Malleus on 30/7/2020 at 11:18
Looking through forums and such, it seems the majority of people prefer Origins to Odyssey. I'm wary of Odyssey, because even though the greek world looks interesting, it seems way more heavy on rpg elements. Even during the free weekend I came across situations where I assassinated a random mook, but it didn't kill him. That was disappointing. Origins was way more reliable in that regard as apart from specific mini-boss type enemies, everyone around my level could taken out by an assassination, or predator arrow and even owerpower attacks during combat were reliable one-shots.
Valhalla certainly doesn't seem to shake up the overall formula, it'll be more of the same with some changes and additions, which I don't mind as I'm not tired of it yet. One of the good changes though, is that assassinations will be one-shot kills again, with the caveat that if you try it on a high level enemy or boss, you have to pass a quick time event. It seems ... reasonable.
Tomi on 30/7/2020 at 17:59
Playing
Bendy and the Ink Machine.
The concept is pretty cool, I love the aesthetics (even though the sepia palette gets old real quick), the story is fairly interesting, but the actual gameplay is severely lacking. This is like a typical indie horror game that has a bunch of neat ideas, but the execution feels a bit half-arsed. The horror stuff loses its edge early on in the game, and the jump scares don't make things any better. There are a bunch of really simple puzzles, and visiting new areas is sort of fun, but most of the game seems to be annoying fetch quests that make you visit the same places over and over again. They should have crammed this game into a tight 2-hour package and it would have been much more enjoyable, now there's way too much filler content. The melee combat and boss fights are particularly bad, but that goes for everything involving any kind of action in this game.
Inline Image:
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1484451438444362135/73674B8EA4200D7B16EE96F08AEDA0EB5920B9ED/
Jason Moyer on 2/8/2020 at 01:28
Welp, that's Descent 2 in the bag. On paper, I want to say it's better than Descent 1. More detailed/complex maps, guidebot, proper difficulty curve, more bosses, badass new weapons and abilities (headlight, afterburner, etc), better enemy AI, etc.. On the other hand, fuck the Bandit bot (which Rebirth, mercifully, let's you despawn) and all of the other fast/swarm enemies that are a PitA until you get the gun that auto-aims. There's something about the first game, with all of its issues, that I think I prefer. I think the maps in the original have a better flow. The hunting for switches to open gates/doors/forcefields in the sequel isn't a good time. The complete lack of hostages to rescue in the last third of 2 is weird. I dunno, they're both great games I want to replay on harder difficulties at some point.
Next up I'm going to do the official Vertigo campaign for D2, which isn't included in the GOG or Steam versions for some reason (the data files you need are easy to find). Then I'll probably play 3 to finish off the series.
henke on 2/8/2020 at 11:41
Yeah I also played a bit of Descent 2 and I agree with you. It feels like a lot of the kinks have been ironed out, but at the same time it didn't grab me like the first one did.
Thirith on 2/8/2020 at 15:49
After finishing chapter 4 of
Red Dead Redemption 2, I'm playing a bunch of shorter games, in this case the bite-sized - and free - point & click adventures
Midnight Scenes: The Highway and
The Supper by Octavi Navarro. Especially the former, a
Twilight Zone pastiche suffers from feeling unfinished, ending very abruptly, but both are beautifully crafted mood pieces, the gorgeously stylish pixel art (think LucasArts at the height of its P&C powers) and pitch-perfect music working together to create a certain ominous tone. I'm not sure I'd trust Navarro to tell a longer story on his own, as the weakness of both of these is definitely the stories they tell (especially
The Supper is neat while it's happening, but it doesn't necessarily add up), but I'll be there for any future games he works on.
Inline Image:
https://buried-treasure.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/03_thesupper-768x373.jpgI then got started on
MO:Astray, a weird, moody puzzle platformer that, much like these other two games, excels in terms of atmosphere, even if the story and storytelling aren't great.
MO's visuals are a blend of the cutesy and the gruesome, and while the puzzles can sometimes get a bit frustrating (especially when you know what you're supposed to be doing but you fail at the twitchy part), they're still reasonably clever and don't overstay their welcome. While the tone is very different, I think this might appeal to people who like the Oddworld games - as long as you don't mind a more indie, somewhat anime-inspired aesthetic.
Inline Image:
https://assets.rockpapershotgun.com/images/2019/11/01_mo_astray.jpg
Thirith on 5/8/2020 at 15:49
Finished MO:Astray, a nifty game, but one that didn't give me a single reason to care about the plot. Which is okay, but I like storytelling in games, so this won't end up particularly memorable for me.
I now briefly got started on CONTROL, and my first two impressions: 1) Remedy is a bit hit and miss for me (loved Max Payne 2, disliked Alan Wake), but this looks like a hit, and 2) this is probably the best showcase I've seen yet for raytracing. With DLSS 2.0 and good performance at high settings, it makes a surprising difference for light to act this naturally yet stylishly. Yes, you can do a lot with technical trickery, but particularly the way things are reflected feels very distinctly real. It's difficult to explain, but the way CONTROL uses raytracing reminds me of the way Max Payne 2 used physics to make the world around you feel more tactile and real. Is it necessary? No. Is it nice? Hell, yeah!
henke on 5/8/2020 at 18:07
Tons of Hardspace:Shipbreaker, Snowrunner, and Golf on Mars BUT ALSO:
Fall Guys - This is a PS+ game this month (along with COD:MW2 Remastered, good month!) and I played a few rounds yesterday, tho the servers are getting hammered so it was kinda hard getting into games. It's a 60-player physics-based multiplayer race through a bunch of randomly picked minigames. The aesthetics makes it look Human Fall Flat-esque, but the actual physics are significantly more simple than HFF. Eh... I kinda like it tho? At only 4GB I think it might become the kinda thing I keep around and fire up from time to time.
Erica - Last month's PS+ game. It's an FMV game! Interesting to see what can be done with this genre these days. There's some nifty ways live action video and interactive elements are blended together in this, but beyond that it's not much to write home about. The acting is so-so and after a couple sessions 2 nights in a row I feel like I've already lost the plot. It's only mildly compelling and not very well told.
KIDS / PLUG & PLAY - Picked this up when it was in the Swiss Games Sale on Steam. The artstyle is lo-fi black & white, very smoothly animated, looks nice. They each cost a few bucks and take 10-20 min to play through. I played KIDS first and it's kinda like a typical pretentious arthouse montage of weird shit that maybe means something to someone. After that I played PLUG & PLAY and hooooooo boy, this one is WILD. Definitely recommended, if you wanna see... some... stuff...
Jason Moyer on 8/8/2020 at 08:30
Finished Descent, Descent II, Descent II: Vertigo Series, and Descent: Maximum (ported to D2 for PC). I no longer have any sense of direction or equilibrium.
Vertigo Series was...good! I think I generally liked it more than D2, despite it not really adding much to the formula. What it does differently is focus less on environmental themed levels and more on interesting/novel level ideas. And they re-introduced robots from the first game, which somehow works (probably because homing weapons and quasi-hitscan weapons seem nerfed compared to the original). Anyway, I enjoyed the expansion.
Descent: Maximum is interesting. It's supposed to be a port of D2 to the PS1, but it has entirely different levels that remind me more of Vertigo Series missions but much easier/smaller. The first few levels are probably the smallest levels I've ever encountered in a 3D game (seriously, they're on par with the hubs in DXIW or something). On the plus side, the small maps work really well for a run-n-gun playstyle and the levels have a bit of the novelty aspects found in Vertigo. Not bad on an easier difficulty, but I think it would be fun to see how far I can get on Insane.
No idea what I want to play next. Something old probably. Maybe Ultima Underworld 1+2 or System Shock Enhanced.
Harvester on 8/8/2020 at 08:45
I finished Quake, using the QuakeSpasm source port. I tried a few of the HQ mods but they all had bugs or things about them that I didn't like so I decided to go with the original look. I appreciate Quake's level design and gameplay now more than I did when it came out, back then I was more into Duke Nukem 3D. It also helps that I now have the music tracks by Trent Reznor (I downloaded them but they're included on the GOG version's CD images so technically I paid for them, just didn't feel like mounting the images and ripping the tracks myself), they add a lot of atmosphere. When it came out I played a pirated version without the music, and now that I do have the tracks they make a big difference in the immersion factor.
Great game that holds up well! The gameplay is simple but refined and I love hunting for secrets. I thought of playing on Hard skill, but I decided gaming, especially after a busy work day, should be relaxing so I chose Medium instead.
Next up is Machine Games' Episode 5, I already downloaded it, and then I plan on playing the expansion packs Scourge of Armagon and Dissolutions of Eternity and finally the fan favorite mission pack Arcane Dimensions.
Gryzemuis on 8/8/2020 at 11:20
The Witcher 3. It's better than I remembered.
I played TW3 in the summer of 2015, when it was released. I even finished the main story-line. The game was good, but somehow I didn't feel satisfied. I don't know why. The combat system was maybe not fun ? It took me a while to understand the game-mechanisms to a point where I could really use them (talents, alchemy, crafting). I didn't like constantly needing food. I didn't fully understand the story: what was important, and what were fluffy secondary quests. Who was Ciri, and why should I care about her ? I knew Triss, but why was Yenn more important ? I bought the DLCs in 2018 or so, but never could be bothered to play/finish them.
So I played the game in 2015. I read the first 2 books by Sapkowski since then. And now I've seen the tv-series. So I understand the world and the story a bit better. Yennifer isn't a stranger anymore. I know the difference between Temeria and Redenia, etc. I still remembered the game-mechanisms. I'm looking up what I don't know (what the heck does adrenaline do ?). Dark Souls has thought me to dodge everything enemies throw at me. I remember needing a *lot* of time to play the lower levels in Velen. Now, in my 2nd play-through, things go much faster. In 2015 I avoided using fast-travel. Now I do use fast-travel, but only when I'm going to the next stage of a quest. For everything else, I just ride Roach. It gives me more focus on the quest I'm doing, less distraction.
The game looks awesome. Better than I remembered. In 2015 I had a i5-3570K@4.0GHz, a gtx680, 8 GB of ram and a 27" 16:9 screen. Nowadays I still have the i5-3570K. But I have 16GB of ram, a gtx1080 and a 35" 21:9 screen. I run the game at the highest settings, getting a constant 60 fps (at 2560x1080). Maybe the hardware makes a difference. I suppose CD projekt has improved the engine in the mean time.
I'm not sure, but I got the impression that a few small quests have been added. Cutscenes are added, or changed. The ramblings of NPCs have more diversity. Everything seems to have a bit more flavor. More polish even.
I'm positively surprised. I'm certainly gonna finish the game, and play the 2 DLCs. I'm gonna try and take my time. No hurrying.