Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

[Crimson Flame]

I’ve been playing The Sims 3. I’ve missed The Sims…

[Carlyle]

Anyone buy anything interesting from the Steam sale? I've already thrown 200 bucks down on the sale, thinking of throwing some more down if I find anything more I want.

[SleepingSilence]

Sony failing to bring back ‘Stars’ during a sales event, is the biggest fuck you to your playerbase and business failure that I can imagine a company having. (Outside of what Microsoft is already doing.) And it low-key pisses me off. Even if I wasn’t one of the poor fools who chose to hoard points that they’ll likely never get to spend now.

But I digress.

---

I bought seventeen games (and downloaded another free one) on Steam. And I spent my remaining PSN wallet on another game for my PS5, after I finished Elden Ring & Shadow of the Erdtree. (Likely the last thing that I’ll buy on my PS5 for a while.)

So I should have enough to keep me busy…

(Now onto a few reviews…)

Elden Ring: This game felt like it would never end, for better or worse. Since I had already spent 120+ hours to reach Crumbling Farum Muzala & then proceeded to spend many more hours beating numerous hidden dungeons, entire side areas that I neglected to find, and defeating every optional boss that I missed after defeating the Elden Beast. (Just a day before they finally provided a patch to add Torrent into the fight.) And as many valid complaints as one might have with this game, it’s truly a one-of-a-kind experience. One that I might still play in order to help other friends through it.

Shadow Of The Erdtree: I have complicated feelings with this DLC. Since the patches themselves seemed to specifically screw me/my playstyle over at every given opportunity. (By nerfing every single thing that I was using.) But I think both the haters and fanatics are judging this game’s DLC unfairly in either direction. Because I don’t think you can honestly say this was a “10/10 Elden Ring, but better with less filler.” Nor, a “A worse in every way, harder Elden Ring that improved nothing.”

Because I think the visual presentation and level design is some of the best in the game. And the side dungeon content (those lava and ice dungeons) might be some of the worst new additions. (Among all the other pros and cons that I won’t mention for brevity's sake.) But I’d say the content was solid overall. (Even if the characters pulled the same shit they did in Lords Of The Fallen, and it made me hate them all. And I only beat the final boss with a cheese strat that they patched out mere hours later. #NoRegrets.)

The First Descendant: “Hey Destiny 2. Can I copy all your homework and then have people claim I play anything like Warframe?” “Sure, but don’t make it too obvious.”

The WereCleaner: One of the few games that I wished I could’ve paid something for. Good humor and smooth gameplay, that was worth an hour of my time.

Rusty Lake, Roots: Paradise was better. The narrative in this one was a bit more straightforward, perhaps. But I don’t think the obscure puzzle game gets better with a simpler narrative.

Duck Detective, The Secret Salami: Amusing. But I don’t think it did the best job explaining/justifying its logic. (And it’s also pretty short.)

Hob: I'm still playing this. But it doesn't feel particularly engaging. Since the combat is pretty barebones, the platforming isn't precise, and it's challenge through cheap obscurity isn't doing the game any favors. Since its needless backtracking doesn't really reward me with much...

[Fabricant451]

The First Descendant fucking sucks and that's before getting to the bullshit bad monetization the game has. It's like Warframe or Destiny 2 but for people who think paying 50 dollars to look at virtual ass is a peak gaming experience

[aristocatgrrl]

Halo fanatic here who also has been enjoying HD2, Wuthering Waves, Nintendo, and games like SDV lately. I'm open to many different kinds and play lots of different types as well for Xbox, PC, and Switch.

[Gelatinous Cube]

Playing Doom 3 BFG Edition because I want to see why it's so contentious among the Doom fan base. It's literally the same game with some minor QoL adjustments. It's still probably my least favourite of the Doom franchise and sticks out like some sort of novel anomaly, but it's by no means a bad game.

It's better than Rage, that's for darn sure...

[Sp00ki]

Where do I start...

Metroid Dread, Ultra Street Fighter 4, Ori and the Blind Forest, Call of Duty: Blacks Ops 2, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Dead Cells, Super Hot: Mind Control Delete, Moonlighter, Pokkén Tournament DX.

Yeah, I play a lot...

[SleepingSilence]

Just going through some games, while I'm recovering from writer's block. Hoping my "vacation" will give me more time to myself.

Another Crab's Treasure: I enjoyed most of my time in this. (Cheeseball story aside.) The end game is very stretched out, and I didn’t find the dialogue particularly funny as every Youtuber/reviewer claimed. But I do think its accessibility options are how all games should be adjusting difficulty within your game. (Giving you ways to make certain things easier, harder, and amusing extras like giving your character a gun.) Made the terrible camera in boss fights (and its glitches) more forgivable.

Moonlight Pulse: It’s a decent Metroidvania that made me care enough about the characters to refight the final boss. (Who permanently kills the members of your party.) And its character switching gimmick is flawed, but it’s probably the best I’ve seen the gimmick done thus far. It’s probably ranked somewhere in the middle of all the Metroidvanias that I’ve played.

Master Key: Imagine playing a Zelda game without a story, good puzzle design, and combat without an ability to dodge/block. And that’s going to be the vast majority of your time in this. It’s a game too obscure for its own good. And many of its vital upgrades are given to you through grinding for money. Got to the “end game” and couldn’t even find a direct walkthrough on where to get a particular item that you need to complete the remainder of the content. So I gave up. (Besides its four decent bosses, it wasn’t particularly fun anyhow.)

The Last Campfire: The first world of levels is a lot like Monument Valley, but with a ten year old girl narrating the obvious to you ad-nauseam. The second world was “find the puzzles in our puzzle game” and it was boring the hell out of me.

Small Saga: An enjoyable romp that is written by a teenage Redditor. Far too easy, but it was engaging enough to complete.

Plants Vs Zombies 2: It’s a decent multiplayer game. (In a sea of way worse things to spend your time on.) But its characters are very unbalanced, the gameplay is occasionally buggy, and it’s made by EA. (So there’s lots of things to spend your money on.)

[Shu]

I have been deeply hooked by Age of Wonders 4 ✨

As someone who thought she was burning out hard on 4x4 strategy titles I cannot put this game down.

[Ridley]

Hoping Black Myth: Wukong will be good.

[SleepingSilence]

I also hope Black Myth Wukong isn't being overhyped by it's endless stream of perfect 10's. Time will tell.

'Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2' is somehow far worse than the games made decades prior.

'Bo: Path Of The Teal Lotus' was an enjoyable challenge. (At least until the end game content.) Deserves better than the "Mostly Positive" it's getting on Steam. But it *is* buggy and not fully updated on PS5.

'Cat Quest 3' is disappointingly short on content.

I stopped playing "Ghost Of A Tale" pretty early on, despite it's decent writing, because the sense of direction and gameplay felt like I was doing a lot of meaningless wandering. Maybe one day I'll find a stealth-focused game that can hold my attention.

Okami HD is next on my list.

[Fabricant451]

Black Myth Wukong being used as a sword against the imaginary culture war sucks shit because a review can give it a fair 3/5 score and the worst ghouls possible will somehow spin it to mean reviewers hate Asian people.

[Gelatinous Cube]

Played Jedi Survivor and I loved it. Fallen Order was a pleasant surprise to me especially since I had mostly given up on most Star Wars media, so I'm glad the sequel was just as good.

Now I'm playing Arkham Knight (I know, I know, I'm late to the party on that one) and it's also a hell of a time. Love the whole Arkham trilogy and I'm going to just pretend that it was Kevin Conroy's real Batman swan song.

In addition to that I've been playing around with the new Doom + Doom II ports. They still need a little work but the mod support is sure nice. If you want as vanilla a Doom experience as possible without having the dick around with source ports and their myriad settings then it's a fine way to play.

[Carlyle]

Putting down hours in OW2 (and a little of WoW/TWW). Honestly find OW2 more enjoyable than CoD atm, paid $70 bucks for a game I barely even play anymore lmao

[SleepingSilence]

'Crypt Custodian' is a pretty good game, that improves on the balance and combat difficulty that Islets (his previous game) lacked. Plus, it probably has one of the better maps in any Metriodvania that I've played lately. And it (in my opinion) smartly allows you to skip a lot of backtracking tedium by allowing you to warp between save points immediately. Though the secret 'butterfly-collecting challenge' shouldn't be the most frustrating thing in your Zelda game.

'Akimbot' is a decent game, that does it's best to be visually interesting. But it has about two dozen too many clunky vehicle segments, and some random ass mini-games (a late game level of fucking flappy bird for its worst example) that feel like padding. Highlights are probably its bosses (with the exception of the final one between the two antagonists that you fight in an empty white space.)

'Castle Crashers' is dumb fun. No idea if I'll ever finish it. Let alone level up every single character in it.

'Okami' treats you like you're a fucking four year old & it wasn't entertaining enough to push past it's slow pace.

Bilkin's Folly has a ton of love put into it & the 'Swedish Chef' voice your MC has, has made me (and friends) laugh on numerous occasions. (And it has an adorable doggo in it. What's not to love?) Well...it's third island has 'a point of no return' & some of the most cryptic/difficult puzzles of the game thus far. Plus, a ton of lag/slowness from the random NPC's that roam around the town, that made everything from your movement speed to dialogue exchanges, cripplingly slow. So the appeal of exploring different places to dig up junk and solve any puzzle at your own pace has been spoiled. (And I think the idea of "your doggo levels up and learns new skills as you bond with it" wasn't ever useful from a gameplay standpoint.)

I'm now trying to play V-Rising. So many games, not enough hours in the day.

[Mole]

The final Splatfest for Splatoon 3 is coming up.

[Fabricant451]

'Okami' treats you like you're a fucking four year old & it wasn't entertaining enough to push past it's slow pace.

@SleepingSilence

Man, Okami is one of the best games of that generation. Unfortunate that you don't vibe with it.

Anyway, Astro Bot is the best platformer in years and is GOTY.

[Gelatinous Cube]

Okami is on my list to play soon. I hear that the Switch version is the best one (which is just about the only game I can think of where people say that), so when I can get a reasonably priced copy I'll be sure to give it a red hot go.

For now I'm just playing Ocarina of Time again. That game is like a warm blanket to me.

[Major Land]

That Halo Megabloks game "Haggar" is now playable on PC. Something about a "Xenia" Xbox 360 Emulator needed for it, but it's legit the Halo Megabloks game. Gossip says they're making more levels for it.

[Carlyle]

Made an alt in retail WoW today.

There is no challenge to leveling anymore, it's just zzz steamroll. I only put in a few hours and I'm already halfway to max. Everything has mothballed into speedrunning, things were dying so fast in dungeons we finished them in minutes.