What games are you playing now?

[Redglyph]

I'm still in HZD. The nature is so full of little details, but I don't often pay attention to it. When I loaded the game today, I spawned near this tree and noticed the ants carrying slices of leaves.

PS: It was also funny to see that they were going both up and down with their loot. Ah well, not a big issue.

 

[JDR13]

I started a 2nd playthrough, too (that I've put on pause until the DLC), and this time I made sure to grab my personal Dung Eater ash spirit. I don't know yet if it'll surpass the Mimic Tear or the Tiche, but it's well worth the effort if you can still get it.

That was the only ash I didn't get in my playthrough because I gave that witch the cursed dagger/knife too soon, and the puppet maker guy (Seluvis?) died before I could get the Dung Eater puppet. I wish I had went ahead and just looked at a guide for that quest.

 

[Redglyph]

That was the only ash I didn't get in my playthrough because I gave that witch the cursed dagger/knife too soon, and the puppet maker guy (Seluvis?) died before I could get the Dung Eater puppet. I wish I had went ahead and just looked at a guide for that quest.

Yeah, that was frustrating. You'll see when you get another chance (I assume when the DLC is out) that there are many things to do before getting the ash. It's quite fun, actually.

 

[JDR13]

Yeah, that was frustrating. You'll see when you get another chance (I assume when the DLC is out) that there are many things to do before getting the ash. It's quite fun, actually.

I'm not restarting for the DLC. I knew about feeding him the cursed seeds and all that, I just didn't realize giving Ranni the knife was going to kill Seluvis.

For future Fromsoft games, I think I'll make periodic backups of my save file for stuff like that. I don't relish the thought of save scumming, but I'll make an exception for them because of how obtuse they like to make their NPC questlines.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Seems I've been gallivanting and doing quests in the Zone, but didn't pursue Strelok's stash quest all the way through. Only now did I fully explore those underground tunnels underneath the Agroprom complex.
And managed to kill about 3-4 bloodsuckers (finally found out what the cthulhu monsters were called). And right at the end I had to run away from what apparently is called a Poltergeist. Could not kill it. It stunlocked me and killed me on each attempt, with the camera zoom effects and the blurry vision it would cast on me.

I'm surprised that even though it's obvious that the game didn't have a big budget for story and narrative, it still manages to craft something interesting via the logs.
And I can see Strelok talking with Ghost about a third mercenary that's on his tail. I assume that's gonna turn out to be me, and that's how I ended up on the death truck at the start of the game.
Or maybe they'll pull an even more interesting twist. Like finding out that I was part of Strelok's gang. Wait ... am I Fang? No spoilers.

 

[JFarrell71]

I've played 4 or 5 hours of Dragon's Dogma 2 (on PS5) and it's sadly not for me.

I find it very boring. I've been searching for the fun, but I can't find it. The combat is okay, and it's very cool the first time I encounter any enemy, but it's not THAT great. Bigger enemies are mostly HP sponges. I mostly do the same couple of moves over and over.

Exploration isn't very interesting to me because it's mostly finding chests and seeker tokens. Quests and NPC interaction is minimalistic. The pawns are neat, as before, but they also grow repetitive. The first time one gave me a hand slap after a fight, I grinned, but 10 hand slaps later I'm rolling my eyes.

Kind of a waste of $70 for me. There are aspects of it that remind me of Fromsoft games, but I find those 100x more compelling.

Edit: performance has been fine.

 

[Shagnak]

I've played 4 or 5 hours of Dragon's Dogma 2 (on PS5) and it's sadly not for me.

I can completely understand that. The RPG elements are rather simple (in terms of character advancement and the like) and the interaction and dialog is rudimentary.
The fun is in the combat and exploration, and if you're not enjoying that, then yeah, it's not going to get any better for you.

I'm in over 30 hours and though I'm still enjoying it, I have to admit that the shine has worn off a little. The best bit were actually the first 15 or so hours for me, where I was still wowed by the environment. While I still appreciate the level of detail that has gone into the world, it would have been nice to break it up with the occasional "proper" dungeon or something. Too many are just a small cave system.
Now I'm in a much more boring looking desert/rock biome, but I'm still having some fun finding all the nooks and crannies. Perhaps one day soon I'll find the person who'll unlock Mystic Archer for me.

 

[purpleblob]

I'm just at the end of Act 2 and I really am enjoying myself, but hopefully by the time I reach Act 4 they would have patched it I guess :d

You and I have quite different taste. I'm just trying to push through to see the ending just for the sake of it since I already sunk in so much hours into RT. Also act 4-5 quality issue isn't just about bugs. Story is really going stupid and its just combat --> level up --> combat again like in act 1. Its not really fun. HP bloat is real too. I fought enemies with 2000+ and 4000+ HP last night (for comparison, my party members have about 100 HP). Funny enough 4000+ HP boss wasn't difficult, the fight just dragged on for a while. Whereas 2000+ HP boss encounter was stupid (that insane difficulty spike) - it was pretty much 1 shotting all my party whereas I was barely scratching it with every attack. I had cheese the fight by finding a spot where it couldnt reach me and wear it down by navigator abilities. Even then I had 5 party members down and Cassia almost died too - this is like 7th attempt on that stupid fight. Up until this point, I didn't have issue with any combats since the rebalance patch.

 

[Lakorus]

I found Sparkle again in my Wiz 8 playthrough! She "hid" in the Umpani barracks, while I was looking for her in the recruitcenter next door
Now she's with the team again and I'm happy! She lags behind several levels and I had already sold all her gear, but that's okay. I just payed my first visit to Bela and bought some nice equipment from him. Now I'm going to explore the remaining wildernesses and then pay the Rapax a visit.

 

[Tony]

I've been playing a pretty fun first-person dungeon crawler called Ludus Mortis, an alternate history storyline where Rome is overrun by necromancers and the undead. Nothing mind blowing, but a fun waste of time to plug away at when I need a break.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Cleared the X18 lab in Stalker. I really enjoyed the mission just previous the actual underground lab. The one involving stealing the key to the lab.
That whole building complex was very nice to explore and clear of bandits. The lab itself was kind of annoying, but thankfully there were no big baddies. Outside of one that I killed easily.
I also had to check a guide on how to leave the lower section of the lab. I got locked in with, what I thought, was another anomaly that spits fire. But apparently it was something to actually kill, that you can only kill with grenades? And only then did the locked door open, so I could leave the lab.

I also did the stealing mission from the army barracks directly to the south of the game starting location.
Apparently I stole some documents that contained info about the missions the military had in the furthest north zone. And I was really hoping Sidovich (the trader to whom I gave the stolen docs) would share some of what those contain. But nothing. Just be on your way

 

[Pladio]

You and I have quite different taste. I'm just trying to push through to see the ending just for the sake of it since I already sunk in so much hours into RT. Also act 4-5 quality issue isn't just about bugs. Story is really going stupid and its just combat --> level up --> combat again like in act 1. Its not really fun. HP bloat is real too. I fought enemies with 2000+ and 4000+ HP last night (for comparison, my party members have about 100 HP). Funny enough 4000+ HP boss wasn't difficult, the fight just dragged on for a while. Whereas 2000+ HP boss encounter was stupid (that insane difficulty spike) - it was pretty much 1 shotting all my party whereas I was barely scratching it with every attack. I had cheese the fight by finding a spot where it couldnt reach me and wear it down by navigator abilities. Even then I had 5 party members down and Cassia almost died too - this is like 7th attempt on that stupid fight. Up until this point, I didn't have issue with any combats since the rebalance patch.

Well, I just hit a quest-bug - first big one as it doesn't let me progress that quest at all unless I fail it.

I have reported the bug, but I was really liking this quest I'll give it a week or so then continue - maybe they'll release a hotfix for it.

Combat has been pretty trivial for me except for a few fights. I tend to simply put Cassia in front - she gets everyone into one square and then shoots off 3 damaging abilities in one go. Most weak enemies die and then the bosses get killed pretty quick by my sniper, whilst Abelard tanks.

I find the story and choices and consequences fun. I think that's what you already dislike though, so it makes for a different experience. I like the world and the whole setting. It's very fun to me to be the one messing everything about

 

[Carnifex]

That Ludis Mortis game looks like something I'd enjoy, might take a peek at that one later. I had a deuce of a battle yesterday in Grimrock two with four rock creatures, I had to bounce around and avoid them best I could while trying to whittle them down. Got it done yet it wasn't a whole lot of fun, lol. We'll see what's next!

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Fought my way through plenty of zombie stalkers and other creatures, and entered the Yantar underground lab, only to realize I'm at around 5% of armor left on what I have equipped and not enough ammo.
So now I have to walk all the way back to 100 rads to refill, and then walk all way back, with everything probably half respawned. These are the moments I regret not have fast travel.

 

[Redglyph]

So now I have to walk all the way back to 100 rads to refill, and then walk all way back, with everything probably half respawned. These are the moments I regret not have fast travel.

Yeah, those were brave times. Were enemies respawning in that game?

 

[JDR13]

Yeah, those were brave times. Were enemies respawning in that game?

It's been awhile since I played SoC, but I seem to remember enemies respawning after 1-2 in-game days. Only the random enemies though.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

It's been awhile since I played SoC, but I seem to remember enemies respawning after 1-2 in-game days. Only the random enemies though.

I've not tracked any pattern, but, for ex, the military that guard the first exit out of the initial valley in Cordon (the one with the train tracks on top, and the crashed rail carts) respawned very randomly.
I cleared the initial 5-6 soldiers, then I traipsed that path for days on end, to sell everything I was picking up, and no respawns. Then I started to see just one of the soldiers keep getting respawned, for a couple of times.
Finally, after I was way past that point in the story the game respawned the whole 5-6 soldiers every time, so I stopped killing them.

The bandits, dogs and bloodsuckers in Wild Territory (the railway area I need to pass to get to Yantar), those seem to respawn every other time I'm there. Plus the game also seems to like to spawn random quests in these areas, asking me to kill the bandits or stalkers in whatever camp. Quests that I'm definitely not picking up anywhere; they just trigger upon entering the area.

The zombie stalkers in Yantar, I cleared a path of them to the X16 lab, then found out I've not got enough armor and walked the path back to Wild Territory. And a bunch of the zombie stalkers and the those annoying gas-masked ones that walk on fours were on me again.

Speaking about the X16 lab, I loved the audio effect they enabled when you get close to the lab, due to the whatever emission device that's supposedly brainwashing stalkers that don't come equipped with whatever headpiece I now have that makes me immune. The audio of the whole game is muffled and I just barely make-out my gun shots. It's pretty cool sounding and very immersive.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Met with Doctor, part of Strelok’s gang, and had the big reveal.

Also, funny to know I’m not the only one to notice it. ))

Get Out Of Here, Stalker

“Get Out Of Here, Stalker!” is a phrase which comes from the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series, often used in discusions surrounding the games and game related image macros.

knowyourmeme.com

 

[SirJames]

I tried playing Helldivers, even though I don't have a group to play with or frankly intended to get very far.
But my main complaint about it is how glued to the ground the player character feels. And how slow compared to the bugs.
That game again cemented the idea that I just don't have the time or patience for these type of co-op games.

I think the speed you can run away is about right. Especially considering how they lose track of you from line of sight quite nicely. If you can break LOS going behind a rock you'll have time to do something.

I'm kinda the opposite. I feel more like it cemented the idea that I don't have the time or patience for dialogues with NPCS.

We're in a time where all the fun RPG mechanics have been stolen by other genres and even DOOM has an RPG Style progression of unlocks. I don't wanna talk. A story doesn't need words when it has pictures. BG3 is like "wow we have 197 hours of cutscenes of voiced dialogue!!!!!!". MEH. Boring. I'd rather shoot bugs and unlock guns and airstrikes.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

We're in a time where all the fun RPG mechanics have been stolen by other genres and even DOOM has an RPG Style progression of unlocks. I don't wanna talk. A story doesn't need words when it has pictures. BG3 is like "wow we have 197 hours of cutscenes of voiced dialogue!!!!!!". MEH. Boring. I'd rather shoot bugs and unlock guns and airstrikes.

You don't like to sit and listen to 197h of cutscenes, but I expect you do love to sit and read dialogue for the next 30 mins in PST or Disco Elysium?
Those are, personally, the best moments. When 30 min later I realize I'm still in the same dialogue tree. Love it.

I've slowly grown to not like pure gameplay, especially if you have to repeat it (as in multiplayer games) if it doesn't serve to primarly reinforce story, setting, immersion; basically it needs to build the world.
There's very few games where I still find that acceptable, and it probably includes Doom games and Diablo games.
Story, lore, world and characters are basically why I play. It needs to reinforce that. And even Doom and Diablo games still work heavily to reinforce the power fantasy, for ex. Which I still consider part of the story.
But games where you simply kill for items, or competitive shooters like Quake and CS, or League of Legends and DOTA. I've kind of given those up.
Not saying I wouldn't fire up some sessions if I had some close people wanting to play; but I find that's very rare in my life. I kind of make my own time.