What are you playing?

chris

chris

Final Fantasy XVI
According to the Playstation I'm 2/3 through the game after 33 hours. The fight with Titan was awesome, especially with the high pumping techno soundtrack.

Oh and I can now block attacks. Apparently nobody taught Clive how to block?

I also got inspired by Frank and start playing the Pixel Remaster, starting with Final Fantasy I. It's easier to play than the original NES version. After 11 hours I got the airship.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Baldur's Gate 3:

This game just came out Thursday, and according to Steam I've played 30 hours of it since then.

... That's included a lot of no sleep. I just woke up after collapsing into bed and sleeping for 12 hours straight.
 
Squidleybits

Squidleybits

I’m really liking the closed Beta of Palia. I’m farming, gathering and making my house pretty. There is a main quest line, but I’m in no rush.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Arcade Paradise

I got a 2-week trial for the PC Game Pass. Tried a few games. High on Life, for example, which I could only stomach for about 20 minutes before the endless annoying dialogue killed it for me.

But then I tried Arcade Paradise on a whim.

I wound up obsessively playing it for a few days to completion. Though I don't think it's the kind of game I'd revisit.

I dug the game, though. It's less an arcade simulator and more a story-driven game with a LOT of arcade mini-games. It's not difficult to run the business or make money. I was able to buy a new arcade cabinet (or two) almost every day. But it was interesting watching the transformation from laundromat to fully stocked arcade.

The real gem is the multitude of arcades you can plan. A lot of them are similar to old arcade games, but with a new twist. There's a Pac-Man-like game that mixes some Grand Theft Auto in it, Or a Missile Command-like game that adds combos when you blow up an incoming missile. A lot of the games are surprisingly addictive.

But once I plowed through to the story and had a fully operational arcade, I didn't really feel inclined to continue. Each arcade game has goals you can get, but I didn't feel like 100%'ing the game.

Still, I enjoyed it for what it was, even if it's not something I'll probably ever revisit.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Starfield

So I played some more Starfield, about eight hours total, and I think I'm giving up. I'm glad I got this on gamepass and didn't have to pay anything for it.

Movement and combat feel really bad. The guns all feel like airsoft guns and offer no feedback. The FOV is incredibly narrow and can't be altered without modding or tearing apart the ini file. Movement is very floaty and enemies, even at low levels, are all just bullet sponges. The gunplay in this game is basically Fallout 4 but without VATS, and VATS was the only way I think I ever found to play FO4 that didn't feel awful.

If I liked the story more, maybe I could just ignore the bad combat, but I don't, and it feels rather unimmersive to me. I was hoping to get to fly a spaceship, the spaceship is basically a menu with a glorified minigame attached, and yeah. I'm happy for all the people that are enjoying this, I wish them well, but this game is not for me.
 
MindDetective

MindDetective

Ravenpoe said:
Starfield

So I played some more Starfield, about eight hours total, and I think I'm giving up. I'm glad I got this on gamepass and didn't have to pay anything for it.

Movement and combat feel really bad. The guns all feel like airsoft guns and offer no feedback. The FOV is incredibly narrow and can't be altered without modding or tearing apart the ini file. Movement is very floaty and enemies, even at low levels, are all just bullet sponges. The gunplay in this game is basically Fallout 4 but without VATS, and VATS was the only way I think I ever found to play FO4 that didn't feel awful.

If I liked the story more, maybe I could just ignore the bad combat, but I don't, and it feels rather unimmersive to me. I was hoping to get to fly a spaceship, the spaceship is basically a menu with a glorified minigame attached, and yeah. I'm happy for all the people that are enjoying this, I wish them well, but this game is not for me.
Click to expand...
Did I read that the latest update improved combat significantly? It sounds pretty awful, still.
 
Dei

Dei

Ravenpoe said:
Starfield

So I played some more Starfield, about eight hours total, and I think I'm giving up. I'm glad I got this on gamepass and didn't have to pay anything for it.

Movement and combat feel really bad. The guns all feel like airsoft guns and offer no feedback. The FOV is incredibly narrow and can't be altered without modding or tearing apart the ini file. Movement is very floaty and enemies, even at low levels, are all just bullet sponges. The gunplay in this game is basically Fallout 4 but without VATS, and VATS was the only way I think I ever found to play FO4 that didn't feel awful.

If I liked the story more, maybe I could just ignore the bad combat, but I don't, and it feels rather unimmersive to me. I was hoping to get to fly a spaceship, the spaceship is basically a menu with a glorified minigame attached, and yeah. I'm happy for all the people that are enjoying this, I wish them well, but this game is not for me.
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I can play Starfield as a "Do random quest get a dopamine hit for finishing" but yeah, I'm also having a hard time giving a fuck about the plot, Space fights are awful, ship building is super janky, dialogue flow is awful and jarring...

I think the 300+ hours I have poured into BG3 so far have really spoiled my ability to even try to enjoy Starfield as more than a fetch quest simulator. Don't get me wrong, BG3 also has it's bugs and jank, but I actually give a fuck about the consequences of my actions.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

MindDetective said:
Did I read that the latest update improved combat significantly? It sounds pretty awful, still.
Click to expand...

I don't understand how they can spend so long making this game and still have combat feel like it's from a ten year old game that did it poorly then as well.

And it would be one thing if the game wasn't a shooter. I didn't mind the clunky skyrim sword and magic combat, even though it was arguably also clunky and bad, but this game is a shooter, you shoot people with guns. That's 90% of the gameplay, shooting at things with guns. And the guns are awful and feel weak and there's no redeeming factor to using them. Aim down sights sucks, hip fire is super inaccurate, going for headshots doesn't do a whole lot, there's no cover system... your best way of dealing with any enemy is to use your little boost pack to jump up and land right in front of them, and empty your whole magazine into their chest, and then maybe reload and do it again, because this space pirate wearing no armor is still alive with eleven bullets in their chest.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

I should mention, I guess this is considered kind of a spoiler, so I'll spoiler tag it, even though I don't think it's much of a spoiler.

There is space magic. These act almost exactly like Skyrim shouts, where you have to track down a specific location to get the power, and then you equip which power you want to use, and you can use it, and it slowly recharges over time until you can use it again. But it's not enough to make the dull combat fun, at least for me. I also never used shouts much in Skyrim other than the classic fus-ro-dah people off a cliff.
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

GasBandit said:
It doesn't help that the perfect ship has already been deduced.

View attachment 46008

www.eurogamer.net

This Starfield player made an "unbeatable ship" that's all corners

Starfield players are already having a lot of fun designing ships, but one player has managed to create the ultimate sh…
www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net
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The very best part of this is that this is the EXACT solution Kingdom Hearts players developed for the Gummy Ship. This isn't even new: it's a strategy that's worked for 21 years.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
AshburnerX said:
The very best part of this is that this is the EXACT solution Kingdom Hearts players developed for the Gummy Ship. This isn't even new: it's a strategy that's worked for 21 years.
Click to expand...
If only every single block-based space building game (Empyrion, Space Engineers, etc) hadn't already thought of this issue and fixed it 10+ years ago, right?
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Ok, while I'm in a complaining mood, fuck over encumbrance. Is it realistic that looting a space suit off of someone should be so heavy that I can't carry anything else? Maybe. Is it fun? Fuck no. I want to be able to carry more than a small handful of things, let me loot shit!
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Ravenpoe said:
Ok, while I'm in a complaining mood, fuck over encumbrance. Is it realistic that looting a space suit off of someone should be so heavy that I can't carry anything else? Maybe. Is it fun? Fuck no. I want to be able to carry more than a small handful of things, let me loot shit!
Click to expand...
You and Dave are not the only ones complaining about this:



 
Far

Far

Ravenpoe said:
I'm glad you're enjoying it, and since you obviously like the game, I'm curious how you are finding the gunplay
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My problem with the game's combat isn't the gunplay, though sometimes bullets feel like pea shooters inexplicably, so much as it is the AI. Like to the point that I think there might be some behaviour issues with it.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
Far said:
My problem with the game's combat isn't the gunplay, though sometimes bullets feel like pea shooters inexplicably, so much as it is the AI. Like to the point that I think there might be some behaviour issues with it.
Click to expand...
Gunplay is trivial to me. I found a really powerful gun early on and put my skills into that so it's very powerful. I'm honestly better off rushing in and just zerg rushing the bad guys because I deal out so much more damage than I take with my armor.

The thing I have an issue with is stealth sucks balls and the bad guys ALWAYS know where you are. My stealth is maxed out and I think I've only ever sneaked my way around a couple of times. But I gave my companion a heavy weapon and one bullet so now she just explodes everything. And everything around her target.
 
IronBrig4

IronBrig4

My PC is sputtering so I can only play low-memory games. Life is Feudal: Forest Village is pretty good but the developers abandoned it even with a lot of flaws that needed correcting.
 
IronBrig4

IronBrig4

@ PatrThom

Forest Village has some balancing issues and bugs that weren't addressed for years. Now they never will be. It looks like some mods get rid of the worst bugs, however.

At any rate, Medieval Dynasty does everything Forest Village does, except better.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
If you are old like me you might remember this game. It was the first of its kind and it spawned a genre as well as an easily recognizable interface. It has its issues which I might go into later, but I had a real fanboi "squeee-!" at this one.

 
chris

chris

Final Fantasy XVI

I already mentioned it in another thread that I finished the game.

First thing first. Is Final Fantasy XVI a bad game? No, it is not. But it will not be something for everyone. I like it even though there are some minor things I don't like.

- Your party doesn't really matter. Since you can't give them any commands (Except for Torgal) they just fight and do whatever they want until the enemy is dead. But you don't need to manage their health.
- The side quests can get a bit monotone.
- The pacing especially to end is not very good. Suddenly you get a whole lot of side quest dumped on you. You don't have to do them but they will give closure to character arcs.
- No Chocobo song while riding.

Overall I like the game. The main story is great and can get very emotional. The Skill point system gives a lot of room for experimenting. You can rearrange the points at any time outside of fights. The fights are entertaining especially the Eikon fights.

If you like Final Fantasy and played every game you probably already played it. If you like games like Devils May Cry but want something easier you should try it out. If you only played Final Fantasy VII Remake and really like it, skip XVI and wait for Rebirth.

Oh, and it is not like Game of Thrones.
 
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ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Heaven's Vault

I honestly thought I would like this. I like the idea of translating ancient languages. And I was kind of engaged in the story and characters. I didn't know there were sci-fi elements like robots and spaceships until I started. Which doesn't necessarily bother me, so much as it was unexpected.

But...I don't know. The translating element of the game isn't very intuitive. And the controller has an annoyingly strong vibration any time you play around with translating. If I could turn it down or off, it wouldn't be so annoying, but there's no option in the settings.

So yeah, I'm giving up on this one.
 
Squidleybits

Squidleybits

I grabbed Valheim to play with our son. I have no idea what I’m doing, but he has a plan. It’s really pretty and works really well on Steam Deck so far.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Squidleybits said:
I grabbed Valheim to play with our son. I have no idea what I’m doing, but he has a plan. It’s really pretty and works really well on Steam Deck so far.
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I'm still running a Valheim server for various HF users. When the next biome comes out and you have to start over anyway, you might consider joining us.
 
WasabiPoptart

WasabiPoptart

FFXIV

I've been playing for 2+ years now. I play a samurai main, but switch to reaper sometimes. Also trying to get over tank-xiety so I can finally play a dark knight. I've finally got my crafters all almost to level 90, too.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Warhammer 40k: Darktide just had a MASSIVE update that completely revamped power progression into wow-esque talent trees, and so far it is really good, especially now that crafting is more fleshed out. I mean, a grumpypuss could say something like "this is what the game should have at least been like at launch" but whatever.

Psykers now get an ability that basically turn them into Yondu from GotG, if Yondu had FOUR arrows.
 
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