The Video Game Thread: What are you Playing?

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Steamdeck aka the GabeBoy wasa up for pre-order (for only a minor $5) and the steam servers were slammed due to it.

Interesting competition to the Switch, and it is essentially a mini, portable PC.
It looks pretty cool but I'll wait until the bugs are worked out and there's a consensus on quality.

Like many devices, this has the annoying sales model of either having way too little storage or they'll charge you $100 more for $20 dollars worth of additional memory.
 
Also, this is Valve with hardware. They don't have a great track record. (I do still have a Steam Controller. Though I got it when the market for them was crashing and they were on sale for dirt cheap. It is... weird at best.)
 
Also, this is Valve with hardware. They don't have a great track record. (I do still have a Steam Controller. Though I got it when the market for them was crashing and they were on sale for dirt cheap. It is... weird at best.)
Hah hah I got that controller for $5 on sale for Bunny. Yea it is weird alright and we went right back to using our trusty Logitech F310s
 
I use a xbox one elite controller, and while hilariously expensive, it is by far the best choice I've ever made for a PC controller, especially combined with rewasd, a third party program that lets you remap everything (including the paddles) to anything from mouse movements to keyboard keys.
 
Mention of it reminded me that I own Into the Breach so I've been giving it a go. I really appreciate a game that knows what it's about and keeps a focus. At it's core, it's like a chess game with battle on an 8x8 board - if chess had tidal waves and air strikes taking out parts of the board. Individual battles take 5-15 minutes, depending on how impulsive you are. Campaigns of 20ish battles take a couple of hours. You have 3 mechs that you can improve and I like the rate of improvements - enough to be interesting but not a game where you have to plot an optimal path through hundreds of tiny improvements. Repeated play unlocks additional mechs with different powers to keep it fresh longer.

Apparently, this is by the same developers as FTL - they seem to have a knack for quality small games. Too bad they seem to have only 2 games.
 
Anyone here is japanese, or know the Nobunaga Ambition series in depth?

I'm asking because I'm playing the newer entry, Taishi, and finding it fairly good as a pure map-painter: competitive AI, good interface, nice geopolitical web tying different layers together (commerce, warfare, diplo, etc), a neat "resolve" system that looks like Pendragon Passions and makes each AI clan behave differently, etc...

....then I see the reviews and find out the game is hated and considered dumbed down by a lot of people. I suspect that's because it streamlined the "officer management" aspect of the previous entry, Sphere of Influence? I mean, I played that game a bit and while I found that aspect fun, it was never good enough to carry the game for me and ended up feeling very boring long-term. I like that Taishi made it simpler and focused on the actual "strategy board".

But maybe the officer management aspect IS historically the series's thing? Is that why Taishi was so hated, for streamlining on what's considered the series heart? dont know, I'm just speculating. I got only a dozen hours so far, so the game can indeed be totally shit in the long term and I just dont know it yet. XD
 
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Last days of free Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate on PS4/5.

That Ascent looks neat. Crusader: No Regret was awesome in the day.
 
It's the last few days before Jupiter Hell launches, so I'm beta testing some stuff under an NDA-- mostly the REDACTED and some of the new REDACTED, but especially the big 1.0 reveal: c'mon, really? you couldn't possibly believe I was posting a real spoiler here.

Comes out of Early Access on August 5th, and it's currently my #1 evergreen game... I can't recommend it highly enough.
 
Just picked up The Ascent.



Definitely recommended, though more Crusader: No Remorse than Diablo


You know, I was just thinking about a year/year and a half ago how an RPG/Twin Stick Shooter would be a great combo, but there really didn't seem to be one. I've played a few hours of this and... I was right it is a fun combo.
 
I got The Ascent as well. It took us an hour to get co-op working but once we did it was pretty fun. Visually it is just gorgeous. Even though this is a twin stick shooter you'll find a keyboard and mouse is far superior.
 
So yeah, Jupiter Hell, big launch energy-- bought a couple more copies for friends who were waiting for 1.0.
 
I got The Ascent as well. It took us an hour to get co-op working but once we did it was pretty fun. Visually it is just gorgeous. Even though this is a twin stick shooter you'll find a keyboard and mouse is far superior.
I didn't. The lack of a real diagonal even when pressing the two keys is a detriment to me, and I love KB+Mouse over just about everything else in most cases.
 
After 9 hours into The Ascent it feels like it was released just a little too early and could have used some more polish. There's lots to love about The Ascent but numerous small issues ensure it is just a good game and not great.
  • Typos.
  • Slow. There is no sprint or running. The areas are huge for a twin stick shooter and you will be doing a lot of running back and forth. Not only are the areas massive but the maps can be quite confusing. I imagine this is a deliberate design decision so players don't run past encounters but you can expect to do a lot of back-tracking across large maps with NO SPRINT.
  • Strange quest design or perhaps poor quest documentation. Low level sidequests can be gated by the main quest (with nothing to indicate this I thought it was a bug) and the most direct route to a quest is often through or adjacent to high level opponents who can one-shot you. In fact it is quite easy to wander into high-level areas with little time to react before being killed instantly.
  • Oddly for a twinstick, controllers feel lousy compared to k+m. If you play couch co-op on PC both players MUST use controllers.
  • Minor glitches like sometimes my assault rifle has unlimited ammo or one of my cyberdeck upgrades disappeared. These are minor and not game-breaking.
 
Oddly for a twinstick, controllers feel lousy compared to k+m.
Yeah, I don't know what's going on with yours. My controller feels very much better than K+M... there's just too much in the way of you having to move and fire and be conscious of your surroundings for K+M to ever feel good. It is strange that barrels are so efficient, but getting caught in the radius seems not to affect you as much.

I do agree it could have used a bit more polish, but as long as they keep working on it, I'm actually fine with the few glitches I've encountered.
 
I also have a much easier time playing with controller than mouse + KB.
 
Tried to reinstall Battlefield 1942 but it's not working. Not surprising but a little disappointing.
They don't like their old games. One of my faves is BF2142, but ... yeah...
 
I got Stardew Valley on sale recently and have been jumping between it and Civ4 the past week. Stardew Valley is very cathartic, tilling the soil and watching things grow.
Civ4 is a classic from my childhood, as Sumeria I have led my people to become a thriving hub of science and culture. However my military, while probably the most advanced, is small and my navy is almost non-existent. This has caused problems as Charlemagne and his Ethiopian allies haven't taken kindly to me forcibly expanding my holdings into Sitting Bulls lands. Fortunately my Airships managed to blunt the armies he sent my way before they did any real damage.
 
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Tried to reinstall Battlefield 1942 but it's not working. Not surprising but a little disappointing.
Finest entry of the series. Back when men were men and our inability to land a plane made us sympathize with kamikaze pilots. Spent several hours in great maps like Kursk, El Alamein, Operation Battleaxe, and our perennial favorites — Berlin, Stalingrad and Omaha Beach.
 
Finest entry of the series. Back when men were men and our inability to land a plane made us sympathize with kamikaze pilots. Spent several hours in great maps like Kursk, El Alamein, Operation Battleaxe, and our perennial favorites — Berlin, Stalingrad and Omaha Beach.
I have fond memories of much of the BF series. I played a lot of 1942, Vietnam. Played way too much of BF2(still one of my favorites), BF3 &4. A bit of BF1. I have Bad Company and 2142(?) but I think I've played less that 10 hours of either of those. Still haven't tried BF5.

Mostly good games.
 

I'm playing WATCH_DOGS: LEGION that is a game that can be really fun but you have to shell out money for Wrench and Aiden.
 
They don't like their old games. One of my faves is BF2142, but ... yeah...

BF2142 is my favorite game in the series. Haven't played any of the others since that one though, Being online multiplayer only killed the game eventually.
 
BF2142 is my favorite game in the series. Haven't played any of the others since that one though, Being online multiplayer only killed the game eventually.
People were running their own servers- it was EA that killed it for no reason.
 
I had to go cross-reference the How Old is Too Old thread to make sense of this one. You really are the baby of the forum, aren't you?
I grew up in a weird time bubble where all the movies that were classics of my childhood were from the 50's and 60's. All the games were from the late 90's/early 2000's and books were from every decade imaginable.
We had dial up internet, but no TV so all my media came from the local library. It's where I got my first DND book! A very well used copy of the AD&D Monsters Manual.
 
With young folks like Giganotosaurus Giganotosaurus around, who tries to be a Renaissance man. The world can't be totally fucked yet.

On the videogame front, I have finally been playing Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Despite not liking PnP Pathfinder, I really enjoy this game. I guess it helps to have a computer do all the number crunching. Have gotten to chapter three so still have a long way to go. Been playing mostly with turn-based combat, but have switched to real-time a couple of times.
This game is a true successor to the Baldur's Gate games, in my opinion. Other isometric crpgs over the years, didn't really catch that BG feeling for me. Haven't played them all yet though.
 
I'm playing Warriors Orochi 4 lately. I've had the game for some time. It was actually one of the earliest games I got when I picked up a PS4 several years ago. It was also one of the last disc games I purchased. The problem was that when I got it, I was suffering from Warriors burnout, so I only played a couple of missions and then shelved it. It took a few years for the burnout to subside, but I got back to it last month.

I've completed the main story and all the side stories. All the characters are unlocked. Now it's just a matter of S ranking everything on Chaotic difficulty via the old Warriors grind.

I'll probably pick up the Ultimate version when it goes on sale again. It will probably be a while since it was just on sale last month. In the interrim, I might get the scenario pack.

I picked up a little game called Void Gore. It presents itself as an 8-bit style vertical shmup. But it's actually more in line with the style of an Atari 2600 death from above game. It definitely has that sort of pre-NES era vibe to the gameplay while it has a sort of NES Lifeforce look to it. The shooting is combined with earning coins to fuel a persistent upgrade system. It's kind of a cool little retro game, and I think it was definitely worth the $3 I spent on it. Even though I got all the trophies in short order (yep, it's one of those), I'm still playing it. It's a solid score attack game.
 
HUMANKIND - Brought to us by Amplitude, the 'Endless' strategy series creators. This title is instead either a love letter or a threat to Firaxis and the Civ franchise as it bases itself in human history as a 4x setting, rather than the sci-fi fantasy they'd relied on for their previous titles.

So far, I am digging it. Instead of choosing a singular culture at the start of the game, each era you complete from a wide variety of requirements to choose a new culture every era. Specifically each culture will have their own unique building and unit each era, but a specific power unique to them. Each culture is broken down into a particular 'focus' - for example the English culture for the Medieval Era has a focus on food - their unique building is the Stronghold and when built, it also creates farmland. Their unique unit is the Longbowman. They gain extra 'fame' when satisfying the Food requirements for this era. Later in the game you might choose the British culture, who are all about expansionism. Their unique unit is of course the Redcoat Line Infantry, but their unique building is the colonial admin house (I forget the actual name) which can only be built on vassalised enemies. They gain extra 'fame' when satisfying territory control requirements.

Unlike Civ where you choose your aesthetic at the very beginning and must adhere to it for the best results, in HUMANKIND there is a little more freedom in experimentation; maybe I just did an era with a Food focused culture and built up my population, and this era I'll choose a Production focused culture to better secure my infrastructure.

The Diplomacy also has significant room to shine - you and your peers build 'grievances' such as trespassing on one another's borders, skirmishes between armies before you're at war, an opponent stifling your religion in their lands, maybe culturally one of their territories aligns itself moreso with you than it does with them - make demands of your opponents and they can either give in, or holdfast. If they choose the latter and deny you your claim, your people build War Support. Get this high enough, and you can declare war with no penalties, and fight it out until your opponent loses all their respective war support. Should you win, all those things you asked of them? They HAVE to give them to you now. You can maybe even ask for more, should your score be high enough.

The Diplomacy and War Support mechanics work well together; against a worrisome foe maybe I'll give in to their demands, or maybe I'll use this time before they get enough support to build up my own forces and find key chokepoints. Winning on defence is a powerful boost to my own score and a big blow to them. In one memorable war I was massively outnumbered but with an army of Hoplites and arches, I held a key pass into my lands and won the war through attrition.

Territory itself uses a similar 'area' control like in prior endless games - you don't earn areas tile-by-tile like in Civ, but instead you place outposts and lay claim to pre-determined regions. The verticality means you can search around your newfound area to find the most choice spots for both your economy, and for defence.

Overall I am having a lot of fun. My wife and I have been playing together - not without bugs, and nor is this game perfect. Either way it's a strong competitor to Civ and I think I'm enjoying it a lot more than I have enjoyed Civ lately.
 
Been playing The Dungeon Beneath and loving it. Some of the reviews kept me from buying it but upon playing I found they were wrong. The complaint was that RNG prevents you from building an effective team and strategy but I strongly disagree.
 
HUMANKIND - Brought to us by Amplitude, the 'Endless' strategy series creators. This title is instead either a love letter or a threat to Firaxis and the Civ franchise as it bases itself in human history as a 4x setting, rather than the sci-fi fantasy they'd relied on for their previous titles.

So far, I am digging it. Instead of choosing a singular culture at the start of the game, each era you complete from a wide variety of requirements to choose a new culture every era. Specifically each culture will have their own unique building and unit each era, but a specific power unique to them. Each culture is broken down into a particular 'focus' - for example the English culture for the Medieval Era has a focus on food - their unique building is the Stronghold and when built, it also creates farmland. Their unique unit is the Longbowman. They gain extra 'fame' when satisfying the Food requirements for this era. Later in the game you might choose the British culture, who are all about expansionism. Their unique unit is of course the Redcoat Line Infantry, but their unique building is the colonial admin house (I forget the actual name) which can only be built on vassalised enemies. They gain extra 'fame' when satisfying territory control requirements.

Unlike Civ where you choose your aesthetic at the very beginning and must adhere to it for the best results, in HUMANKIND there is a little more freedom in experimentation; maybe I just did an era with a Food focused culture and built up my population, and this era I'll choose a Production focused culture to better secure my infrastructure.

The Diplomacy also has significant room to shine - you and your peers build 'grievances' such as trespassing on one another's borders, skirmishes between armies before you're at war, an opponent stifling your religion in their lands, maybe culturally one of their territories aligns itself moreso with you than it does with them - make demands of your opponents and they can either give in, or holdfast. If they choose the latter and deny you your claim, your people build War Support. Get this high enough, and you can declare war with no penalties, and fight it out until your opponent loses all their respective war support. Should you win, all those things you asked of them? They HAVE to give them to you now. You can maybe even ask for more, should your score be high enough.

The Diplomacy and War Support mechanics work well together; against a worrisome foe maybe I'll give in to their demands, or maybe I'll use this time before they get enough support to build up my own forces and find key chokepoints. Winning on defence is a powerful boost to my own score and a big blow to them. In one memorable war I was massively outnumbered but with an army of Hoplites and arches, I held a key pass into my lands and won the war through attrition.

Territory itself uses a similar 'area' control like in prior endless games - you don't earn areas tile-by-tile like in Civ, but instead you place outposts and lay claim to pre-determined regions. The verticality means you can search around your newfound area to find the most choice spots for both your economy, and for defence.

Overall I am having a lot of fun. My wife and I have been playing together - not without bugs, and nor is this game perfect. Either way it's a strong competitor to Civ and I think I'm enjoying it a lot more than I have enjoyed Civ lately.
I've only found time to play for about 30 minutes so far, but I've already found things I like. It's nice touch you have an era of the game where you play a hunter-gatherer tribe. You don't make your first civ pick until after that era. You've had time to explore, making it an informed choice, as opposed to the issue in Civ, where you pick a nautical civ, then find you started in the middle of a continent and need to generate a new game. It also avoids the first-turn dilemma in Civ of deciding whether to just build a city or look around for an optimal location. By the time you build your first outpost, you'll have a chance to look around.

I've heard the AI might have issues, but there is always multiplayer.
 
I've only found time to play for about 30 minutes so far, but I've already found things I like. It's nice touch you have an era of the game where you play a hunter-gatherer tribe. You don't make your first civ pick until after that era. You've had time to explore, making it an informed choice, as opposed to the issue in Civ, where you pick a nautical civ, then find you started in the middle of a continent and need to generate a new game. It also avoids the first-turn dilemma in Civ of deciding whether to just build a city or look around for an optimal location. By the time you build your first outpost, you'll have a chance to look around.

I've heard the AI might have issues, but there is always multiplayer.
I really like the Neolithic era! It allows you to really get a sense for your area and hunt around for a better or more aggressive starting position.

We tried the default difficulty setting and found ourselves quickly outmatched, whereas the next-easiest difficulty, the AI is somewhat of a weak player. I often see their armies march back and forth when I hold key chokepoints.
 
The Mad Hatter The Mad Hatter chuckdee chuckdee I can see if I can get a server running for 2142 if you both want to join.

I would be interested, but there is the issue with timezones. I live in Denmark you know.

Secondly, I won't commit right now anyway. My dad just died yesterday, so there is a lot of things that need my attention right now. Can't really keep a straight head at this moment.

But thanks for suggesting it.
 
The Mad Hatter The Mad Hatter chuckdee chuckdee I can see if I can get a server running for 2142 if you both want to join.
I think there was a problem with the protocols that was preventing people from running servers.

But, thanks for the offer- I think it's more nostalgia than anything else- I think I'd be disappointed by the real thing.
 
I think there was a problem with the protocols that was preventing people from running servers.

But, thanks for the offer- I think it's more nostalgia than anything else- I think I'd be disappointed by the real thing.
Maybe not. BF 1942 graphics and gameplay were pretty dated but 2142 wasn't nearly as bad.
 
Started playing Concrete Genie on PS Plus and man is it a pretty video game.

 
My wife started playing Yakuza: Like A Dragon.

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We've had Don't Starve for while and I finally gave it a try. After 8-10 hours, I got the gist of it and decided it's mainly tedium. I got a farm set up and did ok. I could spend 100 hours and get really good, but why? I spend all my time gathering materials and food. It's like a tougher, clunkier version of Minecraft.
 
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