So, what're you playing?

[Sky]

I believe this is my third start in GTA V  Played it pretty far the first time on pc, then realized I messed up the chance to score big in the stock market a couple times and got bummed out because I was basically broke and it would've taken forever to grind up enough cash for a few things I wanted (story mode, I don't do multiplayer/online). Then I played maybe 20% or so into it on the PS4 Pro, but the lack of density and variety in pretty much everything was such a huge step back from the pc that I stopped. Now it runs on ultra pc settings, looks and plays amazing.

And Rocksmith, of course. Need to prune my CDLC, I've got a new batch to add, but it'll put me over 2k songs and I've heard from reliable sources (one of the cfsm devs) that instability creeps in around that mark, so I'm trying to keep it around 1800. I just like a wide variety of music, so it's...difficult.

Played an hour or so of Metro to check out the ray-tracing pretty...I really love generational quality improvements like this, it's really amazing tech and boosts immersion nicely.

[01101010]

I believe this is my third start in GTA V  Played it pretty far the first time on pc, then realized I messed up the chance to score big in the stock market a couple times and got bummed out because I was basically broke and it would've taken forever to grind up enough cash for a few things I wanted (story mode, I don't do multiplayer/online). Then I played maybe 20% or so into it on the PS4 Pro, but the lack of density and variety in pretty much everything was such a huge step back from the pc that I stopped. Now it runs on ultra pc settings, looks and plays amazing.

And Rocksmith, of course. Need to prune my CDLC, I've got a new batch to add, but it'll put me over 2k songs and I've heard from reliable sources (one of the cfsm devs) that instability creeps in around that mark, so I'm trying to keep it around 1800. I just like a wide variety of music, so it's...difficult.

Played an hour or so of Metro to check out the ray-tracing pretty...I really love generational quality improvements like this, it's really amazing tech and boosts immersion nicely.

This game's longevity still astounds me.

[Khaldun]

Griftlands seems fun so far. I know there are strong opinions hereabouts on deckbuilders but this one feels fun.

[schild]

Lot of us played Griftlands heavily in Discord. It's p ok.

[HaemishM]

I bought a few more of the recent Stellaris DLC's and started another game. I swear I get probably 6-10 hours into a game of this and my enthusiasm just grinds to an absolute halt. It's like I get to a point where my empire doesn't necessarily require micromanaging to survive but really requires it if I want to grow, and most of the game time just seems like I'm constantly waiting for something to happen so I can tweak a few buttons before going back to waiting again. I realize there's going to be a certain bit of waiting in this game but I just think either I'm really doing it wrong or it's just not for me.

[Reg]

Make life easy on yourself and cheat your way to victory. Mods and console commands speed things up nicely. I don't have the patience for the horrible plodding pace of a normal game anymore.

[Khaldun]

The latest DLC did mess with growth in a way that I don't enjoy. I get that it might have been too easy to just spam colonies and grow before hand but shit really grinds to a halt now while you're waiting for the Endgame crisis to pop.

[HaemishM]

That's the thing - I'm not even in the endgame. I think I've gone through the first phase of the big Vuluturam thing and am waiting on the second. I like the game up to that point and then it just feels like the whole thing is an exercise in watching paint dry. I think it doesn't help that those story points don't really feel impactful.

[Phildo]

I've played through twice since the last big update and both times, the I activated the L Gate and while I was still dealing with that, the endgame crisis popped.  The first time it happened, one of the Awakened Empires was also marauding through allied territory and suddenly went hostile to me as well.  Not sure if they messed with the timing or if I just had incredibly bad luck, but it sucked hard and I tend to play on Easy.  Also took a while to get used to the new way that building slots are unlocked, which I'm less of a fan of than the old method.

[Rasix]

I'm pretty enamoured with Subnautica: Below Zero. I was pretty skeptical going in considering the tepid response the game had gotten, but it's exactly what I wanted: more Subnautica. The story so far isn't very interesting and the map isn't fantastic (seems smaller, but with more initial verticality), but it's more of what I liked in a survival exploration game. If you played the first, you can just pick it up and go with this one.

It's gorgeous and runs buttery smooth on my system. No technical hitches or bugginess of the original. This is fine if you treat as a glorified expansion pack and it's priced as such ($30 or $20 if you want to get it on Epic). I hope if they decide to do another, they try to be a bit more adventurous. A new planet with new fauna and vehicles would be nice.

I tried to return Mass Effect Ultimate, because ultimately, I just don't feel like playing it again after about an hour of ME1. Apparently I waited too long (I didn't realize it had been 14 days), so Steam said no. Dicks.

[Rendakor]

I finally started playing Outer Worlds; reread the old thread here but didn't think it was worth bumping. It feels like an indie mishmash of Fallout: New Vegas and Borderlands; I don't hate it but I'm sure glad it was free on XGP. I agree with most of the criticisms levied against it: the combat is trivial and the skills/perks don't feel meaningful at all. VATS would be preferable to the stupid slowmotion (which was also shit in FO4); at least Borderlands you get cool click skills and fun loot. It's somehow worse than the sum of its parts, but still generally enjoyable for the story.

[ezrast]

The Last Spell is really good. It's turn-based tactical hero defense with a city-building worker placement mini-game during downtime phases. Fans of tactics games should buy it.

[Khaldun]

Glad you said turn-based, looking at it I was afraid it was RTS.

[Sir T]

I forgot I had Subnautica Below Zero installed. I really should get cracking on it. I think it might be the laid back thing I feel I need right now.

[Khaldun]

Started Days Gone. Voice acting and look is first rate. Familiar gameplay, but implemented well. I even appreciate the way Freaker nests make respawning seem "realistic". I get a little tired of the model of "you can only carry three molotov cocktails and have to keep scrounging to make more" gameplay, though. If they wanted to make a mission-specific inventory, I'd rather that--if I'm going with burning nests in mind, I'd wear a backpack and carry ten cocktails, etc. But the game's basic play definitely makes you feel in tune with Deacon--you really want to kill Freakers, etc.

[Khaldun]

Not sure what the negative takes on Days Gone were, but at least in my view, it has some serious problems with pacing and bottlenecks. I'm just waiting now for the next story progression to pop and it's boring, plus it has a serious case of "my allegedly savvy, independent protagonist is a fucking dumbass when the plot needs him to be". Plus the world-building feels both good and generic in one go. I just want studios when they drop this kind of money to get people who can think conceptually better than this as well as ace art designers and great voice actors etc.

[Sky]

Fuckin' Skizzo, amirite? It's a good enough ride that I wasn't too bothered by being railroaded into some dumb spots. For me, the pacing works. It's one of the reasons I didn't like The Last of Us, just too linear and pushing you down the story with no time to just mess around. I like my open worlds to have some sandbox stuff for me to play in. That gets me something around 100 hours on the PS with Days Gone, but only maybe a dozen hours before I couldn't take any more TLOU.

Speaking of dicking around in sandboxes, I've kinda pushed GTA V to where I've made it the last 2 times I played it, heh. Trying to actually finish it this time... Still amazed by how good the game looks in 2021 at 4k/60/ultra.

And a weird realization this morning as I walked into work that I was wearing the same outfit that I put on Trevor before logging out last night. 

[Khaldun]

You know what to me is a really specific indicator of "this world is an open world, really" vs. "this is a roller coaster ride that pretends to be an open world and that's sort of fun but sort of disappointing too"?

It's how does the Z-axis in this game actually work? Is there an actual physics that governs objects and characters? Can I climb anything that seems climbable? Can I jump from anywhere that seems jumpable? So that's a place where DG falls squarely into category #2--you can't climb a bunch of shit that seems completely climbable by comparison with what you can climb. You can occasionally jump off places that you didn't climb, but often even there not. For some reason, that kind of thing just really breaks immersion for me--to have a character who can scramble like a monkey on cocaine when it's a set-piece that requires him to and the rest of the time he looks at something that an arthritic grandmother could scramble up and nothing happens.

[koro]

Not sure what the negative takes on Days Gone were, but at least in my view, it has some serious problems with pacing and bottlenecks. I'm just waiting now for the next story progression to pop and it's boring, plus it has a serious case of "my allegedly savvy, independent protagonist is a fucking dumbass when the plot needs him to be". Plus the world-building feels both good and generic in one go. I just want studios when they drop this kind of money to get people who can think conceptually better than this as well as ace art designers and great voice actors etc.

The negative takes on Days Gone when it launched were that the game ran like absolute dogshit and was riddled with pretty gnarly bugs.

[Khaldun]

Well that much at least isn't an issue with the PC port, thank god.

[Rasix]

Finished Subnautica: Below Zero.  It was another 22 hours of the first. I can live with that. Definitely worth a play, especially at the price point.

Now, onto something else. Well, that and replaying Stardew Valley on the Switch.  So, so good.

[Sky]

I was snagging an armor in GTAV and realized what bugs me about the neighborhood around Franklin's hood garage, which I believe is Grove St. It's all Ballas. Something not right about cruising past Ryder's house and seeing purple punks.

[Hawkbit]

I always assumed that was intentional, like a commentary on the fragile nature of the lifestyle or something.

[Sky]

I always assumed that was intentional, like a commentary on the fragile nature of the lifestyle or something.

Yeah, I was thinking that, as well. I almost wish they had added a dynamic gang layer, but I know that's not really germane here. I still end up killing a LOT of Ballas (GTASA was my favorite in the series, Grove St for LIFE...I still make sure Franklin wears his colors )

[lamaros]

I've powered through a few tactical rpgish games recently. Feel Seal: Arbiter's Mark is fun, if a bit repetitive. But the character building is full of heaps of options and the tactical game works. The story is ass but it doesn't overstay it's welcome. Griftlands is cool and technically excellent, but it is just too long for the roguelike deckbuilder it wants to be. I think Slay the Spire is the right length for that sort of thing and Griftlands' cool stuff mostly ends up feeling like dead time. Wyldermyth is fun, not too long, not too padded. The problem it has it the writing is pretty twee and the cycle of play and re-play doesn't really work at this point because the game becomes quite repetitive. Probably the best of the lot though. Solasta Crown of the Magister is a fairly technically interesting implementation of D&D mechanics. But god is the world building, story, gear, etc all so boring and so damn slow. Reworked as a straight up roguelike dungeon crawl with some better loot at it'd be a really decent game. As it is it's fun for 10mins then becomes mindnumbingly boring. There is so much dead time. I really hate RPGs that seem to be made by people who grew up playing MMOs and don't understand half the shit that is in MMOs doesn't make sense for single player games and they shouldn't put it in... running back and forth between NPCs with question marks over their heads should not be 25% of your game time. For the King is just grindy and too long for the gameplay...

Holding off on getting BG3 still because all reports suggest they still have a way to go to get it right.

[Khaldun]

I like Wildermyth but yes, the writing is just this side of please-tone-it-down.

[Rasix]

Got Control as a freebie from Epic. Man, this is great. The combat is kind of dumb, but the presentation and story are fascinating. Loving it so far. Is it worth going from mouse + kb to a controller? The movement controls are really awkward.

[Teleku]

Played through the whole thing with M+KB, and can't imagine it being better in any way with a controller.

But yeah, gameplay itself isn't deep, but is still engaging and story is awesome.  Had a lot of fun with it.

[Khaldun]

Gotta finish it. I liked it some, didn't love it.

Just decided to at least try Fallout 76. I have only one question so far:

How can the percentage of players with the achievement Reclamation Day! (leaving the starting vault) be lower than the percentage of players with the achievement of having completed 5 challenges? You can't complete any challenges without leaving Vault 76...

[Sir T]

People doing same day returns?

[rattran]

People who played on Bethesda's launcher (only way pre-steam/xbl) missed out on early achievements. So unless you started a new toon, you never would have gotten that one.

Edit: Also people who only play Nuclear Winter (shitty cheater-filled battle royale light) Mode

[Khaldun]

I guess that makes sense?

So far I would say it's kind of an ok but not very great solo Fallout with some odd multiplayer elements?

[rattran]

I've been playing more, it has had major improvements. Biggest problem is that voice chat is shit, sometimes I can hear group members/people around me, sometimes nothing. It makes grouping pointless except for seasonal dailies, and makes the complicated events like Project Paradise extra hard. Events like Imposter Sheepsquatch/Earl/SBQ everyone shows up for, but no real need to group. Imposter is easier if people can call out when a pylon is down, but not necessary.

Biggest problems are bugs that have been around since Beta or keep coming back, legacy and hacked items that ruin shit still existing, and Bethesda's waffling on features, Survival mode was half assed and pulled, Vault raids were buggy and pulled, Nuclear Winter is rampant cheating and goes away soon, private servers still don't really exist. The newish Daily ops can be stupidly punishing or trivial, depending on the 2 random factors of the day. And Daily Ops drops have been broken since introduction. Who knows if they'll fix them, or just dump them when 'Expeditions' come in next year.

[Khaldun]

Fired up Civ V for the first time in a while last night. It's still good.

[Kageru]

Had been looking at the new hand-held switch form factor PC's like OneXPlayer and the AyaNeo to do some gaming in bed. Instead bought a standard tablet, got an arm to suspend it and stream games to it using steam link and a blue-tooth controller. It works pretty well and gets around the issues with cost, weight, battery-life and heat the other options had, or in the case of a switch having to buy games again for their proprietary platform.

All those older console ports suit it perfectly. So currently leveling up items in Disgaea which is cute, relaxing, scratches the turn based tactics itch and is an unlimited license to grind to make the numbers slightly bigger. Also may be the platform on which star-dew valley makes more sense, and even FF3.