The Currently Playing & Random Game Thoughts Thread (4 September to 10 September)

[WoodenSaucer]

In this playthrough of Skyrim, I can't believe how much stuff there is that I've never seen. It's like I'm playing a new game.

 

[Pifanjr]

I continued my war against the Dark Elves. Annoyingly, most of their territory is apparently in the North, where my armies suffer attrition unless I encamp, which uses half of my movement and which isn't possible right after attacking. So now I'm just occupying their lands even though I have no real use for them, just so my armies don't waste away in the cold after a battle.

Also annoyingly, I missed one of their armies sailing to two cities I already destroyed and reclaiming them, so I had to send an army back to deal with that before they take even more.

All I want is some peace and quiet so I can go get a dragon and claim the other magic forests in the world.

 

[Zimbaly]

Loading up some Cyberpunk to enjoy the new stuff and I had a hard time enjoying things. I'm getting horrible lag/sluggish movement. My fps drops and it all happens after doing certain things. After I break stuff down and exit the menu, buy something from someone and exit the menu back into the game, when I would look on the map then go back out into the game..... It's brutal. It goes for about 5 to 15 seconds then "levels" off, but it still feels sluggish.

Something ain't right now so heads up to anyone else that plays.

 

[Frindis]

@Zimbaly That sucks, hope it gets smoother soon!

Decided to try out Forza Horizon 5 again after a little time off.

 

[ZedClampet]

@Zimbaly That sucks, hope it gets smoother soon!

Decided to try out Forza Horizon 5 again after a little time off.

My son enjoys setting up stock races for the Trident Peel. Best one was an off road race during a blizzard at night in FH3. Well, by "best one" I mean "most ridiculous". There were these ramps, and if you had all your momentum up, you could just barely manage to get to the top of the ramps and fall off to the other side.

 

[SleepingDog]

Finished Resident Evil 2 Remake a couple of nights ago. Played as Leon and really enjoyed the story and action sequences. Thought I would try the "Run 2" which automatically plays you as Claire( if you choose Leon in the "1st run") and for a while it was interesting. Same game mechanics and also an explanation of why some events/ areas seemed closed off in the Leon run. But, yes there is a but, being asked to play a pre-teen just creeped me out and I had to stop. It stopped being entertaining and you can't skip over this part to get to the next chapter (well there is probably a way - using other people's saved game files etc ).

Prior to the above I had a go at Resident Evil 3 Remake which certainly got the adrenaline flowing. Some great scenes and again worth the money. I didn't complete it because I could not be bothered with the last boss fight.

Also tried Resident Evil HD Remastered. Didn't like the movement system and so gave up after 30 or 40 minutes.

On the price front I paid about £10 for each game. Spent about 30 hours in total (includes a few re-starts).

 

[Brian Boru]

I can't believe how much stuff there is that I've never seen. It's like I'm playing a new game

I'm on my two-and-a-halfth playthru of Far Cry 5, and it's close to that. I mostly avoided Faith's region before due to all the hallucinogenic stuff there, but a recent update of the Resistance mod has reduced that a lot so I'm seeing much of it for the first time.

With the casual strategy-puzzle series Royal Envoy, which I try to replay annually, I still find new ways to play some levels.

Skyrim is open world, isn't it? That's the great thing about OW games, you can tackle all objectives from the West one playthru, North next year, etc—new experience every time.

Even an old RTS like C&C, many missions have a choice of maps. I picked all the West or North ones first playthru of the Remaster, current playthru I'm picking the East or South.

Of course a good procedural map is best of all in the 'never seen before' game. This is where the 4X games shine.

 

[Brian Boru]

Annoyingly
…
Also annoyingly

It's so unfair when the badstars fight back, isn't it?

Forza Horizon 5 again

Rad wiper!

 

[Pifanjr]

It's so unfair when the badstars fight back, isn't it?

I'd be happy if they fight back, but now they're specifically avoiding me to take my lands and that's just rude

Honestly, the only reason it's annoying is because I know I've basically already won this war. Unless someone else suddenly attacks me and forces me to split my armies, there's really nothing stopping me from winning. And since I'm on friendly terms with most of my neighbours, that seems unlikely to happen.

Though if I want more of a challenge, I could always declare war on someone else myself.

 

[ZedClampet]

Of course a good procedural map is best of all in the 'never seen before' game. This is where the 4X games shine.

Depends on what you value. Randomized maps in a 4X game change your strategy and force you to come up with new ideas, which is awesome, but you never get that, "Wow, look at that mountain" feeling you would get in a game that wasn't top-down. But that makes them a lot easier to create, too. I've still yet to see a good procedural map in a first person game.

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Started two new games in Total Warhammer 3, a solo Tomb Kings game (Khemri) and a co-op game where Guido is the Skaven in Skavenblight and I'm the Norscan troll guy (that's as specific as I can get at 5 am).

As it turns out, the level of AI aggression that you experience seems to be directly related to who you are playing. We are playing on Normal, which is supposedly bugged, and my Norscans aren't at war with anyone at the moment, while Guido is being swamped by everyone near him. In my solo game, I'm at war with one faction, which isn't even near me, so I'm just wandering around my provinces waiting for population surpluses--the ultimate slow play.

I love the Tomb Kings. They have unique strategic options you don't get in other factions.

 

[Brian Boru]

I could always declare war on someone else myself

Perhaps not a wise choice?
"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity"—Eisenhower

I've still yet to see a good procedural map in a first person game

Hmm, yeah. Are there FP games with procedurals, even if bad?

 

[ZedClampet]

Perhaps not a wise choice?
"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity"—Eisenhower


Hmm, yeah. Are there FP games with procedurals, even if bad?

Minecraft, 7 Days to Die, Osiris New Dawn, No Man's Sky, etc.

Minecraft's aren't bad, but they break down a lot if you come across a village--at least they used to when I played.

 

[Pifanjr]

Perhaps not a wise choice?
"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity"—Eisenhower

"I'm bored already Naestra. What else can we kill?" - Arahan

Seems like it would just be proper roleplaying.

 

[ZedClampet]

"I'm bored already Naestra. What else can we kill?" - Arahan

Seems like it would just be proper roleplaying.

That's along the lines of what I say in a slow game when someone asks for a peace treaty, then I reject the treaty, of course.

 

[ZedClampet]

@Pifanjr do you ever think obnoxious thoughts about other factions when they suddenly attack you and then rethink that strategy a few turns later (while you are steamrolling through their territory) and offer you a ton of money for a Peace treaty? I think things like, "Well, you should have thought about this a few turns ago before you razed one of my cities." Very rarely do I accept the peace treaty unless I'm up to my elbows in invading enemies.

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I injured my knee falling over a branch of a tree I was pruning a couple of days ago. That will teach me to get out of my chair. Driving is too painful. Walking is too painful. Everything is too painful. So I'm sitting here downloading Game Pass games. I suppose I could go to the doctor, but we're experiencing a Covid surge, so it would be a nightmare because if you don't have an appointment you have to go to the walk-in clinic. I'll self-amputate before I sit in the walk-in clinic for 3 hours. I'll just keep putting ice on it and see what happens. It will feel better eventually.

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@Brian Boru have you ever played any of the Victoria 4X games? I see where a new one is coming out next month. I wouldn't mind playing a Civ-like. I've got Humankind downloading on Game Pass, but the only other times I've tried to play it, I encountered game-breaking bugs (probably just the Game Pass version), so I'm not optimistic.

 

[Pifanjr]

@Pifanjr do you ever think obnoxious thoughts about other factions when they suddenly attack you and then rethink that strategy a few turns later (while you are steamrolling through their territory) and offer you a ton of money for a Peace treaty? I think things like, "Well, you should have thought about this a few turns ago before you razed one of my cities." Very rarely do I accept the peace treaty unless I'm up to my elbows in invading enemies.

This is true for me in any game where someone can declare war on me. It's very unlikely for me to leave anyone alive after they've attacked me.

I'll only accept peace if I really need the resources for something else, but I'll be back as soon as I can spare the resources again.

I don't have this in board games though. Mostly because they're usually better balanced, so going all out to destroy one player will usually give an advantage to another player. Also, I consider backstabbing an integral part of most games, so I don't blame anyone for doing it to me. I'll fight back of course, but I don't take it personally.

 

[ZedClampet]

Just fixed my Hyperkin Duke controller thanks to a firmware update. I'm am once again a Forza

You don't have to question everything. Just let my superstardom exist as an immutable feature of the universe like physics.

Seriously, though, it's hard to win races when your brake is always on.

(waiting for someone to tell me that under certain circumstances physics can change)

 

[SleepingDog]

I wondered why I had not played Resident Evil 6 despite buying it many years ago. In the past hour I remembered. It kicks off ok as you save yourself and colleague from a zombie. Then there is the firefight. So far so good. Then a helicopter crashes and in quick order you need to run fast, then hang on to a waiting helicopter while killing the zombie who is holding on to your foot, then you get in and the pilot is attacked by a zombie while flying in mid-air so you need to land the helicopter - get any of the steps wrong and you go back to the beginning of the 1st crash. No puzzles, no exploration needed and plenty of ammo. Not my idea of a survival horror. The heart was racing and the adrenaline reached high levels but I never really was keen on those sort of games even when I was young.

It was probably why I didn't buy RE7.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I played the old Resident Evil games with a friend and quite liked 5. I played a few hours of 7 and it was too creepy for me to play alone.

All that to say, you might find you like 7 @SleepingDog, they re-invented the series again and made it real creepy.

Probably lost my Iron man save on CK 3 not long after founding Hispania. was just about to settle in a try and start developing things and changing the whole place to Gallician culture. Guess it might get fixed, there was an update today and all my old saves are marked with ! as coming from an old version, so maybe not. Game crashes as soon as I try to load anything.

Still creeping through Doom Eternal, when I'm playing it I love, it but its hardly relaxing so I never seem to feel like playing it in the late evening. Trying to find Samuel Hayden, I'd guess about half way through but no idea really.

 

[Johnway]

so in my random browsing on steam i came across something that peaked my interest. Aliens: Dark Descent a squad base single player game in the aliens franchise. But the devs aren't one i'm familiar with. Plus its published by focus interactive. so....

We'll find out in 2023. No rush to get it, as i have a massive backlog. Wish we would get more decent Aliens games.

 

[ZedClampet]

I wondered why I had not played Resident Evil 6 despite buying it many years ago. In the past hour I remembered. It kicks off ok as you save yourself and colleague from a zombie. Then there is the firefight. So far so good. Then a helicopter crashes and in quick order you need to run fast, then hang on to a waiting helicopter while killing the zombie who is holding on to your foot, then you get in and the pilot is attacked by a zombie while flying in mid-air so you need to land the helicopter - get any of the steps wrong and you go back to the beginning of the 1st crash. No puzzles, no exploration needed and plenty of ammo. Not my idea of a survival horror. The heart was racing and the adrenaline reached high levels but I never really was keen on those sort of games even when I was young.

It was probably why I didn't buy RE7.

What you're describing is the intro. It's not a great game, but after the intro it becomes more like a Resident Evil game. RE7 is completely different, a fantastic game.

 

[Zloth]

Still creeping through Doom Eternal, when I'm playing it I love, it but its hardly relaxing so I never seem to feel like playing it in the late evening. Trying to find Samuel Hayden, I'd guess about half way through but no idea really.

It's "relaxing" in a delayed way. After you stop playing, you're so wired that you're bound to relax as the adrenalin fades!

 

[Brian Boru]

@Brian Boru have you ever played any of the Victoria 4X games?

No. I played one of Paradox's earlier Europa Universalis games and that cured me of Grand Strategy. If you want a deep dive into a complicated world, then Paradox is your dev.

Humankind downloading

Yeah, I read that had problems. I had high hopes for it, but it's now on a long finger—please post your experience in this thread.

The new-to-me 4X I'm most interested in at the moment is Old World.
Btw are you ok with merging your thread with this older one?

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

It's "relaxing" in a delayed way. After you stop playing, you're so wired that you're bound to relax as the adrenalin fades!

Its a bit much in a really good way, but also not good. Its complicated.

Random thought: What are the chances of WOW going on Gamepass once the acquisition goes through? Apparently they have 4.8 million WOW subscribers who would probably be transferred over, nothing to be sniffed at. Would seem to be a win for everyone on both sides.

 

[ZedClampet]

Btw are you ok with merging your thread with this older one?

I don't know which thread you are talking about, but sure. I'm guessing I made an Old World thread at some point?

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My Total Warhammer 3 co-op Norscan campaign took a turn for the worse as Rasputin declared war on me and immediately took over a capital city and dumped me into the negative income realm. My armies were preparing to go in the opposite direction, so there was no way to quickly react, especially as he has 2 twenty stacks and one 10 (about) stack. That's as much as I had altogether, and I had to dump units to fix my income.