Last game you finished, tell us about it

I believe I wrote 100 times skip WD1 and play only WD2.
WD1 is as boring as past two decades of hollywood, WD2 is as absurdly humorous as A. T. Jensen's scripts.
Won't comment the rest of games.

DArtagnan said:

Yes and no, really. They do some pretty weird/cool stuff with the environments that change things up quite a bit - but it still retains a similar vibe and ambience throughout.

I don't know how much you played it? I consider it one of the best games of the past few years.

While I don't think it's strong in the horror department, it's very close to games like Dead Space and System Shock in overall gameplay and structure. It's more open world with meaningful backtracking (something I love about SS1) - and it has some cool progression systems and a very interesting story. It's also a pretty strong shooter - which I know you like.

As for the enemies, I would say it's about on par with Prey - in that enemies share the same "otherworldly" quality and look similar on a surface level - but there are significant differences all the same. Also, some of the boss fights are pretty crazy and NOT samey.

You should definitely give it a go if you're on the fence.

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I didn't get the same vibe at all. Unless it changes dramatically later on, it didn't seem comparable to the games you mention. I didn't play real far, but I played long enough to get a general feel for it.

It's probably just me though. I don't click with Remedy's games. Didn't like Alan Wake or Quantum Break either.

JDR13 said:

I didn't get the same vibe at all. Unless it changes dramatically later on, it didn't seem comparable to the games you mention. I didn't play real far, but I played long enough to get a general feel for it.

It's probably just me though. I don't click with Remedy's games. Didn't like Alan Wake or Quantum Break either.

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I wouldn't say it changes dramatically, no.

I didn't care for Alan Wake or Quantum Break much, either.

I do think Control is very different from them, though. To me, it's similar to games like Dead Space, Prey and System Shock - in that it's an RPG-light sci-fi shooter that's based in a single isolated location. As a character, you're alone 95% of the time. It has a strong emphasis on immersion, exploration, light puzzle solving and character progression. It's full of environmental story-telling via audio logs, various notes and an assortment of other stuff. If that wasn't enough in terms of similarities - it also has an in-game economy based on stuff you loot from enemies, which is how they balance health and progression-related items, just like the games mentioned.

Aside from that, it's also heavy on the backtracking - revisiting locations as you gain access to areas you couldn't access in the past, which is one of my favorite parts of games like Prey and System Shock - because it makes the place feel real and, as you become more familiar with it, you start to feel like you're slowly mastering the area and almost take it over in a sense. To me, that's another layer of progression that I really like about these games. I will say, though, that Dead Space didn't have much in the way of backtracking - but it's closer to Control in other ways, like the way powers are handled (they're often used for the environmental puzzles) and the fact that it's also a third-person over-the-shoulder shooter.

Actually, I'd say the only really big difference, aside from a very unique setting, would be the much more fluid movement and agility of your main character in Control - which I personally think makes it more fun to play in terms of moment-to-moment gameplay, but to each his own.

So, for me, the games are much more alike than unlike.

But I guess you probably enjoy other aspects of the games mentioned that I'm missing or forgetting - and which Control doesn't have. That's cool - we all enjoy different games for different reasons.

I'd say the game is pretty upfront in terms of what it has in store - and if you didn't enjoy it after a few hours, there's likely no reason to go back to it.

It's just that you seemed interested, based on your question - so I thought I'd chime in for your sake.

I appreciate the more detailed thoughts about it. I got it for free on Epic awhile back so there's a good chance I'll give it another shot at some point. You do make it sound a lot better than I remember.

I think it actually did change over time. At the start, the game is very linear. You go in a counter-clockwise run around the executive level and you're done. There's really no side stepping. You've only got your one pistol, too, and one slot to put a weak modification in. There's no side quests at all.

As it moves on, though, you start seeing a few side quests. You start getting more powers. Your gun can take on more forms. Between advancing security keys and the levitate power, more pieces of the levels you've been on open up, too. When you start to get toward the end, lots of side quests open up, including some that felt a lot like "optional bosses" from JRPGs.

There seemed to be OK enemy variety. The game introduces more and more of those as it goes along, too, while still giving you the enemies you had before. So, by the end of the game, you've got the good old rocket launcher guys, the flying guys, the exploding guys, the whirlwind guys, the sniper guys, chaingun big guys, and more coming after you in any given battle.

It's on to Red Dead 2 now, though. Good to have me a game whar ever'one tawks wright fer once!

Well, true, it does change in that you get more weapons and tools, but I tend to consider that an implicit change in games like this, but the more we can do to incentivize JDR to wise up and play a great game, the better

Earlier today I finally finished Legrand: Legacy. I say finally because I think I was playing the game for almost a month, clocking in at the end a total of seventy-seven hours.

So, the game. It plays very much like a jrpg, similar stories and characters. You have a stable of six characters for most of the game, sometimes you have to play certain ones, and at times others come and go. The environment can be a factor in some areas, in a desert you must avoid sinking sand, and later in the game, arctic cold. Initially when I saw the desert design I thought, "Do I really want to tolerate this nonsense"? I stuck it out, and glad I did!

You've got quite the number of areas to explore, and most of the skills/abilities are self explanatory. Oddly enough, at least in my squad, the mage and the archer seemed to far out-damage the three upfront macho dudes. Even against opponents that had mitigation against their respective damage types, the ladies did extremely well, damage-wise. They do have a bit less in the hit point realm, so that's something to watch in combat.

The exploration, story, and character development here are all good. I picked this game up for two dollars and got nearly a solid months' play-time out of it. If you like the genre, you cannot go wrong with this title.

I was in the mood for something different and I had Yes, Your Grace on my wishlist and it was on a sale.

I decided to pick it up and it was a fun little game. It's essentially a kingdom simulator. Something you would find in the 1990s. The main differentiator is that it's a sim with a story.

The story can move in different ways depending on your choices and many of your choices do have some sort of consequences.

All in all, a fun little game if you can get it on a sale.

Done with Fallout 76 now for a while. I'll come back to it after a few more quest updates. I finished all the main quests and both companions in ~150 hours. Quite a lot of interesting lore to be found. Gameplay is almost the same as Fallout 4 besides the new way perks are applied. Other players can be completely ignored without affecting anything.

I got a solid thirty hours out of Final Fantasy one, the most recent iteration, and it was a total hoot. I'd only ever played the game one time, maybe six months after it was initially released. When I first read that the newest version would cut out recent additions to the classic game, it irked me, yet after thinking about it and realizing that these current developers were doing a homage to the classic version, I relented and picked it up. In the end, if we don't support endeavours like these, it only hurts the chances of other classics getting similar treatment.

All in all, I enjoyed every second. I went with a knight, monk, white mage and black mage. I was expecting the game to be quite harder than it turned out to be, and yet even when I felt entirely comfortable, that ever-present RNG can catch you completely off-guard. Honestly, if anyone else is on the fence with this one, if you've enjoyed other FF games I highly recommend grabbing this. I had no freeze-ups or any other technical issues with the game.

Elex. Same old formula which I still like, but even for me it is getting a bit stale. I hope they will start to innovate a little with Elex 2. Building on their strengths, the factions can be extended and be more in-depth (instead of just 3x rank up + armor). I missed out on the starting area which meant I explored the whole map avoiding every encounter. This is not very enjoyable to me and feels like cheating. A neutral starting city where you can get into the game would be useful.

Took me almost a week to replay West of Loathing, this time with the additional content included, and I've not laughed so much since the last time I played this game....prior to that it might have been back in the Leisure Suit Larry era.

What's to like about the game....well, it's the west. There are jokes, pardners to meet along the way, and demon cows to put down! You can be a big brawly muscle-type, a gun totin' maniac, or a wicked necromancer. Manifest destiny is your job, and business is booming. Oh, and aliens. Lets not forget those dudes!

If you're looking for a game that's fun to play and will have you chuckling at the same time, you cannot go wrong with West of Loathing. Yeee-haw!!

Carnifex said:

Took me almost a week to replay West of Loathing, this time with the additional content included, and I've not laughed so much since the last time I played this game….prior to that it might have been back in the Leisure Suit Larry era.

What's to like about the game….well, it's the west. There are jokes, pardners to meet along the way, and demon cows to put down! You can be a big brawly muscle-type, a gun totin' maniac, or a wicked necromancer. Manifest destiny is your job, and business is booming. Oh, and aliens. Lets not forget those dudes!

If you're looking for a game that's fun to play and will have you chuckling at the same time, you cannot go wrong with West of Loathing. Yeee-haw!!

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How much would you say the additional content added to the play time? I played thorugh West of Loathing when it came out and very much enjoyed it, but I'm not sure how worthwhile it would be to me to replay.

Hmmm I'd say maybe two hours in total for the newer content.

I used to play the web based west of loathing many (almost 20??) years ago. It was amazingly funny then, and I really should play the game.

SveNitoR said:

I used to play the web based west of loathing many (almost 20??) years ago. It was amazingly funny then, and I really should play the game.

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I did briefly, but there was a grindy component to it that I didn't like so I didn't stick with it long. This game is the best parts of WoL without the annoying bits, imo.

JFarrell71 said:

I did briefly, but there was a grindy component to it that I didn't like so I didn't stick with it long. This game is the best parts of WoL without the annoying bits, imo.

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Good to know! Yeah, the gameplay was only decent, but I loved the humor.

I've never tried the web version, might have to give that whirl sometime, as the humour is something I quite enjoy. I'm glad others here already know of it.

Varnhold's Lot (2019) the DLC for Pathfinder: Kingmaker which has to be played right in the middle of your main campaign of aforementioned P:K.

What a load of toss.

Not much positive to say here.

You have to interrupt your main campaign for no immediately discernible reason, create a whole new character, and then a whole new party, and then engage in some really repetitive and tedious maps/dungeons where you fight all the stuff you've already been fighting over and over in the base game. Only this time it's being a prick about resting, as if that makes any difference.

I was in the final map of a the final dungeon, having cleared the whole thing without resting, because you can't rest in dungeons... oh, no, wait, I go on-line to find out if there's any resting spots only to discover you can in fact rest, you just have to click the button to say you wont be hunting for food. Well there ya' go, halfway through the main game and in the final room of the DLC and finally I found out how to rest in dungeons.

And then the only reason I'm now googling about resting is because the game does that thing that all shit games do:

It stole my party members away. So instead of playing with my party of 6 I'm now having to play with a party of 4. Oh joy. So me specialising one wizard in summons and the other in evocation and enchantment turned out to leave me completely unable to defeat the final boss. My party that just completed 95% of the entire boringly endless dungeon of non-stop fighting can't now just finish the damn game because the game cheated and stole one half of my spellcasting output and one half of my melee attack.

First time in any game ever I've had to reduce the difficulty level. And after breezing so easily (not OP, plenty of little reloads because of that other bane of shit design 'Surprise attack' and 'random monster appears from out of invisibility' etc) through all of the rest of the content without even resting.

And then you look on-line and people say "that fight was piss easy, paladin with loads of AC and Smite destroyed him" etc, and yet my Paladin with loads of AC and Smiting doesn't even dent the fucker. Thanks for the help guys. Oh, you used Cloudkill did you? Righty ho, well I only had mass Stoneskin and Frost Cage in that tier. When what I really could have done with was the 400 summons the other guy had specialised in, you know, the one who got whisked away because lol 'plot'.

Oh right, you found loads of scrolls in a room near the boss did you? Would that be the locked one that would have been picked by the other guy who got whisked away? Ohhh, right. Yeah, how dumb of me not to have made a duplicate Rogue, huh.

What a load of fuck-off.

And this was just the culmination that typifies the module really. Just non-stop ass-hattery by the developers as you kind of aimlessly and without much motivation just hack through ten billion monsters on your way to a final fuck-you ending (yeah, wont give spoilers, but the story ending is a fuck-you as well, no matter what you choose, like most choices in the DLC).

Can you imagine if at the end of Wizardry or Icewind Dale and the game just stole 2 members of your party before the final boss. Regardless of whether you can still defeat the final boss, it just takes the piss out of the whole concept of party-building and character building. "I wont pick that on this level up cos the other guy's got that". Oh.
"So that guy will do that job so I'll build this other guy to do this other job". Oh.

The whole thing was like a fan-mod random game that might have been fun in such a context with little expectation and played some time after the main game as a bonus, but as part of the main game it's just negativity all round.

Pointless, flow-disrupting, cheap, hack and slashy, lazy, uninspiring, overkill, repetative, etc etc etc.

5/10

Now for a few days off and a hope that I can get back to the proper game at some point somehow refreshed rather than fatigued.

Yeah Lackblogger, I'm right there with ya, mate. They made some seriously poor decisions on that extra content, something I hope they learned from and are smart enough to not repeat!