What are you playing? v.9 (Kefka Edition)

[ripsta619]

Open beta started for The First Descendant. Kind of reminds me of Warframe, Destiny 2, and Outriders. It's pretty but feels soulless.

 

[method115]

Open beta started for The First Descendant. Kind of reminds me of Warframe, Destiny 2, and Outriders. It's pretty but feels soulless.

A lot of those games have that issue where they feel "soulless" Even Destiny 2 felt like that to me when it first came out. Much different now of course.

 

[Valhoven]

Open beta started for The First Descendant. Kind of reminds me of Warframe, Destiny 2, and Outriders. It's pretty but feels soulless.

Can you throw some footage up or a YT clip for me so I can check it out? Never heard of.

 

[ripsta619]

Can you throw some footage up or a YT clip for me so I can check it out? Never heard of.

I barely heard of it a few days ago. This kind of goes over it a bit.

 

[rikwebb]

A lot of those games have that issue where they feel "soulless" Even Destiny 2 felt like that to me when it first came out. Much different now of course.

Funnily enough its how i feel about Destiny 2 now

 

[method115]

Funnily enough its how i feel about Destiny 2 now

I haven't played it in a while but last time I played the game was pretty great as far as all the stuff to do. I have a group of friends I play with though so I'm sure that helps make the game more fun.

 

[HereticBD]

Defense Grid 2

It's been a while for some tower defense, and this one doesn't disappoint. It's the genre perfected. That said, I get why it died out. There's only so much you can do with this genre, and once you've got it figured out, there isn't much strategy to be had. You build the snake paths, you kill everything, and then move on and repeat. Once you've got it down, it becomes purely mechanical. There's still something satisfying and addictive about watching those health bars get melted, though.

8/10

 

[Zer]

I finished Halo 3 and really enjoyed it. After being underwhelmed by Halo 1 & 2, this game flowed a lot better and had more entertaining sense of action set pieces. The series has built up a nice selection of weaponry and vehicles as well and combat is generally a lot more fun. Moving on to Halo 3: ODST

I played an hour or so of Starfield and it was fine but was really disappointed by the performance. My PC isn't shit hot, but it's pretty decent and I bought it fairly recently. I did have the game installed on my regular ass storage hard drive like the rest of my games, but I tried transferring it to an SSD and hopefully that improves things. It's like the game would routinely freeze for 3-4 seconds, and especially during combat encounters, and that's even after taking my graphics settings to low. I may upgrade to an RTX 4090 (On an RTX 3060 right now) because I'll be playing Cyberpunk once I finish the Halo collection which I guess would also benefit from a better GFX card

 

[The-AxeMurderer]

Been playing Sea of Stars for about 10 hours so far.

Surprisingly good, great music, good story, good characters so far.

Remind me a lot of Chrono Trigger, which is the highest compliment I can give of an RPG.

 

[HereticBD]

No Man's Sky

I wanted to play "Starfield", but the cloud is rather busy these days with a few AAA games hitting at the same time, and queue times are getting annoying, so I downloaded the latest updates for NMS, started it up, annnnd...it's completely broken on last gen. I've never had such a weird glitch, where everything was a black screen, until I moved the camera around. It's just completely fucked.

So, I uninstalled, and...played it on the cloud, LOL. One thing I just love about the cloud, is that you get the latest and greatest version of the game, no matter what you're playing on. And man, it looks and plays great. It was bit choppy on last gen, but they really smoothed everything out with their seemingly monthly updates. Now, it doesn't do much for the game itself, which is still as wide as an ocean, but is as deep as puddle(except for crafting and base building). It's still just a great relaxing game, that you can veg out with. Preferably with some mind altering drugs...

 

[mb23100]

Finished Armored Core 6 NG+ and now trying to finish Lies of P before Lords of the Fallen comes out. Gave up on Starfield for now.

 

[Jawth]

I beat The Order and am starting Dragon's Dogma.

I get now why the Order didnt review well. It is chock full of QTEs, the gameplay and combat is okay but not exceptional, and while the lore is great the actual plot does have holes and does not have a satisfying conclusion. Whole chapters of the game are also entirely cutscenes. There is stuff to like, like the mentioned lore and graphics, which are unbelievable for a PS4 title.

Dragon's Dogma so far (only maybe a half hour in) has been fun. I'm thinking this game might really get its hooks in me lol.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

@Unknown Pleasures

2 weeks later, finished ME2 yet?

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

@Unknown Pleasures

2 weeks later, finished ME2 yet?

Hiya, ya I did actually. Probably over a week ago lol, I really enjoyed it. I got onto ME3 but I decided after an hour or two to stop for now because it was feeling like overkill/ a chore so I decided I would play something else in between. Was going to be The Quarry, but I've been distracted catching up on audio books instead lol. I def got hooked on ME2 and dumped all my free time entertainment hours into it instead of balancing it out across other forms of entertainment.

All in all i'd rate it over 9 out of 10. maybe 9.3 ish. I think if I had to say what the missed opportunities were that I didn't mention before:

- better / more boss fights. boss fights in the game were underwhelming and forgettable
- more blood lol. Also, I felt the sniper rifles, which I tend to love to use in FPS games, underwhelming in this one
- ability to actually play more different characters. With such a big party, it was nice how late int he game the missions kind of split. But why not break the monotony by having missions where parties go off in different directions but you get to control one character from each party as you alternate between the parties. It feels to me that for the most part, it doesn't really matter who you pick as squad mates when you go on missions. The results are overwhelmingly the same. It was a missed opportunity for players to try out different characters with different skill sets which would be super cool.

I also understand there are romance options in ME2. I never got any to work, though I didn't really try. I imagine it's all pretty forgettable. It seems like The Witcher is the only game that managed to get romance options kind of right, I guess because their stories were very interesting and the characters sexy AF as compared to the ME universe. Assassin's Creed games the romance "system" (if you could call it that) is a horrible joke.

But yeah, outside of the story and controls/key bindings, everything about ME2 pretty much shits all over ME1. I do expect to do a quick re-run of the main missions at some point except being the renegade this time lol. I can kind of picture that being more humorous way to play to be honest.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

- better / more boss fights. boss fights in the game were underwhelming and forgettable

Agreed. Practically all of the bosses are bullet-sponges. Wish there was more variety with that.

- more blood lol. Also, I felt the sniper rifles, which I tend to love to use in FPS games, underwhelming in this one

I've always thought it was amazingly stupid the maximum number of shots for the bolt-action sniper rifles was 12 rounds.

Like WTF? Explain that shit.

- ability to actually play more different characters. With such a big party, it was nice how late int he game the missions kind of split. But why not break the monotony by having missions where parties go off in different directions but you get to control one character from each party as you alternate between the parties. It feels to me that for the most part, it doesn't really matter who you pick as squad mates when you go on missions. The results are overwhelmingly the same. It was a missed opportunity for players to try out different characters with different skill sets which would be super cool.

Wholeheartedly agree about having different teams.

But there's loads of variety with the characters, some of my favorite is Grunt who is the toughest member and can act as a tank.
Kasumi's cloak-n-hit is OP.
Tali's defensive & offensive drones are great.
All fully-upgraded biotic powers are OP.

When you figure out who to pick and which powers to upgrade and use, it makes the game much more manageable on the higher difficulties.

I also understand there are romance options in ME2. I never got any to work, though I didn't really try. I imagine it's all pretty forgettable. It seems like The Witcher is the only game that managed to get romance options kind of right, I guess because their stories were very interesting and the characters sexy AF as compared to the ME universe. Assassin's Creed games the romance "system" (if you could call it that) is a horrible joke.

ME's romance system is very simple.
Talk to who you want to romance (and its quickly becomes obvious who'll want to also be romancable with you) inbetween missions and pick the flirty options.
(Although Jack is a more complicated case)

You can see the entire romance dialog for every option throughout the trilogy on YouTube.

But yeah, outside of the story and controls/key bindings, everything about ME2 pretty much shits all over ME1. I do expect to do a quick re-run of the main missions at some point except being the renegade this time lol. I can kind of picture that being more humorous way to play to be honest.

Did you play the 'Liara Shadow Broker' DLC?

How'd you do on the suicide mission?
Who survived?
Who died?
Did you save the crew?
Did you give the collector base to Cerberus?

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

Agreed. Practically all of the bosses are bullet-sponges. Wish there was more variety with that.



I've always thought it was amazingly stupid the maximum number of shots for the bolt-action sniper rifles was 12 rounds.

Like WTF? Explain that shit.



Wholeheartedly agree about having different teams.

But there's loads of variety with the characters, some of my favorite is Grunt who is the toughest member and can act as a tank.
Kasumi's cloak-n-hit is OP.
Tali's defensive & offensive drones are great.
All fully-upgraded biotic powers are OP.

When you figure out who to pick and which powers to upgrade and use, it makes the game much more manageable on the higher difficulties.



ME's romance system is very simple.
Talk to who you want to romance (and its quickly becomes obvious who'll want to also be romancable with you) inbetween missions and pick the flirty options.
(Although Jack is a more complicated case)

You can see the entire romance dialog for every option throughout the trilogy on YouTube.



Did you play the 'Liara Shadow Broker' DLC?

How'd you do on the suicide mission?
Who survived?
Who died?
Did you save the crew?
Did you give the collector base to Cerberus?

Lair of the Shadow Broker you mean right? I'm pretty sure I did, the DLC though I don't think is broken out in the legendary edition - but I think that was the boss with the shield. I pretty much did all main and side missions. I might have missed a mission or two available on a random probe of a planet, but I also probed most planets.

I think I did fine on the suicide mission. Pretty sure the only casualty I had was Grunt, who I picked the second time you had to pick a leader for the team Guess that was a bad pick as he never made it back.
I destroyed the collector base as I was doing a paragon run.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

Lair of the Shadow Broker you mean right? I'm pretty sure I did, the DLC though I don't think is broken out in the legendary edition - but I think that was the boss with the shield.

Correct. He's the only non-bullet-sponge boss of the game besides the final human-reaper boss.

I pretty much did all main and side missions. I might have missed a mission or two available on a random probe of a planet, but I also probed most planets.

You have more patience than most.

I think I did fine on the suicide mission. Pretty sure the only casualty I had was Grunt, who I picked the second time you had to pick a leader for the team Guess that was a bad pick as he never made it back.
I destroyed the collector base as I was doing a paragon run.

Ah, you figured it out.
Gaining loyalty of crew members, choosing the right members for right positions, upgrading the Normandy, & how long you take to do the suicide mission AFTER acquiring the 'Reaper IFF' all determines who dies or survives the suicide mission.

I didn't figure it out in my first playthrough in 2010, and after half of my crew died in the suicide mission I considered the entire game to be unsatisfying.

It was months later I heard of some YouTube videos showing what happens when you SAVE EVERYONE & other videos that EVERYONE DIES (including Shepard).

It completely blew my mind that some players got their entire crew saved, while with others everybody dies, and half of everybody died with my first playthrough.

Up until then, whenever a game had multiple endings, it was generally reserved for a decision the player had to make, either (A) or (B). This was the first game that literally dozens of decisions the player makes from the beginning until mostly through the finale effect who, of 12+ characters, who lives & who dies.

That's the first time anything like this has ever been attempted in a game, and its the last. No other game has even bothered to put this much variety of unique mechanics.

I immediately fired up the game for a 2nd playthrough, and I've played through it at least 10 times over the years with different goals of who will survive & die in the finale.

BTW, if you picked Garrus or Zaeed for that 2nd leader squad choice and not Grunt you'd have a perfect 1st playthrough.

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

Correct. He's the only non-bullet-sponge boss of the game besides the final human-reaper boss.



You have more patience than most.



Ah, you figured it out.
Gaining loyalty of crew members, choosing the right members for right positions, upgrading the Normandy, & how long you take to do the suicide mission AFTER acquiring the 'Reaper IFF' all determines who dies or survives the suicide mission.

I didn't figure it out in my first playthrough in 2010, and after half of my crew died in the suicide mission I considered the entire game to be unsatisfying.

It was months later I heard of some YouTube videos showing what happens when you SAVE EVERYONE & other videos that EVERYONE DIES (including Shepard).

It completely blew my mind that some players got their entire crew saved, while with others everybody dies, and half of everybody died with my first playthrough.

Up until then, whenever a game had multiple endings, it was generally reserved for a decision the player had to make, either (A) or (B). This was the first game that literally dozens of decisions the player makes from the beginning until mostly through the finale effect who, of 12+ characters, who lives & who dies.

That's the first time anything like this has ever been attempted in a game, and its the last. No other game has even bothered to put this much variety of unique mechanics.

I immediately fired up the game for a 2nd playthrough, and I've played through it at least 10 times over the years with different goals of who will survive & die in the finale.

BTW, if you picked Garrus or Zaeed for that 2nd leader squad choice and not Grunt you'd have a perfect 1st playthrough.

Oh wow, I had no idea there was that much potential variety to the last missions and all those parameters. I pretty much got every upgrade I could, including those to the ship even though at the time I had no idea what they would do. I thought the game was gonna morph into a ship vs ships battle or something. I think I was maybe 1 weapon and 1 armor upgrade short of having every upgrade possible. I even wasted money on the scar removal thing in the medical lab even though I didn't even bother using it. I also had the loyalty of everyone in my clan, I did all those missions to gain them.

Anyhow, I appreciate that info, kind of pat myself on the back lol. When making the decisions I think in the first squad I listened to the requirements more. I didn't assume they could get killed off for making the wrong decision lol. i also felt in ME1 towards the end I made mistakes for choosing players wtih the advanced technical abilities for the late missions when I really should have picked Wrex for his fire power. So I think I was over compensating by making sure to pick Grunt at some point in the last mission.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

Hiya, ya I did actually. Probably over a week ago lol, I really enjoyed it. I got onto ME3 but I decided after an hour or two to stop for now because it was feeling like overkill/ a chore so I decided I would play something else in between. Was going to be The Quarry, but I've been distracted catching up on audio books instead lol. I def got hooked on ME2 and dumped all my free time entertainment hours into it instead of balancing it out across other forms of entertainment.

All in all i'd rate it over 9 out of 10. maybe 9.3 ish. I think if I had to say what the missed opportunities were that I didn't mention before:

- better / more boss fights. boss fights in the game were underwhelming and forgettable
- more blood lol. Also, I felt the sniper rifles, which I tend to love to use in FPS games, underwhelming in this one
- ability to actually play more different characters. With such a big party, it was nice how late int he game the missions kind of split. But why not break the monotony by having missions where parties go off in different directions but you get to control one character from each party as you alternate between the parties. It feels to me that for the most part, it doesn't really matter who you pick as squad mates when you go on missions. The results are overwhelmingly the same. It was a missed opportunity for players to try out different characters with different skill sets which would be super cool.

I also understand there are romance options in ME2. I never got any to work, though I didn't really try. I imagine it's all pretty forgettable. It seems like The Witcher is the only game that managed to get romance options kind of right, I guess because their stories were very interesting and the characters sexy AF as compared to the ME universe. Assassin's Creed games the romance "system" (if you could call it that) is a horrible joke.

But yeah, outside of the story and controls/key bindings, everything about ME2 pretty much shits all over ME1. I do expect to do a quick re-run of the main missions at some point except being the renegade this time lol. I can kind of picture that being more humorous way to play to be honest.

How dare you imply Miranda isn’t sexy af!

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

How dare you imply Miranda isn’t sexy af!

LOL, that is a great ass. TBF, the wife has a great ass, so I wake up to that most every day. On the other hand, Miranda is a butterface compared to Triss and Yennifer. Triss I think would have to be my video game BAE of all time lol.