What are you playing?

[SN2716057]

So... Homeworld 3. It reminds me of Planetary Annihilation. Solid mechanics. Its always unclear whether its a good idea to macro- or actually micro a lot, but if you do the latter, take into account the game's odd responsiveness, basically, and don't forget to keep building. Maybe I'm just not good enough at it yet, but I often found myself missing out on critical events/timing and reordering units properly. Something that's easy to do in PA, as well.

It also shares with PA that units quickly feel 'basic' and the spectacle is there, but kind of muted. There are a lot of units on screen. A lot of effects are 'small', though there are some larger explosions. The camera takes getting used to, and tends to do things you didn't quite want from time to time especially when switching between tactical and regular view. The flying in and through structures, while yes, does offer tactical changes.... only really works well in campaign / scripted missions so far.

It looks great. I just feel like a lot of what you build doesn't quite show off as nicely as it should. If I compare the combat sequences to say, Sins of a Solar Empire, Sins does it better (even part 1) in making space combat feel truly alive. In Homeworld its all there, too, but the camera struggle kinda keeps you away from it, and the ship weapons aren't quite as impressive. Ships are also not quite so interesting, every type has an upgrade or active ability, and that's about all they write.

Are (some of) the missions challenging, to the border of difficult/impossible unless you change tactics?

 

[nomdeplume]

++ Only have positive things to say about Hunter Call of the Wild who I'm sure will place their game on GOG any day now.

Way of the Hunter sale price on GOG finally got me to give the graphically superior game another look. There were concerns dev moved on to other projects. String of updates late in the year followed up by patches removed concerns of total abandonment. Not sure how I'll get along with the sim environment. There are certainly immersive elements I look forwards to and probably even more I look forwards to avoiding. FM band radio selection immediately falls into the latter category.

 

[Vayra86]

Are (some of) the missions challenging, to the border of difficult/impossible unless you change tactics?

Yes... lol, I'm stuck in the campaign now and what's really cool about that campaign is that the entire journey you're building on the same mothership, same fleet, with persistent progress. At some point I lost all of my resources extractors in an asteroid field (moving asteroids, gotta shoot them, but given the less than instant responding fleet controls... its a hazardous journey lol) and I had to salvage some other ships to get one back. That huge loss was still not recovered in the mission after where I had to rebuild my resource extractors... costing time, money, and not allowing me to gather new resources in time either.

I still managed to complete that mission, but the next one, I still feel the after effects and start the mission with just half the maximum possible fleet... and now I'm stuck Just too much shit coming at me to ever overcome with the starting resources at that point.

The campaign reminded me of IXION a few times, even if they're totally different games, the premise has similarities. Big journey, you're on your own, shit happens. And that's a huge compliment, IXION's first playthrough is just pure awe and wonder, Homeworld 3 isn't quite up there cinematically, but gameplay wise, yep.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Been playing a bit of Deadlock recently, but they keep changing the game too much with every new patch and it's already getting too samey as many other, similar games, which means you end up with some players that ignores the gameplay and just goes after the power ups and then ganks the other team. The balance is really broken at the moment as well, with some characters being way too OP.

 

[kapone32]

One of my favorite Pick up and Play Games is free on Epic. Orcs Must Die 3. That Game is pure fun Castle Defense. The War scenarios are cool.

 

[Ruru]

One of my favorite Pick up and Play Games is free on Epic. Orcs Must Die 3. That Game is pure fun Castle Defense. The War scenarios are cool.

I guess I should give them a shot as I've heard that they're pretty good.


Currently on my FF VII starting equipment run where Cloud and Tifa are out of the party temporarily and I've died only once so far. Must have characters with the most materia slots as my attacks are meh so I must use magic for the most bosses. Also throwing weapons from the inventory works somewhat well.

 

[de.das.dude]

It takes 2.

Pretty fun with the SO.

 

[kapone32]

I guess I should give them a shot as I've heard that they're pretty good.


Currently on my FF VII starting equipment run where Cloud and Tifa are out of the party temporarily and I've died only once so far. Must have characters with the most materia slots as my attacks are meh so I must use magic for the most bosses. Also throwing weapons from the inventory works somewhat well.

There is no deep thought or visuals to enjoy. Orcs Must Die is pure Friday Night Arcade. It has maybe 17 Endless levels too. The traps are varied, it has mods and the Game is just kinetic fun like Redout 2 in a package. Orcs Must Die Online is a waste of time. I enjoyed this just as much as Torchlight, even though they are different genres. There was a Van Helsing Game that I can't think of that is isometric in view and basically this Game light. It gets crazy not carpal tunnel creating like Vermintide. Best thing is that it is free. Sometimes I just play an Endless to feed the itch. Hidden Fortress is nice because it has a great choke point for traps.

 

[boise49ers]

I used to play quite a bit like 10 yrs ago or longer with a bunch of TPU guy's on Battlefield. Maybe longer! I was Referred to as Idaho. OneeyedIdaho was my sign. I have just bought Hell Let Loose and Looking for some of those same folks to play with again. Had Cadaveca, Ducky, MxPhenom, Mt Alex, Gunny SargHighway, and a few others I just can't remember all their signs and names. Just wondering if anyone from the old group plays Hell Let Loose. I'm old as dirt now "66" but still building Gaming PC's and gaming. Or if there is a semi calm group from here who play it often.

 

[Splinterdog]

I have Medal of Honour: Pacific Assault on my wish list and a prompt from GOG reminded me that I have MOH: Allied Assault (2004) installed which I haven't played for over a year in spite of having made pretty good progress.
Playing again reminds me of how good games were back then and they certainly weren't easy, especially this part where you have to escape from the submarine compound. Those Nazis just come at you, wave after wave and they're deadly accurate, reminding me that I'm well out of practice with shooters! At least we can quick save, unlike many of the games today.
I also managed to get it running beautifully at 1440p using this guide.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Beat "The Banner Sage 3". Wow, what a helluva ride that trilogy was. If you like choice and consequence kind of games, you could do a lot worse than this. Be warned that the game can get depressing as fuck and absolutely none of your characters are safe from almost GoT style "I thought this character was too important to die lol nvm" deaths.

Also beat Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition (not remastered). Yeah its ticks the generic open world boxes but really elevates itself thanks to the fun combat, enemy encounters (enemies with destroyable armor and unique weak points was a stroke of genius), and intriguing core narrative/plot/mystery. Had a LOT of fun with this one.

I have a couple games I dropped earlier this year just because that I'm playing through now:

Aliens Vs Predator (2011) - The pretty DX11 tech demo from back in the day. It's a definite step down from the legendary AvP2 that Monolith made, I can really only stomach to play one level at a time before I have to do something else. Pretty standard Rebellion jank.

Dawn of War 3 - Almost at the end of the campaign. Pretty mid-grade 40K story, which means its campy and better than most mid-grade stuff just because of the setting and characters. It was so close to being a good game, but the time to kill on non-hero units as well as changes to cover and base defense just make the game feel like the worst parts of DoW 1 and the worst parts of DoW 2 all mushed together into one nondescript ball of death (kind of how I play the game actually).

 

[Vayra86]

Finished the campaign, but I don't really feel like doing more skirmish in this game. The degree of control you have is... lacking. Battles are never becoming much more than a bunch of tiny ships shooting tiny projectiles at distance, see above. I applaud the attempt... but it just doesn't quite do it for me. The massive space structures kinda make you feel small, instead of commanding a huge armada - which you really are.

Performance and graphics wise though, 10/10. No hiccups of any kind, and there's a lot happening.

About the campaign:

Spoiler

The campaign was... somewhat ok, but at some point it all feels like a rush to the end, Imogen knows all and does it all right, cue the credits, kind of. Also the dialogue and incessant rage of the evil woman... yikes. Not pleasant, not good, not convincing. The justification for it all is razor thin. There ARE some very cool missions, most notably a defense mission and one where you dodge asteroids, which really had me on the edge of my seat.. and failing

Dawn of War 3 - Almost at the end of the campaign. Pretty mid-grade 40K story, which means its campy and better than most mid-grade stuff just because of the setting and characters. It was so close to being a good game, but the time to kill on non-hero units as well as changes to cover and base defense just make the game feel like the worst parts of DoW 1 and the worst parts of DoW 2 all mushed together into one nondescript ball of death (kind of how I play the game actually).

It really is that, balls of death, any other way just fails really. I had some good fun in skirmish just fighting solo on some chokepoint-ish map against lots of NPCs. The carnage. Endless slaughter Visually its also quite a feast at that point.

 

[Apocalypsee]

I have Medal of Honour: Pacific Assault on my wish list and a prompt from GOG reminded me that I have MOH: Allied Assault (2004) installed which I haven't played for over a year in spite of having made pretty good progress.
Playing again reminds me of how good games were back then and they certainly weren't easy, especially this part where you have to escape from the submarine compound. Those Nazis just come at you, wave after wave and they're deadly accurate, reminding me that I'm well out of practice with shooters! At least we can quick save, unlike many of the games today.
I also managed to get it running beautifully at 1440p using this guide.
View attachment 377735 View attachment 377736

I love MoHAA, replayed it so many times when I got no internet back in the day, this and Max Payne 2. Yep the ending of this mission is a pain in hard difficulty, before going out the door snipe everyone you can see, reload, and run to the train. Snipe sniper on the roof on the left and shoot everyone else with mp40 while throwing nades at them.

 

[Ruru]

FF VII finished with starting equipment, the last boss almost got me but phew.

Now let's play some DiRT 4 before I'll play DiRT 5.

 

[Princess Garnet]

FF VII finished with starting equipment, the last boss almost got me but phew.

How do you complete games so quick!? Haha, give me your pacing capabilities please!?

 

[Ruru]

How do you complete games so quick!? Haha, give me your pacing capabilities please!?

I have some movies or series playing on my main PC and play on my 2nd PC from TV at the same time

 

[kapone32]

Beat "The Banner Sage 3". Wow, what a helluva ride that trilogy was. If you like choice and consequence kind of games, you could do a lot worse than this. Be warned that the game can get depressing as fuck and absolutely none of your characters are safe from almost GoT style "I thought this character was too important to die lol nvm" deaths.

Also beat Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition (not remastered). Yeah its ticks the generic open world boxes but really elevates itself thanks to the fun combat, enemy encounters (enemies with destroyable armor and unique weak points was a stroke of genius), and intriguing core narrative/plot/mystery. Had a LOT of fun with this one.

I have a couple games I dropped earlier this year just because that I'm playing through now:

Aliens Vs Predator (2011) - The pretty DX11 tech demo from back in the day. It's a definite step down from the legendary AvP2 that Monolith made, I can really only stomach to play one level at a time before I have to do something else. Pretty standard Rebellion jank.

Dawn of War 3 - Almost at the end of the campaign. Pretty mid-grade 40K story, which means its campy and better than most mid-grade stuff just because of the setting and characters. It was so close to being a good game, but the time to kill on non-hero units as well as changes to cover and base defense just make the game feel like the worst parts of DoW 1 and the worst parts of DoW 2 all mushed together into one nondescript ball of death (kind of how I play the game actually).

Dawn of War 3 was one of the most disappointed Games, based on the last. I actually started with Retribution but got into all of them. At least they redeemed themselves with Chaos Gate, 40K Martyr and Rogue Trader.

 

[Princess Garnet]

I have some movies or series playing on my main PC and play on my 2nd PC from TV at the same time

You seriously speed ran replying to that post faster than game completion, haha. I think I left the page and there was a reply...

That answer honestly amuses me more. You're not just completing them fast, you're doing it while doing something else! I expected you to be devoting full concentration to them or something in order to get through them so fast.

Maybe I'm actually just that slow. I don't feel like I'm enjoying a game as much if I rush it. it's probably more that I don't usually devote lengthy blocks of time to a game consistently either, and that's probably what slows me down.

 

[DaBadger84]

I'm currently on my second playthrough of Dragon Age Veilguard. Didn't really understand the hate the game received from the vocal minority. Reviews are mostly positive on Steam, I really enjoyed it, and on my first playthrough I managed to get the "good ending" without specifically targeting it, I just made sure things were done before I went past the "point of no return" quest.
Overall in terms of quest/story format, it's sort of structured like Mass Effect 2. There's trigger quests that start the next series of main quest lines, choices that have consequences, you have to get your team's "loyalty" high to give them the best chances of survival, etc.
I will say combat can get repetitive, but you can respec your skills at any time & use different spells etc to change things up.

Next up, I'll be re-playimg GTA V's campaign because that never gets old, then I'll dive in to the next newer game I bought in the last 2 fall sales from Steam that I haven't played yet lol

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Dawn of War 3 was one of the most disappointed Games, based on the last. I actually started with Retribution but got into all of them. At least they redeemed themselves with Chaos Gate, 40K Martyr and Rogue Trader.

-40K games are honestly more miss than hit. GW is happy to whore out the license to basically anyone for a nickel and there seems to be a ton of 40K shovelware out there.

We've been eating alright recently with Space Marine 2 and Rogue Trader though (long overdue for a proper 40K CRPG, gimme morrrreeeee).

 

[Splinterdog]

I love MoHAA, replayed it so many times when I got no internet back in the day, this and Max Payne 2. Yep the ending of this mission is a pain in hard difficulty, before going out the door snipe everyone you can see, reload, and run to the train. Snipe sniper on the roof on the left and shoot everyone else with mp40 while throwing nades at them.

I know what I'll be doing on New Year's Day then...

 

[Ruru]

Had a flashback that I played FEAR 18 years ago on new year's eve. Now doing the same, purposely on PS3 since I know that it's the worst port.


...hey, I finished the game first time with a GF4 Ti 4200 64MB so can't get much worse than that.

 

[silentbogo]

Still replaying through the backlog of many-many games in my steam library. Decided to put away Amnesia: Rebirth, and do a final "Stoic" run sometime later.

This time I'm trying to 100% God of War. I used to own all older games(incl. PSP-exclusive "Chains of Olympus"), but haven't touched reboots until now.

Overall I like it, but I don't "love" it per-se, as older titles.

First off, I kinda see where David Jaffe's point comes from - the whole story revolves around mommy and daddy issues. Plus characters are inconsistent and their "motives" occasionally do not make any sense. For example, I hated the part of Atreus pretty much throughout the game. At first he is a "good boy", then as soon as he gets his "godpowers" - he immediately becomes an arrogant teenage maniac. Then, as soon as he gets his ass beaten the very first time - he becomes a good boy again. That just put me off right away and made me ignore him throughout the entire game. Fortunately I got my normal attention span back towards the end of the story, which was actually good and neatly tied up with the very beginning.

Second thing that bugged me throughout the entire playthrough is the way Spartan Rage works against weapons. Basically if you want fast but boring encounters - just use melee throughout the game and spam arrows as much as you can. I think I've only used axe for stone giants and some boss fights, but otherwise I did not use weapons that much up until the very end of the game, because Axe and Blades don't really add to your rage and rarely give you the opportunity to stun enemies for finishers.
Heck, because of that I didn't even bother to learn nuances of combat(combos, proper weapon switching, amulets etc) until after the main story, when I finally decided to do the Valkyrie quest and go through Muspelheim trials for the second time.

Third, very minor complaint. Photomode sucks. Pretty sure it was slapped on it as an afterthought for PC release, and as you can see - the UI is still there with no way to hide it.

At least for me it's a solid 7/10, but definitely not as good as I expected. On the bright side - it provided enough entertainment for almost 65 hours. I'm currently at 94% achievements, and the only *one remaining is for Muspelheim trials. Just got the last achievement. 100% complete.

 

[Ruru]

Still replaying through the backlog of many-many games in my steam library. Decided to put away Amnesia: Rebirth

How's that? I have it on my library as well, just never played

 

[silentbogo]

How's that? I have it on my library as well, just never played

It's pretty good. I already did 2 playthroughs: original and adventurer. Original mode requires you to avoid fear and darkness, plus it has occasional enemies that may get you every once in awhile, but are easy to avoid. Adventurer mode has none of that, but it has few more puzzles.
If you played SOMA and liked it - this one is even better.
I also bought The Bunker on sale, but haven't played it yet.