What game are you playing?

[The_Mask]

Finished Numenera (it was painful), so I decided to play something light next. Ghostwire: Tokyo. Only about 1.5 in, I like the setting but not much else. Hope its getting better.

Thoughts on Numenera?

[1998]

The only good thing about Numenera is, that they pushed the whole lore dump thing over the limit. Back then they were so proud of their word count. I think that was actually the last game who advertised "the more words, the better". If the combat would be at least decent, maybe it could have been an OK game. But its not. It really feels like there was a severe lack of direction. Everyone was doing whatever they were hired to do and liked doing, but nobody actually made sure that it all comes together in an enjoyable game.

[rusty_shackleford]

Only decent part of the game I remember was the character written by Avellone, and coincidentally, I quit right after his story ended. I had maybe 2-3 hours left at best and cared that little about it & the story.

[1998]

Erritis, yes he was actually OK. But of course, if you would read everything the games throws at you, he maybe takes up 3% of your time.

[KnightoftheWind]

Been playing Singularity (2010) lately. Raven Software's last game before being sentenced to the Call of Duty sweatshop for all eternity.

Fittingly enough, the game is essentially a bog-standard Call of Duty experience, with only the trivial addition of a time manipulation mechanic. You can revert certain objects back or forward in time, like restoring med and ammo boxes, rebuilding stairs and platforms, boxes to reach higher areas or open up metal doors, etc. It sounds more impressive on paper that it does in the actual game, and most of the time you're just shooting Commies and mutated abominations with a standard assortment of weapons. You get a pistol, an assault rifle, a shotgun, a sniper, a gatling gun, a grenade launcher, typical stuff. But they're designed in a more unique, dieselpunk-esque fashion which is interesting enough I suppose.

Other than that it's incredibly linear and scripted, and the environment is often so cluttered with crap you have no clue where to proceed. Forcing you to generate a trail of breadcrumbs to lead the way. It's the worst example of ****-poor visual design I've played in recent memory. And worst of all, there is no FOV slider on the PC version which is inexcusable. Half the time I feel like I'm getting motion sickness, especially when the game insists on shaking the screen during big setpiece moments.

6/10. An above average military shooter, but with a mildly interesting storyline.

[Roguey]

Finished with Super Mario Odyssey for now. Fun platformer. Made me frustrated a few times, but I was able to step up.

[GhostCow]

I bought Soul Hackers 2 while it's on sale. It's not as bad as most people say it is. It is a bit too easy though. For $32, I can't complain.

[Roguey]

Finished Demonicon, an extremely horny low budget Eurocest combat-and-conversation RPG. Combat animations are janky and even though I played on easy, it started out pretty demanding (one of the early bosses is a total slog that took 10-20 minutes), though I was breezing through it by the end. As interesting as the premise is, the writing focused too much on lore I didn't care about. On the plus side it's only about 20 hours (albeit a padded 20 hours), and I overall enjoyed the experience, particularly the ending. In something I can't believe they spent money on, the credits plays not one but two original songs, a funk rock and a funk number with game-relevant lyrics. They're actually pretty great and certainly elevated my opinion of the title.


♫Merging the powers, merging the powers, merging the powers♫

[rusty_shackleford]

@Roguey I feel like you'd enjoy Spiders games.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiders_(company)#Games

Start with Faery: Legends of Avalon(I'd normally suggest skipping it but TBH I think you might like it) and just play all of them going forward skipping the non-PC Sherlock game. You might want to skip Bound by Flame though, it's pretty difficult, can't remember if it has difficulty options, maybe just try it I guess because otherwise it's quite good.

[Roguey]

@Roguey I feel like you'd enjoy Spiders games.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiders_(company)#Games

Start with Faery: Legends of Avalon(I'd normally suggest skipping it but TBH I think you might like it) and just play all of them going forward skipping the non-PC Sherlock game. You might want to skip Bound by Flame though, it's pretty difficult, can't remember if it has difficulty options, maybe just try it I guess because otherwise it's quite good.

I've already played Greedfall and Mars: War Logs and already bought Bound by Flame and Technomancer and have them in the queue. Uncertain by the really rough-looking Faery game.

[rusty_shackleford]

@Roguey I feel like you'd enjoy Spiders games.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiders_(company)#Games

Start with Faery: Legends of Avalon(I'd normally suggest skipping it but TBH I think you might like it) and just play all of them going forward skipping the non-PC Sherlock game. You might want to skip Bound by Flame though, it's pretty difficult, can't remember if it has difficulty options, maybe just try it I guess because otherwise it's quite good.

I've already played Greedfall and Mars: War Logs and already bought Bound by Flame and Technomancer and have them in the queue. Uncertain by the really rough-looking Faery game.

Pick up Of Orcs and Men too. Combat is rough but everything else is pretty good.
It's actually the start of the popular Styx stealth games, makes more sense when you play it.

[General Reign]

I'm not sure why Tactics Ogre Reborn waits until Chapter 4 to let you have fun but now I am tired of the game.

[herkzter]

replaying empire total war again because creative assembly finally decided to fix some long-standing issues after who knows how many years

[General Reign]

I might reinstall because that sounds promising.

[Emphyrio]

I am on the final mission of Tropico 6, Battle Royale, hard mode. This is the only mission where you progress through all eras. I ****** up my economy at the start somehow and recovery has been difficult. Too many docks and low-margin raw resource buildings, I think. Most of my money goes towards building new money-making buildings. The size of the map makes logistics tedious so I've started transitioning to a tourist economy on the most beautiful island. Happiness is quite low, almost 20 points lower than Caribbean happiness. I have never held an election because I would lose. At least I've kept Liberty decent so there aren't an unmanageable number of rebels. It's not quite a death spiral but it's going to be hard to dig out of this hole.

[Klerik]

Valheim is good. It's like Dont Starve and World of Warcraft together in a Norse Mythology setting. Took me a while to find something relaxing. That means you shouldn't play it.

[General Reign]

The controls on the original System Shock are ***. I love the game but moving is ***. Even the Enhanced Edition moves like ***. ***.

[Humbaba]

Beat Wasteland 3. It's good. Not gonna be thought of as one of the all time greats but it has good production value, the combat is alright, though pretty easy even on hard and there's not all too much roleplaying to be done. Just the usual "good guy-dickweed" dichotomy. The end game is lame and the plot and companions are bad.

► Show Spoiler

Premise: capture the Patriarch's 3 rebel children and he'll supply Arizona with all necessary stuff. And that's the whole plot, which never evolves. Aside of course from Angela Deth's unnecessary and insane meddling.

"B-but le Patriarch is le bad!"

Right. First, what the Patriarch has done is absolutely justifiable. Paying off violent tribes and keeping a black site are very tame in post-apocalyptic wasteland terms. The alternative is being at the mercy of cannibals, slavers and other crazies. The game keeps trying to present these revelations about Pat Buchanan as some real bone chilling shockers but I was never taken aback by them as I guess the writers intended.

Second, let's talk about Angies' plan. She wants Pat gone because she thinks he's a tyrant. In order to get rid of him, she wants you to kill his children (Why? to **** him off?) and bust a slaver chief outta jail and then assist in a violent coup. Once the government's been toppled, she means to literally see and wait until a worthy ruler comes along and everyone who doesn't meet her standards is liquidated. This means, a rogue foreign militia would run things. What the ****? I actually laughed out loud at the part where she's spelling out her plan because it was so completely stupid and unrealistic. She wants to come in, wreck **** and then decide the nation's future with no real goal in mind other than putting a "good guy" in power, like it's the Iraq war. Not to mention that she's completely fine with putting Arizona at risk of collapse by doing so.

If the Patriarch was some Stalin level dictator then she'd have a point. Unfortunately, the Patriarch keeps things honest between himself and the Rangers and doesn't even double cross you at any point. He gives you no reason to distrust him. Whatever political dirt there is on him has no bearing on the deal that was made. If you side with him, which is what I did because I'm not a ******, he honors the bargain, no strings attached.

Angela Deth comes off as a narcissistic psychopath who is willing to destroy a nation because its ruler does not match her arbitrary moral standards. I don't know if that was the writer's intention. Her plan is completely shoddy and I don't see why anybody would side with her. Not to mention that she has Ranger kill fellow Rangers and instigated a riot among the refugees WHICH I ALL SAVED AND HARBOURED IN MY BASE this forcing me to kill them. She's one of the most unlikable characters I've ever seen in a video game.

[Humbaba]

Just looked this up: why does siding with Liberty result in a bad ending? She's hot and has the means and a vision to take over from her mentally ill dad. Why would we just let Arizona starve? I'm sure she'd be moved to save the AZ Rangers, seeing as we're the one who put her in power in the first place. Ffs New Vegas remains the only rpg that did factions right.

[rusty_shackleford]

game probably entered development before liberal brain rot was fully set in, therefore explaining why it gets so much worse the longer you play

[Roguey]

I wrote a defense of Angela in my Codex review

Throughout the game you find out that Buchanan's peace was ultimately secured by cutting deals with the gangs of Colorado; he gave them regular supplies of weapons and prisoners to enslave or sacrifice, and they left his people alone until his daughter ruined everything. When Angela Deth discovered this, she went rogue and set out to depose him, accepting that doing so would doom the people of Arizona. Part of her plan involves uniting all the gangs under one leader who has promised to lead them into Kansas where they'll be someone else's problem. A number of posters on the Codex thought this was too stupid to be believable but I disagree; her reaction is understandable, and you can draw attention to how the deal she's cutting isn't all that different from the deal Buchanan made (though she protests because she's not giving anyone weapons or slaves and holds the extremely optimistic belief that the gangs will simply kill each other in Kansas instead of growing into a bigger threat later). Additionally, if you look the other way from or embrace the local law enforcement's corruption and brutality and appease the upper class (which requires turning your back on many of the refugees who want to come in), you can depose Buchanan without the bloodshed of liberating a people who didn't ask or necessarily want to be liberated and still get your promised supplies sent to Arizona. Ultimately, I like how every ending requires a moral compromise on your part, as well as how you can be on good terms with your final opponent throughout the entire game up until the final moment.

[KnightoftheWind]

Picked up Half-Life again, and called it quits during the Xen chapters. The game already had a lot of obtuse moments prior to reaching Xen, but afterwards it's a complete slog. It's unclear what you're supposed to do, where you're supposed to go and the quality of gameplay mostly tanks as a result. The area isn't even appealing to look at.

The developers would have been better off sticking to Black Mesa, and have you fight the final boss there. It would've left a stronger impression and would've ended up a better game. Overall, I did enjoy Half-Life more than Half-Life 2. Despite it's flaws, it's gameplay feels tighter and more fun, and there isn't a lot of waiting around while NPCs belch out exposition. It works better as a standalone game.

[Emphyrio]

Beat the final mission of tropico 6. Once I solved my money issues with two more weapon factories, it was too ez. Oddly there is a building the "office" which gives you income scaling with your population size, $2/month for each tropican. I had 1500 tropicans by end game so that was a pretty easy building to throw down. And that's just on base efficiency, there are a few building options which scale that up. I wonder if it is feasible to have an entire economy running on nothing but offices.

[Acrux]

Beat Wasteland 3. It's good. Not gonna be thought of as one of the all time greats but it has good production value, the combat is alright, though pretty easy even on hard and there's not all too much roleplaying to be done. Just the usual "good guy-dickweed" dichotomy. The end game is lame and the plot and companions are bad.

► Show Spoiler

Premise: capture the Patriarch's 3 rebel children and he'll supply Arizona with all necessary stuff. And that's the whole plot, which never evolves. Aside of course from Angela Deth's unnecessary and insane meddling.

"B-but le Patriarch is le bad!"

Right. First, what the Patriarch has done is absolutely justifiable. Paying off violent tribes and keeping a black site are very tame in post-apocalyptic wasteland terms. The alternative is being at the mercy of cannibals, slavers and other crazies. The game keeps trying to present these revelations about Pat Buchanan as some real bone chilling shockers but I was never taken aback by them as I guess the writers intended.

Second, let's talk about Angies' plan. She wants Pat gone because she thinks he's a tyrant. In order to get rid of him, she wants you to kill his children (Why? to **** him off?) and bust a slaver chief outta jail and then assist in a violent coup. Once the government's been toppled, she means to literally see and wait until a worthy ruler comes along and everyone who doesn't meet her standards is liquidated. This means, a rogue foreign militia would run things. What the ****? I actually laughed out loud at the part where she's spelling out her plan because it was so completely stupid and unrealistic. She wants to come in, wreck **** and then decide the nation's future with no real goal in mind other than putting a "good guy" in power, like it's the Iraq war. Not to mention that she's completely fine with putting Arizona at risk of collapse by doing so.

If the Patriarch was some Stalin level dictator then she'd have a point. Unfortunately, the Patriarch keeps things honest between himself and the Rangers and doesn't even double cross you at any point. He gives you no reason to distrust him. Whatever political dirt there is on him has no bearing on the deal that was made. If you side with him, which is what I did because I'm not a ******, he honors the bargain, no strings attached.

Angela Deth comes off as a narcissistic psychopath who is willing to destroy a nation because its ruler does not match her arbitrary moral standards. I don't know if that was the writer's intention. Her plan is completely shoddy and I don't see why anybody would side with her. Not to mention that she has Ranger kill fellow Rangers and instigated a riot among the refugees WHICH I ALL SAVED AND HARBOURED IN MY BASE this forcing me to kill them. She's one of the most unlikable characters I've ever seen in a video game.

I know that while in reality it's "current year" levels of game writing, but I think that Angela was replaced with a synth. If true, it would explain all of the really strange choices she makes that would weaken the rangers (and Colorado and Kansas) long term.

I also think they missed a great opportunity to have a follow up DLC about the aftermath of the slavery decisions called "Bleeding Kansas".

[Roguey]

Finished Halo 3 ODST. I like how they experimented with the level design and made you feel less powerful than the Chief, but I did not like how they gave Brutes an incredibly-durable shield, made them incredibly annoying to fight.

[KnightoftheWind]

Finished Halo 3 ODST. I like how they experimented with the level design and made you feel less powerful than the Chief, but I did not like how they gave Brutes an incredibly-durable shield, made them incredibly annoying to fight.

It's pretty good, but it falls flat in the story department. The characters are mildly interesting, but the plot really goes nowhere and doesn't amount to much of anything in the grand scheme of things. You learn nothing new, and none of what you do alters the context of Halo 2 or 3 or influences their events in any way. You just do 'things', and that's it.

It's the worst example of expanded universe storytelling, and I'd rather they had made a game about the Arbiter or some other character that would've been more interesting. Oh well, it's neither here nor there at this point.

[Humbaba]

you can draw attention to how the deal she's cutting isn't all that different from the deal Buchanan made (though she protests because she's not giving anyone weapons or slaves and holds the extremely optimistic belief that the gangs will simply kill each other in Kansas instead of growing into a bigger threat later)

Which makes her a hypocrite on top of stupid.

Additionally, if you look the other way from or embrace the local law enforcement's corruption and brutality and appease the upper class (which requires turning your back on many of the refugees who want to come in), you can depose Buchanan without the bloodshed of liberating a people who didn't ask or necessarily want to be liberated and still get your promised supplies sent to Arizona.

Bloodshed which only happens because Angie has a messiah complex. Without her involvment, you could just do as Pat asks and no harm would come to anybody.

Also you don't have to choose between the Hunnid Fams and the Ukrainees, I was loved by both of them.

[2factorauth]

starsector got an update in may, may pick it up

[Roguey]

Finished Hitman 3. Didn't hate it, but it's definitely the weakest of the World of Assassination trilogy. Felt phoned in and like they had run out of great ideas (the fact that everyone hates the DLC they've released for it is further proof of this; I didn't even bother getting it, unlike with the previous games where I got the total package). The peak of the series was the previous one, so they probably should have conceived the story as a duology instead of a trilogy.

[Emphyrio]

Finished Hitman 3. Didn't hate it, but it's definitely the weakest of the World of Assassination trilogy. Felt phoned in and like they had run out of great ideas (the fact that everyone hates the DLC they've released for it is further proof of this; I didn't even bother getting it, unlike with the previous games where I got the total package). The peak of the series was the previous one, so they probably should have conceived the story as a duology instead of a trilogy.

Play freelancer mode. It's what the series should have been all along.