Gaming

Finished up Return of the Obra Dinn earlier.

I'll admit I started getting a bit frustrated about halfway through, but then some more stuff started clicking and I managed to get through the rest.

I had looked up a couple of hints to point me in the right direction when I was stuck, which I ended up only needing for about three cases. Admittedly, I did also brute force some shit with pure guesswork, but I don't really mind all that much.

Still, it was interesting. Might hit up some other detective game soon, not quite sure.

Playing through CP2077 for the 4th time now, this time with the dlc. Really does change the flow of the game, just a couple missions in so far.

In a couple weeks I'll be spinning up a new factory with friends in Satisfactory too! Getting excited for that.

Shameless plugs for both [email protected] and [email protected] for those interested

I beat Dungeons of Aether, both in the story mode and in the roguelike challenge dungeons mode that I didn't realize was there at first. The story mode is structured more like an XCOM or Midnight Suns, with a home base to buy upgrades at between missions, while the challenge dungeon mode is more like the Slay the Spire structure that the game's combat system sets expectations for. I wish I liked this one better. There are some decisions they made in late-game enemy design in the pursuit of adding challenge that I very much disagree with, where in lots of situations the game can just always react to what you do with the mathematically correct decision rather than allowing you to bait out attacks like the game teaches you to do. Also, one of the playable characters, Hamir, just seems way better than the other three. I beat the roguelike mode on my first try using Hamir. I got my money's worth out of this one, and it's got some really neat ideas, but it lacks the replay value you'd expect out of a roguelike. I think they need to take another go at this one and let it bake some more.

I then moved on to Backpack Hero, which I played in early access before they added its own story mode with a more macro structure, and I guess that's just what the roguelike market is doing these days, huh? So far, I don't think it's quite as good as just doing a regular run, but this game does have that replayability that you come to a roguelike for. I'll see the story mode through before moving on to the other games I'd like to finish before the year is done.

I’ve been watching some GPW3 gameplay, but I also would probably not be able to play it lol. I just beat Jedi: Survivor yesterday. I waited a while to pick it up because of all the performance issues and it really did run like crap, but at least I got it on sale and it was still quite fun.

I’ll probably either go back to Sea of Stars, which I only played for a couple hours so far, or maybe I’ll play The Messenger, which I bought at the same time in a bundle.

Also, with the release of the Rivals 2 Kickstarter, I’ve been playing a bit of Rivals of Aether with friends. It’s one of the greatest platform fighters out there, but I feel like it’s still very underrated

I reluctantly pulled the trigger on PS+ with the Black Friday discount because I have to have it to play Madden, and downloaded Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart because it's included. It does a beautiful job leveraging the PS5's features, and it's really fun. I also love the art style. Too many games go too hard at "realism" instead of just making a beautiful game.

Also, because I got it as a PS+ game years ago and just regained access without buying it, started playing COUNTER SPY again. I don't think it ever got the attention it deserved. It's a fun 2D stealth platformer smoothly combined with a cover shooter mechanic where you can aim and shoot in 3D from fixed cover points. Dying raises the threat level, and if you raise it past DEFCON 1, you get a countdown timer to complete the level or fail your mission. There are a couple mechanics to lower the threat level, and you can choose to gain your intel from US or russia themed enemies who are otherwise the same. Levels are procedural, and there's meta progression by unlocking guns. It doesn't really get to rogue lite because there aren't random powerups, weapons, skills, etc, but it feels similar otherwise. I would have loved a sequel expanding on the premise, but it's still worth a run every now and then.

I’m playing cyberpunk with the phantom liberty and 2.0 update. I think they’ve done a fantastic job fixing the game. It’s not perfect but I enjoy it nonetheless.

I felt an urge to play Skyrim again, had a lot of fun for a day or two, but eventually after I added some more mods I started getting frequent CTDs and have been trying to figure out what the problem is (and how to fix it) through the crash logs.

I might just have to remove Immersive Citizens from the load order but I really don't want to because it really makes the NPCs feel so much more "alive".

Edit of original comment:

Loaded up Vampyr after ditching it a while ago. Remembered why I didn't enjoy it and ditched it again.

Took a break, listened to some podcasts, saw Jusant finally got an accessibility update which makes it actually playable for me, so going to spend some more time with that, since I can actually enjoy it without destroying my wrists now.

I've gotten back into Minecraft lately, after not playing it at all for at least a year. I finally reached a couple major milestones, like defeating the Enderdragon and obtaining netherite scraps (still don't have any netherite equipment yet--obtaining smithing templates is a real pain). Playing on a couple SMP servers has also motivated me to put actual effort into beautifying my bases, rather than just living in a tiny wooden shack I made on day one or two.

I beat Hyper Light Drifter for the first time. And I think I spent some time on the new Mario kart levels, though that might have been last week.

HLP is a fascinating game with a novel approach to gameplay and world building. A few controls issues annoyed me, but they were growing pains and not fully learning the system. I love games that use that particular art style. I think I’m doing Mario Galaxy next.

I’m trying to figure out my second Voucher game to get.

My top choices are: Arceus - I enjoy pokemon, but it sounds like a lot of “research” busy work. Pikmin 4 - I haven’t clicked with Pikmin demos previously, but the idea has always seemed pretty interesting if I’d let it go farther. Mario Wonder - feels shorter, and more peripheral to my interest, but I’ve heard great things. Xenoblade 3 - I’ve only played XBX before and not all the way through. RPGs aren’t completely my thing, but I’ve heard great things.

None of them are THE game I’m after with pros and cons to each. The decision paralysis is rough and I don’t see anything worth waiting for before May.

Baldur's Gate 3 is my main game currently after taking a break from it for a while. If I just need something where I don't have to think too much I boot up Risk of Rain Returns.
Also been in a kind of MMO mood recently so I tried out Neverwinter, World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV, but found myself not really having fun with those.

Witcher 3. For like sixth time. I think I might need some help, because I've bought around 5 games last month and I didn't even open them.

Some Super Mario Wonder, GT7 and I just started Horizon Forbidden West. Probably those along with my usual FC 24 and MLB The Show. Those last two are great for a quick 15 minute session.

I haven't been playing as much since I've been prepping for Thanksgiving, but I still had some time for Diablo 3: Season 29. I spent nearly all week looking for a Treasure Goblin to open a portal to The Vault so I could slay Greed for one of the Conqueror chapter tasks. I came across quite a few of those lil guys, but they kept being stingy with the portal. Then I finally found a Puzzle Ring, surprisingly the first one I've found all season. Popped it into Kanai's Cube and finally got into The Vault. Now I'm back to working on Rifts, honing my time down to below four minutes for Torment 13. I've also hit that point where it feels like I'm leveling up suuuupppppeeerrr slowly, so, uh, that's fun.
Haven't done too much with Diablo 4 this week, but I'm hoping to get a few tasks done between family visits this coming week.

Elden Ring. Been on a souls like kick, so decided to do another playthrough. Haven't played in over a year I don't think so it's time!

BG3 campaign with a friend, and I alao just started Lies of P.

Lies of P is fun, but something about the attack telegraphing feels... off.

Skyrim, after lots of years of not playing it. Tried a couple modpacks and collections and they either have horny mods, bad performance, or are unbalanced in regards to difficulty. Like, I can accept dying a lot, I have hundreds of hours on soulslike games. What I can't accept is dying because of jank, and as good as a mod might be made, it still interacts with a janky engine. Even scriptless mods end up janky sometimes. I'm building my own modpack instead, choosing simple mods for modularity. Not gonna bash nothing so it will probably end up a little basic, but eh. Playing this to tide me over for whenever an Elden Ring or Baldur's Gate expansion drops.

Apart from that, Baldur's gate and Zomboid with friends. And the good ol classic, Rimworld.

Also, I'm a new DM and decided to fuck myself thrice over. I'm designing a whole new homebrew to play in an ASOIAF setting. It requires whole redesigns of classes, weapon systems, mechanics, etc. My players are excited for it though, I've been dropping sneak peeks and they've responded well.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 with my wife. A holiday break cut off our first game at the end of act 2, so I hope we make it through this time.

Soulstone Survivors by my lonesome. I'm on a bullet heaven binge, and this one seems pretty good.

I've been trying to play Guardians of the Galaxy but have been too busy with work and school since September. I only recently saw the movie based on a friend's recommendation, and I loved it. Thought it would make a fun RPG, and sure enough there was already one, and it was on sale when I looked so I snagged it. Maybe I'll finish it someday.

Finally done with Pathfinder: Kingmaker. This is a bad game, that nobody should play. The last third was a complete slog and not fun at all. Far too many fights and just full of enemies with bloated health. The post-game epilogue cards, where you get told what happened with your kingdom and companions, was pretty nice though.

I will give the developer, Owlcat, another chance with Rogue Trader, that's getting released soon, although I'll wait for some early reports of the game first, since buggy / broken launches seem to be par for the course for them.

Other than that, I also played more Risk of Rain Returns. I managed to beat the game a second time, but I'm just far too inconsistent. I think I'll do some of the Providence Trials next week and unlock more skills and try some more characters.

Starfield. I know people are polarized about it, but I'm enjoying it.

Also Valheim.

Yakuza Gaiden, the ending is a gut punch and leads hopefully to a good ending for Kiryus story. A love letter and greatest hits of the Yakuza series.

You could skip through the side quests as they are mostly a repeat of earlier games.

• I finished DmC (again) last week, in my quest to play all DMC games before PS+ pulls that DMC5 Special Edition. To me, it's better than DMC4 in terms of platforming, and to some extent the combat. The character design is not good, and the writing is good in some parts, but terrible in others. The button configuration sometimes gives me finger cramps.

• Then I'm continuing my quest to get infinite rocket launcher for Resident Evil HD Remake. I'm using the IGN guide, which I split into smaller parts for each save, annotating it with items in my inventory. I'm better at kiting zombies now. I think it's doable as long as I can remember what to do next. The annoying thing right now is that I'd accidentally open up the map, when I'm trying to open up the inventory.

• I will probably start Ys Monstrum Nox this week, it's part of my "play all these games before PS+ pulls it from the offerings" theme. It's gonna be exciting, since I enjoyed Celceta and Lacrimosa a lot.

Got gifted Alan Wake 2 and have played it close to half way through I guess. I liked te first one and have played through all other recent Remedy games too, so I've enjoyed it a lot. Also Finnish in jokes.

Other than that PUBG with the buddies is still on the menu a few nights a week.

Darksiders warmastered edition. I reinstalled it because i still have 2 achievements left to unlock.

I picked up Starsector again this weekend and having a blast with a modded playthrough.

Weekly raiding in FFXIV with friends, M+ in WoW by myself, also started back up in EVE Online again, just grinding a bit of isk to get back into the feel of things again.

For non-MMO stuff, I’ve been slowly getting through Cyberpunk 2077 and working on my all-numbered-FFs playthrough. Still playing Guilty Gear Strive, as well. God, there are too many video games to play.

Getting a little bored in 2077, the DLC patch hasn’t changed anything I had real criticisms of and the gameplay isn’t significantly better to make up for it, but I’ll try to power through and see if the DLC itself is any good.

Also a bit into FF2, and the leveling system is…strange. Definitely not a huge fan of leveling individual weapons/spells, especially on a per-action basis. But while the story seems basic so far, I’m interested enough to keep going with it.

As for Guilty Gear, I’m trying to get more consistent with my buttons, and trying to push myself to actually remember combos in matches. I’m good at neutral, I just don’t get enough from winning it to actually win enough games to progress where I’m at rank-wise (floor 8-9). So, getting more reward from winning neutral seems like the next big step on the path to improvement right now.

Nier Replicant ver. 1.22... It's awesome! Though the road to get all 5 endings is very arduous, even more so than in Automata