Whatcha been playing lately?

[Avatar]

Haha, I'll keep it in mind.

Still playing Kenshi, and further to my post above, about the developer being a Malazan fan, I have since stumbled across 2 random NPC's clearly named from TBotF...Blend, and Krup (Kruppe).

--A

[I'm Murrin]

Sunk the past week mostly into The Outer Worlds. Completed one playthrough as a stealthy pacifist, now I'm playing the Board route as a cold-blooded corporate shill.

[Cagliostro]

Playing the most recent Spider-Man. It feels like Arkham City, which I liked, so I'm enjoying this. Strangely enough, the best part of the game is just moving around through the city. I almost don't want the story to continue.

[Avatar]

Sunk the past week mostly into The Outer Worlds. Completed one playthrough as a stealthy pacifist, now I'm playing the Board route as a cold-blooded corporate shill.

Hmmm, looks good. Will add it to my list.

Still Playing Kenshi...must have well over 300 hours now...

--A

[Rigel]

Spent the last 4 days or so playing Subnautica, which Epic Games is giving away free until the 27th.

If you're into survival / crafting / building games, I must say this is good.

It's included in the XBox Game Pass on PC, which I'm trying out, so I've spent a bit of time with it over the last week.

I normally prefer games with a bit more structure so I'm kind of just floundering around, but I've got my initial base set up, and I'm starting to encounter the... well... let's just call them "story set-pieces".

But right now I'm frustrated by the requirement to grab food and water every few minutes. I looked up on the Wiki and apparently there's an automated water maker I'll get later, which I'm really looking forward to having.

[Rigel]

Sunk the past week mostly into The Outer Worlds. Completed one playthrough as a stealthy pacifist, now I'm playing the Board route as a cold-blooded corporate shill.

That was fun, though a bit shorter than I expected. How does being a corporate shill effect the ending?

[I'm Murrin]

Tbh very little, it's basically just a role swap of the two final npcs; the plot sequencing is a little different in the middle. I didn't get the option to stealth through the final level using the shroud but that may have just been my low charisma. I did a third runthrough where I just killed every person I met immediately, and the game unfortunately just forces you do do Phineas' storyline (he's the only person you never get a chance to kill) and barely acknowledges what you did.

I've now moved on to the Talos Principle. Really fun puzzle game.

[Rigel]

I've put several hours into Subnautica over the last week... While it's frustrating, it's also enjoyable enough that I'm considering getting Sub Zero in early access.

Other than that, back to Rimworld.

[Avatar]

I enjoyed it, but never went back once I had the giant sub etc etc.

Seriously, if you like Rimworld, check out Kenshi...comparisons (of a sort) have been drawn. (There are even Kenshi Rimworld mods. )

Can't recommend it enough for emergent storytelling / gameplay.

--A

[peter]

Anybody played the Metro series of games? I've been looking at metro exodus which is interesting in that it seems to be a combination of both linear and open world sections - and has pretty good ratings and reviews to boot. The game is visually impressive (on YouTube) and numbers of commentators have said it would be better to play the first two games in this series (available in a ps4 redux version) first. I have bid for them on eBay, just a few quid to see if I can pick them up at a bargain price, but it's the Exodus one which really intersts me.

(At the same time I sprung for a cheap copy of Dragon Age; Inquisition but am beginning to wonder if this was wise. Anybody know anything about this game as well?)

[Rigel]

I've heard Metro is quite good, but the one I tried was a shooter on rails. The open world stuff must be added in the sequel.

I quit after I ran out of bullets in the middle of a fight a few hours in. I never went back to it after that, though I've always meant to.

Inquisition... I think that was one I tried. It was fine. It didn't grab me, but not everything has to. I didn't finish it either.

With my new lappy I've been getting into Stellaris over the last week. I loved it a few years ago, and I can finally play it without scorching my... lap. Also, almost done with Subnautica on the HTPC. I may have to try Kenshi when I finish, but the newest Tomb Raider is included with XBox Game Pass (I'm doing the PC beta of the service) and I've been looking forward to that...

[peter]

If Kenshi is the one I'm thinking of, it's supposed to be horrendously difficult - sort of like Bloodbourne (in terms of hardness, not content) .....but with brass knobs on!

[Rigel]

Finished Subnautica, which was a bit of a chore towards the end.

Still going on Stellaris. Got a few vassals serving me now, but overall we're weaker than the neighboring unions (could easily take them individually but overall they'd mop the floor with us).

And a friend from work has been wanting to do multiplayer together so I grabbed a few copies of Magicka 2 on sale. The first one was amazing, and goddamn... the sequel lives up. Though the sequel has some points where you either have to a) optimize like hell to get through, or b) have several players to flank the enemies. As we were playing co-op, we went with the flanking.

[peter]

I'm back in Skyrim at present, and am playing the Dragonborn dlc which I've not played before. I'm only a bit into it, but am liking it. Silly, but it's a bit like traveling to a different country, it being set on the boarder of Morrowind and all. The Ash creatures are pretty tough opponents, but doable. I'm going to continue with it for a while, but these games tokens are calling me in and later today I'm heading down to see what I can get with them.

Oh what joys await!

[Avatar]

(At the same time I sprung for a cheap copy of Dragon Age; Inquisition but am beginning to wonder if this was wise. Anybody know anything about this game as well?)

I've played it. Also picked it up ridiculously cheap, and had played "Origins" before, so I sorta knew what was going to go on. Not bad, more of a classic-style squad RPG. Not really open world, lots of choices and relationships to manage etc.

Got most of the way through, but have put off the end to finish the littler stuff, and lost a bit of interest. Also, the Origin launcher is horrible.

If Kenshi is the one I'm thinking of, it's supposed to be horrendously difficult - sort of like Bloodbourne (in terms of hardness, not content) .....but with brass knobs on!

This one: https://store.steampowered.com/app/233860/Kenshi/

And it's 40% off right now I see. (PC only though I'm afraid.)

--A

[Rigel]

Factorio, aka Conveyer Belts: The Game!

It's a middle manager's wet dream. All about optimizing convery belts.

[peter]

Am about five hours into God of War (because I was lent it rather than any massive desire to play) and while I'm enjoying it I've got to be honest I find it a bit of a mess. I can't seem to get my head around the map, (everything except where I am seems shrouded in mist - including the places I have already traveled), I have reached the point where I can fast travel - but only to one place (the shop of some dwarf). There are these chests that, try as I might, I'm never going to be fast enough with my fingers to open (that's an age thing that ain't gonna change) and am worried that I won't be able to build up the progressions available thereby in order to win the boss battles later in the game. I'm missing loads of puzzle solutions because I don't know where I have to be to solve them and seem to keep moving into realms beyond the point where I can go back to finish them.........



The list goes on and as I say...... it's a mess. I like an open world to be an open world. If I can't solve a puzzle, beat a boss or whatever, I want to be able to put it to one side, move on and build up some level, then come back and whup it's ass. It's the only way I can play. If the game doesn't become more clear pretty soon it's going into the realm of also rans, for me - and that would be a shame because I know it is potentially a very good game!

[Avatar]

Never bothered with the franchise myself.

Been desultorily running something called "Species: Artificial Life, Real Evolution" from Steam, an evolution simulator, but it's pretty alpha still, and the dev is managing about 2.5 updates a year, so who knows...damn weird thing though.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/7745 ... Evolution/

Also been playing "Drunk on Nectar," a nature simulator which is actually done pretty damn well, albeit also still in early access.

Also, don't know if it's not optimised yet, but it hammers my graphics card despite it considerably exceeding min specs.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5124 ... Simulator/

--A

[Rigel]

Oh dear god, Factorio is all-encompassing...

There's a saying on r/factorio about it: The factory must grow...

[peter]

Life's too short for playing games that don't hit the spot. God of War went into a pile of 'to be continued' games that may or may not ever be returned to.

Had a frustrating and disappointing start to Days Gone as well. I can't be doing with games that screw over the player by either starting so difficult that it's almost impossible to get going and build up the skills (both personal and in terms of the game's main character) to get into the game - or alternatively put in a bottle-neck challenge so damn difficult (and by this I mean a challenge in the linear bit that precedes the truly open world, that cannot be bypassed) that some players simply won't be able to beat, even on the easiest level that the game can be played at.

In Days Gone you begin with a motorcycle chase in which you must keep up with a fleeing biker. Every time you crash, which you do lots as you learn to control the bike you are riding, the game takes an age to reload and you begin from scratch, simply to crash into a tree or be scratched out for falling too far behind and have to begin again. After a too long period of this repetition I finally suceeded and got beyond into the game proper. Immediately- but still in the linear bit of the game - I found myself working 'point' in a tunnel, walking ahead of my mate with a shotgun in hand. A zombie bursts from a door and in a cut-scene of sorts knocks the gun from your hand and pins you to the wall. You are instructed to bash a particular button to push the thing away - but to no avail. No matter how fast you hit the requested button it gets to your throat and kills you. You wait for the interminable reload to finish and then play for a minute again, the same bit of game which you cannot bypass, before it happens again.

Why couldn't I kill this thing; I was doing exactly what the game said? Beating the button like an express train. I went online to see if anyone else was having the same problem. On YouTube I saw a guy defeat the monster with a couple of taps of the button in a walkthrough......it didn't make any sense. I've completed fallout 4, the Witcher, I'm level 52 in Skyrim - surely I can't be so bad that I simply cannot bash the button fast enough? I did a quick search and sure - there were the despairing posts of those who had been there before me. One guy reckoned it had taken him thirty plus times to finally get beyond this point (that would take hours of playing the same minute of game over and over). Another poster said that it seemed that by accident he had hit a button other than the one he was being instructed to hit and suddenly he was through.

By now I'd decided that this was for the birds. I've played enough games to recognise a design flaw when I encounter one and so it was back in the box and back to the shop! I exchanged it for Assassin's Creed Odessy and within a short period was roaming the Islands of Theusydides ancient Greece, free as the eagle soaring above my head. I'd negotiated the linear bit (the battle of Thermopylae if you're interested) without problem, secured my horse and was away, piling up quests and creating my character to my heart's content! Now this was what gaming was all about.

As for Days Gone, I'll never know why I couldn't get beyond that point - I saw it done, so I know it can be. But to be honest I don't really care. Grim zombie filled America or the sparkling Islands of the Mediterranean Sea - no contest really!