[Serenity]

Briar King, on 31 March 2020 - 01:26 AM, said:

I know Serenity is probably gonna be all over this though.

Yep, pre-ordered the collector's edition It's one of the greatest JRPGs ever made, IMO. I should probably finish some other games before playing it again, though.

I'm amazed that you've been going on XC2 for 191 hours. I finished it in around 90, I think. I've yet to play Torna, I should probably do that before playing the XC1 remake. Persona 5 Royal is priority at the moment, though.

[Mentalist]

My current Patron

http://steamcommunit.../?id=2044467909

My Spirit Guide

http://steamcommunit.../?id=2044468142

This game (Ashes of Oahu) really had no business being this pretty. And pack a day/night cycle that looks.... jaw dropping for an indie production

And feature a faction system that's actually kinda like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.

And did I mention this is the game where you gain the abilities to become a shark and a bird?

[Maark Abbott]

Shantae: Half Genie Hero was free with GWG so I gave it a go.

I am really rusty when it comes to platformers apparently, and I had largely forgotten pattern bosses. But it's decent fun so far.

[Mentalist]

Due to some helpful advice, I have been able to resume demon slaying. A bit annoyed that I can't get the achievement for wasting that boss to trigger, though.

But now the R3make download is finished (left it on overnight), so once I'm done work today, I'll be checking that out.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 03 April 2020 - 11:59 AM

[Aptorian]

I'm playing The Division 2, Animal Crossing and a bit of Good Job.

Now that I really got into The Division again, I'm having a ton of fun. The level of environment detail Ubisoft puts into this series is amazing. I love exploring Washington. It is a bit dire playing a game about a weaponized flu virus though. Hopefully things won't get quiiite so crazy a year from now.

I'm nearing the end of my interest in Animal Crossing. There's not enough game in there to keep me coming back every day. I've been watching videos about ACs history and it's weird to see that this is basically the same game with the same characters they've been making for two decades.

Also the game has fucked me on the Stalk market and soured me on the economy.

[Mentalist]

Man.... dem parasite bioweapons just don't know when to quit.

played the game in a single sitting. about 7 hour long run, took me about 9.5, on Standard difficulty (not sure why i picked that, it was kinda a brain fart)

Ah well, now I know what to expect. And I can buy an infinite ammo pistol with the points I earned from completing a bunch of in-game challenges. That'll come in handy for the Hardcore run.

[Mentalist]

Killing demons is so much easier after facing down the Nemesis. I killed the 3rd boss (Sabaoth, formerly know as Marine Sergeant Kelly) in 2 tries.

Unfortunately, despite doing several more runs through that Hell level, still can't get the achievement for murder-death-killing the Guardian. Ah well.

In the old Martian Dig Site now, not much further to go.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 06 April 2020 - 05:35 AM

[Serenity]

Finished the first dungeon in Persona 5 Royal. I like the changes they've made to the game and now it looks and sounds even better than before.

[Khellendros]

Shenmue 3.

Yes, I contributed to the Kickstarter years ago and am pleased to finally be able to play this game. I was obsessed with Shenmue 1 and 2 back in the day.

I've only played a couple of hours so far, but its first impressions are not great - the voice acting is AWFUL (as it was in the first game, but back then it was more acceptable in a way it isn't as easy to gloss over now), but on top of that the animations, particularly mouth animations, are very artifical, like a ventriloquist's dummy might move. The routines of the people in the first village you come across seem very simple (this was a USP of the first game, the NPCs all having their own complex routines and schedules outside of what you do), basically go to one place, stay there all day doing the same thing, go home in the evening.

But: I'm starting to have these long conversations with another character, just learning more about them, about the region, about various other people in the village, and through that, some of the depth of the previous games is starting to come out. I hope that continues. Alongside that, the slow, languid pace of the Shenmue series is clearly present, and I absolutely love that (a real break from Destiny 2!).

[Mentalist]

All right, that's one Demon Portal from Mars to Hell closed shut.

Now gonna check out what this Master Chief fellow that people keep mentioning is all about.

[Aptorian]

Just finished the main campaign of The Division 2. I reckoned I'd finish the game and then maybe do some of the expansion before Final Fantasy comes out Friday.

I was not expecting a whole new game to unlock after the campaign ended. There's a new more powerful faction, new skill trees, abilities, bounties and daily quests. And apparently theres more tiers after this.

This is going to take me months.

[Mentalist]

Played the prologue/demo of "Dreamscaper" . I(ks quite good.

A roguelite with a Souls-y combat (light/heavy/dodge/block/parry), whose main purpose is to collect resources you use to craft gifts in the real world. You use these "gifts" to further your relationships with people IRL. The better your relationship is, the more unlocks are available in the "dream" (aka, combat) portion of the game.

The protagonist Cassidy is so endearingly socially awkward and well-written that I don't mind the fact that it's a RPG-lite (and I'm making tangible progress, so that's obviously encouraging). I beat the first boos once; at which point on my next run all enemies became extra strong and wiped the floor with me in the first area.

I will certainly plug away at it, because it's pretty chill and the combat's got a decent rhyt to it.

ALSO, the demo for Hellpoint got an update that brought with it the ability to rebind controls, prompting me to jump back in.
Hellpoint is... special. Think Dark Souls meets Dead Space.

I've only played just over an hour, and, naturally, I died a bunch. But the game is very generous with currency (called Axions), so after every decent-sized encounter I I run back to the Rift (local bonfire) to get another stat boost.

There's also a pretty serious crafting system, that I only just discovered, having stumbled onto a bunch of crafting/repair stations. Oh, and what's cool here is that if you inflict sufficient melee damage, your Estus flask will refill, ala Darksiders III. I'm rocking a light fighter class with a poignard and a light rail gun, and it's a pretty see bit of kit, all in all.

Just like with Dreamscaper, Hellpoint is another upcoming release I'll be grabbing soon.

I encourage everyone to check these out, since both games offer a significant chunk of content as demos.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 09 April 2020 - 05:28 AM

[Aptorian]

I've been playing Devil May Cry 5 the past couple of days. I'm going to push through it but I think I actually hate this game.

Everything about 5 is unnecessarilly complicated. Three separate characters with different play styles and abilities. Each one has different ability builds and everything seems overly complicated to string together. Every time I use Nero's robot arm I end up breaking it so most if the time I'm playing handicapped. And Dante is constantly switching between four stances and half a dozen weapons. Most of which I don't want to use.

And the story makes no God damn sense. Who are these people? Am I supposed to remember their backstory? What is their motivation? Why does everyone talk in riddles?

And the actual level design? It's just corridors in different shades of purple and black or broken city scapes. There's no feeling of cohesion or importance. Nor are the boss fights particularly interesting.

I miss DmC.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 09 April 2020 - 07:43 AM

[Aptorian]

Finished Devil May Cry 5. The story comes together at the end but it's the thinnest premise of an idea. Would not recommend unless you're already a big fan of the franchise.

Started up Borderlands 3. I got half way through this last year but dropped it for a younger, sexier model called Destiny 2. After trying out Destiny, Borderlands just didn't have the same appeal.

Unfortunately I just played through DOOM Eternal and again, playing Borderlands 3, all I'm seeing is all the ways 3 falls short if it's modern competition. 3 is slower, uglier and clunkier.

I think I will try to get through it and use it as a podcast game but it's such a let down that Gearbox weren't more ambitious with this title after eight years.

[Malankazooie]

It's a Borderlands game, if you like BL1 and BL2, BL3 should put a smile on your face. If they would have leaned hard in chasing the more modern shooters aesthetics, there would have been complaints about that. So in a sense, they were damned if they do, damned if they don't. They went with the formula of knowing they had a devoted player community and delivered what they knew would make them happy.

That said, the main story of BL3 gets exhausting at times. I recommend playing Moxxie's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot if you want something really cool story wise, and, after the BL3 main story, something refreshingly shorter.

[Aptorian]

I don't think fan pleasing is an excuse for bad inventory management, cumbersome loot system, confusing UI, etc. These are basic game design elements that should be updated as other competitors solve these problems.

I just played The Division 2 this week which is also very loot driven and it's so much more user friendly. I can immediately examine, compare, equip, junk or dismantle any item I pick up.

[Malankazooie]

Agree, and those are all in the loot mgt. system of the game. They absolutely should have put their creative folks on that to make it better. I haven't played Division games, but I would say, for my preference, I prefer BLs ability to examine the loot on the ground and decide whether to pick it up. Contrasting that to Destiny, where it automatically goes into your inventory, so you have to take the time to open the menu, look at the item and decide whether you want to equip it or not (or dismantle). In BL3, you can come upon that legendary you have been farming and equip it right off the ground. But you are right, on the whole, they should have improved the inventory system and I think the player base has made that known... hopefully Gearbox is listening.

[Mentalist]

Killed the boss in the Hellpoint demo. I am definitely liking this. Full game is out on the 16th, I'm totally grabbing it.

Went back to Warlander, the roguelite-with-lightsaber-combat-and-much-chopping-off-of-limbs. Killed 2 bosses, so now I got 2 of the base skills (Spike projectile + grabby vine) permanently unlocked. The 1st upgrade to the vine lets you insta-kill whomever you grabbed, so that makes crowd control easier. People really should check this out, it's 15 USD, and the combat is a lot of fun.

Got 4 days off now, so I'm gonna try to make a dent in some of these smaller indie titles and demos.

[Mentalist]

Played 2 more hours of Warlander. Beat 2 more bosses, so 4/5 basic skills permanently unlocked now.

That was an amazing run... and then I dashed off a catwalk suspended in space. Permadeath sucks.

To cool off, I launched Halo, the original CEA campaign on Legendary and.... fuck grenades, lol.

That first map on the ring itself is pretty expansive, though, I'll give it that. The achievements for campaign missions are still bugged, so spoiling the names of the upcoming missions.
I can see how Reach was a bit of a re-tread of the original Halo though. We had a sniping mission, and the section in lower-gravity in the Covenant ship.

Master Chief is a lot better at jumping and all-around killing Hunters than Noble 6 was. Not exactly a whole lot of explanation from Reach to CEA. Like, Cortana

Spoiler

Was supposedly this ancient AI we dug up on Reach. but by the time we reach the Halo Ring she's totally on board with humanity and seems an integral part of the fleet. Also, that first mission makes it sound liek all ships have AIs like that.

Anyway, Got 3 more days off, so will probably push on and see where the story takes me.

[Silencer]

Mentalist, on 11 April 2020 - 04:46 PM, said:

Played 2 more hours of Warlander. Beat 2 more bosses, so 4/5 basic skills permanently unlocked now.

That was an amazing run... and then I dashed off a catwalk suspended in space. Permadeath sucks.

To cool off, I launched Halo, the original CEA campaign on Legendary and.... fuck grenades, lol.

That first map on the ring itself is pretty expansive, though, I'll give it that. The achievements for campaign missions are still bugged, so spoiling the names of the upcoming missions.
I can see how Reach was a bit of a re-tread of the original Halo though. We had a sniping mission, and the section in lower-gravity in the Covenant ship.

Master Chief is a lot better at jumping and all-around killing Hunters than Noble 6 was. Not exactly a whole lot of explanation from Reach to CEA. Like, Cortana

Spoiler

Was supposedly this ancient AI we dug up on Reach. but by the time we reach the Halo Ring she's totally on board with humanity and seems an integral part of the fleet. Also, that first mission makes it sound liek all ships have AIs like that.

Anyway, Got 3 more days off, so will probably push on and see where the story takes me.

Cortana was not at all dug up.

Reach Spoilers:

Spoiler

The Cortana you retrieve out of the hole under Sword Base is a fragment of her AI, split off to assist Halsey with decryption of Forerunner information. Noble Team then escorts said fragment back to the Pillar of Autumn (where the primary Cortana resides as a ship-board AI) to pass it back to the main unit, with the new info. Cortana herself is an AI created based off scans of Halsey's brain (technically illegal) by Halsey. She is otherwise a stock-standard ship-board AI, and was therefore always on humanity's side.

Not all of that is directly said in-game, but I'm not sure if the overall misconception is due to the writing or not having played the original games first, Reach being a prequel and all...

Noble 6 is a Spartan-III, while Chief is a Spartan-II. The IIs were far superior, but extremely expensive and time consuming to make. The IIIs were a separate program run by ONI (Naval Intelligence) without the knowledge of Dr Halsey (lead on the II project) to make weaker Spartans en masse, mostly for suicide missions. Hell, Noble Team was extremely rare for the IIIs in that they even had energy shields - most didn't. But this is why Chief is a LOT more powerful, in all respects, than 6 and the rest of the team. Jorge is a II, and you can see in-game just how much bigger he is than the rest of the team for a very basic comparison of how much more enhancement the IIs underwent.

(Despite this, Noble 6 is the only other known soldier in the UNSC to have the "hyper-lethal vector" effectiveness rating - as in, you point him in a direction and things die - same as the Chief. For different reasons, mind you.)