So, what're you playing?

[Trippy]

Divinity: Original Sin II?

And Paradox has a plethora of grand strategy games.

[lamaros]

Divinity: Original Sin II?

And Paradox has a plethora of grand strategy games.

I think I've played almost everything on PC. I tried to play divinity again, but after 230 hours already I can't get into it.

Edit: Seems Pillars of Eternity 2 just went on sale, and supposedly has a turn based mode now. Might try that.

[Trippy]

Oh, well, yeah, unless you like JRPGs there's probably not much that are exclusives on consoles you would like if you don't like action-y games.

[Soulflame]

Switch:  Animal Crossing: Breath of the Wild, Rune Factory 4 Special

I have actual Breath of the Wild to play, but I find the weapon breakage to be slightly daunting.

PC:  Not much... Some Overwatch during the Archives event, then I'll probably drop that again.  Nothing really seems to hold my interest here.

PS4:  I played some Odin Sphere, that is a fun platformer, which are two words I never expected I'd say together.  I would like to find the will to get back into that.

[Zetor]

I've been playing Horizon's Gate (really fun) a lot and recently started up Trails in the Sky. I think I like it -- it's definitely a cut above regular jrpg fare, but oh boy is there a lot of (not always useful) padding in dialog.

Divinity: Original Sin II?

And Paradox has a plethora of grand strategy games.

I think I've played almost everything on PC. I tried to play divinity again, but after 230 hours already I can't get into it.

Edit: Seems Pillars of Eternity 2 just went on sale, and supposedly has a turn based mode now. Might try that.

I think the last few years were really good for tactical turn-based RPGs.

If you don't mind indies, Horizon's Gate came out recently and it's a pretty good indie mix of FFT-like character building, tactical combat with environmental interactivity on top of a Pirates!-esque trading / pirate setup (ship combat is also turn-based). If you want something like that with a bigger focus on exploration and dungeon crawling, I'd recommend Voidspire Tactics, the first of the dev's games.

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark is pretty good if you like tactics games, it's clearly a love letter to FFT (and a really good one imo). Going a bit further back, Templar Battleforce was basically off-brand Space Hulk that Space Hulks better than Space Hulk. It's also got a ton of missions and the devs are still (kinda obsessively) updating it.

Also, Pathfinder Kingmaker has a turn-based mod that's pretty legit. It's also mostly bug-free now... I think?

[Cyrrex]

Playing Alyx on Index, with full intention of also continuing with The Walking Dead. 

On the regular screen, Trails From Zero mostly.  Still intend to get working on more of Fallen Order when the mood strikes me.  I have also re-installed MGS5 for some reason.

PlayStation....still stalled on Persona, can't quite muster the energy to get back into it.

[Viin]

Been playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Warzone (CoD:MW:WZ?) on Xbox. Same format as Apex, but a lot more weapons and tactical options, which is nice. Also free-to-play. And Rocket League of course. My kids are playing Lost Ember, Human Fall Flat, various Lego games, and other random stuff.

Downloaded Alyx too, but haven't given it a whirl yet - I'm sure I'll get to it one day with all this free time .. 
I did decide to try Star Wars: The Old Republic again - even downloaded it and everything, but haven't actually launched it!
Played Heroes of the Storm a bit, which is a nice light weight version of League of Legends - simple enough you can get the hang of it after a few games and not feel like everyone is min/maxing past you every game.

Tried Forbidden Desert (board game) with the fam last night, my youngest liked it a lot (8 yo) but my oldest (10 yo) was bored. Ah well, can't win them all.

[HaemishM]

I've been continuing my obsession with Football Manager 2020 and have added some Gran Turismo Sport on the PS4 as well. GT Sport is amazing, but I may have made a mistake trying to get into the online races. It is chockablock full of ramming assholes who will literally end your race with one good shove early on, leaving you to spend the rest of the race on what is essentially an empty track because everyone has lapped you.

[Samwise]

Playing Alyx in short sessions, partly to make it last and partly because the headset still makes my head hurt a little bit if I wear it for too long.  Goddamn is it nice to finally make good use of my fancy graphics card.

[Cyrrex]

Playing Alyx in short sessions, partly to make it last and partly because the headset still makes my head hurt a little bit if I wear it for too long.  Goddamn is it nice to finally make good use of my fancy graphics card.

I have only just made it to chapter 5 because I am trying to stretch it out.  And I bet I will start replaying it more or less immediately after completing it.

They did such a good job optimizing this game that I can run it at MAX with 150% SS and it will only hitch once in a while when too much shit is exploding onscreen.

Can I add that the little 3D tech puzzles you have to solve....goddamn, I love them.

[Samwise]

I'm most of the way through chapter 5 (I think) and it's my favorite part so far.  Bat country!   

Can I add that the little 3D tech puzzles you have to solve....goddamn, I love them.

Somebody clearly had a lot of fun with the task "design some puzzles that require you to manipulate multiple objects in 3D space simultaneously."  I really really like the "make all these lines intersect with all these points at once" one; it's satisfying every time. 

Falc was saying earlier he wanted to try to play it with kb+m and I can't stress enough how much of a bad idea that is.   Unless you're just looking to write a bad review about how unplayable it is with kb+m (which I think is 100% of the bad reviews for this game). 

[Cyrrex]

No idea why anyone would want to do that.  Index Controllers are better in every way.  Let’s be honest, something is wrong with anyone writing even a remotely negative review of this game.  No basis in reality.

And yeah, those Line Up The Dots puzzles...the last one I did, I was like NOPE.  And then figured it out in 10 seconds anyway.  They are brilliant fun.

[Morat20]

I finally got around to Heavy Rain and then Detroit: Become Human. Started a NG+ on God of War, just out of nostalgia. After that, I'll probably finally finish AC3 and move onto The Witcher 3 or The Outer Worlds.

It's not that much more gaming than normal -- some evenings, some weekends. I just get a lot more console time because my wife got Animal Crossing. Which seems really zen, from what I've seen. Kinda wishing I had a Switch now.

[slog]

Dark Souls 3 is kicking my ass, but I'm slowly making my way through it with a Strength/Dex Ultra-Greatsword build. 

[NowhereMan]

Finally got back onto gaming with my old desktop PC. I've been replaying Space Marine a bit along with finally finishing Pillars of Eternity (I think this was 5th or 6th attempt and this time it clicked, which seems to always happen with Black Isle RPGs and me) and getting another round of Rome 2. I've actually ordered a new graphics card in the hope that my system will get beefed up enough to run modern games again and some non modern AAA type titles. I'm curious to give the Division a go in single player for a bit

[01101010]

I thoroughly enjoyed Horizon: Zero Dawn. First game in quite a long time that I actually immersed myself in the story. Normally I give the story a shot but end up blasting through mashing square or X. This one I watched every single cut scene and read all the dialog. I am more than happy with spending the $20 for the complete game but really feel it was way worth the $60 +DLC.

[Sky]

I've cruised several of the PS hits since getting mine, HZD is definitely the one that stands strongest in my mind. Great cocktail of story, gameplay, setting, engine, just a ton of things came together like magic.

[Setanta]

Doom 2016. I never got more than 20 minutes into it before, now I'm enjoying it but it needs more monsters. When the new one drops in price I will give it a whirl too, but I'm not paying AUD99.00 for a freaking game.

[Samwise]

Doom 2016 really surprised me with how good it was.  Of course, my taste is suspect because I enjoyed 3 as well.  I'm definitely eyeballing Eternal but I have enough backlog that I think I can hold out for a sale.

[Phildo]

I started replaying Doom 2016 last week and realized that I had the difficulty too high on my first attempt (in 2016) which is why the first room of enemies kept wiping the floor with me.

[NowhereMan]

I've started a playthrough of Dishonored while waiting for a new graphics card. High chaos runthrough so I'm fully prepared when the Coronavirus starts turning people into Weepers.

[Falconeer]

I am knee deep in the alpha test of Amazon's New World, their MMORPG. It's so strange to say this considering how much of a mess they made with the original (now scratched) design, but it is very compelling. It is supposed to launch in two months which I believe will be a mistake because it is thin on content, but the foundations (combat, visuals) are solid and this could really become a thing. It is definitely a thing for me. Never spent so much on an alpha or beta cause I hate resets, but I can't put it down.

[Jeff Kelly]

I’m mostly playing Animal Crossing. If I’m not playing that it’s basically working with my music equipment and figuring out how to use my condenser mike.

[Khaldun]

Trying Bannerlord. I'm not real sure what the difference is, but I'll give it time.

[Gimfain]

Finishd my first playthrough of nier automata. Next one will be last episode of KRZ, beyond that i will probably buy nioh 2 or just go for my backlog.

[Khaldun]

Ok, Bannerlord is basically a completely improved Mount and Blade: better graphics, better mechanics, but basically the same (at least for me) completely addictive base gameplay. I will totally spend more time than I should trying to behead a bunch of guys on this.

Still Early Access--lots of quest texts and NPC stuff not finished. You literally get NPCs saying to you "Generic text for famous player. This should not happen."

[satael]

Ok, Bannerlord is basically a completely improved Mount and Blade: better graphics, better mechanics, but basically the same (at least for me) completely addictive base gameplay. I will totally spend more time than I should trying to behead a bunch of guys on this.

Still Early Access--lots of quest texts and NPC stuff not finished. You literally get NPCs saying to you "Generic text for famous player. This should not happen."

It's still a year from being finished according to the developers so much of it is still missing or unbalanced. Hopefully they will do something interesting with the stuff that is new to Bannerlord (like smithing).

[Sky]

Still wending my way through RDR2. What a good game that is!

I also have been pulling up a few oddballs I got in sales, after a few false starts (ugh Dragon Age Inquisitor, couldn't get past the jank early stuff), I found a nice groove between UFC3 and Mudrunners.

The fiancee thinks I'm nuts for digging (heh) mudrunners, but it reminds me of hanging out with my grandpa in the woods. He was an exec in a paving/quarry company, so he had a lot of beat up old machinery in the woods and we wee constantly working on the "roads" and driving through lots of not roads.

[Cyrrex]

Curious if anyone has their hands on the FF7 remake?  I am kinda on the fence.

[Falconeer]

I do.

I hate the combat, which is pretty much like FF15, but I like everything else. Not in comparison to the original, I like it per se. It's FF, great visual stuff, a lot of goofy things, it's FF. Then you have to fight things and it's not FF anymore.

If you hate the combat like me, you could consider the switch from Active to Classic Mode, which is not really turn based but definitely make things easier to stomach. My problem with it is that it makes the games super easy and I feel like I'm cheating.

[Cyrrex]

I knew I could count on you man.  Combat better or worse than 15?  And with the classic?  I ended up...not hating the combat in 15, and developing a certain love for the game.

I still have ZERO to get through, which by the way....I love it.  I like the Cold Steel stuff quite a bit, but its predecessors are finding their way on my all time favorites list.  AND THERE IS ANOTHER ONE AFTER ZERO!

[Trippy]

Try out the demo. Note, however, the progress you make in the demo doesn’t carry over to the game.

I skipped FFXV (and Lightning Returns) so this is my first experience with this style of combat in a FF game. So far I don’t hate it but it is taking some time to get used to it. I’m still replaying the demo section in the main game. The boss battle of this section was a struggle the first time through so that’ll be the test to see if I’m getting better at combat at Normal difficulty or if maybe I’ll turn it down a notch or two.

[Sky]

Still doing the UFC3/Mudrunners thing. Mudrunners is an ultimate chill game. Though I did make a rookie mistake and tried leaving my log trailer on the side of the road so I could go refuel the truck...but it was a medium log carriage, which spans logs from the truck to the trailer...so my load dumped. In front of the trailer, so I can't hook back up to it...luckily I had a log loader in the woods nearby. The game is great about setting you up with a bunch of toys to get the job done.

UFC3, I've been surprised by how much it has a 'one more turn' kind of gameplay loop, the way it's broken down into pre-fight strategy/training and then the action in the ring. It's janky af, wrestling is mostly garbage (shitty minigame and the simple control option doesn't work for shit), they keep throwing this one poor bastard against my champ Sanford Anderson...I've knocked him out 4 or 5 times now. Pro-tip: don't ignore training your moves, plan out your gym to get level 5s on your main weapons/styles. My first fighter, I was so laser focused on getting the stats up that I let my skills sit at level 1 and would get gassed out every fight (raising skill levels reduces stamina drain and adds damage).

I've tried a few times now to really dig into the ground game. Transitions are difficult against top-tier wrestlers (they transition super fast and you don't get much time to swing the meter in your favor to help your own transitions) and so far in all the training and 50 fights over 2 fighters I have yet to execute a single submission (with all 100s in submission offense etc). I think I did avoid a submission once but the game was shit about giving feedback, because we just kind of kept wrestling...and no difference in UI from the time I was instantly submitted while doing the same moves. So now I avoid the ground, put my training into get-ups and takedown defense. But it leaves a lot of the game sitting on the table, I hope they address it in the next version.

Current alternate is Days Gone. Seems janky, my initial couple hours leaves me with a 'Gothic/Far Cry 5/State of Decay2' vibe. Characters and dialog are bad (Gothic), it seems like a 'tackle the POI' Ubi type game, and the fighting feels SoD-ish. On the fence on it, seems to have some decent mechanics but also seems oddly rudimentary across the board.

[Falconeer]

Everything went well in FF 7 Remake until the boss battle, which kicked my ass. I won eventually but in a super unsatisfying way as what I hate of this combat system is the lack of information and what feels like a subtle (?) lack of control. It doesn't trade the numbers and tactics of RPGs for the visceral fairness and precision of brawlers. It's a stupid hybrid that doesn't feel right in either category, and it's funny cause I love both turn based RPGs and action combat games ranging from the methodic style of Demon's Souls and Sekiro all the way to the chaos of Bayonetta through the academic complexity of Street Fighter. Here, it all looks like something but it isn't and leaves me utterly dissatisfied and confused. I know I will get better at it and will get the hang of it, but even when I did in Final Fantasy XV I couldn't leave the game (which, overall, I really liked) without thinking "Damn, that was an entertaining journey! If only the combat didn't hold it back!".

I am afraid it's gonna be the same here. I will get familiar with it, eventually I'll understand everything. But it will always be a game that could have been so much better. For me at least.

[Rendakor]

Thanks for the info Falc; you're confirming what I assumed from the gameplay trailers.