The Video Game Thread: What are you Playing?

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Anyone play Rainbow Six Siege here? If anyone do and is on PS4 lemme known. My account there is Theolessa.

BTW, I've I found a good strat with Kapkan (the spetznaz booby-trapper) that makes me get kills consistently:

1) do NOT trap the main objective doors, as people will look for those there. Instead, trap the rooms leading to the objective.

2) do NOT spread your traps all over the map. Instead, use your 5 traps in a "cluster", that is, near each other in a single direction from the objective. This way they work as a locator for the enemies. Eg: if you trap all rooms to the north of obj, and you hear one going off in the distance, you instantly know where the enemy is coming from and can go there to flank/ambush them. Consider equipping a suppressor on your gun to capitalize on this, so when you ambush they won't know where the bullets are coming from.
 
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Late to the party on these two:

The Outer Wilds - I don't want to say too much about this because if anyone here is vaguely interested in this title, you should absolutely go in blind. I haven't yet finished but I know how to trigger the end game and I am about to do so. It's an exploration title that has honestly wowed me in quite a few regards. It's also a roguelike, of sorts; a combatless roguelike! Whodathunk that would work, but it really does. The general theme of the overarching narrative seems to be finding peace with the uncontrollable, and enjoying what you can control. It's quite melancholic. The mechanics and design themselves are solid, with a fitting quest design that rewards player curiousity. I highly recommend this!

Spiritfarer - I haven't finished this and I think I'm barely in the beginning stages but this is a newer take on the Stardew Valley -esque title for me; addicting, rewarding, relaxing, beautiful in both visuals and audio. I spent most of the weekend with my wife playing this game and it was brilliant. You take the role of the new titular role from Charon, and it is your job to care for Spirits who seem to be at the cusp of acceptance of what's to come. I am particularly fond of the hand drawn animations - they are truly endearing, as well as the character design. Allowing me to hug a anthromorphic hedgehog is truly a beautiful sight! It's one of those titles where you set your own goals based on the in-game quests/crafting needs and is not too dissimilar to the whole "one more day" feeling in Stardew - here without as much stress though, it's much more chill, but is chock full of fun mini-games that keeps things from getting stale. I recommend giving it a go, if only for the fun animation style.

And now for something completely different:

Escape from Tarkov.

Do you hate a clean UI? Do you want to die seconds after loading into a match (of which loading took you 10 minutes or more?) from someone insanely more geared than you? Do you want to spend 15 minutes in a match creeping around and looting as quietly as possible only for some unseen sniper to kill you as you try to exit? Do you wish to play a game that essentially requires a second monitor for the game's wiki and fan-made maps to help guide you through a session? Do you want an economy that uses the real life worth of Bitcoin as a crux? Then Tarkov is for you!!

I am only half joking, if at all. This is a punishing game developed by a Russian studio that has either never heard of, or doesn't care about a net positive User experience. It is essentially the DayZ looting loop condensed into a session based format; you load in with some stuff, you loot other stuff found in world while fighting off other Players or AI threats, and you extract and sell what you don't need to pay for future runs. Die in session? Well you can insure your gear but no promises you get it back; if someone else steals it, it's gone! Hours of effort can go down the drain in a few seconds if your opponent just outright has a better loadout than you do.

It's a frustrating game, it's in beta so there are a lot of stability issues, there are some glaring netcode problems, there is some economy and gear balancing problems. So why do I keep coming back to it?

There is an adrenaline rush I receive when I get into a fight, knowing I have so much on the line - I feel a bit of it in Hunt: Showdown and it's a clearer, purer form of the same feeling I used to get playing DayZ - so if that sounds like something that interests you then you might want to check it out.

Maybe not.
Maybe save yourself.
 
Late to the party on these two:

The Outer Wilds - I don't want to say too much about this because if anyone here is vaguely interested in this title, you should absolutely go in blind. I haven't yet finished but I know how to trigger the end game and I am about to do so. It's an exploration title that has honestly wowed me in quite a few regards. It's also a roguelike, of sorts; a combatless roguelike! Whodathunk that would work, but it really does. The general theme of the overarching narrative seems to be finding peace with the uncontrollable, and enjoying what you can control. It's quite melancholic. The mechanics and design themselves are solid, with a fitting quest design that rewards player curiousity. I highly recommend this!
I spent a little time with this game before real life distracted me. It is a genuinely fun game of mystery and exploration. I was wowed as well, and I should really get back to it soon.
 
Tried playing Kentucky Route Zero and just couldn't stick it. Felt like the result of Wes Anderson smoking weed. Feel like a complete troglodyte, anybody here enjoy it? I think I'm missing something. I usually love games like this but there was too much mysterious vague dialogue.
 
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Still playing LOTRO on my pc with my old group. It's just a great bit of social banter for us, we do this once a week and do tabletop rpgs once a month if possible. Real-life often gets in the way these days.

For personal games, I am occasionally playing Witcher Wild Hunt on my pc, I quite enjoy it.

My lad just picked up the entire Uncharted series, so we are running through that on the console for a bit of father-son bonding.
We also have Assasins Creed Valahalla on the console, so that's also pretty cool
 
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Tried playing Kentucky Route Zero and just couldn't stick it. Felt like the result of Wes Anderson smoking weed. Feel like a complete troglodyte, anybody here enjoy it? I think I'm missing something. I usually love games like this but there was too much mysterious vague dialogue.
I played it for about an hour, saved, quite then never loaded it again. This was years ago, so I don't remember the specifics. I didn't exactly dislike it, but nothing grabbed me enough to make play it again rather than one of the many, many other games in my Steam backlog.
 
Late to the party on these two:

The Outer Wilds - I don't want to say too much about this because if anyone here is vaguely interested in this title, you should absolutely go in blind. I haven't yet finished but I know how to trigger the end game and I am about to do so. It's an exploration title that has honestly wowed me in quite a few regards. It's also a roguelike, of sorts; a combatless roguelike! Whodathunk that would work, but it really does. The general theme of the overarching narrative seems to be finding peace with the uncontrollable, and enjoying what you can control. It's quite melancholic. The mechanics and design themselves are solid, with a fitting quest design that rewards player curiousity. I highly recommend this!

Spiritfarer - I haven't finished this and I think I'm barely in the beginning stages but this is a newer take on the Stardew Valley -esque title for me; addicting, rewarding, relaxing, beautiful in both visuals and audio. I spent most of the weekend with my wife playing this game and it was brilliant. You take the role of the new titular role from Charon, and it is your job to care for Spirits who seem to be at the cusp of acceptance of what's to come. I am particularly fond of the hand drawn animations - they are truly endearing, as well as the character design. Allowing me to hug a anthromorphic hedgehog is truly a beautiful sight! It's one of those titles where you set your own goals based on the in-game quests/crafting needs and is not too dissimilar to the whole "one more day" feeling in Stardew - here without as much stress though, it's much more chill, but is chock full of fun mini-games that keeps things from getting stale. I recommend giving it a go, if only for the fun animation style.

And now for something completely different:

Escape from Tarkov.

Do you hate a clean UI? Do you want to die seconds after loading into a match (of which loading took you 10 minutes or more?) from someone insanely more geared than you? Do you want to spend 15 minutes in a match creeping around and looting as quietly as possible only for some unseen sniper to kill you as you try to exit? Do you wish to play a game that essentially requires a second monitor for the game's wiki and fan-made maps to help guide you through a session? Do you want an economy that uses the real life worth of Bitcoin as a crux? Then Tarkov is for you!!

I am only half joking, if at all. This is a punishing game developed by a Russian studio that has either never heard of, or doesn't care about a net positive User experience. It is essentially the DayZ looting loop condensed into a session based format; you load in with some stuff, you loot other stuff found in world while fighting off other Players or AI threats, and you extract and sell what you don't need to pay for future runs. Die in session? Well you can insure your gear but no promises you get it back; if someone else steals it, it's gone! Hours of effort can go down the drain in a few seconds if your opponent just outright has a better loadout than you do.

It's a frustrating game, it's in beta so there are a lot of stability issues, there are some glaring netcode problems, there is some economy and gear balancing problems. So why do I keep coming back to it?

There is an adrenaline rush I receive when I get into a fight, knowing I have so much on the line - I feel a bit of it in Hunt: Showdown and it's a clearer, purer form of the same feeling I used to get playing DayZ - so if that sounds like something that interests you then you might want to check it out.

Maybe not.
Maybe save yourself.
All great stuff!

I suspect you would love Stalker Call of Pripyat with Misery mod. Have you tried it?
 
All great stuff!

I suspect you would love Stalker Call of Pripyat with Misery mod. Have you tried it?
Wow, blast from the past! I played it years ago, although not with a mod as far as I remember. I might have tried some of the more famous mods, maybe. Very similar in punishing aesthetic, and likely in some capacity an influence on Tarkov!
 
I’m on a gaming spree right now:

Animal Crossing (Switch). The whole family is sharing an island and it’s a blast. Most days I only have about 20-30 mins to play, but to get the bare bones experience, that’s all that you need.

Dark Souls (Remastered, Switch). Fun but punishing. Taking it veeerrrry slow. Basically just doing the entrance to the first undead town over and over until I get the hang of the controls.

Nier Automata (PC). Mindless, pretty fun!

A good year for gaming!
 
I lost my "endgame" save for The Last Sovereign, so I'm playing through it again. It's a biting deconstructive parody of both JRPGs and harem eroge (thus wholly NSFW and adults-only) but the best parodies have to also be outstanding examples of the subjects they ridicule-- and The Last Sovereign is the best goddamned JRPG I have ever played, period. A thoughtful examination of political and religious authority, good intentions and unintended consequences, the nature of love and other philosophical matters.

I won't link it here, but it's easy to Google and (if you're 18+) I absolutely recommend you do.
 
I'm jumping between Hades (a good game to play with the TV in the background), Endless Space 2, and Baldur's Gate 2.
 
I'm jumping between Hades (a good game to play with the TV in the background)
I hear you. Dont know why but I love playing the Switch in the sofa with TV in the background.

In Hades, have you unlocked the weapons aspects? Any favorites? I'm loving Achilles Spear.

I’m on a gaming spree right now:

Animal Crossing (Switch). The whole family is sharing an island and it’s a blast. Most days I only have about 20-30 mins to play, but to get the bare bones experience, that’s all that you need.

Dark Souls (Remastered, Switch). Fun but punishing. Taking it veeerrrry slow. Basically just doing the entrance to the first undead town over and over until I get the hang of the controls.

Nier Automata (PC). Mindless, pretty fun!

A good year for gaming!
Don't give up on Automata. It's got one of the best endings ever. I cried a river.

So can lots of people share a place in Animal Crossing? How is that? I'm considering getting it.
 
So can lots of people share a place in Animal Crossing? How is that? I'm considering getting it.

Well, you get one island per Switch device. So if you have people living in your home, they could all share the same island, although one player is kind of the "leader". My wife, myself and our two kids have our own homes on the island and can do 95% of the game. Only the "leader" (ie, the first profile to start playing Animal Crossing) gets to make certain decisions like building bridges or moving homes around.

We've been having a blast so far. It's super helpful having other folks able to share money to help pay for stuff. And fishing is fun with other people (you can play at the same time too, although it has some limitations).
 
In Hades, have you unlocked the weapons aspects? Any favorites? I'm loving Achilles Spear.
Not yet! I've been using the sword and bow to get a feel for the game. I'll try the spear when I unlock it eventually.
 
I'm jumping between Hades (a good game to play with the TV in the background), Endless Space 2, and Baldur's Gate 2.

I just got Endless Space one on sale. How is that series?
 
My wife finished playing Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon.

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Not yet! I've been using the sword and bow to get a feel for the game. I'll try the spear when I unlock it eventually.
Something that you may miss in Hades: after you unlock the weapons, you then unlock aspects for each one, which change their appearance and movesets and bonuses. You do this by using Titan blood in them (the in-setting rationale is that the weapons are alive and remember the Titan's war, and the aspects are the different states they assumed during that war, which you can evoke).

Each weapon has 3 or 4 aspects. And each aspect has it's own "upgrade path", so in truth there are 20 or so weapons in the game.
 
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Well, you get one island per Switch device. So if you have people living in your home, they could all share the same island, although one player is kind of the "leader". My wife, myself and our two kids have our own homes on the island and can do 95% of the game. Only the "leader" (ie, the first profile to start playing Animal Crossing) gets to make certain decisions like building bridges or moving homes around.

We've been having a blast so far. It's super helpful having other folks able to share money to help pay for stuff. And fishing is fun with other people (you can play at the same time too, although it has some limitations).
Thanks! I'll try to convince my son to get it next. Wish me luck in the persuasion roll. Haha
 
No way man, The Life Aquatic is obviously the best Anderson flick!

Great music but for me later Anderson starts to rely too much on musical montages for emotional lift and impact instead of earning it. For me The Royal Tennebaums is the best film in his now familiar mannered style if you exclude The Fantastic Mr. Fox as atypical as an animated film.

So my top 3 would be:

1. Bottle Rocket
2. The Royal Tennebaums
3. The Fantastic Mr. Fox
 
Something that you may miss in Hades: after you unlock the weapons, you then unlock aspects for each one, which change their appearance and movesets and bonuses. You do this by using Titan blood in them (the in-setting rationale is that the weapons are alive and remember the Titan's war, and the aspects are the different states they assumed during that war, which you can evoke).

Each weapon has 3 or 4 aspects. And each aspect has it's own "upgrade path", so in truth there are 20 or so weapons in the game.
Wow. I didn't know you could do that with the weapons. That definitely gives the game more replayability value.
 
Life Aquatic is one of Anderson's low-tier films. The music is fantastic, though.
Lolwut? You guys wound me, granted I love all of his films but why would you think Life Aquatic is low-tier?

Edit: Seriously I am interested in your opinion and open to changing my mind.
 
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A few game playing updates.

I had Finished AC Valhalla early this month. My only regret is unlike the last game, they have yet to get a good repeatable mechanic for the post-plot yet. In Odyssey there were more mercenaries and there were the territorial battles. They are getting a new raid mechanic which I hope will be fun. I still say this--Ubisoft really needs to make a Fantasy RPG now that they have some of the basics down. Looking forward to the Season Pass content this year.

While I loved that game, I'm felt Watch Dogs: Legion was mediocre. I went back to that and finished the plot, but I find this game lacking. The random protagonists have too much repeat and too little emotional ties. But the biggest issue I think is that they haven't got the Online items up yet--I think the Online and random events needed to be completed to give the game more value especially since the Single Player content is a bit shallow. They really need to do so, as I feel that component helps the game. As an aside, one of the best memories I have from the original was the unique cross-mobile play--there was an app for a specific type of game--a car chase where in the game, a remote helicopter was trying to block you from reaching a destination, and the mobile app was the helicopter viewing the game as a map. I really loved that.

I'm still enjoying Griftlands from Klei, as they are adding more content and replay capabilities.

I've just finished playing Quantum Break. Man, I loved the Remedy games--they have a great mix of cinematic feel and gameplay. The fact that they have real actors as the models allows them to do some pretty neat things, such as having video screens in game of actual recordings, or video asides--it was so great seeing Lance Reddick in a video game. Next I am going to start playing Control, which I've heard has some of the best Ray-Tracing effects in a current video game, plus the DLC is supposed to tie into Alan Wake as well!
 
Anyone knows of a way to skip that first dungeon in Baldurs Gate 2 ? The talk over at the post-apocalypse thread got me in a vibe to play Black Isle games again, and BG2 is the one I remember the least. But that starting dungeon drains all my enthusiast. Do the Enchanced Edition allows skipping it? under_score under_score ?

By the way, are the Icewind Dales worth it? I was never a big fan of them as I'm more interested in the roleplaying aspect of these games and not much in combat (thus my love for Planescape Torment), and Icewind Dales always looked focused on combat and little else?
 
Anyone knows of a way to skip that first dungeon in Baldurs Gate 2 ? The talk over at the post-apocalypse thread got me in a vibe to play Black Isle games again, and BG2 is the one I remember the least. But that starting dungeon drains all my enthusiast. Do the Enchanced Edition allows skipping it? under_score under_score ?

By the way, are the Icewind Dales worth it? I was never a big fan of them as I'm more interested in the roleplaying aspect of these games and not much in combat (thus my love for Planescape Torment), and Icewind Dales always looked focused on combat and little else?
From the forums, the mod 'Skip Chateau Irenicus' works for the EE: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/60934/mod-skip-chateau-irenicus

I've played a decent bit of the Icewind Dales, both of them. Never finished either though. They are pretty much pure dungeon crawling combat games. The story is paper thin and there are no companions to recruit and interact with. I don't remember any interesting NPCs at all really.

If you haven't checked it out, the Pillars of Eternity games are pretty great for this style of RPG.
 
Thanks, under_score under_score . Any tips for a cool and powerful starting class? I remember finding the game combat somewhat difficult.
 
I think it depends on the level of micromanagement you're comfortable with. Wizards are very powerful but require precise casting. Rogue is quite fun - just position for backstabs. And a sword and shield paladin that focuses on passive buffs is probably best if you want a character that just stands firm.
 
Thanks.

You also cited Pillars. Would you say it has good C&C? I mean, choice&consequence, where different choices result in different experiences and world reactions? If I make a scale of C&C like this:

Great: Fallouts/Arcanum/Vampire Bloodlines
Good: Planescape Torment
Average: Baldurs Gate 2
Poor: Icewind Dale

Where would Pillars feature in that scale in your opinion? If its average or above I'm okay, but lower than that is a problem for me.
 
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I never finished BG2 or Icewind Dale but I went into them right after BG and may have just burned out on the style of game. Also really enjoyed Torment, should give the enhanced edition a try. I just got Pillars on the last Steam sale need to give it a go.
 
Found this review from the RPGCodex crowd. They're usually very into C&C.


Seems more or less positive. Well, kinda..

The good thing is that most if not all quests have multiple solutions, so at very least you can role-play. Pillars easily beats the crap out of Baldur’s Gate in this department. Sadly, the quest logic is often lacking.

Take the brothel quest, for example. You’re told that someone’s causing troubles. Since you don’t have anything better to do, you agree to look into it, which in this case means walking around until attacked by a trash mob. Then you enter every house until you trigger the right scripting event and talk to the leader who offers a peaceful solution, which seems out of place after being attacked on sight, but whatever. Turns out the leader is upset that the brothel increased the prices and now the commoners can’t get exotic ass and pussy.

Let it sink for a moment. A local faction is attacking people on sight because the prices in a brothel are too high for the common folk. Who writes this shit?

rating_lulz.gif
 
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Thanks.

You also cited Pillars. Would you say it has good C&C? I mean, choice&consequence, where different choices result in different experiences and world reactions? If I make a scale of C&C like this:

Great: Fallouts/Arcanum/Vampire Bloodlines
Good: Planescape Torment
Average: Baldurs Gate 2
Poor: Icewind Dale

Where would Pillars feature in that scale in your opinion? If its average or above I'm okay, but lower than that is a problem for me.
I'd put Pillars above Baldurs Gate 2, not quite Fallout. Maybe comparable with Planescape then, but I don't have the experience to say.
Put it this way, fairly early on there's a section where you can ally with one of four competing factions. Each features some different quests, it has some of the same quests but they play out differently, and of course there are different personalities and motivations to deal with, but the whole section of the game eventually leads to the same objective. But that's a pretty expected limitation of computer games I think.
 
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