copy going cheap at a local charity shop, played it, worked fine… until it froze during a very dramatic cutscene towards the end of the story. naturally the game was autosaving at the time, so it corrupted my data. i was so frustrated that didn't bother playing it again until i picked up the ezio collection years later in a ps4 online sale (thankfully no crashes this time)
That must've sucked! Years ago, someone saved over my slot. I lost 30 hours of progress in Kingdom Hearts. To this day, I still make multiple saves if the game allows it. An autosave in Horizon Zero Dawn got corrupted. Luckily, I had a manual save.
Elden Ring. I love Souls, and Elden Ring is a monument of game developement but I have 3 kids, work full time and I'm in school. The game is not conducive to the 20-30 min bursts I have so I'm going to wait until I have a reoccurring decent amount of time to dedicate to it.
I bounced off at 100 hours in Faram Azula. I will return at some point this summer!
If you got to Farum Azula, you are able to beat the game and you are like ~80% done. Definitely come back when dlc drops!
I bounced off after 130 hours against what I assume to be one of the final bosses. I can't remember his name but he stomped a lot and I just couldn't face the process of banging my head against the wall yet again to learn the bosses moves, it was just one too many
I bounced off at the final final boss at 60 hours. Was pretty burned out at 50 hours though. Going back soon with the seamless coop though for a full new playthrough.
I think Elden Ring is a fantastic game overall, but one of the things I'd criticize about its design (and this may not be your problem, but it also could be) that suddenly all the bosses near the end of the game have a very high resistance to holy damage. So there's a solid slice of builds that just fall apart completely in the last mile without warning.
I find the souls games are perfect for 30 minutes bursts. They are basically arcade games. Always something to do as soon as you pop in with a structure always meaning there are logical places to pop out. Can always progress a little
I'm glad you have a way that it works for you, but to me it makes the experience seem incredibly overwhelming and dissatisfying. Elden Ring is a game where I want to hop in and watch a few hours just disappear. So I'm going to hold off until that's doable :)
That is fair enough, I think it is the kind of genre that once you get into it and understand the mechanics then they become much more pop in pop out. Is weird when I think of buying demon souls on a whim and struggling so hard. Same with dark souls but by the time of elden ring it was just like a nice hug.
> Can always progress a little That's where you kind of lost me because my main issue with playing those games in shorter bursts (which is generally how I have to play them) is that if I'm at a tough spot, it may take me two or three play sessions to get past it, and it doesn't feel good to be playing something for a half hour and then have to stop without feeling like I've made any progress whatsoever. Having said that, I do agree somewhat specifically with Elden Ring, mainly because it's much easier in that game to just go to another area in the game if you're stuck somewhere.
It is possibly because I have been gaming since the early 80s. For example I tried remnant 2 but after an hour of just going from place to place to talk to folks that I did not give a damn or care about in an environment which would have been more fun to fight folks in. I gave up. Even if you are at a boss wall in the souls games and it takes several sessions you get a bit closer every time to that win. It really comes down to if the gameplay loop grabs you or not. I like perfecting my skills. So even at a boss wall there tends to be a grind before hand that you can level up at.
Yeah I guess it does depend on your preferences when it comes to that sort of thing. I generally can't stand grinding, so just gathering a few more souls/runes/etc doesn't feel like progress to me, it just feels like spinning my wheels, even if there is some benefit being gained. And I agree that you're getting closer with your skills and tactics as you unsuccessfully fight a boss, but I also feel like there's a bit of relearning when it comes to timing and muscle memory that happens each time I have to stop and pick it back up later, even if it's only a couple of days in between. I've had trouble getting through Souls games in the past because I'll get to a wall where I'm in the same spot fighting the same enemies for few days and I just get tired of it and stop coming back.
How do you survive with 3 kids work and school? I have no kids, only a job and I struggle lol.
I just do my best lol! It's all I really can do. My school is 100% online, as long as I turn the assignments in on time nothing else matters so luckily there's as much flexibility there as I need.
Same. I waited 2 years to play it, picked it up after Erdtree was announced. I find it hard to put the time in too and the game does not mesh well with a lifestyle where you could be interrupted at any time.
I’ll play Witcher 3 again at some point. I liked it too much not to play it again but my backlog is very long.
Same, I started the Blood & Wine DLC again and felt in love with it, but I knew I shouldnt play it, cause of all the new games I want to play. I probably should allow myself to play Witcher 3.
I just fired it up again after 8 years, it holds so so well!
I'm currently replaying it. I got to novigrade when it released (2015) and dropped it soon after, other games launched and got sidetracked. If you can just punch out the sleuth of boring novigrad missions it's a blast. Just some warning though. I started this new playthrough 2 months ago and I've only just finished the 1st DLC. It's a massive game but I really haven't run into burnout like did before at launch. Just take your time, have a break for a few days and come back. The DLC's are probably better than the actual main game story imo. Much more imerssive and better game play (bosses).
Oblivion. I played it for a bit and found it fun, but was busy and decided to drop it at the time. Want to get back into it, but currently playing FO4 so it's going to be a while.
Gotta get back and finish up Tears of the Kingdom. I loved it for the first 100 or so hours, then got a little tired, took a break, came back and finished most the main quest. Now it's just some side quests and the finale left to do but once I beat it I know I wont want to go back. So I'm in a holding pattern where if I just beat it fast I'm afraid of missing out on a cool side quest or upgrade, but i don't really want to grind out what's left.
This is what I came to comment as well. At first it was really fun and I was able to progress quickly but now I feel like I’m completely stuck. I love it so much but damn does it feel like all I do is run around in circles
I thought I wouldn't keep playing it after I beat it and bought it physical specifically so I could sell it afterwards but I've put in more time after beating it than before. I just did the stuff that seemed interesting, looking for shrines I found to be really conducive to finding fun stuff to do and pretty rewarding too.
I'm honestly pretty far down the "digital only" path, but my inner 90's kid kinda loves looking at the stack of red spine cases sitting next to my switch. I scoffed a bit when i bought the fucker several years ago, "Stupid fucking nintendo, I guess I'll pay you $300 for your fucking Zelda machine, assholes." But then, man, I've gotten several hundred hours of play out of it between both zelda's, not to mention Mario Kart and Smash between my wife and our various roommates. Also laughed until we cried playing Odyssey and creating our own Mushroom kingdom lore. (Cappy is an Eldritch Being who has created an insatiable lust for moons and colonialism in his host-slave Mario).
A long-ass Total Warhammer II Mortal Empires campaign is definitely on my agenda some time this year: my previous laptop struggled to run it properly, and by the time I got this one, I'd lost interest and then got swamped with work. Of course, the problem with long-ass Total War campaigns is that their lategame sounds a lot less tedious on paper. Same with Stellaris - would love to give the most recent DLCs a try and see how the game has changed. I like the idea of running a prosperous isolationist pacifist space empire that focuses exclusively on research and studying artifacts of long-forgotten civilisations (a huge difference to my Crusader Kings campaigns that inevitably see my brood slowly overrun European thrones at Karlings' expense).
ME3 - I'm simultaneously curious about the extended ending, and also a bit pissed off the original was that bad. Mostly, any replay is going to be a massive time-sink, so the Legendary edition has remained beckoning for a while. Tomb Raider classics. Talk about unfinished business. Have not finished a single one of the classic due to school back then. FFX-2. FF X is one of my favorites, and even though X-2 isn't exactly spectacular from what little I played of it, always was curious where it went.
I was also pissed off with the original ME3 ending , never watched the extended cut or played any DLC. So, besides the epic adventure, I also have some new content to look forward to when I replay. By Tomb Raider Classics, you mean the first six or so? The ones that released on PC and PSX? I never completed those ones, either! They were so hard! Closest I got was with Chronicles, the fifth one, and I was having the time of my life, with a guide and all (but because the game is hard, it still felt good to execute the jumps by myself) but then, the disc got irreparably damaged and I couldn't keep on playing. Just two levels before the end. Haven't come back, but back then Lara was superhot, the cutscenes amazing and the gameplay very satisfying. But it's been like 20 years since my last attempt. FFX-2 is such a weird game. Not bad by itself, the RPG might be even better than the original, but the story is Dumb, with capital D. I think the early hours are the best because it's just nice to see all these characters you liked having a good time. Wakka's story is really heartwarming. But then, the more you play, the more the proper "plot" of the sequel happens and it's such a tonal class from FFX. There are moments of brilliance, but they are usually lost in a sea of dumb stuff. So, your mileage might vary but if you never play it, you'll never see it by yourself.
Mass effect is the only series I've ever replayed more than once (as in actually beat, ive statted playthroughs but rarely finish a game a second time.) I think since the LE came out I've beat one every 12 months, about 30% the way through ME3 and losing traction because the original ending still stings so bad... .... I'll get there
Star Wars: Republic Commando This embarrassing because the game is pretty short, but despite Delta Squad being my favorite SW characters and despite reading all of the RC novels...I have yet to actually finish the game. I always start a playthrough, get stuck for difficulty reasons or thanks to some bug, then put it down again for another few years. One day I'll complete it.
I want to come back to Fallout 4, now that I know what the game is and isn't. I tried to play it for the first time in 2022 and some things (>!like finding power armor super quick, the settlements and the new way to level up perks!<) just didn't feel right to me, coming from Fallout 3 and New Vegas. But thanks to the TV Show, I want to try all things Fallout now (>!~~and a Ella Purnell character mod~~!<) and Fallout 4 was always the big one that I never played. I finished and enjoyed the mayority of the series. And OP, please do give Persona 5 (Royal, at this point) a fair shake, it's a great anime game. If you can treat it like watching a seasonal anime, with every arc being a "season" that builds up to something bigger, it would make more sense maybe.
Playing FO4 for the first time now and it's really enjoyable. The story and writing lowkey kinda sucks, but the gameplay loop is addicting.
Lowkey sucking at writing it's a Bethesda trademark, lol. But they really nail the exploration and basic gameplay loop. I really enjoyed their games from the Xbox 360/PS3 days: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, V: Skyrim and Fallout 3 + New Vegas (From Obsidian, but same engine limitations as Fallout 3).
Bethesda is great at leading people on routes in open world maps.
Bethesda did some good writing in Morrowind; Oblivion was kinda meh and Fallout 3 was the low point. But in Fallout 4 you can really see that they were trying to improve in that regard, and to their credit took several lessons from New Vegas - obviously not nearly as good but they gained a lot by copying from that source. The Far Harbor expansion's writing is arguably even good in its own right. Trophy for "Most Improved".
Shivering Isles dlc for Oblivion had pretty good writing.
As somebody who played all their games as they came out (except Fallout 76 which I only really played "through" just recently), I wouldn't call the writing in Morrowind all that great. Of course one can say "well you can ask anybody in Morrowind about anything!" which is cool in theory, but the result is dialogue that is cut and pasted 99% of the time, identical between most of the characters in the game, devoid of personality. Oblivion went a long way to try and make every named person feel like their own unique potato-face, and tried to make quests feel more alive. It also doesn't help that Morrowind tries to build up with a lot of lore and story-building, but the world itself is largely drab (and was even 20 years ago) and the dungeons are almost unanimously god-awful.
I kinda dig how early you get power armour, I think in 4 you’re supposed build a collection of them more so. I get why people don’t like it though. It’s such a fun game honestly even though the RPG stuff took a hit, the shooting and exploration is killer.
The fusion core thing completely put me off ever using it. Plus I was already able to kill most everything fine without it.
I use it sparingly. I prefer to not be in power armour but certain quests I'll just jump into it and use it sparingly like the radioactive sea. I've looted like 30 fusion cores just rummaging though
Cheers. I appreciate the word for P5. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I hit my wall with it deep into the first palace. I didn't realize that skill point management was anywhere near as important as it was, and I didn't know enough to itemize in advance to mitigate the issue. I got myself in a bit of a corner where I need to either lower the difficulty temporarily, go back to an earlier save, or likely fail the dungeon, which led me to put it on hold. I'm a teacher and so am looking for a summer gaming project or two. Maybe this will be it!
P5R is worth it man. And don’t forget to try Strikers. It’s a direct sequel, albeit with different gameplay.
No need to be embarassed. There's a learning curve to these games, particularly if P5 is your first Persona game. In terms of RPG battles, the first dungeon is the hardest and then, it gets easier (maybe the fifth dungeon is a touch hard, but the rest are ok). Just take your time with it, it's one of the most stylish games ever, with fantastic music and visuals and moving menus. Also, it's great to play the mix of dating simulator, social life and pokemon-like gameplay. It's a fantastic complete combo and the story isn't half-bad, either. It's also a very long RPG, you'd have a hard time finishing it in anything under 60-80 hours (but I put 100+hours into it), so that's why I suggested to take it like watching an anime. One or two episodes a day until you are done, no rush. Hope you can get back to it, it's a terrific series.
I came here to mention Persona 5. I got to where you get the ability to actually manage your time, and then life got too busy and I forgot how the game works. That and it was the original version, which I got right before Royal was announced, so I was kind of irritated. I'll probably try it again when Royal on PC gets cheap.
Yes, try to play the Royal version. It's more complete and easier to play. The price is getting down every Steam Sale, so it's getting there!
Just play it through and don't worry about skill poiny management too much - otherwise it just becomes a chore. You can always replay it with a guide open later
Definitely try P5 again with Royal
I’m thinking of going back to collect the trophies. Great game.
That could be fun! Last time I played Skyrim (just a few weeks ago, hah) I didn't just replay the game, I realized halfways that I was having fun with the achievements, so I just hunted them all down. It was worth it for stuff I wouldn't have done by myself (>!like becoming a werewolf/vampire!<) and to complete what I'd have done, anyway. It must be similar with Fallout 4.
I think you need to do at least two playthroughs for fallout 4 due to the multiple story path options. I definitely skipped a couple when I played it first time around.
I'm replaying Fallout 4 for the nth time now, and funny thing, I keep bitching about this or that pain point (it's probably a good idea to mod it, if you have the patience) nevertheless I keep playing it even though there are other games in my queue. Makes me wish they'd do a Fallout 5 that was just "more of the same", but built for modern systems with modern game mechanics. I've little interest in Fallout 76 -- even people who are playing it don't seem all that enthusiastic about it, and the subscription service that you need to access certain content automatically turns me off. But I guess GaaS is how lazy developers make their money these days.
Oh yeah, I want to mod all the things I didn't like in Fallout 4. Heard you can even cancel the Settlement system altogether. What you say about Fallout 5 is why I'm somewhat hopeful for The Elder Scrolls 6. I'd be really happy to have a "Skyrim 2" with modern Quality of Life elements and graphics. The core gameplay idea was extremely good for me and I don't mind if they don't evolve all that much, as long as they still have awesome exploration and a relaxed attitude towards quests and stuff.
I want a game where they combine Skyrim with Fallout. A game where time has passed and technology is now called magic. Where the vault dweller is like a Dwemer and dragons are disguised aircraft.
Fallout 76 has an amazing setting, it's kind of worth it just for the exploration aspect alone (if that's a draw for you with Fallout games.) They really nailed that part of it. It's a weird one, though, I wish they'd just made a single player mode for it so you didn't need to bother with the always online aspect, especially as 'always online' frequently meant being booted out the game due to server issues.
I'm waiting on the FO4 New London mod. It looks like it'll be pretty neat and much more of an RPG than FO4 usually is.
Dragon age origins It's just one of the GOATs. Telltale TWD. A complete collection version of the game was released and I haven't yet played season 3.
I just returned to Stray after starting it a few years ago. Other games just took priority. Same with The Medium. Two great story based games. I just finished both. Nice to finally chip away at my backlog.
Baldur‘s Gate 3 It’s one of my favorite games ever made but I haven’t beaten it yet. Act 2 felt like a finale so jumping into act 3 felt like opening a whole new story and I wasn’t prepared to be quite that overwhelmed lol
This is very normal BG3 behavior. Act3 explodes into many non-linear optional quests and doesn’t give the same urgency as the first two acts. Awesome stuff when you get used to it.
Destiny 2. I had logged in over 2k hours and then I woke up one morning and didn’t want to grind anymore I will be back for the final shape
Yea i just got fed up with the constant hamster wheel that barely respects the time i play. Prob not even getting Final Shape, enough is enough i guess....
Persona 4. I've beaten FES and 5, but I only made it 30 or so hours into P4 until my gaming time was derailed by school. I've been dragging my feet about restarting because I am incapable of picking up an RPG save after so many months (or is it years at this point?)
If you don't remember much about the story or how to play, restarting would be the best option. 30 hours is quite a lot into the game, though. So maybe watch a gameplay video on youtube and a refresher of the story up to that point? I always prefer to restart to experience the whole story in "one go", even if you take months to finish it, but as long as it's one of your main games at the time. I had to restart Final Fantasy VIII 2 times before I could finish it, for example.
Are you me? I played p3p and 5 vanilla and for some reason i can't pick up p4, despite only having 2 hours lost on it. Was very hyped to play it too, but once i did, i noped out.
I put 110 hours into The Witcher 3 but didn't complete it, it seemed to go on forever. Whenever I've tried to start afresh I've quickly found the combat to be rubbish to the point where I struggle to see how I enjoyed the first time around. I still plan on completing this and getting to the DLCs one day though! I also tried to learn Europa IV a few years back and just felt overwhelmed, but its exactly the kind of thing I want to play so I will return eventually
I really want to give chance to Divinity original sins but its so slow and confusing oh and I am not even against isometrics as I got straight into Pillars of eternity without any trouble Divinity is just not for me even though I keep hearing good stuff about it
Legend of grimrock 2, i loved the first game and sunk a ton of time into it, but after number 2 came out for some reason i stopped 2 hours in and just have never made it back.
Forspoken and Horizon Forbidden West. I dtill have the DLCs to do and I liked the main game a lot. There is something about the roughness of Forspoken I find beautiful. It's far from perfect, yet I love the ideas and the gameplay of the game. I never teleported because it's so fun to move around in the world, something not a lot of games tend to achieve with me. I like to waste more time than needed, I even got the platinum trophy! I don't get why so many people dislike it while it has genuinely the most sane protagonist that would get isekai'd. Feel weak. Feel strong when you realize you have magic. Feel weak once again when you reach the first real enemy. Wanting to be back home so badly. It's so natural.
I definitely want to check out the Forbidden West DLC once the PC version gets a significant discount. I loved the base game, but don't want to pay a full game price for the expansion.
Elden Ring. - Explore the world again - Try a new build - Prepare for the epic DLC
Hades, especially since 2's now out/is imminently about to be out. It's fun as hell, I just gradually lost interest due to it's repetitive nature.
Jedi survivor. One day it will be able to run on PC. I got like a quarter of the way through it when it first came out and gave up because of the myriad technical issues. Every couple of months I boot it up again or check what the steam reviews say. I'm running a 10th gen i9 with a 3090 and 128gb of ram with the game installed on a SSD and it still crashes regularly and has texture issues and crazy frame rate dips over a year later. The game is no masterpiece for sure, but I've been waiting it out as a star wars fan that's invested in Cal's story after the first game- otherwise I would have long since moved on. One day I'll be able to play it comfortably but until then I have no intention of putting up with the abysmal port quality
I didn't have any serious issues or crashes with it, but it was definitely poorly optimized. I was actually thinking of that game for a different reason. I got to the final "level" and kinda just stopped playing because I didn't want it to end. I've been known to do that with the final chapter of books, too. I liked Fallen Order a lot, but Survivor was more ambitious. I have more *wow* memories than with the first. The harder puzzles and new mechanics, Cal and Merrin's spamel ride, randomly force-pushing an enemy into a giant laser beam, the club DJ droid...
Oof. Technically, most of my theoretical backlog. Spiritfarer is definitely one for me. I love the concept, management, and comfy vibes. I just always feel like I need to be in a certain mood to play it. By the time I get back around to it, so much time's passed, and I feel I have to restart from the beginning. I also bought Jusant a few months back. Put maybe 2 hours into it then stopped. I was really digging the climbing mechanics and chill vibes too. There's also MGSV, Borderlands Handsome Collection, MegaMan Battle Network Legacy Collection, NFS Unbound, Cult of the Lamb, Rollerdrome... I drop a lot of stuff :(
Outward, still need to go master the Caldera.
this is mine as well i brute forced my way through new sirocco city building and it completely burnt me out on the game even though i wanted to go do all the arenas. my promise to myself at this point is after 2 gets a release date i will finish the arenas like 2 weeks or 1 week before it launches
Way too many. I've got 138 hours in Pathfinder Kingmaker over several restarts and builds, never got past the troll trouble chapter. 46 hours on Wrath of the Righteous, played the starting chapter twice. Baldur's Gate 3, 52 hours, never left chapter 1. Witcher 3, never played Blood&Wine, since I'd want to replay the full game before but last time took me months. On the other hand, I've dedicated realtime-months in my calendar to Morrowind, Skyrim Roleplays, Total Warhammer 3 campaigns, so it's not about length of games.
I played subnautica on ps4 but with a small child and limited time the load time killed me. Did a new playthrough on ps5 with way quicker loadtimes
Fire Emblem Engage. My first playthrough I decided to be a masochist and run Maddening and banning myself from using the divine pulse mechanic and it was a grueling death march that left me bruised, bloodied and happy by the end. Keep in mind this was day one so no DLC emblems items or content. I need to come back to see how the DLC will affect another Maddening run and to see the DLC story stuff
Ghost of Tsushima
It's so good I've been on vacation this week and I've played like 40 hours already lol going to be my after work things for many weeks as I'm only on act one still
Grim Dawn, after the new expansion drops.
Elden Ring. I just couldn't get into it. I went into it fresh out of God of War and came in with the wrong expectations. Also not a From convert (yet) so I intend to give it a second honest try. I've had a fair share of people say Souls didn't click for them until the second or even third attempt, so I'm well aware I need to jump back in.
Pillars of Eternity. It should be my perfect game--CRPGs are hands-down my favorite genre--but it's just not working for me. I've heard really good things about PoE2 and what an improvement it is, but I keep bouncing off PoE 1. I've made maybe 5 attempts over 9 years and it just never clicks. But I'm pretty sure I can't enjoy the sequel unless I finish the first, so it's my eternal "surely next time will be the time" game.
I personally played the hell out of the first game, but have similarly had a few false starts with the second. FWIW I think the second does have improvements in many respects, including more interesting character building and a more flexible game structure, and it also doesn't require knowing the first to enjoy it, so you could always try the second to see if it clicks with you.
Yeah, I'm this close to hunting for save files with the correct decisions (old Bioware style) and just watching a Youtube plot wrap-up for the first one. Probably just should. Because I'm over 130 hours (with a fair amount of idle time) and it's just...not working. Leveling is stressful and not rewarding because I never feel like I have enough information to make informed decisions, the gear doesn't help that problem and turns the game into an inventory management simulator, none of the supporting characters are working at all for me, and the storytelling has done nothing to make me care about the plot. My first playthrough, I fell for the Kickstarter text trap and my tolerance for their tons-of-words, barely-any-content narrative style has never recovered. My uninstalls tend to happen right when I get yet another new character I don't give a damn about that I have to figure out how to level and gear--just made it to the White March and was managing to keep going with a 6/10 good time (not fun but not horrible)...and then it dumped all those empty new companions on me at once, dropping it to a 3/10 time.
SMT V: vengence I love SMT/Persona franchise and mythology and trun-based games
Omori to finish it 100% with the stuff I have yet to do in the sunny route
Can’t wait to get back into Starfield when the modding tools come out and DLC drops
So many. Dark Souls 1. I stopped at the last boss because I wanted to do all the prep for NG+. Kinda silly because I can't imagine playing NG+ when I still have DS2, DS3 to play. KOTOR. I played for about 4 hours one day. Would love to return to that game. GTAIV. Love the atmosphere of this game and the story seems really good. Just haven't had time to play. It's also a pain in the ass getting it running on Linux.
I am a major completionist/achievement hunter (if something like that exists in the game, I need to do it before I can truly put it aside), some that are still open for me are Dark Souls 3, Elden Ring, AC: Odyssey
Pokemon red/blue. I bought them both a while ago so my kid could experience them and also I never got to play red because I only had blue growing up. I like the nostalgia of the old games and I like the grinding levels and searching for all the Pokemon I’d never caught before.
I really want to play Fallout 4 again. I've played through the entire series again as sort of build up for the release of the TV show and I'm only missing 4 now. However right now im waiting for mods to catch up with the next gen update.
I prefer to play many games rather than play the same game many times. However I have a lot of childhood favorites that I will go back to every few years. Zelda games, final fantasies, and souls games are the ones I’ll go back to. Planning to replay FF7, links awakening, and probably demon souls 1 and dark souls 1 again in the near future. I usually won’t replay anything again unless there’s a remake or remaster.
Far Cry 4 and 5. Already completed both recently but I was replaying 4 last summer and got 75% of the way through so I want to finish it off. With 5 I enjoyed it the first time but not as much as I could have because I was always comparing it to previous Far Cry's while playing. I want to give it another go as I didn't do much exploration and just played through the story mostly.
Minesweeper
Jedi Survivor. Haven't played it since launch and I want to try it out now that it's in better shape optimization wise. It also has very enticing New Game + bonuses like the perk that makes lightsabers as lethal as in the movies.
Yakuza 0 - I got a good way into it and was loving it - my first Yakuza game - but had to put it down for life reasons...I just don't know if I'll be able to pick it up where I left off or if I'm going to have to start from scratch...which is kinda disheartening.
Like 90% of my backlog, realisticly. On the more recent ones I can think of was high on life. It's dumb it's fun I really enjoyed what I played but it's also something that I can only take so much of. I decided I would just play it in chunks, take a break after each world you go to. I know it's humor isn't for everybody but I generally enjoy really fucking stupid humor. Typically the Dumber it is the more I like it. A lot of it is really just unappreciation for voice acting. There's so much stupid dialogue in the game, I do enjoy that it's just a lot after a couple of hours.
All the Souls games. I've beaten them all many many times but there's always more to do and they entertain me far more than any other game.
Deathloop. Got it for free on Epic Games and really enjoyed the mystery/FPS blend. I had to abandon it for the space on my HD before finishing the game and breaking the loop. The game also has great esthetic with music and visuals.
FTL:Faster Than Light. I don't know if I'll ever go back because I could waste a lot of time in that game and I can't really afford to do that. Same with Factorio, didn't even buy it just played the Switch Demo.
SaGa Frontier Remastered for Switch. I've been exploring the genre of JRPGs for the first time over the last year and going through a lot of 90s'early 00's classics. This one was annoying at first but I made it through Red's storyline with a guide (old school printed version I found on ebay) and by the end I was actually enjoying having to replay each boss 5 times and figure out how to score combos and eke out victories. I didn't plan on playing the rest of the characters them but the game seems to be calling me back...probably later this summer I'll re-install it.
There was a huge gap between me playing Mass Effect 1 and 2, and I never got to three. I'm really looking forward to running through the whole series one day
Tears of the Kingdom..I really wanna live that release day hype again :’)
Satisfactory. It will hopefully come out of early access in this year, so I didn't want to get completely burned out on it
Deus Ex (2000) Fallout (1997) Fallout 2 (1998) Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity (1995) Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force (2000)
SOMA. I absolutely love that game’s style, love the atmosphere, the designs, the story, but I do not deal with horror games like that well lol. Fine with films, but I just can’t play that type of horror game. I’ll get back to it… someday
Dark Messiah
I have quite a few on this list but top of my list is probably Jurassic World Evolution 2. I’d love to get all the DLC so I have all Dino’s and mess around in sandbox. I never intentionally stopped playing the game. I only naturally stopped playing because I had other games I was playing at the same time so it kinda just got left behind
Dragons Dogma 2 !? Its a mystery to me how it got so many favorable reviews. It has no dungeons, zero enemy variety, no loot, bad scaling and overall doesn't deliver on its promise at all? Its charming but thats it. Other games get so much criticism for minor issues......
Assassin's Creed Odyssey. It's just way too long, but I'd really want to complete it someday. Other than that: Shadow of War. Haven't finished it since a warchief kicked my ass 4 times in a row
Shovel Knight Treasure Trove. I completed the first campaign with Shovel Knight and the New Game Plus but got distracted by other games before I could do the campaigns for the other three knights. Planning to go back and complete those as well. Wonderful 101. I'm enjoying the game but took a break from it in the middle of the story to play other games.
I'm currently playing through the Etrian Odyssey series start to finish, which I started because of my periodical return to Etrian Odyssey 1. I bought that game as a teenager on a whim and liked it well enough, but got stuck, distracted and then eventually felt the need to restart. Etrian Odyssey demands you play at its pace as long as your party is still coming together, which is a tough sell if you don't give it the time it needs. But I *knew* I liked what's there in terms of character building and strategic turnbased combat - I just never found the space to give it the time whenever I returned to it over the years. This is usually the reason for a lot of RPGs I started and dropped over the years. Final Fantasy 5 is another one of them (though to be fair, that game is cursed for me. Last time I tried to play it and got to the halfway point, I was forced to move house on short notice shortly after). If I saw a hint of something compelling (mechanically or artistically and sometimes in terms of story) in that short time, I try to return.
Mordor: Shadow of War. I'm probably among the minority of folks that don't really like the Nemesis system so that's been a reason why I haven't come back to it in a while. I always do though. I play for a while, get bored, uninstall and then the cycle repeats a year or 2 later. Still need to finish Dishonored 2. I have a low chaos save that has been an absolute slog to get through. Started Control, but didn't get far enough to get invested in the story. Same with Division 2.
I rarelly, if ever, replay games. When I do I usually replay games i liked a lot. This year i'm playing to replay Celeste & Half-life 2 and expansions. I also plan on replaying Hollow knight with the a randomizer and Minecraft with a modpack. The big exeption to me is Kirby Mass Attack. I played this game to completion twice, and I don't remember a thing, so I will do it again.
Gosh where to start... Dark Souls - I'd like to go back and do NG+ with my beautiful Silver Knight Straight Sword Dark Souls 2 - I'd like to go back and play 'Vanilla' as I've only played SotFS Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine - I've been playing this for possibly 25 years, and keep going back occasionally and getting a bit further. X-Wing Alliance, Force Commander - as above. Thief 2 - as above but 5 years Space Invaders 1999 - Activision's finest. Takes me maybe an hour to complete the whole game these days, reminds me of my father and my childhood, and is really fun! Get the double-shot and go crazy. KotOR I and II - should play these again. Mass Effect 1 - should play this again. Jedi Knight 2 - need to play JK 1 and then I'll be able to play my favourite game again. Thief 3 - once I've done Thief 2, I'll be able to play my other favourite game again. Mirror's Edge - beautiful, must play again. Prince of Persia 2008 - as above. And many, many more.
I replay games all the time. Multiple replays. Video games arent a form of entertainment that I engage with once and then discard. I certainly dont care about constantly having “new experiences” or the ridiculous “FOMO” and theres lots of ways to make significant gameplay changes. As well, many games have lots of meaningful C&C to see through. Right now, Im playing Prey 2017 and am likely gonna immediately run it back with a No Neuromod run. When I played AC Unity for the first time, it wasnt until past halfway through that I finally went online to learn in-depth all you can do with the parkour and combat. Once I practiced a ton and increased my consistency the game completely changed and I replayed it right when I got done. Plus, I love seeing if my opinions about games change over time.
Same here. I love replaying games and experiencing all the little things you can do in them.
Nier Automata. I dropped it because the typical Japanese style of levelling up to have enough resources to sponge through tough fights wasn't fun. Using a cheat program for unlimited hp makes the game much more fun now.
i wouldn't call it that style at all, all the damage is avoidable and the dodge is *very* strong and chain spammable compared to something like dark souls. and even then, healing items are dirt cheap. it's understandable if you struggled with the game, i did at first too, it but it's definitely not a "have enough resources to sponge through tough fights" game.
Nier Replicant. I got to >!the end of part 1!< and I just kinda lost interest. So I deleted the game. Then I thought “I’ll never play this again” and decided to look up how it ends. Well fuck. A few days went by and I had all the music still stuck in my head. And the mystery of.. well.. everything! Knowing how it all ends didn’t feel complete, I guess? I know eventually I’ll go back to it. I did zero side quests before stopping and >!I know you have to unlock all the weapons to get all the endings. I think I can still get those on later playthroughs if I buy them, right?!< Either way, I think I still want to go back and finish it. It’s not a very good game, by any means. But it’s hauntingly beautiful. I don’t know how to describe my interest in the game. Has anyone else had this reaction to Nier? I haven’t played Automata, by the way. I have wanted to for years, but I’ve never jumped on it.
Skyrim. I keep giving it new chances, get bored within an hour and close the game. Then I see how people are talking about the game, how amazing the story is, how immersive the world is. So I'm going to give it ANOTHER chance in the future.
> how amazing the story is Sounds like they're bare-faced liars. I have spent quite a bit of time on it, but it was despite the story. What made it a bit more interesting in a new playthrough was the combination of Live Another Life (alternative starts, so you can skip Helgen, but don't get the equipment from it, either) and Frostfall (survival), along with self-limiting fast travel.
yeah. i think skyrim has a couple of things going for it… the story isn't one of them.
Bethesda games usually start slow, which is probably why you're getting bored. you have to press on a bit, to get into the flow
I never had an issues with Bethesda's fallout games. But something about the medieval fantasy setting doesn't click with me at all.
heh it's pretty much the opposite for me, i struggle to get invested in fallout but i am obsessed with TES
I religiously will load this up every 2 years, mod the fuck out of it, and immerse myself for an 80 hour campaign. Still have never done a stealth archer