Thirith on 25/2/2023 at 22:49
A Canticle for Leibowitz ordered. Looking forward to reading it.
As far as the Pentiment reveal is concerned, I wonder if there are different versions of that conversation. I'm pretty sure that in my version, when you ask Father Thomas why he killed the Baron and Otto, he says that someone other than him killed those two, one of the various people he manipulated into it. Which might be a lie, but seeing how he confesses his first murder and the 'accident' leading to Claus' death, I don't see why he would. But I'll have to rewatch that conversation - it's very well possible I've missed something.
Sulphur on 26/2/2023 at 06:36
Quote Posted by Thirith
A Canticle for Leibowitz ordered. Looking forward to reading it.
As far as the
Pentiment reveal is concerned, I wonder if there are different versions of that conversation. I'm pretty sure that in my version,
when you ask Father Thomas why he killed the Baron and Otto, he says that someone other than him killed those two, one of the various people he manipulated into it. Which might be a lie, but seeing how he confesses his first murder and the 'accident' leading to Claus' death, I don't see why he would. But I'll have to rewatch that conversation - it's very well possible I've missed something.
Looking forward to your opinion on it!
I took a look at the ending again, and there's some ambiguity depending on the dialogue choice. ((https://youtu.be/hfvEI4NyV74?t=1796) https://youtu.be/hfvEI4NyV74?t=1796) For the baron, a dialogue point implies that he had no qualms murdering again, and he doesn't deny it. But then, for Otto, out of the two dialogue choices, 'So you killed him to prevent the uprising, but it caused it instead?', and 'You seem to have a difficult time reading people, father', I went with the latter. If you go with the former, he says he didn't kill Otto or the baron, which I didn't get in my playthrough and renders the conversation less murky. Still, I have to wonder, the person who killed Otto knew about the ruins and the aqueduct, was portly, and the path through the aqueduct leads directly to the abbey, so... oh well, I guess we'll never know. That's not the point of what the story is doing, anyway, I suppose.henke on 26/2/2023 at 12:21
Finished Ghostwire: Tokyo. Running around the open world doing sidequests and getting collectables was so compelling that I put off doing the final mission for a few days. In the end it was a ~19h game, with plenty of sidestuff left un-done. Very nice open world, fantastic visuals, fun combat and movement. The story wasn't very engaging, but somehow did manage to pull it all together for a satisfying ending. Yeah, overall a good game! :thumb:
Pyrian on 27/2/2023 at 05:29
I've been playing Polytopia "What if Civ, but in like 1-2 hours" and finding it does a good job of scratching that itch without ruining my life. I do wish the "normal" civilizations had more distinguishing features, the bulk of them play a bit samey after the first several turns, which is not what I want in a short game.
I picked it up on sale on Steam; it'll still be on sale for a few more days if anyone's curious.
Thirith on 27/2/2023 at 08:09
I've put Returnal on hold because Chimera Squad has pulled me in, and like so many Firaxis games it's very much "Just one more turn..." I can see how fans of the first two XCOM games, and especially those who love the Long War mods, might not like this one as much because of its much smaller encounters, but I enjoy this take on XCOM's combat as individual, small-scale puzzles of sorts. For me, there's an appeal in both takes on the formula - and Chimera Squad is making me more curious about Midnight Suns. (Since I've been playing Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion with my wife, I can also better imagine how the tactical gameplay and the card-based abilities could combine in fun ways.)
Malf on 27/2/2023 at 11:30
Finished off Elden Ring this weekend, and started a New Game + to see what the difficulty spike is like. Turns out, I must be hugely over-levelled, because it's not bad at all, and I handily killed the skill-check monster as well as that big bastard mounted knight just outside of the starter building.
But I put it away after that even though there's lots of things I'd like to do in a second run (there's a lot of quests I botched).
Instead, I put some decent time in with Returnal. FPS still dips occasionally as the engine caches, and the shooting sounds get very repetitive very quickly, but I'm really enjoying it. I feel like the game's very good at teaching me how to play, and I get a little further each run.
I also started a mini-megaproject in my Dwarf Fortress game, because, as previously noted, trees aren't growing very quickly on the surface any more. So I'm digging out a couple of layers in preparation for breaching the caverns, whereupon cavern moss should propagate over the bottom sand layer, followed by giant mushrooms, which can then be harvested for logs.
Sulphur, and anyone else interested in getting in to DF, if you want, I'd happily act as a tutor to introduce you to the game. Either by watching me play, or by me watching you play and offering feedback. It can be very daunting to get in to, but once you've set up basic manufacturing of food, booze, furniture and armour/weaponry, you can then begin to experiment and investigate stories. There's some great tutorial videos out there, but I think having live feedback would be a lot more useful.
Oh, and finally, I picked up V Rising this weekend, and put a bit of time in to it before bed last night, and it certainly has promise. It looks like it's got a healthy and interesting simulation going on alongside you building your (V)empire. Villagers and wild life interact in interesting ways, and it looks like there's also some fire propagation going on. Keen to put a bit more time in to this and see exactly how it pans out.
Briareos H on 27/2/2023 at 11:39
Quote Posted by Malf
I feel like the game's very good at teaching me how to play, and I get a little further each run.
I'm getting the same feeling, I think it's the first time I've ever willingly paid attention to short video gameplay tutorials in a video game, yet at the same time the hand-holding is restrained in scope and unintrusive. The reveals of new elements in game design and mechanics are extremely well-paced, creating a feeling of mystery and awe not unlike a Metroid game. It all makes it so easy to want to go back.
EDIT:
Pizza Tower is more than the sum of its parts.
Jumping Taffer on 27/2/2023 at 16:52
I've recently been getting back into Thief after a two-year hiatus from it, man is it fun to play again :cheeky:
Other than that I've also been playing Metroid Prime Remastered which also made me remember how fun the gameplay from the Prime series is. I really hope they remaster Echoes my favorite one with the Trilogy controls.
Also I've been playing Pokemon Pinball RS again, it's a nice addicting game to play on the side while relaxing.
Sulphur on 28/2/2023 at 02:00
Malf, that's generous of you. It may be a long while though, because Qud is going to be my first port of call, and you already know my backlog is long enough to encircle Jupiter and swallow it whole if you laid it out end to end.
Malf on 28/2/2023 at 13:46
Ha, no worries Sulphur!
The offer will still stand should you ever get around to it.
After some more Returnal last night, I dug in to V Rising a bit more, and it really is very cool.
There's a lot going on, like base-building, crafting, Diablo-esque combat, interacting factions creating a feeling of a world that would run with or without your presence and some good, non-abusive progression systems. Character skills are gotten by killing bosses and absorbing their abilities, while stats are purely driven by gear, which feeds back in to the base-building, as you need better facilities in order to craft better gear.
There's also a bit of a Far Cry 2 feel to it, with outposts forcing you to take the road-less travelled until you've improved your gear enough.
And finally, various things hint at systems that I haven't engaged with yet, like silver coins that can be used to buy stuff from traders (but which damage you while you are holding them), implying there's some way to interact with inhabitants of the world besides combat, and mentions of servants, implying that you may be able to enthrall people and have them work for you.
Very impressed, as on paper, it reads like just another survival game, but in practice, plays a LOT better, enough that it is very much its own thing.
And it's also nice playing the unabashed bad-guy, something that doesn't happen enough in gaming.
It is Early Access, but it certainly doesn't feel like it, and it also has co-op (HINT HINT.)
