Not super old, but I decided to try Mafia III and Watch Dogs Legion. I’m usually very critical and picky, but surprisingly I’m enjoying both of them a lot. I’m still not sure what all the negative reviews are about.
Aside from a couple of graphical glitches, and occasionally funky enemy AI in Mafia III, there’s not much I can complain about. I’m liking the story and gameplay quite a bit, in both games.
I am playing WDL pirated so that I don’t have to deal with the Ubi launcher, so that might have helped.
I found Strange Horticulture while looking through my library. The description seemed interesting, so I’m playing it now.
Huh, that looks pretty neat. I hadn’t heard of it before but it’s got a free demo so I’ve added it. I’ll try it out sometime soon.
I started a new game of Baldur’s Gate 1 for the purposes of breezing through on easy to remind myself of the plot, and importing a character to BG2.
I’m going to get flayed for this, but man I forgot what a boring slog at least the first part of BG1 is. Doesn’t help that my memory of AD&D rules is like in the back of my mind’s attic.
But I’m gonna make myself push through so I can get to BG2, for Viconia’s sake. I can fix her!
I generally love old RPGs, but when I tried BG1 some years ago, I got insanely bored and didn’t finish it. I’ve always been embarrassed to admit, so it’s nice to see a fan share a similar feeling haha
Finally found the will and time to play and finish the post-main game part of Crosscode, which confirms itself as a gem. Such great characters, combat and puzzles all the way through the whole, long game, and with virtually no grinding.
Went in like a year ago with no expectations, now I super recommend it if you feel even just a bit attracted by it; I guarantee it’s more than it looks like, loved it and already miss it <3
It’s on my wishlist and on sale for $5.99 right now. Thanks for the reminder!
Yeah I love crosscode. I wanna revisit it some time but it’s a decent commitment lol. It’s my favourite game
I took a few months off from playing EVE Online and decided to go back this week and…it’s dead? it feels dead. I don’t know what happened in the span of the months I wasn’t playing but now it seems like there are zero corps recruiting or it’s the same handful of corps and theres’ nothing going on in game. Just feels, dead.
Player count seem stable enough at least. There’s always a spike in activity during summer though, which now has passed. Could be that?
Cyberpunk 2077
I finally took the time to update my mod list to the latest version of the game as well as grab some new additions because I have no self control when it comes to modding.
I also decided to use this as an opportunity to end my previous playthrough (I did technically finish the game through one of Phantom Liberty endings) and start a new, themed one on a “I hate myself” difficulty. I’m exaggerating but it’s definitely not a way to play suitable for reasonable folks.This character will be a LONG adventure, regardless of whether I’ll binge the game or stick to my usual “play for a while -> take a few month break -> repeat” approach. It will also be a very different experience though and that’s something I’m really looking forward to.
Cyberpunk might not be a perfect game but boy do I love coming back to it.
I still haven’t updated my modlist because I have it working as-is but sometime last year when Codeware changed its file structure it stopped working with MO2, and I never got around to sorting it out. I should really fix it one of these days so I can update the game.
I honestly forgot that mod managers support Cyberpunk and got used to doing it manually. Can be a pain when something doesn’t work but I was lucky enough to not have too much problems with that so far.
At least current patches aren’t anything huge like the jump from legacy to 2.0 so it’s not like you’re losing much staying on the older version.
Well, you have to use root builder for MO2 to work properly with Cyberpunk which is sort of fiddly and also I suspect the reason Codeware stopped working.
Yeah I have it set up for 2.1 I think which makes me not feel super motivated to update the whole thing.
Just picked up No Man’s Sky, have only had a few minutes to start the tutorial stuff. Really liking it so far.
Started Metroid Fusion for GBA. So far so good.
Gran Turismo 4 continues. That holds up remarkably well with upscaling.
Still playing through Hollow Knight… Neglecting Silksong for this.
You are not neglecting it, you are preparing for it! After having finished Silksong just yesterday: you definitely want to finish HK first. Trust me. For gameplay reason, because Silksong doesn’t has a tutorial and starts difficulty wise at 70 % of HK endgame difficulty. And for lore reasons too.
I know GBA audio quality can be questionable, but I feel like Fusion’s soundtrack adds a lot to the game’s atmosphere. Worth playing with the sound on. Great game.
Haven’t gotten deep enough into it for the soundtrack to stand out particularly yet…but looking forward to it.
I’m doing the same with HK, feels correct to finish before silksong.
I always come back to sts. It’s such a phenomenal game. It’s not my favourite but I’ve told several people that it might be the best game ever made. The balance feels so well tuned.
Sometimes I get bored of it for a bit but I can’t help but come back to it eventually.
Roguelites are my jam. The only thing that pulled me away from STS was Balatro. Now Into The Breach on my phone has pulled me away from Balatro.
Way too many great games out there. Way too little time for them.
I played a bit of into the breach. I find the greater constraints to be a bit too limiting. But it is very fun.
You should consider checking out tactical breach wizards. Plays similar to into the breach but it felt more fun for me.
Thanks. I’ll give it a shot.
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I’m kind of in between games, actually . I finished Enotria: The Last Song and even did a quick NG+ run for the secret/true ending achievement. I had a good time with it and would recommend it to Souls fans if you can tolerate AA/jank and can grab it on a deep sale. It’s not overly difficult and not too long that it outstays its welcome, which for me feels like a good thing at this point. Loved the setting and the Commedia Dell’Arte framing.
To follow I dipped my toes into playing a Soulslike Metroidvania with fantastic combat, interesting lore and a beautiful and visually distinct art style. I’m of course talking about Si- no actually it’s GRIME. It was on all-time low deep sale recently and I’ve had my eye on it for a while so I snapped it up. So far it’s been good but… I don’t know. It hasn’t really grabbed me yet. I think maybe coming off a Soulslike it was slightly too similar and that’s why I’m not hooked yet. I can tell it’s fantastic and it’s very unique, I think I should just have played something else in between.
So I also pirated Cronos: The New Dawn in a try-before-I-buy effort inspired by spooktober. I know it’s the wrong sub for a new release but what can you do. It’s been… alright so far. Haven’t played all that much, only like two hours or so. I like the story and the world building but it’s not really scaring me like I was hoping it would. It seems to be more about tough and gruelling combat encounters, which is not necessarily what I’m looking for right now.
I might just audible into replaying The Final Draft of Alan Wake 2 instead and finally getting into playing the DLCs, which I own but have been saving for a rainy day.
I’ve finished Avowed, and am going back to Baldur’s Gate 2, which I had put aside for it.
I liked Avowed well enough, though it is far from perfect. I would have preferred a classic CRPG like its predecessors, but it was fun to see the Living Lands in 3D - and the graphics really shine at night. It is absolutely gorgeous after sunset. And I loved the ending, although it seemed a bit too positive.
In BG2 I’m only in chapter 2. I just found Mazzy and am continuing to explore the dungeon she’s in.
I was enjoying Avowed a lot but got a bit disappointed after reaching the second area/city, lost a lot of steam and haven’t picked it up again in a while.
I was trying to roleplay a certain kind of character, one who didn’t like the idea of messing with soul essence and agreed with the empire about disallowing it, only to be forced to accept it and take in an expert on the the topic to help her perform experiments. Really dampened my experience.
The companion system is definitely a weak point. The companions themselves are fine, but you can’t refuse any and have very limited choice in party composition.
You can disagree with them at some points, and you can influence their story, but the gameplay impact is pretty much nothing.
The impact your choices can have on the world are definitely bigger - and visible in the game itself. I won’t spoil it, but there’s a pretty huge consequence not long after meeting Giatta.
Ooh, I absolutely adore BG2. Probably the most formative game of my youth, it’s both the game that got me hooked on RPGs and the game that introduced me to modding. I still hold it as the best Baldur’s Gate game, and Irenicus as one of the best video game villains of all time.
What’s your party composition?
I haven’t decided on a final party yet. In BG1 at one point I noticed I had an all female party, except for one guy - so I gave that guy a certain belt…. I was hoping to get an all female party going again, but I don’t know if it’ll be feasible.
Right now I have my sorcerer, Minsc, Aerie, Jaheira, Nalia, and I just replaced Valygar by Mazzy.
You can for sure do an all female party, Mazzy, Nalia, Jaheira, Viconia, Aerie are all available - it’ll be somewhat challenging though. You’d need to micromanage reputation to keep it neutral so neither Viconia nor the good characters leave (unless you modded that out), you also probably need to boost thief skills with potions and/or items regularly. Viconia also has some downsides to keep in mind, like the low Con, single classed Clerics being pretty mediocre and not getting Holy Smite due to alignment. She does have base 50% spell resistance though so there’s that, and can get to 100% with the right gear. There is also Neera and Hexxat, but I don’t enjoy the EE companions much.
I will say for a first playthrough I tend to recommend people bring Yoshimo, as he has some ties into the main quest and also various sidequests around Athkatla. Not a female though.
Viconia is the best party member in BG2, especially if you also recruit… a paladin. I may be biased and my phone SMS notification back when those were a thing was, “trust is for the foolish…”
Mechanically Anomen with his grandmastery capability outshines Viconia imo, whether you go the Flail of Ages classic on him or even Slings and play him back row.
As a character however then yes, Viconia is probably my favourite character in the game and probably the most well written of the bunch.
I am also very fond of Haer’dalis though.
Finally caved in and started playing Slay the Spire. I was resistant because the game looked so ugly. Hideous UI, amateur art, whack animation. Unfortunately, it really is like that - but I understand the game itself is very well-made, so I’ll stick with it. I enjoyed Monster Train after all, and it has the same issues.
I’ve been in the mood for some arcade racing this week:
Wreckfest but it seems like the multiplayer has mostly died off which is sad as C class racing was a blast.
Split/Second, racing and explosions so always a good time.
Graveyard Keeper! It’s fun although it’s annoying figuring out where my latest upgrades are. Is the new machine in the yard? Basement? Church basement??? Morgue??? Guh.
I’m also still looking for a game for me and twin to play together. We like farming sims like Stardew Valley, Sun Haven, etc. We both like rogue likes and lites but don’t really like playing those together.
Have you perhaps looked at Don’t Starve Together?
I do technically have that already, so it would mean just another copy. We settled for now on Luma Island, for pirates! Or something!
Might want to try over on !videogamesuggestions@lemmy.zip (shilling my own community, I mod there). Unfortunately the games I know that might scratch the farming sim itch that you have not listed already are all singleplayer.
Yeah, we were running into that issue, a lot of the games we’d like are singleplayer! Alas alas!
Not currently playing but considering Alan Wake 2, can someone elucidate me, does it stand on its own?
Kind of. Mechanically Alan Wake 2 is so good that yes, it does stand on its own, and it’s such a great game that if you’re completely against playing the preceding games then it’s probably worth playing on its own.
However, Remedy are doing a Marvel-style connected universe, so in my opinion it’s a case of “the more you invest in it, the more rewarded you get”. The story of AW2 is a direct sequel to AW1, and also directly overlaps with Control. Control had a DLC called AWE that acts like a direct bridge between AW 1&2.
Furthermore, despite having to change the name to Alex Casey due to Rockstar owning the IP the character Alan Wake canonically wrote the stories about Max Payne, so they are also referenced. Quantum Break is only vaguely hinted at due to again, Microsoft owning the IP, so that one you can probably skip if you want.
Personally, I think Remedy have produced all bangers (though I haven’t played Firebreak), so playing them all never felt like a burden. There is also a timely Humble Bundle celebrating their 30th anniversary which has their entire catalogue minus Firebreak for like 30 bucks.
The plot of the whole thing is somewhat convoluted, so trying to absorb it all from a YouTube recap is kind of hard, but if that’s what you want here’s Sam Lake attempting to recap the story leading up to AW2 in 15 minutes. This is heavy spoilers for the preceding game obviously.
Coelacanth coming through with the good info, as usual! dude you are becoming one of my fav users in lemmy.
Humm…interesting, so, the answer is more complex than I expected haha. I’m not against going through the previous games at all, I asked bacause I thought AW2 was going to be in Ps+ but, I’m seeing I was mislead >:/ however, Control is, and I also heard is very good, so hum, maybe I’ll pivot and try that first.
What need is to play and actually finish something that’s not a soulslike or adjacent this year, I’m thinking maybe the time constraint of it being on a subscription will certainly help me not abandon the playthrough? ( But there’s also Demons Souls and Tymesia on Ps+ Damn it!!! ) we’ll see how this goes. Thanks a lot!
I don’t think you were mislead, Alan Wake 2 is slated to be on PS+ starting Oct. 7th. It was announced during the recent State of Play.
Anyway, I still recommend going through all the games as they are amazing in their own right, and playing one will only heighten the appreciation of the next. Particularly if played in release order. Alan Wake 2 is definitely the crown jewel, so I understand wanting to get to it ASAP, but at the same time it will have a much more profound impact if saved for last.
EDIT: also I forgot but, thank you for the nice words. It’s still kind of weird that I’m being recognised by name around here from time to time but I guess I do comment a lot, and verbosely at that.
Oh I see, oct 7th. it appeared as only a trial when I looked. But I think you are correct, better to not rush and experience the story right. Me wanting to jump in right away was mostly a budget thing. But I’ll wait and give control a shot instead.
Control is awesome, amazing world building and lore packed inside a really tight third person shooter. There are some Alan Wake references in the lore, but for the most part you can play Control first I think. However, I definitely advise to hold off on playing the AWE DLC until after Alan Wake 1.
I replayed Halo CE by way of the MCC, with Ruby’s Rebalanced mod. The mod adds a lot of value by for the most part seamlessly improving aspects of the campaign that felt a little under polished in the original release.
What changes does the mod make? I’d be interested in checking it out.
So much, let me recount some of it.
There’s a lot of invisible tweaks like the assault rifle has a smaller initial spread which makes it usable at medium range with short bursts. The needler fires faster. The warthog accelerates to top speed faster. Hunters no longer die to one magnum shot. Flood popcorn forms don’t chain explode nearly as much and they do a little more damage to the player so you can’t just totally ignore them anymore. The player can jump ever so slightly higher allowing them to reach certain areas during combat more easily. Vehicle damage has been tied to speed so tapping (or being tapped) by a slow vehicle isn’t an insta-kill. Ghost and plasma turrets have tighter spreads, both when firing at the player and when the player is using them. Marines will now drive unoccupied vehicles and follow the player.
The energy sword, flame thrower, fuel rod gun, and sentinel beam gun are all usable in the campaign now.
More enemy types are added. This is especially noticeable with the flood which has elite-flood forms using shields now. There are zealot flood with swords. There are cloaked spec op flood. This makes the flood more interesting to fight and keeps plasma weapons important to the mix against them.
There are now ODSTs in addition to the normal marines. They have slightly more aggressive AI than the standard marines, so they are more active in combat but can also get killed faster if you ignore them. They replace marines where it makes sense in the campaign.
Enemy mixes have been tweaked throughout. The Library had work done to make the spawns less of a slog to get through by placing the additional spawn waves more heavily behind rather than in front of the player.
There are non-combat animals on the ring now. From butterflies to big grazing creatures.
That sounds great actually. I’ll definitely be looking into this. Thanks.
