[Mentalist]

Having wrestled for a bit to make the controls work with a keyboard, I'm now on Chapter 5 of Enslaved, and having a fun time.

I'm not familiar with the source material this is supposed to be loosely based on, but it's not detracting from my enjoyment. I did roll my eyes a bit when the Statue of Liberty had its cameo in Ch 1, though.

[Cause]

Mentalist, on 15 April 2017 - 05:13 AM, said:

Having wrestled for a bit to make the controls work with a keyboard, I'm now on Chapter 5 of Enslaved, and having a fun time.

I'm not familiar with the source material this is supposed to be loosely based on, but it's not detracting from my enjoyment. I did roll my eyes a bit when the Statue of Liberty had its cameo in Ch 1, though.

Its loooooooosly based on the monkey king and the journey into the west. As in the character is called monkey. Thats it

[Mentalist]

Cause, on 15 April 2017 - 03:25 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 15 April 2017 - 05:13 AM, said:

Having wrestled for a bit to make the controls work with a keyboard, I'm now on Chapter 5 of Enslaved, and having a fun time.

I'm not familiar with the source material this is supposed to be loosely based on, but it's not detracting from my enjoyment. I did roll my eyes a bit when the Statue of Liberty had its cameo in Ch 1, though.

Its loooooooosly based on the monkey king and the journey into the west. As in the character is called monkey. Thats it

I know THAT. But just the name. Didn't read the book or saw the (supposedly popular) series adaptation

Edit: he's called Monkey, his weapon is a staff, he moves with the ape-like slouch, he has a random strip of cloth that's supposed to look like a "tail" ... he's also got a "cloud" to fly around on.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 15 April 2017 - 05:13 PM

[Mentalist]

Finished Journey to the West yesterday. Fun little game, combat was not its strong suite (only having 3 main types of enemies can do that), but the jumping stuff was nice (mostly). That ending kinda fizzled, though. Can't say I liked it, or that it was meaningful. It was just kinda... there.

currently back into AoK HD, but probably gonna look at "Of Orcs and Men" next time I need a break from that.

[Defiance]

Installing Morrowind once again. It's been a couple years since I played it, which is probably the longest hiatus I've ever had from the game. I just started re-reading Malazan again too, which is part of what prompted it. There are tons of great games out there, and I'm particularly found of fantasy and RPGs, but many of them are too European for me to enjoy beyond a single playthrough. Even having explored every nook and cranny, Morrowind still retains its foreign feeling. Bethesda really created something unique in that game, and I hope that in future Elder Scrolls installments they can shift back to that more exotic feeling.

Also, having to pay bills kind of sucks. I miss the days of being able to play whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Now I have to pick between replaying old games or trying out new ones. I still want to beat Dark Souls 3, still want to replay The Witcher 3 (which will probably never happen, I put well over 100 hours into that game and the expansions and didn't come close to doing everything), still want to replay Xenogears, still have to beat Breath of the Wild...too much to do, too little time. And to think that I want to have a kid in the next couple of years, then my free time is really going to disappear.

[Serenity]

I'm just under 40 hours into Persona 5, nearly finished the third 'palace' (just got the boss to do) which has been really fun and intricate. It's a brilliant game

[Morgoth]

I am craving a story driven game now that ME:A turned out to be such a failure. Is Persona 5 that game? I've never played a Persona game, and know next to nothing about what it is.

[Serenity]

Morgoth, on 19 April 2017 - 07:21 AM, said:

I am craving a story driven game now that ME:A turned out to be such a failure. Is Persona 5 that game? I've never played a Persona game, and know next to nothing about what it is.

It's not story driven in the cinematic way that ME and other western RPGs are. It's my first Persona game, and it's quite unlike other JRPGs I've played, too. You divide your time between the real world, where you go to school, study, take part-time jobs, develop friendships, and the 'metaverse', where there are palaces (dungeons) which are the dark hearts of bad people who you can get to change their ways by stealing the treasure at its centre. It's incredibly stylised and stylish and it's got some quite dark themes, too (like the first bad guy is a teacher who's abusing his students).


It's really difficult to explain (and I'm doing a crap job at it!). Probably best to watch some gameplay videos and see if it appeals. This one's quite good:





ETA: Actually, this does a better job of explaining it:

This post has been edited by Serenity: 19 April 2017 - 08:34 AM

[Aptorian]

Had to take a break from Stardew Valley. Sort of overdosed on it over the past week. I think I put over 50 hours into it. But it's hard to play anything else in the wake of a gaming experience that sucks you in that way.

I've pretty much conquered the game now. I've finished all the bundles in the Community Center except for one bundle that requires a kind of plant that only appears in Summer. It's kind of frustrating because I'm stuck in winter now. I sort of want to just sleep 40 days until I reach Summer but I am worried what will happen to the farm. I've got 6 silos full of hay so the animals wont starve but it still feels like a waste.

I might delve into the cave dungeon in the Desert. It's pretty tough though.

As an in between game I've been playing more Mirrors Edge 2. I think calling ME2 mediochre is a bit harsh but there's just not much to this game besides the novelty of playing a parkour game in first person. I feel like Dying Light did it better and that game has a ton more to offer. I think what ME2s real issue is, is that it's story driven, but the story is super thin, the characters are bad and the writing and dialogue is atrocious.

They keep alluding to a backstory of Faith and the other Runners but I don't remember any of that stuff from the first game. They also refer to a visual novel in the loading screen tool tips. I assume they just made up a ton of backstory and just never implemented it into the game, which is one of the most hated video game narrative tricks I know of.

On top of that the game just feels sluggish. Both in terms of the speed with which you traverse the environment but also the way the game reacts to your inputs. It feels like I should have some kind of sprint button but most of the time it just feels like you're jogging and every obstacle slows you down. It just doesn't feel satisfying to play the game.

Also downloaded Rise of the Tomb Raider again for some reason. I felt like shooting something. I love this game. It was my favorite game in 2016 and it holds up in a revisit. Not sure I will play through it again but it's just so goood.

This post has been edited by Apt: 19 April 2017 - 09:30 AM

[Serenity]

Briar King, on 19 April 2017 - 04:05 PM, said:

Wow Persona 5 does look good! What's the GB on it?

20

[JPK]

Ok, I'm split 50/50 on what I should play right now. I have dlc for two games that I loved but I can't decide on the order to play them in.

1- Shadow of Modor.
2- Witcher 3.

Now, I know that W3 SHOULD win this hands down, but I'm hesitating due to potential length of material. I've only played and beat two games in the last 9 months and 6 months were devoted to W3. There is also the new Mordor game on the horizon which is drawing me towards wanting to complete the dlc material for that.

Advice?

[Defiance]

I'd go with The Witcher 3. I'd argue that Hearts of Stone has the best story in the game, and Blood and Wine offers a ton of extra fun content and an awesome region to explore. Also lots of great nods if you've read the books.

[Morgoth]

Witcher 3 is an amazing game. One of the best of its generation.

Shadow of Mordor is neat with a fun core mechanic.

[Serenity]

Witcher 3!

[Dolmen 2.0]

Enter the Gungeon.

Most fun i've had failing since Dark Souls. With more jokes.

[Aptorian]

I loved the game but the rogue-like reset of your progress upon each death killed my enthusiasm for Enter the Gungeon. Blew through it in a couple hours with a trainer downloaded that gave me invincibility and infinite ammo and no reloads.

[Mentalist]

I found a more appropriate place to ramble about Age of Empires, b/c Age of Kings Heaven forums now have a playthrough thread.

I'm also currently arguing with GOG support over the latest Cossacks 3 DLC. Given I purchased the Deluxe edition, I should've gotten it automatically, but for some reason, my version is no longer recognized as the Deluxe one (since I'm offered the option of "buying" the deluxe upgrade again).

The customer support is not being very smart about this.

[JPK]

Ok, so I'm a good bit into the Hearts of Stone DLC now. Yeah, I'm happy I let you guys talk me into this. The story for the primary quest is absolutely engaging and I KNOW I wouldn't have enjoyed Mordor DLC this much.

[Morgoth]

Nier: Automata is a deeply fascinating game.

[Aptorian]

I finished Stardew Valley and Mirrors Edge: Catalyst last week.

I finished the community center in Stardew Valley and got my grandfathers approval and that pretty much wrapped up my interest for the game. There were still some stuff I could have worked on but I felt like I'd done everything I needed. Last thing I did was to sell every item I had stored in my inventory of chests. Turned out I had over 600,000 gold worth of products saved up.

Mirrors Edge 2 got better the more I played but the story was terrible. Never felt any attachment to any of the characters or the plot. The mission based navigation of data hubs and constructions sites remained cool through out though.

Started playing Resident Evil: Revelations 1 and Need for Speed 2015.

RE:Revelations disappointed me initially but turned it around by being a pretty fun video game. It looks terrible and I suspect this might be because it's been ported to PC from the Nintendo 3DS. The game looks like late PS2/early PS3 era graphics with simple textures and poor animations everywhere.

But the game plays well. This is a much better blend of action and survival horror than RE 5 and 6 attempted. I hate horror games, so I prefer the more action heavy Resident Evils and Revelations does a good job with this. The controls aren't great with a gamepad but I get by.

The story is equal parts terrible and entertaining which I guess is an achievement given my resentment for Japanese games.

Need for Speed 2015 is great. I bought it over a year ago but I think I put it aside at the time after playing an hour or so. Going back to it now, I am impressed by how great the game looks and how much fun the stupid FMV sequences are. What really makes me like the game is the customization of the car. Not just in terms of the looks and the performance parts but also the steering and handling. One of my pet peeves in driving games is when the steering and control feels too wonky. In this game you can easily adjust this with 5 sliders and it makes the driving much more satisfying.

I am having so much fun with this that I am hoping we see a new Need for Speed announcement for the Fall at E3.