The Currently Playing & Random Game Thoughts Thread (25 September to 1 October)

[ZedClampet]

Playing too many things to list. I did sort of finish Tavern Master this week, though I may still go in and do a couple of things. A lot of decorations unlocked near the end that I would like to try out.

Playing some Urbek City Builder. It's really the first time I've played a city builder for any length of time, and I have really enjoyed it. Being a city builder noob, I can't really compare it to other similar games. You start off being able to place dirt roads, fields (farms), simple houses, and a lumberyard. Each one impacts your statistics in several ways. You start building with these and, so long as you keep an eye on the stats (like food, population, work and consumption), you gradually start to unlock more things. Eventually, the roads and buildings you placed start being auto-replaced by upgraded versions. Everything is very straight forward and easy to figure out.

Played some more Days Gone and didn't experience any bugs this time. I'm enjoying the stealth so far, but I'm only playing the game in short bursts. Now is about the time I would normally abandon the game, but I'm trying not to do that. I just have to keep playing short sessions because it really isn't my type of game. Other than riding the motorcycle, so far there isn't really a catch that makes it stand out, like the parkour in Dying Light.

In Forza, I'd never seen the leaderboards until this week, so now I'm going around trying to score in the top 1 percent on each track.

 

[Brian Boru]

Played ~the first hour of Relicta earlier—thanks to Woody for reminder, I'd got it free at Epic a while back. Looking at Steam blurb video, it seemed a cross between Portal and The Talos Principle. Intro section is definitely Portal-like, we'll see what's later.

Far Cry 5 a bit. The boom-boom arrows are just the biz for taking out the armed convoys—the 3 trucks with heavy MGs in back of each, which will shred you in 5 seconds if you let 'em. The lead truck had escaped and was out of sight over a rise in the road—sent a couple of speculative boom booms over the rise, and BOOM BOOM! Got a second convoy yesterday by just popping out from behind a building and firing.

@Frindis you should look into Jess Black as sidekick, she's probably the best for a stealthy survival stint. Get yourself the King of the Jungle perk in the Survivalist section and you should be nicely set. Maybe Peaches for your 3rd sidekick, if you want to unlock the Leadership perk, which allows 2 sidekicks.

 

[DXCHASE]

Ok...

So my Destiny 2 clan has blown up with activity lately (have had around 95 members in the clan for some time but most of them didnt talk much or play with others). Ive removed some lapse players (6+ months of not playing) and added a couple of new ones who are excited and eager to play with people, so ive been jumping in a lot to help. So thats been fun to see as a clan founder. I AM ALWAYS LOOKING FOR NEW MEMBERS. If anyone here (maybe PCG staff? ) want to join and play

I just started playing Dying Light 2 and... its a beautiful game, demanding on my 3070ti/12700k but it looks great. I played the first one a while ago, beat the campaign and such but didnt venture much into the DLC of it. Havent done much questing and just really been running around hitting zombies with razers attached to bats in the new one.

Also have been playing Cyberpunk 2077 since i saw the flying car mod released. My resurgence in the game isnt as much because of the new anime, but because of the newest patch and this mod lol. Game is still janky to me and the cop system is still bad along with the inability to shoot while driving but it is a lot better than where it was and the flying car mod is fun af.

I also started playing Deathloop on gamepass, i probably wont finish this, not that i dont like it but between Destiny, Dying Light 2 and dropping into Cyberpunk for a bit, i probably will put this off.

 

[Zloth]

I'm playing Dungeon of Naheulbeuk and nothing else. All characters are up to level 9 now (out of a possible 10). The game has gotten quite a bit easier now. Through most of the game, getting through a battle without anyone at least getting knocked out wasn't common. Recovering from that isn't too bad, just toss a heal at the character within a turn or three. Now, even that is getting rare. My group of misfits with a bad habit of hitting themselves almost as much as the enemies has become a formidable party of adventurers.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Been playing more Crusader Kings 3 this weekend, Hispania is expanding. I left my direct vassals with the option to conquer all they want independently so the realm somehow spread itself to central Europe through some minor County inheritance and from there south to most of Italy. Also the whole of Scotland for some reason, its fun to watch my minions spread across the map on their own.

The latest main heir decided to murder his father, the Emperor (me at the time), to speed up his accession. He managed it, but then ended up with almost every other direct vassal King or Duke knowing the secret and having Strong Favour Hooks (Blackmail basically) on him when he became emperor (under my control). This lead sort of indirectly to a huge civil war for the independence of several strong vassals. Would have been fine except the Byzantine Empire who I'd been nibbling counties off of to try and complete a decision to 'Secure the Mediterranean' for some nice bonuses, cleverly picked the same time to also declare war for the Duchy of Sicily which I'd already stolen from them.

I hadnt noticed at this point that due to using another blackmail hook on my player character, my Marshal was a total clown with a very low martial skill of 5 that I couldn't fire. Only saw when I lost an evenly matched battle by a surprisingly huge amount and double checked. Switched him to Diplomacy temporarily, installed a better Marshal and eventually won the day in both wars with the help of a lot of mercs.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Played ~the first hour of Relicta earlier—thanks to Woody for reminder, I'd got it free at Epic a while back. Looking at Steam blurb video, it seemed a cross between Portal and The Talos Principle. Intro section is definitely Portal-like, we'll see what's later.

It just keeps getting better and better. The farther you get, the more they switch things up, and things get more challenging. But not so challenging you're beating your brains out. It's a lot of fun.

 

[ZedClampet]

Well, was back to our relaxing Tomb Kings TWW3 game, and I was still playing it neutral, and no one was declaring war on me. I finished off my one enemy, and set a few armies to head north. Even though no one was at war with me, everyone around me except for an Empire faction was in the red. That empire faction was just barely in the negative. As I wandered around, I came into contact with a couple of dwarf factions who didn't completely hate me. This is when I changed the course of my game by dropping my veneer of neutrality.

My faction was extremely wealthy because the Tomb Kings don't pay upkeep on their armies, so I started flirting with the three nearly friendly factions by sending them a little money each round. Then I paid them for trade agreements, and things sort of steamrolled from there.

Needless to say, other factions weren't so amused, and soon people were declaring war on me non-stop. This is a good thing because we need to take 19 more settlements for the short win. We aren't eligible for any other win because of a bug/oversight on the next set of winning conditions, which includes the stipulation that we kill each other.

 

[Sarafan]

Currently I'm mostly playing TES IV: Oblivion and Fallout 76.

The first of the two games is unfortunately worse than Morrowind. I have a direct comparison because in the last week I was still playing TES III. The main issue is the atmosphere which is not as good. The architecture is what we can expect from a quite standard medieval setting. Nothing special. So is the environment (no big mushrooms!). The character progression system is quite similar, so I don't have any objections against it, but the UI is worse. It was clearly designed to have a good feeling on consoles. It's still not as bad as UI in Skyrim though. The positive aspects are definitely rag dolls for enemies and easier to use spell system.

I'm playing Fallout 76 quite casually. Didn't make a huge progress since the beginning, but I like the direction in which the game is heading after all those updates. The release of the game was laughably bad and they managed to straighten it up which is quite an achievement. Basically if someone likes Fallout 4 there are huge chances he'll like Fallout 76 as well.

Besides that I'm tempted to try Goomhaven that is currently a freebie on Epic...

 

[Pifanjr]

I've been playing more Rimworld. I did end up starting a new colony, this time with 3 colonists that start with a bunch of resources, and I'm having a lot more fun with the game. I've been taking a bunch of screenshots and I'm considering starting a new thread in which I can chronicle what happens to my colony. I just need to find the time to start writing it. There isn't a lot of time where I'm not either busy or playing at the moment.

EDIT: Nevermind, my colony just died . Two of the original three colonists had died a while ago when the third was out doing a quest. The third managed to keep his sanity by throwing himself into his passion and eventually a new colonist joined him and his mood stabilized. Things were looking pretty good, until a pack of rabid beavers walked into the camp. I had overestimated by colonist's ability to shoot them down and they were overrun. An event triggered where a mysterious man in black joined my colony to rescue us and he did manage to kill the beavers, but my two colonists ended up succumbing to their wounds after they got infected.

I could have continued on with the man in black, but playing with a single colonist kinda sucks, especially since his skills and traits were just really bad, and it seemed like a fitting end to the story to quit.

Maybe I'll start a thread if I decide to start a new colony.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

but the UI is worse. It was clearly designed to have a good feeling on consoles. It's still not as bad as UI in Skyrim though.

That's really weird that you say that. I played both Oblivion (the little I played) and Skyrim on PC, and I always like to use a controller. My experience was that Skyrim's UI was amazing with a controller, but Oblivion's UI suuuucked. I couldn't ever get it to work properly with a controller at all. I felt like it was designed for keyboard and mouse on PC. That's one big reason I gave up on it. I kind of wanted to try it on a console where it was designed for controller to see if it's a better experience for me.

 

[Sarafan]

That's really weird that you say that. I played both Oblivion (the little I played) and Skyrim on PC, and I always like to use a controller. My experience was that Skyrim's UI was amazing with a controller, but Oblivion's UI suuuucked. I couldn't ever get it to work properly with a controller at all. I felt like it was designed for keyboard and mouse on PC. That's one big reason I gave up on it. I kind of wanted to try it on a console where it was designed for controller to see if it's a better experience for me.

Yeah, Skyrim is even better on a controller. When I was saying that the Oblivion UI was customized for console players, I still had Morrowind UI in mind. Morrowind UI was clearly made for PC players. So it looks like this: Oblivion is better than Morrowind on a gamepad, Skyrim is better than Oblivion on a gamepad. Meanwhile Oblivion is worse than Morrowind on keyboard and mouse, Skyrim is worse than Oblivion on keyboard and mouse. Thankfully there's a wonderful inventory mod for Skyrim - SkyUI. When I'll be playing Skyrim once again, I'll certainly use it. I can't imagine myself playing this game for another 200 hours with the standard UI.

 

[Brian Boru]

it looks like this

Ah great, just the guy to help me with a problem:

Jane went to visit Jill. Jill is Jane’s only husband’s mother-in-law’s only husband’s only daughter’s only daughter. What relation is Jill to Jane?

 

[Zloth]

The character progression system is quite similar, so I don't have any objections against it...

If I remember right, Morrowind scales enemies to your total skill level while Oblivion scales against your combat skill level. I bunny-hopped around too much in the first town and, when I left, I was facing really nasty critters when I barely knew which end of the sword to hold.

I remember quitting my second Morrowind play-through because I crafted a magic weapon that was so crazy powerful that the game got boring. Oblivion still had a system that could be abused, but it didn't seem as bad. They finally gave up on it in Skyrim.

The atmosphere is certainly more interesting, though, with the mushrooms and the bugs you can ride. (Some of it bleeds through to Skyrim, especially in Blackreach.)

...Things were looking pretty good, until a pack of rabid beavers walked into the camp....

Hmmmmmm... Naked colonist that was tempting in desperate raiders only to kill them with traps now dies in a sea of angry beavers? You sure the raiders didn't send them at you as a way to get ironic revenge?? (Queue the old Primus song)

P.S. Her daughter, @Brian Boru

 

[ZedClampet]

Finished our TWW3 Tomb Kings campaign. Tomorrow I might finish my solo Vampire Pirates campaign. I just need 1700 more infamy, and I got lots of people waiting to be killed.

********

Every morning I play a little of Disney Dreamland Valley. It's gotten a bit grindy to make money. Unlocked a new area this morning, but I don't know anything about it. I wandered around and got some new seeds, but not the seeds I actually was needing. There are a lot of things to do, but it's basically a cooking game, and right now I need to grow some sugarcane.l

 

[Sarafan]

If I remember right, Morrowind scales enemies to your total skill level while Oblivion scales against your combat skill level.

I'm not sure how the scaling systems work. According to UESP both games scale according to character level, but this might not be fully accurate.

I bunny-hopped around too much in the first town and, when I left, I was facing really nasty critters when I barely knew which end of the sword to hold.

Are you talking here about Morrowind or Oblivion? I find leveling in Oblivion a lot easier than in Morrowind. Skills increase a lot quicker at least in the beginning.

I remember quitting my second Morrowind play-through because I crafted a magic weapon that was so crazy powerful that the game got boring. Oblivion still had a system that could be abused, but it didn't seem as bad. They finally gave up on it in Skyrim.

TBH I didn't use the crafting skills in Morrowind too much. I tackled a little with spell creation, but left the enchanting. Maybe during my next playthrough I'll use this skill more often.

The atmosphere is certainly more interesting, though, with the mushrooms and the bugs you can ride. (Some of it bleeds through to Skyrim, especially in Blackreach.)

The mushrooms and the architecture (sometimes it's the same ) make this atmosphere. Oblivion is more colorful and goes into quite standard medieval design.

 

[Frindis]

Playing some more Runescape doing fishing and other activities. Helped one of my nephews with installing a new PC and we are going to be playing some Divinity: Original Sin 2 soon.

 

[ZedClampet]

Foxhole sounds interesting....

https://www.pcgamer.com/its-finally-time-to-try-foxhole-the-tremendous-war-mmo-hitting-10-tomorrow/

 

[Zloth]

Are you talking here about Morrowind or Oblivion? I find leveling in Oblivion a lot easier than in Morrowind. Skills increase a lot quicker at least in the beginning.

Morrowind. You can try it out if you want - it's been eons so I may be misremembering, or patches may have even fixed the issues. Just start a new game and work constantly on those skills like jumping, running, sneaking, or whatever they had that could easily be done outside of battle. Talk to the folks in town to get set up with the early quests, leaping like a maniac, then head out.

TBH I didn't use the crafting skills in Morrowind too much. I tackled a little with spell creation, but left the enchanting. Maybe during my next playthrough I'll use this skill more often.

I think it might be wise not to! Or at least make a save before doing so.

I think the problem was extremes. For instance, when you hit somebody with an axe, your strength adds to the damage. If you make a weapon that adds to your strength when you equip it, it's going to cost. But, if you make it add to your strength just for a second or two when you hit something, you can add a lot of strength. Also, there's a feedback problem: enchantment can boost enchantment.

 

[Zimbaly]

I've been playing Cyberpunk again since the new patch came out and omg it's made my game lag so hard exiting menus, shops, the map, my inventory, and it gets worse the longer I play.

Also downloading the new F2P Gundam game to check it out. Might jump into Fallout 76 a bit, but kind of gave it a break.

 

[ZedClampet]

I've been playing Cyberpunk again since the new patch came out and omg it's made my game lag so hard exiting menus, shops, the map, my inventory, and it gets worse the longer I play.

Also downloading the new F2P Gundam game to check it out. Might jump into Fallout 76 a bit, but kind of gave it a break.

Sounds like a memory leak. They'll probably patch it late next year. These things take time. It's a complex game. Etc.

Either that or you are playing with mods and the update broke one of them.

 

[ZedClampet]

Started a TWW3 co-op Empire campaign, and it was a near disaster from the start. I took over my home province (Balthasar?) and was improving it, when in turn 11 four factions declared war on me. So during turn 12, I started creating another army, but during the AI turn, two 20 stacks started sieging my capital and my one lone army. This prevented me from being able to create that second army, and my first army started taking attrition. I had no choice but to immediately attack. Of course, I canceled out the recruitment for my second general and brought him over first. Fortunately I won the battle or the game would have ended right there.

The reason so many factions declared war on me so early was because I was accepting non-aggression pacts from all the other Empire factions. They each offered a fair bit of coin to sweeten the deal, and that was helping me build out my province. I should note, too, that we were playing with my mod pack which speeds the game up considerably.

******

Also, I keep thinking I'm in the mood for a big budget AAA open world game, but every time I start playing one, I just get bored. *sad face*

 

[Pifanjr]

Also, I keep thinking I'm in the mood for a big budget AAA open world game, but every time I start playing one, I just get bored. *sad face*

I know that feeling. I sometimes get really hyped about an open world game thinking about all of the content and the stuff you can do, but the problem is that it always takes a lot of time to get to the good stuff. Open world games work when you aren't in a hurry and just want to mostly relax and immerse yourself in the world.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I know that feeling. I sometimes get really hyped about an open world game thinking about all of the content and the stuff you can do, but the problem is that it always takes a lot of time to get to the good stuff. Open world games work when you aren't in a hurry and just want to mostly relax and immerse yourself in the world.

If they're done right, they can also work when you are in a hurry and don't have a lot of time to play. There are usually some little things you can do that don't take a long time to accomplish, and a lot of them let you save anywhere.

 

[Pifanjr]

If they're done right, they can also work when you are in a hurry and don't have a lot of time to play. There are usually some little things you can do that don't take a long time to accomplish, and a lot of them let you save anywhere.

Only being able to do "some little things" can be worse than playing a game that just does one thing really well, where you can complete an entire level in the same time.

 

[Brian Boru]

it always takes a lot of time to get to the good stuff

Just in brief, what is "the good stuff" for you, and what delays you getting to it? There's a good chance there are mods to alleviate the issues.