Last game you finished, tell us about it

Glad you enjoyed it! :)

Darth, I don't despise consoles; on the contrary, as everyone can see e.g. from the Horizon: Zero Dawn review I wrote here. And no, I am not saying you've implied I would have any despise. I am glad you enjoyed it too. And the game is so good that I believe most people here would/could enjoy it, if they allowed themselves to be less prejudicial against consoles, which seems to be the overall feeling here (of course I know there are exceptions here). The post-apoc world is so vivid, any TWD game (be it an action-oriented game or even an open-world RPG) should take this game as inspiration.

Yet, I am a PC player mostly. I pretty much prefer the "loneliness" of a single-player action game or RPG, above all else. I don't play shooter games (PC or PS4), among other reasons because me and game controllers don't get along that well :p. The shooter games library I own is "used' only by my kid :)

The stealth was pretty good, but I found the gameplay a little too repetitive and action-heavy for my tastes.

I agree the gameplay is a bit repetitive indeed.

But the story and emotional underpinning was completely amazing.

I can still tear up a bit thinking about the story :)

Now you nailed it: the story is touching and very emotional. It is a well-written game. I expect no less from the sequel, to be released in 2019.
 
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@henriquejr;

I know you have an open mind, as you've demonstrated often :)

Yes, a lot of Watch members could learn from that - but we all have our flaws.

I hope you're right about the sequel!
 
Isn't Ellie the main character in the sequel?

I haven't followed the sequel since it's Kiss video from E3.

So I could be wrong.o_O

Yes, Couch, I think she is the main character, though I've read Joel will be in the sequel too.
 
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- subnautica. Best survival game I ever played, or first survival game I ever liked. If we put it in the survival genre that is.

For me, survival games should only be about survival the first hour of the game, afterwards the focus should be on exploration and progression just like a RPG. Both things that subnautica does nicely. Also the grinding is kept to a minimum, it is not about the quantity of ingredients but at what depth they are located and they are found easily. Lastly, it has a story and an ending which or me is mandatory these days.

I did get annoyed with some progression problems throughout the game (looked 4 hours for the last cyclops fragment) and sometimes did not know where to go next but all in all it was ok. Also some things are a little bit buggy (like the collision detection and leviathan arms going through walls).

Curious to see what they will do with the world in their next game. I heard subnautica below zero is coming soon.

- Rise of the tomb raider. I love cinematic games so this one was excellent throughout most of the game. Except the final 10% or so, where I made a detour to subnautica :) Apparantly, I only had 40 minutes more to go… Just have to wait for shadow of the tomb raider to drop to 10 euros
 
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Vampyr - 7/10

Very atmosphere-heavy game with way too much dialogue. I enjoyed exploring 1920s London, and it was generally well written.

The game is very big on C&C and autosaves after every decision you make. I found that a little frustrating a few times after occasionally misinterpreting a dialogue option, but if you're looking for a game that is totally unforgiving in that that way, this is it.

Combat is serviceable, but there isn't a huge variety of enemy archetypes. I found it fairly challenging since I went the "good" route and didn't feed on any NPCs for extra XP.

It became too formulaic long before the end though. You basically repeat the same pattern in each city district, and certain things were quite predictable. Still, the overall plot was good enough to make me want to see it through.
 
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- subnautica. Best survival game I ever played, or first survival game I ever liked. If we put it in the survival genre that is.

For me, survival games should only be about survival the first hour of the game, afterwards the focus should be on exploration and progression just like a RPG. Both things that subnautica does nicely. Also the grinding is kept to a minimum, it is not about the quantity of ingredients but at what depth they are located and they are found easily. Lastly, it has a story and an ending which or me is mandatory these days.

I did get annoyed with some progression problems throughout the game (looked 4 hours for the last cyclops fragment) and sometimes did not know where to go next but all in all it was ok. Also some things are a little bit buggy (like the collision detection and leviathan arms going through walls).

Curious to see what they will do with the world in their next game. I heard subnautica below zero is coming soon.

- Rise of the tomb raider. I love cinematic games so this one was excellent throughout most of the game. Except the final 10% or so, where I made a detour to subnautica :) Apparantly, I only had 40 minutes more to go… Just have to wait for shadow of the tomb raider to drop to 10 euros

I've been meaning to get into Subnautica - but my VR version has some annoying issues that were apparently never solved.

It's one of the most immersive games I've played - so I really want to play it in VR, but I don't know if I can live with the stuttering, awkward pop-in and somewhat flawed controls.

Too bad, as it's just my kind of experience - it seems.
 
So… An actual diver/diving sim is - immersive (sim?).

I need a coffee. Time for me to discover hot water.
 
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So… An actual diver/diving sim is - immersive (sim?).

I need a coffee. Time for me to discover hot water.
Whatever the genre, it is definitely not a sim.
 
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Dishonored 2. I remember some people thinking it is much better than the first one. I thought it was ok. The completionist inside got the better of me so I could not pay enough attention to the story (I was just grinding to get all bonecharms and runes). It got better towards the end.

I said in some other thread I was very much looking forward to starting outcast. Unfortunately, this only last for about an hour before I quit because the environment (flat / empty) and combat (really awkward) were too dated (even in the remake). I feel really bad about it :(
 
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DH2 - better puzzles and better level design.
But it's worse in controls, rotation and movement are slow as ME1 elevators due to pisspoor mushroomscentric engine used for the sequel. You can't go wild in DH2 like in the first game, perhaps deliberately.
Still, 10/10 from me. Both. Didn't buy DH2 standalone DLC yet.
 
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Witcher 2. Best of the series imo

Started twice, but gave up due to the way the game is controlled. I just can't stand these controller-controls where you are "locking" on targets and you are stuck in animations.

Enjoyed the first one though (which also had horrible combat). Guess if you focus on the story, these are great games.
 
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I don't recall a control lock. The first half of the game has some real nail biting combat sequences that really stressed your casting mix. But the hub and spoke design was phenomenal and it carried the story better than open world in my opinion.
 
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Started twice, but gave up due to the way the game is controlled. I just can't stand these controller-controls where you are "locking" on targets and you are stuck in animations.

Enjoyed the first one though (which also had horrible combat). Guess if you focus on the story, these are great games.

Not sure what you mean by controller-controls, but TW2 works just like any other modern third-person PC game I've played. You don't have to use the lock-on feature at all if you're not a fan of it.

It sounds to me like you're just not a fan of third-person in general.
 
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I still get the shakes recalling the first battle with Letho in the hidden grotto. I don't think I've ever feared a villian more than Letho after that.
 
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It sounds to me like you're just not a fan of third-person in general.

That's partially true. But this is pretty much going hand in hand with how it is usually controlled.
If I remember correctly the also overhauled the controls in witcher 2 at some point which was when I gave it a second try (and only played little longer).

Anyways, don't want to derail the thread.

So in order to add something: Last game I finished was actually Aeon of Sands.

Wasn't a big fan of the story, I think the decisions are not concious enough to be meaningful, the combat is as bad as in other real time crawlers, there are basically no puzzles, no emphasis on item/character progression and the dungeons individually feel too monotonous. Everything by itself isn't horrible, but put together, it didn't result in anything which would have convinced me.
 
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Pillars of Eternity

Oh man, it was some time since I saw credits of one game rolling!
Finally finished Pillars of Eternity on my second try. I gave up on my first attempt after reached Twin Elms due to game started to drag for me and I got bored by its story, I even felt that I knew what is going to happen next and had no will to continue.
This time I finished Endless Dungeon and finally beat Thaos. All in all I found Pillars of Eternity quite good game, but i doubt I will replay it ever again.
Here is some observations I want to add:
1) It could tremendously improve understanding of game world and its story, if Obsidian would add some explanation at the beginning of the game (like in Bards Tale IV for example). On my first attempt I had very rough understanding what the heck is going on and what the hell those NPCs are talking about (religion, gods, entwigians, kith etc). It diminished my immersion by a lot and thus I became bored quite quickly. On my second attempt it went much better, because now I had some knowledge of game world and its history from my first play time and could finally follow the story and understand what they are telling me.
2) Spells! They were too many and many of them were just the same as previous ones, just a little bit better. My head went spinning when I tried to read and remember what all those spells do and are meant for, especially those of Durance!

I found companions enjoyable and more real and believable comparing to cheesy Holloywood wannabe heroes from Dragon Age. For some strange coincidence I had no Hiravias (druid) story on my game ending, like if he was not in my party at all. Well, no big deal, I can found it on internet I guess.

Im not sure if I liked story, it felt a bit complicated and blurry - I didn't really get what they are trying to tell me here. You know, I think writers in these kind of old school top down RPGs became too repetitive - it is always about gods, religions, cults, chosen ones, why not go with something different for once, something more down to earth?

PS
I hoped that White March is continuation of the story after you beat Thaos, as it came after the main game. But it seems I should have went there long before the last battle. Well… I don't know if I want to and have will to load previous save to try it out, because I have feeling that it will be combat heavy and trash mob filled stuff, adding little to nothing to the story.
 
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Im not sure if I liked story, it felt a bit complicated and blurry - I didn't really get what they are trying to tell me here. You know, I think writers in these kind of old school top down RPGs became too repetitive - it is always about gods, religions, cults, chosen ones, why not go with something different for once, something more down to earth?

Absolutely! Back to what you'd do in a Realms of Arkania Game for example. You save some corner of the world. Or you become king or whatnot, you escape an hostile area, maybe become king...but why do you always need to involve gods or some abstract "nothingness".

I actually liked the story of Divinity OS 2, while it involves gods, it brings it down to earth. Unfortunately I cannot elaborate more due to spoilers.

But it feels like in the 80s and 90s we always had to have some science fiction main plot thrown into fantasy, like in Wizardry or Might and Magic, then when the pen and paper stuff arrived like AD&D and Realms of Arkania it got more down to earth to not interfere with the canon and since then we need to become gods, destroy gods or fight against some abstract beings.
 
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Mass Effect Andromeda

As much as I love the first Mass Effect, I have to say Andromeda beats it - especially in terms of being a much better exploration experience.

Yes, it has issues with janky facial animations and some awkward models for most NPCs - but, beyond that and a few minor flaws, I think it's one of the best open world games I've ever played.

I was very engaged with the story, the characters and the whole Andromeda Initiative concept. I found it well established and quite an intriguing premise.

I loved how my character was able to approach situations in many different ways and have the game recognise it, without being a "gamey" mechanic that motivated a rigid response structure.

I found the combat very fun and energetic.

The character class/progression system was vastly - and I do mean VASTLY - superior to the previous games, with countless options and variations.

The crafting/augmentation system was equally deep and immensely satisfying to play around with - and I loved my final build, that I worked towards for quite a while.

On "Insanity" - I found the balance as close to perfect from start to finish as any game I can recall.

I found the plot interesting and the main villain served admirably as my motivation for getting to the bottom of things.

The final quest and sequence of events was particularly well done and incredibly cinematic.

I really appreciated how the UI worked for the most part, and found quests easy to follow without being overly intrusive.

The sound effects were great - especially the Black Widow sniper rifle. But most of the weapons seemed to have a really pleasant kick to them.

I liked ALL the companions - which is a first for me with Mass Effect. Liam annoyed me at first, but he grew on me - and I really liked him towards the end. Loved Drack, Jaal and Cora.

The romancing and sex scenes with Cora were well done for a computer game.

The planetary exploration and Nomad vehicle (with upgrades) were VASTLY superior to past game.

It was delightfully free of grind - unless you go OCD with tasks. But at least they're clearly established as "Tasks" - which is obviously not vital to the story in any way.

I liked how you could actually interact with terminals and do a few things beyond just reading logs. Took me back to KotOR with security footage and some (sadly) rare interactions.

TONS of flavor notepads/audio journals lying around. I love that stuff.

Absolutely MASSIVE amounts of side characters with quite a lot of dialogue to explore, should you care to.

Very nice variety in terms of scenery and atmosphere. My favorite planets were probably Habitat 7, Havarl, H-047c and Elaaden. Oh, and Meridian was fantastic as well.

Great mixture of XP fodder and genuinely challenging fights - with a very decent variety of enemies.

Overall, I have to give it 9/10. At first, I was leaning towards 7/10 - but it just kept growing on me.

To me, it's the best in the series by a fair margin.
 
Sounds suspicious too good to be true!;) Better than ME 1? Really?!
Darn, your review gave me urge to install and try this game. Well, will see... maybe latter, when Ill get bored with my current game, though I still have ME 3 in half way unfinished!
 
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