What games are you playing now?

Wrote so many times that Dishonored is IMO a perfect game, won't bragg again. But…

Originally Posted by bkrueger
2. I have played the original Thief games very much and loved…

I didn't like Thief games.
In fact I dare to say that Dishonored is a mustplay for anyone who liked DX:HR.
Yes it's different. At the same time someone is pulling strings.

Originally Posted by duerer
My only concern is that I play AC:Valhalla (PS4, also on everything) in parallel, and already start to feel the Ubisoft formula burnout. . .

I'm currently playing AC Vikings.

Reviewers were praising it, everyone said OMG the best AC ever.
It is not.

It's more buggy than CP although was released much earlier, while visual effects are top notch it's uglier than Origins and Odyssey, it's not silky smooth as the two predecessors, combat became absolutely atrocious (f. off with dark souls) and if that wasn't enough of QTE there is a drinking QTE minigame, opening theme is the worst ever, etc.
I'll make sure to share everything I was disappointed with when I'm done, every hour another thing makes me roll my eyes.

I've thoroughly enjoyed both Origins and Odyssey, honestly expected a great game at least on that level.
Valhalla went lower towards mediocrity. It's not burnout, it's the game having too much of rubbish and design crimes inside.

I've reached Karnaca in Dishonored 2. And holy shit does it look gorgeous. And I love the southern hemisphere vibe of the city. Anyways, it's fantastic exploring the city. I realize I've really went from an initial luke-warm for Dishonored 1, to really liking how the DLC ended. And now I can honestly say I love Dishonored 2, for the little I played.

And indeed, the AI is shockingly more paranoid and able to see me in the most edge cases. Sometimes it even feels bugged, until you replay and see exactly how I was detected.

The worst thing so far is the audio, for voices of NPCs. It sometimes feels pretty much broken with regards to realism. I constantly have a feeling someone is about to see me by how close some voices sound, only to realize that it's probably the NPC from downstairs or outside. Anyways, that's pretty hard to do realistically, I imagine.

Originally Posted by bkrueger
But the greatest surprise was that I did find a new side quest, which I had missed during my first two play throughs (it is the one involving machine blood). The quest giver is not located in a city or otherwise marked location so I only found him by thinking: Oh, that looks like a building and I haven't been there yet. While it is technically a fed ex quest, it adds in an interesting way to the lore of the world, because you learn how different machines have different origin and destiny.

I had to look that up because it didn't sound familiar. You're talking about the quest 'Acquired Taste'. Indeed I missed that one during my playthough which is suprising because I was pretty thorough. (170 hours for 1 playthrough)

Originally Posted by danutz_plusplus
I've reached Karnaca in Dishonored 2.
…voices of NPCs.

The Outsider in DH2, the new voice actor, did not impress me.

I’m towards the end of the second mission in Dishonored 2, and the exploration and level design is just frikkin awesome. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun exploring and taking guards out silently.

Another thing that great enhances exploration is the fact that levels are huge compared to D1. D1 always felt a bit like a bunch of corridors/large rooms connected to each other via a door. In D2 the whole level is one big map. I guess using id tech gave them greater freedom.

They also managed to put in a little horror-flavoured location within the map, where you find some disturbing things if you’re attentive. Good stuff.

Originally Posted by joxer
The Outsider in DH2, the new voice actor, did not impress me.

Who cares about the outsider when Rosario Dawson is voicing Billie Lurk. This is another reason why I love the Death of the Outsider.

That's standalone DLC. Not DH2.

I hated the Death of the Outsider for various reasons. I'm not the only one as it didn't sell that well, and put a nail in the coffin for more Dishonored games. Love DH2 though.

I'm replaying the Deus EX games since I'm on a post cyberpunk 2077 binge. Now would be a good time for that third Deus EX game Square Enix. It's been four years already.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
I hated the Death of the Outsider for various reasons. I'm not the only one as it didn't sell that well, and put a nail in the coffin for more Dishonored games. Love DH2 though.

It was the perfect relaxed sandbox experience for me. Not rushed through the story in Dishonored 2, had many optional side missions, many varied environments and tough situations, and enjoyed the dynamics between Billie and Daud. Played it after completing DH2 and it was so refreshing and more enjoyable experience for me.

Xenonauts 2 latest backer build
Allows turning of the camera finally, which makes their neat battlescape really shine! Landing craft and soldier graphics are okay. I remember the Police unit looked remarkable in Xenon1, probably because they hired a professional artist to do the renders + coloring sprite animations.

X2 UI is still horrible. Microscopic fonts on the management menu. Labs, mechanics screens have really uninspiring, lame, flat 2D graphics. Bad+weak+lame SHT art direction totally ruins the game for me.

First of all, anybody remember the amazing screenshots for Dreamland Chronicles? It appears no development company is daring the true XCOM-path. Those who do, like Firaxis with horrible XCOM2, fail laughably.

I have a whole "XCOM Eternal" concept ready, which is just like DOOM Eternal is for DOOM, a mix of the Aliens+Event Horizon "Eternal". Extreme series of commandos against monsters. Hopefully I'll be able to get funding to outsource most of the graphics into capable hands.


What I want is the 'XCOM: UFO Defense'-jungle in higher resolution with same amazing lighting, flora & fauna animations. On mission begin on landing: DOOM 1-style monster sounds, so you know what you are against.. judging from the roars and hisses you hear coming from the shadows outside. Dark menacing silhouettes in the shadows - horrible xenomorph bodies and tentacles flitting around - and bloodcurdling death-screams, extreme gore, much-much blood. Almost unbearable tension. Hireable commandos. RPG-like attributes improvement. Absolutely captivating atmosphere helped by professional sound effects and amazing music.

Nowhere can I see the above.. Except when reloading X-Piratez and The X-Files, neither of which has completed development.

And done with Mission 3 in Dishonored 2. It took me a while, since I cleared it fully and was not spotted or killed anyone. And had a blast doing it. Exploring was great once again. I wonder how many missions there are in this one. I'm almost 15h into it. Dishonored 1 had abot 6 missions iirc.

I have to admit I had to use youtube for the last rune. I'm not sure I would've come up with the solution of

Playing Fallen Order right now.

I'm enjoying it more than I expected to. I played it first upon release, but gave it up because it was too jumpy-jumpy for my tastes.

But since I'm in a Star Wars mood - and there's a limited amount of Star Wars games available that are suited for my preferences, I gave it another shot - knowing what to expect.

It's really quite decent, if a bit safe.

Ok, it's a lot safe.

But the story is mildly interesting - and it plays well and looks good. I think I'll actually finish it.

Originally Posted by DArtReturns
Playing Fallen Order right now.

I'm enjoying it more than I expected to. I played it first upon release, but gave it up because it was too jumpy-jumpy for my tastes.

But since I'm in a Star Wars mood - and there's a limited amount of Star Wars games available that are suited for my preferences, I gave it another shot - knowing what to expect.

It's really quite decent, if a bit safe.

Ok, it's a lot safe.

But the story is mildly interesting - and it plays well and looks good. I think I'll actually finish it.

Welcome back DArt! Missed your posts on the forum!

Just finished (ghost and no-kill) the Clockwork House mission in Dishonored 2. Really imaginative level. Until I leared the level, it seemed really confusing. And kidnapping Jindosh and putting him in the electric chair, without his clockwork soldiers detecting me, really took some planning. But I loved how I did it, in the end. But I really abused the save/load system. As I did the whole level.

Also, I did not imagine the clockwork soldiers being such a pain in the ass, but them being able to see both in front and behind really complicated matters. But in the end, I did it. And loved it.

This next mission, though, I am not a fan of. I'm only at the start, but I don't like the moment of the day (towards dusk, I think) and I also am out of supplies. No mana potions especially. Hope to find some on the way, or a store.

Dishonored 2, along with Prey - are both masterpieces from Arkane.

So sad that they didn't become successful enough to warrant sequels.

But that's suits for you. Suits not only ruin the future of great franchises - they also ruin what should have been masterpieces on the first run (CP2077 is a good recent example).

Here's hoping we'll one day be able to witness what gaming can be without capitalism destroying it.

Originally Posted by danutz_plusplus
…And kidnapping Jindosh and putting him in the electric chair, without his clockwork soldiers detecting me, really took some planning. …

Destroying those robots doesn't count as a kill, so you could have had it a little bit easier…

Edit: And

Originally Posted by bkrueger
Destroying those robots doesn't count as a kill, so you could have had it a little bit easier…

Edit: And

Spoiler – Show

Electrical mines damage robots but knock out people, so you can use them safely in a no kill run..

But then I wouldn't be able to get the ghost achievement, since they'll see me. Or Jindosh would've most certainly.

The way I did it, was to throw a grenade in one of the corners of the round laboratory, which distracted the 2 soldiers which sprinted towards the explosion, all while prepping a slow time and blink to Jindosh, grabbing and chocking him, and then jumping back. And all of this was possible thanks to the freeze time while aiming blink talent. Otherwise, no way I would've been able to string and precicely aim in real-time. That's an awesome modification to Blink. I constanly use it to freeze time while aiming. Sometimes I even jump into huge gaps just to get a better view of the landscape I'm on, only to blink back. Very cool ability. Very fun.

Also, I forgot to mention the annoying labyrinth I had to run through with the clockwork soldier, while trying to get to Anton, but not letting the clockwork soldier see me. That was a challenge.

I'm playing Red Dead Redemption 2 for the first time and enjoying it a lot more than I thought. It's a lot more forgiving of my clumsy combat skills than I expected.

I'm playing Divinity Original Sin 2 DE as a Lone Wolf and may or may not grab a 2nd character. I didn't really like any of the origin characters much, though Fane was the best of the lot. I'll probably grab Lohse as I typically kill Sebille in our first meeting. I play on the absolute easiest level as I can't stand the combat in this game. Physical Armor/Magical Armor is the dumbest idea ever in a crpg, even worse the the constant surface shite. So, easy mode and probably cheat up the game so I can pass combat very fast.

I just like to loot

Wait, no really I'm playing Tactician Mode, with only one save and I never spend any of my talent, ability or civil points and only use my fists. I also don't use any potions or food and I use a mod that makes all the enemies fight in god mode only. It's the only way the game is challenging enough for my awesomeness. Not!

Originally Posted by danutz_plusplus
But then I wouldn't be able to get the ghost achievement, since they'll see me. Or Jindosh would've most certainly.

You can shoot them out of cover without them seeing you. But the easiest way is: See the spoiler. You can kill all robots and get the ghost achievement.

Edit: But of course your way of doing it is even more of an achievement.

Well, I'm about 10 years late but I have finally decided to give Fallout New Vegas a try. Recently, I had been playing to Skyrim and Fallout 4, so the differences between the games were glaring. It seems to me that the game didn't age well. It large map looks barren, empty. There are a few mechanisms I'm glad they didn't keep for Fallout IV (such as having to repair your equipment) and the interfaces sure feels lacking, so limited. It's difficult to know what's going on during the fights. Often, I'm surrounded by random explosions coming from nowhere, it just feels silly.

I'm not sure I'm going to continue it. The story seems great and they sure did a great job at recreating the Nevada, but it's difficult to ignore its age.