Yakoob on 27/4/2025 at 01:01
Yea for all it's stealth goodness, I always though Thief would have been better with a more viable combat option, like maybe even just a basic crossbow or a steampunk gun you can use to shoot down enemies in a pinch, maybe later an automated rifle when the levels get busier, or like a rocket launcher when the bigger enemies get introduces you could blow up or even make holes in the walls while Garret says some catchy and memorable lines like "Suck it, Machinitst" or "I'm a taffer, but I ain't taffin' about"
Tomi on 27/4/2025 at 21:08
There is a viable combat option already, but the main problem is that it's not at all fun. But obviously I'm not even asking for combat to be a viable option for playing Thief - I would only like to see the failure of stealth resulting in some interesting gameplay where you can deal with the consequences of your actions. I'd much rather take the punishment as an arrow in my backside, but in Thief I just automatically reach for the quickload button. There's not much stopping you from playing Thief as an ordinary FPS, but it's a pretty terrible experience.
So in fact I'd love to see combat be a much less viable option in Thief, and to be fair, I'd be okay with no melee combat at all. But even just escaping from the pursuing guards should offer the player an actual challenge - now you can just hop in the nearest pond or climb over some knee-high obstacle so that the guards can't follow you, and then have a cup of tea until the guards forget about you. Or just hit that quickload key again, which is something that at least I find even more immersion-breaking than what I just described.
Thirith on 28/4/2025 at 08:55
Since work is pretty stressful at the moment, I felt like some virtual tourism and got started on Assassin's Creed Mirage. Since I've been hankering for a return to the city-based AC games, I should've loved this one - but Mirage is making it pretty easy for me to actively dislike it. Part of it is the writing and especially the voice acting, which (at least in English) is flat and lifeless, so much so that the conversations sound like they've been written using AI. (It helps somewhat to change the audio to Arabic, because that at least makes things sound more authentic and atmospheric.) Assassin's Creed has rarely had great writing, but it's rarely felt this perfunctory. Another part is that they've made the game more challenging - which isn't bad as an option, because you could pretty much play most of the recent games in autopilot, but the design simply isn't good enough to make this work well. There's a floaty, indirect quality about traversal and combat that makes it difficult to get better, because there's too much of a disconnect between your inputs and what the game does with them.
Sadly, I'm not even enjoying the virtual tourism all that much. Historical Baghdad, at least as represented in the game, seems much less varied so far than the series' city highlights. Even Origins, the first of the games in the series that put you in a huge open world, had more varied city locations, even if the focus was more on the big open world.
Renault on 29/4/2025 at 17:35
I'm in the middle of Subnautica Below Zero at the moment, and it's fantastic. On par with the first game, I'd say, with a few key differences. I'm playing in VR, and the fan made VR implementation is almost perfect. I played the first game in VR too, but was forced to use a PS4 gamepad, but this version allows you to use the Quest 3 controllers, which is very nice. I haven't had any real issues so far, everything seems to work great. Overall, the world doesn't seem as big so far, but I do like the additional of some more land based areas, it mixes things up nicely. There also seems to be more things out there that can kill you, I think I've already been attacked about twice as much as I was during the entire original game. I actually like the sense of danger it creates, I think that the game needed a little more of that.
Overall though, I can't think of a better VR experience than the Subnautica games, which seems odd since they weren't made directly for it. I don't think even Alyx tops them. The gorgeous world with huge open areas to explore, and so many resources and items and places to discover, it just can't be beat. I'm always a bit amazed that the system requirements for the game are so low, considering how much stuff is going on on screen at the same time. Really looking forward to the sequel now, to see how much more they can accomplish since this was released 4 years ago.
WingedKagouti on 29/4/2025 at 20:38
Quote Posted by Renault
The gorgeous world with huge open areas to explore
Huge open areas is not really a thing in BZ unless you count the surface. And for me the more frequent attacks just made it more annoying than tense to be in the territory of a predator, even one of the few actually dangerous ones. But I have already gone on about the many things, that make me feel BZ is not a good followup to Subnautica in one (or more) of the previous WAYP threads.
faetal on 30/4/2025 at 01:29
Quote Posted by Thirith
...
Assassin's Creed Mirage...
I'm pretty forgiving of the Ubisoft gameplay loop, and have enjoyed all of the AC games, but I bailed on Mirage part way through.
Aja on 30/4/2025 at 21:22
I’m finally playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and my feelings on it are mixed. It’s undoubtedly a loving and accurate tribute to the film series. It’s beautiful and well-acted, with phenomenal sound design and good writing that’s obviously based on careful research.
But it’s also kind of boring, and I’m trying to figure out why. I think the level design is the issue. The two main areas I’ve been to so far are both giant open spaces divided into discrete spaces, like a work camp in Gizeh, for example, or the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. Most of them have multiple entrances or are in the middle of an open space, so you can approach from any angle, which sounds good except that while trying to avoiding relying too much objective markers I end up wandering aimlessly from place to place, getting in random fights and then quickly retreating, after which the guards immediately forget me and the world resets, which makes it all feel a bit pointless. All the while objectives are ticking off as I stumble across them, but it rarely feels like I’m on a deliberate, motivated quest.
I dunno. I’m still enjoying it and will definitely complete it, so I’ll report back then.
nicked on 1/5/2025 at 08:54
Yeah it's quite a light, fluffy game. I didn't feel like I gained anything from exploration because the game was always super easy anyway. It's fun but frivolous and forgettable. Also the back half of the game is definitely inferior to the start. My advice would just be to power through the story missions and enjoy the cutscenes - treat it more like a linear game like Uncharted.
Aja on 1/5/2025 at 14:12
Did you try it on harder difficulties? I'm wondering if I'd like it more if the enemies were a bit more alert. Light and fluffy does describe it although it's got so much polish that it kind of blinds you to that at least at first. You can feel the Machine Games touch in that there's great movement, shooting, and combat; I just wish those things were in a more focused game. It's not actiony enough to be a hallmark action game, but the puzzles aren't interesting enough to call it a good puzzler. Its genre, I believe, is Indiana Jones.
nicked on 2/5/2025 at 10:35
Yeah - it's at its best when you get spotted trying to sneak somewhere and have to lamp someone in a panic, because that's completely in character for Indiana Jones.
It definitely suffers from a lack of focus. Shooting and puzzles have both been done better elsewhere.
