Yakoob on 7/9/2025 at 22:58
To be fair, comics are just books with added complications
Jason Moyer on 7/9/2025 at 23:23
The GOTY has been a compilation of 80's arcade games, and I don't see anything in the remaining 1/3 of the year that would change my mind on that.
Starker on 8/9/2025 at 03:30
To be fair, books are just paper with added complications.
Malf on 8/9/2025 at 11:58
Eh, I stand by the description. Unreactive overworld (admittedly pretty), punctuated by linear dungeons featuring vignetted combat that serves as nothing more than a barrier to the next prescribed story segment.
Yes, it's possible to enjoy such a thing (nowhere did I say that I didn't enjoy the game), but it's a once-and-done experience, as it has very little room for play outisde of those predefined boundaries.
I've always been the type of gamer that enjoys the interplay of systems more than story in my games, seeing a good story as a bonus rather than the defining draw of a game.
Now games that do interesting things with the story and integrate it into the gameplay?
Brilliant!
I will praise Alpha Protocol to the high heavens every day of the week!
But I'm playing a game first and foremost for the interactive elements.
You lot can sniff at my opinions all you like, but you won't change them. That's just what I look for in games.
Sulphur on 8/9/2025 at 13:45
You can have an opinion, and I, at least, am not interested in changing it. The meme scene you inspired only exists because your attempt to justify the opinion wasn't particularly good, and more akin to someone having their nose in the air... with extra complications.
Malf on 8/9/2025 at 14:07
So go ahead, describe to me in a compelling way how Clair Obscur and other games like it aren't linear stories interrupted by small bursts of "gameplay."
I expressed my opinion that was dismissed without any explanation as to how it was wrong, just "lol, reductionism."
There are incredible themes of loss, friendship and reality explored in the story of Clair Obscur, but the actual gameplay is effectively "Parry until Maelle gets powerful enough to one-shot everything."
Sulphur on 8/9/2025 at 14:40
Quote Posted by Malf
I expressed my opinion that was dismissed without any explanation as to how it was wrong, just "lol, reductionism."
I explained it already. WingedKagouti did, too. 'Additional complications' is an absurd phrase that is meaningless in this context, and your take got exactly the right amount of effort from everyone else.
Quote:
There are incredible themes of loss, friendship and reality explored in the
story of Clair Obscur, but the actual gameplay is effectively "Parry until Maelle gets powerful enough to one-shot everything."
And Sekiro is basically 'parry and dodge until the game ends' without a particularly great story. By that rubric, it's a shit game too. You can be wilfully stuffy about this and continue to plant your feet firmly on top of this hillock you're intent to die on, but that's your prerogative if you think it's the best way to use your time.
Malf on 8/9/2025 at 14:50
Okay, I'm just going to let it lie there. Nothing constructive will come out of it at this point.
Aja on 8/9/2025 at 22:34
I finished Hollow Knight and finally ended a long and difficult chapter of my life by completing the Path of Pain, which has haunted me ever since I wasted several days in 2019 trying to complete it before giving up in shame. They say the only way to beat hard games is to git gud, and I guess I did because it only took me a couple hours of on-and-off attempts while I "worked" from home on afternoon. Then, while I was at it, I beat the true final boss, which I had never done since quitting in the aforementioned disgrace. It feels good! And while I started this playthrough in anticipation of Silksong, I'm a little hollowed out now, so I think I'll take a break and catch up on my backlog before getting back to the bugs. I also thought it would be interesting to reacquaint myself with the lore, but after watching this (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XDiWYFGGqY) long explanatory video I'm not convinced there's enough depth to warrant the kind of attention investment that I'll give the Fromsoft games, by which HK is so clearly inspired.
henke on 15/9/2025 at 06:57
Got gamepass for the first time this year so I have some things to catch up on.
Played the first 5-6 hours of Atomfall this weekend. Stalker-ish open world stealth/action/exploration/scavenging game by Sniper Elite-devs Rebellion. You're an amnesiac who wakes up in a bunker inside a quarrantined zone where some kinda science project has gone wrong. It's set in 60's northern England, and the setting is probably the most unique thing about the game. The gameplay is well-made and enjoyable but entirely familiar to folks with experience in these kinds of games (you lot). Combat is slow n good. Ammo is scarce, which is a fact that even the other residents of the zone seem to respect as they're all hesitant to start shooting when they spot you. They'll just yell at you to sod off and only start shooting if you linger too long or if you're caught somewhere you're really not supposed to be. Enemy factions also roam the landscape and it's quite thrilling when they suddenly show up and you have to hide and wait for them to pass by. That's good A-life shit. The world is divided into, I think, 4 separate areas plus a bunch of dungeons. The vibe of the whole place is a bit Deathloop-ish actually, also being an alt-60's story.
Overall, I'm enjoying it so far and will probably finish it as it's apparently not too long. I played like 15 hours of Stalker 2 and felt like I'd barely scratched the surface, so the reported 10-20 hour length of this is a plus, imo.
