[Gothos]

Hearts of Iron IV. It's brilliant. Has some shortcomings, sure, but overall I'm very happy with the title.

[Tapper]

Gothos, on 17 June 2016 - 07:45 PM, said:

Hearts of Iron IV. It's brilliant. Has some shortcomings, sure, but overall I'm very happy with the title.

It's brilliant indeed. Needing a bazillion fighters before building anything else is a bit stale, and fleet combat seems to be a bit of a one-and-done, but overall, indeed awesome. Can only get better when more countries get National Focuses.

[Aptorian]

Just had a play session with a friend where we played through the first case in Sherlock Holmes: The Devils Daughter.

Overall the story felt a little slow but the conclusion and the deductions based on the evidence was fantastic. My friend and I were completely at odds about who the killer was. In the end I managed to convince my friend that all the clues pointed towards subject A and then when we chose our verdict, it was revealed that subject B was the killer. While this should be frustrating, it was really cool, because in the end it was a case of the clues not telling the story we believed it did.

The game is still pretty rough, just like Crimes and punishments, but the whole look around and find clues design makes for a great game. Can't say I am in love with the character redesign. I prefered old and dry Holmes and Watson, not younger disheveled Holmes.

[Serenity]

Been playing a lot of Crusader Kings II and a lot of Hearts of Iron IV with a bit of Stellaris thrown in as well. All great. I need to spend some more time on Europa Universalis IV, too, as I've barely scratched the surface with that one.

[Aptorian]

Played a couple of the games I bought during the Steam Sale.

Party Hard is a flawed, sparse, 2D "murder people at a party" simulator. I found myself strangely happy playing this game despite the games problems. The games premise (initially anyway) is that you're a serial killer who is killing people at parties because you can't sleep. You walk around at the location (A house, a penthouse pool party, a rave, at the beach, etc.) and try to kill people with out being noticed. You can set traps like exploding sound speakers or push people into fires, etc. but mostly I just ran around stabbing people or throwing them off rooftops. The challenge is to not get beaten up by the party bouncers or get arrested if you are seen by the guests.

The games problem is that the environment is semi-auto generated and the way the game sets up the levels can make them neigh on impossible to beat with out seriously cheesing the AI and the environments janky obstacles. The characters abilities and options are way too limited for the game to be really fun. I ended up just not completing the last level because it was bullshit.

Still I would buy a sequel right now.

Played Kholat which is based on a real event in Russia where a bunch of hikers disappeared under mysterious circumstances. It's a walking simulator with slight puzzle/exploration elements. I actually really liked the games premise and the gameplay but I stopped when I realized that the game will insta kill you sometimes and the check points are garbage. Didn't really feel like spending hours on trial and error. Still very atmospheric and cool game.

Currently playing Volume which is made by Mike Bithel, the Thomas was Alone developer. It's kinda similar in terms of narrative-style but instead of a platformer it's a top down stealth puzzle game with a very artsy minimalistic environment. Really like it. The challenges/stealth feels intuitive and fun.

Also played some Elder Scrolls Online last weekend - I actually liked it so much that I forced myself to uninstall it. I played through the opening area as an Argonian Dragon Knight and came to a new settlement and stopped.

It feels EXACTLY like how I remember Skyrim, only slightly better looking and more MMO systems. It has all the stuff I loved about Skyrims level-up system and skill points and a similar kind of loot system. It also doesn't play or feel like your typical WOW-third person click a button and watch the animation game. You can play it in first person and run around and fight just like in TES-games.

Considering I only grazed the surface of that game I am glad I managed to extract myself before 500 hours just disappeared out of my life. I think I will reinstall it during the fall if I find a slow period.

This post has been edited by Apt: 03 July 2016 - 09:47 AM

[Primateus]

Today I finished Rise of the Tomb Raider and what a journey it was! Damn that was a great experience made even more so with finally having a proper GPU. Gameplay was a solid improvement on the first one (Which was by no means bad in itself). The story didn't have the same urgency about it as the first one, but then again, in the first one you're stranded on an island and surrounded by psychos who want to rape and murder you, oh and you've been living a pretty sheltered life up until then. But damn me if the story in Rise wasn't excellent regardless.

I simply love games that have these cinematic experiences, it feels more like I'm actually experiencing a story rather than just going through the gameplay motions.

Here's looking forward to the next installment!

But now, I'll install Thief and hopefully have my fun with that.

[rhulad]

Pretty much been Overwatch for me lately. I'm shit at it but I love the game. Also recently started a new playthrough of The Stick of Truth forgot how fun that game is even with the shitty mechanics.

[Aptorian]

Played about 40 minutes of Inside last night. That is a really good minimalist platform runner. The attention to detail in the environment and the way the NPCs react to your movement is great. The game retains that eerie creeping feeling of unease that Limbo also had. Although this time there is a War of the Worlds or Half-life 2 sort of suspense to it.

[Maark Abbott]

PS4 on Payday. Just got my Brook Converter in and got an order on Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator today.

[Traveller]

Just replayed The Journey.

Can't wait for Abzu, looks great for a chill out after work.

[Cause]

Do I want to play farcry primal?

Its on sale with farcry 4 for cheap. Cheaper to buy the bundle then Separately but I already played 4.

I love farcry and I thought primal was well relieved but I see that the reviews are actually a bit mixed. Advice?

[Aptorian]

I really liked Primal, so I would recommend it. However I think it comes with the caveat that your enjoyment might depend upon what you like about Farcry 3+4.

If you liked the rambling, run around and get into trouble kind of gameplay, then Primal will be great for you. If you liked the weird characters of 3 and 4 but aren't too concerned about an actual story, then you will be just fine. If you like gun and vehicle combat, it might be 50-50 for you. I think the combat was great, but it's not quite as satisfying as farcry 4. But on the other hand I never, ever grew tired of throwing spears into my enemies. God damn was that satisfying.

Oh man I feel like reinstalling right now just to chuck a spear through the face of some neanderthal asshole.

Also Mammoths are terrifying.

[Cause]

Far cry has never been about story. I like taking down camps and hunting every animal in sight. I did like the gunfights but I also like the stealthy take downs.

[Aptorian]

Then you will get everything that you desire in Primal, because that is almost all that game is.

[Malankazooie]

Is there hallucinogenic sex with plentiful nudity in Primal? Haven't played 4 but remember that was something in 3.

[Aptorian]

I can't actually remember how much nudity there is. I want to say there are topless women in the gamee though. Also random fucking going on here and there in villages.

I remember one memorable mission where you had to sneak in and kill a chieftain. This particular guy was in the process of fucking a woman from behind, on the top of a cliff ledge that you can see from the ground of the cave you enter. I think I set fire to them, because you know... why not.

EDIT: Reading this post a couple days later, I painted a terrible picture.

This post has been edited by Apt: 29 July 2016 - 08:00 AM

[Aptorian]

I finished Inside last night. Wow. That was one hell of an ending. By the time the game came to an abrupt stop I was just utterly floored with what they did.

I am curious if anyone else have played it because I need to discuss what happened with somebody. What the hell did any of what happened in that game mean!?

[Maark Abbott]

Still slogging through Doom purely because I paid money for it. The game seems to balance a little halfway through but the platforming is still terrible. At least the combat is more fun now.

[Khellendros]

A couple of friends and I tried out Rainbow Six: Siege while it had a free weekend last week. We enjoyed it so much we bought it (it was also half price at the time). So the three of us have been playing the different terrorist hunt modes all week, always on realistic mode.

After probably 10 hours of playing, we still haven't completed a single mission. It's been hilarious. Partly it's because the missions are designed for 5-man squads, and partly it's because we're just really bad. Siege has some significant issues, including a wholly dull single-player experience and an AI that borders on magic psychic on realistic mode, but when a game can keep you having fun even while you're absolute pants at it, it must have something going for it!

[Tiste Simeon]

Briar King, on 07 August 2016 - 02:02 AM, said:

Tiste are you gonna download Neverwinter? It's been a blast but I can see the point coming to where I ll have to P2W eventually just like in SWTOR.

Possibly though I'm not sure I have enough time to devote to it...