What are you playing?

Disco Elysium is maybe the best game of the last decade and I'm so excited to see what that studio does next. It's easily the best pure role playing game out there.
 
Disco Elysium is maybe the best game of the last decade and I'm so excited to see what that studio does next. It's easily the best pure role playing game out there.
And who forced you to play it? Eh? Eh?

I'll force that game on as many people as I can. Violently if needed.

Supposedly the book set in the same universe is supposed to get an English release... Eventually
 
There’s a book?

—Patrick
Yeah, it's called The Sacred and Terrible Air. The designer/lead writer of Disco Elysium wrote it first and like most new authors, especially those writing a book not in English, it didn't sell. It was his depression spiral afterwards that partially lead to him trying something new and making a video game.
 
Yeah, it's called The Sacred and Terrible Air. The designer/lead writer of Disco Elysium wrote it first and like most new authors, especially those writing a book not in English, it didn't sell. It was his depression spiral afterwards that partially lead to him trying something new and making a video game.
It's also worth mentioning that this was the company's tabletop setting before it became a book. That means there are rules to play in this setting somewhere.
 
I actually found it rather uplifting, but then I'm already a depressed nihilistic communist so most of it just spoke as truthful to me.
I am also this, but I play videogames as a distraction from the terrible things in the real world. Hence, my distaste.
 
Grow, Song of the Evertree is a very pretty and fun game. It’s also unique I think.

Making the new worlds and then exploring them is fun and the kids have been helping me design some. Our daughter made a super weird one with eyeball mountain things.
 
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is both everything a Yakuza game should be (which is a scalding criticism of modern Japan) and everything a homage to JRPGs should be. It's practically an R-rated MOTHER game at parts.
 
Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry
Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice


The first one of this two-part series was on my wishlist for the longest time. Finally got it through trading some Steam keys. I grew up on adventure games and it felt like a big flashback to them. Hell, it even had blatantly flashback moments where the graphics changed to the old Sierra games. Though I'll admit, I lost patience with figuring out the puzzles and started using a guide just to get through it. And the developers did their best to bring Larry into a modern, more progressive age. Gone are the bad gay stereotypes. Though there's a trans character who, while they're not a simple punchline and more fleshed out than I expected, is also named "Tuck." So...it's not perfect. It's like they were trying to be more progressive BUT still have that same offensive style of humor of the old games and it's just a weird mish-mash of old and new.

But the jokes land more often than not. While Al Lowe was sadly not part of this, there were innuendos, visual or otherwise, everywhere. And there are some references to the old games, though not as many as I expected. In fact, there were some references to LucasArts games, which just felt odd to me. Maybe not wrong, but just odd.

I wound up enjoying it so much that I took advantage of the Steam sale and bought its sequel. And again, I enjoyed it quite a bit as plowed through it, though once against using a guide often. The puzzles were actually less intuitive this time around, especially an INCREDIBLY frustrating maze towards the end. And the references to Sierra games were less here, and I found it referenced Monkey Island more than anything. Again, not necessarily a bad thing, but for what should be a love letter to Sierra games, I guess I wanted more references to Sierra than LucasArts.

The ending to the second one bothered me, but that's more because I wanted Larry to end up with another character and not the one he winds up with. I didn't really care for the one he ends up with.

Still, these are probably some of the better, more recent adventure games I've played. I enjoyed them more than I expected. They're not perfect, but they're quite good.
 
Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry
Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice


The first one of this two-part series was on my wishlist for the longest time. Finally got it through trading some Steam keys. I grew up on adventure games and it felt like a big flashback to them. Hell, it even had blatantly flashback moments where the graphics changed to the old Sierra games. Though I'll admit, I lost patience with figuring out the puzzles and started using a guide just to get through it. And the developers did their best to bring Larry into a modern, more progressive age. Gone are the bad gay stereotypes. Though there's a trans character who, while they're not a simple punchline and more fleshed out than I expected, is also named "Tuck." So...it's not perfect. It's like they were trying to be more progressive BUT still have that same offensive style of humor of the old games and it's just a weird mish-mash of old and new.

But the jokes land more often than not. While Al Lowe was sadly not part of this, there were innuendos, visual or otherwise, everywhere. And there are some references to the old games, though not as many as I expected. In fact, there were some references to LucasArts games, which just felt odd to me. Maybe not wrong, but just odd.

I wound up enjoying it so much that I took advantage of the Steam sale and bought its sequel. And again, I enjoyed it quite a bit as plowed through it, though once against using a guide often. The puzzles were actually less intuitive this time around, especially an INCREDIBLY frustrating maze towards the end. And the references to Sierra games were less here, and I found it referenced Monkey Island more than anything. Again, not necessarily a bad thing, but for what should be a love letter to Sierra games, I guess I wanted more references to Sierra than LucasArts.

The ending to the second one bothered me, but that's more because I wanted Larry to end up with another character and not the one he winds up with. I didn't really care for the one he ends up with.

Still, these are probably some of the better, more recent adventure games I've played. I enjoyed them more than I expected. They're not perfect, but they're quite good.
Both games are made by the german developer CrazyBunch. I'm surprised that the jokes still work after the localisation.
 
Just recently I have started to play Zelda using this SNES emulator (RetroArch). I recommend to the game lovers, just play this game one time using this device, believe me, you will be fascinated with this.
 
So on a whim and because the steam sale was still going in, I picked up Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil 8: Village. I've never played a resident evil game, but I know enough through cultural osmosis to know what its about. Lucky for me, RE 7 and RE 8 are their own (shared) storyline in the universe and you don't necessarily have to know a whole lot about anything to enjoy the story.

I finished RE7 a few days ago, and as someone who might have played Phasmophobia with me at one point or another, you might remember me as somewhat skittish. Well, yes, RE7 took me a while to get through, because fuck, did they keep the tension high at all times. It eventually got a little better once I got more firepower, but man, those first few hours were brutal. Apparently, I'm not alone in my terror because the director of the Resident Evil series said feedback was overwhelmingly along the lines of "RE7 was too scary" and designed RE8 with that in mind. Playing through RE8, I can see that they definitely put in more areas of "quiet" so that you weren't constantly on the edge of pissing your pants, and actually got pretty comfortable with the game--- but then I got to that part and shut off the game in pure fear.



Not something I wanted to run into playing around midnight. Well done. On a side note, I was impressed how many QOL changes they made in RE8 from RE7. Both games are a blast today, but some real improvement was made with RE8.
 
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I actually prefer RE7's methodical approach to it's challenges than RE8's chaotic fray, mostly because RE7 rewarded your early ammo efficiency by making later challenges less severe. There is definitely a point where you just never have to stop using the hunting shotgun or the enhanced HG bullets in the Colt .45, making most enemies far less lethal.

If you haven't done it, try out Madhouse Difficulty in RE7. It completely changes how the game plays and how you need to approach problems, but in a mostly interesting way.
 
So on a whim and because the steam sale was still going in, I picked up Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil 8: Village. I've never played a resident evil game, but I know enough through cultural osmosis to know what its about. Lucky for me, RE 7 and RE 8 are their own (shared) storyline in the universe and you don't necessarily have to know a whole lot about anything to enjoy the story.

I finished RE7 a few days ago, and as someone who might have played Phasmophobia with me at one point or another, you might remember me as somewhat skittish. Well, yes, RE7 took me a while to get through, because fuck, did they keep the tension high at all times. It eventually got a little better once I got more firepower, but man, those first few hours were brutal. Apparently, I'm not alone in my terror because the director of the Resident Evil series said feedback was overwhelmingly along the lines of "RE7 was too scary" and designed RE8 with that in mind. Playing through RE8, I can see that they definitely put in more areas of "quiet" so that you weren't constantly on the edge of pissing your pants, and actually got pretty comfortable with the game--- but then I got to that part and shut off the game in pure fear.



Not something I wanted to run into playing around midnight. Well done. On a side note, I was impressed how many QOL changes they made in RE8 from RE7. Both games are a blast today, but some real improvement was made with RE8.
RE7 and RE8 are my favorite games in the franchise. RE7 is number one for me, and was a return to form after the series really went off the rails with the likes of 5 and 6. It's much more like the first game. Resident Evil 4 is genuinely one of the best games ever made, when the franchise turned into a cheesy action movie but in the best way, and RE8 is basically the spiritual successor to that.

If you find these games particularly enjoyable, I recommend giving Resident Evil 2 Remake a try, and then 3 remake. 3 is a much shorter game and like 4/8 is an action spectacle but I quite like it
 
If you find these games particularly enjoyable, I recommend giving Resident Evil 2 Remake a try, and then 3 remake. 3 is a much shorter game and like 4/8 is an action spectacle but I quite like it
Remake 3 isn't a bad game, but it's disappointing how much they just completely cut from the game or changed in order to get it out so quickly.
 
RE7 and RE8 are my favorite games in the franchise. RE7 is number one for me, and was a return to form after the series really went off the rails with the likes of 5 and 6. It's much more like the first game. Resident Evil 4 is genuinely one of the best games ever made, when the franchise turned into a cheesy action movie but in the best way, and RE8 is basically the spiritual successor to that.

If you find these games particularly enjoyable, I recommend giving Resident Evil 2 Remake a try, and then 3 remake. 3 is a much shorter game and like 4/8 is an action spectacle but I quite like it
Skip the first game remake?
 
Skip the first game remake?
The first resident evil remake is quite old by this point, and it keeps the original mechanics of fixed camera angles. It is a fun game if you like exploring a big mansion, but you might find it a little quaint compared to the newer games.
 
I'll echo that: if you are fine with classic tank controls and fixed camera angles, RE:Zero and REmake are both delightful throwbacks to the classic games. They still look damn good for games made during the Gamecube era.

If you want games that have a more classic "feel" but retain some modern sensibilities, I recommend Resident Evil Revelations 1 and 2. Both are very fun and kinda kept the series going after the debacles of 5 and 6.
 
Death Stranding

Digging the vibe of the story...but the gameplay though feels a little too real/tricky to me, it being a game about a delivery man whose job it is to delivery copious packages across difficult terrain, with parts of the road I can't go on for some random reason. That's literally my day job, only in THIS-I don't have a bike! I'm playing a harder version of my actual job, its kinda weird.
 
Death Stranding

Digging the vibe of the story...but the gameplay though feels a little too real/tricky to me, it being a game about a delivery man whose job it is to delivery copious packages across difficult terrain, with parts of the road I can't go on for some random reason. That's literally my day job, only in THIS-I don't have a bike! I'm playing a harder version of my actual job, its kinda weird.
You eventually get a bike
 
Diablo 2 is totally unplayable on PS5 so I am playing the free copy of Diablo 3 that came with it.

I blasted through the main story and am ready for a torment rift.

Slippery slope lol.
 
Super lucky find! I always play WD pets so this makes my gargantuan way better. 567% better :)

I have no idea if my laptop lag inducing/overheating build is a thing anymore, but I plan to try it.
 
Hailey and I started playing Stardew Valley the other day during her visit.
She was immediately enthralled with the game, but mostly with the bachelor/bachelorette aspect of it.
She spent the entire time talking to members of the town and building up her relationships with them while I focused on both her and my crops. =D
Quickly she also decided that Alex the "Gridball" jock would be her eventual husband.

The best conversation with her while we played went as follows:

Me: Why are you going to Alex's house? He doesn't come out this early.
Hailey: He comes out at 8:30. I'm going to wait for him.
Me: You're going to wait outside his house until he opens the door? Are you stalking him? ~Laugh~
Hailey: No. Cause he knows I'm there.
Me: Ah. Ok.
Hailey: Also I'm going to go through his trash while I wait.
 
Hailey and I started playing Stardew Valley the other day during her visit.
She was immediately enthralled with the game, but mostly with the bachelor/bachelorette aspect of it.
She spent the entire time talking to members of the town and building up her relationships with them while I focused on both her and my crops. =D
Quickly she also decided that Alex the "Gridball" jock would be her eventual husband.

The best conversation with her while we played went as follows:

Me: Why are you going to Alex's house? He doesn't come out this early.
Hailey: He comes out at 8:30. I'm going to wait for him.
Me: You're going to wait outside his house until he opens the door? Are you stalking him? ~Laugh~
Hailey: No. Cause he knows I'm there.
Me: Ah. Ok.
Hailey: Also I'm going to go through his trash while I wait.
And what about you? Are you going to marry Haley? :D
 
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