The Video Game Thread: What are you Playing?

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NieR: Automata is my second favorite game of all time. Just remember that after you reach the credits the first time, you actually still have way more to go. You play through the first half, get to the credits, play through the same section through a different perspective, get to credits, and then you continue on from the point that those two endings stop and play the second half of the story.
 
The fact that it goes further than all that is indeed something I heard about years ago and have kept in mind to watch out for since. Other than that, I've managed to avoid any substantive information about the game's setting or story* (there was probably something of more detail I heard early on, but I wasn't paying attention and so easily forgot).

Mind, I'm not sure I'd need to be forewarned. The last few years I've mostly played stuff with NG+ or post-game content that I'd want to dive straight into, so odds are I would have found it organically anyway.

* And, you know, thank God; the abundance of suicidally depressed toasters just would not have had the same impact.
 
It really is best to go in with as little information as possible. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
 
I liked when the bishie boy villain came back having escalated his appearance to billowing white dress shirt with cravat and hipster glasses, and then got stabbed through his dumb chest. Just that sense of "yeah, I'm not letting this look go any further".
 
I liked when the bishie boy villain came back having escalated his appearance to billowing white dress shirt with cravat and hipster glasses, and then got stabbed through his dumb chest. Just that sense of "yeah, I'm not letting this look go any further".
"I sentence you for your crimes against good taste."
 
I played the Nier: Automata demo years ago and dug it but have put off playing it as I keep intending to get it on sale but don't think I've ever encountered it on sale yet.
 
I played the Nier: Automata demo years ago and dug it but have put off playing it as I keep intending to get it on sale but don't think I've ever encountered it on sale yet.
I actually got mine cheap from a chain of UK/Ireland second-hand media shops.
 
Instead of playing one of the many games in my backlog, I started to replay XCOM: Enemy Within. It's quite refreshing going back to this, after having not played it since XCOM 2 released.
I find it a bit harder than XCOM 2 for some reason. Maybe I'm just rusty at the game. Doing a council mission filled with thin men with a squad of four, two of which were rookies, were damm tough. Took forever, but I did it without casualties.
It's only the vanilla game, not the Long War version. Never really liked that mod. Felt it was too bloated with stuff and made the game far longer than it needs to be.
 
I am finishing kestrel lancers campaign for MW5 & started the original FF pixel remaster.
They changed around some of the 'cheats' that were in the original (elfland monsters & no early silver sword to purchase).
Kind of threw me for a loop when I noticed it.
 
Finished Wolfenstein: The New Collosus. It's a bit bland gameplay wise, especially if you've played the previous game New Order. A bit too stealth your way through generic warehouses and too easy. Could have done with more guns blazing/action set pieces.

However there are cool sections on Venus and a well done Nazi occupied small American town.
Story and characters are well done though, Debra Wilson is a class voice actor (in the new Star Wars game as well).
 
Finished Wolfenstein: The New Collosus. It's a bit bland gameplay wise, especially if you've played the previous game New Order. A bit too stealth your way through generic warehouses and too easy. Could have done with more guns blazing/action set pieces.

However there are cool sections on Venus and a well done Nazi occupied small American town.
Story and characters are well done though, Debra Wilson is a class voice actor (in the new Star Wars game as well).
How was the first half for you? I had so much trouble with the lower health that I had to drop the difficulty to get through the first level.
 
I finally beat Star Renegades twice over the weekend. There is still content to unlock and stuff to do. I very much recommend it if you enjoy challenging turn based content.

After putting it off for years I bought Red Dead Redemption 3. Rockstar makes great games and this is no exception. The writing, graphics, sound, gameplay, and immersion are all top notch. That said now that I have reached chapter 2 it is just so slow that I can do like one mission before my ADHD brain calls it quits. I think I am going to skip the single player game and jump into online play and see what's up. According to Reddit the online RDR2 community is a lot more chill than the exhausting dog-eat-dog urban warfare of GTA Online.
Hadn't heard about it before seeing you playing it on Steam. Not much of a turn-based gamer but I was definitely intrigued.
 
Hadn't heard about it before seeing you playing it on Steam. Not much of a turn-based gamer but I was definitely intrigued.
I am at over 100 hours with Star Renegades it is one of the best turn-based strategy games I have played, right up there with Into the Breach. I like the music and graphics. If starting a campaign from level 1 every time you fail is not appealing then don't buy the game. The game expects you to fail multiple times but each run earns upgrades that allow you to advance better next time. It's not an easy game at first but the gameplay is quite fun and rewards persistence.
 
No I meant the multiple levels before you get the super soldier body.
Still, I am a filthy casual so...
Oh sorry. Manhattan was harder than the rest of the first half. Guns blazing is quite difficult since some normal enemies have precision distance aiming to compensate for poor AI. Although I felt New Orleans post the super body is the hardest section.

How do you approach a typical section, say with two Kommandanten?
 
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This is a real arsehole answer, but I'm very into FPS games so I played it on the hardest difficulty and only died once (I assume you mean the wheelchair section).

So you played on Mein Leben when? I tip my hat to you when. I've only played The New Order and Old Blood. Both was on the Do or Die (Hard) and that was the right amount of challenge for me.
Never played New Colossus. I asked a friend at the time, if he would recommend it. He said; No way too much whining and emotional crap to wade through, when you just want to shoot some nazis. The only two things he sort of praised was the same as you, the Venus and small american town stuff.
So in my headcanon, Blazkowicz died at the end of New Order. Makes perfect sense if you know the ending.
 
So you played on Mein Leben when? I tip my hat to you when.
After a run through in "I am Death Incarnate". Generally though I prefer when the hardest mode is actually harder rather than the second hardest mode with the condition that you never die.

The new God of War is an ideal hardest mode in my opinion as it is a significant step up, requires you to drastically change how you play, but you are allowed die.

Yeah as your friend said it's too slow.
 
How do you approach a typical section, say with two ?
I'm a bit fuzzy because I haven't played it since it came out, but I think I tried to just go in guns blazing early on only to find myself getting shredded too quickly so I switched to stealthing for as long as I could.
I really dug Venus, Roswell and the rocket train to area 51, New York was ok but New Orleans felt like New York with more water. I thought it was hilarious that you had to Nuke the city to de-beach the Sub.
I wanted to finish the dlc side stories but I had some major life changes around that time and never picked it back up.
 
I wanted to finish the dlc side stories but I had some major life changes around that time and never picked it back up.
They're complete shite, if you ever felt like going back I'd instead do the Oberkommando missions at the enigma terminal.
Still looking forward to Wolfenstein III despite the negatives, hoping for mecha-Hitler!
 
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Getting back into Crusader Kings 3 this weekend.
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You know, game, you could just call her "Your Wife" and I would know who you were talking about without making everything weird and uncomfortable. Besides, she's just my aunt by marriage. It's totally normal!
 
My crew is playing tribes of Midgard. Pretty decent but I’m trying to not play too much outside of the group. Too easy to burn out. Makes me want to do a fate of the Norns game
 
Mass Effect Legendary Edition. I played through 1 and 2 originally and started three but I heard a LOT about the ending before I got it and was disappointing. (If my computer would run it I'd snatch up the really happy ending mod, but despite running newer games apparently its a resource hog.) So I got it for my PS4 with Christmas gift card. I really need a new computer (trying to build one myself and the price of a video card ALONE is maddening but a pre-built one is saner with the same video card) Of course I can't afford either, living paycheck to paycheck on disability. Sighs. Frustrating really, but I'm having fun going through ME 1 again. It looks MUCH better on a PS4 at least.
 
Getting back into Crusader Kings 3 this weekend.
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You know, game, you could just call her "Your Wife" and I would know who you were talking about without making everything weird and uncomfortable. Besides, she's just my aunt by marriage. It's totally normal!
Yeah CK3 is one of those games where you start out normal enough but then end up a Zoroastrian married to your sister trying to kill your newborn heir because he has the inbred trait.
 
I grabbed the Expeditions bundle of GOG during their winter sale for $11. I spent about an hour with Expeditions: Conquistador, but it didn't do much for me. It feels very much like King's Bounty, which is a game I could never really get into.
But I spent about 4 hours playing Expeditions: Viking yesterday and I'm really enjoying it. The change in the campaign map feels more like Baldur's Gate I think. The story is pretty good so far. As the newly inherited thegn of a minor clan, you've got to handle disputes with neighbors, help out your people, build up the homestead, and plan an expedition to the west. Everything feels very historical with no fantasy elements added, and mercifully no 'save the world from Ragnarok' crap. There are weird lines of dialogue occasionally that are out of place in the setting, but it's not too bad overall. Most of the quests feel pretty authentic to the setting. Even a simple kill bandits in the woods thing is tied into fears of scouting parties from neighboring clans that gives it a bit more stakes.
The combat is very enjoyable, if you like turn based tactics. It doesn't do anything new, but it does have a surprisingly good variety of options that makes it fun, and the party size of 6 allows a lot of freedom. I don't really understand why so many recent CRPGs stick with smaller parties. My only complaint so far is that spears are treated as two-handed weapons. I want my spear and shield dammit.
Anyway, seems like a really good game that kind of went under the radar. I did look up some reviews and apparently it was buggy as hell when it came out, but so far I haven't encountered any, so this might just be one of those patient gamer gems.
 
The sequel to Supraland has been released:


If you don't know these games, they are incredibly charming first person puzzle jump & runs with some combat, in some of the best designed levels seen in games of that kind.
In a miniature world apparently created by a kid.
Just all-around incredibly creative.
 
DAEMON X MACHINA is available for free on Epic Games right now. I have been waiting to play a mecha action game for ages and hope this delivers.
 
Been dicking around with Shadowrun Returns some... never was a big fan of of the SNES Shadowrun game but teaming up with Jake Armitage from the very beginning of the game is some old school retro magic right there.

Also been looking at firing up Cosmic Star Heroine.

And been organizing my emulation libraries looking at the deep old school JRPGs and all my Appendix N materials.
 
Well, just went through one run of NieR: Automata's final sequence.

Hmm, hmm, interesting.

...They're going to make me play NieR Replicant, aren't they?

Ohhhh I didn't sign up for this. Stupid intricately plotted multimedia franchise.

{What about Drakengard, hmm?}

You shut the fuck up!! I'm not doing any goddamn PlayStation games. I'll find shit on Youtube and you'll be happy with it! Jeeeeez.
 
Dude, do not play Drakengard. I love the story/writing/themes but it is mindnumbingly bad as a game. Just watch a playthrough or something. I've played it and the thought of trying to replay it fills me with pain.

NieR Replicant is good though.
 
Don't play Drakengard 1 or 2. As EmperorNorton EmperorNorton says they're bad games. I liked Drakengard 3 though, so that is an option. Sadly it was a Playstation 3 exclusive. This means, that you can only get a used physical copy, since it's not available digitally (legally that is).

I've also played the old XBox360 NIer. LIked it a lot. But that version is different than the new remake/remastered version. For instance, you play as an old man instead of as a young man. So it's a father/daughter relationship rather than brother/sister. Don't know if there is other differences.
 
Don't know if there is other differences.
I have a vague impression that it kind of remodelled the world a bit, but I shouldn't be held to that.

Now, to figure out why that one file I used to replay the game's first hour three years ago is labelled "Ending W".
 
I've also played the old XBox360 NIer. LIked it a lot. But that version is different than the new remake/remastered version. For instance, you play as an old man instead of as a young man. So it's a father/daughter relationship rather than brother/sister. Don't know if there is other differences.

Combat was overhauled as well. Replicant plays way better and smoother. Personally I prefer the father/daughter relationship, but its hard to go back to the original after playing the remake/remaster. There is also an entire new story about a beached ship in the coastal city, and a new ending (Ending E). I think there are some other tweaks but I can't remember them off the top of my head. EDIT: here is a full list of changes: https://nier.fandom.com/wiki/NieR_Replicant_ver.1.22474487139...#Changes

(In the original releases in JP Nier Replicant was released on PS3, and Nier Gestalt was released on XBOX360, Replicant was Brother Nier, Gestalt was Father Nier. In the US we only got Gestalt on both PS3 and XBOX360. The remake is only Replicant, so is technically the first time we get that version. So basically with the original, the west got one protagonist while JP mostly got the other (JP ownership of 360 was abysmally low, so it wasn't like many people there saw father nier))
 
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