January 2024 General Game Discussion Thread

[Pifanjr]

I finally got around to playing some more Subnautica today. I think I've visited all of the locations I got through the radio and I've built all of the upgrades I have unlocked, so I decided to see if I could get in the Aurora.

So I was going around it in my Seamoth, the little submarine, when I spotted a chest on the seafloor. So I got out and swam towards the chest when I hear a massive roar and a giant fish grabs my Seamoth and takes off with it. Luckily he dropped it not too far away, so I patched it up and kept going.

Not even a minute later it blindsides me again, this time grabbing the Seamoth while I'm inside and not letting go. I ended up jumping out and swimming away while it destroyed my Seamoth. Luckily it didn't follow me and rebuilding the Seamoth wasn't too hard.

I decided to use a scanner room to track the big fish and discovered it had managed to get itself stuck on a part of the Aurora, so I was actually able to scan it. Still couldn't find the entrance though, so after I quit playing I decided to just look it up online. Turns out there's only one entrance and it's a bit hidden, so I'm happy I looked it up instead of trying to find it myself hoping I don't get eaten.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

@Kaamos_Llama Played my first bit of Elden Ring today. Only thing I didn't like were all the messages and ghosts left by players. I didn't get very far, so it's probably worse at the beginning, but it was very distracting. I may start playing offline. Don't really want to get invaded, anyway.

The messages are really useful for finding secrets, and also for the imaginative ways people find to use the canned message system to make filthy jokes when combined with the gestures, which is pretty funny for a while. Theres a fair amount of hidden stuff thats easy to miss without them so they are useful.

 

[ZedClampet]

The messages are really useful for finding secrets, and also for the imaginative ways people find to use the canned message system to make filthy jokes when combined with the gestures, which is pretty funny for a while. Theres a fair amount of hidden stuff thats easy to miss without them so they are useful.

They just are a little immersion breaking for me, but I'm getting used to them. Played a little longer today. Both of my kids have it, but we haven't played together yet. I keep telling my daughter how hard it is because she's a glutton for punishment. If they decide to play, we're going to get the co-op mod. It adjusts the difficulty depending upon how many people are together.

 

[ZedClampet]

We set a new personal record--without using Discord--of 48 days in Lethal Company. Other than us, the highest number of days reported on the Steam forums is 42. Due to the exponentially expanding difficulty of the game, there's a huge difference between 48 and 42, and 42 is not an exact figure, anyway. The user must have estimated, as I've done in the past, because the actual number should be divisible by 4 unless you give up in the middle of a run. They probably actually survived 44 days, or possibly even 48.

Also, we play with only 3 people, not 4.

I don't believe you can survive past 48 days. I think we've hit the wall. Except for a couple of days, we were very nearly perfect, and those two days wouldn't have made a material difference.

There are a couple of YouTube videos with titles like "I survived 100 days in Lethal Company", but they are BS. They just played for 100 in game days, but across multiple runs. The actual number of days they survived was about 28. I just skimmed the video because it was several hours long.

Guido has the whole run on video and is going to upload it to YouTube.

My number one takeaway is that the game really isn't much easier with Discord since we set our personal record without it.

 

[ZedClampet]

I think it's funny that Steam automatically puts the banners for the Steam Awards on the sale pages of all the games that won. Rockstar and Bethesda have their scarlet letters for everyone to see.

Not everyone is in on the satirical criticism, though. Starfield is being review bombed by people who are outraged that they won "most innovative".

 

[BeardyHat]

Well, my evening kind of bombed initially, but turned around.

Last night my friend came over to play some Warhammer (Age of Sigmar), as I wanted to test a list I built for a tournament in March. But, after less than and hour, we both agreed to call it quits, as both of us are sick of and burnt out on Warhammer and have been for about a year. Should have gone with our guts and played something historical instead...

But, I told him to go home and get on Discord with me and we played Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront, the latest in the Men of War series (in spite of it not having the name) and what a damn blast I had.

Easily one of the best moments in the game was my buddy shooting a 152mm HE shell from a KV-2 into the ass of my M10 Wolverine and watching the turret from the Wolverine go sky high.

Great game and really lives up to the height of the series; can't wait to play it some more.

 

[ZedClampet]

Well, my evening kind of bombed initially, but turned around.

Last night my friend came over to play some Warhammer (Age of Sigmar), as I wanted to test a list I built for a tournament in March. But, after less than and hour, we both agreed to call it quits, as both of us are sick of and burnt out on Warhammer and have been for about a year. Should have gone with our guts and played something historical instead...

But, I told him to go home and get on Discord with me and we played Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront, the latest in the Men of War series (in spite of it not having the name) and what a damn blast I had.

Easily one of the best moments in the game was my buddy shooting a 152mm HE shell from a KV-2 into the ass of my M10 Wolverine and watching the turret from the Wolverine go sky high.

Great game and really lives up to the height of the series; can't wait to play it some more.

I regret that I didn't end up buying an RTS during the sale. Gates of Hell will probably be the first thing I buy during the spring sale.

 

[ZedClampet]

@Colif

Is this DCS World video photorealistic enough for you?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tKnAg6ZN-o


Except for the occasional shot of the mouse curser flipping switches and hitting buttons, it's pretty realistic.

Side note: The real guns in the real A10 can only be shot for so long because they slow the plane down to the point where it will stall. Those are some powerful guns.

 

[ZedClampet]

Hahaha In Medieval Dynasty, it was dark and I was out of torches, so I did my best to make my way to my house and went to bed. Unfortunately, it was the wrong house. I woke up with some dude sleeping next to me, and his wife was leaning up against the wall looking at me with her arms crossed.

 

[Colif]

Side note: The real guns in the real A10 can only be shot for so long because they slow the plane down to the point where it will stall. Those are some powerful guns.

well, it is built around the cannon

The modelling of aircraft is something that isn't under question mostly. I am not one to be wowed by graphics, even if they are amazing. I wonder what they are trying to hide...

Okay, I probably wowed by N64 graphics at first given it was first 3d, but over the years its become less so. Now I see too many games painted really well but they are not very deep under cover. That is the problem I have.

 

[Brian Boru]

A10 … Those are some powerful guns

Haha, this YT short showed for me out of the blue—ie most untypical of what it throws at me:

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iRupCpvLqTk

 

[ZedClampet]

I was wrong about Lethal Company. Right after we did 48 days, we did 52.

****
Tried to play Torchlight 2 with Guido, but it was a disaster, and we never got fully into the game. It crashed 7 times (yes, I was counting); we both had to sign up to Relic in order to try to play co-op; and we never could connect to each other. The game kept saying there was a firewall error even after we set our firewalls up properly and then, even, turned them off completely. I didn't feel like messing with it further at the time, so we just decided to play something else.

 

[Pifanjr]

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday about the games we were playing. He has been playing Baldur's Gate 3 for a while now, spending 120 hours in the game over the past few weeks.

It only hit me just now that this friend is sharing his Steam library with me. I could have been playing Baldur's Gate 3 for weeks now. Assuming my PC is able to handle the game of course, but I think it should be able to on low graphics settings.

I'm still really enjoying Subnautica, so I'll finish that first before starting Baldur's Gate 3. Maybe Larian will even release the next patch before I start.

 

[ZedClampet]

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday about the games we were playing. He has been playing Baldur's Gate 3 for a while now, spending 120 hours in the game over the past few weeks.

It only hit me just now that this friend is sharing his Steam library with me. I could have been playing Baldur's Gate 3 for weeks now. Assuming my PC is able to handle the game of course, but I think it should be able to on low graphics settings.

I'm still really enjoying Subnautica, so I'll finish that first before starting Baldur's Gate 3. Maybe Larian will even release the next patch before I start.

If he's spent 120 hours on it over a few weeks, you may have problems finding a time to play when he isn't on his account. Maybe he'll be done by the time you finish Subnautica. That's one of my all-time favorites, so I'm glad to hear you like it.

 

[Frindis]

A lot of Runescape last year. I got 20mil in fishing recently and the fishing pet named Bubbles. Here is a picture of me getting the 20mil and how it looks when the fishermen are gathered together at the fishing hub. I'm the dude with the blue/white pet and the aurora-looking sword.

 

[DXCHASE]

So i started playing a new Rail-shooter game called Railbreak which is an Unreal Engine 5 rail shooting game made by 4 people. The studio only has like 2 other games its ever released and they are pretty small games, but i love me some rail shooting games and gave this a try and was actually quite suprised!

Gunplay is fun, the rail-shooter experience is all there with shooting hidden objects etc., the story and va is kinda corny, but it all works together. I dont really play rail shooters for the story line or voice acting anyways, just hurting my fingers clicking a bunch of times rapidly lol. Still had a fun time.

So one part in this game that really intrigues me is they have a "Shoutout Shootout" mode where you kill zombies in a narrow hallway of an opera house but above the zombies it has the names of all these people that donated and helped with the development and support of the game, ie community managers, qa testers, discord admins etc. Its really kinda cool and am trying to figure out if i can get my name in there lol.

In other news... still playing through Cyberpunk: Phantom Liberty and its great. This has been taking up most of my time, im not even really doing the story, i just like the new features and builds you can play around with and am having fun with that heres some pics:

Idris's and i's character:

On a mission: (i thought i was so cool to do this angle)

I am doing some random dungeons in Diablo 4. Its been falling behind because im just pretty much done with everything for the season, collected all the uniques my barb needed, beat all the content, did the winter event (though i forgot it ended with a bunch of the currency i forgot to spend). So now i just wait until its new season January 23rd.

No destiny 2 at all. I just dont have the will to go back. I want to finish the main story at least for the season and im probably going to beat the main campaign when The Final Shape drops, but thats it, i wont even get a special copy, just pay enough for the campaign (which is already a kind of torture in itself with the way destiny has gone)

 

[Colif]

Tried to play Torchlight 2 with Guido, but it was a disaster, and we never got fully into the game. It crashed 7 times (yes, I was counting); we both had to sign up to Relic in order to try to play co-op; and we never could connect to each other. The game kept saying there was a firewall error even after we set our firewalls up properly and then, even, turned them off completely. I didn't feel like messing with it further at the time, so we just decided to play something else.

was that on steam? Never tried to play with anyone, I didn't think Relic still existed.

Game loads for me but I seem to have duplicates of every single character... not sure how that happened.

I missed an entire season of Diablo 4... strangely I don't feel like I missed anything.

 

[Johnway]

I've played Torchlight. it was alright. Clocked in just under 30 hours. NG+ didn't appeal to me tbh as it was going through the story again.

Speaking of playing games again, i've finally finished the Inca campaign. it was only 5 maps long and whilst most of the maps were a walk in the park (with much of the skill tree unlocked on standard), there was a spicy challenge in one of the maps where you have little choice to play defence until the wonder is built. The enemy were more aggressive, had near impregnable bases and i'm spread thin as i have to protect 2 factions with limited resources.

Will play more AOE2 (i'll play the huns campaign next), might start on another game like Assassins creed odyessy. POE wise, i dip in once in a while to see if i can make any progress, but honestly I'm burnt out playing it especially the cosmetics aren't great unless you get the fat 38/40 challenges. Not going to happen.

 

[ZedClampet]

was that on steam? Never tried to play with anyone, I didn't think Relic still existed.

Game loads for me but I seem to have duplicates of every single character... not sure how that happened.

I missed an entire season of Diablo 4... strangely I don't feel like I missed anything.

Yeah, Steam. Multiplayer may not work anymore, don't know. I didn't see any servers listed. As for Relic, I don't know if they still exist, but someone's maintaining their website and apparently the game works off of dedicated servers (if that still actually works).

 

[ZedClampet]

A lot of Runescape last year. I got 20mil in fishing recently and the fishing pet named Bubbles. Here is a picture of me getting the 20mil and how it looks when the fishermen are gathered together at the fishing hub. I'm the dude with the blue/white pet and the aurora-looking sword.

How's the fishing mini-game? There's a fine line, to me, between being too easy and too frustrating.

 

[Brian Boru]

I didn't think Relic still existed

They do, been owned by Sega for a decade—released Company of Heroes 3 a year ago.

Torchlight 2 was by Runic tho, not Relic. Runic shut down ~5 years ago, but their site says "our community and multiplayer services will keep running even after the studio's lights go off"—but 5 years would be a long time.

fishing mini-game? There's a fine line

That is indeed recommended.

 

[Pifanjr]

If he's spent 120 hours on it over a few weeks, you may have problems finding a time to play when he isn't on his account. Maybe he'll be done by the time you finish Subnautica. That's one of my all-time favorites, so I'm glad to hear you like it.

I can usually sneak in some game time in the morning or during my lunch break, while my friend mostly games after work, so I'm not too worried about it. I've also looked into whether we could do a co-op game together, but it seems Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't have Steam Remote Play available by default. I've found some workarounds, but we'll have to see if we can get it to work.

 

[Frindis]

How's the fishing mini-game? There's a fine line, to me, between being too easy and too frustrating.

It's pretty relaxing, but you have to avoid getting electrified stacks while fishing or you'll get a debuff that shocks you a tad fishing the wrong fish. It is one of the more AFK (except debuff) things you can do in Runescape while also netting good money if you like that style of activity. I tend to flip the same fish on the auction house (buying low/selling high) earning passive income while fishing. There are different mini-games within the fishing hub that you can participate in to get extra buff while fishing like increased catch and XP rate. You can also get a very rare fishing rod + other valuable stuff while fishing making it more meaningful and fun.

 

[BeardyHat]

I regret that I didn't end up buying an RTS during the sale. Gates of Hell will probably be the first thing I buy during the spring sale.

It's really so good.

Been meaning to play more last night and tonight, but I've been sort of mentally...unprepared to talk to people, so I haven't contacted my friend to play again yet. Someday...

 

[Colif]

Noticed my average frame rate in TL2 is 391.4... a little overkill. Guess it is a 10 year old game
I only get 255 in Sacred 2 and its older again.

Torchlight 2 was by Runic tho, not Relic. Runic shut down ~5 years ago, but their site says "our community and multiplayer services will keep running even after the studio's lights go off"—but 5 years would be a long time.

i forgot their name. I knew they were gone as TL3 & TL4 are just someone using game as a skin suit. Wish that wasn't how all good APRG series end up dying... being abused for profit. First they did it to Sacred 3, then TL3... Tempted to say Diablo 3 as well... since the people who made 2 ended up being Runic.

Now all the pioneers are gone, replaced by people who grew up making/playing wow and think every rpg needs an end game... no. Before it was a never ending story... now its not. Its just like every other game. Hope all other rpg ignore the devaluation of items that Diablo 4 did.