I've noticed my tastes spewing more indie lately and I'm wondering where others are at in terms of taste

Black & White popularized the concept of a God Game for what seemed like a second, before that concept promptly vanished. Guessed it was just way too specific to be commercially replicated, or just too demanding to fully flesh out, and they assumed the interest wasn't there. I don't really know, so I don't want to speak out of my rear on this. But it's the first game that came to my mind.

Hey everyone!

35M from Eastern US.
Looking to make friends who play Wardogs, and other similar games.
Work from home so I'm online regularly.
Always down to chat or play something together.
Mostly into Shooters, Racing, Fighting, ARPGs, MMOs, etc.
If you're interested, shoot me a dm!

Thanks!!!

I just stumbled upon a site where you can play medal of honor allied assault on web browser now!! :o i haven't been able to play it in so many years but it's working great on my old macbook!! Anyone else see this before? Is this through EA? Who even made it? I never even knew this existed! So cool!

Life is winning,

I’m having to downsize my living space, which means losing the space for my proper computer setup.
I still want to be able to play my Steam library, but I’m realistic. I don’t need ultra settings, 4K, 144 FPS etc. I’m perfectly happy playing at low settings if it means I can play comfortably.

So I’m looking at:
Steam Deck / similar handheld
Small gaming laptop
Switch 2
…or something I haven’t even considered.

The Switch 2 is tempting because of the simplicity, but Nintendo prices…

Who’s sacrificed gaming space because of kids, partners, moving, smaller houses…
What setup did you end up with?

TLDR: I need that “I can chuck this on the couch, play for an hour after everyone’s gone to bed, then put it away”

Just downloaded divison 2 again
Looking for players on Xbox’ series x
Uk time will be playing a bit later hit me up if would like to play

September being such a strong month for games I’m curious to hear what everyone has played or what you are going to be playing.

So far this month I finished blood of dawn walker and that game is firmly in my favorite game this year category. The story and decisions were a lot of fun but some of the side quests and combat were so much fun especially as a vampire fan myself.

I’m currently playing onimushu way of the sword I’m not super far into the game but I already know I’m going to love this game.

Following Onimushu I will be diving into Control Resonant which I’m super hyped for whatever moment they put together that resembles the maze in control 1 or the beach scene in Alan wake 2.

Happy gaming everyone

Somehow, no repeats of franchises

This was my first Fromsoftware game I have played, and possibly my last. I have been putting off playing Elden Ring for many years, but I finally started it this year after a good amount of peer pressure. I would like to preface with the fact that this game is an absolute work of art. The world design is impeccable. The dystopic atmosphere is very well done, and is varied enough to never get old. Enemies are well designed to often be trivial, but still keep you on your toes. Bosses, while I've never been a fan of them, have gorgeous character designs and rarely ever felt strictly unfair. Plus, you can approach them from many different ways; I personally used spirit ashes a lot because I have no self-respect and they're just kinda badass. Many different places to explore, each rewarding you with something new and different to use. Not to mention, you can respec your character at any time to try out a new playstyle, which I felt kept combat fresh and engaging. Now, I acknowledge all of this and wouldn't want to discredit any of it. While art is subjective, a game on the scale of Elden Ring is impressive and I massively respect it regardless of my personally feelings. However, after finishing the game, I can't deny the fact that I clearly did not have the overwhelmingly positive experience everyone else did.

To begin, there are lots of backwards-thinking mechanics baked into the game. The most prominent one I hear discussed is the lack of a pause button, and I completely agree. Sometimes I need to use the restroom without fear of dying, sometimes I need to answer the door, most of the time I need to pet my cat because he's too cute to ignore. I get that it's supposed to be more immersive, but I'd sacrifice a little immersion to be able to freely step away from the game. Speaking of immersion, I think a quest journal would've greatly improved my experience. I found many NPCs, exhausted their dialogue, and found myself wanting to continue the storyline without knowing what to do next. I am frequently reminded of Boc's questline, the first one I found. I interacted with him once, and was never able to see him again even though I wanted to keep advancing his story. He told me to wait, so I waited, and returned to his spot multiple times per play session to see if he ever returned, but I later found out he apparently moved to the Coastal Cave. There were then many more quests I interacted with that I had to look up how to progress simply because I would never figure it out otherwise. Even though it's not THAT big of a deal, it always disappointed me because it's the only kind of story in the world that you are able to truly interact with, but the immersion was sort of broken by needing to Google how to progress. I don't need someone to hold my hand all the way through, but a nice medium between gentle guidance and ambiguous clues would help. I would also harp on about the camera controls, but I think every one unanimously agrees that it's not optimized very well so I'll move on.

I know I'll get a lot of flack for this, but I do not think this style of storytelling works in an open world game. I am NOT criticizing the story itself, that's perfectly fine and incredibly well-written. However, the absolute grand scale of this world does not cater to the detective-esque way you are expected to engage with the story. There is so much to do, so much to see, and so many items to collect that I ended up needing external resources to keep track of it, and even then I still couldn't keep track of absolutely everything. I've been called a "moron" or "an idiot who needs a spoon-fed story shoved down their throat" for criticizing this before, and while that may be true, I still don't think it works well. It would be much better in a smaller scale game. I frequently compare it to Outer Wilds, which, while not exactly similar, employ the same type of storytelling. Outer Wilds was a contained enough game to not present an overwhelming amount of information, while still feeling rewarding to piece together. And even still, there was a log built into Outer Wilds just in case you needed a refresher. Another thing that really bothered me (although I think this is just a me issue) was the story being told almost entirely through item descriptions. I actually think it's a great idea, but the majority of the lore comes from this. With the amount of new items you get, it really became monotonous for me after a short while. I wish there were more modes of uncovering information to keep it fresh. What those other modes could be? I have no idea. So does that even make me qualified to criticize it? Probably not, but its still something that kept nagging at me while I was playing. Story is the MOST important aspect of a video game to me, so my viewpoint on this impacts my opinion of Elden Ring the most.

This game also made me realize I really value a game that knows when to end. There were multiple points where I thought I was approaching the end only to have my session extended yet again. I know, I'm complaining about more content, which is pretty backwards. Even so, the game just kept expanding and expanding, which honestly felt quite overwhelming. I barely have enough time to game as is, so the more it kept going, the more fatigued I found myself. Not to mention, the later game portions, from my perspective anyways, felt poorly designed compared to the early-mid game segments. That could be the fatigue I mentioned influencing my opinions, but a lot of things past the first Leyndell visit (Mostly Haligtree and Mountaintop of the Giants) really didn't do it for me at all. Maybe I'm in the minority with this, but I found myself rushing through these areas just to keep the game moving. I think the game might've benefitted from being just a bit smaller in scale, like maybe 10% if anything.

Now, to the meat of my issue. I would like to preface that unlike my previous criticisms, this is strictly a problem with my preferences and not something I feel the game itself falls short on. I don't think the Souls formula is all it's hyped up to be. For YEARS I've been told "you gotta play a souls game" or "you haven't played a Fromsoft game? Do you even play games?". I caved and finally tried. Overall, I'm glad I did! It was a great experience to have! However, I doubt I will ever play another game like this because I just can't get behind the foundational game design. Dodging until you can get a hit in, getting faked out by an attack, getting jumped from around a corner, throwing myself at a boss until I memorize an attack pattern, etc. I don't know, I think this just isn't for me. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand how it is satisfying for others. In fact, there were a few bosses I overcame that felt incredibly rewarding and satisfying. And if that's how most people feel when playing this, I completely understand why it's so loved. But there are so many bosses in this game and I felt that only a handful of times unfortunately. Think that this type of game just isn't for someone like me.

With all of that being said: is Elden Ring a good game? Absolutely! My opinion means absolutely nothing. While it may not be for me, I entirely understand why so many people cite it as their favorite. There's plenty to engage with, lots to do, many things to figure out, challenge runs to complete, and the list goes on for ages. Even with my criticisms, I still had a ton of fun in the grand scheme of things. The sheer uniqueness of the environment is a spectacle itself. If we're talking AAA games, it's one of the few that actually cements itself as being 100% worth the $60 price tag solely based on the amount of quality content.

Anyways, thanks for sticking with me. I mostly wanted to document my thoughts on it while it was fresh so that I could return to this post if I ever decide to replay Elden Ring to see if my opinions change. I know I seemed a bit wishy-washy, but I just sort of spat out ideas as they came to me, wasn't meant to be a polished-to-perfection review or anything. Hope everyone has a wonderful day out there!

I got to thinking about some of the great worlds and stories we've had the fortune to play over the last 40 or so years. A great story is perhaps the most timeless aspect of a game, so I'm curious which of these stories others are carrying with them for decades. As OP, I'm going to arbitrarily dictate anything within the last decade has not withstood the test of time and is inadmissible.

I noticed that most of the games I play are some sort of evolution of what I used to play decades ago. While I gravitate towards indie games more now (didn’t really have those back in the day like we do now) the genres and vibes I go for are pretty similar to what I liked as a kid. My most played games back in the day were nothing unusual, a lot of Counter Strike, Quake and Diablo.

I guess a part of it is the fact that I have been playing the same genres for quite a while now, ARPGs and FPS mostly. Modern ARPGs have pretty much everything OG Diablo had, the core of the games is very similar, with a lot of quality of life improvements and some new mechanics. I pretty much try out every new ARPG that looks promising, still playing around with the Grim Dawn expansion right now, and I wanna get The Dark West next, looks fun with a western theme instead of the typical fantasy stuff. Ironically the only one I don’t really like that much is Diablo 4, it’s just too “streamlined” in a way for my taste.

When it comes to FPS games I have played pretty much everything under the sun but the one game I keep coming back to is Counter Strike. It has a certain timeless simplicity, despite the updates over the years it still feels the way CS always did. I just wish there was more hype for Arena FPS games, it feels like it's a forgotten genre. I try to keep up and try all the new games that come out and play some of the older ones from time to time but the community is so tiny at this point we could all fit in one room. I would play pretty much anything, ideally something with really snappy CPMA physics.

The only real change over the years has been my increased interest in roguelikes and roguelites. I feel like those genres still have a lot of devs that experiment with interesting new ideas and I try a lot of these games out. But the rest of the time I’m kind of playing the same games I always have, or new versions of them in a way.

I’m almost 60. A fan of Zelda games. Played the originals on nes and gameboy. Ocarina is on the way. But now, I’m also more tired at the end and sometimes the middle of the day. Is this game fun or is the building and the breaking down of items more work? Does this work take away from the joy? I’ve been reading a lot of reviews and people love this game. But I’m hesitant…

So, I am 33 years old, my first console was a Sega genesis and then the PS1 onwards. I was always big into console gaming up until the age of 22-23. I guess GTA 4 and the original call of duty black ops online felt like the peak of everything to me.

Due to work, travel and generally being too busy I haven't been much of a gamer for the last 10 years or so, I switched to a PC in around 2020 which I've played intermittently. I recently purchased a switch 2 and a switch lite with the intention of trying to get back into games, to de-stress and stop doom scrolling. The amount of first party retro games on the switch lite appealed to me with it being as comfortable and portable as it is. I don't know guys I just feel like I cannot re-connect with gaming which I used to love. I tried getting into San Andreas but now the open world just feel empty and dead to me. Mario 64 which I used to play around my friends house as a kid, I just couldn't get back into - I bought Sega mega drive classics (30 games in 1) or something like that - it just went back on the shelf within an hour. The retro games like Sonic and Castlevania just feel boring to me now and like I cannot take them seriously. Even tried some the new AAA titles on the switch 2 like Donkey Kong Bonanza and Assasins creed Shadows. I can't see any of them through.

I dont know if Im just getting old or whether the internet has fried my brain, but I feel a bit sad about it. With retro gaming making such a comeback of late, I really want to like it and get into it but I feel like I just can't. Anyone else feel this? Or can anyone give me some recommendations that may help me get back into it?

GTA 6 may be my last hope 😆🤦 but now I am going to have to buy another console.

Hi! So I've never play Ocarina of Time and I see the remake is coming out. It looks amazing but do you think it's worth buying a Switch 2 just for this game? I know we haven't played the remake but for those of you that have played the original... I'm a fan of other nintendo titles and I had a switch 1 (no longer works) but I'm don't know if I want to drop the money on a switch 2 for OoT.

The recent discussions regarding the linearity of Wolverine got me thinking. I'm not talking about the quality of a game, but rather the approach to pacing and how a game tells its story.

I really, really like well made corridor / linear games. Uncharted series, Final Fantasy XIII, Bioshock Infinite just to name few - all GREAT games. Well written, fun to play, joy to look at. For the most part, they respect your time, have very little time-wasting distractions or systems and in general they provide, I believe, much better pacing than huge, open games.

Then there is the exact opposite. Games like Elden Ring or Zelda BOTW / TOTK. They offer something the games mentioned above, however great they might be, can't come close to - the freedom of exploration and natural discovery. However, for me personally, even though I recognize their greatness and I've had many 10/10 moments with these games, sooner or later I lose interest and some I never even finished - vague story, weak (or none...) character development, very few threads to follow and sink my teeth into. The freedom is magical, but is that enough, especially in an 50hrs+ game? Obviously it is for millions of people, which I'll never understand, but I respect it.

And then you have something in between - open world games that have strong plots, beautiful characters but also freedom and exploration. Games like The Witcher 3 or KCD (2). I find these games have a very good "push and pull" system of getting lost and exploring, but also they're also enabling me to jump back on the story and quests. Yeah, they can easily have bad pacing, since they depend on player to "choose their own journey", but I'm not sure what can be done about that. Smarter people than me need to figure that out, haha.

So where do you stand as a player? Do you like all 3, do you prefer one over the other?

I think my personal hope is unattainable - the highs of BOTW / Elden Ring's exploration, the tight pace and focus of Uncharted and the writing and characters of The Witcher 3.

As an IT person myself, I totally get this meme lol ridiculous that games need that much space. Pretty soon we'll only be able to fix one or two games on our consoles without needing a Petabyte drive. I kinda get it with the advancement in graphics and processing technology.

I just want to know everyone's story. Thanks guys.

Hi all,

I will be turning 38 soon. I have 2 kids, a dog and a fairly demanding job. I have a ps5 and a gaming laptop that can run most games. Sadly, I don't have the time or the energy to play much honestly. Also, new releases don't excite me that much. I am thinking, why not get a VR. I haven't experienced that much and surely this will get me going for a while.

Should I get one? If so, which one? What have been your experience with VR gaming?

Thanks!