whatchu playing now

I thought of something else I played recently: WSOP Full House Pro poker on xbla.

I am in a bad place. ;-)

GTA5 in the evenings, still searching for those hidden items
Or Lego City Undercover on occasions.

Any other time I struggle to find time or energy to play anything else right now, I'm trying to design and develop my own games and I find that a struggle in itself.

Games that I *should* be playing anyway...

Pinball FX, really really should fire this up more often
Rayman, not even installed this yet
Red Dead Redemption (still not bothered to attempt the final mission)
Fallout3, embarrassingly never finished this either
Fuel, after having to purchase new PS3 I'll have to start all over again.
Just Cause 2, dropped off the radar a bit, dip into every now and again to get that 100% status
Minecraft/FTB, my only reason for not playing this more often is its just too daunting. In terms of time wasting goes this is the mother of all. FTB packs have basically kicked this game into mind blowing status imo.

(With the exceptions of Pinball and Rayman you might notice a distinct pattern in the games I like)

picked up gta 5 again just to round off the epsilon missions. i was convinced there would be a big heist at the end of all of it, because ripping off the scientologists seemed to make sense and how else would i ever get the cash to buy the golf course etc. so the only one getting ripped off was me :( officially done with this game.

also just finished xcom enemy unknown which i loved to bits. besides it was just long enough to keep my interest through the whole thing.

not really sure what to go with next. ps+ gave me lots of options. i'll probably get going on tomb raider, as soon as i stop struggling to like pes2014.

dayZ and nothing but dayZ. the slow small little updates that come out every couple of weeks just make it that little bit more appealing every day. i try not to think that's there's no real goal or 'end' to it.

Dude, FRACT OSC is out. It's fun, but giving me a lot of flashbacks to Myst, due to heavy puzzles with occasional symbolic language hints. You're exploring this long abandoned machine world and you restoring operation to a giant synthesizer that you wander around in.

SMT4, the soundtrack for this game is so good, running around a post-apocalyptic Tokyo to synthy krautrock <3 http://youtu.be/SG_gB4kb2oA

Oh, FRACT sounds great, might have to grab that.

The only thing I'm playing at the moment is Letter Quest on my ipod. It's quite good but nothing mindblowing.

portal 2 (3rd time), ni no kuni, assassins creed 4, dork souls

FTL and could be on this for a while now that I feel like I finally understand how to play it

im obsessed

so many ships still to unlock and haven't even touched advanced mode...

I've been playing Kingdom Of Amalur, a game that apparently lost the taxpayers of Rhode Island $75m, recently. I kind of hate myself as it's another massive Skyrim-style time sink, but it's quite good fun.

what IS advanced mode

i havent even begun boarding as a tactic yet

sorry "advanced edition"

As a reminder, FTL: Advanced Edition is a free content expansion for FTL. All current (and future) customers will receive this update regardless of where they purchased it. Prior to release, we will post detailed instructions on how to get the update from whatever digital vendor you originally purchased FTL.

http://www.ftlgame.com/?page_id=106

New systems (clone bay??), new race, new ships, just lots more stuff, and it was released as a free sort of patch. It's a toggle option when you start a game, you can choose standard or advanced.

I've been playing Kingdom Of Amalur, a game that apparently lost the taxpayers of Rhode Island $75m
― Yuri Bashment (ShariVari), Thursday, April 24, 2014 3:45 PM

ah yes the curt schilling rpg

oh yeah i'm playing dragon's dogma. i've given up on it twice before so i'm determined to finish it this time. the controls are lacking but it has some of the best gfx i've seen in an rpg. makes dark souls 2 look like shit by comparison anyway.

http://cdn.destructoid.com//ul/266639-curt-shilling.jpg

dragon's dogma was good fun, at its best early before everything becomes too easy, so i encourage you to not progress the story at all until you have been everywhere. one of the best and most unique things it has are the giant wandering monsters that really felt like epic fights, at least until my gang quickly got OP'd. helps if you resist the temptation of the broken pawns that are available early.

infinity wars + starbound

helps if you resist the temptation of the broken pawns that are available early.
― Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, April 24, 2014 4:29 PM

what are the broken pawns. i've just been using the free low level ones and trading them in every so often. groups of bandits on the roads are still kicking my butt

i got one real early with an ordinary woman's name, Karen i am fairly sure, and her owner had limited her level but she had maxed-out, late game rare gear and was a total powerhouse

whatever the fighter class is. i got another midway thru with a more forgettable fantasyish name, also a female fighter.

Dammit, Fract really _is_ like myst. I can't find the symbolic to detangle the tune I'm supposed to play to solve the final puzzle in one of the areas.

Final Fantasy - NES
Assassin's Creed IV - PC
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX - PC
Castlevania: Rond of Blood - T16
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - PSX
Metal Gear Solid - PSX
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance - PC
Metal Gear Solid 2 - PC

you livin' the life, Adam, respect

finished saints row 4
tried diablo 3 again - meh so spammy
maybe back to metro 2033

"Finished" Portal and Fez, loved both. Seems like there's still aftergame stuff for me to do, which is cool.

I'm a good way into the first God of War, and I can't be sure but I think I might kinda hate it. The brutal waves of super tough enemies are awesome, and some of the puzzles are pretty good, but creating Indiana Jones-esque deathtraps with a shitty camera and sketchy controls was the fucking worst idea ever. I've wasted so much of my playtime on failing to kill everything onscreen within a set time before falling to my death or being crushed or sliced up by shit that I can barely see in front of me that it's kinda become a chore for me to continue. I might just be hating the PS2-ness of it, though.

I've been surprisingly digging a lot of arcade-y stuff that I've gotten cheap from PSN recently. Super Stardust and Wipeout took me a little while to get used to but they're amazing once I'm in the zone. Just got Retro/Grade, which I haven't played much but which has an awesome conceit (basically a rhythm game disguised as a shooter that runs in reverse). The Space Invaders update also seems like good value.

This weekend, I hit 50% completion and the 100 hour mark near-simultaneously on Just Cause 2. Clearing a few areas in the game has become such a reliably perfect way to decompress at the end of the day.

kotor + bg2

getting myself psyched + ready for pillars of eternity i guess

xps I played GoW 1 for the first time... a year ago? Maybe two? Felt some of the same frustrations as you, but I'm still planning to truck on through to the others at some point. I can see how it all would've been far more impressive back in 2006, but some of those levels and dungeons are awfully designed.

What build you going for in KOTOR, Mordy?

i guess soldier guardian. tbh i'm kinda more interested in my bg2 half-elf cleric/ranger build (so OP apparently it's ppl's fave for soloing the game). (thought about playing a wild mage too.)

Streets of Rage 3
Bare Knuckle III

So BKIII is the Japanese version of SOR3 and it is WAY easier. This does not mean it is easy though, it only means it is possible to get through stage 1 without using a continue. American version of Streets of Rage 3 is one of the more difficult games I've ever played.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VWsJPJ19DA

That level with the bulldozer is all-time unfair.

all that and he's beat by a girder

i love the energy meter for 'wall'.

i guess i only played Streets of Rage 1 & 2.

man why doesn't axel just jump over the damn walls

sor3 is weird. it seems like it admits to tactics then it doesn't really.

I think after you get past the stage where you are fighting kangaroos and evil dominatrix clowns they just figured they could get away w that.

Played 2-player Hyperstone Heist for the Genesis last night. Got to Super Shredder and then we died and we were out of continues! The music in that game is incredible. Orchestrated speed metal.

i'm still playing bg2.

eu4 always with the eu4. genovese colonial empire.

wish i could get into eu. each time i load it up there are like 300 tutorials

if it helps you still won't know what the fuck is going on if you sit thru the tutorials

Sadly not as into Mirror's Edge as I'd hoped (hinges way too much on barely-disguised quick time events, which fuck that). Surprisingly way more into the first Metal Gear Solid than I expected (tough but mostly fair, cutscenes and dialogue that are reasonably well-written and not totally perfunctory, generous with the game saving, and the controls and camera, while occasionally obnoxious, are better than those on a lot of the PS2 games I've played). I still haven't been able to get past the first boss yet, though, so we'll see how long my admiration lasts.

is there some kind of amazing online tutorial that will teach me how to play?

there is a lot of user and wiki content so possibly but i'm not aware of anything myself. i think you just need to start playing it with the expectation that you won't know what you're doing for a long time. start with france: raise a big army and start some beef. you can go a long way with them without having to worry about some of the more arcane stuff for a while and you will pick up a good foundation in manpower/supply, tech advancement, diplomacy, religion. you can dip your toe into trade and colonies if you want but you'll still be able to do plenty without. and you'll have the immediate objective of unifying france to get your teeth into, which definitely helps the transition into the sandbox. you'll always have something to do with them and that is certainly not always the case elsewhere.

have any of you played crusader kings 2 and can you take the same approach there? tried to get into it but get caught up on figuring out how levies work and what a demesne is and somehow the game had me entering into an affair with my own wife

I love me my Souls games, but those Nioh games look like Souls+even more numbers/stats.

What game popularized that thing where hitting the enemy emits a shower of different numbers, I presume denoting damage?

Yes tons of loot still. It annoyed me at first but I’ve gotten used to it. I don’t overthink it much and just sell practically all of it for souls.

My understanding is that builds are mostly meaningless unless you plan on playing ng+ and beyond. Just use whatever weapons and magic you enjoy. The combat is extremely fun once you get into it.

xp damage numbers have been around in RPGs since the 80s. not sure what the first action game to have them was. secret of mana did in 1993 but i'm sure theres something earlier

crazy that most of the highguard seem to have been laid off only a few weeks after launch. battlepass uptake numbers must have been dismal

I love me my Souls games, but those Nioh games look like Souls+even more numbers/stats.

it's dark souls taken in a much more action game direction + diablo-style random loot. it's fantastic even if the loot system is sort of tedious to engage with, and they made it much easier to avoid engaging with the intricacies of the loot in 3 at least, and make much more of an attempt at easing the player into things than before

the fundamentals of combat feel similar enough, with stamina management, limited healing, very punishing combat, but then there's a lot more action game-style combos that are possible, and various elaborate special move metres, and the stance system, and more... the whole game is systems on top of systems and is kinda overwhelming in that way, but you also don't really need to engage with most of that very much to get by. you can play it as a slightly-more-technical dark souls if you want and it works fine. i like to play it as a really fast-paced dark souls.

the nioh 3 demo was fantastic (it is like 8 hours long, somehow) and i loved 2 so i'm looking forward to playing the rest of 3 later. i went back to nioh 1 (i never finished the dlc) and it's decent but not really scratching the same itch because there's so much stuff they added in 2 that i miss

xp that happens with a new multiplayer game practically once a month at this point. the market is completely saturated

Ok I'm getting quite interested in Nioh 3, assuming the next From game (available on PS at least) is still quite a ways away.

Ooh nice, there's a demo where your save can carry into the main game if you buy it, that's how it should be done.

As soon as Dunkey realizes you can play as an old lady and that there are magic cats I knew this would be a funny video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4aS5e0J3Ls

Heh. I downloaded the demo (which is nearly 60 gb, because it's the full game) and will give it a shot, but also remembered that the new Resident Evil is coming out in a few weeks and that sounds like a much more fun prospect.

Damn, Nioh 3 is really fun. The combat just feels great in a way that's hard to grasp from seeing videos, and that's kinda my main thing.

There are so many options (styles, stances, weapons, special moves, etc) that I often don't feel like I'm playing it "right", but I think that's just the vibe.

I bought the Metal Gear Solid Collection 1. I've never played these games and I am absolutely HOPELESS at them.

I loved the PS1 one but sometimes around PS4 I realised that playing a videogame that demands I creep around the place lest a huge alarm goes off and everyone chases me was not relaxing and in fact too similar to daily life.

I noped out of Dishonored for that reason. Patience and strategy sneaking around the guards was more of an investment than I wanted. Made easier when the save file corrupted and I lost the first level of play.

Yeah I mean, within reason, I like a game that makes me work a fair bit at the start but culminates in total overpowered destruction.

Yeah Nioh 3 has a ton of different ways to play but you can just pick and choose what systems you want to engage with and get by fine. I do think it’s important to get used to Ki pulsing and timing Burst Counters.

The Eternal Life of Goldman demo -- amazingly animated spiritual successor to a certain nes game

Deep Snow Delivery (demo)

Look Outside, Blasphemous, and ARC Raiders depending on my mood. And all three verrry slowly.

i finally put real time into inscryption and i’m in the later game stuff. taking all games verrrrry slowly too

Played Venba this week. Very nicely done and glad it exists but it's very slight.

Finally starting the Calvard arc of the Trails series having finished the Trails in the Sky remake, which was top stuff. My only regret is I don't have the patience to wait for the rest of the Liberl remakes first.

Finally diving into E33. Absolutely fantastic and addictive. Right amount of challenge and I'm truly enjoying the turn based and twitchy dodge/parry actions. Game has sooo much personality too. Playing with French on, which feels right? Started with English and while it was good enough, switching over just seemed to "tie the room together".

I think I made a mistake with BG3 - I'm just straight up not digging playing it, especially on PS5. Maybe it's something I need to play on my laptop instead, which was advice I ignored, but I feel I wasted some money. Wish I could just transfer it from the PS store to Steam. Alas.

Look Outside is so good and one of those games I'm jealous of (but excited for) people playing it for the first time.

The story and concept of Venba was great but the actual game parts were boring and semi-frustrating

I think I made a mistake with BG3 - I'm just straight up not digging playing it, especially on PS5

How far in are you

any recommendations for factory building games? I think this could be my new timesink ...

Played some of the demo for Denshattack. Cool game, but definitely not something to dive into when you are Way Tired

lol octo, i had the exact reverse feelings re: E33 and BG3.

BG3 rules, but if you don't like it on PS5 (how i played it) not sure playing it on PC would move the needle much. i found it pretty easy to play on consoles once i got the hang of it. inventory management can be a little cumbersome when you amass a bunch of stuff, but otherwise pretty frictionless imo.

zappi, noticed Sips playing something called MineMogul. Might be worth a look.

ta Ste, will check it out

Any NextFest demo recs from you gamers over here? Preferably ones where the demos aren't over 10gb in themselves. Also I am bad at shooty/fighty games, lol. Give me something where I don't need shitloads of dexterity.

Zappi, I'm assuming Factorio is already on your radar? I've never played it but it pops up so much I assume it is THE factory sim.

yes have heard of Factorio but don't know if it's any good, I'm completely clueless about this type of game!

the only factory style game i've played was SHAPEZ 2

i found it very addicting and had to put it away, and i'd probably be into any factory-style game

Zappi, which ones have you already played?
(i too assumed you were coming from a post-factorio experience)

shapez 2 is still in early access i guess. but i came upon it while reading this review:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/shapez-2-early-access-review

This is by far the most fun I've had reviewing a game, and Shapez 2 has, in my mind at least, turned the holy trinity of factory games (Factorio, Satisfactory, Dyson Sphere Program) into a holy quartet

Also, as I believe this genre expanded out of the Minecraft Tekkit scene from years back where modpacks would create factory type situations with pipes galore,

The latest craze on Minecraft mods is the Create mod which involves all kinds of weird and wonderful engines/cogs/machines and whatnot to help make maddening factory productions. Seriously, check the vids on this thing it's bananas how they've got this out of the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz5maMNgWqE

Zappi, which ones have you already played?
(i too assumed you were coming from a post-factorio experience)

ah, I just *cough* no-lifed Endfield over the last couple of weeks. I thought I was going to just ignore the factory building part, but found out instead that I loved doing it - discovering a completely new flavour of puzzle solving. now I want more!

i haven't touched any of those but Satisfactory is the one that my friends play and seem to like

friend of mine who is an actual automation engineer at a factory unwinds after work by firing up his laptop and playing factory video games lol. Factorio is the one for him, pretty sure he's been playing it for like 10 years now, but i know he digs Satisfactory too.

i got METAL GEAR SOLID Δ: SNAKE EATER going on atm. enjoying the QOL updates. not as rad as the first go around back on PS2, understandably, but still fun.

eyeing up the new Resident Evil.

new resi looks class

I’m hooked on the finals

So how bout that slay the spire?

marathon’s kinda fun imo. UI is a bit awkward but not a major issue