The currently playing and random game thoughts thread (Jan 23 to Feb 06)

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I'm in a sort of in a gaming lull atm with POE league about to start i'm not tempted to start any game that requires any substantial investment. So i've opted to cross off some of the smaller, quick games i acquired over the years.

First up viscera clean up detail shadow warrior edition. Christ, who thought that cleaning was fun. It wasn't. i mean, why would i play a game about cleaning up when i could clean my room/house in real life? I played it for an hour to give it a fair shake and after clearing a room or 2 i had enough.

The next was pinball Fx3. I got some free tables and thought i'll just try it and see what its like. honestly, i don't think pinball is my thing. i was slowly getting bored over the course of an hour. will uninstall.
 
I'm in a sort of in a gaming lull atm with POE league about to start i'm not tempted to start any game that requires any substantial investment. So i've opted to cross off some of the smaller, quick games i acquired over the years.

First up viscera clean up detail shadow warrior edition. Christ, who thought that cleaning was fun. It wasn't. i mean, why would i play a game about cleaning up when i could clean my room/house in real life? I played it for an hour to give it a fair shake and after clearing a room or 2 i had enough.

The next was pinball Fx3. I got some free tables and thought i'll just try it and see what its like. honestly, i don't think pinball is my thing. i was slowly getting bored over the course of an hour. will uninstall.

I like FX3, but I just play it for a few minutes here and there. Back when I was a whippersnapper, I used to shove a lot of quarters into real pinball machines. I've got another pinball game, the name of which escapes me, which has digitally preserved tons of old pinball machines. It's fun to play on my computer what I played in an arcade over 30 years ago.
 
I like FX3, but I just play it for a few minutes here and there. Back when I was a whippersnapper, I used to shove a lot of quarters into real pinball machines. I've got another pinball game, the name of which escapes me, which has digitally preserved tons of old pinball machines. It's fun to play on my computer what I played in an arcade over 30 years ago.


i guess its partly because i suck at pinball. I have limited control on the ball itself and the times that the ball just falls in the side gutters or straight down the middle is just frustrates. understandable while its there, but i can't help feel like its a middle finger to the player. I wouldn't mind playing pinball machines for historical/nostalgia purposes.

So... just seen the POE new end game. Interesting stuff but will i play it? meh, hard to say. I think i'll look at the challenge league rewards. i've got a glut of cosmetics that i can look garish so I'm not itching for any more when i have plenty of the them.

Again, i'm having urges to buy/try chivalry 2 again. But being mutliplayer i'm fully aware of the dangers of playing them... Must.resist.Urges.... Seen it in an online store for 10.99 and there's a new expansion.... Why i invest time in the reddit forum i have no idea.

it does raise a question. Are all competitive multiplayer games unfriendly to casual players? Too often we see sweat lords dedicate their lives to a game and those with commitments or aren't very good are just crushed, abused and they leave limping with a sour taste in their mouths. i don't expect to be masters from the off set and expect to be crushed frequently at the start, its just... the effort needed might be beyond some people. Like saying a game is good if you're 10-30 hours in. That's practically near end game for some games!

I suppose i'm being biased or filled with jealousy, generalizing but its certainly one of my sticking points for multiplayer gaming. The level of commitment and plus the repetitive nature of it all now. Replaying the same maps etc with very little variation of tactics as you master the maps, learn every dirty trick, positioning etc.
 
Hey, @Brian Boru , I know you don't like melee combat, but if you ever get a chance to get God of War for really cheap or for free, don't pass it up. It's truly among the all-time great games, and it's filled with great exploration and environmental puzzles, which I think you would enjoy. You could just put it on easy and breeze through the combat parts (and even if you die a few times, the game isn't punishing at all. If you die, you just try again).

About 5 hours in, I'd probably rate the difficulty as slightly below normal. The only time I've died on Normal difficulty is when I panicked in an area that had one of those spike ceilings that was lowering.
 
Hey, @Brian Boru , I know you don't like melee combat, but if you ever get a chance to get God of War for really cheap or for free, don't pass it up. It's truly among the all-time great games, and it's filled with great exploration and environmental puzzles, which I think you would enjoy. You could just put it on easy and breeze through the combat parts (and even if you die a few times, the game isn't punishing at all. If you die, you just try again).

About 5 hours in, I'd probably rate the difficulty as slightly below normal. The only time I've died on Normal difficulty is when I panicked in an area that had one of those spike ceilings that was lowering.

13 hours into GoW: It is a flat-out masterpiece. The world is one of the greatest of all time. Also, the mythology/lore stuff is excellent.
 
I continued my Warhammer 2 Repanse campaign yesterday. I wiped out the Awakened and razed three Skaven cities south of them, which gave me enough chivalry to unlock the final quest battle, right before I had to stop playing.

I put all of my high level paladins into my main army, with a bunch of royal pegasus knights and some blessed trebuchets. I'm curious whether that'll be a good strategy for the end battle.
 
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Is it beyond their capability to group players according to their play record?
Newbies
Novices
Intermediate
Etc

Should be an easy thing to do for a game with a decent number of players.

From the free trial back in December there was no ranked 1vs1 or 3vs3. You can't even duel your friends! Cross play maybe implemented, Cross-party has not. They're working on it, but its taking them time.

There was a beginner/noivce mode but i never got to try it. From what i've heard there was some abuse by high level players joining it to gank actual newbies. Might have been corrected though. Its possible that high player characters who weren't skilled / inexperienced with certain classes, were jumping in and practicing there instead of single player practice.

Still thinking about Chivalry 2 though. 10.99 isn't a lot, but time commitments and also i could think of other games i could buy for that price like spiritfarer makes me pause. Oh well, keep bitching here or just splash out cash for peace of mind.
 
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Brian Boru

Legenda in Aeternum
Moderator
I need help. I picked up some more in the Lunar sale :rolleyes:

Superb value if it's your thing—8 games for ~$4.

…a DLC for$2. Sounds like it's just gameplay, no/little 'artistic' interference.

…for $4.50—not a bargain, but I want to support the guys and get back into sudoku as my 'take a quick break' game.
 

Zloth

Community Contributor
Superb value if it's your thing—8 games for ~$4.
IF indie adventure games are your thing. If they aren't, you're paying $4 to clutter up your unplayed games list.

I remember the review for Metal Gear 5: Ground Zeroes. The reviewer liked it a lot better than most people because he didn't just play through it once and call it done. He played it through several times (it's quite short) and had a lot of fun discovering all the various ways the game could be completed. I remember it because it's an excellent example of why you've got to read reviews. If you just read the numeric score on that one, you're likely to get burned. If you bother to read the review, though, you discover a meta-game that you would likely miss otherwise!

P.S. Can I still say "meta," or has that word become naughty? ;)
 
Just started playing God of War last night. I have to admit, my first reaction was it was so immersive and addicting that I played well beyond dinner time. I was sort of also waiting to see if at some point it would FINALLY give me a workable world map. It did eventually show a world map with navigable info like boat docks, but I'm still not happy with the map system, as I wanted to be able to see and mark where locked chests are that I need to get back to. So far I've managed to unlock a couple, but I'm rather disappointed each one just shows the same cryptic looking CRN letters.

Exploring the world early on can be both fun with it's navigation puzzles and treasures, but also annoying with enemies that are WAY too hard to fight at that point. That was one spot I probably had no business going yet, as it appeared there was something blocking the path, which I had no means to clear. It was a platform above a dock, with a hovering sort of dark energy blob you react with, which spawns two enemies with red tipped melee weapons, which kill you instantly with any contact. The only reason I was paddling around in the boat to begin with was to see if there was another way into the cave under the witch's house that might allow me access to a locked chest I could see down there, but not get to.

Atreus and I had those nasty 2 foes down to about half health on one try, but it took quite a while, and after a few more deaths, I gave up on them. I was a bit put off by the game by then, and wished I'd have quit earlier and eaten dinner at a reasonable hour. It's definitely got some appeal, but I'm not a big fan of games with tons of useful things to access that have a crap map to use to do so. Angry Joe in his review also didn't like the tendency of the game to put you on a merry goose chase to find something, only to yet again find that something is locked, and you have to go chasing down a way to get in. It gets old really fast. I totally get that much of the game is about exploring the unknown, but once you've already explored those areas and come upon things you can't access, there should be a way to mark them or get back to them that doesn't involve doing more exploring just to find a way back to them.

I also don't like that Arteus is a bit of a sniveler, yet is better at reading and deciphering cryptic writings than his dad, or the way his dad always calls him BOY, and could have a better voice actor IMO. I have no problem with African American voice actors and protagonists. Hell, I was one of few on the official Mafia III and Watch Dogs 2 forums whom defended their protagonist choices among a flood of complaints, but Kratos' voice clearly doesn't sound like it fits the character, and once you hear that, you can't unhear it.
 
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Brian Boru

Legenda in Aeternum
Moderator
IF indie adventure games are your thing
I've played a good few, so that shouldn't be a problem.
clutter up your unplayed games list
Yeah, that's the problem, and why I need help :D

Metal Gear 5: Ground Zeroes … played it through several times (it's quite short) and had a lot of fun discovering all the various ways the game could be completed
Right. I saw a couple of Steam reviews which said the side quests are quite good and add a good bit to it.
Can I still say "meta,"
Yeah, but in prose only—we don't want it in verse ;)
 
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Just started playing God of War last night. I have to admit, my first reaction was it was so immersive and addicting that I played well beyond dinner time. I was sort of also waiting to see if at some point it would FINALLY give me a workable world map. It did eventually show a world map with navigable info like boat docks, but I'm still not happy with the map system, as I wanted to be able to see and mark where locked chests are that I need to get back to. So far I've managed to unlock a couple, but I'm rather disappointed each one just shows the same cryptic looking CRN letters.

Exploring the world early on can be both fun with it's navigation puzzles and treasures, but also annoying with enemies that are WAY too hard to fight at that point. That was one spot I probably had no business going yet, as it appeared there was something blocking the path, which I had no means to clear. It was a platform above a dock, with a hovering sort of dark energy blob you react with, which spawns two enemies with red tipped melee weapons, which kill you instantly with any contact. The only reason I was paddling around in the boat to begin with was to see if there was another way into the cave under the witch's house that might allow me access to a locked chest I could see down there, but not get to.

Atreus and I had those nasty 2 foes down to about half health on one try, but it took quite a while, and after a few more deaths, I gave up on them. I was a bit put off by the game by then, and wished I'd have quit earlier and eaten dinner at a reasonable hour. It's definitely got some appeal, but I'm not a big fan of games with tons of useful things to access that have a crap map to use to do so. Angry Joe in his review also didn't like the tendency of the game to put you on a merry goose chase to find something, only to yet again find that something is locked, and you have to go chasing down a way to get in. It gets old really fast. I totally get that much of the game is about exploring the unknown, but once you've already explored those areas and come upon things you can't access, there should be a way to mark them or get back to them that doesn't involve doing more exploring just to find a way back to them.

I also don't like that Arteus is a bit of a sniveler, yet is better at reading and deciphering cryptic writings than his dad, or the way his dad always calls him BOY, and could have a better voice actor IMO. I have no problem with African American voice actors and protagonists. Hell, I was one of few on the official Mafia III and Watch Dogs 2 forums whom defended their protagonist choices among a flood of complaints, but Kratos' voice clearly doesn't sound like it fits the character, and once you hear that, you can't unhear it.

Some counterpoints:

Angry Joe is entertaining, but not a very good reviewer. He's a bit of an idiot.

Those things that come out of the portal are tough, but if you spam "F" it's very doable. Or you can just come back later when you are stronger, or just ignore them entirely. They are an optional challenge.

All those chests you are passing up? You will go past them again later. You passed a dozen puzzles in RE8 that couldn't be completed when you first started the game. It's what these types of linear games like to do. It lets you know you'll be rewarded later.

And the map is perfectly fine.
 
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Zloth

Community Contributor
I'm nearing the end of Horizon: Zero Dawn. I managed to get the fancy "power armor" thing, which is a huge help. So, I climbed up to the DLC area - and promptly got schooled by a scorcher! The robots up there are quite a bit harder than down below with those air-sick Nora and Carja.

@Frindis - if you're still back in the starter zone, see if you can find the pit you fell into as a child. There's some nice stuff down there. I promise it's TOTALLY safe! ;)
 
Some counterpoints:

Angry Joe is entertaining, but not a very good reviewer. He's a bit of an idiot.

Those things that come out of the portal are tough, but if you spam "F" it's very doable. Or you can just come back later when you are stronger, or just ignore them entirely. They are an optional challenge.

All those chests you are passing up? You will go past them again later. You passed a dozen puzzles in RE8 that couldn't be completed when you first started the game. It's what these types of linear games like to do. It lets you know you'll be rewarded later.

And the map is perfectly fine.
Oh I know Joe's reviews are to be taken with a grain of salt overall, and I agree he's a bit off point and nonsensical on a lot of his comments. I guess if I haven't missed those chests, I can live with the confusion, but I prefer maps and games that make such things more clear, as those are very valuable items. I DID get over my loathing for being inundated with puzzles during the early part of RE Village once I got familiar with the game. I guess this one is an acquired taste too.

BTW, one of Joe's failures that I couldn't believe was so hard for him was when he kept dying in The Evil Within. He was intent on doing a complete playthrough of it, but never finished it. I mean don't get me wrong, the game is challenging, just not insurmountable like he made it look. My point is I watch his stuff more for laughs than to hear his opinions. His stuff is a lot like what you see on Clueless Gamer, but at least Conan knows he sucks. Maybe I suck a bit for quoting Joe though. LOL
 
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