Sorry for the late post, been a busy week.
I’m finally playing Crysis. For a 2007 game it’s really good looking. The shooting is less frantic and a lot more tactical than I thought it would be though. Great experience so far.
Hah.
I don’t know if it was intentional but after years and decades of running the “…but will it run crysis though” joke into the ground your very flat
For a 2007 game it’s really good looking
got a good chuckle out of me.
The second half of the game is a bit divisive but if you end up enjoying the game despite that I can wholeheartedly recommend the standalone expansion, Crysis Warhead, as well. It fixed some of the issues from the base game while keeping the tactical options and semi-open world.
Both gameplay and story are a little bit more “action movie”-like, but even then, it doesn’t compromise the original experience. It’s pretty fun.
Fable Anniversary
I think I’m in the end game now. I was going to go through and find all the collectables first (silver keys, dolls, demon doors etc) but I think I’ll just finish the story and move on to Fable II.
Forza Motorsport 4
Picked it up a couple days ago and played a few hours already. It’s just as fun as I remember but a shame the 360 doesn’t have online functions anymore for the “rivals” stuff. It still looks really good and makes you realise why the console lasted for so long.
Just recently got a 3DS for the first time. Currently playing through some NDS and GBA games before I get to their 3DS sequels. Almost done with Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and Pokémon Platinum (which will also be my first finished Pokémon game).
Great use of a 3DS, I know. But I like to explore game series from the beginning, or reasonably close to the beginning. Also getting an R36S for a more accurate Game Boy experience.
Just the same. Got a Japanese 3DS. Had to do the region change just to be allowed to change language. Really enjoying Link between worlds. I have some Zelda n64 ports to play too. Coming from the steam deck, the battery in this thing is endless.
How are you liking Pokemon Platinum? I find Gen 4 tends to be either loved or not cared for depending on the person. I personally loved those games, though HeartGold/SoulSilver is my all time favourite.
It’s been a lot of fun so far. Very impressive for a 2008 handheld game. The plot isn’t amazing, but still better than I expected. The distortion world was crazy and I totally didn’t see anything like that coming.
However, as a newcomer to Pokémon, at times I felt a little overwhelmed with the various mechanics (e.g., underground, contests) and skipped them for the most part. Of course, being an NDS game, it’s a little clunky, but that didn’t really bother me.
I probably should have started with an even earlier game, but at the same time I didn’t want to go as far back as GBA, since even without those all the games will take me a long while to complete. Now that I’m approaching the end, or at least I think I do, I’m definitely going to go back and properly try everything.
Can’t wait to see what other Pokémon games are like. I’ve read that HeartGold/SoulSilver is often considered the best game. I’m also hyped for X and other 3DS ones, even if they’re not that good, because I’m loving the 3D effect.
I’d definitely say to either go Emerald or HG/SS next. I’d say those are the two peaks of the series.
For Gens 1 and 2, honestly they’re pretty rough these days. I like them but I don’t think someone just entering the series now will enjoy them much. They’re super janky and are missing a lot of features. Gen 2 is my favourite (hence HGSS being my favourite games as they’re just the Gen 2 remakes) but they’re not easy to get into these days. After Gen 4 the series goes a little downhill imo but it’s still good. I have no experience past Gen 7 though as I don’t have a switch and haven’t learned how to emulate one yet.
Circle of the Moon is the Castlevania game I’ve played the most. Such a great game. The alt modes that unlock after beating the game on normal mode are all great fun, too.
I had a lot more time to play games back then, so idk if it actually is exceptional or if it was just the right game at the right time for me. Since you’re freshly into it, what do you think? Rise tinted glasses or is it actually great?
I can definitely see why you’d like it so much. Honestly, it could release today with more modern graphics and I think it’d fit right in. It barely feels like an ancient game.
I’m enjoying the game much more than I initially expected. I like that you need to constantly be careful, because you cannot heal easily. Looking forward to learning the lore and playing next games!
The Witcher 2, native Linux version
That is a bit more problematic than it should, the launcher doesn’t work without discontinued dependencies, the configuration doesn’t work at all (had to edit configuration file manually), and the controls seem a bit off so I decided to play on easy difficulty not to embarrass myself too much with doing completely wrong moves because they are mapped in a weird way (imo)
But it still looks pretty good and seems interesting so far, it will definitely take a lot of time to explore, and then I will still have a third game to play
I was playing Evoland 2 on my phone.
It’s had a few graphics bugs but nothing major untill I came to a bullet rain segment and the enemy projectiles are invisible… I managed to beat the first boss, or it’s first form or whatever, but it’s absolutely impossible after that to guess where the enemies are shooting.
Shame.
I’ve been playing Dagger Directive, which isn’t an old game but you wouldn’t know that by looking at it. It’s an intentional throwback to the original Delta Force games. I bought it on some sort of early sale, but even full price it’s only $20.
If you like the original Delta Force or Ghost Recon games, this has a similar vibe with missions where you can select the time of day to start, and are then dropped in wide open maps. I’ve been having a lot of fun turning the HUD off and playing night missions. The game takes into account how night vision goggles interfere with looking down sights, which in turn makes things like IR lasers and dedicated night vision scopes useful. I’ve seen community complaints (some of them more recent than the newest AI update) that suppressors don’t do anything regarding enemy AI, but I’ve had a lot of success with them and think people might be having wrong expectations on how silent the guns are going to be and/or how oblivious enemies are going to be.
The weapon selection is fairly good and getting expanded with updates. The scope system gets some flack, but it is an intentional recreation of the Delta Force scope system.
For the most part I’m ambivalent about it, although now that red dots have been added to the equipment they use the same picture-in-picture window that magnified scopes do, which makes red dots actually kind of useless for close range fast paced fighting (which is the entire IRL point of them), and I’d actually recommend using no attachments or using an IR laser with night vision instead of using a red dot in the game.
The sound design sneaks up on you. Things will be quiet and boring one second, and then your audio is filled with terrifying cracks and whistles of gunfire as an enemy machinegun ambushes you the next.
Damn, I grew up on the Delta Force games. I’ll have to check this out.
Huh, this actually looks really neat. Seems there’s a demo, I might have to check it out.
I’m playing dragon quest viii.
I played 11 and loved it. I only have a few hours so far, but I’m enjoying it a lot.
I’m playing the 3ds version.
Probably cycling through Nier Automata (finally using it other than as a CPU check), Baba is You, Dicey Tales and Castlevania 2, since those are the ones I have readily installed and I can’t decide for some other game to play.
The great granddaddy of fantasy 4x games, Master of Magic (1994).
Mind you, I’m playing a variety of modded versions of Caster of Magic II (native Windows), but it’s still crazy that a game that old is still being actively modded.
Haven’t had enough time for gaming this week either, but as I’ve read that Blizzard is planning to release an expansion for Diablo 2 (sic!) I thought about searching my basement for the old CDs. Time to revive my necromancer.
Horizon Zero Dawn remastered, I’m having a blast ! Aloy is a really cool character, and the mistery around what happened grabed me. I found funny how they don’t tell you how much time has passed; but you can deduce it from a specific message, at some point in the story, and a calculator haha.
still baldurs gate three. going to meet auntie ethel and rescue the one guys to buy more strength potions. trying to figure out how many goblins I can kill without alerting everyone.
Eve Online, because it’s still the best playable Space Opera ever made.
How is it, these days? Playerbase healthy? Game balance any better lately? It went downhill for a few years after the change of ownership, but I haven’t been plugged in for a few years now.
I’d say it’s in a very good state currently. much drama was had recently, Pandemic horde collapsed in less than 3 days after a botched attempt to leave dronelands and Panfam. WinterCo is attacking The Initiative. for the 4th time this time for realz. And Goons are so lacking targets that this time Test is actually next.
Intersting times, and a very good time to get in on the fun.
I’m glad to hear it’s in a good spot, at least. I will always have a soft spot for EVE and how unique it is, and all the emergent stories and player-driven action it creates. So I want it to thrive again.
For me though, I am not sure I have another EVE stint in me. It’s not so much a game as it is a hobby, and I am content these days with being able to actually play and finish concrete narrative games that have a beginning and end, you know?
Plus the social aspect of getting to know new people is daunting, and my old crew has all quit and disbanded sadly. Large wars are always fun though, and I do miss gatecrashing battles and doing bombing runs…
I understand it, it’s definitely a hobby, and it’s very hard to play “a bit” Eve Online :D
But, you know how it is, you don’t quit Eve, you just take long break :)
Really enjoying Mewgenics.
I really dislike the chan thing
Do you ever hperfixate on something to the point of spending almost every free moment of your time on it? Even if the thing in question isn’t something you’re a huge fan of? That’s exactly what happened to me over the last week. I’ve been on a binge of listening to Ridge Racer soundtracks, watching retrospectives and other videos as well as playing Ridge Racer 2 (the PSP one). It was pretty much non-stop RR time until I “finished” the game - it was great!
Was being the keyword here. After reaching the credits I unlocked duel races and they… these races are honestly the most miserable experience I had with this game (or any other racer I’ve played so far). I’m all for challenging content but simple stages with limited drifting opportunities mixed with opponents in much faster cars than you do not make for a fun challenge. I dunno, maybe I’m just bad at the game but it really felt less like a skill check and more like an RNG encounter even when driving “perfectly”.
I managed to beat one of these guys and after trying the second (out of three?) I don’t really want to play any more. It was enough to rip me out of this trance and make me go “you know what, I think I’m good on Ridge Racer for now”.
An unfortunate end to a pretty fun week but I can finally go back to Reverse Collapse. That’s a win, I guess.
