December 2024 General Game Discussion Thread

[Zed Clampet]

RUINED IT! (spongebob line)
Total War Warhammer 3 has ruined ogres for me. You can no longer move troops in or out of ogre camps. The only purpose they serve now is for recruiting, and you have to supply them with tons of meat.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Did not like the trailer. Some of the animations are weird like the water and Ciri's facial animation. Ciri also looks like a Hollywood actress taking a role way too big for her personality. I also hope we are not stuck playing a female "witcher". As far as I know, Ciri never did become a Witcher, she only partook in the training. I forgot that she has elder blood in her veins, but I still find it a bit weird seeing her chugging on the potions that are specifically made for witchers.

Ahhh, it seems we have an answer for why Ciri is a Witcher: "Ciri has undertaken the famously painful Trial of the Grasses which has mutated her into a powerful and resilient warrior" - https://www.ign.com/articles/inside-the-witcher-4-cd-projekt-reds-plans-for-its-next-big-rpg

I guess she could not do it as a teenager, but now that she is an adult women she could. Does that mean she looses her elder blood power?

Doesn't matter to me. I won't be playing without playing Geralt.

 

[Frindis]

Doesn't matter to me. I won't be playing without playing Geralt.

Maybe if we are lucky we'll get a glimpse of him. Last seen at Toussaint living together with his Rouch and drinking wine from his winery. Geralt is set for life, he probably going to be grumpy when he is pulled back into the game, poor guy is almost 100 years old.

 

[neogunhero]

Watched almost the entirety of the game awards last night. I missed the first 20 mins or so, so I had no idea that Witcher 4 teaser dropped until after the show. Lots of cool stuff here. Very excited for a bunch of games shown last night, but the one that gave me goosebumps is RGG’s Project Century, from the trailer it’s basically Yakuza set in 1915. The world, the graphics, the fighting animations, everything made the hairs in my arms stand up. My grandmother was born in Japan in the year 1930, and I have heard so many stories of her childhood. Seeing the world in the trailer is almost what I envision in my head whenever I hear her stories. Plus, RGG never misses, so I am very excited for it. And they’re also making the new Virtua Fighter game, they’ve been busy!

 

[BeardyHat]

I still haven't even made it anywhere close to the end of Witcher 3.

 

[neogunhero]

I still haven't even made it anywhere close to the end of Witcher 3.

Same here. 100+ hours across two saves, don’t think I even got to the halfway point. I have no idea how the game ends, I’ve done a good job steering clear of spoilers. I definitely would like to finish it some day, but at this point I would have to start a new save, so yeah that’s a ton of gaming that could take me months to get through.

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Seems like one of the biggest surprises at the game awards last night amongst people with a keen eye for great game design was the announcement of Okami 2. While the entire live chat was screaming “WHERE IS GTA 6”, we saw Geoff Keighley never shed a tear because of how big this announcement was. Polygon has a great article kind of explaining why this is such a big deal.

I have always heard about how amazing Okami is. Countless times I’ve been told or have heard about how Okami is considered a masterpiece, how it pushed game design and art direction to new boundaries, showed how you don’t need to sacrifice good gameplay or good art to make a great game, stuff like that. I have never played it. Every time I look at the game, I just don’t see what others see in it. But of course without actually playing it I have no idea.

I found out I have the HD remaster from 2017 in my Steam library. With the way people are talking about the sequel, I may need to check it out and see what all the hubbub is about.

 

[Frindis]

I still haven't even made it anywhere close to the end of Witcher 3.

Took me two tries to get there. The first time I played I did not like how the vegetation was so small. I felt like I was riding over it, so I did not want to play more. The second time I decided to ignore it completely and then the game opened up for me. I am glad I did.

Now I want to play Okami too🙂

 

[BeardyHat]

Took me two tries to get there. The first time I played I did not like how the vegetation was so small. I felt like I was riding over it, so I did not want to play more. The second time I decided to ignore it completely and then the game opened up for me. I am glad I did.

Now I want to play Okami too🙂

I've played 60-hours between two saves; am in Novigrad last I quit playing and I keep meaning to go back, but haven't had the motivation.

Partly because I haven't felt like it and partly because I know my wife wants to continue watching my playthrough. Wish I didn't have such a terrible memory though, because I don't remember a lot of what has happened in side quests.

 

[red_5ive]

I guess she could not do it as a teenager, but now that she is an adult women she could. Does that mean she looses her elder blood power?

Actually they were giving her the potions during her training when she was getting into her teens (or it may have been pre-teen, can't remember for sure). It's mentioned in Blood of Elves when Triss Merigold arrives at Kaer Morhen to watch over Ciri.

 

[neogunhero]

I've played 60-hours between two saves; am in Novigrad last I quit playing and I keep meaning to go back, but haven't had the motivation.

I think this is part of my issue too. I have two saves I know I’ve made good progress in, but really I have tried to start a new save many more times. My issue is I run to Novigrad the second I’m able to, soak in the city, then get bored of it because I didn’t progress through the story to reach there naturally. Being an open world game of course you’re allowed to do that, but in a way you can also ruin the novelty of things like visiting the huge city for the first time by going there on your own and not following the plot.

 

[Pifanjr]

While the entire live chat was screaming “WHERE IS GTA 6”

This reminds me, I happened to see a YouTube short about ANANTA, which looks like an anime GTA game, but with telekinetic powers and the possibility to sling through the city like Spider-Man.

 

[BeardyHat]

I think this is part of my issue too. I have two saves I know I’ve made good progress in, but really I have tried to start a new save many more times. My issue is I run to Novigrad the second I’m able to, soak in the city, then get bored of it because I didn’t progress through the story to reach there naturally. Being an open world game of course you’re allowed to do that, but in a way you can also ruin the novelty of things like visiting the huge city for the first time by going there on your own and not following the plot.

We (I mean, my wife and I, since we were playing together) did make it there organically, but I do think big cities tend to lead to Big Town Syndrome, where you're just overwhelmed with choices and options and you end-up with choice paralysis causing you to stop playing completely. For us there was also the issue that I want to play a lot of Gwent and she obviously doesn't find that part very interesting...

I think I'm all done with Elite Dangerous for the time being. I played about 42 hours and made about 200-million credits, but ultimately I feel like my initial assessment of the game ten years ago was pretty spot on, which is that it's a lot of fun to fly the ships, but there's not a whole lot more to the game than that. Get more money, buy better ships, do the same missions or trading to build-up more money and on and on. There's also some mechanics which I really dislike, such as the FSS where you enter a new system and then have to scan signals to figure out where your mission is at; it ends-up being a very tedious process and feels more like busywork than being an interesting mechanic in and of itself.

Not sure what I'll do next. I've been playing Pokemon Trading Card game on Gameboy Color and that's been fun for now and I also hooked-up a PS3 that my friend gave me and popped in Shadow of the Colossus, which seems interesting so far after 30-minutes.

Otherwise, feeling a little bored with games, I think. Or at least, no motivation to play anything in particular.

 

[Zloth]

I guess she could not do it as a teenager, but now that she is an adult women she could. Does that mean she looses her elder blood power?

Might'a been how she was able to survive it? Whatever. I never read the books, so I don't particularly care if they sync up or not. I just want another good game.

Doesn't matter to me. I won't be playing without playing Geralt.

This ain't your daddy's Witcher... oh wait. OK, this ain't your son's Witcher game! It's time for a previous generation to take over!!

 

[Zed Clampet]

Might'a been how she was able to survive it? Whatever. I never read the books, so I don't particularly care if they sync up or not. I just want another good game.

This ain't your daddy's Witcher... oh wait. OK, this ain't your son's Witcher game! It's time for a previous generation to take over!!

No idea what that means, but I'm looking forward to the Witcher 1 remake.

I don't really play AAA games, but I'll make an exception for that if everyone says it is done well.

 

[Johnway]

I have always heard about how amazing Okami is. Countless times I’ve been told or have heard about how Okami is considered a masterpiece, how it pushed game design and art direction to new boundaries, showed how you don’t need to sacrifice good gameplay or good art to make a great game, stuff like that. I have never played it. Every time I look at the game, I just don’t see what others see in it. But of course without actually playing it I have no idea.

if you've not seen it, okami is on sale for a dirt cheap price:

Save 75% on Okami HD on Steam

Experience the critically acclaimed masterpiece with its renowned Sumi-e ink art style in breathtaking high resolution.

store.steampowered.com

 

[Pifanjr]

I played some more Shadow of War. I took over another fortress, which was a cake walk since I had already recruited all three war chiefs. The overlord wasn't too bad, despite him being able to one-shot me. Luckily I survived the Last Chance QTE and was able to take him out.

I actually lowered his level and then hunted him down and recruited him, then stuck him in the garrison so I could take him with me to the next region.

I have only just activated all three fast travel towers in the new region, but I've already recruited well over half of all the captains. They're all a lower level than I am, so it's been pretty easy. I haven't done any story quests though, I'll have to do those next time.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Played some Darktide. It's a lot easier than I remember it being. I'm pretty sure I haven't gotten better, so I'm guessing it's been rebalanced. I know they have a higher difficulty setting than before, which I didn't try yet, and the new weapons I for the Ogryn are vastly superior to what I was using before.

His new gun is fully automatic. It doesn't shoot super fast, but it's fast enough and each shot does a strangely large amount of damage. And when you brace fire it (aim down the barrel), it basically turns into a sniper rifle. It's my dream gun.

And I was able to two-shot the biggest mini-boss in the game with the new pickaxe. Two heavy shots to the head.

Fatshark must be on drugs.

 

[Zloth]

OK, are there actually going to be any enemies in this Moonrise Towers place that Baldur's Gate 3 keeps talking about?? Because I've now got so many quests to rescue people and groups in there that I'm starting to doubt that there will be room for enemies!

 

[Frindis]

OK, are there actually going to be any enemies in this Moonrise Towers place that Baldur's Gate 3 keeps talking about?? Because I've now got so many quests to rescue people and groups in there that I'm starting to doubt that there will be room for enemies!

If you are rescuing a lot of people, you are probably also doing one of the harder questlines in the game which also gives you an achievement if you manage to pull it off.

If you are lucky/unlucky, depending on how you look at it, there is a way to get spawns of enemies coming after you in Moonrise Towers and if you do, ooooh boy, you are in for one heck of a time. Either you die or you'll stand in a pile of corpses so big it would be any necromancer's wet dream.

Oh, and if you are a bit careless with how you side with people, you might end up getting a lot more than you bargained for by the end of Act 2. I was and it almost ended my honor mode run inside Moonrise Towers in one of my toughest fights in the whole game.

 

[Zed Clampet]

4 days until the huge Steam Winter Sale.

It's painful because I've developed a serious urge to buy the FF VII remake, but I guess I can wait 4 more days. Half the time, Square doesn't even discount things during the big sales, but it's probably worth the wait just to be sure.

 

[BeardyHat]

4 days until the huge Steam Winter Sale.

It's painful because I've developed a serious urge to buy the FF VII remake, but I guess I can wait 4 more days. Half the time, Square doesn't even discount things during the big sales, but it's probably worth the wait just to be sure.

I've been casually thinking about picking up Xenotilt once the sale hits, but I spent plenty of money on the last sale and still haven't really touched much of what I bought aside from Elite Dangerous. I tried to play UBoat after finishing half the tutorials a couple of weeks ago and now I can't the basics, so I'll need to rerun the tutorials again.

 

[Colif]

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Who said he wasn't real?
Damn, I wish I knew what I wanted him to give me

 

[neogunhero]

4 days until the huge Steam Winter Sale.

It's painful because I've developed a serious urge to buy the FF VII remake, but I guess I can wait 4 more days. Half the time, Square doesn't even discount things during the big sales, but it's probably worth the wait just to be sure.

I’ve been eyeing that too for these past few months. Not my usual style of game but I think I could enjoy it. Never played the original, I usually don’t like turn based games at all, but the remake seems to streamline it a lot better. Hopefully it does go on sale since part two comes to PC next January.

 

[Zed Clampet]

I've been casually thinking about picking up Xenotilt once the sale hits, but I spent plenty of money on the last sale and still haven't really touched much of what I bought aside from Elite Dangerous. I tried to play UBoat after finishing half the tutorials a couple of weeks ago and now I can't the basics, so I'll need to rerun the tutorials again.

I do that all the time. The tutorial wears me out, so I quit for the day, and then I don't come back to it until I've forgotten how to do everything.

 

[Zloth]

Oh, and if you are a bit careless with how you side with people, you might end up getting a lot more than you bargained for by the end of Act 2. I was and it almost ended my honor mode run inside Moonrise Towers in one of my toughest fights in the whole game.

I might be just a tad careless. I got my whole party wiped when I mouthed off to some demigod.

4 days until the huge Steam Winter Sale.

It's painful because I've developed a serious urge to buy the FF VII remake, but I guess I can wait 4 more days. Half the time, Square doesn't even discount things during the big sales, but it's probably worth the wait just to be sure.

There was an update on Friday that lets you watch the cutscenes at 1.5x or 2x speed instead of just skipping them. I wonder how that will go over?

By the way, the next game in the series finally makes the soundtrack available! Well... a mini-soundtrack. That's kinda available - you have to use their digital access application; they don't just hand you MP3s. It's still better than the first game.

I don't understand this at all. The game has an awesome soundtrack. A lot of people want it. But they don't make it available!? Not "they hide it behind a ridiculous paywall" but flat out burry the thing. Now the new game just lets you get a small bit of the thing?