What Are You Playing?

[chronovore]

Still struggling with coming up with reasons to play SAINTS ROW reboot. The camera feels cheap. Haptic triggers overweighted on gunplay makes it feel clunky. I really wanted another SR game, this ain't it. 

Tried COD's free DMZ mode, as it sounded like something I'd enjoy, but the entire game is newb-hostile, and I DEEEEELEEEEETED it after a couple hours.

Actually ended up play a number of things on BoardGameArena and TabletopSimulator, with friends. It was on a PC, so it counts as vidya.

[HardcoreRetro]

Felt like playing Command and Conquer Generals today for some reason.

Good game.

[Boredfrom]

So I played Unpacking and… why is this so hyped? This Going Home all over again. I will admit is kind of addicting but the story is basically

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Lesbians and growing up

. Is cute but I expected more than the dev wish fulfillment (no offense). I think the only truly genuine moment was in the middle of the game, because otherwise is: I saw Up but I forgot the bittersweet sadness of the beginning.

[Nintex]

Played some more Need for Speed: Unbound.
I'm starting to notice a lot of events are being repeated at this point at class A+ so I guess I'm close to finishing the "story". 
My 40% Drift Eclipse absolutely rips tho  

Also Tears of the Kingdom
Made my way to Lurelin village which like everything else in this masterpiece was an adventure in and by itself.

[Gameboy Nostalgia]

Going to start up Detention this week. Been a few years since last played but it's time to get in the Halloween spirit.

[chronovore]

I'm starting to non-ironically enjoy the SAINTS ROW reboot.

I think their thought was to make a GTA game, since Rockstar is apparently fumbling that ball across multiple console launches. This was their game plan in the 360 era, when SR was the first GTA-style game that generation. When GTA IV finally launched and was as playful as a Tourette's syndrom guest at a funeral, SR2 upped the ante and made things crazy. 

Well, with 3 console generations of GTA V, the thought must've been to bring it back to something more grounded, like the original SR. 

Now that I'm playing the game I received instead of the game I expected, it's pretty good.

[books]

Have Skyrim on xbox and never modded it so downloaded a shitton of mods, ended up hitting the limit for console, and am now checking out Dragonborn dlc which I've never played (fucking love Morrowind) and it's like a totally new game. Maybe it's placebo, because my long term save is on the switch, but this modded shit is wild.

[Potato]

Started to play a little Super Mario Wonder. Shit is good. Plays like a dream.

[Nintex]

Koji Kondo understood that assignment  



Reviewers: They put the flowers in for babies  

I HEAR THE SEA TASTES LIKE TEARS

what the hell? Are you Yoko Taro talking flower. 

[Nintex]

Mario Wonder is soooo good, this game should be illegal

[MJBarret]

Got Teardown on PS5, looked neat.

No way to invert Y-axis.

Unplayable.

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

Not even kidding,  My brain is hardwired to play First Person games with inverted Y. 

Edit: slowly getting used to it. Fun little game so far.

[books]

Picked up Remant II based on my coworkers recommendation. He was right on Cult ofbthebLamb which is loved thobit had some problems.

[HardcoreRetro]

Finished Dragon Age Inquisition.

Clearing some stinkers from my backlog. The dialogue wheel was pretty bad. Hampers the slightest bit of roleplaying there is in the game. You basically have to guess what the player response is going to be since they don't give you the actual dialogue when making decisions. 

There are bits of a good game in there. The assassination plot main mission where you basically play a detective was the high point of the game to me. Instead of mindless MMO combat, the dialogue wheel becomes your main tool for progress. They should've done more of that instead of mindless filler combat.

If Dreadwolf doesn't get cancelled and isn't complete dogshit, I'm at least up to date on the story so far.

[Nintex]

Finished the Water Temple in Tears of the Kingdom.

That's 4 temples so far. Order I played them in:

1. Wind Temple - Epic climb, decent temple, apart from the Desert Temple the most classic type Zelda boss out of these I think. Very useful Sage Power.
2. Fire Temple - Ok route to get there. Probably the most challenging temple. Boss felt more like a mid boss. Somewhat useful power.
3. Desert Temple - Tower defense is not my thing but it was original, probably the best temple overall. Most challenging boss. Cool power but hard to trigger sometimes.
4. Water Temple - Good quest line to get there, decent climb, Temple is the easiest. Boss was lifted straight from Super Mario Sunshine  Most useless Power.

Desert and Water Temple I enjoyed the most, other than the Wind Temple boss sequence and the climb to the Wind Temple.

Got the first heart of the second row, this game is so big it's insane how much they managed to cram in here and I'm still finding new mechanics, items and quest givers.
In fact all the areas open up way more after you beat them.

[Potato]

Started Resident Evil 7.

Finished what I assume is the tutorial level. I liked the atmosphere, but whoever thought first person perspective was a good idea probably needs to be given a swift kick to the balls.

Not really feeling the storyline so far. Evil cult rednecks is whatever.

[Puffy Fucking Baby]

Got Stranger of Paradise thru the post this morning

[chronovore]

I’m playing Cyberpunk 2077 on PS5, but probably will quit until I get it on PC. 

Mouse aiming on DualSense is unsatisfying. So many games allow for gyroscopic aiming on it, but not CP2077. Playing an FPS this way feels so backwards.

[Potato]

I've started a playthrough of the Phoenix Wright games with my kids. Onto the second case now. Such great games.

Kids were initially bored with the tutorial case, but they're both engrossed now, especially my daughter.

One thing I didn't really remember from playing on the DS was how cheeky these games are. Lots of puns, double entendres and the like. I knew they were funny, but some of this shit is hilarious.

[Nintex]

I made a German anti-air Panzer to fight the Ice Gleeok  

As usual with German engineering it looked very cool but had 0 mileage, was too heavy and slow on the frozen ground and got destroyed in 1 hit 

[Potato]

I made a German anti-air Panzer to fight the Ice Gleeok  

As usual with German engineering it looked very cool but had 0 mileage, was too heavy and slow on the frozen ground and got destroyed in 1 hit 

The Dutch still would have surrendered without a fight though

[Nintex]

Spend a lot of time scavenging the Hebra mountains. There's are so many caves and things to find there and yet I'm still missing a piece of the Frost armor.

Also found Zants helmet in the depths, how did that end up there

[Nintex]

Finally beat the Frost Gleeok. The final phase was crazy.

[MJBarret]

Helldivers 2 releases tomorrow, Glory to SuperEarth!

[chronovore]

Skull and Bones Beta is updated Black Flag visuals with the gameplay of UBI's previous mobile Assassins Creed Black Flag MOBILE app. It's very pretty, and has a lot to do, but I'm unsure if I want it worth 70 USD even with my swollen backlog.

Finished Saints Row 2022 but still want to play through the remaining activities.

Fortnite added several modes to its gameplay, including:

• Festival - a Rock Band game from Harmonix, with a planned guitar controller, because apparently Epic needs to learn the peripheral lesson that destroyed GH and RB franchises.
  
• Rocket Racing - Race game themed after Rocket League with boosts, inverted driving, etc. It's very arcade-y. It just got a new track.
  
• Lego Fornite - Minecraft / Valheim style game with resource gathering, some combat with mooks, some with big-bads. It's super-chill overall, but they're also still ironing out kinks that have destroyed some people's work.
  

The Save the World die-hards are completely butt-hurt about the lack of attention STW receives even as Epic co-opts entire companies to add new modes. They don't get it: STW would be dead-dead-dead and offline if it were not for Battle Royale breathing life into the game. STW being left alive, even on life support, is a courtesy. I'm also wondering how many THOUSANDS of hours those players expect for the minimal outlay they put into STW? The spoiled privilege level is truly insane, and that's coming from me as a player who still loves STW.

[Nintex]

I wonder if Nintendo will jump into the Fortnite verse as well. The game is very popular on Switch and they did Mario minecraft back in the day.
If they can have their own Minecraft verse like Disney/LEGO I can see them do it.

I'm still playing Tears of the Kingdom and it's still insane how good it is. With about ~105 Shrines I can now fight the bigger and stronger enemies more easily but unlike BOTW they are still challenging. The attention to detail remains insane too.

Spoiler:  (click to show)(click to hide)

After you find puppet Zelda, the Blood Moon cutscene will no longer have her narration. A lot of NPC dialogue has also changed as they now fear the return of the Demon King.

It's interesting how a lot of the key elements of TOTK originated from Skyward Sword.
The Eastern Clistern dungeon had a chasm you fell into with a small depths section including poisoned gloom enemies and it introduced the concept of Demise/Ganondorf being the King of actual Demons in a religious, satanic or mythological sense as opposed to an Evil King who wants to rule Hyrule just for the sake of ruling it.
 
Not to mention the Sky Islands and Zelda being stuck in the past.
On the other hand there is a lot of Ocarina of Time in there as well but the mythological/spiritual undertones aren't subtle anymore.

[Nintex]

Played some Helldivers II with my bro.

Really fun to play co-op. Movement and control with the slightly zoomed out camera reminds me a lot of MGSV in a good way, 
Fun to blow shit up with massive explosions and ripping apart Robots. I like fighting the robots more than the aliens. 

The graphics aren't S-tier or anything but the VFX effects punch above their weight.

Queue takes a while but once you're in the online experience is pretty much flawless even though he's playing from Canada and I'm in Europe.

[Potato]

Didn't realise this was TPS over the shoulder rather than top down like the first game.

Interesting change.

[TylenolJones]

Lost my whole weekend to Balatro. If you like deck builders and have a lot of free time check it out. 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/

[Nintex]

Movement and control with the slightly zoomed out camera reminds me a lot of MGSV in a good way, 

Because it literally is 

[chronovore]

Started Ubisoft's bomba-bomb-bomb Immortals: Rise of Phoenix Fenix Fenyx 

It's actually a good game, not least of all because it's a pretty straightforward Zelda Breath of the Wild clone. There's no Lego stuff like TOTK, but there's a lot of climbing-with-stamina-limitations, pretty decent melee combat, and NO WEAPON BREAKAGE. So that's a win. The character feels pretty generic, I'm wondering how every god, demigod, and many creatures have more personality than the Player Character. 

But, yeah, pretty fun so far!