General Gaming Megathread: What are you playing?

Oh good God I thought you lost your mind. Good to hear! The school kid one had the judges but it was too...juvenile.
 
It is but compared to the original it felt like Nintendo being Nintendo. Mechanically it was great.
 
Next you will tell us you booted up MDK and Messiah.
I have them both, but was never able to effectively play either; especially Messiah. I don't know why. I loved Sacrifice though, I still do, and have played it recently.

I just played a bit of Ion Fury a while ago.

Funny... I notice that I have Halflife 2 installed, but have never played it. I have had Witcher 3 since day one... haven't played it past the tutorial; haven't played Witcher 2 past winning the Kraken fight.

I won the Witcher 3 in a contest.
 
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It is but compared to the original it felt like Nintendo being Nintendo. Mechanically it was great.
The tone is definitely different than the original game but i never found it juvenile or at least too juvenile. Plus i don't think every sequel needs to have the same exact tone.

Tactics A2 (the game i'm replaying at the moment) does have considerably less of "early teens social problems" since it's about the main character trying to find their way home and unraveling the mysteries of the world he was dropped in. Still has plenty of depressing moments and quests though. And mechanically it's even better by just having more jobs, items and stuff to play with.
 
The Tactics Ogre remake for the PSP is getting a remaster for Switch, Playstation and PC. Definitely getting that on release.

That reminds me that i need to buy the Live a Live remake for the Switch that came out recently.
 
That is the one I am talking about. The sprites I do not like but it is worth it.

Yeah Live A Live makes me wish I had a Switch.
 
Rather busy couple of weeks for me regarding gaming, I think more than I have been doing in the previous couple of months as I just could not feel the drive to play games.

There was Blaster Master Zero 1 which I played I think last month which was a pretty fun little Metroidvania like title.
I never played the original NES game so I can not really compare the two, but I get the impression that it is a remake done very right. (the third game in the remake series even ties into the original Japanese game that would be translated into Blaster Master for the NES)

I started playing part 2 but I decided to take a break as I feel lately that I should not immediately play a similar game to another once I have finished as I then run the risk the gaming experience becoming too repetitive.


After that I started to play a game called Starcom Nexus, a space exploration adventure game which was inspired by the old Starflight 1 and 2 space exploration games, something even the maker admitted.
I could see some of Starflight's influences such as some of the species the player would encounter.

But when I had been playing it a lot during a couple of days I decided to take a break from it and instead buy and play Bioshock Remastered after talking with a friend about this series.


Well I mentioned in a previous post that I had played Bioshock 1 when it was first released as I had preordered it, but I had not come far as I grew rather bored of the experience by the time I reached the garden level.
This time I wanted to play and finish the game properly even if I had already spoiled the ending for myself on Youtube years ago.

Unfortunate I ran into the same problem as I had years ago of the gameplay becoming too repetitive to quickly and the game campaign not being able to hold my attention.
Oh and the switching between regular weapons and plasmids was annoying sometimes. I am glad that gameplay issue was resolved in the sequels.

I like the setting of Rapture, and it has been visualized very well. But I can't help but feel that the writer of the storyline was rather overdoing it with the themes. Sort of trying too hard but also in a way trying to make it approachable for the masses.
I don't think it is as smart as it likes to think itself to be.

Outside the setting the game is a pretty standard FPS in general. Weapons we have seen before and a rather limited assortment of enemies even if some have abilities that others have not.

The reason though why I did not finish the game was not because of boredom, but because of a game breaking bug the Remastered version of Bioshock 1 has that was never patched out.
At certain points the game can crash back to desktop and during this quick saves are corrupted that they become useless. This has happened to me several times now when I am nearing the end of a 'level'.
Regular saves don't seem to suffer from it but after being forced to restart a level that I spend more than an hour on before the crash I was pretty done with the game.


While I was first thinking about playing Bioshock 2 Remastered, I heard it has the same bug problem as Bioshock 1 Remastered.
I also was not that interested in returning to Rapture so soon. It was not as if the game held secrets for me as I have looked up its content on its own Wiki ages ago. I would primarily play it for the gameplay.

That would leave Bioshock Infinite which I first intended to skip as I had years ago when it was first released.
One of the main reason why I was first not interested was because I had read some posts and articles by other people who had played it who were rather disappointed in it. Primarily the game campaign which becomes rather messy and... well not incoherent but renders part of its own plotline points, and the writer seems to go way too hard at what I would call at this point Timey-Wimey plot elements. The plot becomes rather a load of pablum with the concept of quantum explaining everything.
But I decided to try it anyway as I guess I was still somewhat curious, but not with the intention of finishing it.

I have to admit that Columbia is a pretty cool concept for a city and I rather like the anachronistic elements which gave it a bit of a dream vibe.
It is a pretty nice world to walk in, something the designers must have thought as well as I think the first half hour all you get to do is walk round. Only during the carnival or the fair do you finally get to interact with the world other than in the immediate opening in the lighthouse. On a sidenote, that reminds me that I never found out who killed that lighthouse keeper and why?

You barely get to talk to the people. I don't even think they react to me when I try to interact with them other than that priest which you have to talk to in order to get further.

One thing I find annoying about the game is that despite that the concept of choice plays an important role in the storyline and theme, you are actually given only the illusion of choice.
The moment you reach that stage where the mixed couple are put on display to be shamed and punished you end up being the winner of a raffle to be the first one to throw a ball despite that earlier on you are told to avoid a certain number.
I know that this serves as foreshadowing but it feels a bit stupid and pointless. If anything it gives me more the idea that fate is inevitable. At no point I can decline taking a raffle number because it is required that this scene happens.
Yes I know, this is not an RPG.

Also the character seems to be a bit dumb. Once he has found out that the people on Columbia are on the lookout for a false savior that carries a certain number on his hand, which of course happens to be a tattoo on the player's hand, he never gets the idea of putting on gloves or something.
As others have pointed out. Only when someone stabs the player in the said hand and Elizabeth uses a handkerchief to bandage it, is the tattoo hidden.

I think this definitely makes replaying the game very uninteresting. Even Bioshock 1 and 2 allowed the player to make certain decisions that could affect the ending of the games' campaigns.
Again, I know this is not an RPG, but what other reason is there to replay this game?

Once the intro is over and the action parts starts the game actually becomes a pretty standard FPS game. One in which a number of gameplay elements from the previous games was actually reduced.
In combat for example the player can only yield two guns now at a time plus a back up melee weapon. As I considered only a handful of the weapons useful I stuck to a machine gun and a missile launcher or grenade launcher, occasionally only switching to a situation appropriate weapon.
The weapon assortment in this game is pretty much your standard FPS entries; a handgun that you will probably end up ditching as soon as possible, a machine gun which is probably the most useful weapon in general, a shotgun which is also useful if it was not for the range and the limited rounds you can carry, a hand cranked machine gun which is occasionally useful, various explosive weapons.

Oh BTW, if you play this game, never bother with the rebel made weapons once they become available unless you really have to as they are in general useless.

All of these can of course be upgraded but I would not bother with a lot of them.

There are also plasmids which are called vigors now but still act like the plasmids from Bioshock 1 and 2. The number of combat and active defense ones are now reduced so that you can now carry all of them during the game. Depending on how long the player charges these vigors can act in different ways.
Like the guns they can also be upgraded two times.

Hacking is now a vigor and no longer requires the player playing a mini game.

The player can now also no longer stock up on health items. Rather the designers replace it with a different gameplay mechanic.

Passive enhancements from Bioshock 1 and 2 have not been replaced with clothes.

The assortment of enemies seem to be the same range as the first Bioshock. You have your standard human foes which range from cops, soldiers, and later on several types of revolutionaries.
Mechanical foes range from turrets, automatons resembling Washington and Lincoln, Big Daddy like Handyman which are steampunk cyborgs, and a recurring foe which is never really directly though, and serve as a gameplay device near the end of the game.

I seem to have forgotten about the storyline of the game while I am writing about Infinite. I am not really sure what to tell about the story that people don't already know and I don't think I can argue much for it or against it in an effective way.
I think the storyline was okay, not fantastic as some of the more enthusiastic fans make it out to be, but that it looses coherence at a certain point as I mentioned before. And the explanation the writer made up it honestly doesn't fix the plotholes. It feels more like he needed to come up with an excuse to get out of the fact that he was kind of messing up at some point with the concept of timelines.
I think the writer also went way too hard on the themes in the game.

The best part I think I liked about this game's storyline is the integration and use of real historical facts such as the Boxer rebellion.

The character of Elizabeth and her use in the campaign also leave a little to ask for. She plays an important role in the story, but in the game she is like some people mentioned in general invisible to the NPCs unless it is scripted that she is kidnapped.
She is also a gameplay convenience device in that she hands the player ammo for the weapons they are use or salts to recharge the vigors if the player is in the middle of a battle and running out of these items.

Lockpicking is now also handled through Elizabeth and it depends on how many lockpicks the player has gathered in order to open optional doors and vaults. Only doors that require to be lockpicked don't cost lock picks.

I guess Infinite did leave some impression on me as I did write a very long piece about it compared to the other games I mentioned. I did not intend however for this to become so long.

What I liked most about the game was the setting of Columbia itself, and the retro covers of some more modern day music numbers.


Next was Star Control Origins.
I was rather curious about this game as well though I never played Star Control 2 and its sort of remake.
It was mostly the idea of playing a more arcade like space exploration game like with Starcom Nexus.

Well the first hour was actually enjoyable, visiting the various planets and moons of the solar system and exploring some of these. I was a little less sold on meeting the aliens but that was more to do with how they were written, I found them rather annoying.
Fortunately the game picked up again after I finally got to explore interstellar space and visit other star systems.

Communication with the aliens however never really improved for me. I met the arrogant evil overlord aliens who fit the template, and a number of other aliens like the squid people, the warrior alien people who are all clones, the manipulative and lying space trader people, the 'cute' aliens that all seem to talk like Timmy from the Fairily Oddparents, their god Jeff which I thought was an asshole, and a number of minor species.
Problem was that the humor that was intended doesn't really work for me. Perhaps the humor of Star Control 2 would also not have worked had I played that game first.
And it is not that I don't like comedy in game. Just that this game felt really flat on its face for me.

Combat. Well this is a little mixed for me.
Now I knew what kind of starship combat happens in a Star Control game so that is nothing knew, and I don't dislike that it is more arcade like. If anything I did not want a complex space combat sim.
But until I pick up some decent weapons for the mothership, or am able to ally with more aliens or buy ships from them, most of the ships I can use in combat are really unbalanced sometimes in comparison with those I have to fight against.
I had a decent space fighter from an alien base which had good firepower and a nice secondary ability but unfortunately I lost it after a few battles and was not able to really replace it with any of the ships I recovered on various planets I visited.
This is a game in which you need to have patience and study your enemies to determine which type of ships are the most effective against the types they use.

What made me stop playing the game was that I felt at some point that it was becoming rather repetitive, especially the planet exploration mini game which was fun at first but then became rather a drag as I had to play it so often in order to build up resources I could trade with.
It stopped being fun.


So I returned to Starcom Nexus, this time determined to finish the game.
I decided to start over again, this time using the advice of some other players who had left guides on steam on how to use trade to build up a decent amount of resources for both construction of new parts for the starship but also for the use in quests or to buy information and items that would unlock new technologies or to reveal other systems to explore.

Interesting enough I noticed that when I played the game more 'actively', that the campaign also became more clear. During my first session it was unclear to me on what to do next at some point I had finished most active quests and there were only some rumors that I could investigate for which I needed to collect more clues.
Now after destroying the base of an aggressive race of space bugs and forging an alliance with the reptile people who wanted the base gone, I ran into the second hostile race again (androids), and after defeating a number of their ships I was actually given the quest to find out more about these androids which revealed new star systems on the map that had previously remained invisible.
It was now a lot more clear of what I had to do next.

The quest with the bird people which I also finished during the first unfinished game however remained invisible and I wonder how I am suppose to trigger that one normally in the game.

I did enjoy Starcom a lot more the second time I played as I now knew how to play it more as I think it was intended to be rather than just fumbling around at some point as I had no clue what I was exactly suppose to do other than find a way home.
I finished the game yesterday. While I don't think it is perhaps the best of its genre because some of it gameplay elements may be rather simplified, I think for its price it is a pretty decent little game. It just doesn't have any replay value once you have finished its campaign.
 
Character number 4 died on Survival mode. After several attempts at the same thing I changed the build up a little and have done better. I even managed to snag the dog without too much issues although I did have to kill his owner with cigs to get the collar.

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When you do not save scum games like this it is a whole different ballgame. Especially with crafting. I got killed by a homeless dude wearing a tin foil cap earlier because I pissed him off. Normally I would reload. This time I had to make a whole new character and screamed at the monitor briefly.

Oh notice the 2 in LUCK with 6 percent chance to hit? Yeah that is good enough imo. Maybe not for survival but normal/expert you can buff LUCK with some drugs easy enough.

+1 I may have accidentally cheated with Neutron mod possibly making gold fish show up. Please understand.
 

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I think the best way to get Goldfish is in the fairground at the coconut shy. When the clown turns his back, throw a wooden ball at his head and rob all his prizes including the goldfish :) simples.

I downloaded this a couple of hours ago. It cost me £0.00, as in 4call, gratis, free, costless.
 
I skipped playing survival mode for a day after losing Ana. Poor Ana. Fuck Peregon and the river raider pirate scum Shiply.
 
I skipped playing survival mode for a day after losing Ana. Poor Ana. Fuck Peregon and the river raider pirate scum Shiply.

Poor Ana she can be very good when she is Ana lytic, even better she cures her own hangovers with Ana din.

Btw ' THE LOOKER' video is voiced over by my good self. I don't know if it needs subtitles .
 
I played a bit of Atom to test it out. I like the old school feel of it, I wish there was a way to use any skills on the confrontation with the group if they are gonna render it in gameplay instead of a cutscene. I wonder how viable a Martial arts build is actually gonna be? You get killed super fast from any firearm which is interesting as well.
 
I played a bit of Atom to test it out. I like the old school feel of it, I wish there was a way to use any skills on the confrontation with the group if they are gonna render it in gameplay instead of a cutscene. I wonder how viable a Martial arts build is actually gonna be? You get killed super fast from any firearm which is interesting as well.

Hey they patched that first conflict to where you are supposed to lose because honestly SKIP THE TUTORIAL is kinda your first step the next time you start the game. Martial arts is not as good as melee but it has plenty of use still. Crafting armor free advice: piece of rabbit fur, scrap, wire, and wood I believe makes thorn armor.

+1 advice

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in the Kickstarter section. That way when you get jumped you can go to your tent and get a surprise from old Toront. I advise picking Chosen One personally.

 
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