[Aptorian]

Played a whole lot of Doom: Eternal.

It's an excellent action experience. If you liked DOOM 2016 you'll love this.

There is this niggling part of me that objects to the path they've gone down though. This is not the tense horror puzzle experience of the 90s. They've injected a bunch of metal Doom lore that bloats the purpose of the original concept which was to fight your way out of a demonic invasion.

The whole thing also seems a bit too PG13 despite being full of dismemberments and blood. It sort of reminds me of the Diablo 3 controversy, where players complained that the game was too bright and full of rainbows. Eternal suffers from the same thing. Even the demons are too cartoony. The Arachnotron demons are downright cute. You almost feel sorry for them as you jam their torn off limbs through their eye socket.

I like that they've made it more video gamey though, with big floating collectibles and maps that are built like a fun park.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 21 March 2020 - 01:59 PM

[Primateus]

I'm playing Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, picked it up on sale.

I'm liking it a lot. It's got a decent science fiction story, good gameplay and nice graphics. Also, not so much "present day" stuff, because that really pissed me off in Black Flag.

My neighbors are probably wondering, though, why I keep yelling "RAMMING SPEED!!!" and "THIS IS SPARTA!!!"

[Traveller]

Animal Crossing.

Me and my wife used to play this on game cube all the time. We've now got an island to play on, and the kids have houses on it too.

It's a great mix of old and new - the whole feel and look is just like the game cube version, but tweaked to work smoothly and everything looks great but keeps the exact original style.

Lots of nostalgia there, but genuinely instead of waking up and looking at the news this morning I went walking on the beach collecting and fishing at 6am, and felt a lot better for it. I'll be so happy if the coffee bar from the DS version appears at some point!

This post has been edited by Traveller: 21 March 2020 - 07:47 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

Primateus, on 21 March 2020 - 07:19 PM, said:

I'm playing Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, picked it up on sale.

I'm liking it a lot. It's got a decent science fiction story, good gameplay and nice graphics. Also, not so much "present day" stuff, because that really pissed me off in Black Flag.

My neighbors are probably wondering, though, why I keep yelling "RAMMING SPEED!!!" and "THIS IS SPARTA!!!"

Haha yup to the last part.

And I agree with you, I stopped caring about the modern day stuff in about game 2. Way too much of it in certain installments...

[Aptorian]

Primateus, on 21 March 2020 - 07:19 PM, said:

My neighbors are probably wondering, though, why I keep yelling "RAMMING SPEED!!!" and "THIS IS SPARTA!!!"

The Sparta Kick is definitely a fun ability that needs to be used every time you and an enemy is near a ledge.

Traveller, on 21 March 2020 - 07:46 PM, said:

Animal Crossing.

Me and my wife used to play this on game cube all the time. We've now got an island to play on, and the kids have houses on it too.

It's a great mix of old and new - the whole feel and look is just like the game cube version, but tweaked to work smoothly and everything looks great but keeps the exact original style.

Lots of nostalgia there, but genuinely instead of waking up and looking at the news this morning I went walking on the beach collecting and fishing at 6am, and felt a lot better for it. I'll be so happy if the coffee bar from the DS version appears at some point!

I've been looking at this game and considering purchasing it. I've heard lots of stuff about Animal Crossing but never owned a Nintendo console since the SNES. I'm just not sure about the gameplay.

It looks like you're mainly running around collecting stuff to sell so you can buy cosmetics and furniture. Is playing doll house and making friends with animals all there is to this game? Would I like it if I'm into games like Stardew Valley and My time at Portia?

[Serenity]

Beaver Killia, on 21 March 2020 - 03:07 AM, said:

Serenity, on 20 March 2020 - 05:03 PM, said:

I've picked up Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC again. Taken me a while to get a handle on where I was but things are moving now. Love these games but they're SO time consuming.

Also making good progress with Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright on 3DS. I much prefer the 3DS/Game Cube/GBA Fire Emblem games to Three Houses on the Switch.

So looking foward to jumping into Legends after Xenoblade 2.

Cold Steel is calling me.

Be interesting to see if you like it. I'm hoping, now I'm essentially housebound, that I can start getting through the games up to date. When I'm not 'working from home', of course.

Primateus, on 21 March 2020 - 07:19 PM, said:

I'm playing Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, picked it up on sale.

I'm liking it a lot. It's got a decent science fiction story, good gameplay and nice graphics. Also, not so much "present day" stuff, because that really pissed me off in Black Flag.

My neighbors are probably wondering, though, why I keep yelling "RAMMING SPEED!!!" and "THIS IS SPARTA!!!"

LOL, yep, yep, totally get that last part

[Traveller]

Stardew Valley and My Time in Portia are far more structured story wise, with goals that sort of have an actual narrative.

Animal Crossing was the first of these for me though - it was a weird and different concept back when I first heard about it, but once we got into it it became a kind of parallel little world, as the seasons and times are all realtime. A ton of games since have built on the idea though, so the original might seem a bit lacking in comparison.

It is basically exactly how you summed it up though. I dont know how I'd feel about it if this was the first version I'd played - as I said, it has a lot of nostalgia, but it's all good nostalgia. You collect stuff, buy stuff, get a bigger house. There aren't dungeons to explore, or farming as such, or written scripts for characters that give the newer games more depth.

It's just always been the 'original' of whatever genre these games fall into, and it's good to have an updated version we can all play.

It's not really a game that has any sort of end or target in sight; we just used to check in, do fishing tournaments, fill the museum up, all that kind of quietly therapeutic escapism that helps if you have a shit job. We played the first one throughout the year, probably by for well over a year.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 21 March 2020 - 09:21 PM

[Mentalist]

"Raji: and Ancient Epic" is like a legit isometric Prince of Persia (complete with wall running, bouncing off walls to hit enemies and spinning on poles to damage everyone around) set in a world of Indian Mythology. I seriously dig that demo, that game's gonna be a Day 1 buy.


"Recompile" is like TRON, but also a puzzle game, where you quickly get unlimited jump and dash, making you feel like a super-hero. The demo was also really short, but I'm totally into that art style and presentation.

"Hazel Sky" is a 3rd person Adventure game with wonky controls, and what sounds like a pretty interesting story. You play the son of a man who is the Head Engineer ruling a city in the sky. There's s supposed to be a revolution there, but you are sent on an island to undergo a trial to become a full Engineer by fixing stuff and making yourself a way to get back to the floating city. It's set in early 20th century, but the overtones are kinda steampunkish/New Weird.

"Superliminal" might be too smart for me; but I wasn't a fan of how you can only rotate objects around a single axis- for a game about perception of objects and how they change @ different angles, that's a pretty odd choice, and it made gameplay tedious rather than fun

"We are the Caretakers" is an interesting mashup of ideas, but I'm gonna need to read some impressions when that game cones out, because what I've seen of the alpha gameplay demo is... confusing.

EDIT: Installing Doom 3. I'm going to trace the history of Id tech games now (Doom 3, Prey 2006, DOOM 2016). Then I'll contemplate buying Eternal.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 22 March 2020 - 05:14 PM

[Morgoth]

Hollow Knight on the Switch is really fun! Love the music and the art. Haven't gotten far enough to make any judgements as to the story, or the skill progression. I just got a dash.

[Aptorian]

Just finished the 6th Slayer Gate in DOOM. The Unmaker is mine!

[Maark Abbott]

One of my mates whose opinion on games is usually there has been playing new Doom, and he described 16 as a shit beta of the new one which he is enjoying (he also liked 16). I remain unconvinced though given how dreary I found 16. Maybe if Eternal ends up on Game Pass.

I am hoping that nothing delays the Trials of Mana release (April 24th) - the demo was so much fun and such a great homage to the original that I would be kind of crushed if it gets delayed. If you haven't played the SNES era game you really should. It was Square's last great JRPG.

[Aptorian]

I don't think you'd like Eternal, Maark. It's more of the same, just harder.

[Maark Abbott]

Aptorian, on 25 March 2020 - 09:54 AM, said:

I don't think you'd like Eternal, Maark. It's more of the same, just harder.

Meh, one to pass on then. I haven't really been surprised or sucked in by an FPS since Bulletstorm, mind.

[Mentalist]

Aptorian, on 24 March 2020 - 04:32 PM, said:

Just finished the 6th Slayer Gate in DOOM. The Unmaker is mine!

I'm making my Merry way through the Alpha Labs in Doom 3.

It tries to be much more of a horror game, with constant jump scares and scarce health.

And System Shock-style audio logs EVERYWHERE

[Maark Abbott]

Mentalist, on 25 March 2020 - 12:47 PM, said:

Aptorian, on 24 March 2020 - 04:32 PM, said:

Just finished the 6th Slayer Gate in DOOM. The Unmaker is mine!

I'm making my Merry way through the Alpha Labs in Doom 3.

It tries to be much more of a horror game, with constant jump scares and scarce health.

And System Shock-style audio logs EVERYWHERE

I am that one guy who legit enjoyed Doom 3

[Aptorian]

I thought Doom 3 was a fantastic game. Just not a good Doom game.

[Mentalist]

Maark Abbott, on 25 March 2020 - 01:56 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 25 March 2020 - 12:47 PM, said:

Aptorian, on 24 March 2020 - 04:32 PM, said:

Just finished the 6th Slayer Gate in DOOM. The Unmaker is mine!

I'm making my Merry way through the Alpha Labs in Doom 3.

It tries to be much more of a horror game, with constant jump scares and scarce health.

And System Shock-style audio logs EVERYWHERE

I am that one guy who legit enjoyed Doom 3

Aptorian, on 25 March 2020 - 02:35 PM, said:

I thought Doom 3 was a fantastic game. Just not a good Doom game.

It's not bad, but it totally feels like System Shock with hellspawn. After every encounter I hit the both quicksave and reload. It's still a good, punchy shooter, and it gets frantic at points, because moving, shooting and jumping is as good as any id game. But everything about the game design seems to constrain you doing that wild abandon run and gun thing you're used to in Doom. It's weird.

Maark Abbott, on 25 March 2020 - 09:59 AM, said:

Aptorian, on 25 March 2020 - 09:54 AM, said:

I don't think you'd like Eternal, Maark. It's more of the same, just harder.

Meh, one to pass on then. I haven't really been surprised or sucked in by an FPS since Bulletstorm, mind.

Have you tried the new Shadow Warrior games?

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 25 March 2020 - 03:05 PM

[Aptorian]

I decided to get Animal Crossing. I found out there's all kinds of achievements and rewards for crafting, collecting and interacting with the characters, which is like Crack for me.

Established my self on the island, pitched a tent, collected a bunch of stuff and then I ran out of stuff to do. I assume this means I can't progress untill tomorrow (In real world time) where again I assume new wood ressources have spawned? So basically you can play an hour or two a day. Interesting game design.

I'm already excited to start crafting tomorrow.

[Traveller]

I just put up tents for new residents. Except before they move in, I had to make some interior and exterior furniture for them.

Oh also made a bridge.

Yes, the resources respawn, but plants and trees take a few days to grow if you cut them down and replant.

There's a money rock each day. It's a different rock every day, but if you hit one either an axe or shovel and money comes out, hit it five or six times for a good haul. Dig a hole behind you first to stop the recoil.

Was wandering round at night and found a ghost. He gives you rare items if you help him.

Just fishing tonight, want to get a sturgeon before the end of March.

I'm already back in the habit I used to have with the DS version - waking up a bit early to check my improvements and mail, and pick up resources before I get up.

Just wait until you start collecting bugs, fossils and fish for the museum collection.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 25 March 2020 - 11:24 PM

[Aptorian]

I actually figured out I could shake trees 2-3 times to get wood (and wasps!) to drop down. Which made me able to craft new tools and do a bit more fishing and collecting.

I was confused by the axe though. I hit a rock once and it destroyed it so I didn't want to collect more rocks. I assume it was because I'd eaten fruit and not because the axe somehow is able to destroy rocks.