What are you playing? v.11 (Knee-Deep Edition)

[Gingerdead Man]

If you had to pick between Wukong and Khazan which game is overall better? @Valhoven @Dizzy @Zazen @method115 @mb23100

I prefer challenge first and foremost and replayability/build customization.

Let a brother know! They both look generally fantastic and I'm sure I'll play both at some point.

O, Khazan. No question, brother. Cool art style too. Wu is Souls reductive whereas Khazan feels more its own thing maybe. All relative to what you want, though – the scratch you need.

 

[Gingerdead Man]

Check out a title called Mandragora. Macabre journey. Beautiful.

@Natural Order

 

[mb23100]

If you had to pick between Wukong and Khazan which game is overall better? @Valhoven @Dizzy @Zazen @method115 @mb23100

I prefer challenge first and foremost and replayability/build customization.

Let a brother know! They both look generally fantastic and I'm sure I'll play both at some point.

They're neck and neck but I would say Khazan. It's just so unique and awesome. Both are challenging so you can't go wrong there, but Khazan has multiple weapon types where Wukong just has different stances which, while play completely different, isn't something I would say adds to replayability. Khazan also hooked me from the first boss while Wukong took awhile.

 

[mb23100]

Downloading Battlefield 6. Im in my 40's with the reflexes and eyesight of a sloth...




Also got to chapter 5 in Wukong.

Spoiler

The Duskveil is such a horseshit boss. You have to spend 10 minutes chipping away at his ankles to get to phase two only to get 1 shot over and over and then have to do it all over again. Thank god that's done. By FAR the hardest and most annoying boss yet.

 

[Zazen]

If you had to pick between Wukong and Khazan which game is overall better? @Valhoven @Dizzy @Zazen @method115 @mb23100

I prefer challenge first and foremost and replayability/build customization.

Let a brother know! They both look generally fantastic and I'm sure I'll play both at some point.

I played the trial of Wukong which is about two hours. It had performance issues on PlayStation but besides that I don’t really vibe with the mute protagonist and the combat lacked impact which has always been a pet peeve of mine in games. I loved Khazan though. Weighty weapons and fun combat, boss fights were better, beautiful art style, and always nice to hear Ben Starr as the protagonist. Got the platinum in it and I only do with games I really enjoy. I’d say Khazan is more like Nioh down to having a hub world where you choose a level.

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

Well, I've wrapped up playing a game that needs no introduction, Cyberpunk 2077 and the DLC Phantom Liberty.

I'm really torn on this one; I sunk a lot of hours in it and feel like I definitely got my money's worth, but there just seems to be a myriad of reasons that prevent me from calling it a great game. It feels to me Phantom Liberty portion is superior in terms of mission design, having decent bosses, and pace.

The good stuff:
+ Phenomenal graphics
+ Night City setting is great, so much attention to detail and care (although not very interactive)
+ Good variety of play styles in terms of melee, net running, stealth, shooting etc
+ Good weapon variety
+ Net running really adds a LOT of uniqueness to the FPS open world genre
+ Good upgrading system
+ Fist fighting missions are fun

The bad stuff:
- Most side stuff like the countless NCPD mini missions feel soulless; would prefer to cut the amount available in half and focus on meaningful side missions
- The countless little reading bits from picking up data disks is annoying. I feel like Horizon Zero Dawn started this and it needs to die
- Hacking mini game becomes boring and rewards get stale
- Quite easy for your character to become really overpowered and beat everything without any strategy
- Uninteresting characters, as character building doesn't work very well, cast is too big versus the depth of caring about anyone
- Up until the very end it feels like most "choices" you make don't impact much of anything
- Driving control is mediocre at best
- Johnny Silverhand gets pretty annoying and overbearing
- Romance options feel half baked, as does buying homes

I feel like Phantom Liberty is very good, maybe a 8.5 / 10, whereas the base game is maybe a 6.5 / 10. (with 5/10 being deemed average). Largely because of its amazing technical aspects. To be honest, towards the very end I started to get bored and mentally checked out of the game, though exploring its many ending was kinda interesting.

 

[Natural Order]

Check out a title called Mandragora. Macabre journey. Beautiful.

@Natural Order

Never heard of this one! 2D done right it appears. Tried some Salt & Sanctuary back in the day but couldn't quite get into it.

Reviews sound fantastic for Mandragora. I'm thinking this and Khazan will be my next two plays.

Thanks for that recommendation

 

[Wrath of Foamy]

Well, I've wrapped up playing a game that needs no introduction, Cyberpunk 2077 and the DLC Phantom Liberty.

I'm really torn on this one; I sunk a lot of hours in it and feel like I definitely got my money's worth, but there just seems to be a myriad of reasons that prevent me from calling it a great game. It feels to me Phantom Liberty portion is superior in terms of mission design, having decent bosses, and pace.

The good stuff:
+ Phenomenal graphics
+ Night City setting is great, so much attention to detail and care (although not very interactive)
+ Good variety of play styles in terms of melee, net running, stealth, shooting etc
+ Good weapon variety
+ Net running really adds a LOT of uniqueness to the FPS open world genre
+ Good upgrading system
+ Fist fighting missions are fun

The bad stuff:
- Most side stuff like the countless NCPD mini missions feel soulless; would prefer to cut the amount available in half and focus on meaningful side missions
- The countless little reading bits from picking up data disks is annoying. I feel like Horizon Zero Dawn started this and it needs to die
- Hacking mini game becomes boring and rewards get stale
- Quite easy for your character to become really overpowered and beat everything without any strategy
- Uninteresting characters, as character building doesn't work very well, cast is too big versus the depth of caring about anyone
- Up until the very end it feels like most "choices" you make don't impact much of anything
- Driving control is mediocre at best
- Johnny Silverhand gets pretty annoying and overbearing
- Romance options feel half baked, as does buying homes

I feel like Phantom Liberty is very good, maybe a 8.5 / 10, whereas the base game is maybe a 6.5 / 10. (with 5/10 being deemed average). Largely because of its amazing technical aspects. To be honest, towards the very end I started to get bored and mentally checked out of the game, though exploring its many ending was kinda interesting.

Yeah, I get you.

I thought that it was a flawed masterpiece. It has some startling upsides but also some rocky bits.

The reading bits are a bit shit. You have so many things to do in the game that I personally found them quite hard to retain in my memory.

Buying properties is useless, especially because you can't transfer your egg or your cat out of your original flat.

I would have liked to have done more with Panam. Outdoor activities, more dialogue options and the like. With all characters actually, you have a lot of contacts on the phone and not much to say or do.

Only thing I disagree with is being overpowered. Especially with who you become at the end, feeling like a god is a nice little endgame reward for me.

I also found stealth to be too punishing with too little reward.

 

[JaviBrewski]

Well, I've wrapped up playing a game that needs no introduction, Cyberpunk 2077 and the DLC Phantom Liberty.

I'm really torn on this one; I sunk a lot of hours in it and feel like I definitely got my money's worth, but there just seems to be a myriad of reasons that prevent me from calling it a great game. It feels to me Phantom Liberty portion is superior in terms of mission design, having decent bosses, and pace.

The good stuff:
+ Phenomenal graphics
+ Night City setting is great, so much attention to detail and care (although not very interactive)
+ Good variety of play styles in terms of melee, net running, stealth, shooting etc
+ Good weapon variety
+ Net running really adds a LOT of uniqueness to the FPS open world genre
+ Good upgrading system
+ Fist fighting missions are fun

The bad stuff:
- Most side stuff like the countless NCPD mini missions feel soulless; would prefer to cut the amount available in half and focus on meaningful side missions
- The countless little reading bits from picking up data disks is annoying. I feel like Horizon Zero Dawn started this and it needs to die
- Hacking mini game becomes boring and rewards get stale
- Quite easy for your character to become really overpowered and beat everything without any strategy
- Uninteresting characters, as character building doesn't work very well, cast is too big versus the depth of caring about anyone
- Up until the very end it feels like most "choices" you make don't impact much of anything
- Driving control is mediocre at best
- Johnny Silverhand gets pretty annoying and overbearing
- Romance options feel half baked, as does buying homes

I feel like Phantom Liberty is very good, maybe a 8.5 / 10, whereas the base game is maybe a 6.5 / 10. (with 5/10 being deemed average). Largely because of its amazing technical aspects. To be honest, towards the very end I started to get bored and mentally checked out of the game, though exploring its many ending was kinda interesting.

driving cars in this game is before the 2.0 update is why I chose to drive a motorcycle everywhere. handles 100x better than the car.

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

Yeah, I get you.

I thought that it was a flawed masterpiece. It has some startling upsides but also some rocky bits.

The reading bits are a bit shit. You have so many things to do in the game that I personally found them quite hard to retain in my memory.

Buying properties is useless, especially because you can't transfer your egg or your cat out of your original flat.

I would have liked to have done more with Panam. Outdoor activities, more dialogue options and the like. With all characters actually, you have a lot of contacts on the phone and not much to say or do.

Only thing I disagree with is being overpowered. Especially with who you become at the end, feeling like a god is a nice little endgame reward for me.

I also found stealth to be too punishing with too little reward.

Stealth I got into more as I progressed. Getting a silenced pistol that could one-shot all non-boss enemies with head shots made a big difference, along with getting a high damage throwable melee weapon. Earlier, I felt it was like a big gamble if my headshots would be able to one shot enemies which took away from doing the stealth.

And being overpowered, you are right -- it was mostly my doing. I kinda cleared out all the side missions / NCPD scanner missions earlier in the game so I became a God way way before endgame. So I had a lot of moments where i was like "Welllllll, doing stealth is what I should be doing, but I can just save time by going berserk". And that was without using a sandevistan.

 

[Wrath of Foamy]

driving cars in this game is before the 2.0 update is why I chose to drive a motorcycle everywhere. handles 100x better than the car.

Jackies Arch for the win.

Stealth I got into more as I progressed. Getting a silenced pistol that could one-shot all non-boss enemies with head shots made a big difference, along with getting a high damage throwable melee weapon. Earlier, I felt it was like a big gamble if my headshots would be able to one shot enemies which took away from doing the stealth.

And being overpowered, you are right -- it was mostly my doing. I kinda cleared out all the side missions / NCPD scanner missions earlier in the game so I became a God way way before endgame. So I had a lot of moments where i was like "Welllllll, doing stealth is what I should be doing, but I can just save time by going berserk". And that was without using a sandevistan.

I like stealth, but I didn't like only being to open certain doors with certain attributes. Seemed to defeat the purpose.

Stealth Netrunner used to be really good but they patched it. It was a shame because I like non-lethal builds.

My best run was Strength, Tech and Netrunning, with Cool to spare. Could open all doors and clear fights in half the time.

 

[Ashen One]

New Hades 2 Speedrun PB

 

[method115]

Beat Trails in the Sky remake last night. I already played the original but I forgot quite a few of the plot points at the end. I knew the overall ending and what happens but there were some smaller but very important stuff that I forgot about. Great ending that hit me in the feels immediately like I knew it would. This would be my GOTY if it wasn't for E33. Played and beat the whole thing on nightmare for my first run. It was tough for the first two chapters, after that it wasn't bad at all.

Was planning on playing a metroidvania (Ender or Silk) next and maybe I still will but all the praise GOT Is getting is making me rethink that. I'll have to wait until Friday either way so I have time to think about what I want to do next.

 

[Sycho Sid]

Playing New World of all things right now. Surprisingly relaxing. The solo stuff is pretty easy, and I find myself spending a ton of time just chopping trees.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Just sitting around waiting to see what happens first.... Cowboys winning the Super Bowl or GTA 6 to get an official release date...