qolelis on 14/10/2019 at 16:23
Quote Posted by Sulphur
Heaven's Vault is absolutely worth anyone's time if they like the idea of piecing together an alien language through form and context (and the UI to review your progress is simple and elegant). The narrative is also a cultural exploration of sorts (including the age-old sci-fi theme of machine and human dichotomy, but with a fair few interesting tweaks) that feels very thoughtful, and there's a lot of unused space in gaming for slow and thoughtful experiences.
10 hours in I have learned to love it. I didn't have the best start with it, expecting to more or less fully focus on the language thing and at first I was annoyed when this wasn't the case, but, as I played on, I let go of my expectations and got to appreciate the game being so much more than I expected it to be. The bit that surprised me the most was how much there is to explore and new sites keep popping up. Appreciated is also the little extras put in while sailing.
If you, like me, ever played
Destiny 2 and wished it were more of an exploration game with more story and less shooting,
Heaven's Vault is that game. It's like a puzzle version of D2 (minus the shooting, obviously, because totally opposite genre). I sort of liked D2 for what it was and the environments were amazing, but started to feel empty and the gameplay got tired after a while. This does definitely not happen in HV, not only because the genre suits my personality better, but because calling it "story-rich" is very much not overstating things. The story soon branches out and I get the feeling there's more story than what fits in just one playthrough. It touches on various subjects without it feeling forced (so far). I like watching the relationship develop between the main character and her mechanical assistant/companion.
After an hour of a slight grinding of teeth, I started to appreciate things that at first annoyed me. There are also a few annoyances I still wish wasn't there, like some awkward camera angles, cutscene transitions in and out of buildings or scenes, sometimes triggering when I least expect it, forcing me to wait for the cutscene to finish before being able to go back if I want to explore more. The timed dialogue trees at first made me think I was missing out, but I got used to them and now they feel natural (probably more like how people in general converse in real life even if I could wish for some more forethought there too).
TL;DR:
Heaven's Vault is amazing, despite a rough start.
Tony_Tarantula on 15/10/2019 at 02:54
Beat the Council.
I wholeheartedly disagree with assessments that Episode 4 was bad. The "weird plot twist" is something players would have seen coming a mile away given even a passing familiarity with classical and occult literature. I mean.... FFS Lord Mortimer has a huge copy of the painting "The Nightmare" hanging above his desk. You'd have to be an idiot to miss that and other even more obvious clues. Lord Mortimer obviously has a massive ego and he's the type of person who enjoys dropping hints about what's actually going on because he's fully counting on everyone around him being too stupid to notice.
One aspect I do love about the game is that "choices" don't just matter but your success in figuring things out matters as well. There's some small items where if you don't notice them the first time then you'll be missing out on crucial clues to later puzzles or social confrontations that in turn can adversely impact the game's ending. It isn't so much a case of "You did X therefore Y" but that you make things more difficult for yourself later on which can easily cascade into even bigger fuckups. For example: Depending on how badly you've pissed off some characters, they may not answer some questions about a relic you're quietly hunting for which in turn can lead to your trump card being useless because you picked the wrong holy artifact. Even if you did screw that up there's still an alternative way to solve that problem that's entirely possible to figure out but requires the player to actually think about the logic of the problem they're up against
That said Episode 5 was terrible and very clearly rushed. It quickly rushes you through some rehashed social interactions, a series of puzzles that make zero sense in context of the setting that's been established so far, and ends in an extremely anti-climactic fashion.
Thirith on 16/10/2019 at 06:51
As shallow as Destiny 2 is in many ways, I keep being wowed by its visuals. It's not just a bells-and-whistles thing; I love its sci-fi aesthetic, and I love how well the environments are done in-game. The colours, the lighting, the compositions... I also enjoy the feel of the game, the movement and shooting, but it's mostly the look of Destiny that I really dig. It makes me wish that they did something along the lines of Mass Effect in that universe and with the main game's visual quality. Or even something like Stalker, a slower, more methodical shooter where you're a lone explorer, a ranger type, in those environments.
qolelis on 16/10/2019 at 07:10
I just finished my first playthrough of Heaven's Vault and it kept on giving until the very end. The ending was, as endings often are, a little underwhelming -- not the idea of the ending, but the visuals of it -- but that's more of a wish than a complaint. Lots of alternative choices to make and bits of story to discover for my next playthrough. Seems like I will have to start from the beginning, though, because there are no saves to load, except the most recent. I can keep my current dictionary, though (unless I choose to reset it).
One thing I missed was having an explicit dictionary of known words in-game, one that I could sift through while translating/deciphering or learning more about how words are built (I did notice a few patterns and I'm sure there's more). I could have created my own dictionary (using pen & paper), but I never bothered.
Malf on 16/10/2019 at 12:55
Thirith, I would love to see something like that in the Destiny universe too. Say you get to play as Hawthorne (the ranger non-guardian lady with Lewis the eagle), and explore the EDZ and other planets in greater depth.
But I think Bungie have submersed themselves and are gleefully swimming around in the "Games as a service" Kool-aid, so we're unlikely to see a decent single player game from them any time soon.
So I'll just have to enjoy blowing things up and shooting them in their stupid faces for the time being.
I'm really enjoying my build at the moment, which I can't help but think they're going to nerf. I just get too many grenades (from one of my favourite strikes, Strange Terrain):
[video=youtube;_IkPuuqfrb0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IkPuuqfrb0[/video]
Pyrian on 16/10/2019 at 22:05
Finished up all the Achievements in Into the Breach. Had a really rough time with Lightning War, in which you have to use the Blitzkrieg team and beat the first two islands in less than 30 minutes. Speed-running is not how I play this game!
So, with all Achievements completed, I've finally unlocked the Secret Squad! ...It's shit. Well, I'll give it a try, and look for the last Secret Pilot while I'm at it. I'm very close to having seen all there is to see, and the missions are once again getting a bit repetitive.
qolelis on 17/10/2019 at 16:35
Before starting over with Heaven's Vault I played There The Light, a casual walk in pleasant surroundings. It was... nice. There's not much more to say than that. It's like a music video for some pop trifle or other, not necessarily unpleasant while it lasted, but forgettable when it's over ("goes into one ear and comes out the other"). I got it in a sale and, for the price I paid, I don't regret playing it; there are worse ways to kill 2 hours, but, then again, there are also better ways. You won't be missing out by never playing There The Light.
The whole thing feels like a proof of concept while learning the ropes. Might be worth keeping an eye on their future work, because the potential is there, but they need to step up puzzle design and/or story tellling -- and/or the exploration -- for it to be worth recommending. The environments were competently built and nothing really stood out as bad. It was... nice.
Edit:
I was going to compare it to The Witness, because of the art style, but the comparison would be totally unfair; the latter is superior in every way, but also ten times as expensive.
Tomi on 18/10/2019 at 16:03
I still can't get enough of Dirt Rally... especially now that I "discovered" something that I really should have done a long time ago.
Turn off all the damn driving assists. ABS, stability control, and if you're not feeling comfortable, disable traction control at least. To be honest, I had kind of forgotten that they even exist, even though it was pretty damn obvious that I had them enabled. I thought that they'd be essential when playing with a gamepad. I disabled them all, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it only took me a little while to get used to a slightly different driving style. Turning traction control off especially was the best thing I ever did in this game - driving without it feels so much smoother and much faster! Admittedly some cars are a bit harder to drive now, the Group B real-wheel drive beasts are proper death traps now, but then again they were like that in real life too...
This may sound like some elitist crap, but I'm still not even pretending to be a great driver. I still lose by quite a margin against the best drivers online, but I'm getting much closer now. And hey, yesterday I set the fastest time on one Monaco stage in the monthly event so far! The very best drivers haven't even started the event yet, and they'll most likely beat my time quite easily, but this was still the proudest moment in my Dirt Rally career so far. :D
qolelis on 18/10/2019 at 21:06
Manifold Garden has been released. In my mind I'm already playing it (being true to the thread title). HV might have to wait.
Edit:
MG is pretty great, now that I'm actually playing it. The only thing I could complain about is the lack of jumping, which I would say is part of the absolute bare minimum together with walking and sprinting. Being able to switch the direction of gravity does the same thing, but it still gets a little ridiculous when you're stopped by a tiny ledge and have to switch gravity just to get over it. I'm getting used to it, though (you could also say I'm... getting over it).
Renzatic on 23/10/2019 at 20:42
You know what I'm playing?
I'm playing "Learning How To Use A Trackball." It's a fun game where I spend a whole bunch of money to try something new. So far, it's been pretty goofy and weird, though it does have promise.
