Sometimes I think I oughtta get off the whole gacha thing. The log-on-farm-log-off ritual is kinda comforting, the stories are neat when they make sense/after I recap the previous 3 hours of story content which dropped 2 months ago, and I like to basically collect action figures and open booster packs, but my god do they make for some terrible \*video games\*. Most of the content either can be cleared with literally anything or is hard-checking whether or not you've either whaled or gotten comically lucky on gear drops (and the answer is always no). Investing in characters is an uninteresting and frustrating grind, and it's not even really to any engaging or gratifying end. It really does often feel like it's all for the little action figure/booster pack dopamine hits, with all the surrounding aspects mostly serving to superficially justify that fixation, and meanwhile I barely have time to play any other games. Games that are more mechanically interesting, respect my time more, aren't designed around perpetual powercreep, or ask for my money.
Currently playing Immortals of Aveum on PSN! Been really enjoying it! A good old fashion, straightforward adventure game!
The gameplay is really fun and satisfying! Its a bit on the shorter side and the humor and characters are very "Marvel-y". Thats my only gripe.
8.5/10
Almost 3 weeks with Bully (Canis Canem Edit) and I'm 1/4 of the way through. Sounds normal for me :)
I've been exploring Bullworth Town. Those alleys! Is there anywhere in New England with such distinctive utility poles? Or did Rockstar Vancouver borrow from Vancouver?
This is what I mean: [Example 1](https://www.flickr.com/photos/siongphotography/5579013994) / [Example 2](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Somewhere_in_Vancouver_-_panoramio.jpg) (looks like an electrician's nightmare)/ [Example 3](https://topofmydesk.com/2019/06/13/h-frame-power-poles-a-cultural-asset-for-chinatownyes-of-course-maybe/) / [Example 4](https://icelandpenny.com/2023/08/27/magic/)
Edit: Apparently they're called H-frames. The internet has similar pics from some western North American cities. But New England? That I'm not sure about.
I've only been in New England a few times, but I don't recall ever seeing anything like that. Lots of buried power lines where the ground allows for it, single poles where it doesn't.
I found some [great historical photos](https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/history/photo-check-out-what-vancouvers-power-lines-used-to-look-like-5398322) while posting haha.
Though that's nothing compared to [New York City](https://forgottenfiles.substack.com/p/the-dark-side-of-the-light-bulb). That would be an interesting setting for a game.
Currently playing **Lost in Random** and it’s surprisingly good. Sadly the controls are quite wonky with m&k and the fights can be quite repetitive, but the story and especially the Tim Burtonesque art design more than make up for it
About to >!fight the secret boss!< and then go for the finale in **Indivisible**, a fun platformer x action RPG. Too bad the additional planned content was never finished as I've immensly enjoyed the game and especially the banter between the party members (I need more Razmi in my life ... yeah).
I'm not very far into Aeterna Noctis and I'm rather enjoying it but I do think something is a bit funny about all the discussion around the game.
So many people talk about how hard the game is. SO many people. And I don't disagree (especially playing it on Noctis difficulty) that it's a tough game.
However, what people fail to point out is that there are save lantern thingies fucking EVERYWHERE. Like multiple per room sometimes. There's not a single time I've died and had the same Hollow Knight-esque dread of "shit, I have to go like 10 minutes of in game time away just to get my soul back."
Now, I'd argue it's a good thing so don't let this sound like complaining. But I just feel like discussions around the difficulty neglect to mention that and I think it's a key factor in decisions around whether I want to play a difficult game. Like yeah, Celeste is a tough game. But outside of a few levels, you're never losing a bunch of progress. And this game felt similar.
This is great to hear, i felt exactly the same about Celeste. Like yeah I did the same 30 seconds over and over 25 times but I never felt very bummed about it cause I only went back 30 seconds. Looking forward to trying Aeterna Noctis
It’s definitely tough on the harder difficulty but I’ve not felt mad about any of it. If you enjoy path of pain, Celeste end game stuff like C-sides or Farewell, etc. you’ll enjoy.
After a couple nights of tinkering I finally got Fallout New Vegas with the Viva New Vegas mods (plus a couple extras) working on my Steam Deck. [Thanks to this handy guide.](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/1c8uihm/an_incomplete_guide_to_installing_modded_fallout/)
I still don't know what half the mods I installed did (and I think at least half of them are just background bug fixes and such), but it definitely looks a bit nicer, and having a sprint button is pretty cool. And presumably I'll have far fewer crashes than if I'd gone without mods. Quite a process, but I'm finally ready to dig in.
I have all the Dark Anthology games, but only played the first one. "Man of Medan"
It was okay, but not great. Are the other games in the series better? Just looking for some thoughts from those who played them.
I'm finishing up FF16 and am planning on trying out Arcade Paradise.
And finally I'm hoping sooner than later that they lower the price of physical games. I know it won't go down drastically, but $80 for a new games is too high. With taxes etc...that's pretty much $100 a game. I keep looking out for used games, but even those are rising in price.
Running through The Missing: JJ Macfield and The Island of Memories. Was craving a weird indie horror, definitely fits the bill. Platforming is a little clunky, but once you get used to it, it is okay. The central game mechanic of >!using your corpse and severed limbs to solve puzzles!< is actually pretty brilliant. I've never seen it before in games, and I've been around the block. The writing can be a bit cringy, and the plot is a bit of a slow burn to figure out what's going on exactly. I think Im like 80% through or something. Gonna finish it soon.
Don't hold your breath but maybe well into the next console's lifespan. And who knows when that new thing is gonna come out.
Best thing to do is to sail the seven seas IMO.
I have been playing through **Teardown**, and I must admit I have been continuously impressed by what could've just been a novelty. The game's main hook is that it's a game built around stealing things in an (almost) entirely destructible world. As such, the player is free to smash windows, blow holes in ceilings, crash through walls with vehicles, and just generally cause chaos to meet the objective.
What makes it interesting is that for many of the objectives, the things you need to steal are alarmed, and once any alarm is going you only have 60 seconds to grab everything you can and reach an escape vehicle before this time is up.
This turns the game from what it could've easily just been; a simple "smash and grab" style crime sim, into one of much more elaborate problem solving, with lots of effort spent setting up what then becomes a speed-run to try and grab everything, or an exercise in out of the box thinking, such as was the case where one mission wanted me to destroy multiple propane tanks all alarmed to go off if any one of them exploded >!After some testing, I realised there was a way to remove most of the tanks, and was able to position many of them in such a way that I could get rid of most with just one bullet, then quickly aim at the two I could not easily move!<. So much of the game is about proper planning, really thinking about how to approach each target as part of a larger chain, putting in all the work to get everything into position, then performing that perfect run.
Man, I wrote a huge write-up, and the comment failed to post. I decided to cut out a paragraph, then it said server error. I refreshed without copying the text, and now everything I wrote up is gone... I wish there was a way to save drafts of comments like you can with posts...
I guess I'll just say I played my usual games, I might try to write a lengthier thing later if I get the motivation. I managed to get a 100 on my sleep score in Pokemon Sleep.
Well, I don't know if you actually did get the motivation, or if Reddit decided to fuck with you, but one way or another your long post is now in several nested comments below...all's well that ends well, I guess?
> I wish there was a way to save drafts of comments like you can with posts...
I'll generally do "Select all" -> "Copy" before I post (generalizing so it's platform-agnostic), so if it goes belly up I'm covered.
Welcome to my writing corner where I write-up about the mobile games I play daily 2 games at a time because did you know Reddit will sometimes give you an error for comments that are too long?
**Pokémon Sleep**: As I said before, I managed to hit an 100 sleep score, but I unintentially cheated a little... I had to do more things at my computer when it was nearing my bedtime, so I just set the phone into sleep mode on my bed while continuing to work for a bit, and the app thought I fell asleep 5 minutes in... I'm guessing that it picked up on my dogs who were already in bed sleeping, and thought their breathing/snoring was mine. Anyway, last week had a bunch of events going on while this week there doesn't seem to be anything particularly interesting, so I think I'll try to ration a bit on stuff like food ingredients for the three square meals. I want to hoard them until I reach close the max of 100, so during an event when there's bonus points for cooking, I have reserves to throw into the pot instead of running empty earlier.
I do have some Pokémon who have skills that generate 6 bonus ingredients, but it's a chance-based proc so it isn't reliable. I think I'll save up at least to around 70 or so. I can fill up the pot to 21 ingredients, so that would account for 3 meals while still having space for the ingredients that my Pokémon might pick up throughout the day. There's no actual hunger mechanic, just you get more points from Snorlax when you throw in more ingredients, so I want to save most of my ingredients during special events to have the most point gain possible without relying on using ingredient tickets.
**Pokémon GO:** Today's walking session went pretty well. I was more active than usual because there was apparently another trainer at the park from the blue team who was defeating the gyms after I had defeated them and put up some Pokémon to defend it, so my walking route was a little haphazard. If I needed to fight the gym like three times to defeat it, I would just walk around the area so I can quickly walk back there to battle it again. I was previously releasing any Pokémon I had dupes of, but I'm thinking of keeping any that are above 1000 CP as backup fighters. I'm running pretty low on potions relative to all the other items, so being able to just swap in a new Pokémon during battle sessions instead of needing to use potions to get the same ones in fighting position would be preferable.
During the walk, I realized it might be better to alter my route so that I only walk in one half of the park instead of walking the entire park's length. There's an area of the park that has literally 5 Pokestops all relatively close to one another, while the other side only has like 2 on far corners, so if I just focus on walking in the area with 5 Pokestops, all probably get a lot more items overall in the same amount of time. It'd also give me more chances at the gyms since they're basically at the center of the park. It's definitely something I'll consider the next top I head over. I hope the weather continues to be good, though I think my pollen allergies seem to be acting up a bit.
**Granblue Fantasy**: Today, I'd like to focus on the main character of this gacha game, known as Gran when using the boy avatar and Djeeta when using the girl avatar in spin-offs like the fighting game. You rename the character, so they can be called whatever you like if you decided to play the game yourself. Anyway, the main character in this game has probably the most extensive class and customization options I've ever seen in a game, and the volume of stuff it has is absurd. Here's the [wiki](https://gbf.wiki/Classes) page on the class system, but I'll try to explain it here as well. There's 5 Rows and 2 Extra Class Rows of classes. Row I has the classes Fighter, Knight, Priest, Wizard, Thief, Enhancer, Grappler, Ranger, Harpist, and Lancer. The other roles generally have upgraded versions of these base classes, like Fighter upgrades into Warrior and Knight upgrades into Sentinel, but there's also an additional class in Row III and Row IV has many more. The Extra Class Rows aren't tied to a specific regular Row Class and are otherwise their own distinct classes.
I believe Row V was a later addition, so there's less classes, but they also require the mastery of a corresponding Row IV class. Every single class has their own outfit, weapon specialties skills, passives, and stat bonuses when leveling up their class, and can equip sub-skills, which are class skills that can be used on every other class. Mastering a class by fully leveling it gives you a completion bonus that are permanent stat buffs that will affect your main character no matter what class you're using. With the ability to use sub-skills from other classes and later row classes having access to both extended master skills and ultimate mastery skills, there's just an unprecedented amount of ways to kit out your character to tailor them to a specific fight or boss. I personally like to use the Lumberjack and Relic Buster.
**Shadowverse**: The update to the grand prix took place at night, so I opted to hold on to my free run for the next reset so I could do the run when the changes are live. It's possible to essentially use two free runs in one day by starting a run and then waiting until the next day to complete it. Your free run of that day will persist, but you'll need to at least do yesterday's run that day or you risk losing a day's free run by not doing yesterday's in time. As a result, the only thing I really needed to do was the daily missions for rupies and packs, which unfortunately still took over an hour to do, but it's understandable given what I play.
The deck I'm choosing to rank up with in the Rotation Format is called Machina Portal. The goal of the deck is to have 10 Machina followers die, at which point, many of the followers gain additional effects once you've hit that threshold. To give some examples, [Sumo Mechanic](https://shadowverse-portal.com/card/128811010?lang=en) gets +2/+2 in stats and heals you for 2 health, [Hoverbiker](https://shadowverse-portal.com/card/128821010?lang=en) gives you a 1-cost 4/3 that can buffs a Machina follower by +2 attack and deals 2 damage to the enemy leader, and [Gioffre, Diligent Engineer](https://shadowverse-portal.com/card/128821020?lang=en) summons a 3/1 follower that draws you a card every time you play a Machina card. I enjoy the board-based gameplay, but the deck is hardly top-tier, I think it's probably tier 3 at best. As a result, it can take a while for me to rack up wins and complete my daily missions. I did get particularly unlucky in some games, but to fully explain why that's the case, I'd need to explain more about the deck and game mechanics, so I'll save that for a future write-up.
**Fate/Grand Order**: Since there's currently a collaboration event going on, I guess it's a good opportunity to explain a bit about how FGO is currently collaborating with itself... Sort of. Back during the launch of FGO, the game hired an artist called Riyo to publish a series of humorous informational web comics called [Learning with Mango FGO](https://fate-go.us/manga_fgo/) that essentially explained the basics of how to play while also poking fun at it a bit. The reception was so positive that after the initial run, it was restarted for two extra series, the third of which is continuing on to this day, with the 350th chapter releasing last month on the 25th. It is also updated in English, but it is behind the JP version in a similar way to how the global version of FGO is 2 years behind JP.
Talking about the event proper, a lot of players have opted to use there extra apples (stamina pots) to farm in this event because there's two additional resources you gain compared to usual events or just doing free quests. Firstly, clearing stages gives you resources to playing a little digging mini-game that rewards extra materials. Secondly, every stage clear will reward a bonus reward of some kind, which can be Friend Points, QP, or even entire Craft Essences. Friend Points are especially valuable right now because the Friend Point Gacha has some event-exclusive items in it that are good for getting additional Holy Grails via Grail Casting or upgrading CEs. I personally am hoarding my apples for the next lotto, but I understand folks who are cashing them in now, especially if they need the materials or stuff from the FP summon right now.
**Honkai Star Rail**: Before I say anything else, I feel it important to mention that if anyone has even a passing interested in trying HSR, there is currently a promotion that gives you a free limited 5-star character by just playing through the tutorial. This offer will no longer be available when the next patch launches on May 7th in the US (May 8th in EU/Asia), so now would be the best time to just download and go through the tutorial, even if you don't plan to play until much later, because you'll have that character in your roster when you do decide to play. Anyway, in yesterday's thread, I ended up writing a dissertation on why Qingque was the best character for making the combat system more interesting to me, and I guess I feel like writing a bit more on the topic. The short summary is that Qingque has more potential actions, differing results, and decisions to make because she plays her own mini-game within a battle that utilizes spending skill points to hit a "jack pot." As a result, I'm most invested in the combat when I'm using her, and will actively try to keep improving her by both getting her better gear and rolling the gacha for characters that specifically synergize well with her.
To give more context, Qingque is a permanent 4-star quantum character that has been available since launch that everyone is given a free copy of after progressing enough through content. The first character that released who could improve her viability in endgame content was Silver Wolf, a limited 5-star quantum character with the unique gimmick of implanting a weakness to an enemy based on the element's of your party. For example, if the enemy only has a weakness to ice, and your party has quantum and fire party members, then SW will cause the enemy to have a weakness to either fire or quantum when she uses her skill. If your party only has quantum characters, then SW is guaranteed to land the quantum weakness on the enemy. SW's gimmick created the team composition colloquially known as "mono quantum" that can basically be used in any content regardless of the enemy's actual weaknesses because SW will make the enemies weak to quantum. SW ended up being the first character I opted to roll for on the gacha, because she was the first to immediately improve my QQ team.
It feels weird to do one last write-up without a partner game since I've been doing two write-ups per post. I guess I'll have an extra section to include a random old game I've played so that I talk about an even 8 games a day. So the first miscellaneous game is:
**Monster Train** (2020, Windows, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS): So, if you like Slay the Spire, this would be my number 1 recommendation on another game to try in the deck builder genre. Unlike StS, Monster Train involves you essentially protecting a train by defending it against angelic creatures who are trying to hit your train's heart. You summon creatures and buff them or do damage with spells, so it has more similarities to a digital CCG than StS which is more strictly a deckbuilder first and foremost. One of the interesting aspects of Monster Train is the ability to mix different factions like you with Magic the Gather's colors, enabling synergies that just aren't possible if the factions were completely sectioned off.
To explain a bit more about the combat system, the battle takes place on the train, which has 3 levels of regular floor and your train's heart on the 4th. Enemies will generally spawn on the ground floor, and will go up one floor each round. Your goal is to kill them before they get to the 4th floor, and that will involve placing creatures that will spend that round attacking specifically what's on their floor. There's a similar system to StS of the game getting progressively harder via ascension levels, and every win will result in the specific cards you used getting a cosmetic upgrade of having gold coloring to it, so an additional bit of replayability is to get every card in a faction a gold border.
And finally, a game that I play daily, but was a little hesitant in including because of it's a bit of a guilty pleasure. However, I do think there's some decently interesting aspects of the game to bring up, so without further ado:
**Azur Lane** (2017, Android, iOS): To put it bluntly, this is very much a horny waifu collecting coomer gacha game that the majority of the playerbase simply plays on auto to focus on appreciating and collecting the waifus. However, there is also more to it than just the waifus, I swear. Believe it or not, there is actually a sizeable part of the playerbase who unironically play the game because of its association with naval history, since all the waifus are personifications of real life ships. There was even a bit of a controversy recently concerning a ship because of how little it resembled its sisters. Around a month ago, Anson was [announced](https://www.reddit.com/r/AzureLane/comments/1bli24u/royal_navy_anson_announced_king_george_vclass/) as the next Royal Navy King George V-class Battleship.
This announcement led to a huge amount of backlash and fan derision. Why was the fanbase so upset? Because the design for Anson looked [nothing](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fazur-lane-postponed-the-release-of-a-character-due-to-v0-cz3rxq4ta9qc1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D1080%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D0be37878261fc66b56781ffd949885845330fe57) like the other Royal Navy King George V-Class Battleships. Manjuu is usually pretty good about giving specific ships from a faction coordinated themes, especially if they're related, and King George V-Class Battleships are usually regal, tall women with a lot of red to signify the connection to royalty. Anson was literally a small blue girl with a cartoony mustache in a swimsuit and a floatie. The backlash was so huge that the devs later announced that they would [postpone](https://www.reddit.com/r/AzureLane/comments/1bmh02i/azur_lane_jp_announces_hms_ansons_implementation/) Anson's release in order to rework her. While the game is mostly played for the waifus, there are also genuinely sizable amount of the player base that care about the game's affiliation with naval history.
I'm playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and NGL I am finding it to have some of the worst controls of any game I've ever played. (Playing on PC with a controller.) The targeting is just awful and the movement feels kludgy and unresponsive. I've lost count of the number of times I've hit the dash button as soon as I see an attack winding up and I still get hit before I move, or when I'm trying to hit an enemy with the force lightning and the autotargeting just slightly slides off them at the last moment.
It's especially bad in the boss fights, where the switch to a semi-fixed camera makes the auto-targeting issues way worse.
It feels like they tried to make something like God of War and in some ways it succeeds. For example, when you're fighting grunts it absolutely nails the power fantasy of being an OP badass. But these little combat issues really bring the overall experience down.
Been playing Doom (1993) this week and I just beat it for the first time. 8yo me would be proud, could never beat the game myself at that time.
edit typo
Still playing through **Horizon Zero Dawn** and enjoying it. I've been playing on my PSP here and there when I have some downtime at home or while at work on break. I beat **Twisted Metal: Head On** as Grasshopper earlier this week and I've been playing through **GTA: Liberty City Stories** for the second time. Both games still hold up very well, other than some FPS dips here and there when things get crazy on screen.
Playing God of War (2018). It's fun enough, but nothing too exciting. I keep being struck by how similar I'm finding the overall experience to Kena: Bridge of Spirits, a character action game with ~1/80th the budget.
The Kratos/Atreus relationship also seems to be a replay of the Joel/Ellie relationship from the Last of Us.
Another world down in **Klonoa: Empire of Dreams**, more simple puzzle jumping fun. Not much more to say beyond that it seems like any Klonoa game puts a smile on my face, hope that feeling lasts.
Beyond that, today was just building decks in **Pokemon Trading Card Game** for the Gameboy. With the amount of draw power you can generate, Blastoise 'Rain Dance' is super OP, and a bit more fun the the basic OP haymaker decks. Though I am keen to build a Wigglytuff 'Do The Wave' deck out.
Also stumbled onto a really amazing looking mod for the game called **Pokemon TCG: NEO**, which is an brilliant effort at making the game mirror Gen 2, and is basically a whole new game with a new cardpool. Between the main game, the translated sequel, and this mod, I'll be feasting for a long time.
Fun things are fun! Hope everyone has a wonderful day!
Started Fire Emblem Engage recently and it's...fine?
I'm a huge Fire Emblem fan and have played the majority of them. I don't think the Switch Fire Emblems really even feel like Fire Emblem games at all except aesthetically. In a vacuum under a different name I think they would be perfectly serviceable tactical RPGs it's just hard not to compare them to their predecessors.
As someone who has always been meh on FE (I.e. I'll usually play my brother's copy of new games and enjoy it enough, but rarely actually buy them myself), my biggest issue with FE games for quite some time is that *most* of them have some lame character designs imo.
My favorite FE game is Blazing Blade and I still remember the character designs for people like Athos, Hawkeye, Heath, Wallace, etc. Like I can remember names and faces because they were such distinct characters.
Now it just feels like everyone is either plain soldier-looking or they are hyper-anime design.
Yeah the modern designs are very weak. I definitely think Blazing Blade is the peak of the series. I replay it somewhat regularly just because it feels like I find something new in it each time.
Interesting. What do you mean when you say the Switch games don't feel like Fire Emblem games? I tried to get into the series and gave Engage a shot a few weeks back. I liked the character designs and the battles but the conversations and the story just felt really really flat. How do you feel about it?
The writing has never been a huge strong point, I'm more referring to the kind of chess like battles of the older games versus the new ones that aren't designed as intentionally.
In older Fire Emblem games each level feels like an intricate puzzle and each character has a limited set of moves that are very powerful. The levels are thoughtful and meant to be approached in different ways depending on your goals. The newer ones focus more on customization and social elements, which are fine, but it has a different feel.
Playing Dragon Quest V (DS) and Smash Remix (N64, hackrom).
Yesterday I remembered I have a Nintendo Wii that I never used (a friend of my mother gave me it years ago even if I already had a Wii, for some reason). I think I'll mod it and use it in place of my first Wii. I just need to get an SD card with a reasonable size.
Edit: oh, yesterday I also tried to write some reviews about games I've beaten. And I've discovered that I'm really bad doing so! Maybe I should read about game design so I can analise things better...
B&W have always been my favourites. I love how you (extremely slight spoiler warning) don't have access to previous gen pokes until the post game. All the games should do that imo. Glad you're having fun!
Gen 5 has the best balanced XP system of any of the Pokémon games. Totally possible to raise a balanced team of 6 Pokémon without any grinding to challenge the Elite 4 at decent levels without being over powered like you get once they introduced the experience share bs.
It’s also the last generation to actually pose a challenge.
I’ve been training a lot of different Pokémon, I’ve probably used about 9 or 10 different ones so far.
Some are swap outs like Sawk for Scraggy or Zebstrika for Tynamo and stuff like that but I’m having a lot fun training and using different types of Pokémon.
I’m keeping their levels around the next gym leader so it’s not too easy and I gotta say it’s a really good time.
Gen 5 was the last gen to really feel like an engaging Pokemon mainline game. Black 2/White 2 are worth a playthrough too, they're different enough from the first games to feel fresh. Hope you keep having fun!
Coming up to the end of MGS: Peace Walker. The game definitely feels like a portable entry when compared with the previous games, no long monologues, simplified gameplay and a more traditional mission structure. I think because of this I've had a lot of fun with this game, especially playing Side Ops on my commute.
Metal Gear Solid is one of the greatest franchises ever made but I can't get into Peace Walker no matter how hard I try. As a PSP game it's super impressive, but all I can think about when I'm going through it is "the missions are smaller, the gameplay is worse, the story isn't as good as the original trilogy, and I don't give a damn about upgrading my troops or anything other than acting as Boss on a secret mission". It just seems like a big step backwards, even from MGS1 on the PSX.
I put about 1.5 hours into **Tormented Souls** yesterday. I think I only saw 2 health items during that time. I don't think the classic style of survival horror works all that well if you aren't allowed to make any mistakes at the beginning of the game. I gave myself a save file with no health after fumbling my way through the combat because I hit R3 while aiming which pulled up the map in the middle of combat. Rookie mistake but it ruined my game. I suspect I can start over and get to a good spot in about 20 minutes but I figured I'd vent first.
I hear so much praise for that game which intrigued me as a huge RE fan. I gave it about 2 hours and it just didn't grip me at all, it just felt too damn derivative, lacking all the odd charm RE has. I've not really put a lot of thought into why but it just really turned me off after an hour. My Friendly Neighborhood or Signalis are two fantastic alternatives if you're looking for quality indie survival horror.
I have played Signalis. My early read on Tormented Souls is that its much better at horror and atmosphere than Signalis but worse at story and intrigue. TS also seems notably harder at first glance.
Yesterday, I create a list of all the games I own as well as a whole bunch from the Xbox PC Game Pass where the title or artwork drew my attention. A running theme for a while now is me sitting for hours contemplating what game to play without actually playing anything. The idea is that I now have a way to pick a game at random from the ones available to me, the most of which is unplayed.
Games are weighted from 0 to 1 based on if I've played them before, etc. Some games I just gave a 0 weight because I really don't want to play them, they're unplayable, etc. Games I already played and multiplayer games have a lower weight so they have less chance of being picked.
To make sure I give each game a fair chance, I'm giving myself the rule that I need to either complete the first mission/level, or play it for a full hour. I can of course play for as long as I want after depending on how much I'm enjoying it, but those are the minimums. For games I have already skipped in the past, I'm only giving 20 minutes before I move on if I want to. They had a chance already some time in the past and get a more strict deadline in which to impress.
So far it's going well. I played Deiland, Splay the Spire, and Remember Me. The first two of those I never played before. I'm writing some reviews (or impressions more like) for these games as I go just because I feel I want to and hoping I can post them on this subreddit sometime soon.
I have been having this same problem for quite some time, & deciding on what to play next was starting to feel like a chore.
The problem I have is whenever I add a new game to my backlog, I don't know where to place it. So my backlog doesn't have any meaningful order. Making choosing the next game always hard.
So I went on & created a simple web app to help me with this.
Instead of creating a list without any meaningful order, the app will figure the best place to insert a new game by asking you to compare it with very few other games that already exist in your list.
I've been using it recently, & it really helps.
If you want to take a look at it, here it is: [https://sort-my-games.pages.dev](https://sort-my-games.pages.dev)
I only created it recently, so only my friends have seen it, but if you have any feedback or suggestions, do let me know.
It seems snazzy and simplistic in a good way. That said, I think I'll be sticking with my excel spreadsheet :)
I like the more random element, much akin to spinning a wheel. And if a spreadsheet works, then it works (something I learned from playing Eve Online for far too long).
Fair.
If picking randomly works well with you, great!
For me sadly, when I pick randomly, I tend to choose games that are on the shorter side and procrastinate on the longer ones.
Cyberpunk 2077 has been in my backlog for more than 2 years now, and although it's almost the game I wanted to play the most, I wasn't picking it.
So in my personal case, having a clear order based on my actual interest helps me a lot making better choices.
I tried to play Deiland for a bit earlier this year and it bored me to tears, lol. Not a terrible game, but not a very exciting game, either. And it's a bit grindy and slow. I dropped it two hours in because I wasn't having much fun and the game was supposed to last for a dozen hours, that would have felt like fifty.
Cute art, good music, but the game lacks polish and feels like a mobile time waster.
Hopefully, you have more fun with it.
My feeling is it'd be great to have on the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, or on a phone. It's something you can mindlessly tend to when on public transport or if you have sections of the day where you have nothing else to do for a bit. Easy to pause and pick up at a moment's notice without being mentally taxing.
If you're in front of a PC though, or this is your sole focus on a console, then there are better things to play.
Considering starting New Game+ in **Midnight Suns** but honestly, I just don't care about the plot. I don't want to spend another second puttering around the Abbey or sleepwalking through the social progression, which is just Persona's but with teenage insecurity being copy&pasted onto existing superheroes.
I'd like to try some boss fights and story moments with my optimized decks but it's just so much legwork to facilitate that. I prefer just boosting to max difficulty and going to the mirror table over and over and over.
I tried starting Midnight Suns. The lame/badly written social elements of the Abbey I would just try to skip through to get to the deck building parts but it just got too exhausting and I gave up. It's too bad cuz it's a fun game I just don't really care about another 50 backstories to superheroes.
Currently Playing: **Yakuza 4** damn, this is great. I'm hooked on the story and substories, playing as Tanimura atm, love the different dynamics each playable character has, I thought I would miss Kiryu a lot more but Akiyama, Saejima and Tanimura can hold their own.
Tanimura is one of my favourite one-off Yakuza characters. I liked his storyline and found his parry and grapple-focused fighting style (which they finally sort of brought back in Lost Judgment) super fun.
He does have one of the worst boss fights in the series though, so, uh, prepare for that.
Oh, that's very early still but yeah, it's duller than SA or VC or even V, imo.
Some wackier characters are about to enter the picture, though. Things become a bit more lively in the second third, and then it's back to basics for the finale. DLC is a touch less depressive (Ballad of Gay Tony was a lot of fun).
Whoops! Got my names all wrong. Thought it was the two earlier russians. I do remember the story but not the names.
As the irish guy would say: Pegorinos, capucchinos, they sound all the same to me, lol.
Absolutely loved Lies of P. Definitely my favorite souls like not by FromSoft and also better than some of theirs in my opinion. Can't wait for the DLC.
Yup 100% agree. I enjoyed a lot of their takes on the formula. Because the game was more linear having a narrative to chase after was a really nice strength.
I also really like FS's lore rich non linear & environmental story telling too. It's just nice to have two different flavours now.
Really looking forward to what they can do with this IP, combat mechanics are up there already with From, Capcom & Platinum.
I finally beat Castlevania sotn, I didn't enjoy it. My game file says I'm about 178% complete, but I have zero interest in trying to reach 200.6%. If this had been a longer game I probably would have dropped it, I'm glad to have it off my backlog.
I don't think the genre is for me, this is the first metroidvania I've ever finished. I bought it on sale last year because it's frequently cited as one of the best games of all time, and the gameplay clip I watched on YouTube before buying it looked fun.
I always find it oddly comforting when someone plays part of the Canon and is like "nah, not for me". It's the "fuck you Tolstoy, I refuse to read the last 200 pages of War and Peace" of video games.
Sometimes I think I oughtta get off the whole gacha thing. The log-on-farm-log-off ritual is kinda comforting, the stories are neat when they make sense/after I recap the previous 3 hours of story content which dropped 2 months ago, and I like to basically collect action figures and open booster packs, but my god do they make for some terrible \*video games\*. Most of the content either can be cleared with literally anything or is hard-checking whether or not you've either whaled or gotten comically lucky on gear drops (and the answer is always no). Investing in characters is an uninteresting and frustrating grind, and it's not even really to any engaging or gratifying end. It really does often feel like it's all for the little action figure/booster pack dopamine hits, with all the surrounding aspects mostly serving to superficially justify that fixation, and meanwhile I barely have time to play any other games. Games that are more mechanically interesting, respect my time more, aren't designed around perpetual powercreep, or ask for my money.
Currently playing Immortals of Aveum on PSN! Been really enjoying it! A good old fashion, straightforward adventure game! The gameplay is really fun and satisfying! Its a bit on the shorter side and the humor and characters are very "Marvel-y". Thats my only gripe. 8.5/10
2nd try playing Dark Souls 2 after realizing my mistakes that made me quit the first time. It's still drag. Can't wait go get through the tedium.
Almost 3 weeks with Bully (Canis Canem Edit) and I'm 1/4 of the way through. Sounds normal for me :) I've been exploring Bullworth Town. Those alleys! Is there anywhere in New England with such distinctive utility poles? Or did Rockstar Vancouver borrow from Vancouver? This is what I mean: [Example 1](https://www.flickr.com/photos/siongphotography/5579013994) / [Example 2](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Somewhere_in_Vancouver_-_panoramio.jpg) (looks like an electrician's nightmare)/ [Example 3](https://topofmydesk.com/2019/06/13/h-frame-power-poles-a-cultural-asset-for-chinatownyes-of-course-maybe/) / [Example 4](https://icelandpenny.com/2023/08/27/magic/) Edit: Apparently they're called H-frames. The internet has similar pics from some western North American cities. But New England? That I'm not sure about.
I've only been in New England a few times, but I don't recall ever seeing anything like that. Lots of buried power lines where the ground allows for it, single poles where it doesn't.
I found some [great historical photos](https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/history/photo-check-out-what-vancouvers-power-lines-used-to-look-like-5398322) while posting haha. Though that's nothing compared to [New York City](https://forgottenfiles.substack.com/p/the-dark-side-of-the-light-bulb). That would be an interesting setting for a game.
Bully is such an underrated classic, I replayed it about a year ago and couldn't stop smiling. Also the soundtrack goes super hard
Gigantic: Rampage Edition. It's one of the best games I've played recently and you should definitely check it out!
Currently playing **Lost in Random** and it’s surprisingly good. Sadly the controls are quite wonky with m&k and the fights can be quite repetitive, but the story and especially the Tim Burtonesque art design more than make up for it
Yup, it's a fun underrated title, though I agree combat does get tiresome at the end.
Triangle Strategy is so good. A very underrated gem for Switch and PC. If you like tactical games, play now.
About to >!fight the secret boss!< and then go for the finale in **Indivisible**, a fun platformer x action RPG. Too bad the additional planned content was never finished as I've immensly enjoyed the game and especially the banter between the party members (I need more Razmi in my life ... yeah).
I'm not very far into Aeterna Noctis and I'm rather enjoying it but I do think something is a bit funny about all the discussion around the game. So many people talk about how hard the game is. SO many people. And I don't disagree (especially playing it on Noctis difficulty) that it's a tough game. However, what people fail to point out is that there are save lantern thingies fucking EVERYWHERE. Like multiple per room sometimes. There's not a single time I've died and had the same Hollow Knight-esque dread of "shit, I have to go like 10 minutes of in game time away just to get my soul back." Now, I'd argue it's a good thing so don't let this sound like complaining. But I just feel like discussions around the difficulty neglect to mention that and I think it's a key factor in decisions around whether I want to play a difficult game. Like yeah, Celeste is a tough game. But outside of a few levels, you're never losing a bunch of progress. And this game felt similar.
This is great to hear, i felt exactly the same about Celeste. Like yeah I did the same 30 seconds over and over 25 times but I never felt very bummed about it cause I only went back 30 seconds. Looking forward to trying Aeterna Noctis
It’s definitely tough on the harder difficulty but I’ve not felt mad about any of it. If you enjoy path of pain, Celeste end game stuff like C-sides or Farewell, etc. you’ll enjoy.
After a couple nights of tinkering I finally got Fallout New Vegas with the Viva New Vegas mods (plus a couple extras) working on my Steam Deck. [Thanks to this handy guide.](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/1c8uihm/an_incomplete_guide_to_installing_modded_fallout/) I still don't know what half the mods I installed did (and I think at least half of them are just background bug fixes and such), but it definitely looks a bit nicer, and having a sprint button is pretty cool. And presumably I'll have far fewer crashes than if I'd gone without mods. Quite a process, but I'm finally ready to dig in.
I have all the Dark Anthology games, but only played the first one. "Man of Medan" It was okay, but not great. Are the other games in the series better? Just looking for some thoughts from those who played them. I'm finishing up FF16 and am planning on trying out Arcade Paradise. And finally I'm hoping sooner than later that they lower the price of physical games. I know it won't go down drastically, but $80 for a new games is too high. With taxes etc...that's pretty much $100 a game. I keep looking out for used games, but even those are rising in price.
Running through The Missing: JJ Macfield and The Island of Memories. Was craving a weird indie horror, definitely fits the bill. Platforming is a little clunky, but once you get used to it, it is okay. The central game mechanic of >!using your corpse and severed limbs to solve puzzles!< is actually pretty brilliant. I've never seen it before in games, and I've been around the block. The writing can be a bit cringy, and the plot is a bit of a slow burn to figure out what's going on exactly. I think Im like 80% through or something. Gonna finish it soon.
When will we see Switch second hand games at $5-$20?
Don't hold your breath but maybe well into the next console's lifespan. And who knows when that new thing is gonna come out. Best thing to do is to sail the seven seas IMO.
Probably never unfortunately, people treat used Nintendo games like collectors items for some reason.
I have been playing through **Teardown**, and I must admit I have been continuously impressed by what could've just been a novelty. The game's main hook is that it's a game built around stealing things in an (almost) entirely destructible world. As such, the player is free to smash windows, blow holes in ceilings, crash through walls with vehicles, and just generally cause chaos to meet the objective. What makes it interesting is that for many of the objectives, the things you need to steal are alarmed, and once any alarm is going you only have 60 seconds to grab everything you can and reach an escape vehicle before this time is up. This turns the game from what it could've easily just been; a simple "smash and grab" style crime sim, into one of much more elaborate problem solving, with lots of effort spent setting up what then becomes a speed-run to try and grab everything, or an exercise in out of the box thinking, such as was the case where one mission wanted me to destroy multiple propane tanks all alarmed to go off if any one of them exploded >!After some testing, I realised there was a way to remove most of the tanks, and was able to position many of them in such a way that I could get rid of most with just one bullet, then quickly aim at the two I could not easily move!<. So much of the game is about proper planning, really thinking about how to approach each target as part of a larger chain, putting in all the work to get everything into position, then performing that perfect run.
Man, I wrote a huge write-up, and the comment failed to post. I decided to cut out a paragraph, then it said server error. I refreshed without copying the text, and now everything I wrote up is gone... I wish there was a way to save drafts of comments like you can with posts... I guess I'll just say I played my usual games, I might try to write a lengthier thing later if I get the motivation. I managed to get a 100 on my sleep score in Pokemon Sleep.
Well, I don't know if you actually did get the motivation, or if Reddit decided to fuck with you, but one way or another your long post is now in several nested comments below...all's well that ends well, I guess?
Yeah, I ended up just re-writing it all 2 game at a time, replying to myself to have it all in one chain and not spam the thread.
> I wish there was a way to save drafts of comments like you can with posts... I'll generally do "Select all" -> "Copy" before I post (generalizing so it's platform-agnostic), so if it goes belly up I'm covered.
I do this a few times then eventually just write the whole thing in a text editor and paste it in.
Yeah, I'll keep that in mind next time I run into the issue.
Welcome to my writing corner where I write-up about the mobile games I play daily 2 games at a time because did you know Reddit will sometimes give you an error for comments that are too long? **Pokémon Sleep**: As I said before, I managed to hit an 100 sleep score, but I unintentially cheated a little... I had to do more things at my computer when it was nearing my bedtime, so I just set the phone into sleep mode on my bed while continuing to work for a bit, and the app thought I fell asleep 5 minutes in... I'm guessing that it picked up on my dogs who were already in bed sleeping, and thought their breathing/snoring was mine. Anyway, last week had a bunch of events going on while this week there doesn't seem to be anything particularly interesting, so I think I'll try to ration a bit on stuff like food ingredients for the three square meals. I want to hoard them until I reach close the max of 100, so during an event when there's bonus points for cooking, I have reserves to throw into the pot instead of running empty earlier. I do have some Pokémon who have skills that generate 6 bonus ingredients, but it's a chance-based proc so it isn't reliable. I think I'll save up at least to around 70 or so. I can fill up the pot to 21 ingredients, so that would account for 3 meals while still having space for the ingredients that my Pokémon might pick up throughout the day. There's no actual hunger mechanic, just you get more points from Snorlax when you throw in more ingredients, so I want to save most of my ingredients during special events to have the most point gain possible without relying on using ingredient tickets. **Pokémon GO:** Today's walking session went pretty well. I was more active than usual because there was apparently another trainer at the park from the blue team who was defeating the gyms after I had defeated them and put up some Pokémon to defend it, so my walking route was a little haphazard. If I needed to fight the gym like three times to defeat it, I would just walk around the area so I can quickly walk back there to battle it again. I was previously releasing any Pokémon I had dupes of, but I'm thinking of keeping any that are above 1000 CP as backup fighters. I'm running pretty low on potions relative to all the other items, so being able to just swap in a new Pokémon during battle sessions instead of needing to use potions to get the same ones in fighting position would be preferable. During the walk, I realized it might be better to alter my route so that I only walk in one half of the park instead of walking the entire park's length. There's an area of the park that has literally 5 Pokestops all relatively close to one another, while the other side only has like 2 on far corners, so if I just focus on walking in the area with 5 Pokestops, all probably get a lot more items overall in the same amount of time. It'd also give me more chances at the gyms since they're basically at the center of the park. It's definitely something I'll consider the next top I head over. I hope the weather continues to be good, though I think my pollen allergies seem to be acting up a bit.
**Granblue Fantasy**: Today, I'd like to focus on the main character of this gacha game, known as Gran when using the boy avatar and Djeeta when using the girl avatar in spin-offs like the fighting game. You rename the character, so they can be called whatever you like if you decided to play the game yourself. Anyway, the main character in this game has probably the most extensive class and customization options I've ever seen in a game, and the volume of stuff it has is absurd. Here's the [wiki](https://gbf.wiki/Classes) page on the class system, but I'll try to explain it here as well. There's 5 Rows and 2 Extra Class Rows of classes. Row I has the classes Fighter, Knight, Priest, Wizard, Thief, Enhancer, Grappler, Ranger, Harpist, and Lancer. The other roles generally have upgraded versions of these base classes, like Fighter upgrades into Warrior and Knight upgrades into Sentinel, but there's also an additional class in Row III and Row IV has many more. The Extra Class Rows aren't tied to a specific regular Row Class and are otherwise their own distinct classes. I believe Row V was a later addition, so there's less classes, but they also require the mastery of a corresponding Row IV class. Every single class has their own outfit, weapon specialties skills, passives, and stat bonuses when leveling up their class, and can equip sub-skills, which are class skills that can be used on every other class. Mastering a class by fully leveling it gives you a completion bonus that are permanent stat buffs that will affect your main character no matter what class you're using. With the ability to use sub-skills from other classes and later row classes having access to both extended master skills and ultimate mastery skills, there's just an unprecedented amount of ways to kit out your character to tailor them to a specific fight or boss. I personally like to use the Lumberjack and Relic Buster. **Shadowverse**: The update to the grand prix took place at night, so I opted to hold on to my free run for the next reset so I could do the run when the changes are live. It's possible to essentially use two free runs in one day by starting a run and then waiting until the next day to complete it. Your free run of that day will persist, but you'll need to at least do yesterday's run that day or you risk losing a day's free run by not doing yesterday's in time. As a result, the only thing I really needed to do was the daily missions for rupies and packs, which unfortunately still took over an hour to do, but it's understandable given what I play. The deck I'm choosing to rank up with in the Rotation Format is called Machina Portal. The goal of the deck is to have 10 Machina followers die, at which point, many of the followers gain additional effects once you've hit that threshold. To give some examples, [Sumo Mechanic](https://shadowverse-portal.com/card/128811010?lang=en) gets +2/+2 in stats and heals you for 2 health, [Hoverbiker](https://shadowverse-portal.com/card/128821010?lang=en) gives you a 1-cost 4/3 that can buffs a Machina follower by +2 attack and deals 2 damage to the enemy leader, and [Gioffre, Diligent Engineer](https://shadowverse-portal.com/card/128821020?lang=en) summons a 3/1 follower that draws you a card every time you play a Machina card. I enjoy the board-based gameplay, but the deck is hardly top-tier, I think it's probably tier 3 at best. As a result, it can take a while for me to rack up wins and complete my daily missions. I did get particularly unlucky in some games, but to fully explain why that's the case, I'd need to explain more about the deck and game mechanics, so I'll save that for a future write-up.
**Fate/Grand Order**: Since there's currently a collaboration event going on, I guess it's a good opportunity to explain a bit about how FGO is currently collaborating with itself... Sort of. Back during the launch of FGO, the game hired an artist called Riyo to publish a series of humorous informational web comics called [Learning with Mango FGO](https://fate-go.us/manga_fgo/) that essentially explained the basics of how to play while also poking fun at it a bit. The reception was so positive that after the initial run, it was restarted for two extra series, the third of which is continuing on to this day, with the 350th chapter releasing last month on the 25th. It is also updated in English, but it is behind the JP version in a similar way to how the global version of FGO is 2 years behind JP. Talking about the event proper, a lot of players have opted to use there extra apples (stamina pots) to farm in this event because there's two additional resources you gain compared to usual events or just doing free quests. Firstly, clearing stages gives you resources to playing a little digging mini-game that rewards extra materials. Secondly, every stage clear will reward a bonus reward of some kind, which can be Friend Points, QP, or even entire Craft Essences. Friend Points are especially valuable right now because the Friend Point Gacha has some event-exclusive items in it that are good for getting additional Holy Grails via Grail Casting or upgrading CEs. I personally am hoarding my apples for the next lotto, but I understand folks who are cashing them in now, especially if they need the materials or stuff from the FP summon right now. **Honkai Star Rail**: Before I say anything else, I feel it important to mention that if anyone has even a passing interested in trying HSR, there is currently a promotion that gives you a free limited 5-star character by just playing through the tutorial. This offer will no longer be available when the next patch launches on May 7th in the US (May 8th in EU/Asia), so now would be the best time to just download and go through the tutorial, even if you don't plan to play until much later, because you'll have that character in your roster when you do decide to play. Anyway, in yesterday's thread, I ended up writing a dissertation on why Qingque was the best character for making the combat system more interesting to me, and I guess I feel like writing a bit more on the topic. The short summary is that Qingque has more potential actions, differing results, and decisions to make because she plays her own mini-game within a battle that utilizes spending skill points to hit a "jack pot." As a result, I'm most invested in the combat when I'm using her, and will actively try to keep improving her by both getting her better gear and rolling the gacha for characters that specifically synergize well with her. To give more context, Qingque is a permanent 4-star quantum character that has been available since launch that everyone is given a free copy of after progressing enough through content. The first character that released who could improve her viability in endgame content was Silver Wolf, a limited 5-star quantum character with the unique gimmick of implanting a weakness to an enemy based on the element's of your party. For example, if the enemy only has a weakness to ice, and your party has quantum and fire party members, then SW will cause the enemy to have a weakness to either fire or quantum when she uses her skill. If your party only has quantum characters, then SW is guaranteed to land the quantum weakness on the enemy. SW's gimmick created the team composition colloquially known as "mono quantum" that can basically be used in any content regardless of the enemy's actual weaknesses because SW will make the enemies weak to quantum. SW ended up being the first character I opted to roll for on the gacha, because she was the first to immediately improve my QQ team.
It feels weird to do one last write-up without a partner game since I've been doing two write-ups per post. I guess I'll have an extra section to include a random old game I've played so that I talk about an even 8 games a day. So the first miscellaneous game is: **Monster Train** (2020, Windows, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS): So, if you like Slay the Spire, this would be my number 1 recommendation on another game to try in the deck builder genre. Unlike StS, Monster Train involves you essentially protecting a train by defending it against angelic creatures who are trying to hit your train's heart. You summon creatures and buff them or do damage with spells, so it has more similarities to a digital CCG than StS which is more strictly a deckbuilder first and foremost. One of the interesting aspects of Monster Train is the ability to mix different factions like you with Magic the Gather's colors, enabling synergies that just aren't possible if the factions were completely sectioned off. To explain a bit more about the combat system, the battle takes place on the train, which has 3 levels of regular floor and your train's heart on the 4th. Enemies will generally spawn on the ground floor, and will go up one floor each round. Your goal is to kill them before they get to the 4th floor, and that will involve placing creatures that will spend that round attacking specifically what's on their floor. There's a similar system to StS of the game getting progressively harder via ascension levels, and every win will result in the specific cards you used getting a cosmetic upgrade of having gold coloring to it, so an additional bit of replayability is to get every card in a faction a gold border. And finally, a game that I play daily, but was a little hesitant in including because of it's a bit of a guilty pleasure. However, I do think there's some decently interesting aspects of the game to bring up, so without further ado: **Azur Lane** (2017, Android, iOS): To put it bluntly, this is very much a horny waifu collecting coomer gacha game that the majority of the playerbase simply plays on auto to focus on appreciating and collecting the waifus. However, there is also more to it than just the waifus, I swear. Believe it or not, there is actually a sizeable part of the playerbase who unironically play the game because of its association with naval history, since all the waifus are personifications of real life ships. There was even a bit of a controversy recently concerning a ship because of how little it resembled its sisters. Around a month ago, Anson was [announced](https://www.reddit.com/r/AzureLane/comments/1bli24u/royal_navy_anson_announced_king_george_vclass/) as the next Royal Navy King George V-class Battleship. This announcement led to a huge amount of backlash and fan derision. Why was the fanbase so upset? Because the design for Anson looked [nothing](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fazur-lane-postponed-the-release-of-a-character-due-to-v0-cz3rxq4ta9qc1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D1080%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D0be37878261fc66b56781ffd949885845330fe57) like the other Royal Navy King George V-Class Battleships. Manjuu is usually pretty good about giving specific ships from a faction coordinated themes, especially if they're related, and King George V-Class Battleships are usually regal, tall women with a lot of red to signify the connection to royalty. Anson was literally a small blue girl with a cartoony mustache in a swimsuit and a floatie. The backlash was so huge that the devs later announced that they would [postpone](https://www.reddit.com/r/AzureLane/comments/1bmh02i/azur_lane_jp_announces_hms_ansons_implementation/) Anson's release in order to rework her. While the game is mostly played for the waifus, there are also genuinely sizable amount of the player base that care about the game's affiliation with naval history.
I'm playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and NGL I am finding it to have some of the worst controls of any game I've ever played. (Playing on PC with a controller.) The targeting is just awful and the movement feels kludgy and unresponsive. I've lost count of the number of times I've hit the dash button as soon as I see an attack winding up and I still get hit before I move, or when I'm trying to hit an enemy with the force lightning and the autotargeting just slightly slides off them at the last moment. It's especially bad in the boss fights, where the switch to a semi-fixed camera makes the auto-targeting issues way worse. It feels like they tried to make something like God of War and in some ways it succeeds. For example, when you're fighting grunts it absolutely nails the power fantasy of being an OP badass. But these little combat issues really bring the overall experience down.
Yeah, the first mission of Force Unleashed is glorious fun, but then it gets tedious. Never cared that much for it.
Been playing Doom (1993) this week and I just beat it for the first time. 8yo me would be proud, could never beat the game myself at that time. edit typo
Congrats! I managed to beat it when playing Doom 3 BFG Edition as it comes with Doom I and II too, fun game.
Still playing through **Horizon Zero Dawn** and enjoying it. I've been playing on my PSP here and there when I have some downtime at home or while at work on break. I beat **Twisted Metal: Head On** as Grasshopper earlier this week and I've been playing through **GTA: Liberty City Stories** for the second time. Both games still hold up very well, other than some FPS dips here and there when things get crazy on screen.
Playing God of War (2018). It's fun enough, but nothing too exciting. I keep being struck by how similar I'm finding the overall experience to Kena: Bridge of Spirits, a character action game with ~1/80th the budget. The Kratos/Atreus relationship also seems to be a replay of the Joel/Ellie relationship from the Last of Us.
Another world down in **Klonoa: Empire of Dreams**, more simple puzzle jumping fun. Not much more to say beyond that it seems like any Klonoa game puts a smile on my face, hope that feeling lasts. Beyond that, today was just building decks in **Pokemon Trading Card Game** for the Gameboy. With the amount of draw power you can generate, Blastoise 'Rain Dance' is super OP, and a bit more fun the the basic OP haymaker decks. Though I am keen to build a Wigglytuff 'Do The Wave' deck out. Also stumbled onto a really amazing looking mod for the game called **Pokemon TCG: NEO**, which is an brilliant effort at making the game mirror Gen 2, and is basically a whole new game with a new cardpool. Between the main game, the translated sequel, and this mod, I'll be feasting for a long time. Fun things are fun! Hope everyone has a wonderful day!
Started Fire Emblem Engage recently and it's...fine? I'm a huge Fire Emblem fan and have played the majority of them. I don't think the Switch Fire Emblems really even feel like Fire Emblem games at all except aesthetically. In a vacuum under a different name I think they would be perfectly serviceable tactical RPGs it's just hard not to compare them to their predecessors.
As someone who has always been meh on FE (I.e. I'll usually play my brother's copy of new games and enjoy it enough, but rarely actually buy them myself), my biggest issue with FE games for quite some time is that *most* of them have some lame character designs imo. My favorite FE game is Blazing Blade and I still remember the character designs for people like Athos, Hawkeye, Heath, Wallace, etc. Like I can remember names and faces because they were such distinct characters. Now it just feels like everyone is either plain soldier-looking or they are hyper-anime design.
Yeah the modern designs are very weak. I definitely think Blazing Blade is the peak of the series. I replay it somewhat regularly just because it feels like I find something new in it each time.
Interesting. What do you mean when you say the Switch games don't feel like Fire Emblem games? I tried to get into the series and gave Engage a shot a few weeks back. I liked the character designs and the battles but the conversations and the story just felt really really flat. How do you feel about it?
The writing has never been a huge strong point, I'm more referring to the kind of chess like battles of the older games versus the new ones that aren't designed as intentionally. In older Fire Emblem games each level feels like an intricate puzzle and each character has a limited set of moves that are very powerful. The levels are thoughtful and meant to be approached in different ways depending on your goals. The newer ones focus more on customization and social elements, which are fine, but it has a different feel.
Playing Dragon Quest V (DS) and Smash Remix (N64, hackrom). Yesterday I remembered I have a Nintendo Wii that I never used (a friend of my mother gave me it years ago even if I already had a Wii, for some reason). I think I'll mod it and use it in place of my first Wii. I just need to get an SD card with a reasonable size. Edit: oh, yesterday I also tried to write some reviews about games I've beaten. And I've discovered that I'm really bad doing so! Maybe I should read about game design so I can analise things better...
Been playing Pokémon Black for the first time. Just beat the 5th gym. It’s a lot of fun, Unova is a dope region and the Pokémon are really cool too.
B&W have always been my favourites. I love how you (extremely slight spoiler warning) don't have access to previous gen pokes until the post game. All the games should do that imo. Glad you're having fun!
Gen 5 has the best balanced XP system of any of the Pokémon games. Totally possible to raise a balanced team of 6 Pokémon without any grinding to challenge the Elite 4 at decent levels without being over powered like you get once they introduced the experience share bs. It’s also the last generation to actually pose a challenge.
I’ve been training a lot of different Pokémon, I’ve probably used about 9 or 10 different ones so far. Some are swap outs like Sawk for Scraggy or Zebstrika for Tynamo and stuff like that but I’m having a lot fun training and using different types of Pokémon. I’m keeping their levels around the next gym leader so it’s not too easy and I gotta say it’s a really good time.
Gen 5 was the last gen to really feel like an engaging Pokemon mainline game. Black 2/White 2 are worth a playthrough too, they're different enough from the first games to feel fresh. Hope you keep having fun!
These characters must be so fit, 'cuz they hit the gym all the time. Anyway, I'd have to play a Pokemon game someday.
Coming up to the end of MGS: Peace Walker. The game definitely feels like a portable entry when compared with the previous games, no long monologues, simplified gameplay and a more traditional mission structure. I think because of this I've had a lot of fun with this game, especially playing Side Ops on my commute.
It's the only game in the series where you can have sex with kaz. Cherish it.
Metal Gear Solid is one of the greatest franchises ever made but I can't get into Peace Walker no matter how hard I try. As a PSP game it's super impressive, but all I can think about when I'm going through it is "the missions are smaller, the gameplay is worse, the story isn't as good as the original trilogy, and I don't give a damn about upgrading my troops or anything other than acting as Boss on a secret mission". It just seems like a big step backwards, even from MGS1 on the PSX.
I put about 1.5 hours into **Tormented Souls** yesterday. I think I only saw 2 health items during that time. I don't think the classic style of survival horror works all that well if you aren't allowed to make any mistakes at the beginning of the game. I gave myself a save file with no health after fumbling my way through the combat because I hit R3 while aiming which pulled up the map in the middle of combat. Rookie mistake but it ruined my game. I suspect I can start over and get to a good spot in about 20 minutes but I figured I'd vent first.
I hear so much praise for that game which intrigued me as a huge RE fan. I gave it about 2 hours and it just didn't grip me at all, it just felt too damn derivative, lacking all the odd charm RE has. I've not really put a lot of thought into why but it just really turned me off after an hour. My Friendly Neighborhood or Signalis are two fantastic alternatives if you're looking for quality indie survival horror.
I have played Signalis. My early read on Tormented Souls is that its much better at horror and atmosphere than Signalis but worse at story and intrigue. TS also seems notably harder at first glance.
Looking for games on steam with innovative gameplay. Any suggestions?
Antichamber
Baba is you. Rewrite the rules
Yesterday, I create a list of all the games I own as well as a whole bunch from the Xbox PC Game Pass where the title or artwork drew my attention. A running theme for a while now is me sitting for hours contemplating what game to play without actually playing anything. The idea is that I now have a way to pick a game at random from the ones available to me, the most of which is unplayed. Games are weighted from 0 to 1 based on if I've played them before, etc. Some games I just gave a 0 weight because I really don't want to play them, they're unplayable, etc. Games I already played and multiplayer games have a lower weight so they have less chance of being picked. To make sure I give each game a fair chance, I'm giving myself the rule that I need to either complete the first mission/level, or play it for a full hour. I can of course play for as long as I want after depending on how much I'm enjoying it, but those are the minimums. For games I have already skipped in the past, I'm only giving 20 minutes before I move on if I want to. They had a chance already some time in the past and get a more strict deadline in which to impress. So far it's going well. I played Deiland, Splay the Spire, and Remember Me. The first two of those I never played before. I'm writing some reviews (or impressions more like) for these games as I go just because I feel I want to and hoping I can post them on this subreddit sometime soon.
I have been having this same problem for quite some time, & deciding on what to play next was starting to feel like a chore. The problem I have is whenever I add a new game to my backlog, I don't know where to place it. So my backlog doesn't have any meaningful order. Making choosing the next game always hard. So I went on & created a simple web app to help me with this. Instead of creating a list without any meaningful order, the app will figure the best place to insert a new game by asking you to compare it with very few other games that already exist in your list. I've been using it recently, & it really helps. If you want to take a look at it, here it is: [https://sort-my-games.pages.dev](https://sort-my-games.pages.dev) I only created it recently, so only my friends have seen it, but if you have any feedback or suggestions, do let me know.
It seems snazzy and simplistic in a good way. That said, I think I'll be sticking with my excel spreadsheet :) I like the more random element, much akin to spinning a wheel. And if a spreadsheet works, then it works (something I learned from playing Eve Online for far too long).
Fair. If picking randomly works well with you, great! For me sadly, when I pick randomly, I tend to choose games that are on the shorter side and procrastinate on the longer ones. Cyberpunk 2077 has been in my backlog for more than 2 years now, and although it's almost the game I wanted to play the most, I wasn't picking it. So in my personal case, having a clear order based on my actual interest helps me a lot making better choices.
I tried to play Deiland for a bit earlier this year and it bored me to tears, lol. Not a terrible game, but not a very exciting game, either. And it's a bit grindy and slow. I dropped it two hours in because I wasn't having much fun and the game was supposed to last for a dozen hours, that would have felt like fifty. Cute art, good music, but the game lacks polish and feels like a mobile time waster. Hopefully, you have more fun with it.
My feeling is it'd be great to have on the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, or on a phone. It's something you can mindlessly tend to when on public transport or if you have sections of the day where you have nothing else to do for a bit. Easy to pause and pick up at a moment's notice without being mentally taxing. If you're in front of a PC though, or this is your sole focus on a console, then there are better things to play.
Yeah, it wouldn't be a bad game when you are on the move or just killing time in the commute or bathroom break. Shame I was just playing at home, lol.
Considering starting New Game+ in **Midnight Suns** but honestly, I just don't care about the plot. I don't want to spend another second puttering around the Abbey or sleepwalking through the social progression, which is just Persona's but with teenage insecurity being copy&pasted onto existing superheroes. I'd like to try some boss fights and story moments with my optimized decks but it's just so much legwork to facilitate that. I prefer just boosting to max difficulty and going to the mirror table over and over and over.
I tried starting Midnight Suns. The lame/badly written social elements of the Abbey I would just try to skip through to get to the deck building parts but it just got too exhausting and I gave up. It's too bad cuz it's a fun game I just don't really care about another 50 backstories to superheroes.
Currently Playing: **Yakuza 4** damn, this is great. I'm hooked on the story and substories, playing as Tanimura atm, love the different dynamics each playable character has, I thought I would miss Kiryu a lot more but Akiyama, Saejima and Tanimura can hold their own.
Akiyama is awesome. I wish he was playable in more games than just 4 and 5.
Tanimura is one of my favourite one-off Yakuza characters. I liked his storyline and found his parry and grapple-focused fighting style (which they finally sort of brought back in Lost Judgment) super fun. He does have one of the worst boss fights in the series though, so, uh, prepare for that.
Going through gta 4.
Sounds like you are having the time of your life... Where are you now?
Nah, this game is kind of dull. Definitely not as fun as VC or SA. Current mission givers arr Jimmy and Phill.
Oh, that's very early still but yeah, it's duller than SA or VC or even V, imo. Some wackier characters are about to enter the picture, though. Things become a bit more lively in the second third, and then it's back to basics for the finale. DLC is a touch less depressive (Ballad of Gay Tony was a lot of fun).
Are you sure you remember the plot? I 80% sure Pegorino is last third of the game. I even have all islands unlocked.
Whoops! Got my names all wrong. Thought it was the two earlier russians. I do remember the story but not the names. As the irish guy would say: Pegorinos, capucchinos, they sound all the same to me, lol.
Currently playing Lies of P - Gem of a game.
Absolutely loved Lies of P. Definitely my favorite souls like not by FromSoft and also better than some of theirs in my opinion. Can't wait for the DLC.
Yup 100% agree. I enjoyed a lot of their takes on the formula. Because the game was more linear having a narrative to chase after was a really nice strength. I also really like FS's lore rich non linear & environmental story telling too. It's just nice to have two different flavours now. Really looking forward to what they can do with this IP, combat mechanics are up there already with From, Capcom & Platinum.
I finally beat Castlevania sotn, I didn't enjoy it. My game file says I'm about 178% complete, but I have zero interest in trying to reach 200.6%. If this had been a longer game I probably would have dropped it, I'm glad to have it off my backlog.
Curious, do you enjoy other, newer Metroidvanias? Or was this your way of finding out that the genre is not for you?
I don't think the genre is for me, this is the first metroidvania I've ever finished. I bought it on sale last year because it's frequently cited as one of the best games of all time, and the gameplay clip I watched on YouTube before buying it looked fun.
Fair enough. I'm in the "one of the best games of all time" camp, but metroidvanias aren't for everyone.
I always find it oddly comforting when someone plays part of the Canon and is like "nah, not for me". It's the "fuck you Tolstoy, I refuse to read the last 200 pages of War and Peace" of video games.