What games are you playing now?

I'm playing Avadon 2: The Corruption.
Alas, it's nowhere near as good as the Avernum 3 remake (the Spiderweb game I most recently played): Less interesting dungeons; a 3-member party size limit; pre-made characters that will no doubt become unavailable due to some plot mechanism, after having spent time developing them...

However, it is way better than the ultra-boring beginning parts of Avadon 1, which took me 3 start attempts before I kept at it and played through to the end.
It helps that it has a new character class: Tinkermages. Basically mages that specialise in mechanical doodads. Summon some auto-turrets, and I guess that makes up for the lack of party members.

I'm due for a replay of The Corruption, so I appreciate the feedback, I'd agree also that it's better than the prior Avadon, and I doubt I'll replay the first again before revisiting the second game.

I've been playing this new indie game that recently launched, DARQ, and I'm surprised at how good it is. It's a very atmospheric puzzle game, in the same veins as FAR, which was also a nice surprise.

Loving the puzzles, even though I'm already stuck on one. And I'm fighting the urge to look on youtube for the solution. It feels like a short game, but it's very nice. With a nice platforming twist to it all. Very cool.

Another reason to support the devs of this game is that this is one of the few indie games that decided to take a stand again going Epic games exclusive. And I think that should be rewarded. Epic also refused to sell their game, unless they fully went Epic exclusive.

So yeah, go ahead and try the game for yourself. It's priced accordingly imo.

Trying to play Master of Magic

Everybody loves it, highly recommended, not a bad word said... bought it on GOG on sale.

Eh.....
Played it twice so far, just not grabbing me... : /

Shagnak said:

I'm playing Avadon 2: The Corruption.
Alas, it's nowhere near as good as the Avernum 3 remake (the Spiderweb game I most recently played): Less interesting dungeons; a 3-member party size limit; pre-made characters that will no doubt become unavailable due to some plot mechanism, after having spent time developing them…

However, it is way better than the ultra-boring beginning parts of Avadon 1, which took me 3 start attempts before I kept at it and played through to the end.
It helps that it has a new character class: Tinkermages. Basically mages that specialise in mechanical doodads. Summon some auto-turrets, and I guess that makes up for the lack of party members.

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Funny that, because I preferred the first to the second and one of the main reasons was because I didn't really get into the Tinkermage character. Saying that I thought they were both ok. Still much prefer Avernum, but Avadon is ok.

lackblogger said:

Funny that, because I preferred the first to the second and one of the main reasons was because I didn't really get into the Tinkermage character. Saying that I thought they were both ok. Still much prefer Avernum, but Avadon is ok.

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Yep, same here. Well, not because I couldn't get into it, but because he is extremely overpowered which made the whole thing less challenging.

In my recent sudden desire to replay something old and nostalgic I bought Medieval: Total War, yes, the first one, off of Steam for £6.99. I could and should have waited for a sale but I was salivating too much.

To be honest, I shouldn't have bought it at all, the game was made for Windows XP 32 bit and hasn't worked on any system since that's either not XP or 32 bit. Maybe some 32 bit Vista users got it to work, I don't know, the whole Vista era has been blanked from my memory as it's the one I skipped.

Checking out the Steam discussions and reviews for the game, the word CRASH appears far more often that any purchasable game would allow. The number of game-breaking problems as thread titles is in double figures in just the first two pages of discussions. Every rational diode in my body told me not to buy it.

I got to about 1191AD before the game crashed to desktop, and this persisted irrevocably. It works ok for the first few years but as soon as the game starts getting interesting, off it goes, crash'o'rama time. So I started another game and did that for a bit then did a custom battle & at least I know I can look at it again and have the taste.

What a truly wonderful and unique game, never again matched in the series IMO. Just every detail is lovely. Well, aside from the ship bug & naval combat generally.

But, really, the fact that this is even on sale is nearly if not actually criminal. Creative Assembly have known this game is unplayable for nearly a decade and yet they never bother sorting it and, worse, they just stick it on sale in a knowingly broken state. I really can't fathom what's wrong with them, have they NO pride at all. No love for the game that made their name in the western market. Can they not spare just one person to work on it.

Can they not just give it to GoG so they can fix it and settle for a cut of the sales, is that too much to effin' ask. Just what is their problem! Grrrrr etc etc etc.

But wow, what a lovely game.

lackblogger said:

Funny that, because I preferred the first to the second and one of the main reasons was because I didn't really get into the Tinkermage character. Saying that I thought they were both ok. Still much prefer Avernum, but Avadon is ok.

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Well, time will tell. All I know is I enjoyed the beginning more than I did the beginning of the first.
Yeah, "ok" probably sums it up. I wouldn't have finished the first if I didn't enjoy it to some extent, just nowhere near as much as Avernum.
@Kordanor;: the Tinkermage does seem to kick some serious butt already, so I can see that it might get a bit OP. I was thinking that the proliferation of enemy Tinkermages might balance things up a bit, but I take it it never does? Oh well, there's always the difficulty level setting if it becomes a genuine walkover.

Played on Torment and while it was never just a walkover it was significantly easier than the previous ones. But with the turrents you basically always have a damage sponge right away and lot of leeway.

I'm playing SCUM. You're a prisoner sent to an island and abandoned. Your robotic wardens dump you in and hope you can figure out why the island turns anyone on it into a zombie. Since you have a life sentence, there was nothing to lose.

Typical zombie survival game, though this one has quite a bit of role-playing options. The game has a ton of survival elements that just aren't seen in other games too. You have bodily functions, so you'll need to use the restroom, eat a balanced diet as best you can and also build a shelter that will keep you safe from the zeds.

There are tons of foods in the game and you'll need to worry about gathering them once you get a base going. I'm not sure if you can grow crops yourself or not, but the island is full of food; it's just spread out.

You have skills based off 4 stats, Strength, Constitution, Dexterity and Intelligence. Strength is all the combat skills, even ranged. Con is your ability to run and your stamina at doing so. Dex is the thief type skills and also driving for some reason. Intelligence is your ability to out-think the zed. Things like Camouflage, Awareness, etc.

Crafting is very full featured. You'll make everything from a simple campfire to using a drill press to convert ammo to the type you need. Many recipes have multiple pieces and your inventory is limited to what you can carry.

The game has full nudity but it only seems to be a thing at character creation. I guess if you wanted to be super-realistic, you'd need to drop your drawers to go potty. The game does go through the motions but stays clothed. It's really weird, but the rest of the game is fairly fun. I will admit to giggling when your toon has to take a dump. It is noisy and gross.

Hmm, what else? Weapons are almost anything you can think of using. I've used shovels, sledgehammers, single shot rifles, shotguns, a sharpened stick, and a bunch of other weapons that start with S. No slingshots, that I know about. You'll stuff loot in shirt pockets, jeans, jackets, combat boots, along with things like a hiking backpack if you get lucky.

The game respawns your character but you are randomly teleported on death and may be miles from your grave. No idea if you keep any of your stuff if you find it. I typically play survival games as one life only and start over when I die. I also kinda suck at combat so I die a lot. The map is massive so it'll take a long time to see everything. The game is early access so if you hate that be sure to avoid this for now. The game seems to have changed a lot from the early days.

Geeze, 8 paragraphs! I need to go to bed

You said a lot but you didn't indicate if the game was any fun.

crpgnut said:

I'm playing SCUM. You're a prisoner sent to an island and abandoned.
Geeze, 8 paragraphs! I need to go to bed

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Fun is subjective naturally, but yes I like it. Would I suggest that role-playing lovers would like it? Nope. There isn't really a story and the stats aren't involved enough; at least at this point, to make it feel like an rpg. However, if you enjoy the survival mode of Fallout 4 or any other survival type experiences, then this will probably be fun for you too.

However, a big update is due out very soon and it will likely break the game for a while. I'd suggest waiting for us guinea pigs to test that out and then try in a month or two.

Long time no see, 'cause I'm playing lots of games:

Eternal Darkness (NGC, 3rd playthru):
Having utterly devastated by Call of Cthulhu and The Sinking City (yeah, that's a negative), I wanted to play something Lovecraftian, but good. Yup, this game fills the bill nicely, and by the 3rd playthru, I'll get the "proper" ending -- or so they say.

The Last Door (PC, indie):
Same as the above, but this is a low-resolution retro indie adventure. Excellent Victorian horror story, capturing Lovecraft's gloomy atmosphere perfectly (and no, it's not yet another Dunwich / Innsmouth remake -- it is more in line with the subtle creep of Charles Dexter Ward)

Oninaki (Switch):
This game was killed by those "game critics", who actually don't know what to do for a living (pro tip: go fapping instead of reviewing games! You'll enjoy it much much more, and it is good for yer health!).
So, this is a JRPG with some serviceable gameplay (not good, but not bad either), and a wonderfully sorrow story and an extremely dark ambience. When it comes to horror melodramas, no one does it better than the Japanese.

Pillars of Eternity (Switch):
Yeah, playing on Switch. Full of bugs, and the same dreaded prose as ever, but this time I play a solo rogue build. Perhaps I might like it at the end (finished once, and disliked most of it).

Control (PS4):
Excellent technology, good gameplay, mysterious plot. Artsy-fartsy AAA game done right (so far, counting only 5 hours).

crpgnut said:

I'm playing SCUM.

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I'm waiting till it gets out of beta then I'll jump on it.

Apparently, unlike other so called "survival" games where you can eat rocks if you want, normally nonedible stuff if consumed in SCUM can give you diarrhea and the effects are animated plus if you don't treat it you get dehydrated and die.

Playing Druidstone Secret of Menhir Forest and having a lot of fun with it. It's light hearted with a bit of humor with a pretty standard fare fantasy story. But that's not the meat and potatoes of the game so that can be overlooked. The main gameplay is turn based combat with 3 or 4 units in a party. It's all premade characters (so far) so you are stuck with what you get. You upgrade skills / spells as you progress and can put gems into slots to enhance certain aspects of skills/spells and items. These gems you get by completing missions in the best possible way. (Missions can be replayed to get highest "score"). There is no exploration since the entire game is either in combat or where you select missions and refit your characters with new items and level up. This was a bummer at first but once you get over that it's not a typical party based RPG like POE or Pathfinder: Kingmaker you settle into the gameplay to get the most out of it.

The combat is quite a lot of fun and trying out different combinations of skills and spells with characters is great. The kind of combat you expect from a turn based system.
The other part of the game are puzzles, so far it semms like it's about 80% combat and 20% puzzles. Puzzles are typically switch or teleport based so far. There are a few more creative puzzles and I'm quite enjoying that part of the game as well.

Graphics and animations are very well done for an indie. Sound/music is good but hasn't struck me as memorable or great. It's fine to have it on but you won't remember it.
I had pretty low expectations going in but so far the game has surprised me with high production values for an indie and a really fun combat/puzzle system. The story is very linear so don't expect too much from it. If you like turn based combat and puzzles in a fantasy setting this should be a no brainer.

The Technomancer, after recent positive watch comments had another go. This I got past the first boss fight, which is very early, and I'm enjoying myself. I’m finding combat a touch manky, and there are some rough edges but so far, so good.

I'm still replaying Bard's Tale One. At first, maybe two weeks ago, I was just focusing on keeping my team alive, and getting them up a few levels. Once I felt comfortable with their strength, I started dungeon-diving proper. Yesterday I got to Mangar's Tower, which if I remember right is the last place to explore in the game, so I suspect I'll complete it later this week. Initially it was a tough game to get back into, I think I'm a bit used to games being easier these days, and this one IS NOT THAT. It is not only tough, but randomness can play a huge factor, some of the encounters can wildly vary in sheer opposition strength. Once I'd sucked up the difficulty though, I've been having a great time and now I look forward to importing this squad into the next game.

Nothing, I’m currently taking my first dip into ridged tubing in a new build. I usually use flexible tubing. This builds going to take awhile I think.

Currently playing Control, and quite enjoying it. It's very polished and intriguing. Also, damn does it look gorgeous. Not just graphics, but the art style is superb. Very minimalist but it looks great. Also, the color palettes it uses really give it atmosphere and tension. And it's all woven into the story. Cool stuff.

The gameplay is also tight and polished. Shooting feels great, and the physics are wonderful in a fight.

One glaring issue I have so far, is the fact that they used the same voice actor that did Max Payne's voice for a different character in this one. And he doesn't seem to be able or want to distort his voice enough to make it unrecognizable. And this takes me out of the experience every time. But I'll live with it.

joxer said:

I'm waiting till it gets out of beta then I'll jump on it.

Apparently, unlike other so called "survival" games where you can eat rocks if you want, normally nonedible stuff if consumed in SCUM can give you diarrhea and the effects are animated plus if you don't treat it you get dehydrated and die.

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If you eat too quickly you'll throw up. If you eat too much you may shit your pants and it shows on your character. You may piss yourself and attract zombies and yes bodily functions are animated. You can strip and the girl will piss from her girly area. Not sure of the allure of that. However! A girl taking a poo and groaning and farting is endlessly hilarious...and yes you leave a pile behind and if you're a backer you can search the pile and find treasure. Don't ask me... I play in spite of these things, not because of them