Just keep your expectations in check. Crysis 2 is quite a bit different from the first game.
Last game you finished, tell us about it
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Just keep your expectations in check. Crysis 2 is quite a bit different from the first game.
Verde Station
A sci fi, adventure, walking simulator - with some cool puzzles at games end. Verde Station is a very short game but the pay off is unforgettable. Can't say more without major spoilers but if you ever find this game in a bundle or on sale, it is a must have. It starts off slow and perhaps gets slower as you proceed but the game is short is ultimately worth your time.
NOTE: I usually take twice as long to finish a game as most people but it took me only 1.5 hours to finish. However, even though I finished the game I only got one out of twelve achievements. Possible (rare) replay for me to see what I missed.
A sci fi, adventure, walking simulator - with some cool puzzles at games end. Verde Station is a very short game but the pay off is unforgettable. Can't say more without major spoilers but if you ever find this game in a bundle or on sale, it is a must have. It starts off slow and perhaps gets slower as you proceed but the game is short is ultimately worth your time.
NOTE: I usually take twice as long to finish a game as most people but it took me only 1.5 hours to finish. However, even though I finished the game I only got one out of twelve achievements. Possible (rare) replay for me to see what I missed.
Just finished Pillars of Eternity (Hard). Great game, loved almost everything, so I think it's easier to say what I didn't like:
- Didn't like the stat system. I guess I prefer the more traditional approach where Might = muscles, Intelligence = brains and Wisdom = faith.
- Didn't like combat pathing, many times I had to manually move someone somewhere so they could then reach their target.
- Didn't like that there was too much exp in the game. I think a better solution would have been to make the Endless dungeon grant something extra to do, bonuses, artifacts, etc. but no exp, same with traps, no exp. Problem is, I was almost max level when I reached Twin Elms after doing the dungeon, and to me character advancement is a major objective… once I reached max level I found myself just plowing to end the game, ignoring most side quests in the last chapter.
- Didn't like one thing about Chanters… I loved the chanting system, but the fact that incantations happen after X number of phrases, and lower level phrases are faster than higher level ones, I ended up using a chant with 2 level 1 phrases for almost the whole game.
I think playing Hard difficulty is exactly the way I wanted it. Most standard map fights were easy, some were balanced, some challenging (most boss fights), and a couple very challenging (Lord Raedric and 'The Master Below'), but overall perfect for me.
Score? I'd say 90/100.
- Didn't like the stat system. I guess I prefer the more traditional approach where Might = muscles, Intelligence = brains and Wisdom = faith.
- Didn't like combat pathing, many times I had to manually move someone somewhere so they could then reach their target.
- Didn't like that there was too much exp in the game. I think a better solution would have been to make the Endless dungeon grant something extra to do, bonuses, artifacts, etc. but no exp, same with traps, no exp. Problem is, I was almost max level when I reached Twin Elms after doing the dungeon, and to me character advancement is a major objective… once I reached max level I found myself just plowing to end the game, ignoring most side quests in the last chapter.
- Didn't like one thing about Chanters… I loved the chanting system, but the fact that incantations happen after X number of phrases, and lower level phrases are faster than higher level ones, I ended up using a chant with 2 level 1 phrases for almost the whole game.
I think playing Hard difficulty is exactly the way I wanted it. Most standard map fights were easy, some were balanced, some challenging (most boss fights), and a couple very challenging (Lord Raedric and 'The Master Below'), but overall perfect for me.
Score? I'd say 90/100.
Yme
Sentinel
I just finished Bloodborne. It enjoyed it quite a bit, but it was also my least favorite among the Souls games. This will be the only one I wont play again at some point.
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Yme, IMO you should go for Titan Souls next.
Meanwhile I'll quote a wellknown game reviewever:
Meanwhile I'll quote a wellknown game reviewever:
https://twitter.com/Totalbiscuit/status/588010133051076608
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Yme
Sentinel
Titan Souls is not for me either. Looks like a neat game, but I would not enjoy it.
I might just go for Xulima next, tried it for a little bit some time ago and it left me with a great impression.
I might just go for Xulima next, tried it for a little bit some time ago and it left me with a great impression.
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I haven't been doing much gaming lately, but I did manage to finish Dying Light a few days ago.
It's a pretty solid game. Nothing truly special, but it's a hell of a lot better than Dead Island. They really nailed the atmosphere, and the city was fun to explore.
I think I spent around 40 hours not counting reloads, but I skipped a good portion of the sidequests after they started feeling repetitive to me. The game allows you to continue playing after the final battle, so I might mess around with it some more in my free time.
The main storyline was pretty average. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't anything to write home about either.
If you're a fan of the GTA paradigm (1 large open-world city to explore, lots of sidequests, lots of collectibles to find) then give it a try. I'm not a big fan of these types of games myself, but I enjoyed Dying Light more than I thought I would.
The final battle was a letdown, but it didn't bring down the overall experience for me. I'd probably rate it close to 8/10.
It's a pretty solid game. Nothing truly special, but it's a hell of a lot better than Dead Island. They really nailed the atmosphere, and the city was fun to explore.
I think I spent around 40 hours not counting reloads, but I skipped a good portion of the sidequests after they started feeling repetitive to me. The game allows you to continue playing after the final battle, so I might mess around with it some more in my free time.
The main storyline was pretty average. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't anything to write home about either.
If you're a fan of the GTA paradigm (1 large open-world city to explore, lots of sidequests, lots of collectibles to find) then give it a try. I'm not a big fan of these types of games myself, but I enjoyed Dying Light more than I thought I would.
The final battle was a letdown, but it didn't bring down the overall experience for me. I'd probably rate it close to 8/10.
KaosWarMonk
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Finished Sniper Elite 2 last night. Was a freebie when they released 3 IIRC.
Basically WW2 sniper pr0n game where you get to shoot lots of Germans and Russians in the bones of a dying Berlin. I played on the hardest difficulty and thought it was pretty fun as far as FPS games go. It's not 100% sniper shooting, you have an SMG, a silenced pistol and various types of explosives as well which get a bit of use.
Reasonably challenging, totally linear, was a good, fairly mindless distraction for about 20 hours all up.
Main faults - I had quite a few CTDs. You only get save points so having to redo a couple of the really difficult sections over and over was a bit tedious/frustrating.
-kaos
Basically WW2 sniper pr0n game where you get to shoot lots of Germans and Russians in the bones of a dying Berlin. I played on the hardest difficulty and thought it was pretty fun as far as FPS games go. It's not 100% sniper shooting, you have an SMG, a silenced pistol and various types of explosives as well which get a bit of use.
Reasonably challenging, totally linear, was a good, fairly mindless distraction for about 20 hours all up.
Main faults - I had quite a few CTDs. You only get save points so having to redo a couple of the really difficult sections over and over was a bit tedious/frustrating.
-kaos
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I finished Might and Magic X this morning. Now I can finally say I've completed a Might and Magic game. 
I've played most of them, but, until today, I had never seen one to the end. My party was a Human male Paladin, Dwarf male Shield Guard, Elf female Druid Elder, and a Human male Archmage. I finished it at 171 Days, 2 hours in-game time with a level 33 party. 139 hours of play time according to Steam. I cleared every dungeon and finished all the sidequests except for two. Found all the relics save one.
I enjoyed it for the most part, but I really didn't care for Act 4, especially the final dungeon. The endgame was a ridiculously long grind, and I probably would have quit had I not already invested so much time at that point.
Overall I'd probably rate it around a 7.5/10. The final act definitely lowered my opinion some, but it was a worthwhile experience.
I've played most of them, but, until today, I had never seen one to the end. My party was a Human male Paladin, Dwarf male Shield Guard, Elf female Druid Elder, and a Human male Archmage. I finished it at 171 Days, 2 hours in-game time with a level 33 party. 139 hours of play time according to Steam. I cleared every dungeon and finished all the sidequests except for two. Found all the relics save one.
I enjoyed it for the most part, but I really didn't care for Act 4, especially the final dungeon. The endgame was a ridiculously long grind, and I probably would have quit had I not already invested so much time at that point.
Overall I'd probably rate it around a 7.5/10. The final act definitely lowered my opinion some, but it was a worthwhile experience.
Thrasher
Wheeee!
Nice. Still cranking through it myself. At level 23 now, and almost getting my ass kicked in the blackguard headquarters.
Fnord
SasqWatch
I just recently beat Legend of Grimrock 2. Final save claims that I spent 11h, 25min, but that does not take into account the times I died, so the actual game time would be slightly longer.
There is still a good chunk of content left, possibly up to 5h worth of game time (it's hard to estimate). This makes LoG 2 about twice as lengthy as LoG 1, which still puts it in the "rather short" category for CRPGs. The game was excellent though, with well thought out puzzles, challenging combat and plenty of secrets.
There is still a good chunk of content left, possibly up to 5h worth of game time (it's hard to estimate). This makes LoG 2 about twice as lengthy as LoG 1, which still puts it in the "rather short" category for CRPGs. The game was excellent though, with well thought out puzzles, challenging combat and plenty of secrets.
Interesting... I think I spent around 20 hours in finishing LoG 1, and I spent about the same amount of time in LoG 2 before moving on, at which point I was only a little more than halfway through the game.
I did have close to a 100% completion rating in LoG 1 though. Iirc, I finished having found 98% of the secrets.
I did have close to a 100% completion rating in LoG 1 though. Iirc, I finished having found 98% of the secrets.
CelticFrost
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What sort of rating would you give this game...I have almost bought it a few times.
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Fnord
SasqWatch
Hard to say. I really liked it, but it did not impress me the same way as LoG 1 did, mainly because it was so similar. LoG 2 is better in almost every way than LoG 1 though, so if you liked LoG 1, then you'll like LoG 2. If you disliked LoG 1, you won't like LoG 2, as LoG 2 is basically LoG 1, but with more content, and with a bit more polish.
If my memory serves, LoG 1 was a 9h game for me. I had nowhere near 100% completion rate though, but as LoG 1 was so much more linear, I still felt like I had seen pretty much all that the game had to offer.
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After 12,510 Shots Fired, 1,019 Total Kills, out of which 627 were headshots, and 32 deaths, most of which were accrued during the final boss fight on the medium "Bring'em On" difficulty, I have just finished Wolfenstein The Old Blood.
Awesome game in my opinion and to me my new favorite Wolfenstein after Return to Castle Wolfenstein. The New Order's 1960s Nazi utopia was a nice change of scenery from the same old WW2 setting but this is still the "real" Wolfenstein. I'd say it's a tiny little notch better than TNO even.
Not sure why it's got mixed reviews on Steam or why PC Gamer only gave it a 70% rating (the editor rushed through in only 4.5 hours). For me it's a solid ~85% or so.
I won't spoil any of the story of the game which is rather thin anyway. Suffice to say BJ is investigating some occult Nazi research related to King Otto and visits various locations in and around Castle Wolfenstein during his adventures.
What's nice is that the story unfolds slowly. That way it becomes a part of the progression and it's always motivating to keep going and discover what's next.
The level design is great in this game. Every location is unique and makes sense within the context of the game. No show-off themepark levels.
There are multiple paths often times so you can take a stealthy approach and avoid enemies or go in guns blazing.
The only slightly irritating part with regard to the locations is that Paderborn somehow seems to have moved from central Western Germany to the alps but, OK, it's probably not reasonable to expect historical or geographical accuracy from this kind of game.
Exploration is rewarding thanks to the unlocks and there are quite a few secret areas in the game with interesting things to find like (creepy) audio recordings (think BioShock) that add a bit of background.
You can also sleep in beds again and play classic Wolfenstein (like in TNO).
The atmosphere is awesome. They have absolutely nailed that classic (Return to Castle) Wolfenstein feel. Great characters, too. The German voice over is flawless. This could be straight from a 1940s German flick. And BJ has a few funny as hell moments when he comments on certain things. They should have actually done more of that. It's painfully rare but all the more amusing when he blurts out one of his lines.
The gun play is very similar to TNO, although there are a few "new" weapons, at least by name. It's definitely lots of fun to put the whole arsenal to use. The game could have maybe used a little more variety like opportunities to snipe more often but it's all good fun.
Last but not least, the decent AI should get an extra mention. They've done a really good job here. Those Nazis will come hunt you down quite aggressively. Well done.
On the technical side, as I posted in the "playing now" thread, the game is quite demanding and the id tech engine has probably run its course, too.
On my GTX 980 (i7-4790K, 16GB RAM), I chose the "ultra" preset and then dialed down the AA to 2x for playable fps in the 40s to 60 range. The game dropped from 60 into the 40s when the scenery opened up and every time there was a fire in a scene, probably due to the blurry heat effect.
4x AA increases the used VRAM (at 1440p) from ~2.6GB to ~3.2GB and the RAM usage goes up from ~5.xGB to ~6.5GB while the frames drop from 60fps to ~40fps (and lower in more demanding scenes so it's not really playable very well). Quick note to SLI users: This game does not support SLI.
The graphics are generally great. The developers have paid a lot of attention to detail so many locations are very pleasing to look at. Animations and characters are state of the art.
Finally, for everyone who is considering this game, two more quick hints. Check this thread at the Steam forums for fixing a silly omission by the devs.
Secondly, I would advise to download and install the RAD video tools (for the BINK video files). I got a green screen bug on some cutscenes and even a crash to desktop (the only one in the entire 8 - 10 hour playthrough) before installing BINK. The green screen bug must have already been around in TNO but I never encountered it personally. But here I missed a couple cutscenes in the early chapters before I found this fix. Every cutscene after that was displayed properly. Save yourself the annoyance.
Awesome game in my opinion and to me my new favorite Wolfenstein after Return to Castle Wolfenstein. The New Order's 1960s Nazi utopia was a nice change of scenery from the same old WW2 setting but this is still the "real" Wolfenstein. I'd say it's a tiny little notch better than TNO even.
Not sure why it's got mixed reviews on Steam or why PC Gamer only gave it a 70% rating (the editor rushed through in only 4.5 hours). For me it's a solid ~85% or so.
I won't spoil any of the story of the game which is rather thin anyway. Suffice to say BJ is investigating some occult Nazi research related to King Otto and visits various locations in and around Castle Wolfenstein during his adventures.
What's nice is that the story unfolds slowly. That way it becomes a part of the progression and it's always motivating to keep going and discover what's next.
The level design is great in this game. Every location is unique and makes sense within the context of the game. No show-off themepark levels.
There are multiple paths often times so you can take a stealthy approach and avoid enemies or go in guns blazing.
The only slightly irritating part with regard to the locations is that Paderborn somehow seems to have moved from central Western Germany to the alps but, OK, it's probably not reasonable to expect historical or geographical accuracy from this kind of game.
Exploration is rewarding thanks to the unlocks and there are quite a few secret areas in the game with interesting things to find like (creepy) audio recordings (think BioShock) that add a bit of background.
You can also sleep in beds again and play classic Wolfenstein (like in TNO).
The atmosphere is awesome. They have absolutely nailed that classic (Return to Castle) Wolfenstein feel. Great characters, too. The German voice over is flawless. This could be straight from a 1940s German flick. And BJ has a few funny as hell moments when he comments on certain things. They should have actually done more of that. It's painfully rare but all the more amusing when he blurts out one of his lines.
The gun play is very similar to TNO, although there are a few "new" weapons, at least by name. It's definitely lots of fun to put the whole arsenal to use. The game could have maybe used a little more variety like opportunities to snipe more often but it's all good fun.
Last but not least, the decent AI should get an extra mention. They've done a really good job here. Those Nazis will come hunt you down quite aggressively. Well done.
On the technical side, as I posted in the "playing now" thread, the game is quite demanding and the id tech engine has probably run its course, too.
On my GTX 980 (i7-4790K, 16GB RAM), I chose the "ultra" preset and then dialed down the AA to 2x for playable fps in the 40s to 60 range. The game dropped from 60 into the 40s when the scenery opened up and every time there was a fire in a scene, probably due to the blurry heat effect.
4x AA increases the used VRAM (at 1440p) from ~2.6GB to ~3.2GB and the RAM usage goes up from ~5.xGB to ~6.5GB while the frames drop from 60fps to ~40fps (and lower in more demanding scenes so it's not really playable very well). Quick note to SLI users: This game does not support SLI.
The graphics are generally great. The developers have paid a lot of attention to detail so many locations are very pleasing to look at. Animations and characters are state of the art.
Finally, for everyone who is considering this game, two more quick hints. Check this thread at the Steam forums for fixing a silly omission by the devs.
Secondly, I would advise to download and install the RAD video tools (for the BINK video files). I got a green screen bug on some cutscenes and even a crash to desktop (the only one in the entire 8 - 10 hour playthrough) before installing BINK. The green screen bug must have already been around in TNO but I never encountered it personally. But here I missed a couple cutscenes in the early chapters before I found this fix. Every cutscene after that was displayed properly. Save yourself the annoyance.
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Thanks for the impressions Moriendor. I'll probably play TOB immediately after TW3 or maybe even during if I need a break.
Question: Are you sure you had texture compression enabled in the options? If not, it sounds like the game is in serious need of better optimization. The VRAM usage you're claiming sounds exactly like what I experienced in TNO when I tried running it with VT Compression disabled.
Question: Are you sure you had texture compression enabled in the options? If not, it sounds like the game is in serious need of better optimization. The VRAM usage you're claiming sounds exactly like what I experienced in TNO when I tried running it with VT Compression disabled.
D
DArtagnan
Guest
I'm keen to try this out as well, if I ever find the time.
Finding the time for TW3 is going to be a struggle too, but there's no way I can wait
Finding the time for TW3 is going to be a struggle too, but there's no way I can wait
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Compression is indeed off with the 'ultra' preset. According to the setting, compressed textures boost performance while compression set to disabled improves image quality. The 'ultra' preset is obviously tuned for image quality and thus compression is off. So, yes, for GPUs with lower VRAM you can probably save a few hundred MB here by turning compression on but you will also suffer a quality loss.
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D
DArtagnan
Guest
It all depends on the difference, though?
If it's clearly visible, it's an issue.
If it's clearly visible, it's an issue.
Ah ok. I suspected that might be the case.
To be honest, there's not a huge difference in image quality either way. At least there didn't seem to be in TNO. I thought it looked better with compression enabled + 8xAA vs no compression and lower AA, but taste will vary.
The extra VRAM usage is a lot more than just a few hundred MB though, it nearly doubles in some scenes, and having that option disabled was probably the primary culprit of your performance issues.