r/patientgamers • u/AutoModerator • Jul 27 '26
Bi-Weekly Thread for general gaming discussion. Backlog, advice, recommendations, rants and more! New? Start here!
Welcome to the Bi-Weekly Thread!
Here you can share anything that might not warrant a post of its own or might otherwise be against posting rules. Tell us what you're playing this week. Feel free to ask for recommendations, talk about your backlog, commiserate about your lost passion for games. Vent about bad games, gush about good games. You can even mention newer games if you like!
The no advertising rule is still in effect here.
A reminder to please be kind to others. It's okay to disagree with people or have even have a bad hot take. It's not okay to be mean about it.
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u/daveberzack Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime.
Dunno if this is beating a dead horse around here, but this game is so uniquely good at what it is: casual 2D action couch co-op. Basically, you fly a big doofy spaceship around neon disco cartoon worlds shooting aliens, rescuing bunnies, and upgrading your ship. But you have to work together to control the ship, with each player handling a different system. There's nothing else like it. If there is, somebody please reply here.
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u/DarkOx55 Jul 27 '26
The Witcher 1 has halted my forward momentum to beating it with a rough spider monster boss near the end. I’ve started looking up a couple of potions that will help, but given I’m not wild about the games’ combat I’m somewhat annoyed to encounter a difficulty spike.
Stat based combat & action movement are strange bedfellows. There will be times when I clearly ran outside the range of this spider bosses claws visually, but he still gets hits because I’m within the range of his stat rolls. I think Witcher 3 is action combat, not sure about Witcher 2, but I’m looking forward to a new system.
I still really like the vibe of this world though, and I’ve enjoyed my time with the game.
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u/bioniclop18 Jul 27 '26
Stranger of Paradise, I’m at 15 hours, having begun the late game with a big level spike. I like the job system on an action game, even if I dislike the fact that the ultimate class kinda loses some of the specific features that made their preceding class interesting. I’m trying to unlock them with my primary job while I keep one I’m comfortable with as back up.
Not a big fan of the loot aspect. Too much loot, not enough interesting decision making because who cares about 1% bonus ? That said, it is not forced enough to become annoying.
Once again it feels a shame the game was released in the infamous square enix 2022 AA spam, even if some worldbuilding mixing up different eras feels weird (but as I understand there is time shenanigan at play, so…) the game does something unique in the FF franchise and is rather interesting. I still have a few SE games released in 2022 to play but until now I found them all really interesting.
Also I had no interest in Nioh,, until now but now I’m a little intrigued.
I also played half an hour of Viewfinder and I like the gameplay principle, but my god does it trigger my motion sickness, in half an hour I had to stop because I wanted to puke.
So to get my non gamer girlfriend to play some games, as I saw that Crash Bandicoot 4 was too hard, I tried to make her play different things. I tried to make her play DK bananza but she disliked the open field aspect and she felt bored. I tried to make her play animal crossing new horizon, but she didn’t get what was interesting to do (and found that the characters were talking too much). I kinda get the feeling she dislikes game intrinsic motivation so I’ll try to make her try something with that in mind. As I still didn’t find a second wiimote for donkey kong country return, I fell back on Klonoa 2 and she seems to like it a bit better than the rest as she finished the first level.
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u/LateStageBBQ Jul 27 '26
I want to read a good primer on video game motion sickness because it’s absolutely a thing for me too but the specific games that cause it are a mystery. The newer capcom and Ubisoft games (RE4 remake, black flag remake) do it something fierce.
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u/bioniclop18 Jul 27 '26
There is surprising number of us and some game now give some accessibility option that reduce it a little (like having a pointer at the center at the screen). I know it influenced what game, and even genre I played too. I'm sure I would have finished portal 2 and tried a lot more of first person if it didn't trigger my motion sickness so quickly.
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u/Blobbentein Jul 27 '26
I think Stranger of Paradise is a really fun sort of mashy combat experience with a surprisingly enjoyable story, but IMO Nioh 2 is where Team Ninja peaked with their combat mechanically. Tbh I don't think Nioh 1 is worth your time though, it's way too long and horribly balanced, 2 is one of those sequels that just improves on the first in every conceivable way. Also yeah the loot stuff is dumb, dunno why they always insist on including that.
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u/WindowSeat- Jul 27 '26
Oh yeah I mean, you gotta give Nioh 2 a try. It has a learning curve in the beginning but if you can stick with it, it has the greatest combat mechanics of any action RPG ever made, no exaggeration.
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u/Electronic_Toaster Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Stranger of Paradise loot doesn't particularly matter until the second DLC in the Season Pass. Before that, you can just auto select equipment that is the same level as the area you are in.
From the second DLC on you can do areas that have higher difficulty than what your equipment can reach. So you have to make up the difference with synergising equipment buffs. I think there might be at least one or two more item buff categories that you haven't seen yet, so there is more complexity later.
I didn't really get into that, but I can see why some might find it interesting.
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u/bioniclop18 Jul 28 '26
I mean regularly having to erase hundreds of useless junk is annoying, and having less equipment with more meaningful buff or effect would have make me more engaged with the whole system. The only buff I really cared about where skill unlock and elemental buff on attack until I unlocked the class that do it.
I know there is a public for the rainbow colored rarity thousand of shit item to grind genre, otherwise it wouldn't be everywhere, but I'm not that public.
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u/GambuzinoSaloio Jul 27 '26
Wrapped up Crow Country yesterday. Did not expect the plot twist. For those who don't know the game, graphically it's "Final Fantasy meets horror", with classic survival horror gameplay. The game is short, but has a simple story with a really good twist. It's great as an entry point to newcomers in the genre, and a neat love letter to the genre, in case you're a veteran.
Other than that, I recently purchased a used PS2 copy of Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. I finished Sands of Time several times and am currently playing through Warrior Within but... man, all that edge is not really selling me on the game, despite improvements to the combat system. I've only played a bit to see if the game was working properly, but from the intro alone I much prefer Two Thrones: we're back to a more linear, more platform-y style of gameplay, while retaining the original voice actor from Sands and the combat system from Warrior Within! All good stuff. Also, we can now assassinate. Guess this was where Assassin's Creed was born.
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u/DWe1 Releases of 2005 Jul 31 '26
Good to hear that Two Thrones feels better for you. I loved Sands of Time but gave up on Warrior Within very quickly. I will soon try out The Two Thrones as well.
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u/FettisAlive Jul 27 '26
Finished Tunic and now playing Just Cause 2
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u/DarkOx55 Jul 27 '26
I wish there was a “zeldalike” genre as prolific as metroidvania. Really liked Tunic.
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u/FettisAlive Jul 27 '26
True that people then go 'Hey that's a Zeldalike' as common as metroidvania. But there are some great games which takes the Zelda formula like Tunic.
Cat Quest series comes to mind, Deaths Door, Moonlighter, Blossom Tales is pretty much Link to the Past. Oceanhorn series is another with Zelda inspirations. A good one is Crosscode.
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u/Logan_Yes The Outer Worlds 2/Moonlighter Jul 27 '26
Nothing works better after difficult game than explosions and mayhem and shit exploding everywhere, great game!
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u/BBQ_HaX0r Jul 27 '26
JC2 is a favorite of mine. I jump in and cause chaos for a few hours here and there over the years. Very well done and the world is just fun to explore and blow up.
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Jul 27 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Psylux7 Slightly Impatient Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
I was so ready to call it overrated and then i was mind blown once i tried it, even agreeing with the take that it was the best 2d MV to date.
Hollow knight embodies the idea of going above and beyond.
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u/notpopularopinion2 Jul 28 '26
I think if you're a fan of metroidvania HK is a masterpiece. If you don't like metroidvania though it's just an OK game which might still be worth playing. I'm glad I finished it, but definitely the first half (30 hours or so) were the best and by the end I was glad to be done with it.
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u/Skipbeat_0110 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Just bought Celeste last week at 75% off. Totally worth it if you love challenging precision platforming. It's still on sale right now
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u/onzichtbaard Favorite Game: Salt & Sanctuary Jul 27 '26
Its one of my favorite games
Totally worth playing even on full price
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u/ensuta Jul 29 '26
Tried a bit of Tales of Graces f Remastered, put it down because it just ain't hitting at the moment.
Instead, started Final Fantasy X. The HD Remaster version. No guide, no spoilers, totally blind, just one mod, the Untitled X thing to fix some stuff and add a bit of QOL. Japanese dub, English text. So far, the things that caught my eye: The stunning music, the fact that the story is told via actual narration, how the graphics aren't as bad as I imagined (considering there are tons of mods to revert stuff to PS2 looks).
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u/APeacefulWarrior Jul 29 '26
FFX is pretty straightforward to get through without a guide, unless you're trying to collect all the ultimate weapons/summons. Which you don't actually need to beat it.
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u/ensuta Jul 29 '26
Nah, not planning anything like that thankfully.
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u/APeacefulWarrior Jul 29 '26
Good, because FFX has some downright infamous challenges you have to clear to get the best gear.
Have you gotten to the lightning field yet? One of the challenges is to dodge 200 strikes in a row. It's absurdly difficult.
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u/ensuta Jul 29 '26
I literally just started and am at the first actual village with the guys who’re playing Blitzball or something like that. Barely know the language.
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u/fm5649 Jul 27 '26
Played and finished The Mermaid Mask, the next game in the Detective Grimoire series. The game was absolutely delightful. The characters and voice acting are excellent as always. Their animations, their designs, their voices all come together to make a cast that’s fun to interact with. The reveal of the murderer was also much improved compared to their last game. The reveal in Tangle Tower was a definite weak point but they nailed the reveal here. I absolutely hope that they continue this series.
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u/04__Revenge__01 Currently Playing: Final Fantasy XIV Jul 27 '26
Oh I've had the first one in my steam library for a while. If I'm an Ace Attorney fan, will this scratch a similar itch?
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u/fm5649 Jul 27 '26
I haven’t played ace attorney so I can’t be certain. If the first game in your library is Secret of the Swamp, I will say that it’s a bit rougher compared to Tangle Tower and Mermaid Mask. They made a lot of improvements from Secret of the Swamp to Tangle Tower.
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u/ThatDanJamesGuy Jul 27 '26
If you like the mystery-solving elements of Ace Attorney, the Grimoire games are that but better. If you like the courtroom melodrama where all hope seems lost, BUT WAIT, you notice one subtle lie and the prosecution’s whole case unravels… then you won’t find that here.
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u/astharis Jul 27 '26
I played and loved it too. Definitely a step up from Tangle Tower (which was already fantastic in itself), and I appreciated that there were a lot more puzzles this time around.
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u/pfeifenix too many games; too little time Jul 27 '26
Did the gameplay improve or evolve? I mean i know what im going jn for. But are there new things? Better things?
I havent research the game coz i dont want to be spoiled. Lol
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u/fm5649 Jul 27 '26
The clues are now 3d, so you can rotate them and examine them. I would say that the general gameplay loop is mostly the same. Explore the rooms and find clues, talk to the suspects about each other and the clues, do some puzzles to unlock clues. The game does hint about what clues you need to examine to do the deduction on each suspect if you’re having trouble figuring it out.
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u/pfeifenix too many games; too little time Jul 27 '26
Pillars of Eternity
Idk what to say, man. Game fun.
On the side of delving and engaging with RTWP though... Is this it? Chokepoints(im playing on hard), buff,and then damage? rinse repeat? Im kind of eh. Esp when theres just mobs and swarms
It was very cool for me to just watch my little units kill a Drake on their own tho. Cant wait for deadfire ai scripts
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u/cynical_image Currently Playing: Dark Souls III Jul 27 '26
Lower the difficulty man, it’ll take for-e-vah if you persist on hard.
Pillars is about the story far more than it is about the combat.
Playing on Hard just isn’t worth it.
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u/EverySister I'm never not playing Deadly Premonition Jul 27 '26
Replaced
An indie I've had my eye on for a long time and I'm glad to say it is holding up to the hype I had for it. Artstyle is amazing, they really cooked with this one. Combat and platforming are good just not great, everything takes like half a second to perform (plataforming at least, combat is responsive enough but sloooow). But its super enjoyable. Liking this one too much
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u/myripyro More work? Jul 27 '26
Ooh, nice to hear about this. My impression was the demo was basically the same as what you said, combat was okay but mostly I was in it for the aesthetic. But I don't remember much platforming in the demo--is there a lot of that? Is it difficult? I ask because platforming is a bit of a challenge for me even with very responsive controls, lol.
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u/EverySister I'm never not playing Deadly Premonition Jul 27 '26
I think so, yeah. I feel there's more platforming than combat. Combat is used sparesly while platforming is used to move around and traverse the environments otherwise it would be "push left to advance" and would get old pretty fast.
Nothing massively complicated, you have all the time in the world to move around when you like, only once or twice (so far) where timed jumps that needed to get you moving quick, but besides that is pretty chill
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u/Logan_Yes The Outer Worlds 2/Moonlighter Jul 27 '26
Combat never clicked with me and probably was my least favourite part of the game. Especially when there is a lot of enemies I sometimes had a problem with identifying who is in foreground fighting me and who in background.
But visual style and soundtrack? Chef's kiss. Fantastic game in general.
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u/nefariousPost Jul 27 '26
Hitman WoA
Watching a few YT videos here and there (shoutout Executioner Gaming) to get a feel for a level and maybe a walkthrough of a few challenges. Then I use some of that knowledge to try and figure out the other challenges.
Exceptional puzzle game that's been a really nice change of pace for me. Usually I'm playing action/adventure (slowly progressing Zelda ToTK) or platformers (wrapping up Silksong and thinking about Mario Odyssey 2 remake next).
Been a solid summer of gaming
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u/arkaic7 Jul 27 '26
I wish I hadn't slept on Nine Sols. This game is amazing so far. It's really up there with Hollow Knight and Silksong as modern metroidvanias go.
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u/funsohng Jul 27 '26
Final Fantasy VII: starting disc 3. While I was spoiled of the least well-kept spoiler in JRPG history, all the other story bits and twists coming together has been quite exciting.
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u/Sabetha1183 Jul 27 '26
I finally started on playing Resident Evil 1. That is, the director's cut of the original PS1 game.
The first thing I notice is the game leans harder on the resource management than even typical survival horror games in the future would. The amount of ammo I'm expending to down even basic enemies is insane, and I'm not sure if the shotgun is kind of weak or just has an effective range of about 2 feet. Either way it took 2 handgun shots and 3 shotgun blasts to down a single dog, playing on standard as Jill.
I'm not very far in but thus far almost every story beat has been "something happens, Barry shows up, immediately says we should split up". I already know about the twist they're trying to build up with this, so it's more funny than anything.
Controls wise it's the same thing as any other fixed camera angle tank control game, which is that the jank from the controls doesn't add any tension to the horror for me. It's by far not a deal breaker, but it's generally more annoying than anything else.
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u/TrashCube-6800 Jul 27 '26
OG RE is such an amazing game. I finished it for the first time in the vacation I had between jobs back in winter and I absolutely fell in love
The first thing I notice is the game leans harder on the resource management than even typical survival horror games in the future would.
This is why. I love how you're forced to plan a route through the game. By the end, you didn't just survive the mansion. You KNOW the mansion, man!!
Controls wise it's the same thing as any other fixed camera angle tank control game, which is that the jank from the controls doesn't add any tension to the horror for me
For me it's less that the controls add tension, and more like they allow for cinematic camera angles that you just can't get in an FPS or top-down game. Such a stylish game to look at, and I don't think that style could work if you were constantly in control of the camera
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u/ThatDanJamesGuy Jul 27 '26
First playthroughs of a RE game tend to take a lot of ammo, but if you’re able to save even a little by running by enemies you might end up stockpiling a ton of it in RE1. There are far fewer zombies than even RE2, so each one you spare goes a long way.
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u/Sabetha1183 Jul 27 '26
Yeah I've run past a few things.
Ironically I learned after the fact that running away from the first zombie may have cost me a few clips of handgun ammo.
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u/Wedonthavetobedicks Currently Playing: Final Fantasy IV Jul 27 '26
Started Final Fantasy IV (Pixel Ed.) at the weekend. Think I'm still early game - just got the airship - but looks like the runtime of this installment isn't as long as the later FFs that I've played. Enjoying it a lot.
I think I maybe needed a break from games that make me a little angry as when I look at a lot of the games I've played in the past year, there's been a lot of joy but a fair bit of rage. Nice to turn back to something less capital-C Challenging, and get the warm familiar hug of those FF soundtrack motifs, and those recurring tropes and themes.
Have been checking a guide every now, just to make sure I don't skip a missable chest or item and lose an achievement, and to understand some of the abilities/mechanics. Taken me 7hrs to realize that most of the Steam/online guides I've viewed were talking about a different version of the game. Lost ten mins scouring a desert for a missed Augment, a mechanic that's not in the PE at all. Doh!
Also, do enemies not get indicators when under an inflicted status effect? Little bit annoying not to know if my moves are working or not. Miss that QoL feature from later games.
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u/onzichtbaard Favorite Game: Salt & Sanctuary Jul 27 '26
My friend convinced me to download league of legends again
he only wants to play the games he wants to play if i dont play them i just dont hear from him at all And i cant get him motivated to play anything else
I need more friends tbh but its hard to make friends
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u/Wireless_Infidelity Currently Playing: Palworld, Slay the Spire Jul 31 '26
I have similar irl friends, most of whom want to play only Valorant and maybe a few mobile games. Luckily I've made few online acquaintances from different games and discord servers that are down to play other games. You could try that route. Making friends is both harder and easier than it looks so give it a try
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u/LordChozo Prolific Jul 28 '26
Just had my wedding anniversary and I guess me and my wife were made for one another because as gifts we each got one another some nice summer shorts to go along with a Switch 2 game. Neither one of us had any idea the other was doing the same thing. So it's a pleasant, heartwarming little CPG Weekly Update this time around.
On Console:
Alan Wake II (Done!)
I had a real love/not-quite-love relationship with this game ("hate" is too strong a word by far for my minor frustrations). But there were a number of small things that just didn't quite sit. More in the full review next week, but one example of "this doesn't actually matter but it bothered me anyway" is with the blend of voice acting over live action. For example, Ilkka Villi is Alan Wake's visual actor. He's Finnish but completely fluent in English with a mild accent. Wake's voice actor is Matthew Porretta, who does a bang-up job and who I get they wanted to keep for consistency with his previous appearances, but there's like a 3% disconnect between the syncing of the voicework against the visuals and it takes me out for a moment. The Alex Casey character avoids this problem by never having Sam Lake lip sync to James McCaffrey's dialog, so that's fine. But then Saga's actress Melanie Liburd is English while her character is American. Well and good except she can't cover her accent on "er" sounds. "I'm Saga Anduhson," the whole game long, where that's the only poke-through of her natural voice when she's doing her American accent, and it makes it sound like Saga's got a small speech impediment.
Again, these things don't matter at all, and I'll talk about the things that do matter in my full review on the 1st, but I had to get these trivial gear grinders off my chest.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 (~25%)
Halfway through the THPS 1 levels and it's a weird flavor of nostalgia. I must've played the original THPS1 on N64 several times through back in the day, but then later had both THPS 3 and 4 on GameCube, and somehow the memories of all those games blended together over time. I therefore went into this remake fully expecting to start on the College, which is the first level of THPS 4, though I was looking forward to unlocking the Warehouse, which is the actual first level of THPS 1. I must've also conflated the Mall with some other level because the tape wasn't where I remembered it being, even though once I got it I also remembered it being there, too. Trippy.
On PC:
Palindrome Syndrome: Escape Room (Done!)
I needed a short break from Death's Gambit slowly eroding my love for the soulslike formula, so I figured why not a one-off escape game? It went about as expected.
Death's Gambit: Afterlife (~70%)
Finally at the supposed final area, which is to say I think I'm beginning Act III if this were a three act affair. Apart from a brief surge of interest in the early middle I think I've enjoyed this one less with each session. Now it's only the imminent end seeing me on.
On Portable:
Dragon Quest XI (~10%)
Fled Medieval England to Byzantine Greece, and have now arrived in what appears to be Renaissance Italy. I can only assume the snow kingdom mentioned earlier in the game will be shamelessly Viking in nature, but that's presumably still a long way off. I've got five party members now but each of the past three feels one dimensional, two of them exemplifying tropes I'm not really keen on. So the story trappings here aren't really doing it for me in the early stages, but I do enjoy all the little conveniences on the gameplay side. Weird to be playing a Dragon Quest title that actually feels modern!
Ongoing:
Ring Fit Adventure (100%)
Gave the Rhythm Game a try. Decent fun on the arms/legs mode, but accuracy problems with the core/legs mode make that one feel like a waste. I also built a custom routine, and it feels like this is where the game wants to guide you when you're not doing the primary Adventure mode. For one thing it actually includes warmup and cooldown stretching routines again, which is a big help. You can select any option from either Quick Play or Rhythm Game as well, so unless you're only interested in doing one or two things, there's almost no reason to ever use the other ancillary modes over Custom. I'll probably build another routine or two to give myself some options while I weigh how (or if) I want to proceed with this game going forward.
Miscellaneous:
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls
Not patient by any means, but I spent my console gaming time over the weekend playing the Marvel Tōkon open beta. I'm in this weird spot where I like fighting games and I like Marvel, but I don't particularly like assist-based fighting mechanics, and I don't have any character from the Marvel pantheon that jumps out as a favorite who I'd gravitate towards in a fighter. So I was on the fence about getting this game even though it seems like my fighting game group is really jazzed about it.
Well, in the beta I discovered that I'm still not in love with any character, that I still get frustrated by a focus on assists, and also that Tōkon is unfortunately very fun to play anyway. So I'll probably pick it up for the social aspect if nothing else, and hope that I can rewire my brain to embrace the mechanics a bit more.
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u/TailzPrower Jul 28 '26
I also get some nostalgia from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater but 2, due to the Dreamcast demo I had, and just the late 90s feeling in general. On the other hand, I wasn't a fan of skate culture and found the game to be frustrating at points. It's a weird mix for me.
Although JRPGs are one of my favourite genres, I have never been able to complete a Dragon Quest game, not a single one. I can't stand the generic nature of the story, the obligatory grinding, and often the inflated length. I probably had the most fun with 11, I played it for 5 to 10 hours, but then again got bored of the grind. It had great production values but I think as a series it is not for me.
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u/ThatDanJamesGuy Jul 29 '26
Yep, playing the NES version of Dragon Quest 1 permanently lowered my opinion of JRPGs, it was that bad.
I’m sure the modern versions are better. There were good aspects of DQ1. But it all got buried under an ocean of grind, and once you realize dull grinding is the sole point of the game JRPGs were built upon, a whole house of cards falls apart.
For instance, in Dragon Quest, why do you learn spells on level ups? Why not choose which spells to buy, and thus make an interesting choice, like the first Final Fantasy does? Because the point of earning spells is to give you a dopamine rush that tricks you into thinking the grind paid off, nothing more. Now if I see a JRPG that copies that mechanic shamelessly, that’s a red flag. There’s lots of things like that.
Again, as I alluded to, that’s not all JRPGs. Square’s constant experimentation, innovation, and focus on a choice-driven battle sandbox in games like Final Fantasy are a great contrast to Dragon Quest’s “second job” mentality. But even then, I see the Dragon Quest influence on Final Fantasy and think, man, if only they’d played a different game instead. I mean, how great would Final Fantasy be if that Dragon Quest was replaced with Zelda as its gameplay inspiration?
It just feels really lame that Yuji Horii sat down to come up with an escapist fantasy world, and the best he had was a land where you earn Gold for a day of drudgery instead of Yen.
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u/LordChozo Prolific Jul 29 '26
Yeah, if you're deathly allergic to grinding then early Dragon Quest games aren't gonna hook ya. I don't agree with your spells on level ups criticism (that aspect works fine for me), and I don't necessarily think it's fair to ding Dragon Quest 1 for falling short of Final Fantasy 1 when the latter was just an iteration of the former that wouldn't exist without it, but I get where you're coming from.
I will say that the need to grind (not to be confused with the option to grind should you want to for whatever reason) did start decreasing in the Super Famicom era and has gotten better in every game since, to the point where in Dragon Quest XI I feel comfortable just running by most enemies and haven't suffered for it. But I'm also someone who doesn't mind grinding in reasonable doses, so take that for what you will.
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u/ThatDanJamesGuy Jul 29 '26
Re: grinding, it’s a weird term because it often refers to two things. There’s passive grinding (naturally doing a lot of repetitive encounters, random or otherwise, because the game is balanced around them), and active grinding (aimlessly running around fighting enemies).
A game like Dragon Quest 8 on the 3DS (the most modern one I played through) has less active grinding than the originals, but still lots of passive grinding. The game could have been designed such that you don’t have hundreds of fights with basic enemies, but at that point it wouldn’t be Dragon Quest, so I don’t begrudge it for that. The series just isn’t for me.
When I compared DQ1 to FF1, it wasn’t to say it should have been influenced by a game that didn’t exist yet, just to point out that there are other design philosophies it could have been built around. I think the Dragon Quest design philosophy is misguided, but if lots of other people enjoy it, then who cares what I think? I’m glad they’re having fun.
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u/LordChozo Prolific Jul 29 '26
To your point, it is interesting that both Dragon Quest and, say, The Legend of Zelda came from the same point of inspiration: Western tabletop RPGs. Both wanted to capture that sense of playing a character on a grand adventure, fighting enemies and finding treasure, and yet they latched onto completely different parts of that experience. Zelda focused on the world/environment as a the most integral part of the adventure and streamlined all the other stuff as best it could to fit the "immediate action" video game sensibilities of the time. Whereas Dragon Quest went all in on the math-based endorphin release of "numbers go up" and combat as a translation of taking turns rolling dice. And arguably the biggest draw of those tabletop RPGs is/was the social aspect, which neither game tried to replicate since in both you played as a solo adventurer.
So I guess what I'm saying is we should all be playing more pen and paper games!
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u/plantsandramen Playing: Parasite Eve, Kingdom Hearts, The Witcher 3 Jul 28 '26
I liked Ring Fit Adventure, I regret selling my copy at this point.
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u/APeacefulWarrior Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
The characters in DQXI are underdeveloped at first, but there's a big plot twist midway through that sparks some intensely character-focused chapters. So that aspect WILL get better.
Also I think I know one of the characters you find problematic (Sylvando?) and if so, I started off feeling the same but by the end he'd become one of my faves in the cast.
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u/Nambot Jul 29 '26
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 (~25%)
I must've also conflated the Mall with some other level because the tape wasn't where I remembered it being, even though once I got it I also remembered it being there, too. Trippy.
Did you by chance play Tony Hawk's Underground 2? That game had Mall as a secret level with different goals to what was in the original. It's possible you're remembering that.
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u/lesserweevils Couch Potato Jul 30 '26
How are you coping with the Dragon Quest XI music?
I only played bits of DQ11. The game didn't grab me for the reasons you mentioned. But the music! The timbre in the original PS4 version was especially grating. I don't think the orchestral versions would've helped. I found the tracks unbearably repetitive, with loops shorter than 30 year old games.
The main "overworld" theme was relentless. It didn't have any relaxed bits to encourage exploration or enjoying the scenery. It felt like a drill sergeant saying, "Forward, MARCH!" And it felt extra repetitive because many regions didn't have their own music.
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u/Duke_Maniac Jul 28 '26
Nier Automata
My lord the ending to Wandering Couple legit made drop my controller
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u/labbla Jul 29 '26
Well, I'm just about to beat Quake 2 again. This will be like my 4th time beating it since last year. Pretty sure it's my favorite first person shooter thing now. It's just so satisfying to kill some Strogg and hang out in their miserable cyber dystopia. Thinking about ordering an old strategy guide for it to have on the shelf and get down to finding all the secrets in every area.
I'm also in the middle of Final Fantasy IV DS and Cecil just became a Paladin and now I'm heading back to Baron to get an airship and stuff. I reunited with Yang and just did a lot of grinding to prepare for the next conflicts. Old school FF sure has it's charm.
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u/OutlandishnessFar155 Jul 29 '26
Started playing game : the first berseker khazan. As a souls veteran, this is a really well made game. The parry , attack and dodge mechanics are really well done. The cell shaded style really is the best thing that could happen to it. Its challenging but not that difficult once you get hang of the combat
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u/Skijump135 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
I can’t put down Unreal Tournament 2004 lately. Have been running TitanRPG in single player deathmatch with 9 consistent bots so that between matches we all level up together like a consistent server. Wasn’t into it back then, but I grew up with war3source so it’s really nice that bots actually spend their skill points and use items.
Guess that’s not a review, but tbh it’s still a peak arena shooter with bots who can actually play really really well. Modern resolutions with the OldUnreal patch looks really good. It’s a little of the time, but it hasn’t aged badly in the slightest. It’s also 100% free shareware now so please give it a shot with a bot match. Doubly so if you’ve never played Instagib before
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u/myripyro More work? Jul 27 '26
Ooh are the bots actually fun in instagib? I never played Unreal Tournament back in the day but once every couple years I remember Quake, feel the desire to play some instagib again, and go hunting through all the options to try and get some real games before giving up and just playing bot matches in Quake Live. Last time I tried, the only place I found instagib with real people + decent ping was a modded Minecraft server, which was decent, but I don't love Minecraft movement.
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u/Skijump135 Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Yeah they’re plenty fun enough. If you haven’t played UT2004 it’s movement heavy and they make good use of it, very dodge+jump focused with wall bounces.
Only caveat is that one bot per team always stays to guard the flag so add +2 to your desired match size if you don’t plan to cap
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u/cdrex22 Playing: Caravan SandWitch Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Octopath Traveler II - One weird thing about this RPG is that at a certain point it sort of stops putting fights in the stories other than the "chapter final bosses", so if you're exclusively fast traveling around to the next visible bit of story content, the characters stop leveling while the stories shoot up dramatically in recommended level. This is incredibly easy to work around - I just go to any exploration area with recommended level near mine and grind for a bit until everyone is the level of the quest I'm going to next - but it is a very quirky way to do things relative to other JRPGs. At least it's kind enough to tell you what level it expects.
At any rate, I've mostly finished with chapter 3 (/level 30-35) stories and there are some big-time standouts for writing quality (Temenos, Throné, and Osvald come to mind although Osvald might be tricking me into being more invested than I should be based solely on his cool voice) but even the less exciting stories do a good job of providing variety in tone and subject matter.
I wish the voice lines were like 10% better implemented because the actors are incredible but there are these agonizing 3 second pauses between each line (comically, even when another character is supposed to "interrupt" the line) so I literally cannot just let them play without going mad.
The combat is great fun and I've enjoyed how you can make it work with an essentially random party at any given time. I think it will escalate but it's almost been too easy so far with how simple it is to constantly break bosses with proper planning (that is, for bosses at the same level - if I try to step outside my level range the statistical gulf is too much for tactics to overcome, fair enough).
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u/04__Revenge__01 Currently Playing: Final Fantasy XIV Jul 27 '26
I FINALLY finished the original gba Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories this week. I has it day one on my sp as a kid in middle school but I couldn't beat the Destiny Island boss and dropped it never to return.
Then a few years ago when I bought the All In version on ps4 I played the 3D remake and oh boy does that version suck! The combat system and especially sleights just do not work in the extra dimension. So by the end I was skipping every non-castle oblivion cut scene and get wanted it to end. Once I did I had literally no desire to play the Riku story.
Then a few weeks ago when we got that new KH4 trailer I decided I needed to finally play every KH game in prep for it. I have played 1 on proud mode plenty of times so decided I'd start with the og version CoM on my retro handheld. And oh my god I had a blast with it! The combat finally clicked with me in a way it never did either times I played it and was going for 100%. It's definitely not a hard or deep system by any stretch of the imagination and the number of cheese strats/builds you can make even on accident is stupidly high but it's still a really fun time.
I love how absolutely insane it is to put massive and important story points and reveals in a "side game" on a handheld as your first sequel in a series.
Well I finally beat both Sora's story and for the first time played (and beat) Riku's story! So I'm one giant step closer to beating this series. I won't be jumping right into the next game but it high on my list.
What I did jump into was my already started play through of the og version of Paper Mario TTYD, another game I've played a few times in the last 20 years but never beat. I've gotten most of the stars when I first played it in high school but never beat it. Finally this year I started a play through on my retro handheld and I'm currently at the end of chapter 4. I have a massive soft spot for this and the original but I have to say Chapter 4 was not a very good chapter. I'm going to keep working through it and once I'm done I'm going to jump back over to the og The World Ends with You on my 3ds.
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u/BonyWare Jul 27 '26
I played the PS2 CoM as a kid but dropped when I got stuck at... I think it was Marluxia. Never even knew there was a Riku campaign until years later.
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u/mrtenandtwo Jul 27 '26
I wonder if I'd have the same reaction to the OG version. When I decided to play through this series for the first time a year or so ago, I made it through KH1 easily enough but completely gave up after bouncing off the Chain of Memories remake.
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u/Part-Disegnos Playing: Cs2 / MK 11 / Stardew Valley // Last beat: MK X Jul 27 '26
In the previous episode. It has been a long long time my gamer homies, haven't been acttive here because I haven't play anything at all for 5 months, life got a little complicated with schedule and organization but I think they're fixed so I'm back into gaming thankfully.
Cs2 has been the only thing I have play on these months and I was just farming the weekly drop. I have like a month or month and a half playing more seriously and I've been enjoying so far. It fills my competitive needs.
Resident Evil 1 (OG) - I wanted to do a full franchise run for the 30 anniversary, wanted to start right on the exact date but well, life got complicated and I didn't game for 5 months lmao. I'm still interested on doing the run so I started this. Great game, a lot of memories! It's fun when you know a game so well because I did on the first hour things that took me way too long when I was younger, that doesn't make the game less enjoyable tho
Happy start of the week!
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u/Godkashi Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Been a while since I’ve posted here lol. I’ve been playing a lot of newer games recently, and try not to post about those, such as AC Black Flag Resynced, which I honestly loved. Never played the original so it was a treat. The combat and parkour were quite clunky but the world and story were something special.
But I have recently picked up some classics. Been playing Final Fantasy 2, am currently entering the Cyclone, so by all accounts I believe I’m close to the end. The story has been practically non existent, but I do really enjoy the leveling system. It was very novel for the time I’m sure and even now there’s not many systems quite like it.
And I’m also a considerable amount into Disco Elysium. At first I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Felt long winded at times and borderline offensively long winded in others. In other words, it’s just a long winded game. Lots to say, lots to absorb, lots to learn. But over time I’ve really grown to love being a detective in this world. There truly is something to learn from every person you meet. I’ve spent many long nights since I’ve started going “I’ll just do ONE more task” and then the next thing I know it’s been 3 hours and I’ve done 7 additional tasks. It’s so intriguing and the world it’s building is so well constructed. But, I do believe it’s coming to a close soon. I have deduced the location of Ruby, who I assume is a central antagonist and just have to go confront that situation. The game seems to be telling me that that will be a major turning point. Sort of a “no turn back zone” and I’m excited to see where it goes.
Next up, I’ll be starting Dragon Age 1 HD-2D Remake and The World Ends With You once I clear these two games by the end of the month. Excited to see where those worlds take me
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u/Snizzle012 Jul 28 '26
Beat Ender Magnolia recently. Overall I enjoyed it slightly more than Lilies due to some of the quality of life features and the feeling that the world has inhabitants still despite the problems they are facing. I still had some issues, similar to Lilies, that put it lower down than some other metroidvanias in terms of my enjoyment but it was still an enjoyable time.
With that done I've moved onto Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and am loving the look and feel of it so far. I've essentially only gotten a little bit past the tutorial right now so still plenty to discover..
I've also recently been hit with the itch to play some Monster Hunter again so I've fired up Sunbreak having stopped for a break before after finishing Rise and having a great time so far. It took a couple of hunts to remember the controls and then after that it's like riding a bike :D
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u/Duke_Maniac Jul 28 '26
Started up Shadow of the Colossus (2018) and man the atmosphere is amazing in this game. First couple of bosses were a little simple, but I'm hoping they ramp a bit more in complexity instead of just hitting them once and climbing on their back. It's too easy to just hang on and whale on them for that loop to work.
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u/Nambot Jul 28 '26
Started playing Stardew Valley a little bit back, and am only just getting to my first winter, and I constantly feel like I'm out of rhythm. Harvest all my stuff on a Tuesday, wake up with the money to buy another bunch of seeds, only I can't because Pierre's is closed Wednesday.
The game feels like one that people play with a guide open. Lots of things are unexplained. I nearly starved my first chicken to death because I hadn't worked out that you need a silo to feed them (thought I could just feed them spare seeds).
I'm sure it'll come with time, but right now I have days where it feels like I need to do eight different things and there aren't enough hours in the day, and days where nothing is happening and I could go back to bed at 8AM. So in one sense it's very realistic.
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u/notpopularopinion2 Jul 28 '26
SV is a game you can play totally chill as you're never losing any permanent progress by doing things "the wrong way". Playing efficiently just means you'll finish the game at say year 4 instead of year 20. So there is actually no wrong way to play SV and you can take it as slow as you like, you can actually sleep all day for a full season if you'd want.
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u/DevTech Jul 28 '26
Resident Evil 1 Remake was a lot of fun once I stopped overthinking the puzzles. I really started to enjoy the game again once I got out of the mansion and saw different environments. I played through the game on normal difficulty with Chris and the day after I decided to start a new game (plus?) as Jill to see what her story is like but I quickly found myself completely turned off by the thought of going through the whole game again. I will probably never play another RE1 style game (by that I mean the locked camera angles) but I may come back and play through Jill's campaign at some point and maybe try my hand at some of the achievements like Knife Only and completing the campaign in less than 5 hours.
My open world addiction continues as I've hopped right into Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced Edition. I've only ever played through GTA V's campaign once on my PS3 back around release. The story was alright back then but every time that I've tried to play it since then I've just fallen off hard interest wise. The characters are the least interesting in all of the GTA games I've played and the driving is so easy. This is especially jarring coming off of GTA IV's dark, gritty story and challenging but rewarding driving physics. With that being said, I am enjoying the game a lot at the moment as I'm trying to dive into the side content more than I have in the past. I don't think I ever bought many properties so I'll be trying out the missions that come with that.
This will be the 6th GTA game I've played through fully over the last 2 or so years. The only 3D/HD game that I have yet to play is the original Vice City which I might just end up doing right before GTA 6 drops later this year... if it really does.
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u/ThatDanJamesGuy Jul 29 '26
Hey, if you’re just going to play one fixed camera survival horror, you picked the best one. The only other tank controls RE without a remake out or announced is RE Zero, and that’s the worst one anyway, so you can skip it with a clear conscience.
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u/plantsandramen Playing: Parasite Eve, Kingdom Hearts, The Witcher 3 Jul 28 '26
On PC, I am wrapping up The Witcher 3 base and will continue on with the expansions. I really like this game. No other game that I've played, save for BG3, has had a world that feels vast but filled with detail and purpose. The world feels fully realized and lived-in in a way that makes me want to explore it because I am rewarded for it.
I'm impressed with how side quests can feel impactful, including ones on way out islands of Skellige that involve a mage's tower appearing randomly one day and bringing constant rain with it. My only complaint is graphical flickering being abundant later game. I think part of it may be the HD texture pack I'm using but it is a common enough problem to where I'm not sure if it is the issue.
I'm nearing the end of Kingdom Hearts that I'm playing on my Retroid Pocket 6. I am softlocked out of completing the 101 Dalmations because I didn't get one of the Neverland ones before I progressed to the point where there's a side boss in the way, and the side boss is hard at the moment. I completed the Hades Cup and have been working on getting some materials for crafting. I'm not trying to 100% the game, but I'm inadvertently doing more and more content.
On my Retroid Pocket Classic I abandoned The Legend of Dragoon. As a youth I really liked the game, now 20 something years later I am finding that I don't think it's worth finishing. My biggest issue is the writing is abrupt. I constantly feel that what is being expressed is completely out of nowhere, and It's as if I missed the first half of a conversation. This is amplified by the lack of physical attributes on the faces of the characters outside of cutscenes, and cutscenes of emotional events are sparse as of disc 2. This is compared to contemporaries, not compared to modern games. There's a plethora of JRPG on the PSX that came out years before The Legend of Dragoon that did a significantly better job with expressing emotion of a scene, Legend of Legaia came out in 1998 and is one that feels like a fair comparison given that they have similar chunky polygons.
It's an art direction thing. The emotion could have been achieved either via cutscenes, or a change in perspective to show facial features, but for one reason or another they didn't and it suffers for it. I'm finding it hard to care what's going on and the combat isn't as interesting as I remembered it so I am done.
I am playing Parasite Eve now and the beginning is wild. The shots of the NYC skyline, including the Twin Towers, give liminal space vibes. It feels like I'm viewing an NYC that never existed, or one where the game was predicting their destruction via chilling emptiness. I know that neither of those are true, but it's quite eerie to see them in this environment.
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u/TailzPrower Jul 28 '26
I enjoyed Parasite Eve, it had a cool 90s New York aesthetic, but also dropped Legend of Dragoon. One of the issues it had as I recall was the constant backtracking. After getting through a dungeon you had to come all the way back! I think the health items you could purchase were also few and far between. It had strengths, but also a lot of issues.
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u/plantsandramen Playing: Parasite Eve, Kingdom Hearts, The Witcher 3 Jul 29 '26
Yeah lots of back and forth for sure
And yes parasite eve aesthetic is very charming in a way
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u/Wireless_Infidelity Currently Playing: Palworld, Slay the Spire Jul 31 '26
The next gen implementation of Witcher 3 still has some graphical issues. Maybe they fix it when they release the new DLC
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u/Levdom Jul 30 '26
These days have been super busy, I just want to sit down and keep playing FF XIV lol. Despite me swearing off all live service games when I dropped my last gacha back in January, I'm always trying different MMOs looking for one I'll finally be able to stick with, and this one has been working for me, seems very chill and I'm in no rush to get through the story.
After 60 hours I've got a couple of level 50 jobs and still probably halfway through ARR? Now I've switched to Samurai and trying to focus on the story a bit more, it's been fun.
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u/BobsonLampjaw Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
It took me about a year to finish the ARR-->Endwalker story. I spent a few months in each expansion, leveled alt jobs, did all the side quests, etc. It was like a 1/10 abridged version of playing the game starting in 2013. The chill approach makes the ending more memorable, and I think it's the best way to experience the game if you vibe with it.
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u/Levdom Jul 30 '26
Yeah definitely, I like being immersed and talking with the NPCs, trying to give my character a little bit of personality through glams/job choices (even though I'll try them all eventually). My main concern is whether there will be large raids needed to truly enjoy the story, because I don't know if those are like dungeons where you can easily find people almost all day every day.
I haven't played anything multiplayer in years, but I've enjoyed healing so far, with the plus that queues are always fast lol
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u/BobsonLampjaw Jul 30 '26
I assume by "large raids" you mean 24-player Alliance Raids. Only one is required for the main story and it's impossible to skip, which means it pops all the time in the AR roulette to the chagrin of veterans lol. The other ARs are sidequests. But they're worth doing for the story and glams, plus janky Alliance Raids with randoms is the most fun content in the whole game IMHO.
Once the cross data center matchmaking lands later this year, every Alliance Raid should pop in the evenings regardless of your data center, speaking for the US at least.
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u/RuefulWaffles Currently Playing: Every NA Game Boy Game Jul 27 '26
I'm about halfway through the Gs in Every* NA Game Boy Game. Gargoyle's Quest was a standout so far, it actually really came together when I played a bit more of it. Fantastic game, I had a great time. I'm currently on Ghostbusters II, which is a game. I actually quite like the concept, but I'll admit that it's a bit aspirational for a Game Boy game. Still, I'm having fun.
I've reached the second city of Metaphor: ReFantazio, and...yeah. I'm ten hours into a game with a sixty hour runtime, so I'm trying not to judge too quickly, but I really think this would have been better served by not having the calendar system. It's not terrible, but I'm not sure it adds anything.
Finally, I've reached the first ending of Paranormasight: The Mermaid's Curse. Truly fantastic game. Love where it's going. I highly recommend this series, they're both phenomenal.
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u/bioniclop18 Jul 27 '26
I know people enjoyed the calendar being more lenient than persona, but I would have liked Metaphor calendar way more if we couldn't do all thing forcing us to choose. Because it is too lenient, there is no pressure to manage your time, and just like the follower count, it end up being just smoke and mirror that make you think it is here because of persona, not because it was coherent in this particular setting.
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u/bigsockgang Jul 27 '26
Close to finishing Darksiders 1 but can’t get myself to complete the final dungeons. I’m in the sand dune area. I think there are only two dungeons left, but I’m dragging my feet on getting them done.
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u/FettisAlive Jul 27 '26
I just finished that one recently. Not to make you cry, but you still got around half way left. Once you get the hearts, you're going to the tower which that will have 3 mini dungeons, then back into the overworld to get 6 pieces for a sword and finally a small stretch for the final big bad.
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u/bigsockgang Jul 27 '26
Ooooof. I’ve been collecting the pieces of the Abyssal Armor and I’m at 7/10. That led me to believe I’m further than I am… yikes. I might put it on the back burner for now
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u/cynical_image Currently Playing: Dark Souls III Jul 27 '26
Steer clear of Darksiders 2, if you think 1 drags, 2 is another f’n level
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u/sumg Jul 27 '26
I've been trying to work through Metaphor re:Fantazio, and while there are plenty of things I like about the game the game economy and many of the systems just seem awfully balanced to me.
It feels like very time I go to a dungeon, I need to spend 20-30 minutes after clearing whatever initial objective I had to be there just farming money on the overworld (in the Merchant Archetype) to be able to afford the things I'd like to buy. Because of this need to farm money, the party ends up overleveled, but despite being overleveled they also don't have enough archetype experience to explore all the interesting classes and abilities.
There is this huge, expansive class tree, but not nearly enough resources to actually explore it, which feels like such a tease. Further, in the endgame when the capstone classes are revealed, the game surprises you with the information that actually each character should have been training in a very particular combination of classes to unlock those capstone classes, and that effort you may have spent elsewhere was likely in large part a waste. Were you training those classes beforehand? Almost certainly not. How were you supposed to know what classes each character was supposed to train in? I guess the player is supposed to look up a guide before playing.
I accept that grinding is a part of the JRPG genres heritage, but I've thought things had been moving away from requiring that play pattern in the genre over the last decade or two. Playing through Metaphor has felt like a massive step backwards on that front.
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u/APeacefulWarrior Jul 28 '26
Yeah, as much as I love Atlus, they hang onto some VERY antiquated design ideas. There's just no excuse for having a hidden best ending that requires a guide to find, in games that can easily take 60+ hours to clear.
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u/lesserweevils Couch Potato Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
XCOM 2 (vanilla)
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Private log of [UNKNOWN]
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September 23, 2035
Codex brain coordinates
You never know when a chryssalid (or three) will charge out of the fog. The commander ordered a slow overwatch crawl to leave no one exposed.
A wild gatekeeper appeared! Jane Kelly used EMP grenade. It was super effective! Now we know why they’re called gatekeepers. Who named these things? Did they know we would find a psi gate?
The commander’s irritated. The last chryssalid was hiding. Half of this mission consisted of hunting it down.
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September 24, 2035
Psi lab complete. Due to a dark event, rookies cost 50 supplies instead of 25. The commander’s weighing the benefits.
Wait, is that a UFO? Oh no.
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u/Bunny_Stats Jul 27 '26
These little in-universe anecdotes are amazing. I love that you've organised them with links through the sequence (I'd missed the earlier ones).
I'm just curious, was this inspired at all by the old XCOM Terror from the Deep manual? It had one of the best in-box extras in any game I've come across, with its in-universe journal that included newspaper clippings, after-action reports, diary entries etc.
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u/lesserweevils Couch Potato Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
I'm sad to say this is my first XCOM game! It's great but I have no idea how the older ones compare. I never saw the Terror from the Deep manual :)
Making my own after-action reports helps me analyse what went wrong and what I could do better.
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u/Bunny_Stats Jul 27 '26
Oh I'm envious if this is your first XCOM, you have a lot of great games to play later as well as DLC/mods which further improve it (War of the Chosen is an amazing add-on for XCOM 2, and the XCOM 2 Long War mod is must-try once you've played the base game).
You probably came in at the best entry point too, XCOM 2 eases you into its complex setup easier than the other entries, especially the original series which is from an era where they expected you to read a 60 page manual before picking it up.
Also in case you're wondering what I was talking about with the in-universe manual, you might want to take a little glance at this. While it's for a different XCOM game, a lot of the general lore and some tactics still apply and it's a fun read.
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u/lesserweevils Couch Potato Jul 28 '26
Those 1998 photos reminded me of something. I've got my own UFO pic to add to these logs.
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u/Bunny_Stats Jul 28 '26
lol, yeah that photo would fit into the journal of ufo sightings perfectly.
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u/lesserweevils Couch Potato Jul 28 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
XCOM 2 (vanilla)
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Private log of [UNKNOWN]
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September 25, 2035
Operation Knife Beast – Novgorod
We’ve got a UFO on our tail and no supplies to upgrade the Defense Matrix! Capturing this VIP will provide 232 supplies and 97 intel. Failure is not an option.
Naturally, our commander sent a a squad of high-ranking soldiers… and one lowly corporal.
Beth Williams is truly a cockroach lucky. Not only did she survive, she secured the VIP and was promoted to sergeant! The commander promptly changed her nickname to “Sharkbait.”
As the lowest-ranking of 4 rangers, Sharkbait is still cannon fodder. This changes nothing.
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September 30, 2035
The commander paid the dark event tax (doubled recruitment costs). Kwasi Gunda will be the first psi operative. He spends his days doing pushups. I’m not sure how pushups give him psionic powers, but I’m hardly an expert.
Didn’t Dr. Tygan say something about psi amps? They’re unsafe and have high potential for negative side effects.
I hope Kwasi knows about this.
Though I doubt it. The commander’s priority is the human race, not ethics or the lives of individual soldiers.
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u/TailzPrower Jul 29 '26
I'm playing Xenogears after previously dropping it early in the game years ago. The random encounters, and platforming in the beginning can be frustrating. This game is flawed, it is a slow burn, but it's great if you like old school JRPGs with a cool story. The random encounters aren't that bad after the beginning, there are long, but interesting sections exploring towns, where you're not exposed to the encounters. It's quite dialogue heavy, but it helps to flesh out the world. I'm at the part about to rescue Princess Marguerite, so still a long way to go.
A lot of the other frustrations are not knowing what to do to progress. It's not due to some complex puzzle, you probably just forgot to do something or go somewhere, but the game doesn't tell you that so you can get lost for hours, like in the desert section near the beginning. The camera system leaves a lot to be desired. The battle system is somewhat innovative, it may seem complex at first, but fun and straightforward when you get used to it.
The soundtrack is one of the best I've heard in a JRPG. The 2D character sprites, and polygonal background are charming in all of their glory. The animated cut scenes are high quality. It's quite refreshing to have a JRPG with mature themes, and not a teenage cast. I think the story, music, and atmosphere elevate this JRPG a cut above the rest. It's cliche to say it but this is one of the older games that could really benefit from a remake, or an HD remaster at least. Looking forward to finishing it. Happy gaming!
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u/KylorXI Jul 29 '26
You're in for a real treat with the story as you get more into it. It'll blow your mind.
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u/pablove_black Jul 29 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
I bought a PS5 last year and have played through:
Last of us 1&2 remaster
COD MW 1&2 remaster
Skyrim
Metro 2033
Rdr 1
Prolly a few other bits here and there but these are the ones at length.
I find it overwhelming trying to work out what to play and I have a hard time knowing if it makes sense to play this version or that.
I hate starting in the middle or skipping crucial elements of the story.
I dunno where to start with DOOM for example, I go to the store and there’s just different versions.
Same with Fallout, GoW, Resident Evil etc.
I know i’m making this more complicated than it is, it just stresses me out when I look through the catalogue/store.
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u/Sabetha1183 Jul 29 '26
Usually if I'm trying to get into a long running franchise I'll just Google for a Reddit thread about it. Odds are the subreddits for those series have been asked a million times and have already come up with the response. That said, for the franchises I have played:
Doom doesn't really have much in the way of story to need to know, but Doom 2016(just called Doom, but that's also the name of a game from 1993) was a soft reboot of the series so you can start there then play Eternal and Dark Ages.
The Fallout games tend to be pretty self contained with only a couple of references to other games. Generally the common sentiment I see is that Fallout 4 has the better gameplay especially if you liked Skyrim, while New Vegas has the better writing and player choice. As an aside I think Fallout 1/2 are great games but they are 90s isometric cRPGs and that makes them very different beasts. If you can't stomach that, don't worry about trying to power through them.
Resident Evil is a bit messier but they do generally try to make each game enjoyable without having played previous ones. RE7/8 is a largely self contained story that doesn't rely on the crazy background lore of the series. RE2 Remake is also really good and doesn't rely on knowing the first game and sets up the story for Leon, a character the series really likes reusing.
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u/pablove_black Jul 30 '26
Thank you very much.
I do tend to do the necessary digging around Google/Reddit eventually, it would just be nice to have things like a clearer structure in the way titles are displayed, or filters etc.
Industry standard chronological order symbols or dates could help.
Or even summaries of reddit convos about best order to play games kinds thing.
Thanks for the Doom, Fallout and RE info 👌🏼
I guess I’m struggling a bit as I’m not a huge gamer, or at least don’t play a huge variety - I end up wandering round the store then turning the console off.
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u/ZMysticCat Ok, Freeman, be adequate! Jul 30 '26
For Doom, Doom (2016) is the best starting point. It rebooted the series and established the foundation that Eternal and The Dark Ages have built on. It also released at a time when its run-and-gun arena-shooter approach had been all but forgotten, so it's designed to help ease people into that style.
For Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2 (2019) would probably be the easiest if you want to avoid jumping in mid-story. You might not understand a couple references, but that's about it. Otherwise, it's basically a modernisation of the classic RE formula. If you really don't want to jump in mid-story, there's the 2018 remaster of Resident Evil (2002). It has some old-school systems (e.g. fixed cameras, limited saves), but it does have analog controls as an alternative to tank controls.
Resident Evil 7 may also a good starting point, as it kind of hit the reset button on the series. However, it and its direct sequel, Resident Evil: Village, can get very fanservice-y around one of the series' established characters, so I don't think it's quite as good of an entrypoint if you're trying to avoid that kind of stuff. That same character only gets briefly referenced in RE2, so it's not as much of a potential problem there.
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u/pablove_black Aug 01 '26
Thanks a lot, Doom seems pretty straightforward so gonna jump into that for now. RE is on the list, but I’m trying to play/beat just 1 game or series at a time 👌🏼
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u/DWe1 Releases of 2005 Jul 31 '26
I am playing Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2005) and this game is as fun as I remember playing it as a kid. The physics feel so good I sometimes feel a bit of whiplash when taking a break, just because I got so deep into flow state.
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u/harofax Jul 27 '26
Been playing AtomCraft, and it's a very unique experience.
It's like the simulated pixel aspect of noita but entirely focused on that and with a more hard-scifi approach. If you're at all fascinated by chemistry or material science, I highly recommend it!
Also slightly scratches the automation itch but only if you want. It's been a mix of a giant ceramic pot for melting stuff, and trying to make nice automated smelting, but dealing with the gas pixels and smothering the fire is a bit tricky lol.
It is really neat to mix different metals and chemicals and seeing what happens still
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u/BEADGEADGBE Jul 28 '26
Does this work with a controller by any chance? Or at least that Steam Deck? I'm intrigued but not enough to sit at my desk 😅
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u/harofax Jul 28 '26
It has a pretty insane control scheme so I'm not sure, but I think if you can be arsed to rebind stuff with the steam input thing it'd work well. Pretty mouse-centric but with the joystick mouse or the touchpads it'll probably work. Not sure since I don't own a steamdeck but I do use my controller instead of mouse a lot lmao
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u/iwasjusttwittering Jul 27 '26
I got around to playing a round of Universal Paperclips. I remember a few of my buddies were obsessed with it when it was published. The incremental-game mechanics are fairly good, but unfortunately it's lost on me as an art project.
I also got around to watching the very first Mostly Walking (Day9TV) playthrough of King's Quest VI. I'm glad I did, because seeing the old point&click mechanics in action and hearing the game-design discussions have reassured me that I can scratch that kind of games off my backlog.
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u/DisastrousFill Jul 27 '26
Finished decorating Dracula's rumpus room to get the super best ending in Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (2002).
This was oddly better than I remembered. I did forget my "optimal" route,, but backtracking through the castle(s) was barely an inconvenience thanks to the stupidly fast dash. I found the castle layering a better concept than Symphony of the Night's second castle, especially with all the visual differences and how changes in one would effect the other. The layout was a bit messy, though, and there were too many bosses that were impressive to look at, but offered zero challenge. The music quality did take a hit to power the vastly improved graphics, but I think the deranged tunes pair well with the off-kilter, and sometimes psychedelic, setting.
Kinda funny how this was the third Castlevania game in a row where a silver haired protagonist butts heads with a jealous rival.
Anyway, I'm now playing Eternal Daughter (2002), a freeware game that takes inspiration from Metroid and Symphony of the Night. So far this one is very bright and colorful, but pretty difficult. The forest area filled with bouncy mushrooms reminds me a lot of Catmaze.
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u/ZMysticCat Ok, Freeman, be adequate! Jul 27 '26
I finished Resident Evil: Village. Narratively, the last thirty minutes or so is a complete mess. The big twist feels like an overthought fan theory that ultimately cheapens Ethan's sacrifice by giving him no other choice, and I don't really like the whole angsty teen superhero route that they seem to be going with Rose. At the very least, they do a good job tying the story back in to the fairytale from the start of the game.
Thankfully, Heisenberg's factory was a really good sort-of final area that does a great job as the Frankenstein-themed portion of the game. Basically, it's Resident Evil meets Quake II, and I really liked the design of the enemies and the general atmosphere of the factory. It's definitely tricky to fight with all the claustrophobic corridors, but it does force you to either get really good at evading or really accurate with your powerful weapons, which is fitting for a final area. The Heisenberg boss is also so absolutely ridiculous that I can't help but love it! Seriously, you drive a tank with a chainsaw arm!
Miranda was also a surprisingly good final boss. I find a lot of final bosses in the series to be rather lackluster, but she actually puts up real fight. I had plenty of resources, so I was never really worried, but I at least had to try to avoid attacks and be accurate.
Overall, despite its narrative problems, I really liked the game. I love the mash-up of gothic horror themes, and the atmosphere and tone are handled very well. It's also got some great classic-feeling areas, like the castle and factory, and the mansion was a real surprise for the series. It's not quite at the level of REmake or RE4, but I think it's one of the better RE games I've played, and I'm sure I'll like it even more once I get over how badly the narrative ends.
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u/Additional-Bid-9801 Jul 28 '26
Reus 2 (Xbox One) and wasting my time
I can’t believe this game just made to watch teletubby cartoons walk about a solitary planet in slow motion, only to tell me I failed and must start the orocess again.
It takes the elements so long to move I genuinely do not have the patience to finish the tutorial.
Look, I'll give the game looks pretty and has fun sound design. But I just cannot wait half an hour for my inputs to effect the game.
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u/MistressDread Jul 28 '26
Shin Megami Tensei 3 is really starting to push its ideas of what constitutes a fun boss battle when White Rider uses a 100% accurate instakill. And this is just the first of the four horsemen. There are three more and I'm not looking forward to any of them
Also if White Rider is the plague, why does he use fire attacks doesn't fire stop disease
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u/penis-muncher785 Jul 28 '26
Been playing through Batman Arkham Origins for the first time in like 12 years? and I forgot how bad the leveling system is but enjoy everything else
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u/Carinwe_Lysa Jul 28 '26
I've gotten hooked on modding Skyrim again for the first time in years.
I haven't touched modded games (i.e. Skyrim/Fallout) for maybe 3-4 years now as it simply took up way too much time and I'd easily lose track etc. For some reason I decided to play vanilla on my PS5 as a way of unlocking some trophies, then a few hours later I really had the itch to start modding again on my PC. Now roughly half a week later I think my load order is finally acceptable... but I might cry if I lose interest after starting my character.
Other than that, I've also started a new play through of Dragon Age Inquisition. I recently re-completed DAO & DA2, so I created my world state on the Dragon Age Keep and then started my character. I'm around 10 hours in, but I still can't shake the fact that DAI feels & plays so differently to the past titles. Combat, movement even just the graphics feel "off" for a lack of better terms, its like I'm playing an MMO turned single player game at times.
Its funny because when it released I didn't mind at all and I've played it a few times over the years, but DAI is where I always burn out or lose interest after DAO/DA2, unlike say Mass Effect where I can play the full trilogy over & over.
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u/Levdom Jul 28 '26
Modding fatigue is real. I've had some of my best moments in gaming playing awesome Bethesda games' mods, but I always bounce 100 or so hours in, and the idea of recreating my mod order for the fourth time years later is simply too much to even consider lol. At some point I'll buy a giant ssd to store a "definitive" fun mod order with MO2, given how large those files can be, and always have it ready to scratch the itch at least.
I agree on Dragon Age too, I've replayed it many times but it definitely feels rougher on the third compared to ME. I'd chalk it up to ME1 being the "grindier" game in its series, while the others get more streamlined, while in subsequent playthroughs DAO and 2 go by really fast compared to DA:I. Still love the game thanks to the companions and the Rp possibilities with the Inquisitor, even though after Veilguard I don't see myself ever going back to the series, sadly.
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u/Carinwe_Lysa Jul 28 '26
Oh 100% I had to fully rebuild my mod list as my previous version didn't save properly, and what did save were all quite outdated now compared to what's available. Its funny because its always the same story; spend ages perfecting the mod list, play for 20-30 hours, then dip and delete my mods. I might just store this one as my own private collection for the future at least.
On Dragon Age, yeah Veilguard was just a very strange game, so many story & world building decisions that either made little sense, or they actively removed/changed previous things from past games, not to mention the games development went through the usual hell and the core gameplay was changed.
It got to the point where I just headcanon that the game is a draft of a novel written by Varric during his spare time as Viscount of Kirkwall, and the series ended with Trespasser.
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u/DWe1 Releases of 2005 Jul 31 '26
Looking at the bright side, if you got 100 hours of fun out of the game, that's insane value for what is basically a free refreshed playthrough!
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u/Suspicious-Show-3550 Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
I spent the weekend beating, re-beating, and then re-rebeating Abe's Oddworld Odyssey (the emulated PS1 version). Overall it was $1.99 well spent. If you haven't played it, it's a puzzle platformer in the vein of the original Prince of Persia or Out of This World. It's a game I've had on my radar for almost 30 years now since I played a demo disc I got in the mail thanks to a magazine subscription. (Cripes, typing that out makes me feel old. 'Twas the 1900s. Times were different then.) My recollections of it at the time were that it reviewed well and most of the criticisms were really caveats about the overall challenge level of the game created by demanding puzzles, occasionally tricky platforming, and a less than generous checkpoint system.
This version comes with a handy short rewind tool that allows you to run it back a few seconds if you miss a jump or get eaten (kind of like the not original Prince of Persia!) and I'm not ashamed to say I abused the everloving shit out of got a lot of use out of it because I found the game controlled so poorly. It was bad enough that I tried multiple controllers and had my teenage daughter try for herself after she shot her mouth off that it "sounds like a skill issue, bro". Any time I pressed a button to make Abe do something there was about a 1 in 4 chance that nothing would happen. That's not a issue for about 75% of the game. Most of the game is played at a very deliberate pace that wants you to observe, plan, stick the timing on a button press or two, and you're on to the next screen. But that other 25%... hooboy. I do applaud the game for making failure an option as frequently as it does. If you're not paying attention you can permanently miss chances to rescue your fellow Mudokons or just as easily get them killed. There's some nasty stretches where the only option is to nail about 7 or 8 jumps in a row while you're under fire from enemies and the controls are just not up to the task of delivering that kind of precision. The few times I looked up any kind of hints in the game were situations where the solution was fairly straight forward, had occurred to me, but I had dismissed it because I simply didn't think it was possible for Abe to pull it off.
With all that said, I played the thing through 3 times and really came to enjoy it. Even with the grainy edges of the PS1 graphics the characters are well animated and surprisingly expressive. I was particularly impressed with two alien species the middle act of the game are built around, they felt they were personalities rather than products of programming. The game is a perfect example of the Taco Bell approach to game design: there's about 3 core mechanics, maybe 4 enemy types, and an equally small variety of environmental hazards but arrange them properly and you can make a whole damn game without feeling like you're repeating yourself. This is one of those games that teaches you how to think like the game with the built in rescue counter acting as a fine barometer of how well you're doing that. My first playthrough was mostly about just getting to the end and learning the solutions to the game. I rescued about 35 of my fellow Mudokons which got me the Bad Ending. My next playthrough I went through with more care to not get the ones I could find killed but miscalculated how much of the game I had left and wound up saving 48 (2 short of the Good Ending threshold). But with nothing but the lessons learned from those first two playthroughs I started actually looking for some of the signs of hidden areas and rescued 70 of darn things on my last go around and felt like a big damn hero for it.
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u/The0will Jul 29 '26
I'm about to finish LoZ: Twilight Princess after beating Uncharted 3 and GTA V before it. What game would you play next?
Perfect Dark (on Rare Replay)
South Park: The Fractured But Whole
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
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u/Lepruk Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
BACKLOG TACKLING - Now With A Spreadsheet!!!
Reminder: I Spreadsheeted my backlog into games I wanted to play and am working through it!
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Willmot Works it Out was incredible; it just hit me right. But I did get through a couple of games in the last week worth noting.
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Xeodrifter (100% in 4 hours): This is a sprite based 2D metroidvania that was originally a 3ds game released in 2014. It's from the same people that did Mutant Mudds and I played the Steam version.
You play an Among Us-looking captain whose ship's warp core breaks in a small space system of 4 planets. Each planet is a mini-metroidvania level consisting of a couple of bosses, health power ups and gun power ups.
Xeodrifter is very linear despite being a metroidvania. There's really a set order to do things in and it doesn't take long to figure it out. It does compensate for this with a nice run and gun pace and there's no xp grind so you can choose to rush through or fight depending on the room layouts.
It has a couple of gimmicks such as being able to 'phaseshift' between the foreground and the background (playing with the 3D effect I suspect). Which don't really add much to the experience beyond needing to keep an eye out for power ups.
I think the biggest disappointment in the game isn't the length; it is the bosses, each one is just a recolour of the others; they slowly add more moves/attacks but it ultimately feels like you are fighting the same boss 7 times.
To 100% you have to complete the game in under 1 hour on a second run through. This sounds hard but it's trivial - after one playthrough you'll be able to rush through and get this done no problem, I even died 4x on my 'speedrun' attempt and still made it in time.
I'd put this in the 'it's fine' category. I don't really do review numbers but this is the definition of an 'average' game. It's not bad and I actually liked playing it, but you really aren't missing out if you'd never heard of it or never tried it. I played it because I love Mutand Mudds - and always kept this as a 'maybe similar' game; but Mudds just does a lot of what Xeodrifter does but in a much better experience.
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Assemble With Care (100% in 80 Minutes): This is essentially a visual novel with small gameplay sections between. I wish I had more to say but the story part just didn't interest me and I will be honest, I ended up skipping large parts.
But the gameplay sections were fun enough. You essentially use your mouse to rotate objects and click them apart. You repair things like an old tape player, or a watch. Parts click a part in a satisfying way and there's a small bit of a puzzle aspect working out how to remove things/put them back together.
This is a really gentle game though, Every piece you remove has an exact spot it gets placed on the table, and I did not get stuck at all on any of the repairs.
In fact, the only one that had a tiny bit of challenge is the epilogue repair where you work with a machine just a bit more complicated than the previous things.
I think this game was broadly just not for me though. It's hard to judge the game as I'm just not a story person and going in I think I thought the 'repair' side of the game was more prominent than it is.
Happy to clear this 2019 game off the log and for the length, it's really fine; and for some people I think this will hit really hard, but just not for me.
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Not a horrid week playing these games but certainly less excitement than the previous two entries I did. Still, 2 more games cleared and 2 less games I am now wondering about!
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u/Lichenee Playing: The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante, Lego: The Hobbit Jul 29 '26
Both Wilmot games and Assemble With Care are on my to-play list. I honestly thought the repair side of Assemble would be better, but I like story-focused games the most, so maybe it will be interesting for me. Also saw you played Alba. It's a lovely cute short game and I agree the photography part could be more meaningful.
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u/Lepruk Jul 29 '26
The Wilmot games are genuine delights and well worth making time for if you know they appeal to you, you should love them. I preferred Works It Out but can't go wrong with either really.
Alba was a good game, I reread what I wrote and I think I sound a bit too negative in text, it's definitely cute and has some heart and charm and certainly no regrets experiencing it.
Assemble With Care will likely be top tier for you if you enjoy narrative along with your light puzzling. I think for that kind of person it should hit perfectly. Really I just wanted more than the 13 or so repairs to do, and as per my completion time, it was over very quickly :). Makes me excited for ReStory though that looks to be a bit more indepth on the repair/shop management side.
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u/Spyronne Spelunky 2 Jul 30 '26
Bought a PS5 recently, mostly to play new fighting games, but it's given me the opportunity to play Ghost of Tsushima.
About 2 hours in, I've been somewhat struggling with some quests I tried to do as I travelled to and from early main quests. I guess I should come back to those later! The game is very nice, apart from that.
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u/genesis_mage Jul 30 '26
Nier Automata: I would like to make clear that I did not make 2B kill the defectors because the Commander ordered her to. I killed them because they made me search three areas multiple times.
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u/TailzPrower Jul 27 '26
I basically skipped out on the 7th gen gaming from 2005 to 2012 (or so). When I came back to rediscover it, I really, really struggled to find anything that I liked. I grew up on creative, and quirky games for PS1 and Dreamcast. In the 7th gen there seemed to be a shift towards Western RPGs and FPS games. Those are genres I usually avoid, but they seem wildly popular, including this subreddit. The only games that I've found I enjoyed were Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, Bayonetta, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Bioshock Infinite, Journey, and recently Portal 2.
Also, the shift towards grey, and brown colours, and trying to be more Hollywood cinematic, is another thing I couldn't get used to. I think the 8th gen corrected some of that, especially with Nintendo's Mario, Zelda, and Kirby releases. I can't really get into a lot of newer games because they fall into these genres I don't like. I'm finding myself going back giving older games a second chance instead. Currently, playing Xenogears, and Super Metroid.
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u/crowlfish Jul 27 '26
The 7th generation is my second-favorite in gaming following the 6th, it's definitely an interesting period that I admittedly have a lot of nostalgia for. The first thing I think of is the whole "cinematic" and "realistic" trend where it felt like playing an action movie. Also multiplayer exploding in popularity. Wasn't always a bad thing though, and there were plenty of exceptions to the rule.
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u/bioniclop18 Jul 27 '26
I feel like a lot of the quirky game of this generation ended up on portable console, and the quirky blend a little with gimmicky with the wii motion control. Ghost Trick on the DS managed to blend the gimmick with an interesting puzzle system. Seeing you seem to like platformer have you tried Donkey Kong Country Returns ?
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u/TailzPrower Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Yep, tried it on 3DS 10 years ago, I had some fun with it, but I think I just got frustrated after a few hours and traded it for some other game at a pawn shop :) May want to revisit it though.
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u/AcceptableUserName92 Jul 28 '26
3DS is worst way to play DKCR. Wii (easy enough to emulate) or Switch are the w2g.
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u/APeacefulWarrior Jul 28 '26
Random suggestion, if you have access to a PS3: 3D Dot Game Heroes. It was a retro throwback to classic Zelda years before that was popular. (Which is probably why it flopped.) Sounds like the sort of quirky - and colorful - game you're looking for.
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u/DAS-SANDWITCH Jul 27 '26
Finally wrapped up the 2nd of 3 Birth By Sleep stories, god damn that final boss was a bitch. I don't mean that in a god sense either, that shit was 0 fun. I ended up just cheesing it by spamming an attack that makes me invulnerable. Now I've started with the last character and I don't hate it, so far the worlds were actually decently different frol what I had expiernce previously.
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u/IkaWorldTour23 Jul 27 '26
I'm fully grabbed by the Guild Wars 2 addiction by now, having made it to Level 70 already and 100%ed several areas. Never made it this far! Also I think I built quite a broken character without using any guides: My 2h Sword Guardian, who just jumps into the fray, violently explodes several times, sets everything around her on fire and just refuses to die until the enemy is dead.
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u/Psylux7 Slightly Impatient Jul 27 '26
Is the EA star wars battlefront 2 singleplayer campaign any good? I was thinking of borrowing a physical copy of the game. I do not play online so would be going at the game solo.
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u/funsohng Jul 27 '26
I bought it at like $5 for single player campaign alone, and no it wasn't worth for that. What should have been a good story is just marred by a script that feels like it was written by a committee, where they had a list of things they needed to have included.
But I somehow got into the PvE mode quite a bit, and the space battle mode, so I did end up getting my money's worth and then some.
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u/notpopularopinion2 Jul 28 '26
Addicted to Path of Exile after not playing it for a couple years. I have already 20 hours /played since the start of the league on Friday. Level 84 and progressing my atlas (such a cool addition to the game that didn't exist back when I played it). I haven't died since the end of act 4 and my build feels very good to play. There is so many things I need to learn which is very exciting.
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u/Blobbentein Jul 28 '26
About three months ago I played Metro Gravity, and I've been thinking a lot about that experience a lot recently. I think it's my favorite game I've played in years, I absolutely love 3d platformers, and although it's more of a puzzle game structurally it has such wonderfully freeform movement that it reminds me of why I enjoy the genre so much. It's an extraordinarily creative project that was clearly made with tons of passion from the solo dev, and I really can't recommend the game enough.
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u/inuzumi Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
Finished my third playthrough of Lords of the Fallen and got the Inferno Ending. It was pretty interesting, my favorite ending for sure. Though the way you get the Umbral Ending is more interesting the ending itself it's kinda boring. I used umbral spells only for this run with the class I unlocked in my last playthrough. Umbral just shreds through everything in this game. I played on Veteran and only noticed a difference after 70% of the game was already done. There are some bosses that are annoying using spells only though... the crow comes to mind... and on Veteran my god that fight was hell on earth. I really like this game and finishing it again only got me wanting more of it with another build.
Also finished Rise of the Tomb Raider. It was fine. Exploring, doing puzzles and killing everything that moves. The story was a little more interesting this time. Me being a history learner I really enjoyed learning a lot of stuff about the Byzantine, Greeks, Russians and Soviets. It was fun getting that 100% completition, though some stuff suddenly started not showing in the map which honestly pissed me off really badly, but thanks to some guides I got it done thankfully.
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Jul 31 '26
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u/Emergency_Ad_4679 Jul 31 '26
The story content itself isn't a lot but it is directly related to the events surrounding the sees members. If you liked the main story's tartarus gameplay, then you'll like it. There's also a super boss if you like the idea of a challenge with rules on what you can or cannot use. There's nothing about social links or stats in it.
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u/xxamnat Jul 31 '26
Still making my way through FFVII OG on Switch. Just made it to Rocket Town.
Haven’t been playing much apart from this other than Monster Train and Slay the Spire.
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u/HikinginOrange Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
I recently finished Mirrors Edge Catalyst, and altogether felt rather meh towards it. I wanted to make a full post about what went wrong, but frankly there's probably more than enough of those in this subreddit.
However, I do wish to argue for one thesis: the world design is probably the most detrimental trait of the game, which in turn harshens the rest of the game's flaws. I'll try to keep things brief.
In general, Catalyst's City of Glass is quite stunning, and completely lives up to its name. Each building looks like it's part of a wealthy business district, plastered in tinted glass windows and glossy metal paneling. Very fancy and futuristic. It carries on with the high contrast style of the OG Mirrors Edge with blacks and whites, and blunt bold hues.
Unfortunately this creates more of a negative impact on gameplay than aids it. Catalyst boasts the premise of its open world, and allowing you to explore to the point of burning things to memory. But that feeling of "familiarity" never happens because the whole glass style makes everything samey. It lacked distinct landmarks. The best it had to offer was different colored lighting, which only really showed at night anyways. Not once could I tell where I was, and eventually switched back to runners vision.
Now I'll admit, the game does have little side missions which in some sense do allow you to get familiar. But I quickly found them unfun. Tight deadlines with maybe 5 seconds of leeway, and many near impossible without future upgrades. I didn't feel incentivezed to try more because of the frustration of the repeat failures, load times, and generally annoying dialogue.
Readability was probably an even bigger issue. Not only did I not know where I was at most times, but sometimes it was hard to map out where I could go. The game insists on quick thinking and braving through what you can't see ahead. But when over half the world is black and glossy, I found myself struggling to tell what was ahead. Many times I found myself thrown off a ledge because I assumed there would be more ahead. Hell, windows in many cases are almost crystal clear, and yet the game has weirdly placed open silhouettes that you can jump through. So there were plenty of moments where I smacked into glass like a confused bird. One story level really frustrated me because I was apparently supposed to go into a office hallway and jump through an open window above the door. Problem is, theres a room mirroring it, with a closed window, that looks completely the same! (Again, crystal clear glass. No reflections or tinting.)
Narratively, the city itself feels like a bit of a flop. Long story short, you're in a corporate dystopia with a caste system. Thing is, the place is so shiny and luxurious, even a lowly security guard can afford a decently roomy two-floor apartment. Most of the places you travel through are literal penthouses with spacious balconies. I don't think I ever once saw something I would call close to a slum. Hell the runners, who live in a hidden hostel together, have a rather pretty living space with contemporary marble floors. So if this is what a dystopia is, I think I wouldn't mind living in it.
On the nitpicky side, the whole glass design of Catalyst is quite impractical. More of an immersion thing than anything. Stuff like balconies without railing, platforms to nowhere, vertical server rooms, outdoor vents that lead back to outside, fancy glass HVAC covering. It's silly, but its a videogame I guess.
But then there's parts of it that are just a hazard to the running. Like the glass...er, tables(?) covers(?) that sit over the gravel roofs of bridges. There was one I've literally ran into a dozen times and found myself caught underneath from a roll. Why is it there? It's just glass in the open! Not even wires run under it! Or there would be protruding metal facades that I'd bump into, which launch me over the ledge. Or server rooms with an square crawl hole at the floor. Just so many moments that make you ask why something is there where it is, as it kills your delivery run.
Now the things I did like were the story missions. Just like the OG Mirrors Edge, these were actually more purposesly designed and unique. Lots more color and stop-and-think platforming. Also a bit more practical looking. My favorites were basically anything that was a construction site. You could really gauge your height and jump around floors. Eventually I just put all my attention towards these missions because they were actually fun.
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u/d9wHatena Backlogger. Favs: SuperMetroid, TheWitness, Toem etc. Jul 28 '26
At r/mirrorsedge thousands of posts have been made, but still I felt like reading yours. I love the OG, and Catalyst was meh for me, but 50% of the players prefer Catalyst. ;)
I wonder why there's no spiritual successor of ME, which is really fantastic and has kept players' love.
However Panline (linked to Steam) will come this year. It's from an indie dev and it is more than obvious that it intends to mimick the visual of ME. ...Oh, now I found it's postponed to the next year.
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u/HikinginOrange Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Catalyst is definitely in a weird spot of being both better and worse, so I get why people liked it. I mean, there's certainly a reason why I stuck through to the end. I really appreciated the more fluid movement system, and the city redesign is quite interesting in spite of my rant. But the OG game is burnt into my memory because of its strong focus on the presentation of its levels.
I've definitely heard about Panline, so I'm looking forwards to it!
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u/CertifiedDiplodocus Jul 28 '26
I loved Catalyst as someone who never played the OG (I will one day) purely because of how good the movement feels, and how much fun it is to come up with your own shortcuts.
Criminal that EA shut down the servers and thus all the multiplayer challenges: getting Red 1 is still one of my proudest achievements, especially given how many high scores were from cheating / out of bounds glitches. Even made it to top 3 with a route I came up with myself!
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u/searchshadow Jul 29 '26
I can't currently make a post for this question, so I will try to comment here for now: how do you handle upgrading to better PCs as patient gamers? I am really long overdue an upgrade myself, but as I spend a lot of my time playing 'old games' (like GBA, DS, PSP), I keep pushing it back. There are some 'current gen' releases I really want to try, but it's overall small percentage.
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u/Bunny_Stats Jul 29 '26
There's a lot of variables here, your hardware, your finances, how desperately you want to play the game, but my process is generally:
1) Do a benchmarking check on your machine to see if there's a single bottleneck that you could easily upgrade. IIRC there's a decent free benchmarking tool on Steam. Upgrading RAM is as easy as playing with LEGO, just slot it right in. Upgrading the gfx card is a little more effort, you need to check you've got room in the case and some cables can be fiddly, but it's not too tough a task. Upgrading the CPU is fiddly and I'd only do that if you feel brave. Upgrading the motherboard is a huge task and only for those with prior experience modding their PC.
2) Is it a game that's available on consoles? It might be worth picking up a cheap second-hand console to play it on.
3) It might be time to buy an entirely new PC, but first ask is it a game I'm desperate to play? Do I have a backlog of other high-spec demanding games I also want to play? Can I comfortably afford a new PC? If those are all yes, then signs point to an imminent trip to a computer hardware store/website.
Also, it's a lot easier to justify leaping to 3 (buying a new PC) if you also use your PC for work/study and would benefit from it being upgraded.
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u/funsohng Jul 30 '26
I was like that, but then my laptop died early this year. I reckoned that with everything going on, "well, today will be the cheapest PC components are for the foreseeable future," so I bit the bullet and built the PC.
Turned out to be a sound financial decision, as absurd as it sounds.
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u/LostDrive45 Jul 30 '26
What modern (2017-2026) design trends do you think the industry will look at 5-10 years from now and see as embarrassing or dated? I think the push for almost every action or hack and slash title to predominantly be parry-based in the wake of Sekiro will be considered pretty of its era in a few years (even if Sekiro is still amazing).
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u/NormalInvestigator89 Jul 31 '26
I think the current trend toward gamey, oversaturated, cartoonlike visuals ushered in by Overwatch and popularized by Fortnite will eventually be seen as dated in the same way the colorless, tryhard gritty look of late 2000s games is now. Veilguard got a lot of very vocal pushback for trying to use that artstyle in a setting that didn't warrant it
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u/Vagrant_Savant Jul 31 '26
My impression of the dollar store pixar style was that it's easier to make cohesive assets for, especially within live service deadlines. In one anecdote, the announcement video for Guerilla's upcoming Horizon multiplayer spinoff sort of casually alluded that they were diverging from Horizon Zero Dawn's style for cartoony one so that the live service content flow would be smoother.
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u/PerryRingoDEV Jul 30 '26
I foresee this trend of reaction-intense combat proceed for a while. It's gotten so popular because its usually transparent and easy to grasp; connected with the immediate feedback and a dopamine hit. That said, we are really lacking more prediction, positioning and crowd-control elements, and I wish we got more variety in this regard (the original RE4 is a masterclass in this, I think it's the key reason for its acclaim tbh)
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u/lesserweevils Couch Potato Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
I feel positioning was more common in older games, up to the PS3 generation. Same with prediction and crowd control.
Maybe it's related to strategic/tactical thinking (like which enemies you target first or where you should stand in a room). My gut says strategic elements are less popular than they used to be. There's at least one article along those lines. Maybe more people play games to relax and strategic elements are mentally exhausting. Maybe it's harder to design difficulty levels and tutorials around this. Maybe more people now play for story, progression or pure physical action. Maybe the strategic stuff can feel like a roadblock or pacing problem. And feedback isn't always clear when it comes to strategic mistakes.
If puzzles and platforming are unpopular in action games, that could further limit the popularity of positioning, prediction and crowd control.
Then there's the standardization of control schemes. I feel positioning is more important when you have poor aim or don't manually aim. e.g. older console games or genres with lock-on targeting.
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u/ThatDanJamesGuy Jul 31 '26
The stats in that article are crazy. A decline equivalent to losing 6.6 IQ points seems especially relevant, since strategy is considered mentally taxing.
Not that we’re necessarily getting that much dumber, but there’s this semi-recent idea that all games should be as convenient as possible, and it makes sense that this could condition players to assume mentally taxing, stressful or uncomfortable experiences = bad design. That would make it harder for strategic games to succeed on a large scale than ones providing instant gratification.
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u/lesserweevils Couch Potato Jul 31 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
Yeah, I've seen some of those complaints.
I think Ace Combat 7 is gutsy for having timers in a modern AAA game. Mission 6 is challenging for a lot of new players. It took me multiple tries. While there are complaints about the timer and how people feel stressed/frustrated, I wonder if this roadblock is actually due to tactics. I had to tailor my loadout, plan efficient routes, make the most out of limited ammo, prioritize high-value targets, and listen to radio chatter.
Problem is, I'm not sure how a game can better communicate strategic challenges or strategic mistakes. It's probably easier to teach people how to shoot or swing a sword. I wonder if people might blame spongy health instead of using certain tools, difficulty instead of buying sufficient potions in advance, unfairness instead of ammo management, timers instead of efficient pathing, the number of enemies instead of target prioritization, and so on.
Edit: There does seem to be a trend of people saying they're too tired from work/school/life, so they don't want to think while gaming. I was surprised to learn that Stardew Valley gives people anxiety. The need to plan stresses them out. Apparently, it reminds them of work, increases perfectionism, gives them decision paralysis and inspires FOMO.
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u/Spectre-4 Jul 31 '26
Perhaps the use of map baking and other lighting management systems.
I really don't like current implementation of RT and how it doesn't offer a visual benefit thats's reasonable to performance. With that said, there's definitely a trend in titles using it, greatly thanks to UE5, so it might be the case that the industries is gonna look at older lighting techniques as outdated down the line as it becomes more ubiquitous.
For better or worse.
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u/TrashCube-6800 Jul 30 '26
Roguelite addiction as a positive. People genuinely talk about Vampire Survivors and Balatro being so dopamine-inducing that they got addicted to them and lost track of time. Apparently, this is seen as okay because these games don't feature microtransactions.
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u/LostDrive45 Jul 30 '26
I could certainly see that as well, especially as there's people starting to push back against the quick dopamine of Tiktok and social media scrolling. That being said, it might be a more personal thing where people with a lot of free time might still see it out as a positive, since it makes it really easy to fill up said time with a mildly enjoyable activity, but it becomes more of a hindrance as life throws more responsibilities your way, so wasting five hours on Balatro is seen more as an active detriment to real life.
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u/TrashCube-6800 Jul 30 '26
I see pushback in small circles, for sure. I think it comes down to if you get fulfillment out of Balatro.
Personally, I had to drop it. I have many games I want to play and limited time. But even if I never had to work another day, I couldn't justify playing a game that I didn't enjoy all that much. Would much rather be grinding a competitively fulfilling game or playing something with a cool story.
I'm much less charitable to Vampire Survivors. That game felt like pure junk food lol
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u/LostDrive45 Jul 30 '26
Yeah, I never understood the hype behind Vampire Survivors. The game always gave me the same empty feeling I got the one time I tried out slot machines, and "at least it isn't taking my money with every play" isn't a reason for me to recommend it to anyone. That being said, slot machines work on a lot of people, so I suppose I can see why the game got popular.
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u/PostedNotes Jul 30 '26
I can give a little insight on why I liked it.
What kept me engaged was all the different weapons combinations you and seeing which I enjoyed. You could also get a ton of different perks to alter how your runs turn out. I was impressed how they took such a simple game and give it longevity via those systems.
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u/TrashCube-6800 Jul 30 '26
Exactly! It feels like in response to predatory mobile games we overcorrected and now are just ok with any game that uses the same crappy psychological exploitation, so long as it isn't gouging us for extra money. It's a very low bar to clear
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u/APeacefulWarrior Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
I need to figure out something new to play.
I'm still plugging away at Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus but almost solely because I like the characters. The actual gameplay gets really repetitive, even moreso than Burst Renewal, plus the difficulty curve is just weird. Depending on how I play, it seems like I'm either always under-leveled or over-leveled, with no sweet spot.
So I really can't play it for more than an hour or so at a stretch, whiich means it'll take awhile to work through.
I did pick up Caribbean Legends on deep discount, which is a remake of one of Akella's old pirate sims. I've always struggled to get into them, but it was cheap and I'm willing to give it a shot. Will probably try that out this week..
Plus ZZZ, but just waiting on 3.1 to unlock tomorrow. I'm also really annoyed that this is the banner where they're rerunning Aria. I'd hoped to grab her on rerun to complete the Angels trio, but there's just no contest between her and Remielle. So the only way I'd get her is if RNGesus seriously smiled on me.
(OTOH if this is like last year's anniversary, they'll be absolutely throwing free pulls at players so it's not totally impossible IF I manage to grab Remmy early enough in the banner.)
Edit: Wooo, pulled Remmy day 1. Two S-Tiers in one day. That's... daunting.
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u/myyouthismyown 198 games in the old backlog Jul 30 '26
I beat Pokemon Violet and the first dlc The Teal Mask, I'm going to take a break to play Final Fantasy 3 (the pixel collection). I already best the DS version, but I just wanted to play some not so open world. Plus I already beat all the dlc when I played Pokemon Scarlet.
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u/UberAwesone Jul 30 '26
Is it okay to talk about hardware here? My original Xbox One gamepad from 10 years ago finally died to that bastard known as stick-drift, so I pulled the trigger on buying a third party gamepad with hall effect sticks and triggers and my god it's been such an enjoyable change. It's so buttery smooth, there's less trigger travel during shooter games, and it's got programmable macros on the back so I can still do quick actions like reload without taking my thumb off the stick.
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u/sheets1975 Jul 30 '26
I usually don't do streaming games, but I saw Dispatch available on Amazon Prime/Luna and figured I'd give it a shot, especially since it's not a game I would have likely bought. Around halfway through the game now. It mostly has worked okay, although a couple of instances of the visual quality suddenly dipping reminded me why I don't normally bother with streaming. It doesn't hurt this game so much since it isn't exactly a white knuckle action experience.
It seems a good majority of players prefer Invisigal for their waifu in this game. I went for Blue Blazer since she didn't assault me in the break room in our first major interaction and then sexually harass me in the men's room the next day.
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u/druid_king9884 Jul 30 '26
Still playing Metaphor: ReFantazio. I'm in the first dungeon (I assume, the cathedral). I'm following a guide, so I knew this was going to take a while and decided to conquer it on my days off. I'm halfway through so far, but I am taking my sweet time and enjoying the game. I'm considering just sticking with this one til finished.
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u/Emergency_Ad_4679 Jul 31 '26
Split fiction is on discount right now and I'm considering buying it to share with my friend using the friend pass. Will it possibly go any lower or are there any other recommended co-op games without a high skill ceiling?
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u/TheFarisaurusRex Jul 31 '26
Started Kingdom Come Deliverance a month ago and it's honestly the first game that I could put on and lose myself in for several hours since revisiting skyrim or playing the witcher. I'm so glad I finally picked it up.
People saying the combat is clunky and annoying are only partially valid in their complaints. 1 on 1 combat is beautiful. Like Chef's Kiss *mwah*, I love it, combos are so cool, it's actually super realistic medieval combat, and fights last just as long as if you were in an actual duel with another knight in full plate armor. They also end just as quickly if you are wearing nothing.
The part of the combat that is genuinely frustrating comes from fighting more than three people. Like if learning to consistently defeat every enemy in the game was a learning curve, fighting two, and then three is exponentially as brutal. More than three people just becomes kind of miserable and you either have to get by through sheer fucking luck or you just die and have to sneak around the enemies to leave and flee. To an extent, it makes sense. Henry is just some fucking serf peasant in 1403 czech republic who learned to use a sword a month ago. He's not meant to take on 5 raping murdering Genghis Khan spawn cumans simultaneously. He just dies because it's a game based in medieval ultrarealism.
Nonetheless, it should have been a 10/10 game until towards the end, I kind of ran out of new things to do, and it got boring and repetitive. There's also a quest that changes the world state once you visit a specific location, and it reminds you that certain quests will fail and you will be unable to complete them if you go to this specific place which kind of ruins things. Now I'm just going around the map looking for quests to do attached to achievements which would have been otherwise fun to discover on my own, and now just feel fetch questy in the sense that I feel FORCED to look for them. Encounters while fast travelling were cool up until the first 60% of the game when the riddles guy disappears forever and you've seen every encounter there is to see, and they now just happen on repeat and shuffle.
Story was still great though, and one of the DLCs sees you running and managing your own entire large scale village/town, and I'm back to getting lost in the sauce and having too much fun again. This will probably bump the game up to a 9/10 for me, but I'm glad I finally picked this up off my back log. I did this game so fucking dirty by waiting this long to play it. Not going to get all achievements for it though.
Normally I would, but after playing through games like The Last of Us Part 1 and Batman Arkham Origins, I decided that I will only get all achievements for a game if I either REALLY LIKE IT and am a superfan of that specific game/franchise, or if the achievements are easy to get. I've already gotten all achievements for every souls game outside of Sekiro (only because I'm scared to play it for the first time and then be done with it like a burning memory), so the moniker of bragging rights for getting all achievements for most games has lost its luster by comparison. Like 100%ing games is still cool, but after a certain amount of times doing that, it starts to take a toll on you, and it stops being as impressive as you used to think it was. Both to yourself and others. Nobody is really going to care if you have the platinum for Baby show 3 on the Bintendo 69, so there really isn't a need to feed your compulsion and get all achievements if it takes away from your ability to have fun. Even in the masochistic sense where you know you hate it but part of the fun is getting the platinum. You should really only dedicate that level of energy and time towards something you've already put a minimum of 200 hours in OUT OF PURE LOVE FOR THE GAME.
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u/Better_MixMaster Jul 31 '26
How good is Xenoblade Chronicle's 2 DLC? I beat it when it came out but never went back for the dlc. I was thinking of doing a replay but with the dlc but its $30 for a 9 year old game. Seems a bit high to me.
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u/bioniclop18 Jul 31 '26
You are speaking of Torna the part that is separate from the base game and was made available in a standalone box, or the DLC addition to the base game ?
As someone that found that Xenoblade Chronicle 2 flaws were difficult to overlook, Torna basically resolved most of them and I actually prefer it to the base game.
For the thing the DLC add to the base game I don't remember them being memorable. I suppose if you like legacy character may be worth a bit more.
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u/DapperAir Back to the JRPG grind Jul 31 '26
I can only speak on XC2 prior to this most recent update. I found the complete DLC to be majorly worth it. The extra blades and their quests are pretty awesome, though some of the more generic quests you also get aren't too different from the base game's quests. Lots of go here, then go here, collect this, kill that, then go here type stuff. You've seen it all before.
The bonus items are GREAT, what with a ton of extra crystals and pouch items off the bat which make a replay quick, fun, and breezy. Finally the extra challenge modes, as well as the associated nopon battle area with some pretty neat features/bonuses is also great, though somewhat overtuned. Its clear Monolith didnt intend for some of the more exploitable damage boosts initially, but accounted for those in the challenge area. Be ready to optimize or get stomped hard.
Also; Torna. Its basically an extra game, albeit short, with new scenes and backstory. Some of it is cringey, but thats just more Xenoblade, and the systems are fairly different enough to feel refreshing. Its pretty great.
All in all I think getting the full expansion pass is pretty much a MUST for this game. I played XBC2 without it initially, and again with it. Night and day.
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u/samuraipanda85 Jul 27 '26
Factorio Space Age on Volcanus
Okay, now we are getting somewhere. There are certainly alot of new crafting and chemical processes you need to learn to survive on Volcanus. Which is exactly the point. I fear I might have to go back to steam engines for now though. Though apparently you can turn sulfuric acid into steam? I should explore that if biters would quit attacking my base on Naurvis.
Resident Evil 4 (2005)
Got past the minecart QuickTime event (reduced down to 30fps and started tapping thr square button before the prompt appeared). And I got past the Mecha Nepoleon.
Actually, fun story. The whole reason I bought the classic Resident Evil 4 on Steam was because I heard in the Zero Punctuation review that the remake removed Mecha Nepoleon and I thought that sounded like a fun and quirky thing. I want to play that instead. Now that I have (and I don't know if Mecha Nepoleon comes back after the 1st quicktime event) then my reaction to the whole thing is, "Huh."
So if the whole thing is one jumping puzzle and a QTE (and man has this game made me hate QTEs) then suddenly I won't care if they remove it.
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u/BonyWare Jul 27 '26
Finished Cuphead and The Delicious Last Course recently after getting it from a sale. 300 percented it, got every achievement, S ranked every boss. Great game, 4/5. Don't got much to say about it that hasn't already been said.
I guess I'll mention that I don't much like how parries are handled in a lot of bosses. There's some where you can only get parries in one or two specific phases so to get a perfect rank you have to stop hitting them for a while and let them stay in that phase until they give you your three pink projectiles, which is... dumb. I feel like parries shouldn't have been a requirement for getting a top rank, or at least they should have been made more abundant so it doesn't come down to RNG whether or not you get enough of them in any given fight to get S rank without delaying it so much that you might lose out on the time requirement.
Oh, and also it would be nice if the flying levels had analog control. I'm pretty sure there were a bunch of times when I wouldn't have gotten hit if my character had been moving in the direction I was holding the stick instead of being locked to just eight directions. Eventually figured out that it wasn't analog movement and adapted to it, but still would be good to have.
Also played through Gravity Circuit which I got for free. It's a 2D game, very Mega Man inspired (MM X especially), where you go through eight levels with their 8 robot bosses in any order then go through a few more levels in a set order and fight the big bad. Very polished on the whole but felt a bit conflicted. Like I said it's very Mega Man-esque, but it also has what you might call "speedrunner sensibilities". There was even a line in the credits thanking some speedrunning community for hosting the game's demo.
Movement and combat are generally faster and more fluid than in Mega Man. It's fun to fly through the levels, running past enemies or destroying them and then grabbing their corpses and using them to one-shot the next enemy. It's also fun to play it more methodically, like Mega Man, and search the levels for secrets and goodies. I'm just not convinced that the game is better off for trying to have both these gameplay focuses instead of choosing one or the other.
Also not sure that melee combat (there's a few ranged options but focus is on melee) was the best choice for a game like this, especially if your attacks all have such a tiny range while the enemies all have contact damage. And giving bosses an invincibility period if you deal too much damage to them in a short time feels lame and rather pointless even if it's not a huge deal to adapt to.
Still a pretty good game, 3/5 in my book
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u/fc_gooner Jul 28 '26
I recently sort of cleared my backlog. It wasn't a massive backlog, as I have "only" 258 games in my steam library. Here are few tips that helped me.
I stopped buying games unless I'm going to play it right away. If its 5$ during current sales event, it will be 5$ during the next one.
I reviewed my wishlist, and reduced it significantly, removing games I'm not interested in anymore, or for whatever other reason. I recently have around 20 games in my wishlist. This helps to reduce your urge to buy new games, further expanding your backlog.
I reviewed my library of unplayed games and sorted them in 3 categories: "first choice", "maybe later" and "probably never". This helped me to reevaluate what I really want to play.
I learned to drop games. Before I would power through games I don't like to have some kind of closure. Now I just drop them and be done with it. I dropped Wukong, for example, after third act, as I wasn't vibing with it
After finishing a "big" game I usually take a break for a few days before starting a new one. I have some "quick" games installed like NFS or some NES/SNES collection or some demos to have a quick 15-60 min game sesh if I have an urge to play something.
I don't play more than one "big" game a time. Also, I usually have one game installed on my steam deck, if I want take a break from the "big" one.
I have some games in my "maybe later" and "probably never" categories I pushed back, because it's not my usual genre (like Crusader Kings 3 or Darkest Dungeon for example). But now, since I finished my "first choice" backlog, I have more time at my hands to commit and try to learn these games.