What are you playing? (2022 Edition)

Starker on 9/3/2022 at 16:45

Been playing Lost Ark the past few weeks and I don't dislike it. It's the first MMO I've played for any significant amount of time. I tried SWtoR once and bounced off of it hard and none of the others have managed to appeal even long enough to try them out. It's just the combination of sub-par graphics, atrocious story-telling and the riveting gameplay of collecting 10 bear asses and running back and forth between NPCs, rinse and repeat, that never quite managed to grab me.

Lost Ark, though, while not the cutting edge, doesn't look half bad and even the typical MMO gameplay is less obnoxious. Or, at least, largely skippable and varied enough. For one, it actually requires a modicum of skill, occasionally. Also, there's a good mix of exploration, mini-games, solo fighting, and cooperative battles that you can pretty much mix and match as you please, though some of it is gated, of course. Oh, and a lot of the PVP is equalised, so you can pretty much jump in as you please as well.

Anyway, I found it's a pretty nice time-waster to put on a podcast and hunt down some collectables or whatnot.

faetal on 9/3/2022 at 16:51

Quote Posted by PigLick

other necessary life things, like working

Put these foolish ambitions to rest.

Renault on 10/3/2022 at 15:51

I finished up Metro Last Light, it was pretty good, although not quite as good as the original. My main beef was the boss fights, they just seemed very un-Metro, and also felt like they were just thrown in the game as if to say "look, we have boss fights!" Completely awkward and unnecessary, they didn't serve any real purpose. I also wasn't a fan of the big battle at the end of the game, which was all just shooting things as fast as you can in a confined space, like a shooting gallery. Pretty dumb. On the plus side, I really loved the outside environments in the game, especially the swamp levels. They were scary and fun at the same time.

My only other complaint stems from me choosing Ranger mode, which I didn't really realize what I was getting into (my fault). You only get two weapons, limited ammo, and sometimes I felt like I was made out of paper. Got me into some really frustrating situations a few times.

Ok, on to the DLC and then Exodus.

faetal on 10/3/2022 at 15:52

Metro Last Light felt like a real labour of love in the details.
Last game that made me feel the same way was Half Life 2.

Neb on 13/3/2022 at 12:05

I was exploring my enormous backlog and finally gave Robin Hood a try (I think I bought it in 2014). I'm hooked so far. It's in the style of the old Commandos games and has a lovely cutaway style for building interiors.

Inline Image:

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1833533696862706197/0E13A3FFB7E5A4362480E97C712CF1780144FB1A/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

The stealth is great IMO, with abilities split between the party. Robin can knock people out, but it only lasts a couple of minutes, and guards can wake up their downed comrades. You need another character able to tie the hands of downed guards, and another strong enough to carry them out of the way to avoid notice. There are scenarios where Robin has to scale a wall, sneak to a gatehouse, and then lower the drawbridge for the rest of your party to enter a castle. You can also climb some rooftops and jump between them. It gives the levels a sense of verticality, but it's largely contextual.

Each level is large (and dense) enough that it's taking me a good while to pick apart, and on the whole I'm finding it highly rewarding to think ahead and bite off the chunks. It's a shame that the game is mostly forgotten and hard to get running well.

Inline Image:

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1833533696862705722/BAB5383AF21E347C1D3EA80F307B0FF9C3B3D930/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

The AI is mostly enjoyable. In the below pics two guard patrols meet each other on the path by the windmill. I took out one of the patrols which caused the other to become suspicious and go to investigate. The commander lines the troops up and instructs them away to see what's happened.

Inline Image:

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1833533696862699829/6330D2360FF6A56F45C679AE15E90AC09DC3B69C/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Inline Image:

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1833533696862702909/8A5A75A3720396CF4BACEF185C0CCCD4FA78BCAD/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

I'd definitely recommend it for stealth fans. I've also gone and bought myself Desperados and all of the Commandos games. Looking forward to trying them out finally.

henke on 13/3/2022 at 16:09

Oh interesting! I remember seeing that in a magazine ages ago and being very intrigued, being a Commandos-fan. I see a lot of people (https://store.steampowered.com/app/46560/Robin_Hood_The_Legend_of_Sherwood/) having issues with lag in the Steam version tho. Hmm, maybe I'll still give it a go some time.

Neb on 13/3/2022 at 16:45

Yeah, I had to use a fix to reduce the performance problems before it was playable. There's still a bit of freezing every time you hover a button in the menu though. The rebind menu is absolutely fucked too.

Thirith on 13/3/2022 at 16:51

While I'm enjoying the gameplay and environment of Mirror's Edge Catalyst a lot (with some caveats, but nothing major), I had completely forgotten the Rebecca Thane character. What is it with this game and Bioshock Infinite and their angry black female characters that are both written to have valid grievances, but the games insist on making them terrorists that take things too far into violence and murder? If that's a common trope, then congrats, it manages to be racist and sexist and politically facile and reductive. It's clear that these games don't get nearly close enough to making any worthwhile political commentary, but the way they still try to be political and peddle the offensively simplistic horseshoe theory makes them look smug and tacky and self-congratulatory.

Aja on 14/3/2022 at 19:34

I couldn't help myself; I bought a new steering wheel for Gran Turismo (my old Driving Force Pro is sadly incompatible with PS5). I went for the (https://www.logitechg.com/en-ca/products/driving/g923-trueforce-sim-racing-wheel.html) Logitech G923 and the "fuck it" optional H-gate shifter. Neither feel like pro sim pieces of equipment, but the force feedback is detailed and smooth (without the grinding whine of the DFP) and it's so much more satisfying than playing a controller (albeit slightly slower for me at this point). And it's piqued my interest in other racing sims on PS5. I tried a demo of Dirt Rally 2.0, and it felt good. Also got Assetto Corsa, which was deeply discounted, and has a great driving model. I'm curious about the sequel, Competizione, which apparently has some unique feedback effects with this particular wheel. Looks like I'm momentarily back in a car-game phase (and Elden Ring, of course Elden Ring).

Tomi on 23/3/2022 at 23:15

I'm taking a bit of a break from all game dev stuff, so I've been actually playing games for a change.

Pawnbarian: It's from Humble Bundle's excellent (https://www.humblebundle.com/stand-with-ukraine-bundle) Stand with Ukraine Bundle. I didn't expect it to be any good, but I've been quite addicted to it. Pawnbarian is a fun little puzzle game that combines chess with a rogue-lite system - the game is played on a normal 8x8 board, but you can upgrade your chess pieces and you fight against all sorts of monsters, and try to stay alive long enough to beat the end boss. And it's tough as hell. I finally managed to finish the three dungeons on "normal" difficulty and I think I've had enough of this game, but I did manage to squeeze 3-4 hours of fun out of it! Recommended.

My Brother Rabbit: I played this one with my 3-yo daughter. MBR is a casual point&click adventure where you try to find hidden objects on the screen and solve light puzzles. I must say that we had plenty of fun playing this one. My daughter was surprisingly good at finding the objects and remembering where we're supposed to bring them, and I solved the puzzles that would have been impossible for her, but were just about challenging enough for me, so that we didn't get stuck for too long. It's a very short game, an adult should be able to finish it in about 3 hours or even less, but it has a nice story and it looks and sounds pretty good. The only problem is that my daughter wants to play it again after we've already beaten it twice during the last two weeks. :D Can someone recommend another game that I could play with her? (She doesn't understand English, so anything with too much dialogue isn't good.)

SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech: I've loved all the SteamWorld games so far, so I was really looking forward to playing Hand of Gilgamech at last. I thought it would be like a fun version of Slay the Spire with a proper story, and it kind of is, but there's something missing. I suppose that a card game doesn't really work when there isn't much challenge (my bad for not choosing the hardest difficulty, I guess). The deck building could be good as there are quite a lot of cards to choose from and five different characters, but I've played pretty much the whole game with the same three characters and basically the same deck, and I haven't had too much trouble. I've tried experimenting a bit, but it feels like I'm only deliberately making things harder for myself. The story is nice enough (even though the characters aren't as sympathetic as in other SteamWorld games) and I want to see how it all ends, but the gameplay is a bit grindy and not as interesting as I feel as it should be. Hand of Gilgamech is not a bad game, but I'm still a bit disappointed.