What are you playing, thinking, etc thread (for Dec-5 to Dec-11)

[ZedClampet]

Just Forza and Satisfactory for me. I've decided to take my current Satisfactory run all the way to the end (or where the game ends now in Early Access). It's my masterpiece. Of course, I've played through this so many times now that I ought to be good at it.

Thinking about getting Farming Simulator 22. Satisfactory won't hold me much longer. There's one mod that is sort of a total conversion that I might try. We'll see.

Speaking of mods, Coffee Stain (Satisfactory developer) incorporated a few mods into the game with update 5. At least I believe they used the mods as a starting point. One of them I know they did because it has a missing item in its list of items just like the mod had. I assume they tossed the modders some cash. Remarkably, though, in every instance the incorporated feature is better than the mod was. They came up with some clever ideas on how to make them work. One of the modders has discontinued his mod that is now in the game, but the other modders have added on to their mods (or the mods weren't used in their entirety) and are continuing on.

One unrelated modder has retired from Satisfactory modding. All of his mods have been picked up by other modders except for my favorite one (of course). If no one volunteers to take that one over in a few days, I'm going to take it over myself.

 

[Zloth]

@Kaamos_Llama

it sounds and looks a lot like the management aspects from Battletech the turn based game but just with live action missions, is that kind of so?

Largely, yeah. Live action has a big effect on how things play out, of course. If weapons were as deadly as they are in BT, an MW5 battle would be over in about 2 minutes! Arms seem to fall off a lot more in MW5, too. Be careful putting the more expensive weapons in them.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

@Kaamos_Llama
Largely, yeah. Live action has a big effect on how things play out, of course. If weapons were as deadly as they are in BT, an MW5 battle would be over in about 2 minutes! Arms seem to fall off a lot more in MW5, too. Be careful putting the more expensive weapons in them.

I've seen a little gameplay for MW5 and it looked really interesting. Really enjoyed Battletech and so if the action holds up I'd look forward to tricking out some mechs in between missions as well.

I've been playing some Wildermyth, which I'm really liking. Only a few hours in so far but the turn based battles have been functional and fun, though I'm not sure how much depth there is yet. Its been quite easy, I think theres difficulty settings for both the turn based battles and the over world map, where you are managing resources to build defences and craft equipment. Might need to notch it up after the first run.

The real interesting part so far is the way it has you craft stories and identities for your characters through choices you make in events and quests on the overworld map. The characters will then carry those on through the rest of the story. I've got a guy who lost an arm in a battle who now turned into a wolfman and regrew his arm, and a one eyed ranger who found a weird flame in the forest and became able to shoot fire from his arms in combat. Two of my characters fell in love and now their daughter joined my team as a ranger after a time lapse.

There's an wider story arc that involves some sort of evil magic corrupting nature, so Im fighting lots of twisted creatures and corrupted forest animals. In between you get character specific missions that appear on the map you can choose to go on, where the random events can occcur.

The writing is mostly really good, told in a comic book panel style. I'm not sure how long a campaign lasts or if there are multiple different possible campaigns, or how often events are repeated between campaigns. But after a few hours I'm very excited to play more and find out.

I also played some Deathloop, seems fun so far but not much to say about it yet.

 

[ZedClampet]

Someone just posted this picture of their Satisfactory build. Cracks me up.

And this is still midgame. Pure insanity. As an example of the thinking that has gone into this, look at the train rail in the top left. The train leaves the station, does a complete circle and heads back in the opposite direction. All you actually have to do is put an engine facing the other way on the back of your train and it will go back and forth as long as you set up the schedule properly. The cost to build the other engine is completely negligible at this point in the game.

No idea how you navigate around this factory to check for efficiencies, but I actually love it. It's so interesting to look at.

 

[Ryzengang]

I've still been playing a lot of Forza Horizon 5. Probably my GOTY this year, although there is some competition there. I also started Detroit: Become Human a few days ago and I'm really liking it. I find it incredibly immersive. Very story driven and a good number of choices you can make. Definitely not for everyone, though. It is a slow-paced game with pretty basic gameplay. It works well for me because I really enjoy story driven games and I feel that the basic gameplay actually fits really well.

 

[Brian Boru]

GVMERS usually do good game history videos, so for Duke Nukem fans:

The Rise and Fall of Duke Nukem 32m

 

[Volley]

I've been ever so slowly going through the Shadow Warrior -remake-, but I will be checking out Halo 6's campaign this week for sure. Also, on and off Microsoft Flight Simulator for the last year and some now.

I recently finished my second Cyberpunk 2077 playthrough (Over 325 hours in the game now), this time as 'Street Kid' and grabbing the legendary 500% crit strike sword early on in the game made it even more fun than my already enjoyable first run back in Dec 2020. I'll return to the game once Patch 1.5 hits in early 2022.

In the meantime I still play a ton of 40v40 Epic PvP Battlegrounds 'For the Horde' in World of Warcraft.

 

[Pifanjr]

I've finished the Guild of Dungeoneering, so it's time to find a new game for when I'm playing on my laptop. I've downloaded Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes, which I've played a few hours of before and which I think I liked, though I don't remember why I stopped playing.

I'm also still off work until Tuesday, so I'm hoping to have time for Warhammer 2 as well, but the kitchen isn't done yet and there's a bunch of cleaning to be done.

 

[Brian Boru]

the kitchen isn't done yet

Kitchens are never done—if your enchantress is promising you otherwise, she truly is fallen.

there's a bunch of cleaning to be done

Free excerpt from my Finding Sanity course:
1. Clean a shelf. Does it stay clean?
2. Dirty a shelf. Does it stay dirty?
Summarize the life lesson about the natural order of things, which this exercise reveals—250-300 words, double spaced.

If you relapse, give those nails a taste of the Warhammer.

 

[Pifanjr]

I've downloaded Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes, which I've played a few hours of before and which I think I liked, though I don't remember why I stopped playing.

I remember why I stopped playing. I had it confused with a different game, not sure which one. This game is a combination of Civilization and Heroes of Might and Magic and therefore not a great game for playing in short increments. I sat down to play and it was suddenly 4 hours later. I did not get any cleaning done today.

Free excerpt from my Finding Sanity course:
1. Clean a shelf. Does it stay clean?
2. Dirty a shelf. Does it stay dirty?
Summarize the life lesson about the natural order of things, which this exercise reveals—250-300 words, double spaced.

If you relapse, give those nails a taste of the Warhammer.

It's not dust that I'm bothered by, but we have a big problem with humidity in our apartment that has been turning into condensation in the winter, causing a bunch of corners and such to develop mold. It would also be nice if we could clear some stuff off of the floor, chairs, couches and table.

 

[Brian Boru]

I did not get any cleaning done today

Oh my, what a quick learner—attaboy!
Life will be so much better, now that you've broken the mold

 

[Pifanjr]

I played a bit of Faeria today, which is both fun and works well for short gaming sessions, but the complete lack of story means you're basically just doing the same thing over and over. So I'm going to try For the King next.

 

[Pifanjr]

For the King has been a great success. One of the first things you see when you start the game is that you should expect to lose, as this is a roguelike game. However, after a few hours of playtime, the game has been fairly easy so far, with only two of my party members needing to be revived and finding 2 extra revives on top of the three you start with.

I have noticed that the difficulty is ramping up a lot now and I'm worried I might have made a mistake avoiding combat in the beginning and paying for it now with underleveled characters. I find myself having to retreat to town to heal more often while healing has also become a lot more expensive.

 

[Johnway]

I was recently pleasantly surprised that Chivalry 2 is having a free weekend since i was sitting on the fence about this game i downloaded it immediately and jumped right in.

So... after 2 hours of solid play what's the verdict? its fun, but honestly its sort of confirmed my suspicions that i don't have the time to play it. Its simple enough, but getting good at it is just too much. With an ever growing collection steam games, work/life commitments and other hobbies i doubt i'll have time to commit to it. Unless i'm prepared to spend much of my time dead (which, unsurprisingly i was) its not helped that content is a bit limited atm.

 

[mainer]

I'm still playing Solasta Crown of the Magister, playtime according to Steam is about 125 hrs (although I've started twice), and I've got to say this is the most enthused I've been with a new game (not a replay or a remaster) in a long time.

Tactical Adventures has just nailed the turn-based combat in this game. It may not be as intricate as the Divinity OS or Pathfinder games, but there's a lot of subtleties in the TB system. Movement and light sources are huge. Climbing walls, levitating, flying, sneaking and getting in position (before & during combat) can make a huge difference in the outcome of a battle.

Light plays a huge role also in the ability to hit an enemy, or be hit by them. Vampires regenerate in darkness, but are harmed by light. Fighting vampires and their undead friends has always been one of my personal pleasures in life, and in Solasta it's really a lot of fun.

As a side note (related to the "what am I thinking part"), it's December 10th in Portland, and still no appreciable snow fall, outside of a few snow flurries. A lot of rain, but 30 years ago, we'd be buried in snow. Global warming has definitely made an impact here.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I'm nearing the end of the third tailored campaign in Wildermyth. I'm hooked, its not the deepest combat system but it is satisfying and you do have to think about it. It has a (afaik) unique take on magic that has your mystics bonding with objects on the board and causing them to explode or warp with different effects that buff or damage, depending on whether its a rock, table or trough etc.

The writing is still excellent, I was initially a bit put off by the art style. It is definitely its own thing but it does look cartoonish and the characters on the board are displayed like paper cuts outs that kind of bounce around. I've grown used to it, it does suit the rest of the package. Music is good too, nice strings.

Apart from that I havent bought any xmas presents yet. Oops, time to put that Prime subscription into action. Season 2 of The Witcher dropped and a new episode of Wheel of Time is up too. Happy days its the weekend, I'll lose some sleep tonight and try and get into those, and a little whiskey.

 

[Pifanjr]

Season 2 of The Witcher dropped

As far as I can see season 2 doesn't become available until December 17? I didn't realise it was this close though, I'll have to clear my calendar...

My wife and I did just start watching the second season of Centaurworld. Not as good as the first season in my opinion, but good enough to continue watching.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

As far as I can see season 2 doesn't become available until December 17? I didn't realise it was this close though, I'll have to clear my calendar...

My wife and I did just start watching the second season of Centaur world. Not as good as the first season in my opinion, but good enough to continue watching.

Yup my mistake, I saw reviews in passing and thought it must be up.

Wheel of Time only then, its pretty good, I think better than The Witcher for me so far.

 

[Alm]

Only just got around to playing Star Wars Squadrons. It's good. Got a link cable for the Quest 2 arriving tomorrow so hopefully I can try it out in VR. I feel the games available for VR are still a little limited in variety.

 

[Colif]

playing - Nothing , see below

thinking - wishing i hadn't fallen over yesterday

 

[Brian Boru]

playing - Nothing , see below

Pffft, that's no excuse—get to it!

Steam Curator: Single-Handed Games

Games I have found to be suitable for easy one-handed play; be it via mouse-only controls, or a close-grouped set of keys on my keyboard.

store.steampowered.com

 

[Colif]

i took bandage off, its just my ribs now so stop trying to make me laugh

 

[Ryzengang]

I've made extremely little progress on by backlog as of late. I've been playing Forza Horizon 5 a lot and not a whole lot else. I think I'll probably try to play the Halo campaign sooner rather than later, though. I'm hoping over winter break I'll be able to knock out a big game or two.

 

[mainer]

a new episode of Wheel of Time is up too.

Wheel of Time only then, its pretty good, I think better than The Witcher for me so far.

I'd be really interested to hear your opinion on this, as The Wheel of Time has been one of my favorite fantasy series. I currently re-reading the whole series (currently on book 6, Lord of Chaos), and I have to admit I have a certain fear of watching Amazon's version. I just don't see how they can capture all the personalities and interactions of the characters, as well as all the plot twists and subtleties, the Aes Sedai magic, the Forsaken, the Aiel, and the large scale battles. If Amazon can do as good a job as HBO did with The Game of Thrones, I'd probably give it a shot.

I know this post will be locked down tomorrow, but maybe start a thread over in the movies section?

 

[Zloth]

Just this minute finished watching Ep. 6! I'll start a thread.

thinking - wishing i hadn't fallen over yesterday

OUCH!! No falling! Falling is bad, m'kay!?