Tony_Tarantula on 10/7/2019 at 15:37
Quote Posted by Thirith
The further I get in
XCOM 2, the more I'm impressed by how well the various systems interact, in particular in terms of balancing successes/encouragement and failures/stressors, both on the tactical and the strategic level. There are a lot of elements in the game that make you feel like everything is just 1-2 steps away from going to hell, but at the same time you're never more than half a minute away from small things going well for you: your research into weapons or armours improves your chances of getting out of a mission without any deaths, a Covert Action gains you an engineer, you come out of a mission with some nice upgrades for your weapons, one or two of your soldiers get promoted and learn new skills. Every time I think that there's no way I can beat the aliens, something pops up telling me that if I'm smart, careful and just a little lucky, this might nudge the odds just the teensiest bit in my favour. And another thing I like is that at least so far it seems that when I make a mistake I realise pretty quickly, so there isn't that dread of doing something and then fearing that it'll bite you in the ass ten rounds down the line.
XCOM 2 is incredibly good in that regard.
Speaking of, if you like XCOM 2 and have even the slightest interest in tabletop you'd probably love Infinity. The two games have a lot of similar mechanics and Infinity's art design and models are easily the best out of any tabletop game currently on the market.
Games wise I haven't been playing much in the way of games lately. I finally beat MGS V. Since then It's been almost entirely tabletop. Getting back into that has been extremely rough because I live in an area where we have a lot of high level competitive players. In Warmachine they actually have international team competitions where each country sends five players. One of the guys I play with beat the captain of the American team to give an idea of the caliber of players I'm dealing with.
PC wise I've been limited to playing Bloody Palace mode in DMC 5 (when I just need some quick battle action) and I payed a buck for Chip's Challenge on the STEAM sale for some nostalgic puzzle solving.
henke on 11/7/2019 at 05:20
I liked the NPC helpers. Reminded me of MGSV. Whenever I'd sneak into an outpost I'd usually have Grace sitting up on a nearby hill with her sniperrifle, ready to let the lead fly if I get spotted.
Thirith on 11/7/2019 at 07:00
I'm about to permanently deal with the first of the Chosen in XCOM 2. Yesterday I got started on infiltrating the Assassin's stronghold, this morning I made it to the sarcophagus and got her down to 0 HP. I kinda wish I could've stayed home for another half an hour in order to finish her off, but perhaps I'll have some time tonight before going to bed. It's been a while since I've found a game as moreish as this.
While it's not as addictive, I'm definitely enjoying God of War (I'm probably halfway into the game). I love how it takes the earlier games and tweaks the formula in terms of gameplay, story and characters. And the thwack of Kratos' weapon is great for a bit of catharsis after all the small frustrations and annoyances of the day.
Sulphur on 11/7/2019 at 07:20
RE: God of War's thwacks, the most satisfying part of it for me is the *thwump* of the axe as it returns to Kratos's hand. The perfect physicality of the animation (including the axe quivering to pull free of the surface it's embedded in) in conjunction with the sound design deserve an award.
Also, for something that's always centred on Kratos, I love the surprising sense of scale parts of it give way to. The central hub and the way you get to interact with it reminds me of the best part of God of War 1 - the way you needed to traverse the Rings of Pandora by physically moving the rings. It's a great callback and epic update to that system.
Thirith on 15/7/2019 at 08:49
I think I'm probably entering the final third of my XCOM 2 campaign. I'm about to pay a visit to the third of the Chosen (in this case the Hunter, in my experience the easiest of the three) and I've just finished building a Shadow Chamber. I also survived my first encounter with a Sectopod thanks to a lucky case of Domination (I was able to nab a Codex and used its next move to cause a Psionic Rift, deactivating the Sectopod's weapons).
I'm still enjoying the game, but I also think it's slowly time to move on to something else, probably a shorter game or two.
Tony_Tarantula on 15/7/2019 at 15:22
Quote Posted by henke
I liked the NPC helpers. Reminded me of MGSV. Whenever I'd sneak into an outpost I'd usually have Grace sitting up on a nearby hill with her sniperrifle, ready to let the lead fly if I get spotted.
The side effect of playing MGS V is that you suddenly want to start stealing shipping containers by attaching balloons to them.
In all seriousness though, trying to do a Fulton extraction sounds fun. Kinda like reverse skydiving.
henke on 15/7/2019 at 16:52
Besides Dakar 18, the other sim keeping me busy at the moment is theHunter: Call of the Wild (on PS4). This one feels more mainstream-friendly than it's predecessor (F2P game theHunter), but luckily not in a dumbed-down simulation way. Rather they've made it more welcoming by turning it into more of a standard open-world game, with story, lots of characters, missions, and collectibles. I gotta say I appreciate these additions, as it gives a bit of focus to the proceedings, instead of just aimless wandering through the woods. Anyway, the hunting mechanics are still as solid and challenging as ever, and the game looks drop-dead gorgeous.
I see a few other TTLGers have this on Steam as well. How are you guys liking it?
Thirith on 15/7/2019 at 18:09
I've not played it, but I have heard it makes for a great walking sim if you ignore all the huntery'n'stuff. And I'm not even joking: that's why I bought it when it was on sale.
Neb on 15/7/2019 at 18:55
I turned off all of the visual assists and it's balls hard to track or kill most stuff. Spent over half an hour on a single moose. You have to actually pay attention to tracks, droppings, wind direction in the grass, etc. Having it all off is a bit difficult, but on is just too much. It'd be nice if there was a happy in-between with some subtle hints, but I'd prefer the difficulty. I followed a bear into the woods, got too close, and the resulting skirmish where he'd hide and then jump out of the bushes at me wouldn't be the same with a magic outline following him.
Yeah, it's pretty decent. I wish more games with dangerous wildlife would learn a thing or two from the AI. They don't just attack or run away. They have a sense of space and safety, and will give warnings. Or, just bolt if they smell you.