[Morgoth]

Fought a few more bosses in Bloodborne. It's just as exhilarating as I remember. And it's a lot of fun helping other players too. When I played Bloodborne the first time around I did the entire thing solo. I made some minor forays into PvP, but never really got hooked. In Dark Souls 3 though I discovered how fun it is to help others against the bosses I enjoyed fighting myself. So this time around I'm doing the same in BB, and it's so much fun!

I don't really want a BB2 I think, but I seriously hope From manages to make something as good next time around.

[Traveller]

I can't remember a whole lot about Bloodborne, it might be time for a revisit now I've finished DS3.

I remember finishing it and getting a weird ending, and that whole life blood/Menses theme, but there are a lot of bosses I can't recall offhand.

[Blend]

Started playing Path of Exile with some of my WoW buddies - it's like a Diablo 2 game, but with a SUPER complex Talent system. I've been rather enjoying it!

[Aptorian]

I wanted to like Path of Exile but it just felt so pointless. There is no real story and the environments are boring. The action is repetitive and doesn't feel like it has the oomph of Diablo 3

I played somewhere into Act 2 and just dropped it because I didn't care.

I'd heard a lot of positive impressions of the game but, at least playing solo, I don't see the appeal.

[Garak]

I recently stumbled across Ash of Gods:Redemption on Steam. Very similar to Banner Saga and the devs even credit it as an inspiration source (and the BS devs backed the KS apparently). Story is interesting and it get's fed to you in bits and drops, some of which you need to piece together or read between the lines. I'd recommend it to anyone who liked BS.

Here;s a good review: http://www.capsuleco...emption-review/

@Mentalist Definitely play the Mass Effect trilogy. It's a good series, really. I also recommend playing as female Shepard because of the voice acting.

This post has been edited by Garak: 28 March 2018 - 11:47 AM

[Mentalist]

I'll get to ME eventually. I generally have a bad history with Bioware, in the sense it takes me a few tries to click with their games, and if I'm not in a right headspace for it, nothing works.

Ashes of Gods is something I wishlists once it came out on GOG- in part because they're outright stating they are emulating the art style of late-Soviet Era cartoons, which is stuff I grew up.

Sigh, so many games, so little time (and some shortage of disposable income)

[Gintokian]

I just bought a Switch this past weekend with my tax refund, it's the first console I've bought since the xbox 360 came out so i'm pretty excited.
I got the new zelda game and mario kart so I've been playing a bunch of both. The last zelda game I had was OoT on the N64 and mario kart for my DS so these new ones are a pretty big step up. Pretty crazy how these games have improved in just 20 years! I can now light grass on fire, push rocks down hills, and break every weapon smashing rocks, what more could you want in a game?

[Malankazooie]

Alternative Goose, on 26 March 2018 - 11:37 AM, said:

If you're playing on PC, just use console commands to give yourself the perks you want.

Did it by grinding areas that had many enemies (some high level for even more XP) - Gunner's Plaza (Raiders), Mahkra Fishpacking (Synths), and Dunwich Borers (Raiders).

I then crafted the jet pack and propelled myself to the top of the castle and was able to finish the mission. Had to open and step into the elevator to trigger it.
Interestingly, I'm able to take the elevator back down.

I've raised all the bandit flags now.

[Mentalist]

Wrapped up one playthrough of "Mars: War Logs" (at the end of Act 2 there's a decision which faction you pick, and some things in Act 3 play out differently, so I'll probably go back and take another shot at it later).

I ended up almost restarting sometime mid-Act 2, because I missed a side-quest in Act 1 that influenced how a later NPC treated me, so went back to an earlier save. I clearly saw most of the content, since the game gave me the achievement for completing all side-quests(although reading online there were a few others that I could've triggered if I did stuff in slightly different order); that being said, only one of the whole bunch was actually interesting (the serial killer).

There's also this intended morality system which is tied into the game's fiction- the local currency is "serum" , a water-containing mix. And the you can extract additional serum from defeated enemies, permanently killing them (at expense of your reputation). It's an interesting idea, let down by execution- serum is already plentiful, and there's next to nothing to spend it all, since the rudimentary equipment system meant I had the best weapon and armor by mid Act 2, and after that only thing I ever spent serum on was extra ammo, which becomes dirt cheap once you unlock a Feat (perk) by reaching "Good" reputation, which makes all merchants give you a 50% discount!

Overall, I stick by my assertion: Mars: War Logs is a poor man's Witcher, in sci-fi. Combat tries to go for same TW2 feel, and it can be just as brutal (and trying to parry any bladed weapon and their quick stabs animation is almost impossible), as does the triple-ended to skill tree- only instead of alchemy here there's the "Renegade" tree, as the game offers you some stealth options, to pick off a few enemies before a designated fight. It's almost impossible to remove everyone though, since there's no distraction options, and sometime you'll have a 2-3 guards facing each other on a 45 degree angle, making sneaking up or past them impossible. Luckily, I only encountered one side quest where sneaking in and out past patrolling guards was a requirement.

In terms of flow, Spiders improved a bit over "Of Orcs and Men" , in the sense that there's less sequences of corridors, and more hub-type planning (although said hubs have a "series of intersecting corridors" layout, with an occasional semi-open area with respawning enemies, to be used as an XP farm and to fulfill the mandatory combat time quota). Also, quests are parsed out between acts, and the story doesn't become a linear sequence of fights until mid-way in Act III (of 4) this time.

Dialogue is worse this time around, and one thing that clearly makes this a budget title is the fact that despite the Martian city being fairly populated, no one except named NPCs talks- the rest just stand there, sometimes they gesticulate at each other but there's no acknowledgement of the player being there. In "Of Orcs and Men" the inhabitants of the Act 1 shanty town at least covered in fear whenever the greenskins passed by. But on Mars, casual violence seems to be the norm, so no one cares about anything you do.
I could also complain about lack of enemy variety, but the game's relative shortness makes up for that, and it didn't have enough time to get annoying. There's 2 setpiece bosses, one of them being the typical "screen-filling giant thing with slow, telegraphed slam attacks you must dodge"; more annoyance than challenge, but I appreciate the attempt at variety.

So that was "Mars: War Logs" . Interesting setting, some interesting ideas, fairly mediocre execution. I'll be looking into "Technomancer" sometime in the coming weeks to see if they managed to do anything more interesting with the setting they've built up here. And hopefully they allow me to remind controls this time.

Meanwhile, moved on to something more platformer-y. Tried "Psychonauts" , and made some progress (finished Basic Braining), but the game is crashing a lot, which is annoying. And I'm having problems patching it, because GOG galaxy won't recognize it/add it, and I don't want to re-download the whole game again right now.

So put that on the backburner and started "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time". Still coming to grips with controls and the jump sequence right before you get the time-controlling dagger was frustration- inducing until I read online that you can (and must) let go of the "wall run" button when jumping from wall to wall up a narrow chute. Still a bit finicky with M + K, but getting the hang of it. I'll probably stick with this for the next while. I appreciate the straightforward story for a change: put all sand back, banish evil. Voice acting and face animations seem totally out of sync in the one dialogue the Prince had with the girl so far, but can't say that really bothers me.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 02 April 2018 - 03:56 PM

[Serenity]

I thought I'd give Stellaris another go over the weekend, to see what 2.0 is like. I wasn't as bothered by some of the changes as a lot of people seem to be but, after about 4 hours, I started to find it just as boring as before.

So, back to Endless Space 2, which is much more my kind of thing. I finished my Vaulters game, which was great fun. Each game I'm increasing the galaxy size, number of opponents and the difficulty. I'm thinking Cravers next.

[Morgoth]

Still in Bloodborne. This time I'll finish the platinum!

[Aptorian]

I've been playing some Mario+Rabbids: Kingdom Battle on the Switch.

It's surprisingly hard. Not overly punishing but it's definitely challenging. It feels like a coloful and fun version of X-com.

[Tapper]

Spending time on zee Germanz in Hearts of Iron 4 - to get the 1948 achievement, mainly.
Somewhere down the line, I will probably do a Britain run first, then a Canada run.

[Mentalist]

approximately half-way through PoP: Sands of Time". Combat is starting to get annoying. Platforming and wall-running is pretty fun though.

[Gothos]

Been playing so much Elite last week that I got something I can only compare to the Tetris Effect, hallucinations and nightmares included. So now I've switched to DA Inquisition to finish my Nightmare playthrough. Gods, but the bolter dwarves in The Descent HURT, it's like Arcane Horrors on steroids.

[Mentalist]

85% into Sands of Time. Combat has become REALLY frustrating- all it is is just waves of enemies. I had to quit after one fight in a moving elevator (which leads to all kinds of fun clipping bugs, too), because it's just constant respawn, until eventually Farah dies. Or shoots me dead by mistake.

Otherwise, really brilliant game, but combat in confined spaces.... just NO, having the same button both to absorb enemy's Sand AND freeze them isn't helping. The game's target selection isn't all that bright, and often it targets someone totally different from what i want to do.

And those soldiers with pikes. fuck them, and their sweeping, stabbing, and blocking my jumps attacks,

EDIT: Ok, finished the game, not bad. I'll probably check out "Warrior Within" soon.

Meantime, until I clear my data cap (resets on Tuesday), my choices are a bit limited. Thinking either Bayonetta or Dead Space.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 09 April 2018 - 01:53 AM

[Malankazooie]

Jumped back into MGSV Phantom Pain. I hate leaving games unfinished. Says I am at 30% completion now. Building up Mother Base and all of the items has been slow AF. Finally got the Fulton that can extradite out heavy stuff (like big storage containers with tons of resources). Building up Mother Base has picked up pace now. Went on a story mission where I had to remove a heavy truck being escorted by tanks. Chased them down and very quickly Fultoned out the heavy truck. Then alien super soldiers drop onto the scene and I have to high tail it out of there. They teleport in front of my escape, I have the pedal to the metal and break free finally (they quit the chase). Now I am finding frustration on completing this mission where it seems that "timing" is the key, as I need to take out a high level target along with a helicopter that appears in the distance before it leaves the actionable area. Have failed a few times now. Maybe I need to let the high level target and his escort get into their vehicle and follow them? Not sure. May have to look for some clues by doing a google search.

[QuickTidal]

I've been playing the first BANNER SAGA. It's my first tactics-style game, and I'm enjoying it, but playing slowly to make sure I make the best decisions. Solid story and voice acting on the cutscenes...and the battles are pretty straightforward.

[Aptorian]

I loved the first Banner Saga. Felt like an Indie fantasy version of Mass Effect, where the choices and the character relationships are essential for where the story takes you.

The series is made by some ex-bioware devs I think, so it figures.

Decided not to play Banner Sage 2 before they finish the trilogy.

I got really invested in the health and ultimate fate of the caravan by the end of the game. That fear of fucking up is paralysing.

[Mentalist]

Banner Saga is on my wishlist still, sigh.

Messed around with "Bayonetta" on Sun, into Ch3 now, still working out best controls arrangement for my keyboard, but overall the game feels insane in a fun way. Mostly I'm button-mashing with my mouse, but somehow, combos happen- I know they do when a giant fist or stiletto heel slams an angel, taking up half the screen for a second.