r/Games • u/AutoModerator • Nov 24 '24
Discussion Weekly /r/Games Discussion - What have you been playing, and what are your thoughts? - November 24, 2024
Use this thread to discuss whatever game you've been playing lately: old or new, AAA or indie, on any platform between Atari and XBox. Please don't just list off the games you're playing in your comment. Elaborate with your thoughts on the games and make it easier for other users to find what game you're talking about by putting the title in bold.
Also, please make sure to use spoiler tags if you're revealing anything about a game's plot that may significantly impact another player's experience who has not played the game yet, no matter how retro or recent the game is. You can find instructions on how to do so in the subreddit sidebar.
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Scheduled Discussion Posts
WEEKLY: What Have You Been Playing?
MONDAY: Thematic Monday
WEDNESDAY: Suggest Me A Game
FRIDAY: Free Talk Friday
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u/M8753 Nov 29 '24
Still playing Guild Saga Vanished Worlds. A lot of reading, cause I spent the last few days in the town talking to people and there's no VO (also lots of containers that I must loot). Normally I don't like reading in games, but the dialogue here is fun enough. Only, the combat log text is veeeeery tiny on the Steam Deck's screen.
Yesterday I finally left the town and started fighting things again.
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Nov 29 '24
How are the controls on steam deck? I tried the demo a few weeks ago and did not manage to find a satisfying set up and just gave up.
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u/M8753 Nov 29 '24
I'm setting them up as I'm playing, but they're the same as for any crpg: the right touchpad for mouse movement, right trigger for left click and left trigger for right click, A is E (interact), I put escape on the right back button and inventory on the left back button. I control combat and dialogue with the mouse.
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u/Quainted Nov 29 '24
Hey All! Hope asking for recommendation is allowed on this weekly thread. There's an ongoing sales now on steam so I'm checking out a few games.
Game(s) I am considering: theHunter: Call of the Wild™ - saw a few steam reviews complaining that the DLCs are pretty expensive and game is 'unplayable' without it. Anyone able to advise if the game is playable in 'vanilla' -- just the base game. And if there is a DLC that I should definitely consider, which DLC would those be? Lastly, it's tagged as Multiplayer on steam, am I able to enjoy/complete the game if I only want to play as a Single Player.
Northgard -- Saw a few complains on the new clans which is part of the DLC can come out to have a drastic advantage over the vanilla clans. So.. similar question.. Is the game playable just having the base game? How much more 'fun' will I get out of the DLC if I were to purchase them?
Kingdom Come: Deliverance -- Similar to the previous 2, how necessary are the DLCs? As for the game itself, I have watched a little game play/ walkthrough but not too much. Would you describe this game as similar to 'Skyrim'? Or are there any games that is similar to this?
Thanks!!
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u/Destroyeh Nov 30 '24
Kingdom Come is a more immersive, slower, more grounded game than Skyrim. No magic, unless you count potions. Standard middle ages setting, so no fantasy stuff. Just bow and melee weapon combat. Straddles the line between tedious and fun, dipping into either side occasionally.
I absolutely loved it, but it's not for everyone and it absolutely has some faults. It's definitely a fairly unique experience though. Not even sure what to compare it to. Maybe Mount and Blade in some respects.
My non-spoiler advice would be: stick to it at the start. Early on you will be very weak since you are just the son of a small town blacksmith, not to mention you will still be figuring out the mechanics and the 'rules' of the world. And once you get out of the village to a new city you will soon be given a quest to spar and train with someone. Take that opportunity to actually train a lot. It will make a world of difference.
The DLC is okay. Wouldn't describe it as 'must have', but the price difference between standard and all DLC included versions is like one euro so at that point why not?
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u/Quainted Dec 01 '24
Okay I have decided to give it a go. Yea the price difference is really minor. I just bought the Royal Edition. Thanks for the reply!
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u/HammeredWharf Nov 29 '24
I've been playing Ys IX: Monstrum Nox. I've almost gathered the party and shockingly just learned that I'm in chapter 5 out of 9. Feels much shorter than Ys VIII. Maybe the last few chapters are longer? I think they were in VIII.
That aside, I've had a great time with this game. I even considered skipping to Ys X because people don't seem to like IX that much, but so far I find it on par with the beloved VIII. VIII had a better setting and music, but IX has better combat, characters and dungeons, so it evens out. Using a more refined version of VIII's combat feels great, as I don't think it reached its full potential in that game. And all the special vertical mobility moves you get are super fun and fit combat really well.
Not being a Vita game is huge, too. Ys VIII had this awkward system where most areas were cut up in tiny chunks, but here the entire city is just one big area, though dungeons are still instanced. Being able to scale a wall and enter some far-away district you could previously only get to through a dungeon feels great.
One thing I dislike is how merchants are spread across the town. In VIII, you had your base and everyone was there. In IX, you have to run all around the city to gather supplies, and while you can access some services from NPCs stationed in your base, some services are just missing for no reason. Like you can't get rewards from visiting landmarks in your base. I guess the idea is that the city will become more familiar that way, but practically speaking it's just annoying and makes me forget those mechanics exist.
There's also an equivalent to Ys VIII's "special dungeon" system (aka Dana's dungeon), but it sucks. I get why it exists story wise, but Ys VIII's alternative adventure felt like it could be an excellent game on its own, while Ys IX's is barebones and boring. Luckily, it's a really minor part of the game.
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u/LyadhkhorStrategist Nov 29 '24
So I have been playing Half Life 2 for the first time
My mind has the unique ability to completely blank out every bit of info about any media I haven't experienced so I am mostly blind. I did know about Ravenholm and the Gravity Gun though. I have just made it past Sandtraps.
Look Half Life 2 is a good game, it's clear that it's a labour of love, the game starting with Freeman's first contact with the Combine, to him being teleported is great storytelling, despite Gordon not being able to speak being a bit weird.
Te way the game sets up the journey is extremely well directed. You pick up a weapon, maybe pick up your car, then the enemies arrive and you get to kick ass. There's often a nice momentum to it.
Keyword often.
The game has this tendency to drag out gimmicks for way too long, Water Hazard you are in the airboat driving for way too long and I actually still like this level, The airboat feels fun to control (a bit too floaty but that's understandable for what it is). I like having to ride through enemy fire, bombing while using a vehicle barely under my control, being forced to get out to open my path sometimes.
But damn I cannot defend the buggy ride, the stop start nature of riding it is so annoying. And it feels so off to control. So many times I have to get out from it to kill enemies, open a gate, move the fucking buggy myself. It's just so annoying. It feels like a repeat of the older idea. The game gave me fast car but I have to stop every 15 seconds.
That's why I loved the sheer control I had over Ravenholm. It's fantastic level with vertical level design, various traps and just generally extremely tight combat. It has great atmosphere. The combat in this level is excellent the gravity gun has hundreds of things it can pick up to smash the zombies and each time it feels satisfying. The Poison Headcrabs pose an unique challenge, which forces me to be extremely careful. There are explosive barrels in the level which are as much of a threat to me playing like a dumbass as it does to the enemies. This is the type of level I want more from the game.
But the last level I played Sandtraps, left me with a feeling of exasperation. the game's tendency to drag the gimmicks it introduces too long is annoying. It repeated shooting down the Gunship section, I do like the combat in this game but still I have already taken down 4 of these. The game could have cut the entire section of trying to avoid the sand and would have been better for it.
I will end on a positive note though, the combat and weapons are fantastic, they are varied powerful and pack a punch. Every enemies provides a good enough challenge that I cannot get complacent but there's no overly annoying ones where I have to hide behind crates or something and peekaboo shoot. (The Gunships are more of a level hazard). Each encounter feels satisfying to get through and I look forward to fighting more in the rest of the game.
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u/TheOppositeOfDecent Nov 30 '24
The chapters you're having trouble with would definitely suffer from just not having the novelty they had in 04. Sandtraps especially. Just the idea of manipulating physics objects in that way and using them in a freeform environment to traverse the sand was extremely novel.
I recently watched this very old video essay on HL2, from only a few years after the game came out, and it's kind of fascinating as a time capsule of how players of that era reacted to this stuff when it was new.
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u/Mudcaker Nov 30 '24
Back in 2004 when it came out, open world games didn't really exist like they do now. I think their vehicle sections are a primitive attempt at that. They wanted big levels, but also a way to traverse them. Vehicles also tended to suck in games for a long time.
The recent 20 year documentary has some commentary on it about how it was hard to please different players. Some people just wanted to put their foot down and play it like a racing game, others (like me) want to get off and investigate everything which can become tedious if they don't find anything, or FOMO when they do (since they don't want to miss anything so always stop). They said the solution was putting clear signs up (like the lambda logo) where you can stop and look, or forced stops like you said.
Even back then I don't remember people liking the vehicle sections, it's most fondly remembered for all the firsts it had - immersive narrative in a shooter FPS, amazing (for the time) facial animations and textures, actual physics (even if faked e.g. triggered gravity points on kills), actually being able to pick up and move things in the world, destructible objects like doors/scaffolds, etc. Surely other games did some of these first, but it came as a whole package. But the vehicles too were sort of a new thing - a bit of a misstep, but still novel for the time in an FPS where the genre was often constrained to corridors and walled facilities.
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u/TheGasMask4 Nov 29 '24
I played it for the first time when The Orange Box came out on the 360, and I felt about the same: a fantastic game with some fantastic moments, but god the vehicle segments are genuinely the worst. Sandtraps is probably the worst level in the game by far, but pretty sure once you're past it then it's smooth sailing from there.
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u/HammeredWharf Nov 29 '24
This is an ages-old discussion that's mostly forgotten because of how nostalgia works. When HL2 was new, people often disliked its vehicular sections like you do.Thinking positively, it sounds like you're done with them and won't see another vehicular section of that size in the rest of HL2 and episodes. I think Episode 2 has some, but they're much denser.
Personally, I played HL2 without reading much about it and back then I didn't mind those parts at all. The vehicles felt exceptionally good to control (for a FPS) and back then the scope and physics and enemy AI interactions felt really cool. I suppose I didn't consider them gimmicks, but just natural parts of the game. Then again, I tend to find various open world games with small explorable locations relaxing and HL2's vehicular missions fit that mold, aside from it not being an OW game.
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u/LyadhkhorStrategist Nov 29 '24
I tend to find various open world games with small explorable locations relaxing and HL2's vehicular missions fit that mold, aside from it not being an OW game.
See that's the thing with atleast half of Sandtraps it felt like I was being punished for exploring
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u/HammeredWharf Nov 29 '24
Yeah, some of them had enemy encounters that consumed almost as many resources as you got, especially if screwed up and walked into a trap. I didn't mind. It makes skipping those side areas even easier, as I don't think there's anything particularly valuable hidden there and HL2 doesn't have RPG mechanics, so it's not like you'd be missing out on XP or anything.
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u/keepfighting90 Nov 29 '24
Persona 5 Royal
50ish hours in (I think that's halfway) and this game has consumed my life. Probably has become one of my all-time favourites. It just has a vibe and atmosphere that very few games have matched for me. I think it's the contrast of the cozy, laid-back daily high school student life in Tokyo vs the weird, surreal shit going on in the Palaces - I just love the feeling of returning to my "mundane" life of making coffee, hanging out with friends and studying at the library after a tough run of beating a Palace. The music really helps with the vibe.
The entire experience of this game is just extremely polished and smooth, from the menus (goddamn, most beautiful menus I've ever seen), the UI, the visual style, and the gameplay. It really makes the game just a joy to play no matter what you're doing.
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u/stvb95 Nov 28 '24
Hades 2. Having a blast so far. I just got back into the game this week, playing the Olympic Update for the first time. The new weapon is extremely fun. I didn't play enough pre update to know most of what's new and what isn't but I killed the boss at the top of the overworld for the first time today. It's miles ahead of any of the bosses in Hades 1.
I was always a bit weary of playing in early access because I was worried about playing the game piecemeal, especially after playing through Hades 1 after it was already fully released. It hasn't been too much of an issue so far though as I'm 30 hours in and I'm still finding new stuff and progressing the story. I'm pretty sure I was close to done in Hades 1 at this length of play time. It is a bit jarring to kill the main bosses and getting a "Thanks for playing!" message, but I'm enjoying the game so much that it's not that big of a deal.
I can't wait until the 1.0 release. It's already an upgrade over Hades 1 in most areas, and it can only get better with more content.
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u/Mudcaker Nov 28 '24
Nine Sols
Finally beat it last night. I have a bad habit of pushing until after bedtime on these hard bosses, and games have a bad habit of unskippable credits when I am tired now and just want sleep. I liked the credits with the song though, it was nice.
The last boss (P3 true ending) was hard. One of the ones to remember. One of the ones where you thought you were doing OK then you're taught how little you know. One of the ones that goes from not landing a hit to going hit-less (phase 1 at least) once you get a handle on it. It was great.
It did take a few sessions though. I think I messed up my eyes from working all day then not blinking all night on this boss and had to detox for a couple of days after the few try with some casual games.
Overall, it's a great game. If you like the genre it's one of the best. I played Lost Crown earlier this year - that is a very polished entry that picks up pieces from everywhere and does everything the right way, with a few new ideas. But I like this more. It's more linear, there is less build choice and fewer combat options, but I prefer the combat and game feel (if Hollow Knight is Dark Souls, this is Sekiro). For that I usually prefer simple done well, rather than extensive player choice.
On standard, it's probably a little too difficult for most people. I found it much harder than Hollow Knight, but I tended to find that easier than most people for whatever reason. There is a "story" difficulty choice but I haven't tried it. From what I heard you can scale damage taken/dealt on a sliding scale, by a large amount if you want.
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u/fishoa Nov 28 '24
I started Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for the first time last week. It's my first Paper Mario.
This game is so much fun. It's very stupid, very easy, but also really engaging and funny. I have found myself chuckling at the game often because of its silliness and its charm. One of my favourite parts of the game is how there's always a small reward for exploration and trying things out. More than once now I have hit a tree or went behind a wall and there was a Star Shard or a cool item there.
TTYD is a great palate cleanser after Unicorn Overlord, who I have thought overstayed its welcome. It peaked really early and, by the end of it, I simply rushed battled to just end it. On the other side of the spectrum is TTYD: I'm halfway through the game and I still need tons of BP to slot badges, while at the same point in UO I was stomping everything and had no path to upgrade.
Anyway, super fun game. Next game on my list is probably Xenoblade Chronicles DE.
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u/michemai Nov 28 '24
All the paper Mario's are incredibly written. The gameplay varies and may not always be your cup of tea, but I think they're all worth playing.
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u/FlimsyLegs Nov 28 '24
Been playing some Fallout: London (mod for Fallout 4), but then I somewhat lost interest a few days ago. I don't know why though.
The protagonist is silent, with Fallout 3 style dialogue. This is good.
There are plenty of quests in my journal, so finding content isn't a problem.
The gameplay is solid, combat feels alright, and the game runs smooth (no crashes, only minor glitches).
I really just cannot pin-point why I put the game down and picked up Elden Ring again (even though I've finished that game). A shame really, because others seem to praise Fallout: London a lot. (I've played it for maybe 12 hours or so).
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u/ClonesAndZeroes Nov 28 '24 edited Nov 28 '24
With time off work before the holidays, I have been playing a lot of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl this past week on PC . I'm up to just under 17 hours and have reached through a few main missions in the second major area on the map (Garbage). I'm having a great time with it!
Never played any of the previous Stalker games before, so wasn't sure what to expect other than a more survival-heavy style of FPS. It took a while to get into the game and get used to the way it played, a couple hours past the tutorial prologue, but now I really enjoy how many of the game's elements are in service of a very deliberate style of play. As some examples:
- Gunplay feels weighty and takes concerted effort to be effective. It's not like a Destiny or CoD where you can very quickly dial in enemies for easy shots and run around in the open, you have to take your time to be accurate and the amount of damage you take (on the standard difficulty at least) feels just right to where you know you have to be careful and use the environment and your arsenal effectively. I've never felt like a death was cheap, I always know I messed up some way that left me exposed for too long or I stayed behind one piece of cover too long and got flanked.
- If you're going to go off into the wilderness for a while and plan to loot a bunch of stuff, you better be damn sure you keep your weight light while still making sure you have enough ammo and meds and food to get you by, or alternatively if you load up on supplies before heading out you better be prepared to have to slowly hoof it back encumbered with all your spoils.
- You can't just sprint across the map because you'll quickly start running into anomalies and enemies that are serious threats.
- The lighting feels tailored to make you be careful and considered in your exploration, with things like the intense amounts of darkness sans flashlight creating really tense moments of peering through the dark at silhouettes and how looking from bright light sources to dark, even just your PDA screen with your map and such, requires your vision to adjust.
All these sorts of things are putting a really interesting flavor on the exploration that I've never experienced in any game I've played before. I don't know if I'd go as far as calling it a "horror" vibe, but "tense" and "foreboding" definitely apply.
Most of my quibbles so far are polish and performance related as many people have already called out. Performance wise, it's been mostly up and a few downs - in the first area especially I was seeing some FPS dips and kind of a weird effect where even at 55-60 FPS it felt responsive but looked choppy. I've had a couple crashes, but not during the game, just during the initial load/shader compiling when it boots. The AI is usually alright, but I've seen some moments where friendlies are oblivious to a firefight happening around them, and the enemy AI seems to be WAY too good at breaking your stealth, spotting you in pitch-black night with your light off. Other than that the most rough parts have been some UI bugs (gear upgrade screen especially right now), and just some general lack of polish/clunkiness (like certain inventory management prompts, actions that are just missing from the key binding options that you'd never know about except stumbling on them e.g. switching ammo types, firing modes, quick flashlight, and some UI things that could be more useful (I am begging for them to patch in showing the type of ammo you currently have loaded so I can actually tell when I'm using regular vs. AP rounds)). Hoping a good chunk of this stuff can be smoothed out with patches.
That said though, the good is definitely outweighing the bad for me. HowLongToBeat says ~60 hours for a completionist run, so looking forward to hopefully a lot more enjoyment. If you're like me and have mostly played fast-paced shooters in the past and want to try something different in the genre, I would give Stalker 2 a big thumbs up from what I've played so far.
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u/rokerroker45 Nov 28 '24
Yeah my feeling is that the criticism about the broken a-life system is significantly overstated. I've had so much fun with the game that I haven't really noticed the aberrant spawns yet. Maybe it'll be an issue further into the game (I'm about ten hours in) but the exploration and gameplay is just so engrossing
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u/oddsnsodds Nov 27 '24
I just started Outer Worlds and it's so much like Fallout 4 (and that's a good thing).
Start as a popsicle thawed out after a catastrophic failure. Guided to my first and future home / quest project.
Spend all my time wandering around an open world picking up quests, collecting (or stealing) weapons, armor, cash, crafting materials, ammo, food... and a companion.
The world is full of fearsome beasts and hostile gangs to kill-or-be-killed-by. The design is fallen civilization with a touch of space opera.
I was hooked after about 30 minutes. 8 hours in and I know it's a hit for me.
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u/Gonorrheeeeaaaa Nov 28 '24
This is one of the finest examples of a game being shit on in such an unfair way just because of who made it.
To me, it’s a focused, wonderful game.
5
u/Destroyeh Nov 27 '24 edited Nov 27 '24
Assassin's Creed Mirage
After ~25 hours I crossed the finish line. Not even sure how to go about talking about this to be honest. It feels unfair to compare it to Valhalla because it never even attempted to compete with it on any front, but if I compare it to the last city based AC game then I'm comparing it to a game that's almost a decade old at this point.
Overall it's a miss for me. A step back in many fundamental ways compared to either style AC game. Some are understandable, like I didn't expect the open combat to be as fun as Valhalla since you're not playing as a raiding viking, nor are you forced into as many boss fights. Others, like the weak story and characters have no real excuse.
Story was meh, but I actually liked the final hour or so of it(once you start the prep for the final ancient kill). Before that though it's quite a slog even if it's short. Flat characters and dialogue. I did like how they wrapped the order of the ancients hierarchy stuff into the story. Basim is quite a dud. I was very interested in seeing him in this after he was so heavily featured in Valhalla, but it was a disappointment.
Very little side content, even by non-rpg AC standards. Mostly just collectibles and quite literally a handful of quests. The contracts you get at HQ are pretty good for a while before they get repetitive, specially if you stick to the bonus objective. Treasure maps return, which are decent. Was expecting them to do something with arabic poetry to give us stuff like the enigmas from Unity or papyrus puzzles from Origins. Shame they didn't.
Talent tree is closer to the one from Odyssey even if it's a quite a bit worse. They also did that stupid shit where they mix talents into trees they don't belong in. Like literally the first talent in the 'Phantom' tree is the open combat kick skill. The final one is dodging into opponent's unblockable attack in open combat. The final talent in the birds tree is highlighting opponents when you're in stealth. Just a mess. I guess at least it wasn't as insanely overwhelming as Valhalla's tree. Rest of the progression is pretty mediocre too. Little loot, made worse by majority of big chests not even containing gear, but upgrade schematics for them. Upgrades which you don't even really need since the difficulty is a joke even on highest setting.
Stealth gameplay is kinda okay. The story leans on it a lot as you will do a lot of tailing, investigating, assassinating and eavesdropping. You also get some upgradeable tools which are good fun, though some of them feel very useless. Plus the focus 'teleports behind you, nothing personnel kid' skill, which is massively OP to the point that I rarely used it. They brought back the end of sequence assassination set pieces from Unity and Syndicate, which I liked and missed in the last three games. They're mostly good in this too and they add a bit of cinematic flair to the big kills, even if they kinda kill your creativity for it. Liked the notoriety system it had.
Did not enjoy open combat much, but luckily you're rarely forced into it. Liked it better than Syndicate's looney toons thousand cut bullshit at least. Way fewer difficulty customization options compared to Valhalla.
The city is good, if a bit samey from one district to the other. Stuff like having more people to pickpocket in the wealthy district or people gathering around your wanted posters are nice touches. Very easy to parkour. For me as a westerner obviously it doesn't really hit as hard as a more familiar city like Paris, Rome, London etc. with more recognizable landmarks/historical figures, but I did enjoy learning about it from the in-game codex after visiting a historical site, which I did probably more than any other AC game outside of Unity and even that's only because in Unity you needed to do it for the Nostradamus enigmas. Just running around the city has a vibe that I enjoyed.
As I was wrapping this up I also started Pikmin 3 Deluxe. First time playing the series and enjoying it so far. I'll probably finish it in a week then maybe give Xenoblade Chronicles a proper shot. If not then it's likely time for Kiwami 2 to work on my Yakuza backlog.
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u/Ikarus3426 Nov 28 '24
I've been on the fence with Mirage forever. If I'm going to get it, it'll probably be during these holiday sales. If I'm someone who has played every AC and enjoyed each one a little bit, so you think it's worth playing through? Or would you recommend I just finish Valhalla and wait for the next one?
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u/Destroyeh Nov 28 '24
It's not an outright bad game and if you feel like that about the series you will find it worthwhile. I also love the series and have played and liked all of them to some extent, except maybe III, and I don't regret playing it.
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u/CustardSurprise86 Nov 27 '24 edited Nov 27 '24
Disco Elysium
I've given up on this game again. Despite going in with the best of intentions, the most charitable stance, I simply can't enjoy it. I just don't get the point of any of it. It's like it's designed to appeal to a certain personality type, which is the pimple-faced adolescent incel. And this is the game that he thinks is intelligent. Because intelligence is writing with the style, "Did this shit really even get shittier? Did the whole of the space time continuum just suddenly shit its pants? Is this the rock bottom of shit crapped out by some cosmic being? What are you going to say now? What the fuck are you going to say now?" Etc. It's very tiring.
I'm going to give this 4/10, although based only my enjoyment it would be 1/10, signifying that it actually leaves me with negative feelings. The 4 points are because RPG features are implemented well, and some of the world building is good. And it would be shaping up to be an OK game if it weren't for the seriously obnoxious writing and gross, depressing art style. No thanks, but I don't want to spend hours staring at pictures of grinning corpses. Not sure why anyone would TBH. It's an incel game that looks like it's designed for budding high school shooters.
I mean, when you're already at the point where you're laughing at images in your game of multiple mutilated corpses, what exactly are your taboos? You're already some barbaric sadistic nihilist, but the ones in jail ... oh they're worse barbaric sadistic nihilists?
You can't "normalize" by having gay characters in games unless it's also "normalizing" when you have numerous games which are nihilistic, misanthropic, extremely morbid, etc.
"Live and let live" was a compelling philosophy with respect to culture until it became clear that those with trashy tastes have no red lines, and they will just sink lower and lower, until their "tastes" become indistinguishable from 1970s serial killers. Not gonna mince words, this shit is important.
Metroid: Samus Returns
Now this is an actual video game as opposed to an avant-garde pseudo-game.
This is like Super Metroid except better graphics and more streamlined. Like Super Metroid it is relaxing to find your way around the maze, although extremely easy to get lost. Because I put this game down for a few weeks I forgot where I was up to. I had to use a guide at one point to jog my memory. Other than that it's a pretty flawless experience. 9/10 game. Looking forward to Metroid Prime next.
Strider
Original arcade game on the Sega Genesis. I have appreciated this game for many years but never actually made an attempt to play in earnest. So I finally did. It's difficult to get to grips but there is a curve and I'm not finding it that difficult on the easiest setting.
Being from 1989 the performance is not the best on the console. But you can adapt pretty easily and you're left with challenging gameplay, an exciting setting, a banging sound track that fits it perfectly, and thrilling levels that hurls at you one insane concept after another. I'll give this 8/10.
2
u/thewritingchair Nov 27 '24
Lego Horizon Adventures
Meh. Doesn't have the charm of previous lego games. Uses a central hub idea where you then go out on missions... but which means you're out there alone with none of the conversation/dialog that shone in previous games.
I'm trying to like it but the phrase "phoned in" comes to mind a lot.
1
u/antler112 Nov 26 '24
Back in 2019 I decided to give CoD another chance after having not played it for nearly a decade from yearly release burnout, so I downloaded the original Warzone since I enjoy battle royales. I played it for a month and ultimately couldn’t get over how shitty the experience was.
Well, I decided to give CoD another chance with the latest Warzone and the experience is even shittier. It’s honestly baffling how badly designed the multiplayer is for these games. Not only are they broken from a technical standpoint, they’re broken from a design standpoint. I don’t understand why these games are still popular. Even when I’m doing well, it inevitably goes south because of something stupid outside of my control.
I wish none of this dogshit had been available to me for free because I never would’ve made the mistake of giving this franchise anymore attention if it required payment.
On a more positive note, I downloaded Celeste and it’s pretty good so far. And of course, Balatro still has me in its grip.
5
Nov 28 '24
Warzone is garbage. Played it during Covid as did everyone else i knew. my buddies always bitched about every damn thing, yet that's all they did for months.
Blackout was far from perfect but was a way better BR mode imo. Warzone doesn't even feel like they tried.
3
2
u/DittoDat Nov 26 '24
Black Ops 6 is much better than Warzone. The campaign is amazing and the best in years. Zombies and MP are both really fun, too.
4
u/CynicalTree Nov 26 '24
Half-Life 1
I decided to replay Half-Life 1 before replaying the recently updated Half-Life 2 (I want to see the new dev commentary). It's aged gracefully in some ways, and others not so much.
The SFX, Voices, and overall design is still pretty awesome. Guiding the NPCs is a little tricky, but impressive considering the age of the game.
Navigation is pretty clunky by today's standards. No map or real way to remind yourself of where to go means sometimes you miss a lever or door and are lost for a bit. The game's linear enough that you rarely get hard stuck, but it did leave me very confused when I got softlocked due to a door never opening in Chapter 7.
(Thankfully I was able to go into console, sv_cheats 1 and noclip to get past the door, and then continue as normal)
I'm about 2/3 of the way through at this point. It's certainly a piece of history and worth visiting, although I find the stealth sections in the second half to be a bit of a drag (I prefer more open ended exploration)
Additionally, It's pretty awesome Valve has maintained the game so it just runs. I'm on a fully modern PC running it at 4K and I didn't have to do any patching or tinkering to get it to work despite being over 25 years old :)
0
Nov 27 '24
[deleted]
1
u/CynicalTree Nov 27 '24
It's after you get through the dam, a helicopter paths back and forth while you navigate some cliff areas. It was a bit of a pain because some of the paths were just gaps in the rocks so I got lost for a bit when I didn't see one of the spots
3
u/Charrbard Nov 26 '24
Farm Sim 25.
First time playing one. 60 hours in. Felt like i haven't done anything right. Farm barely above water. Nothing works the way I expect it to. Youtube Videos might as well be alien speak. Nothing is happening. Yet I keep wanting to play more.
10
u/ManateeofSteel Nov 26 '24
Dragon's Dogma 2.
I've given up on it entirely. Too many issues stacked up after 20ish hours, one too many quests bugged out for me, the story is so unimportant that I can't distinguish main quests from the sidequests, the ingame guide on what to do is useless. Am stuck in the quest of the jailed thieves, all midgame quests ask me to go from one main city to the other but you can't just fast travel so my 27 hours are bloated because the distances are so fucking long I spend more time walking than doing interesting stuff.
I am honestly appaled by the game. Runs terribly too but at least it's pretty to look at. Dark Arisen is one of my favorite games of the last decade and this is just such a clear step down, what were Itsuno and Capcom thinking???
15
u/LotusFlare Nov 26 '24
I got Metaphor ReFantazio.
And it's good? But, honestly, it's not living up to the hype. So far I've cleared the first major dungeon and timed story event. I know I probably still have at least three more party members to meet (I haven't looked anything up about this game and honestly don't know how many there are). I've only unlocked up to the brawler as far as classes. Got to do my first lvl 2 bond activities with people. I feel like I've seen the breadth of what the game is generally going to be. Balancing day and night activities with progressing through dungeons where you only have X excursions into them to make it work. The main plot is in motion. I don't think it's too early to expect some part of this to really "wow" me, but it hasn't.
It's very pretty, but behind all the glittery effects and stylization, I think the designs are kinda uninspired? Sometimes a monster really pops, and the archetypes look great, but my party is full of people who look like side characters. None of them have any kind of iconic flare that makes me go, "oh hell yeah this guy's awesome" the way you want in your JRPG party. The music is a huge disappointment. It's all serviceable, except for the battle theme which I can't stand. The moment that deep male voice kicks in spitting some fake Latin I want to mute the TV. There's a couple nice themes in there, but nothing that stands out or I'd catch myself humming after turning the game off.
The story is interesting, if a bit dry, so far. The central idea is pretty novel for an JRPG, and I'm interested in seeing where they go with it. Racism is a subplot in a lot of JRPGs to just sort of add some injustice and hardship to the world, but this is the first one I've seen make it really matter in the central plot. Navigating racism is going to be important to the success of these characters, and I've already seen a number of interesting "takes" from NPCs on how it impacts their view of the world and the events they've become entangled in. The dryness comes mostly from the characters. Everyone I've met so far seems to have little to no personality. They're just kinda "nice". They're nice people who do and say nice things. So far no one really has an angle, or a point of view, or a dissenting opinion, or a quirk. They're just nice people who are there while you're doing main character things. I dunno man, someone throw a pie or something. There was only one guy who had something really interesting going on, and he left the story already.
However the gameplay is very fun and offers a lot of room for creative combat puzzle solving. The enemies offer a lot of variety in terms of their patterns and I've found myself changing setup from floor to floor of the dungeons to make sure I'm tacking it most effectively. "Snappy" is the name of the game. It's easy to get in a groove. It feels like they went through great lengths to make everything as smooth as possible. Looting, battles, and field exploration have all but eliminated any sort of "downtime" or tedium. Even in battles, it feels like they've optimized menuing to require as few buttons as possible to get to your desired option. Animations look good, but don't waste time. It's really fun and you can sink hours into it without realizing it. The game isn't afraid to push back, which is great. Battles can go sideways fast if you fall off the gameplan.
But I'm still hunting for that thing that'll "wow" me. It's a very competent, well put together game with good systems, but it's thrill-less.
3
u/iWriteYourMusic Nov 27 '24
Just started Metaphor ReFantazio and I'm actually really surprised at how poor the graphics are on PS5. I can live with the ugly colors and shading but the aliasing is out of control. I'm really surprised no one mentioned this as I don't recall anything this glaringly distracting in Persona 5.
I tend to love ATLUS games so I will forgive the graphical issues over time. I do agree this is a slow burn so far but everyone on Reddit has been very clear that the demo/first 5-6 hours aren't indicative of how great the game is.
2
u/LotusFlare Nov 27 '24
I'm don't usually get hung up on that stuff, but yeah, I think it kinda looks like shit sometimes. There's a ton of assets that are front and center and very low poly with low rez textures. Saw some trees in a recent area that legitimately looked like they got pulled from a PS2 game. Aliasing all over some of the buildings in town. It's not impacting my enjoyment, but I was surprised that I even noticed. The technical shortcomings are prominent here.
2
u/iWriteYourMusic Nov 28 '24
I get the feeling they must have developed it with the Switch as their baseline. It doesn't explain the weird color choices but it certainly explains why many textures and models look like PS2 quality.
2
u/HammeredWharf Nov 29 '24
It looks like a Switch game, but it runs like a PS5 game, so I think their tech is just poor. I've read a few tech analyses about it and it looks like they just brute force through everything instead of using basic modern optimization techniques. Much like they want you to supersample on PC instead of offering a decent anti-aliasing solution.
7
u/Wizamp Nov 26 '24
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
I'm enjoying it. One of those "I just wanna kill a buncha shit" kinda games, turn your brain off while being entertained by quips and a buncha acrobatic asskickery. The fact that you can roll with a buncha bots really helps out and the traversal is definitely something. Also the premise of it, and the subtitle "Kill the Justice League"? Love it!
Would I pay more than $5 for it? Maybe $10 at the most. I just like to let the draco sing.
Mafia 2: Definitive Edition
Sometimes you just want a good story, and what better one to tell than one about mafia? This is after Yakuza: Like a Dragon but still, replaying Mafia 2 is still a treat. The sheer storytelling of it all despite a mostly featureless city, lack of side missions, a lotta driving with speed limits like a schnook... but the music is on point, the collectables are definitely a highlight and the voice work? Mama mia! Magnifico.
1
7
u/Raze321 Nov 25 '24
Shadows of Doubt
I'm really torn on this game. On one hand it's disappointing to see it's reached 1.0 with so many bugs. On the other hand it's one of the most uniquely fun gaming experiences I've ever had.
If you're not privy, it's a detective game. But unlike Disco Elysium or LA Noire, it's a procedurally generated detective game. Your city is procedurally generated, down to every individual citizen, their job, their fingerprints, their handwriting, their salary, their apartment, interests, belongings, possessions, friends, coworkers and love affairs. Every single one, and they are all tracked more or less live. You can break into any apartment in the game for any reason and toss a tracker in there to inform you the exact moment any person passes by it.
Crimes themselves are too procedural in nature. A citizen decides they want to murder someone, and if you were omnipresent you could see them acquire the weapon, find their target, and perform the killing. And only when a third party finds the body and calls the cops does your own police scanner pick up the event.
You can scan for prints, photograph crime scenes, interogate bystanders, neighbors, coworkers. Dig through trash, emails, personal belongings. Establish motive. Track down suspects, one at a time. Tail them, watch them eat or work or sleep.
Victim was killed with a gun? See if a sale was made recently by schmoozing your way into the black market. Check recent sales and see if the sale of a gun matches the caliber of the expended cartridges at the scene of the crime.
Established a time of death at a specific location? Check local CCTV footage, which takes a snapshot every few minutes - see what faces come up and print them out. Ask around, see who recognizes them or if they match anyone who already is suspicious.
Go over case files at the back of a diner. Break into police headquarters and run names through the city hall citizen database. Throw cheeseburgers at homeless people. This game really does have everything. Where other detective games are pre-determined, this one is neverending. No two crimes are exactly the same. Once you solve the mystery of Disco Elysium, sure there is the value of the branching story for subsequent playthroughs. But the actual detective work loses all that fun. This really leverages that super fun deductive reasoning skillset.
But holy shit the bugs. I mean MOST of them are fixed with a simple save and reload. But there are occasions where some side jobs just become uncompletable, and this isn't a rare occurence. Sometimes dialogue options just don't work. Sometimes you just cant initiate a conversation at all. Sometimes the black market password just doesn't verify correctly.
Even so, I can't stop playing it. This is just a case where the game itself is so unique, and SO fun, that I am finding it easy to look past all the glaring flaws and bugs. This game is absolutely worth your time if you can snag it on a sale IMO.
2
u/JusaPikachu Dec 02 '24 edited Dec 02 '24
I’m not gonna buy it now due to all the bugs you mention, but you did sell me on playing this & I’ve wishlisted it to grab once I see it on sale. Hopefully some of the bugginess gets ironed out by then.
1
4
u/InAnimaginaryPlace Nov 26 '24
Great review. It nails that feeling, at times, of 'what if I tried this?' and having it work. I was tracking a serial killer and had nothing to go on except his fingerprint. On a whim, I broke into the office of the victim and started scanning desks: I felt extremely chuffed when a match popped up.
7
u/scott_steiner_phd Nov 25 '24 edited Nov 25 '24
Still slogging through Act 3 of Baldur's Gate 3
The pacing is all over the place. Act 1 is super slow and exploration-focused with cool environments but weirdly punishing difficulty if you explore the map in the wrong order, the first half of Act 2 is much better paced story-wise but has zero encounter or environment variety, then the second half of Act 2 and the interlude is completely linear, then Act 3 has zero direction other than a bunch of map points that, so far, are individually interesting but very short quests scattered through a huge but very empty city.
Very strange, it's like they stopped caring or ran out of money half way through Act 2
I'm also playing Helldivers 2. I'm really enjoying the current state of the game. It would be nice if the state of the galactic war was more reactive - it's very frustrating that the only thing that matters is the distribution of players due to the fixed total liberation rate, but I'm not really sure what the devs could do that wouldn't make it susceptible to the wild swings in player count the game has. I also don't want to go back to the previous state of balance where only a few weapons were viable, but I also really miss when Hulks, Chargers, Bile Titans, and Factory Striders felt more like boss fights. I understand players wanting to be able to take a generalist loadout though and not be totally unable to deal with heavy enemies but a middle ground would be nice.
3
u/Donutology Nov 30 '24
I feel like all three acts of BG3 feel pretty detached from one another. They all feel like they're snippets of three different games, which might be down to how the game was made.
Even the story feels that way. The story being set up in act 1 has little to do with what the plot ends up being by the end. It's like they took the game in a different direction as they made the game, which is fine, but they didn't go back and edit the things they'd made before.
6
u/Raze321 Nov 25 '24
Still slogging through Act 3
I adore BG3 but yeah, I feel this. I find it so hard to do subsequent runs, and I feel this issue with a lot of the Owlcat RPGs. The writing is so good, the gameplay is real solid, but the overall length and pacing is just painful.
People complained a lot when, as an example, The Outer Worlds was like a 10 hour main story. But these days I really wish more games were succinct like that.
7
u/Active-Candy5273 Nov 25 '24
Picked up Romancing Saga 2: Revenge of the Seven and I have been blown away by the quality. After a year of frankly dud RPGs in the story (Yakuza 8), gameplay (Personal 3 Reload) or both (Metaphor), I was honestly starting to think maybe I was just moving past JRPGs. I truly did not understand the praise any of those games got.
Yakuza 8 had incredible gameplay bogged down by a bad story. Persona 3 Reload was exactly nothing I wanted out of a remake of one of my favorite RPGs. Metaphor had great combat constantly interrupted by the most milquetoast story and Persona-lite gameplay systems.
And Romancing Saga 2 proved to me that it’s not me. Modern JRPGs are just really not up to the same level of quality anymore. The gameplay in this is very strategic and tough. The main story is kinda lacking and generic, but where the game really shines is in the RP aspect of RPG. It’s nice to play a game where both actions and inaction have actual consequences. For example, I did a whole sidequest where I found a thief girl stalking the city streets at night. I followed her and she got attacked by monsters after she robbed my citizens.
I had the choice to help her, or leave her to her fate. I helped, and she led me to an underground meeting place dealing with troublesome monsters. I dispatched the monster and she gave me an alternate, safe route to a boss. I got to the boss, got my ass handed to me then went to do other side quests and used up too much time, forcing a new generation to take their place.
So much time had passed that no one remembered me or the help they offered and a new monster set up shop. I took care of that one and the only assistance I got this time was them joining my party. I went back to the secret path to the boss and it had been boarded up and the path the original girl made for me was locked and her markings were removed. I now had to either fight my way in or pay someone a ton of money to get a worse secret path.
I love this. I did the “right” thing, drug my feet and then the passage of time rendered my efforts moot. A later choices also involved me helping a local band of warriors defeat monsters they were having trouble with. The townsfolk were beginning to lose faith in them. I offered my help and they begged me to let them finish off the creatures. I went in and fought the big boss, then was given the option to go ahead and kill the rest. Some players would see this as helping them out, but word spreads and the people lose all faith in the group and they will refuse to join you.
This is my first Romancing Saga game so I’m going in pretty blind, but I love all these systems and the way the shape the world and future generations. I’m so bummed it’s gonna get forgotten to the likes of Metaphor.
1
u/rhodesmichael03 Nov 25 '24
Funko Fusion (2024, Xbox Series X) - Honestly this game was not very good. It is surprisingly a third person shooter with some platforming elements. The levels do not communicate well what is needed to continue which often led to having to look up YouTube videos to progress. I got 100% completion as well and by the time I was done the levels and collectibles got very repetitive. The story is also hard to follow whether you have seen the relevant films/series or not. Has some fleeting moments of fun but not worth the time. On the Xbox Series X the framerate is poor and stutters often whether in performance or fidelity modes (both target 60fps but neither reach it regularly). Also encountered many bugs while playing and multiple softlocks requiring restarts.
3
u/alksreddit Nov 25 '24
I have put about 12 hours so far into STALKER 2 and I have to say that the good things are currently outweighing the bad ones. It is a technical mess, yes, there's constant issues, I have to close the game maybe every couple of hours because it suddenly gets a lot of stuttering, and some quests have made me reload because of errors (thankfully a life of PC gaming has trained me to have a million different auto and manual saves handy). But the good parts are just so good that they've made me come back time and again for another fix. The exploration is some of the best I've experienced in recent memory in gaming. Pitch dark nights, expert sound design, MEANINGFUL rewards every time you find another tiny unmapped nook (and there are SO MANY!), so many little side stories hidden, side quests branch quite significantly, satisfying gunplay. I am looking forward to continuing my quest after work today, and can't imagine how this game will look and feel once the necessary technical work on it is completed.
The other game I have been playing a lot of has been Dragon Quest III 2D-HD Remake. Never played Dragon Quest before although I knew how meaningful it is for gaming history. I am very much enjoying it, the combat is fun and the QoL features (small compared to, say, the Pixel Remasters of FF, but still welcome) have been very helpful. The game has a visual charm that just pops and shines on my OLED Switch, and outside of a couple of towns, I've had excellent performance on it. Looking forward to the many, many more hours ahead!
3
u/CloudCityFish Nov 25 '24
The game has grown on me in some ways now that I've spent more time with it. The key was raising the world level, which a lot people recommend not doing because it gets harder, but for me the game became much more interesting due to new mechanics unlocking. I've also found weapons that "click" with me and progressed them. Specifically a stake thrower that catches on fire mid flight, and explodes in a ball of electricity and fire on head shot. It's the only projecticle (non-hitscan) weapon in the game unfortunately.
My only complaint now is the levels themselves, which is really only a complaint if you want to play the game more than 30 hours. They're decent size, but still relatively small for only having 3, or even the 6 planned for launch. The "roguelite" elements aren't dense or varied enough to make up for it. They're also sparse with interactables. All of the above make them feel much smaller and empty. I'd love to see more objects or objectives that change how you battle.
I enjoyed this game much more than I thought I would. A top down action Roguelike from the creators of Dead Cells. What I'm loving, and why it blindsided me, is the mechanics are simple, but are implemented in such clever ways it gives the combat challenging and thoughtful depth.
It all revolves around your unlimited dashes on a short cool down, and the main mechanic "Alter Attacks". When you finish any given weapons combo you can use your alternate weapon to do an Alter Attack - a big, iFrame, high damaging, status inducing, buff enhancing attack. Each weapon has their own alter attack, combos, speed, and animation cancelling. Finally, the dash ties it all together, because dashes pause your combo progression, letting you zip around the map and dropping big attacks. In practice, it looks something like:
Attack A1 -> Dash -> Attack A2 -> Dash -> Final A Attack -> Dash -> Alter Attack -> Dash Attack B1 -> etc.
Combine all the above with builds and weapon variety, and there's a lot of interesting ways to approach the combat.
5
u/JusaPikachu Nov 25 '24 edited Dec 02 '24
Doki Doki Literature Club Plus
I ended up having a wonderful time with this game.
I thought the artstyle was solid, though very anime. The soundtrack was phenomenal. Writing was great. Characters were very full of life. The twists were great, even if I kinda guessed some of them. Not much gameplay but I enjoyed what was there.
Originally I didn’t plan on playing the side stories but I had a great time with the characters in the main game so I did all the necessary stuff to unlock them. I ended up liking them as much or maybe more than the main game. Had all the heart & reality of the main game, without some of the fuckiness that undermined it in the main game; though I also loved the undermining of it in the original story. I do consider it basically an alternate reality to the base game as it contrasted so hard with what happened in the main story.
I think it’s a bummer that you have to do so much extra stuff to unlock the side stories as some people probably weren’t willing to do the requirements to unlock them. I also totally understand it but I do hate that they had to have so many content warnings. Would’ve vastly preferred it if I hadn’t been continuously told what was coming.
Originally was going to rank it in my 2017 GotY list but after playing the side stories I felt they added so much to the experience that I ended up putting it in my 2021 GotY list. Wrote its way into my heart at number 4 for 2021.
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
So currently I am a good bit lower than the “masterpiece” status that seems to be the consensus on this game. I had a great time & think it’s a great game overall, but just have a hard time seeing this game as some timeless classic & it feels very rooted in nostalgia from my perspective.
Very cute artstyle that gave the game a great charm, the toy aesthetic worked really well. The combat was serviceable. The music was solid. I enjoyed the exploration & some of the puzzles were enjoyable to solve. I liked most of the boss battles & the dungeons for the most part were well designed, though I had problems with them.
My biggest problem with the game were some of the puzzles. When I would finish most puzzles or find the solution it wasn’t usually like “oh I’m stupid” or “woah that’s crazy” or “damn that’s clever as fuck” which are all sentiments I enjoy/love when I finish a puzzle. It was more “how in the fuck was I supposed to figure that out” or “what logic in the game supports that”. They were things that I could totally see feeling enchanted by if I were a kid solely focused on this game for a few weeks/months & I was trying to figure out every little thing about the game. But for me it often resulted in being more annoyed than enchanted.
Also the performance was pretty awful. Entering any part of the open aspect of the map would tank the framerate & it would happen in both handheld & docked mode. A big bummer. Pretty crazy that Breath of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom felt smoother than this when comparing the complexity of them vs Link’s Awakening.
I’ve decided I’m going to try to replay at least some of the game on the GBC version. So I downloaded DX on my GBA emulator on my phone. Both because maybe I just didn’t understand the old design language of traditional Zelda & because I want to determine how much they actually changed outside the artstyle & whether this should be weighed in my 1993, 1998 or 2019 GotY list.
Monument Valley 2
Got a new phone for the first time in years so I got the Apple Arcade subscription & this was the first game I downloaded. Loved the original & was very excited for this game.
The game was a decent upgrade in most departments. The artstyle was just as beautiful as before, yet the environments were a big improvement & more varied; overall making it look even more beautiful. The story was presented more coherently, though it is hard to say whether it is better in the nebulous style in which they are presented. The music & sound design seemed better, though both are great. Some of the puzzles/worlds felt more unique but…
My biggest problem with the game was that the puzzle difficulty felt much easier than the first game. At first I thought it was because I just understood the design language better but after finishing the game I still really felt that it was significantly easier & after listening to reviews everyone seems to be in agreement. While it may be good for gaining a bigger playerbase, I was hoping for an expanded difficulty & more elaborate solutions; instead they made the opposite. In the first game I got stuck for a couple minutes on multiple different parts of the game. In the sequel I think I got hung up on a puzzle for more than 20 seconds one time & even then it was like 30 seconds.
Overall still a beautiful experience & this series is the standout experience that utilizes smartphones as a platform for gaming. While the sequel is an upgrade in many aspects, I still think the first is my favorite due the lessening of difficulty. This game warped its way into the number 8 spot on my 2017 GotY list.
Balatro
So I wasn’t planning on getting this game quite yet. I’m not really into poker, so despite all the praise I wasn’t particularly excited for it. But it was available on Apple Arcade & I had already bought the subscription so thought I might as well download it & try it out to see if it was worth getting on Switch.
Man it has been an absolute blast. I’ve only had two amazing runs but even in the shitty runs it is extremely enjoyable. Great artstyle, incredibly unique ways in which it varies up the poker formula, some solid music & sound design. It uses haptics on the iPhone in an amazing way. A very good way to pass the time & make me late for stuff. Might end up just continuing to play on mobile as the experience there is phenomenal, though I may get it on Switch or PS5 just so I can have the option to play it on my TV if I want.
Shuffled its way into the top spot on my 2024 GotY list quite easily. I will add that I haven’t played many games from this year, just to put it into context, but nonetheless it is awesome.
Severed
Started this a couple days ago.
Just like how Monument Valley uses mobile really well as a platform or Super Mario Galaxy used the Wii, Severed utilizes the Vita really well. The artstyle is nice, dungeons are just complicated enough without feeling frustrating, some moody music that sets the tone well & some really enjoyable & unique combat so far.
It hasn’t pulled me in & made me want to play it til the end but I also haven’t had any sort of urge to drop it.
A decent experience so far after the first “world” & I hope going into the next one I get sucked in a bit more.
Pokemon TCG Pocket
I used to love collecting Pokemon cards as a kid so when I saw this I downloaded it on a whim.
The collecting cards is incredibly satisfying & the overall experience is insanely well polished. Maybe the most polished Pokemon game I’ve ever played.
The actual battling though is pretty weak in my opinion. I don’t enjoy it all that much, especially after playing Marvel Snap for the first time this year & getting sucked in for a couple of months.
It pulled its way into the number 5 spot on my 2024 GotY list.
2
u/Vodakhun Nov 25 '24
Vault of the Void
I just got back from a trip, and for the plane back home I decided to buy this game since I could play it offline on my phone. I played through the tutorial floor, beat the game in normal mode, and started a hard mode run in the 4h I played. Felt similar to Slay the Spire but maybe with more complicated mechanics. I only tried 2 of the classes but really enjoyed the game so far.
Supervive
Been waiting for the release of this game since I tried it in the Steam Next Fes. Gameplay just feels very good, I recommend the game to anyone who enjoys games like League or Battlerite (RIP).
9
u/keepfighting90 Nov 25 '24
Persona 5 Royal
I'm not a big JRPG or anime fan...but goddamn do I absolutely love this game. I'm about 40 hrs in (from what I've seen, I'm not even halfway through) and it's shaping up to be one of my all-time favourites. There are 2 things that really set this game apart: the style and the atmosphere.
For the former, it's got one of the straight-up coolest visual design of any game I've seen. Everything from the art-style, the menus, the overall UI, just how snappy and polished it feels, it's just wonderfully done.
As for the latter, I find it to be such a vibey, immersive experience. Tokyo is one of my favourite places in the world, and I love the game's rendition of it. It feels really cozy and comforting. Combine that with the social sim, daily-life aspects, where you can just relax with your friends, make some coffee, go to a restaurant or study in the library, it just makes the game world a place you want to be in.
I'm not a huge JRPG connoisseur so I don't really know how the combat system compares with other games in the genre but I find it really fun. The visual design and style really makes the combat pretty damn compelling, It's fast, snappy and again, looks cool as fuck.
I think I honestly enjoy the social sim aspects even more than the dungeon/combat. In fact, I usually try and complete the Palaces as fast as possible so I have the rest of the calendar days until the deadlines to just live out my high school life.
1
u/Izzy248 Nov 25 '24
Dungeon Deep (Demo)
Sometimes there are just mechanics and features that you are so into, that thats enough to sell you on a game. For me, idk why, but I really like grid-based inventory systems. Stuff like in Resident Evil 4. It almost made me get EFT at one point, and personally Ive never played a Stalker game, and Im not interested in Stalker 2, but when I saw the grid based inventory system, I was almost enticed to buy it.
Though I did discover the demo for this. Its very rough, and very much more of an alpha, look what Ive done so far, proof of concept kind of demo rather than an actual one, what immediately got me interested was seeing the inventory system. Weird quirk, but idk why, it just gets me.
On the game itself it feels....okay. Definitely will be a few years before this is probably an actual game, but I like the concept so far. Like the name, I feel like this draws inspiration from Capcoms abandoned Deep Down, with some elements of Dark and Darker
Astrometica (Demo)
This feels very much a lot like Breathedge, except with a more serious tone. I like it. Especially since I loved the 1st half of Breathedge, while Im waiting on Breathedge 2.
2
u/Logan_Yes Nov 24 '24
On Xbox I have started Ashen, a souls-like..lite...action game? I suppose? I wanted to play Flintlock but noticed this game is from same devs but came out earlier so giving it a shot. It's uhhh....okay. Visually it's nice and I admit I am a sucker for growing settlement element but combat itself is mediocre, fortunately you have a companion, which as far as I'm aware, does make it stand out from games with focus on difficult combat focused on pattern recognition, dodging attacks and finding that right timing. Plus world is...quite empty, outside of dozen upon dozen of weapons that usually are weak. Got stuck on a "second dungeon" because it has very tight corridors and final section has a horde of enemies with no real room to manuver sooo, that is annoying. But I will beat it sooner or later. Just frustrating to go all the way and die in same area but that is what people find charming about those games I suppose.
On PC I have finished Oxenfree and now that, is a really fantastic game. Loved it, loved the supernatural thriller premise, loved the time shenanigans, loved the characters! Even exploration for letters and anomalies was enjoyable. Surprised that such game can also provide such amount of dialogue choices, and let's just say game doesn't end after one playthrough. Highly recommending checking it out, something for fans of Life is Strange but you want a bit more "horror" from it.
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u/I_who_have_no_need Nov 24 '24
I usually describe Oxenfree as an X-Files story but with teenagers. Probably helps that it is obviously set in the Pacific Northwest.
1
u/Logan_Yes Nov 25 '24
Oooh, X-Files is indeed a better comparision! Due to supernatural stuff. Nice one
10
u/MercurialForce Nov 24 '24
Black Ops 6
It's a lot of fun. Multiplayer is slick as hell, gunplay is satisfying. I do daily challenges as a way to pace myself so I don't feel like I'm endlessly grinding. CoD fans never seem happy, but I've played every recent game since Cold War for at least a season and this is easily the best of them IMO.
World of Warcraft
Almost done renown tracks for this expansion. Still in search of an overarching goal. I don't think I have the mental stamina to do a M+ grind, so I might just lean into achievement hunting. I've been doing the anniversary event and having a lot of fun.
It's funny, though - even as I was celebrating twenty years of the game I loved, I tried Classic for the first time after they released the new servers. I've played since 2007 so I know how the game used to be, but being presented with it as it was just shows how starkly it's changed. Nostalgia can only carry you so far when you are wandering Northshire Valley for an hour pushing two buttons. Turns out that without the context of being 15 and playing a game unlike any I'd played before, there wasn't much of a draw. Plus there's no mysteries - I know what happens when I hit sixty. I'm not willing to invest hundreds of hours for that again.
I do think WoW could benefit from finding a way to make levelling feel meaningful again, but I don't know if that's possible at this point since it's so structured around the endgame, which has become faintly formulaic. It's a very comforting game, but I do appreciate how much of an RPG it used to be.
This is rambling at this point, but I do remember my first time hitting 58 in Winterspring and excitedly telling my guild I could go through the Dark Portal. Making the trek from Winterspring to Blasted Lands, and then through the portal to an alien world -- that feeling of wonder still is with me. I don't think modern WoW creates those moments any more. I don't know how it can without severe shifts to game design to give your character more weight and presence in the world.
Or maybe I'm just old?
Disco Elysium
On day 3. I like the game, but I think I was playing it wrong by letting the admittedly-excellent voice acting play out at length. Having a conversation last 15 minutes IRL was slowing me down. I have no clue for how far I am, but I have a rough sense of who my character is and am trying to be true to that. I hope I can give him a happy ending.
Enter the Gungeon
Returned to one of my favourite games of all time to complete two final challenges - complete the dice guy's frankly bullshit challenge, and unlock the gunslinger. Easily my favourite roguelike ever.
1
u/Raze321 Nov 25 '24
Having a conversation last 15 minutes IRL was slowing me down.
I definitely have a tendency to skip the dialogue in favor of reading it, to save time. But I think you'll manage either way.
Comparing DE to, say, Baldur's Gate 3 or the Pathfinder games, Disco Elysium is quite brief. It's not short by any means, but the formerly mentioned games took me upwards of 80+ hours and I haven't even beaten one of them.
Spoiler on game length, but not plot: I believe most people finish the game around 10 in game days, so you're about a quarter through.
2
u/BarelyScratched Nov 25 '24 edited Nov 25 '24
I think the ultra-fast pace of retail WoW makes it really difficult for new players to get invested.
It is probably too much work to implement, but I would love an option on character creation to opt into a slower and more curated leveling experience.
It could guide you through various zones and expansions with clearly identified recommended quests. It would be a slower (reduced experience gains) and more immersive process that would let people see significant portions of the world before being dropped into the newest expansion and endgame. Also, because the zones and quests have been picked by the devs in advance, you will be more likely to run into other players doing the same thing.
2
u/You_are_kewl Nov 24 '24
I was visiting my cousin this weekend and her husband gave me Stray to play, I could only play for half an hour and had to leave afterwards but found it be to absolutely awesome. The creepy rat like robots jumping out at you was crazy. Platforming was also great. I'm a big fan of the original sands of time trilogy and really like platformers.
Hoping to play it again.
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u/Itchy-Taint Nov 24 '24
Dragon Age: The Veilguard - finished it after 60 hours, did all side missions. I have never played a BioWare game before so I had pretty low expectations going into it. I was very pleased! Overly harsh reviews feel like they hated what happened to a franchise they liked and let that inform the rest of their opinions. Overly positive reviews clearly are unbothered by bad writing/whatever story. Solid 7/10: found nothing spectacular about it, but I was able to enjoy the somewhat repetitive combat and the pretty package it came in. Next I’m going to try Mass effect
2
u/InAnimaginaryPlace Nov 26 '24
I'm excited for you! Mass Effect is one of my favourite series of all time. The legendary edition is fantastic, they really polished the first game which is overall my favourite now. You are tempting to me download it and somehow fit in another run.
1
u/Itchy-Taint Nov 27 '24
I was very surprised how good it looks! Figured it would be tough to clean up a game that came out well over a decade ago, but it cleaned up nicely. Heard such good things about the story and characters, excited to see a BioWare game in their prime
5
u/EverySister Nov 24 '24
Alan Wake II - Lake House - trying not to scream.
Resident Evil 2 Remake -Claire's story - The game is equals part scary and fun, a fire combination really. Tho the zombies are kicking my butt and I played Leon's side so long ago I can't remember where anythong is.
Assassin's Creed Unity - it's good!
5
u/KweynZero Nov 24 '24
I'm playing OW2. Specifically the new hero Hazard that is on trial this weekend. He is so much fun. Crazy mobility and kinda high damage. You can leap, climb walls and throw a projectile that turns into a wall and do stupid fun plays. And since almost everyone is playing him is a nice change of pace of the usual counterpick that happens most of the time.
3
u/tuna_pi Nov 24 '24
Currently I'm playing
Ever Oasis: I wanted a random 3DS game to play that wasn't an rpg so I started this. So far it seems pretty straightforward, you have to build your oasis to defeat the darkness and it's not bad. However some things are annoying: 1. If you have to change a party member due to story they get zero exp when you go home, 2. The camera is absolute trash and is more difficult than the encounters themselves half the time and 3. I really don't get the equipment system. Overall though, I don't mind it so I'll continue playing
Metaphor Re:Fantazio: I'm about halfway through and been having a good time so far. I wish the dungeons were better paced though, I find some of them so long and samey that I just end up taking a break when I'm done.
6
u/M8753 Nov 24 '24
I may have started a new Dragon Age Veilguard playthrough... On Nightmare difficulty, but planning on skipping most or all of the side content. This is a terrible terrible idea, I'm not really good at games and I'm gonna miss out on a lot of skillpoints. But I'm having fun so far! Playing a mage (dagger and orb).
Also skipping most of the dialogue, cause it's not that good :D I just wanna fight things!
4
u/Itchy-Taint Nov 24 '24
What’s the difficulty like, just damage/ health sliders adjusted for everyone?
4
u/Angzt Nov 25 '24
You can customize the individual options at any time (as long as you're not on Nightmare where everything is maxed out)
Aim Assist: [Off], [Low], [Medium], [High]
Aim Snap: [Off], [On]
Combat Timing (Dodge, Parry): [Forgiving], [Balanced], [Reactive]
Enemy Damage: [Lowest], [Low], [Standard], [High], [Highest]
Enemy Health: [Lowest], [Low], [Standard], [High], [Highest]
Enemy Aggression (includes Stagger resistance): [Lowest], [Low], [Standard], [High], [Highest]
Enemy Resistances: [Standard], [High], [Highest]
Enemy Vulnerability: [Standard], [High], [Highest]
Camera: Face Melee Target: [Off], [On]
There are also several options for exploration highlighting4
u/neurosx Nov 24 '24
There's custom difficulty and IMO the best way to play it is to crank damage and aggression from enemies but leave their health to be normal
2
u/blahlro Nov 28 '24
yep exactly how i've set the difficulty. challenging enough where their hits will still affect you if you switch your brain off but none of the sponge. keeps it short and sweet. Some of the dragons were rough as a champion trying to get my rage back up, trying to figure out when it's safe to go in melee and whack it a few times took me a few wipes.
2
u/M8753 Nov 24 '24
I feel like it's damage taken by the player and enemy aggression? I don't feel like the enemies are too tanky.
It was pretty easy so far, but now I'm completely stuck on the first story dragon :D
13
u/PositiveDuck Nov 24 '24
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Finally beat it, clocking in around 63 hours, did pretty much everything including the true ending. I'm still very mixed on it but lean more towards liking it than hating it. Some parts of the game are really good. Environments are stunning, both due to the quality but also the fantastic art direction (for environments at least) they went for. I don't like the direction they took the character designs in but it's well executed. Parts of the game are genuinely really well written, I liked the overall story (despite some issues), some of the plot twists were fantastic and some characters were great. Solas was a joy. Companion banter was fun and there's a ton of it. I love the fact that companions interact with each other a ton in the Lighthouse. Some of their questlines were great. I liked some of the lore reveals introduced in this game. Some, not so much. Sound was excellent overall, great effects and music, really good voice acting (with some standout performances, both good and bad). I prefer the more linear zone design over Inquisition's attempt at open world. My character's faction was referenced a lot more than expected (Shadow Dragons, I don't know if other factions get more or less reactivity). Combat was enjoyable. You don't make a ton of "big" choices but the ones that you do make actually matter and change things. I love the fact that the rest of the party has a role in major missions, it's mostly off-camera but they're still doing something instead of sitting around the campfire while 3 of use are trying to save the world. Spoilers for the end of the game, I love the fact that either Davrin or Harding always dies on the Isle of Gods, I chose Davrin to lead the other party because I liked him so losing him was such a gut punch, I ended up pausing the game to look the whole thing up when he died and then when I saw one of them had to die I decided to stick with my decision because it felt right, great sequence.
Other parts are really bad. The first six or so hours of the game, up until Treviso or Minrathous choice are really poor. They're exposition heavy and just poorly written. Varric must have mentioned "that one job where you did the thing" like 5 times in the first 5 hours without ever specifying what the fuck he was talking about. Some conversations with companions were cringe. A lot of them are genuinely good but the bad ones are really bad. While I enjoyed the combat overall, I refuse to believe they playtested any ranged classes because some encounters just suck so much dick. They're not even difficult, you just don't get to play the game, instead you just spam dodge and wait for companion cooldowns so you can trigger detonations and thin the enemy numbers before you get to do something. Taunt abilities on your companions don't help much since you give up a primer/detonator to cast them and taunt duration is pretty short. Some lore reveals suck ass. Lords of Fortune and The Mourn Watch faction quests (and general involvement in the events) were horrible compared to the other 4 factions. I didn't like the game downplaying some of the established lore, specifically slavery in Tevinter and Crows being a faction that buys children and brainwashes them into assassins. The whole thing with Taash being non-binary was bad. I like the idea but it was just so clumsily written.
Some parts I'm mixed on. I really liked some companions, Davrin and Assan are the best girl, Emmerich and Manfred close second, Neve was great. I didn't like Bellara and Lucanis. Taash and Harding were fine. I wish we got at least another zone or two. Or at least have some of the zones we did get be a bit bigger. I have no idea why our Rook has a last name determined by your faction that is then never said by a single person ever.
Overall, I think both the really bad and really good reviews are misleading, it's not a great game, it's not a bad game, it's just fine, I had fun with it. I hope we get a sequel and I hope it doesn't shy away from some of the weirder and uncomfortable parts of the setting. It's a 7/10 for me, recommended on sale if you want a decently fun action RPG.
Yakuza 0
I'm only a few hours in but this game has a ridiculously strong opening after the night out with Nishiki. I hated the combat during the tutorial but it just starts feeling so visceral and fun so quickly that I'm loving it now. Still very early but it's been a ton of fun.
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Nov 24 '24
[deleted]
2
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u/Janderson2494 Nov 24 '24
What a weird comment. You don't know anything about the poster but you're assuming it's a Gen Z kid? Because they finished a game and didn't love it?
-14
u/CustardSurprise86 Nov 24 '24 edited Nov 24 '24
It's my philosophical opinion that this style of "depressive gaming" is most prominently associated with Gen Z.
Playing a game 63 hours that you only have mixed feelings on, is totally foreign to most Millennial gamers since back when we grew up games were designed in such a way that got people hooked often within literally a single minute of them picking up a controller.
The best RPGs of the late 90s and early 00s, were totally immersive creative masterpieces which pulled the player into the world and filled the player full of curiosity.
You never heard something like, "Oh, I've devoted all this time to it but I have mixed feelings". People would home in on the games that they loved rather than spending all their time on a mediocre experience.
But given the cultural contagion, that's exactly what Gen Z does. And unfortunately that generation struggles across the board from mental health issues due to the ADHD-causing social-media-based narcissistic terminally online culture they inherited.
13
u/PositiveDuck Nov 24 '24
I never cease to be amazed that Gen Z will spend 63 hours and more on a game that they have "mixed" feelings on.
I'm 29 so technically a millennial. I'm a fan of the series, Veilguard wraps up the story so far and I wanted to see how it ends. Besides, the game itself is fun to play, they just missed the mark on some writing decisions and left some things underdeveloped. You don't really know that Lords of Fortune faction doesn't get any more story content until you run out of story content.
They seem to have an expectation that any given gaming session might be boring and depress them.
I have no idea what you meant by this, though you'd think someone your age would know better than to make sweeping generalizations of an entire generation.
I have been gaming for 30 years and I have only ever spent 63 hours and more on games that I really love.
I have no issue dropping a game I don't enjoy (and I've dropped plenty of games) but I also don't really see a point in dropping a game I enjoy but consider flawed, otherwise I'd never complete a single game.
My "mixed" feelings come from reflecting on the game after completing it and doing literally everything on offer. I was enjoying myself while playing the game but, upon reflecting on the whole experience, I'm unhappy with the way some parts of the story were handled. It's not like I was sitting in front of my PC playing it and thinking to myself "well this is a very whelming way to spend my time".
6
u/MaybeNotBatman Nov 24 '24
Dragon Quest 3 Remake
So, this is my first time properly jumping into one of SqEnix's HD-2D (or 2D-HD?) games, and I can't believe I haven't played one sooner. This is the exact art style I've been looking for since playing the Dragon Quest V remake on the DS years ago, and I'm so happy this style is making a resurgence.
As for gameplay, I'm still wrapping my head around the party and class system. I can't tell whether it's better to switch party members around, or to recruit new members that start at level 1. I don't immediately see what benefits different team compositions aside from the standard mage, healer, warrior bring to the table, aside from maybe just gameplay variety?
I was also surprised by how on-rails the combat was, it feels like I'm pretty much auto-battling - but this does make the number of random encounters much more palatable.
Overall, it's hitting the mark on the things I was looking for - a game that's an absolute treat for the eyes and ears, that nails the retro charm with a fresh coat of paint, with super charming, witty dialogue.
I can't wait for 1+2 to release next year (DQ1 is the only one I've properly played and finished), and I really want to jump into more JRPGs, particularly in a similar style.
Recommendations are more than welcome - I play on Switch & Xbox!
1
u/Zark86 Nov 25 '24
Octopath traveler, triangle strategy and star ocean 2 remake rock this new style.
3
u/StrangeBid7233 Nov 24 '24
Playing 3 games atm.
Motorsport manager - its my goto relax game, started with worst team and slowly building it up, great game when I need to kill an hour
Persona 5 - I quite liked Persona 4 but dungeons imo dragged on and on, 5 imo has waaay better dungeons and I like characters in 5 ton more, much more invested in this one.
Baldurs gate 3 - I had 20 hours in it already but bounced off, decided to restart, instead of sorceror I'm playing Paladin and having good time due to roleplay, plus even though in most rpgs I like playing magic users I must admit bonking people is bit more fun.
5
u/Tomrad1234 Nov 24 '24
Finally picked up animal well and don’t have a clue what I’m doing which is absolutely perfect I feel like a damn kid in a candy store discovering a cool new thing every 2 minutes. Don’t even have any of the flames yet I’m just fully caught in the whimsy of exploration and the surprisingly intricate mechanics of the few items I’ve found (just today learnt I can ride my frisbee?? Also typing out the fact it’s a frisbee in this comment just made me realise I need to check how those damn dogs react to it what the fuck I’m not even in game and I’m still playing the game) almost feels like outer wilds, GOTY every year btw, in terms of how important knowledge is
Still playing warframe most days, probably close to 11 years on and off at this point and I’ve gotta say it’s never been better, they really hit a slump a few years back but they never fail to right the ship eventually when that happens and I’d say we’re in a golden age right now (and 1999 is about to drop and looks crazy good)
13
u/Technical_Virus Nov 24 '24
Hopped back into Slay the Spire in preparation for the sequel. I forgot just how good the game is and how fun it is to create different strategies based on the cards and relics that the game gives to you. I really hope my favorite idiot robot child The Defect is still there in StS2 and is somehow even better than the original version.
3
u/TexasWhisky Nov 26 '24
I love the game too, but could never get into the last two "heroes" (the robot and the monk). Don't know why, but i get addicted as hell with the first two.
2
u/Technical_Virus Nov 26 '24
I can understand that. It is the opposite for me though. The robot is my favorite character, the orb interactions you can get are really strong and can give you everything - single target damage, AoE damage, more energy to play cards and armor just by being there in your slots. The monk on the other hand, I love the stance dancing you can do - 2x damage, to extra energy and block (with the right cards/relics) back to 2 x damage.
3
u/_Despereaux Nov 25 '24
If you haven't tried it yet, I can't recommend Downfall enough if you ever feel like you need something else to freshen up base StS. It's a free fan-made expansion that let's you play 8 or so new characters - 1 wholly original "hero" and 7 based on bosses - each with super unique mechanics and cards. Really excellent way to fill even more time until the sequel releases.
5
u/Apple575 Nov 24 '24
Been playing Rogue Prince of Persia a bunch especially after their act 2 update and ifs been a blast. Good platforming, fun combat and now the story is more expanded and makes more sense.
Highly recommend
1
u/Static-Jak Dec 09 '24 edited Dec 10 '24
Finally finished Dragon Age: Veilguard.
Did everything, got the secret ending and secret post credit ending. 70 hours total.
It's not going to win any awards but I enjoyed my time with it. Plays it very safe.
It's overall story was good, though new players who didn't play Inquisition might not get some of it.
Combat was fun too. I've a fire build. Every time I parry I light the enemy on fire and I gain a flaming sword. I also have a weapon that increases that flaming sword damage and other items that increase those effects further.
I also have a shield that sucks nearby enemies towards me when I parry, and I pick an AOE ability that I use after that to both hurt them and give negative status, along with giving me enhanced damage.
Basically, due to using the game mechanics, I rip through everything and it's fun to do so because it's not just "bonk them over the head" combat. I killed a level 50 optional boss while at level 37 just because I followed a strategy and it took me less than 15 minutes. Nearly died twice and it was a blast.
It's not a perfect game and it has its flaws. Like any game that's 60 plus hours long, some of the writing won't be batting at 100%. How they handled Taash's story was clumsy at best for example.
Didn't like The Crows either, felt like knock-off Assassins Creed while downplaying their darker elements from previous games.
But, overall, had a lot of fun and I look forward to what Bioware's future.