Last game you finished, tell us about it

Just finished my play through of Divine Divinity. Haven’t played it in many years but it still holds up as a decent hack/slash rpg. Started to drag a bit in that last section with all the boss fortresses though...

Took a break from DOS 2 (way too grindy) and got into Dishonored 2. Took me a while to get the hang of the game. The first chapter was just kill, kill, kill. But all the subsequent chapters were done with stealth. While I never achieved the not noticed achievement, I was satisfied with the game play. I really liked this game. I liked the story and the puzzles they presented.

OTOH, the sequel or add on that everyone is raving about (death of the outsider) did not appeal to me. While the no chaos thing is cool, the coming attraction video seemed like the game was going to be a killing fest. Not my type of game. Its too bad because I liked the protagonist.

Just finished Battletech. Great game, I was playing like a mission-a-week so finally finished it today. Entered the final mission with 1 assault mech and 3 heavies, wasn't sure if that was going to be enough but was fine.

Yea that final mission was a real let down. The whole campaign was kind of lame but hte mission before the final mission had a few interesting elements. Like battle brothers there is a huge amount they could do with these games given (I really like the basic battle mechanics); but they just need to merge these engines with a decent writer who could write a nice long dramatic story.

wolfing said:

Just finished Battletech. Great game, I was playing like a mission-a-week so finally finished it today. Entered the final mission with 1 assault mech and 3 heavies, wasn't sure if that was going to be enough but was fine.

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Ok, after 25 hours I finished my replay of Gothic 1, after having not touched it for maybe 15 years. And man what a nostalgia trip it has been. It was really fun running through the world (I pretty much cleared almost everything, even went back and clean house in the Old Camp) and seeing how much I remember about it. And was surprised that I remembered quite a bit. But some parts, particularly the Sleeper's labyrinthine temple, I did not remember much about. Also, I knew most of the major story beats, but forgot a lot of details.

So, overall it was great playing it again, but I also stumbled on quite a lot of issues. Nothing gamebreaking per-se, but a lot of annoyances. The worst one has to be a control glitch that quite often seems to make the game think I'm always pressing either the left mouse button, or the right one. And this cause issues like, while jumping around using acrobatics the char sometimes jumps an extra one and usually does this off a cliff. But a worse thing is when this happens in combat, and i seem to be locked onto one enemy and have difficulties focusing on any other foe.

Other issues, which I don't seem to remember from the initial playthroughs, are all sorts of mixups with quest and world status triggers. For example, I started as a Shadow/Guard with the Old Camp, then moved to the Mercenaries. And then, weirdly enough, I was prompted to become a Water Mage. This has to be a bug right? Anyways, I accidentally did that and from that onward I couldn't seem to find anyone to train me in strength.

But overall, even with the issues I had, it was a great run. Loved it. But it's a hard game to love, especially as a gamer in this day and age, with all the conveniences of game design. I wonder how I would look at this game if I never had touched it before. I'm sure I would not be as forgiving was I am now. Heck, the first time I touched Gothic 1 in 2001/2002 I dropped it like a hot potato due to its "bad" design. And upon trying it again and again I found the great diamond in the rough that it was. A game that was really ahead of its time.

So, I guess I'll try and start a playthough of Gothic 2/NOTR next. I'm not sure if I actually will, as towards the ending of G1 I really felt myself rushing, so I'll have to see how I feel. But, as said before, a great nostalgia trip. I recommend it.

danutz_plusplus said:

Ok, after 25 hours I finished my replay of Gothic 1, after having not touched it for maybe 15 years. And man what a nostalgia trip it has been. It was really fun running through the world (I pretty much cleared almost everything, even went back and clean house in the Old Camp) and seeing how much I remember about it. And was surprised that I remembered quite a bit. But some parts, particularly the Sleeper's labyrinthine temple, I did not remember much about. Also, I knew most of the major story beats, but forgot a lot of details.

So, overall it was great playing it again, but I also stumbled on quite a lot of issues. Nothing gamebreaking per-se, but a lot of annoyances. The worst one has to be a control glitch that quite often seems to make the game think I'm always pressing either the left mouse button, or the right one. And this cause issues like, while jumping around using acrobatics the char sometimes jumps an extra one and usually does this off a cliff. But a worse thing is when this happens in combat, and i seem to be locked onto one enemy and have difficulties focusing on any other foe.

Other issues, which I don't seem to remember from the initial playthroughs, are all sorts of mixups with quest and world status triggers. For example, I started as a Shadow/Guard with the Old Camp, then moved to the Mercenaries. And then, weirdly enough, I was prompted to become a Water Mage. This has to be a bug right? Anyways, I accidentally did that and from that onward I couldn't seem to find anyone to train me in strength.

But overall, even with the issues I had, it was a great run. Loved it. But it's a hard game to love, especially as a gamer in this day and age, with all the conveniences of game design. I wonder how I would look at this game if I never had touched it before. I'm sure I would not be as forgiving was I am now. Heck, the first time I touched Gothic 1 in 2001/2002 I dropped it like a hot potato due to its "bad" design. And upon trying it again and again I found the great diamond in the rough that it was. A game that was really ahead of its time.

So, I guess I'll try and start a playthough of Gothic 2/NOTR next. I'm not sure if I actually will, as towards the ending of G1 I really felt myself rushing, so I'll have to see how I feel. But, as said before, a great nostalgia trip. I recommend it.

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It's not a bug about the Old Camp to New Camp.

The Old Camp essentially abandon you making you join the New Camp.
This gives you the option to become a Mercenary. As a Mercenary, you are allowed to join the Water Mages, so that option is still open.

If you had been a Fire Mage, I think you would have only been able to become a Water Mage and not a Mercenary.

Pladio said:

It's not a bug about the Old Camp to New Camp.

The Old Camp essentially abandon you making you join the New Camp.
This gives you the option to become a Mercenary. As a Mercenary, you are allowed to join the Water Mages, so that option is still open.

If you had been a Fire Mage, I think you would have only been able to become a Water Mage and not a Mercenary.

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Yeah, I know that being exiled from the Old Camp is part of the plot, but I guess I didn't find a good reason why after becoming a mercenary, the 1-to-1 equivalent of a guard, I would still have the option of switching to a water mage. If that were a valid option, then why not have it the other way, from mercenary to mage?

But if you say it is, it may be. I was under the impression that once you made the decision to go (guard or fire mage) | (mercenary or water mage), there would be no switching.

danutz_plusplus said:

Yeah, I know that being exiled from the Old Camp is part of the plot, but I guess I didn't find a good reason why after becoming a mercenary, the 1-to-1 equivalent of a guard, I would still have the option of switching to a water mage. If that were a valid option, then why not have it the other way, from mercenary to mage?

But if you say it is, it may be. I was under the impression that once you made the decision to go (guard or fire mage) | (mercenary or water mage), there would be no switching.

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I don't think you can become a water mage before being a mercenary.
Maybe I'm wrong.

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Pladio said:

I don't think you can become a water mage before being a mercenary.
Maybe I'm wrong.

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Really? Are you sure you can't? I haven't played it in a while, so I'm not sure. But that would be really weird. I mean, you can become a fire mage without being a guard first, no? Weird if in the Old Camp the Guards and Mages are on the same level, but in New Camp one is a prerequisite for the other.

danutz_plusplus said:

Really? Are you sure you can't? I haven't played it in a while, so I'm not sure. But that would be really weird. I mean, you can become a fire mage without being a guard first, no? Weird if in the Old Camp the Guards and Mages are on the same level, but in New Camp one is a prerequisite for the other.

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Maylander would know...

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danutz_plusplus said:

Really? Are you sure you can't? I haven't played it in a while, so I'm not sure. But that would be really weird. I mean, you can become a fire mage without being a guard first, no? Weird if in the Old Camp the Guards and Mages are on the same level, but in New Camp one is a prerequisite for the other.

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I might be remembering it wrong, but as I recall, once you join the Old Camp as a guard, you can't join the New Camp as a mercenary. However, you can still become a mage after a certain point.

Phantom Doctrine:

I think this game can best be viewed as a stealth version of xcom for better or worse.
Instead of fighting alien invasion you are in the middle of the cold war trying to prevent some unnamed disaster from occurring.
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The game has a lot of nice ideas - i'll list a few things that are a bit unique:
body building (you can inject agents with drugs that have various effects)
mind control/interrogation/… you can do all sort of wicked things to captured enemy agents
analytics board (you collect documents that contain secrets and try to connect them together)
…
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As in xcom you have base building (headquarters) where you can add various features and you have a danger level as enemy agents try to find the location of your headquarters.
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You have a set of agents - the limit is controlled by the size of your headquarters and for cash generation you can forge currency over-time.
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The maps tend to be office complexes and industrial sites. I think the maps are generally very well done as you want to sneak around and generally avoid combat while carrying out various objectives. You can of course engage in combat both via stealth and openly.
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There are some problems with the game:
First combat is stealth oriented and it has some weird mechanics to try to force or encourage stealth:
agents can wear 'disguises' which makes them invisible to enemy 'cept under certain situations.
cover reduces but does not eliminate damage so if you end up in a long shoot-out you will eventually be heavily damaged no matter how much care you take to avoid being in the open. There is an awareness feature that can be used to 'dodge' shots. This aspect makes little sense to myself but at times you (and the enemy) can be standing in the open and 'dodge' shots repeatedly. So those three snipers you have lined up on the enemy agents might find all three shots dodged. There are skills to counter dodge but the basic mechanics doesn't seem well flushed out to myself.
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Because it is a stealth game at heart it seems to lack the variation that xcom provides in tactical missions. Instead of preparing to deal with different types of encounters you end up basically doing the same thing each mission - sneaking around.
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While the maps are very good it could use a few of more unique layouts.
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The story aspect is ok i guess - better than battletech but still a bit mundane at the end.
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Anyway this is not a well written summary but feel free to ask questions if you have any. I'm not going to give the game a score and I think it has a lot of interesting ideas but somehow fails. Still i'll probably play again in 6 months or so after more patching to see if it improves.

100% completed Dragon Age Inquisition outside missing the Nug King in The Descent. Took 83 hours which is shorter than I expected (first time going through the DLCs and 2 of the zones in the game). Now I need a palette cleanser, too much politics and weird stuff in Trespasser.

I need something more grounded.

Finished Stonekeep, which was still a decent experience, but graphics and combat didnt age well. Also the last part of the game is pretty bad.

Review in German

Also finished the point and click adventure Deponia 4 Doomsday.
It's by far the worst part of the series. Still a decent game, but lacks in story and adds some bad mechanics, also puzzles aren't good all through the game.

azarhal said:

100% completed Dragon Age Inquisition outside missing the Nug King in The Descent. Took 83 hours which is shorter than I expected (first time going through the DLCs and 2 of the zones in the game). Now I need a palette cleanser, too much politics and weird stuff in Trespasser.

I need something more grounded.

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As you finished it (didnt you start after me?) I couldnt be left behind. Just finished it after about 60 hours (no DLC). I completely ignored the companion quests as I forgot about them. I did a couple before the final quest but could not be bothered to wait anymore for certain operations to finish.

I'm torn between a 7 or 8/10. If I was younger I would have spend time doing the crafting properly, unlocking all tonics/grenades, upgrading them and actually using them. Then I might even have given it a 9/10. Now however, I don't have the patience for it if it is not really needed (combat was easy enough), so I'd go for a 7. Best part of DAI: exploring the environments, story was just OK.

ilm said:

As you finished it (didnt you start after me?)

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I started not that long after you. I'm a fast player and it's the 3rd time I finish the game, 1st time doing the DLCs so I know where a lot of the stuff is in the game (first time 100% it though, well kinda, looks like I missed some loot puzzle in Trespasser).

My memory is a bit weak here because it been some years since i played but I thought hte best part was the character interactions when they told their stories. exploration was pretty decent 'cept i don't remember much interesting to find - i mean the landscape was nice but i never felt 'reward' for a particular discovery. There was some rpg i played where they use to hide interesting treasures in nick and corners if you explored - they seemed missing in da:i

ilm said:

Best part of DAI: exploring the environments, story was just OK.

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Finished Monster Hunter: World.

I'm aware there's very little interest for the game so I'll spare you all the rant.

Main campaign took 80 hours with side-quests. Post-game must have another 200 hours potential.

Seems very likely it will remain my favourite game of 2018.

Favorite in this year?
I bet you still didn't play FF15 (with hairworks enabled), KCD, NNK2, Eternity2 nor Y0 then. While all different from each other, not all the best, I'm pretty sure each is twice as better than that grinder.

You know I played Yakuza 0.

I'll bet you didn't play MHW, though.

One thing I did learn from MHW is that controllers start to hurt your hands when you play for 10 hours straight.