What are you playing?

[cinemaware]

So the AAA gaming is out of my reach atm, thanks to a really nasty plot twist. No more comments about Avowed et al, then At least for the time being...

It sucks overall, but there’s a silver lining. It means I have more time for my true loves: retro games on MiSTer and roguelikes on the PC. So far, I have done a few really cool runs in Cataclysm (CDDA) and started a new colony in Rimworld. It's been quite some time since I've last played them, and the feature progress these games made is quite amazing.

I have also installed Ostranauts and Norland - never played them before, look promising, and my old favourite: Battle Brothers.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Doing things old school again.
OpenXCom Extended 8.1.0 with the Final Mod Pack 3.6 + Extended 1.2.1



XCom never looked or played so good..

OXCE (OpenXcom Extended) main thread

OXCE (OpenXcom Extended) main thread

openxcom.org

Index of /oxce/release

Final Mod Pack for OpenXcom - mod.io

A multi-level megamod, composed of various community mods which are balanced against one another and topped with a lot of extra original content.

mod.io

Final Mod Pack Extended (addon) for OpenXcom - mod.io

A companion submod to Final Mod Pack, enabling some fun and useful OpenXcom Extended functions. This includes, but is not limited to: new battle mechanics, unarmed combat, better AI, more soldier faces, GUI additions. Obviously, works only with OXCE!

mod.io

 

[Chomiq]

Doing things old school again.
OpenXCom Extended 8.1.0 with the Final Mod Pack 3.6 + Extended 1.2.1
View attachment 393728View attachment 393729
View attachment 393730View attachment 393731
View attachment 393732View attachment 393733
XCom never looked or played so good..

OXCE (OpenXcom Extended) main thread

OXCE (OpenXcom Extended) main thread

openxcom.org

Index of /oxce/release

Final Mod Pack for OpenXcom - mod.io

A multi-level megamod, composed of various community mods which are balanced against one another and topped with a lot of extra original content.

mod.io

Final Mod Pack Extended (addon) for OpenXcom - mod.io

A companion submod to Final Mod Pack, enabling some fun and useful OpenXcom Extended functions. This includes, but is not limited to: new battle mechanics, unarmed combat, better AI, more soldier faces, GUI additions. Obviously, works only with OXCE!

mod.io

Do they have something similar for Terror From The Deep?

 

[lexluthermiester]

Do they have something similar for Terror From The Deep?

They do. OpenXCom supports both games equally. And there are a lot of mods for both games. TFTD wasn't as popular as UFO Defense, but there is still a lot of love for it. Both of those websites have lots of fun stuff to explore. Take a bit of time to look at whats on offer.
Specifically,
Here;

Released Mods

Released Mods

openxcom.org

Any thing labeled "TFTD" will apply.

And here;

OpenXcom Mods - mod.io

Mods can change or add new content like weapons, aliens, maps, missions, crafts, base facilities, etc. They are packed into folders and can be toggled on and off ingame.

mod.io

Enjoy!

EDIT: Fair warning, some of those projects can be glitchy if not installed in a particular way. If you jump in and have trouble making things work, chime in with me. If I can't help sort things out I can point you to where you'll find a solution.

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

Rimworld. It's been quite some time since I've last played

Did you pick up the latest DLC?

If so, you are in for a treat.

 

[Baru68]

Just curious what everyone is playing currently.

I've just started The Witcher having owned it for a while. It's actually pretty interesting so far and I'm not an RPG guy (I did complete Skyrim). About 5 hours in and I think I'll finish it...maybe. Then the usual like CS:GO and L4D2. I've also been playing some Breaking Point (Arma 3 DayZ) but it is nowhere near as good as the original mod.

Ah i love The Witcher. Very connected story driven gameplay from start to finish. The fighting mechanics took a minute to get used to, but I wish more games did unique things like it does.

Currently playing LotR: Return of the King on Hard. Nostalgic, but also very immersive with a little more strategy than button mashing. Still haven't finished the run out of the cave after beating King of the Dead. Love old titles reminding me of how even mainstream games were challenging.

 

[Splinterdog]

The early Core Design Tomb Raider games are truly addictive and I've lost count of how many times I've replayed TRII. Moving block puzzles, timed levers under water and crazy jumps included.
I'm hoping that the new TR game, if it ever sees the light of day, will return to its roots.
Here, Lara takes a rest while the goons sleep it off.

 

[Zazigalka]

re8

 

[Frick]

So far, I have done a few really cool runs in Cataclysm (CDDA)

Ohhh hello, it was awhile since I played it. I never really got deep into it but it is interesting.

I have also installed Ostranauts and Norland - never played them before, look promising, and my old favourite: Battle Brothers.

What do you think of Ostranauts? I really like Neo Scavanger, but Ostranauts is ... I don't know. I didn't feel there was a point to it. Wake up in a tank in a weird world and just finding matching shoes is a struggle and finding a backpack is a huge deal? Yes please. But I didn't get the Why of Ostranauts. It didn't help that the stuff I can interact with looks identical to the things I shouldn't interact with so also just playing it was a bit of a struggle, but not in a good way.

Also, what is your impression of Norland? I saw someone described it as a mix of Rimworld and Crusader Kings.

Did you pick up the latest DLC?

If so, you are in for a treat.

Why? I never bought Anomaly, and none of the things described in its list of features is appealing to me. As for the other DLC ... I still think 1.0 is basically the pinnacle of the game. The expansions has added Stuff, but the game hasn't gotten better, as such. Just different, and it didn't need to be different, you know? Rimworld was one of those pure games I felt I could just play forever, but now when there's Extra Stuff and shit and I kinda miss it. I wonder what will happen if I disable the DLCs...

EDIT Hey post number 20k, what the shit

EDIT AGAIN anyway I really would have wanted these two posts to go in separate posts but I can't, but what I'm playing now is Diablo 2 Remastered while watching Better off Ted.

 

[Ruru]

Bought a PSP and started playing Final Fantasy.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Ok, Halo 4 is a wrap.

I was a little surprised going back and and seeing how controversial the game was on release. I rather enjoyed my time with it.

The Good:

The game is gorgeous, great lighting, great sound effects. Worst you can say is some of the textures are fairly low quality, but the game launched on the Xbox360 so *shrug* can't win them all.

Gameplay is distinctly Halo, and the game is built a lot like Halo Reach with a good mix of linear ground combat, vehicle combat, arenas and corridors. The levels mix it up frequently and rarely feel stale.

Master Chief is a chatty Cathy in this game vs the prior installments. No more stoic silent protagonist, which is actually a refreshing change. The game really revolves around Master Chief and Cortana's relationship and the friendship they've developed (although canonically I think the two of them have known each other for about a week or two tops from Halo 1-4) and does a good job having a solid emotional core which is quite a departure from the prior games.

The Bad:

The music is a solid 2-3 steps down from Bungie's games. I honestly have no idea wtf happened here but the background music is almost comically generic for a series lauded for it's soundtracks. The orchestral scores and Gregorian monk chants are gone, replaced by some technowave garbage cranked out by some intern on their sound board. Its that bad.

The story isn't intrinsically bad, but it does that thing where there must have been a shitton of adjacent media leading up to this game cause names and places and ships and faction names are dropped like you're supposed to be in awe but instead it's like "Who? What? Why is that important? What's going on?"

The also gets a bit of flack from supposedly going from "Milsim" sensibilities to space opera, but honestly Halo went space opera in Halo 2 and never looked back (Gravemind practically smacks of something pulled out of an anime) so I didnt really understand this criticism.

Lastly the new Promethean enemies and weapons are just very meh. I understand it's going to be tough to come up with an interesting new enemy after the Covenant (and you still do fight Covenant rebels in this game) but damn it's hard to imagine how they could do worse.

The Prometheans are really more annoying than fun. The knights ability to teleport away, the flyers that also run away when damaged and can resurrect/heal recently killed knights, the dog things that climb walls and rapid fire their weapons. Its somehow all just redressed light/heavy/support style enemies that are tweaked just enough to deal a little too much damage while also being a little too tanky, and having aggravating evade abilities.

The Promethean guns are so so ho hum: pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, battle rifle, sniper rifle, rocket launcher... But ohh they're shiney and float and make enemies disintegrate now.

But in the end the bad does not outweigh the good.

Its a shame the game got so much grief, it was a really good foundation for 343 to build off of, but from what I read they went design by committee and "listened to the fans" who at this point I am convinced are the wrong people to ever listen to and really screwed up Halo 5 (on PC when Microsoft?). When Halo 5 was panned they responded with Infinite... And now it looks like the Halo franchise is on ice for a while. Looks like Halo 7 is in the works right now, so nvm.

This is a game released on the Xbox 360 over 12 years ago:

 

[cinemaware]

Ohhh hello, it was awhile since I played it. I never really got deep into it but it is interesting.

It's been a few years for me too. I think the game is much better now in regard to difficulty - it really feels like a struggle for survival now. The complexity has also increased significantly. I know there's a lot of drama and polarizing opinions on it, but I'm not as involved as a player as some of these commenters, so they mostly go over my head.

What do you think of Ostranauts? I really like Neo Scavanger, but Ostranauts is ... I don't know. I didn't feel there was a point to it. Wake up in a tank in a weird world and just finding matching shoes is a struggle and finding a backpack is a huge deal? Yes please. But I didn't get the Why of Ostranauts. It didn't help that the stuff I can interact with looks identical to the things I shouldn't interact with so also just playing it was a bit of a struggle, but not in a good way.

Hmm, I haven't really played it long enough to opine on it in depth. I think "the point" is survival in this particular world where you scavenge space wrecks for a living. Its system look really complex and I’m a sucker for it, so hopefully this also works a as game too. Yes, I get it can be a bit overwhelming but the version I tried now seems much more evolved than the one from a few months back, so maybe give it another go?

Also, what is your impression of Norland? I saw someone described it as a mix of Rimworld and Crusader Kings.

I guess there could be something to it This one, similarly to Ostranauts I've just scratched the surface off, but it does look promising. There seem to be a lot of weight put on the "Lords" characters, whom the game revolves around, so I guess that’s a bit like CK.

Why? I never bought Anomaly, and none of the things described in its list of features is appealing to me. As for the other DLC ... I still think 1.0 is basically the pinnacle of the game. The expansions has added Stuff, but the game hasn't gotten better, as such. Just different, and it didn't need to be different, you know? Rimworld was one of those pure games I felt I could just play forever, but now when there's Extra Stuff and shit and I kinda miss it. I wonder what will happen if I disable the DLCs...

I agree that Rimworld can be played and enjoyed at 1.0 forever without any DLC. Actually I remember playing some super early alphas and that was great fun already.

But I don't mind it either, though I didn't have time to check it out in-depth yet. For now, I’m just re-learning the basic systems...

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

IMHO, Royalty and Ideology are kind of meh. They would be better if they were a lot smaller, but each one is more suited to a single, themed playthrough.

Anomaly is similar in that regard. It makes a great horror-themed playthrough, but beyond that it's too much for regular play. However, the dev seems to have realized that, so there is an option for the main "questline" and ending to be removed, with Anomaly-themed stuff being relatively rare. Just a little more flavor, if you will.

The only DLC I would run full-fat regularly is Biotech. Genetics and Mechs are easily ignorable if you don't want to focus your playthrough on that, and the rest of it feels like it integrates well with core.

Also, 1.5 core is improved over the early Rimworld. I think it was rebalanced and updated pretty heavily around 1.3. For the better, IMHO.

 

[nomdeplume]

EDIT Hey post number 20k, what the shit

Almost 20 years as well. Hope you had fun along the way.

>>> Finishing missions in Lego City Undercover has lead me to wonder if this is the high point of formulaic Lego games I should leave off on.

 

[Splinterdog]

Forza Horizon 5 Rally races are an absolute blast!

 

[lexluthermiester]

Bought a PSP and started playing Final Fantasy.

The first one from the 1 & 2 pack? That's one of the best versions to play! The GBA and Pixel Remaster version or the others. Can't go wrong there!

 

[Ruru]

The first one from the 1 & 2 pack? That's one of the best versions to play! The GBA and Pixel Remaster version or the others. Can't go wrong there!

Yeah, FF1. Looks like a polished PS1 remake of it.

 

[Vayra86]

Pfffff this was a ride. I tried making Soviet Union, China, and German Reich a bit stronger with the pre-game settings. Playing as the Netherlands...

Defeated Germany with a coalition of European countries including France, who quickly bailed out to join the Allies afterwards. In the end, I only managed to keep Finland, the Baltic states and Bulgaria in the Union. By 1943, the Soviets were throwing 6M soldiers at the poor European Union, and I had to make do with a lowly 1.7M Dutch defenders, but did manage to finally get Italy into our faction and quickly gave them 1000 armored trains to Annex the entire state through a lend lease as they were also starting to show signs of dissent (Apparently, 1000 armored trains is enough to surrender your country in 30 days...).

At that point, I was pushing back the Soviets out of Germany as they had invaded Denmark. By then, the Allies (minus the US!) were convinced I was too strong and opened another front throughout Europe, along with France, by way of Sweden starting a conflict with Finland which pulled the Allies into a war with the European Union... and prompted the US to join... the EU because I was also joined into the Japanese/Chinese conflict How the turn tables... I was saved!

During this whole endeavour I was still the Netherlands with a measly 2M total manpower on the field and a good 6M deceased, already up to the 'All Adults Serve' (20% manpower of population total conscripted in the army) escalation level and using every possible way to get extra bodies to throw in the soviet meat grinder. Was sitting on 0 Manpower for half the war until I finally managed to complete a full army of these bad boys...

Now this is a mechanized division with amphibious light tanks, amphibious APCs, self propelled super heavy howitzer and some extra artillery and brigades of light and modern tanks. This division loves to cross rivers and... take special note of the max. speed of this division; 9,9KM/h. Every other division moves at 4km/h. Put these on aggressive mode and they will literally just trample and ride straight through a front line. Within two weeks after deploying this into a complete stalled frontline measuring from the baltics down to Turkey... I reached Moscow and capitulated the Russians And that frontline was crumbling... no manpower to replace the dead, so every army was slowly bleeding to death.

Given the incredibly high war participation (and losing 6.8M bodies on a total Core population of 8,7M ) I think it was worth it.

Now, the Allies are still at war with me... but heh... what's the UK without US backup? Come at me... I've already collected the Soviet spoils... muahaha

Too bad I still have just 83 kind souls in reserve manpower...

EDIT

Britain was a piece of cake...

And with that, we can finally make the European Union, giving me core states in lots of places... and fixing the manpower problem overnight (33M souls ready to die ). Too bad there's nobody left to fight Well... China. Hmm...

 

[InfaRedd]

Path of Exile II. Just got the the Act 1 boss and he's kicking my ass. I'm a Warrior and he's better fought at a distance, rather than me trying to go toe to toe with him. Also, started First Berserker Khazan. Not to far in, but enjoying it so far. Nice cel-shaded graphics, good loot system, and customizable skill tree. More of a streamlined souls-like.

 

[Scattergrunt]

Ok, Halo 4 is a wrap.

I was a little surprised going back and and seeing how controversial the game was on release. I rather enjoyed my time with it.

The Good:

The game is gorgeous, great lighting, great sound effects. Worst you can say is some of the textures are fairly low quality, but the game launched on the Xbox360 so *shrug* can't win them all.

It is up there with halo reach as one of the best looking 360 games. It really pushed the hardware to its limits. I remember the 360 version being a bit stuttery sometimes.

Gameplay is distinctly Halo, and the game is built a lot like Halo Reach with a good mix of linear ground combat, vehicle combat, arenas and corridors. The levels mix it up frequently and rarely feel stale.

Its built on the same engine as reach, so that makes sense.

Master Chief is a chatty Cathy in this game vs the prior installments. No more stoic silent protagonist, which is actually a refreshing change. The game really revolves around Master Chief and Cortana's relationship and the friendship they've developed (although canonically I think the two of them have known each other for about a week or two tops from Halo 1-4) and does a good job having a solid emotional core which is quite a departure from the prior games.

A lot of people don't really like this change but hes still very much.. broody. He's way more talkative but still nowhere near some characters (or cortana.) I think the whole dynamic they have makes alot of sense since they are united through combat and a familial tie; as Chief has known Halsey for a long time.

I'm pretty sure they've known each other for longer than that.. iirc. But it makes sense. I think its a good departure, I just wish they wrapped up this whole thing in THIS game rather than drag it out to 5. Or atleast if they did to 5, they should of written 5 alot better. Make Cortana less of a generic evil 'screw humans AI's forevah' and more of a complex, nuanced villain in that game. But they didn't unfortunately.

The Bad:

The music is a solid 2-3 steps down from Bungie's games. I honestly have no idea wtf happened here but the background music is almost comically generic for a series lauded for it's soundtracks. The orchestral scores and Gregorian monk chants are gone, replaced by some technowave garbage cranked out by some intern on their sound board. Its that bad.

I didnt really notice it or care to be honest.

The story isn't intrinsically bad, but it does that thing where there must have been a shitton of adjacent media leading up to this game cause names and places and ships and faction names are dropped like you're supposed to be in awe but instead it's like "Who? What? Why is that important? What's going on?"

It's because 343 wanted to really 'unify' the halo lore because the extra content was mainly seperated from the stuff in the games. Alot of the books content was introduced in this game. It had its good and bad, unfortunately, they abandoned it pretty quickly after 4. Theres some book stuff in 5, and almost none in infinite iirc.

Its best they dont rely on it so MUCH because most people playing the games havent read the books.

The also gets a bit of flack from supposedly going from "Milsim" sensibilities to space opera, but honestly Halo went space opera in Halo 2 and never looked back (Gravemind practically smacks of something pulled out of an anime) so I didnt really understand this criticism.

Ehhh? There certainly was milsim aspects in 2, but I get your point I guess. 3 brought them back pretty heavy handed and reach is coded in it. ODST had noir, so I guess this game going more space opera works. I don't get the criticsm either.

Lastly the new Promethean enemies and weapons are just very meh. I understand it's going to be tough to come up with an interesting new enemy after the Covenant (and you still do fight Covenant rebels in this game) but damn it's hard to imagine how they could do worse.

The Prometheans are really more annoying than fun. The knights ability to teleport away, the flyers that also run away when damaged and can resurrect/heal recently killed knights, the dog things that climb walls and rapid fire their weapons. Its somehow all just redressed light/heavy/support style enemies that are tweaked just enough to deal a little too much damage while also being a little too tanky, and having aggravating evade abilities.

The Promethean guns are so so ho hum: pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, battle rifle, sniper rifle, rocket launcher... But ohh they're shiney and float and make enemies disintegrate now.

Personally, the promethans feel thrown away. Their weapons felt generic besides the pistol and sniper rifle, and alot of them can be annoying. I think they had neat ideas but I would of perferred if they were different. I think they were nice, because they were KIND of needed, especially since we had gone 5 games of just the convenant (3 with the flood on the side) as enemy factions. They just werent excuted well..

I guess tahts why they were dropped rather quickly

But in the end the bad does not outweigh the good.

Its a shame the game got so much grief, it was a really good foundation for 343 to build off of, but from what I read they went design by committee and "listened to the fans" who at this point I am convinced are the wrong people to ever listen to and really screwed up Halo 5 (on PC when Microsoft?). When Halo 5 was panned they responded with Infinite... And now it looks like the Halo franchise is on ice for a while. Looks like Halo 7 is in the works right now, so nvm.

Halo 5 was definitely not made for the fans.. or even the fans of 343's work. That game was bizarre. Its multiplayer and gunplay is far removed from Halo. Not that its a bad thing, I enjoy it, its just not a halo game in feeling tbh. I think it had alot of potential that was thrown out. Alot more than 4 anyway.

This is a game released on the Xbox 360 over 12 years ago: (image included)

Yea, it is by far the best looking game imo for lightning. I think reach still looks better though.. but mostly cause of the art style.

 

[Frick]

Also, 1.5 core is improved over the early Rimworld. I think it was rebalanced and updated pretty heavily around 1.3. For the better, IMHO.

1.1 (iirc) was quite heavily rebalanced as well, to hilarious results (larger raids end-game, and eqely game too I think, and restructured damage calculations meaning you'd get dozens of prisoners, all with that juicy +12 relation on release). But yeah there's no going back really, but I wish I could try 1.0 again just to see if the feelings have some truth to them.

 

[nomdeplume]

LEGO DC Super-Villains is bedlam compared to casual pacing of LEGO City Undercover. Absolutely hectic in comparison.

 

[jesdals]

Getting startet on some backlog off the Final Shap

 

[KrazyT]

LEGO DC Super-Villains is bedlam compared to casual pacing of LEGO City Undercover. Absolutely hectic in comparison.

View attachment 394849

Speaking of LEGO Games, finished yersterday : LEGO Indiana Jones - The Original trilogy (PC).
It's the usual LEGO fare, go left to right, smash everything, collect pieces, build some stuff to advance etc ...
Everybody knows the formula. And always filled with the silly/funny LEGO humour.
This one has 6 levels per episodes, (and 3 hidden), it's not too long, but as usual, much longer if you're aiming at the 100%
Some levels have a bit too much combat (with the boring rocket launcher / grenade guy, that can kill you in one shoot), and some jump aren't clear sometimes.
But as a LEGO / familly games, no death penalty here, so it's ok.
Cinematics are a quick resume of the movies, and the game is filled with the original movie's music.
I was looking for a simple and no brainer game, ideal for light gaming in the evening, this little game packs it with the strong Indy touch'.

The cinematics are funny, the facial expression are so good - Sure you'll smile at it when watching ! The Arch has been opened here, don't look at it !

In free mode, you can redo the levels with Indy and 6 others characters, each with his own "power". The 2nd episode wasn't (to me) the better movie, so as the game.

The mix between "real" stuff and LEGO objects is spot on. A real trademark of the LEGO games. The end is near !

And today, another finished game : Phantasy Star IV : End of the Millenium (MD mini).
It was the Saturday / Sunday morning game (when I can).
Usually I'm not a RPG guy, but this one has everything I like :
Fast combats, not too speechy, good sense of progression ...
Tried it because of the reputation, (and curious about the series) enjoyed it and finished it.
Liked the pace of the game, in the first couple of hour, you've already visited some town, move from here to there, doing local missions ...
It's fast, no big grinding required, even if I had some slowdown at the Air Castle / Garubek Tower combo, I've grinded a bit, levels are gained fast, so it's not to long.
Same against the last boss, fight him by surprise (wasn't prepared at all), and took a punishing puch.
A bit of XP and levels later, it was a real joke !
Even if it's one of the bigger MD game (48 Mb if I'm correct), it's a bit far from the "perfection" of a FFIV in term of realisation.
Not to relaunch the console war, I can say this PSIV has a really SEGA MD DNA, for the better of it !
(screens from mobygames)

Combats are always fast, wich is good, as the random battles can be annoying (but levels are gained fast)

Little and peaceful village. It's nice but can't compare to the rivals RPG !

Most of the important plot is presented like that, it's dynamic and no more loooong blahblah !

 

[Apocalypsee]

Having a blast playing on my retro gaming PC, last Soviet mission in Yuri's Revenge. Barely got the par time mainly because I'm collecting Yuri ore slaves and beating his castle with shovel.

I'm not kidding here look. Other units just chillin guarding the slaves

Another classics, AVP2. Despite the dated visual, sound quality is top notch tho for its age. Motion tracker, pulse rifle, opening doors, every single sound effect just sounds crisp and true to its movie counterpart.

EDIT: Meanwhile I'm having trouble with duckstation latest update. A lot of games just crashes as soon as music started (like in GT2 loading and everything is fine till after the countdown when racing and music started it immediately crash). I downloaded the last month version in github, for anyone experience crashes download the v0.1-8773, downlaod the zip one and extract to your duckstation directory and don't update it when it prompted.