The Video Game Thread: What are you Playing?

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The Mad Hatter said:
The mistake you did here, was playing Morrowind on a console. On PC you can load it up with mods, to improve some of those outdated things.

But I'm horrible biased here, because I think Morrowind is the best Elder Scrolls game, even to this day. I regularly get the urge to replay it.
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I actually still like Arena as dated as it is! Starting with no idea of what was going on or the world I was about to go into...
 
Stumpydave said:
Nex Xbox and Gears of War went straight on to make up for not beating it first time round.

I also installed Morrowind because I had it on the PC but at the time never gave playing much thought beyond sneaking into peoples houses, killing them and stealing everything that wasn't nailed down. So I thought 'Let's actually do the missions."

Let's just say 'you can't go home again'. Ambitious but dated graphics and UI. Complete disparity between actions and stats meant combat was a case of my furious flurry of blows equaled no hits whatsoever. A draw distance measured in centimetres and constantly being thrown out of the immersion by textboxes. Oh Morrowind...you were mindblowing back in the day but that day is long gone. All we are is dust in the wind....
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The best thing about Morrowind was getting killed by the crabs when you first start the game. You quickly master the art of retreating as fast as you can while still firing arrows at them.

Ok, maybe the best thing was on the PC version, your stats were just stored in a text file. Edit the text file, adjust a few things, and suddenly everything dies before the fury of your blade/axe/fist/whatever...
 
I have found that each TES game had their individual strengths and weaknesses.
Arena and Daggerfall had big ass worlds to explore, and both were full of overly repetitive quests and headache inducing dungeons.
Battlespire had multiplayer, but was also a weirdass mess.
Redguard had a genuinely awesome story and was the foundation for Morrowind's world building, but its the game play was too busy trying to be tomb raider.
Morrowind had amazing world building, but an obtuse combat system, dated (even when it was released) Graphics and an unstable engine.
I'm ignoring the mobile games.
Oblivion had some great side quests but mechanically was bonked.
Skyrim had lots of fun exploration and some great scenery, but suffered from shallow quests, under-cooked factions and an over usage of the radiant systems.
ESO has longevity and a team big enough to explore places not normally visited in the main series, but also suffers from being an MMO and having inconsistent quality when it comes to writing.
I'm ignoring Legends and Blades.
Each game has a part of an amazing game, if only Bethesda could combine those elements.
Sigh...
 
Giganotosaurus said:
ESO has longevity and a team big enough to explore places not normally visited in the main series, but also suffers from being an MMO and having inconsistent quality when it comes to writing.
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It's an MMO, but it can be played for the most part single player. It's hitting the sweet spot for me. And while true that some quests are better than others in immersiveness, I've not found any bad quests in terms of writing. I think I might be less inclined to be so nice if I wasn't on PC as with Skryim, the mods are what put it over the top.
 
To anybody who likes point and clicks I'd recommend "The excavation of Hobb's Barrow". It's about a young archeologist who sets out to dig up a old burial mound in rural England (Derbyshire). It's a bit "Wickerman".
No real moon logic as typical for Wadget Eye games, not overly long either and does a good job of conveying 19th Century England.

I wouldn't recommend the new Monkey Island. A bit too full of nostalgia and Gilbert's fondness for meta-narrative stuff.

Scorn is worth watching a no-commentary playthrough on YouTube. Amazing art direction, but it's not a good game and very pricey for what it is.
 
Séadna said:
To anybody who likes point and clicks I'd recommend "The excavation of Hobb's Barrow". It's about a young archeologist who sets out to dig up a old burial mound in rural England (Derbyshire). It's a bit "Wickerman".
No real moon logic as typical for Wadget Eye games, not overly long either and does a good job of conveying 19th Century England.
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I highly agree with this recommendation. The "Wickerman" thing is correct, but the game also has some Lovecraftian vibes. The game is also cheap, only 12 euro or so. Absolute bargain, in my opinion.
 
So here are two recommendations from me, that I recently played. They both came out last year actually, but I didn't play them until now.

Alisa is a survival horror game like the old days. We're talking Resident Evil on the PS1 here. Your playing Alisa, who's a Royal Secret Agent. She gets trapped in an old Victorian mansion, while hunting a wanted criminal. Even though Resident Evil was clearly an inspiration, Alisa brings new things in to. There's a currency of gears and shop to spend them on items, for example. Also it's a one-man project, which I always have a soft spot for.

Tormented Souls is also a survival horror inspired by Resident Evil and a splash of Silent Hill. This one has more modern graphics though. There's a lot more puzzles than combat in this one, compared to the inspirations. Some people didn't like the voice acting, but it didn't bother me. It was not any worse than it's inspirations in my opinion.
 
Gringnr said:
Running Far Cry 6 in co-op with one of my oldest and dearest (and out-of-state) friends. Good times.
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Yea I hit FC 6 hard with my wife and a friend. I beat it but still play a little each week. I have to say that the middle region was incredibly cringey and getting thru their missions was a chore. Otherwise I liked the game and my complaints are pretty minor (like there is no reason to wear anything other than the Parkour Set)
 
The latest patch for Elden Ring includes the opening of the various locked arenas on the map for PvP. The one in Caelid allows group battles and summons. Should be chaotic fun.

 
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chuckdee said:
I actually still like Arena as dated as it is! Starting with no idea of what was going on or the world I was about to go into...
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Yeah I'm looking forward to eventually playing the remastered Demon's Souls on PS5 (whenever the hell I can find one) but the slightly low-res look of the PS3 version had its own atmosphere and charm that I dig.
 
I've fallen in with Marvel Snap, and I can't get up. Seriously, that game is so good. If you like Marvel, or just like collectible card games, try it. Each match takes about six minutes. You play versus other players, but there's no talking.

Just one more match before work...
 
After trawling through my 2000's period via Gamepass I ended up looking to see what modern delights Microsoft held for me.
Downloaded Battlefield 2042 and the gameplay loop seems to be:
'Get confused by the menu' / 'Spawn' / 'Try to follow people who look like they know what they're doing.' / 'Die.'

I also downloaded Hardspace: Shipbreaker.


I say downloaded. What I've actually done is sign up for indentured servitude with the Lynx Corporation and my memories of 20th century Earth life are some weird delusion or dream.

Every second of that game feels like the opening scene of Firefly made mad sweet love with every blue-collar space setting from Aliens, Outland and through to the Expanse. It helps that it plays at a much more sedate pace than games aimed at teens, but it's no less tense worrying if you're going to cut through a fuel line, get sucked into a polymer processing station (done that!) or just not make enough money / incur additional costs from salvage to meet your bills.
Every ship looks like it flew out of a Chris Foss art book and when I've cleared my debt I might seriously consider looking for work with Weyland-Yutani. Or Tyrell. You know, one of the big corps.

It's a seriously immersive game.
 
Stumpydave said:
I also downloaded Hardspace: Shipbreaker.


I say downloaded. What I've actually done is sign up for indentured servitude with the Lynx Corporation and my memories of 20th century Earth life are some weird delusion or dream.

Every second of that game feels like the opening scene of Firefly made mad sweet love with every blue-collar space setting from Aliens, Outland and through to the Expanse. It helps that it plays at a much more sedate pace than games aimed at teens, but it's no less tense worrying if you're going to cut through a fuel line, get sucked into a polymer processing station (done that!) or just not make enough money / incur additional costs from salvage to meet your bills.
Every ship looks like it flew out of a Chris Foss art book and when I've cleared my debt I might seriously consider looking for work with Weyland-Yutani. Or Tyrell. You know, one of the big corps.

It's a seriously immersive game.
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Thanks for this. I have it, but haven't gotten to it- now it's near the top of my must play list.
 
Started playing Dice Legacy- really like it, just wish it wasn't real time and was turn based.
 
I'm an Xbox user, so I started my Nth Skyrim playthrough recently. For about a week I got seriously into Vampire Survivors, that game is a great example of how simple games can be engaging and I really enjoyed when I started to hit my Flow in sessions.

What I'm really looking forward to is when Darktide will drop for Xbox, looks like tons of fun.
 
chuckdee said:
And just to link it -

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Here’s one of the reviews.
I spent hours generating the perfect world. Selected my embark location with perfect features: a river, waterfall, metals, and clay, and thick forests. I prepared for my journey carefully, choosing essential skills for each of my seven dwarves. Each would be needed to ensure an optimal start. All required items and livestock, picked with purpose. At spawn-in, next to a river: stockpiles, dig sites, tree chopping, and herb gathering were all designated before unpausing the game, planned out for a perfect first-year start.

Holding my breath, I gently tap the spacebar. The game unpauses. An alligator immediately attacks one of my dwarves, maiming and drowning her while the other dwarves react to dispatch the alligator. The blood and gore causes everyone to vomit, and the remaining six dwarves are traumatized, become depressed, and begin attacking each other. The woodcutter kills everyone before succumbing to his own wounds and bleeding out.
The settlement is wiped out before it even begins.

Welcome to Dwarf Fortress.

10/10.
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Jetstream said:
That’s not much of a sales pitch from where I stand.
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That's the rub, right? It's exactly the right kind of pitch for the players of high-detailed colony sims, or at least the ones I see streaming on Twitch or sharing on YouTube. I remember giving DF a go maybe 5+ years ago, and I'm still not sure what I completely think about it.

Still happy for the success of the Adams brothers and the team who made the Stream version possible.
 
Been away from gaming for a few years. Just bought an Xbox and have the Xbox Game Pass. I see Skyrim and Dragon Age along with some other games I recognize the name. What games on game pass do people recommend?
 
I've been playing Talisman Origins on Steam and, fuckin' 'ell, I'd forgotten how tedious that boardgame is!




:grin:
 
JamesV said:
I'm an Xbox user, so I started my Nth Skyrim playthrough recently. For about a week I got seriously into Vampire Survivors, that game is a great example of how simple games can be engaging and I really enjoyed when I started to hit my Flow in sessions.

What I'm really looking forward to is when Darktide will drop for Xbox, looks like tons of fun.
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I haven't played vermintide yet, so I think I'm going to play that after Tiny Tina's and just wait on Darktide even though I really want something that I want to play 40k. I liked Deathwing, but it didn't really pull me in.
 
CRKrueger said:
Waiting for this one. Probably won't do the Collector's just to get into the Alpha. It's a 3rd person isometric like Fallout, Encased, Baldur's Gate, etc.
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It's made by the same people who did Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous.

I wasn't a fan of Kingmaker so much but WotR is one of the top 3 games I played this year.
 
The first year has passed in my Steam Dwarf Fortress game. Bellmetals, as the settlement is called, has done well with only one death (A Metalsmith went mad when she couldn't satisfy a strange mood). The Farm is producing enough to fulfill the needs of every citizens and the population has swelled to 30 due to migrant waves. Just before the turn of the first year we had our first child born, a little girl I'm tempted to name Virginia Dare. Bellmetals is settled in a cold climate, so even during the height of summer the river only partially unfreezes which may become a problem in the long run. So far I've yet to meet the neighbors, Goblins, Elves and Humans. There was a passing tribe of Black Bear Men that caused a commotion and an ominous Giant Grizzly Bear watching the dwarves from the surrounding forest.
Lets just hope that it stays there.
 
Spellslinging Sellsword said:
Been away from gaming for a few years. Just bought an Xbox and have the Xbox Game Pass. I see Skyrim and Dragon Age along with some other games I recognize the name. What games on game pass do people recommend?
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If you look just a few posts up I'm currently frothing about Hardspace: Shipbreaker.

I say frothing - Just got my Rank 11 licence and now I'm able to use demo charges and work on Level 2 Reactors which are worth more money! My debts going down and I've heard good things about Jupiter Mining Core but that only ties into my delusions about quitting teaching and working for a near future megacorp.
 
Spellslinging Sellsword said:
Been away from gaming for a few years. Just bought an Xbox and have the Xbox Game Pass. I see Skyrim and Dragon Age along with some other games I recognize the name. What games on game pass do people recommend?
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Depends on what you like and I don't have Xbox Game Pass but I took a quick look and would recommend the excellent horror/stealth game Alien: Isolation; Doom Eternal; Gang Beasts is a funny couch combat game; Hollow Knight is a really hard but good Souls meets Metrovania game; and I enjoyed the hell out of the gameplay in Middle Earth: Shadow of War.
 
I have a vampiric Serial Killer in my dwarven fortress. I suspect the mayor, but have no proof other than he's an immortal necromancer, which is technically not a crime. We also had a minor alcohol crisis, where in all the dwarves were too busy to brew new booze so a couple of people died of thirst.
I've built a tavern and a non-denominational temple, and am now working on setting up a Iron Foundry and big batch of apartments to house a recent migrant wave. Humans and elves came by to trade, the elves mostly had some overpriced musical instruments and the humans had lots of exotic food like quinoa. The Humans additionally had a representative of their trade guild who let me cherry pick what I wanted from them next year. I'm hoping they bring tamed Grizzly Bears, those would be fun.
Speaking of bears, more Bear-people tribal's are wandering by scaring the odd dwarf. These, and a Goblin kidnapper raid are causing me to prioritize getting the arms industry up and running so I can get a proper military force.
That Giant Grizzly Bear seems to have wandered off, only to be replaced by a flock of Giant Sparrows.
 
My first Dwarven fortress made it five years and reached a population of 55 before disaster struck. A werebeast (I think a wereboar, but don't remember for sure) wandered by when I was distracted elsewhere, made its way into the fortress, and started attacking people. It only killed a few dwarves before it was taken down, but managed to infect a few more before it died, and that's when the "fun", as they say, began.

Before long, the infected dwarves would start transforming into their beast forms, and in a short time, managed to kill off more dwarves (along with some visitors to my tavern and temple) and infected additional ones. This cycle quickly spiraled out of control, eventually leading to only four infected dwarf children left, who were essentially feral and running around their own corners of the fortress. They all transformed at the same time, and since werebeasts don't seem to fight each other, it ended up stable in the end (plus, there was a random dwarf ghost floating around too).

At that point, I decided things were way too far gone to be salvageable, so I abandoned the fortress. I look forward to how the next one I start will meet its demise.
 
Welp. I was going to play The Outer Worlds but I just installed Hardspace based on this thread. Will be spending my birthday working for the legal tender.
 
So I found out the hard way that Disco Elysium is a visual version of Zork where you can die easily and don't know what each action is actually going to do. Actually even worse than that because it's affected by your stats and skills. I'm perversely enjoying it.
 
bleys21 said:
Have you run into any Grues?
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Not quite- but it has felt like it. I had one game end when my character found out he had lost his gun, was tasked by his superiors to find it immediately, and went to the pawn shop for information and found out he'd sold it while he was high and drunk.
 
chuckdee said:
Not quite- but it has felt like it. I had one game end when my character found out he had lost his gun, was tasked by his superiors to find it immediately, and went to the pawn shop for information and found out he'd sold it while he was high and drunk.
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Lol, that's fantastic! I've had that game on my list for a while, but was never sure if I would like it. Sounds like it might be just nonsensical enough to do the trick :-)
 
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