The Weekly 'What are you playing?' Discussion - 27-07-2023
Have you been spending hours trying to pass a level? Or maybe you are completely addicted to a newly bought game. Do you have a question about a game or would like to share something else? In the Weekly Discussion Thread, you can do it all!
Please don’t forget to use the spoiler tag as soon as you start talking about a storyline.
I dunno if the community's migrated or is still over on reddit, but /r/outerwilds was always good for gentle hints, for those who want them.
I don't know if I've seen anyone yet who QUITE got all the puzzles in their own. Some of them are a RIGHT bitch, so don't feel too bad if you need to get a little bit of help.
I used a walkthrough right at the very end. The final bit is time sensitive so I was mostly just confirming that I knew what to do and didn't have to repeat it.
Man I want to get into that game so much, but I just can't handle the controls. I understand them, and I appreciate that they actually have that type of system in the game... But I'm fighting the ship far more than I'm playing the game.
It plays a lot better with a gamepad. I bounced off it the first time I tried and then the second time I played it on my Steam Deck and got so sucked in that I finished it in a couple of days
Try doing something else for a while, go see other planets, other leads you've been following. A lot of places I thought I was stuck in I later realized it was a part of a different puzzle elsewhere in the game.
Where are you stuck?
Last piece of advice, don't give up on the game. It's one of those games where you'll be glad you finished it.
Me too! I've already had to search for some very specific things so far. I've been trying to avoid a guide, but I'm not sure how much longer I can put it off. It's just very boring to have to head back to places if I get something time sensitive wrong. I'll probably stick with it, but it hasn't been keeping my interest as well as I hoped. It just feels like I'm repeating myself a lot and that's really boring.
I miss Stasis and the remote bombs though. I wish they also kept my house. I just got my horses back.
It's a great game but a terrible sequel. Granted, I'm only up to the 3rd "dungeon" now but I dont see it coming up with a plot to tie it better with BOTW.
It's a new gold standard of sequels, how in the world could you say it's terrible? It improves on almost every single thing from the original. I don't know what you mean by plot to tie it better with BotW. Its clearly a continuation of every character and location from the first game. I feel bad for anyone that plays this before BotW, they probably have no idea who any one or thing is.
Recall is the evolution of stasis. Bombs should never have been unlimited anyways. Besides, there's multiple different ways to get the same effect as bombs now by using different items and fusing things together, and using arrows.
The house was a little jarring. But I smiled because it's Zeldas house now and that's kinda cute. The horses surprised me, I had no idea they were going to do that. One problem with them though is they take the data from your regular save, and my main save was the master quest so i didn't get the cool horses back
But that's whatever in the end.
It was so hard to dodge spoilers! I also went in mostly blind, and it's been pure joy. But also... feeling a bit overwhelmed! There's SO MUCH to explore and do, and I have serious anxiety that I'm going to miss things or forget to go back somewhere.
Yeah I feel that. I just assume I'm going to miss stuff and go with it.
I am constantly amazed how much there is to explore. The world is so freaking huge with so many layers. I've been in little areas thinking "I'll just check this out for a second" and an hour later I'm still seeing what's around the corner in that area.
I'm 60 hours deep into Balders Gate 3 so I've been trying to chill out and not play until full release next week. Ive been having a lot of fun with Dave the Diver in the meantime.
I play a weekly dnd session. I've been playing for almost 7 years. I thought I'd check out baldurs gate. I got absolutely bodied in the first encounter.
I learned 2 things; my DM is very kind and wants us all to have fun, baldurs gate is not kind and is coldly indifferent to my concept of fun.
I'm exaggerating a bit, but it was tougher than I thought. Saving helps a lot. I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten wrecked right away if I planned better.
I've tried 10-15 times to finish it on hardcore mode. The most recent time, ::: I was killed by a warper bringing up my last load from the lost river trying to finish the rocket ::: and I literally can't any more.
Just finished my second play through a couple weeks ago, what an incredibly unique game. The balance system almost felt like a rhythm game to me, really makes me hope it inspires other similar games. This was my first time on directors cut, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of bonus content. Definitely worth playing if it ever goes on a big sale or gamepass.
I just finished Directors Cut and currently trying to 100% it. Just can't get enough of it! What's the difference between DC and the original release? Could you please tell me if the spoiler tag is working on your end if you don't mind?
TF2 has recently released an update that allows server owners to have up to 100 players connected at once. Not officially supported, but up to 64 players seems to be stable enough (even more so if you run a server plugin to remove player cosmetics). So that's been taking my attention recently. 64 player SZF was gloriously chaotic.
I've been getting into the Green Lantern superhero, so I bought the 3DS and X360 games. 360 game is still on it's way, but personally I can confirm that the 3DS game is typical of what you'd expect from a licensed game. Really low frame rate (10s to 20s) the second anything is on screen alongside Green Lantern, which makes me wonder how the DS version of the game ran if at all. It does have some neat things going for it, the combat it is alright despite the low fps, but really It's just a time waster for by breaks at work. I also impulse bought the Heroclix Sinestro Corps War Sinario Pack, and maybe I'll get a friend to indulge me with a game or two.
I tried out the TF2 update, but the map with the seal seems to operate on a game mode that doesn’t reward being a partial contributor. If you only get a few kills each match, your objective score is zero, because you’re not the sole survivor of big brawls able to cart off all the kill score to the device that lets you cash them in (device in this case being a cute seal)
Man, I've been wanting to try out one of those TF2 megaservers but couldn't find an open one. How long until we get that coveted battle royale custom gamemode?
I've been playing Divinity Original Sin 2, in anticipation of Baldur's Gate 3. I got to the start of Act 2 about four years ago, and just never came back to the game. I always meant to pick it back up, so I started a fresh character and am nearly back to that point now.
One thing I've found helpful is to make sure everyone has at least one mobility spell, so they won't be stuck trying to trudge through a lake of fire. Positioning is super important. Also, teleport and netherswap are incredibly useful.
Yeah, this is true! The constant exploding puddles and stuff is interesting to look at, but does feel a bit chaotic and out of your control at times.
Honestly, it's just making me more excited about Baldur's Gate, since although I haven't played the early access I know it's a different combat system. That and the armour system of Divinity 2 really throws me off, gameplay wise, so it'll be great to hopefully have all the RP stuff but with a less irritating combat system.
I've only completed Act I and can't believe Act II will be even bigger, there's already so much to do in Act I.
Are there only two acts in total?
After DOS2 I plan on playing through Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous and then maybe Pillars of Eternity 2
Cult of the Lamb. I beat it back in November but picked it up again after the developers added a lot. I've been enjoying my replay. The new additions and changes fixed some of the things that annoyed me on my first playthrough.
I recently set up a private Valheim server for me and a friend. So far it's great fun. We just made it to the mountains tier. It's a bit grindy, but a very fun and relaxed grind.
Hades is literally my favorite game of all time. I used to pass on rougelikes and other "hard" games, but decided to try it out after hearing about how it was pretty good.
I got it on my switch and got hooked. I loved it so much. It got me into challenging games. I'm even dabbling in soulslikes now.
I bought it on my PC when I upgraded. I wanted to support the devs, so I bought it for my brother and two other friends. I even bought it for a stranger I met a party because it was on sale.
I've been slowly playing through Vampire Survivors again with each hero only using their starting weapon. I did the lightning ring dude on the first map the last time. Only barely made it to 30 minutes with that one.
X4: Foundations. Just started a new playthrough with the Kingdom End DLC.
Its the closest to Eve online, except being offline, singleplayer, pausable and moddable. It supports many playstyles and can also be played semi afk, which i like.
At times it can be incredibly frustrating because the UI is complex and the AI of your fleet members can be very stupid.
Still i enjoy just doing my thing, playing for a bit, save and continue later. Not a lot of games support this. Others that do for me are Factorio/DSP and Drox Operative 2
I'm playing Subnautica: Below Zero and I'm enjoying it very much. Even compared to the first one. It even runs better on my modest rig and I don't mind the new additions as much as some people seemingly did. Playing those games without checking infos/wikis on the net is what make them specials imo (just like Outer Wilds). It's all about the sense of wonder and figuring out stuff by yourself.
If subnautica is like 10% above ground and 90% underwater exploration, then Below zero is closer to 50/50 split. Personally I was hoping for more underwater exploration and felt pretty disappointed by below zero because there wasn't enough of what IMO made the original great.
To add: I thought Below Zero felt more "designed" than the original. The biomes feel less natural, the progression is a bit more obvious, the story guides you along quite a bit more. Even just the vehicle progression makes it a little less satisfying to explore around—finding a route to get the cyclops through small cave systems was just amazing.
I ended up treating it more like a game and less like a survival sandbox, if that makes sense. I was given goals rather than finding them.
I still halfway through, but I feel like the map is more compact, which I personnaly don't mind. I understand why people would consider it a (fully fleshed) expansion though. Just like the first, I still have those "holy shit" moments when discovering a new biome or something of importance. It also took me a long time to get going in the first time, and I appreciate the fact to be far more efficient right from the start. The above water areas are not that bad imo. Oh, and the sound design is still amazing.
Red Dead Redemption 2.
I remember picking it up when it was new but I didn't have the time to really get into it, plus the first chapter is very slow, so I didn't give it a proper chance and put it away. I'm very glad I gave it another shot though, because it's such a good game. I'm almost finished the second camper now I think.
I picked it up on Xbox back when it was released, because I liked the first one a lot. It was one of the biggest gaming regrets I've ever made. It is so goddamn tedious.
Like, I get why it's that way. It's the reason it's popular. It's all about the attention to detail and a semblance of realism, but holy shit do I hate it.
I got my first perfect bear skin and was pretty jazzed about it. On my way back to camp I got attacked by a mountain lion, sending me, my horse, and the skin down a hill. I only found my horse.
Maybe I did something wrong, but I've never been more upset at a videogame in my life.
This game is just so massive and definitely has a flow of its own. At some point, I just had to push through the main campaign, otherwise I woul've never seen the end of it. Maybe one day I'll come back to dig the side activities.
That's funny, Warframe definitely has a grind to it, but I remember the combat being a joy with excellent flow. (I haven't played in like 8 years so take that with a grain of salt)
Jagged Alliance 3. I loved JA2 1.13 to death, and while JA3 kinda pales in comparison so far, I do love the fresh content. Hope modding will take off for it.
I’m having fun with Jedi Fallen Order on my Steamdeck. One thing that caught me off guard is how imho good the facial animations are…but maybe I don’t play that much aaa anymore so that may be standard nowdays.
I have been playing wolfensteim 3d but moded in its brutal form, "Brutal wolfenstein by Ziomcall" or something like that. Its real nice. Ads weapons like a flamethrower and some moves like kicking, modifies levels so that areas are not 100% claustrophobic dungeon tunnels, updated soundtrack and of course: gore, lots of it. Real nice, recomend if you are nostalgic or have a potato laptop and whant a decent ww2 boomer shooter (i.e. me). Its kinda hard in the hurt me plenty dificulty which is like normal but not really. Im in chapter 4 right now. Shit gets crazy on the gameplay department. Only works whit gzdoom and if you have trouble running it then turn of all lighting in the options. Other than that, works like a charm.
Pikmin 3 Deluxe - Finished the story and started the side missions. It's been super fun. Such a huge leap over 1 and 2. I played 2 immediately before 3DX, and I didn't care for it. The dungeon structure didn't do it for me, but 3DX has been wonderful, albeit very easy.
Final Fantasy XVI - I've been very slowly trucking along through this. I took a break after I had a family tragedy recently and wanted to focus on happy games while that was happening, but I'm getting back into this and hoping to finish soon. Really liking it. It's fun, the story is good, the characters are interesting. It's just a solid game. Wouldn't want every FF game to be this going forward, but I'm not upset XVI is what it is.
Destiny 2 - Just leveling the season's battle pass mostly. I don't play D2 hardcore these days. Just to the story and hop off. The story for the season has been over, so I just hop on for a little bit each weekz turn off my brain, and level a few times while listening to a podcast. It's my comfort food game, though I think I'm the most disinterested I've even been in this game.
Sometimes everything is going great and then it all falls apart. I recently took on Vvulf for the first time and had a TPK with all of my highest level characters losing all of my legendary items. At that point I just rage quit and decided to start a new game on radiant because apparently I can't handle darkest mode.
Darkest Dungeon really hits it out of the park with its atmosphere and themes. I probably would have ragequit a few times if it weren't for the near perfect presentation.
I was into Dark Souls so much that I got a PS4 just for Bloodborne. Love the game, but that is probably the last non-VR console I'll ever buy. I got so little use out of it compared to my PC.
I was on E2M6 before work got extremely hectic and I put it on pause for a while. Now that I’m finally getting back to it, I love it so much. It combines two things I love: boomer shooters and Warhammer. To extend my playthrough, I'm playing it how I play classic Doom: Boltgun start only, no saves (death means I start the whole level over), and Exterminatus difficulty. It's gotten challenging but I love the mastery that comes from playing a map from the beginning again.
Any boomer shooter fan is doing themselves a disservice if they don't check it out.
I just started with Cassette Beasts, as it was finally on sale on Switch and I cannot get myself to play a Pokemon game on anything but a portable console. Just feels wrong.
It is... the strictly better Pokemon game, as people told me it'd be. I keep looking for issues compared to the classic games, but no, they did it all slightly~notably better. And wow is the soundtrack fantastic. And wow is the theming incredibly well done, with the walkman as the battle menu as the cherry on top.
Highly recommended. I cannot say much about the story so far, but what I've seen is indeed interesting.
Have you tried any of the other Pokémon clones? I'd be interested to hear how you think it stacks up to some of the others. I tried a few, and none really captured what I wanted. I thought Cassette Beasts looked pretty cool style-wise so it was somewhat on my radar.
I enjoy using Skyrim mods, but it frustrates me when I have to reinstall all of them for some reason or another; otherwise, my saved game won't work. Currently, I'm using only one mod: Unread Books Glow
I've been running through Into the Radius. It's in the easily top 3 VR games for me, it's does a incredible job at immersing you into the world which is basically like Stalker. Coming back from harder missions I've felt mentally exhausted just from how stressful it can get. But that stress is so addictive.
I remember getting all the equipment that boosts your speed, going to a plantation at night, and just sprinting between slavers butchering them before they even where alerted to me.
I think gameplay wise, Far Cry peaked at 3 or 4. I'd say 5 and 6 weren't as good in those regard, but oh boy is it waaay more fun to kill in them.
3 and 4 felt kinda weird, because you were andoutsider (3 much more than 4) that solves all the problems. It felt very white savoir.
Whereas in 5 and 6 it's all "aww, yeah, let's kill us some fascists!"
There’s a particular piece I liked, the Prisoner’s Scarf, that lets you do machete takedowns on fully alerted enemies from the front. It absolutely caters well to that madman playstyle.
Initially, I didn’t like being forced to a set of only 5 or so upgrades rather than a constant skill tree, but now I think I like it that way.
There’s a particular piece I liked, the Prisoner’s Scarf, that lets you do machete takedowns on fully alerted enemies from the front. It absolutely caters well to that madman playstyle.
Initially, I didn’t like being forced to a set of only 5 or so upgrades rather than a constant skill tree, but now I think I like it that way.
Jagged Alliance 3 - very good sequel to JA2, more of the same with enough tweaks to make it fun and the campaign has thrown enough curve balls to keep me interested. Like the original it doesn’t hold your hand, which is good. Strongly recommend if you liked the original
Almost done with Pokémon Shining Pearl.. which has not been as bad as I expected. I mainly went for it to play with my 'mons only compatible with BDSP.
Just grinding the Grand Underground for mysterious shards now to catch all the legendaries in Ramanas Park.
If you can do an emulator or mod your switch, there's a really good BDSP mod called Luminescent Platinum that adds a ton of QoL stuff, mons, NPCs, and Platinum stuff.
This looks really cool. It's been on my wishlist for awhile. I don't normally play these kinds of games, but it looked so cool in the trailer. I may jump in on the Game Pass version.
Still just playing Team Fortress 2. This is how it usually goes with me; I pick one or two games at a time and play em into the ground. Relearning how to play Scout, which I was never very good at to begin with. Takes a lot of twitchy reflexes and quick reaction time, even moreso than the other classes except perhaps Sniper when flick-shotting.
I personally recommend against casual play, even though it's the most popular mode, specifically because it is unpredictably crap like this. Check the community server browser for a server running a vanilla game mode instead; the only concern may be that, depending on which one you pick, the average skill level may be higher, but with something like Skial that won't be an issue.
I don't typically play much video games but this time I decided to start up an old one that I never finished. Tenchu fatal shadows. I'm also trying to play through Evo search for Eden
I feel like there’s a dozen indie tactics games that might be a more fun sampling of the genre. Steamworld Heist, or even Gears Tactics, would be a bit more fun for me.
I've started playing Techtonica, or if you prefer, "underground satisfactory". One interesting mechanic is that research creates a sort of bulky waste product and you have to find a place for it.
The Mass Effect trilogy and simultaneously making a guide in Notion containing who to bring for unique dialogue, collectibles and instructions if they're not given in game.
I spent more time gaming this month than any other this year and finished NO games. That’s what I get for devoting equal time to three big time-suckers.
I’m nearing the final act of Dragon Quest V on the DS. Mixed feelings but overall enjoying it. Coming straight from Chrono Trigger to anything else in that era is just unfair though.
I’m taking my time with Elden Ring and loving it. I love entering a new area and getting a stunning vista to take it all in. It’s a beautiful game.
Playing Battlebit about once or twice a week with some friends. It’s perfect for my friend group.
I plucked up my courage and I started Resident Evil 2 Remake. I finished Leon part. Doubting if play Claire part or not. Also I finished Inscryption. I'm now trying to finish the Warzone 2 battle pass since It ends in a few days.
Definitely do play Claire's part! It's not as long, and there are some repetitive parts, but it does add more to the story and introduce some new characters (if you're not already familiar with the original or the franchise in general).
I've been playing Neon White for a few days, it's been in my backlog for a while haha. I had a lot of fun replaying levels to get an Ace & gifts. I'm currently at chapter 7. The story segments are cringy, but that's part of its charm.
Baldurs gate 3. Thought it would be more complete since it's coming out soon. Still good though.
I've always had trouble getting into these isometric rpgs for some reason. Divinity, wasteland, old baldurs gate, even dragon age origins. Somehow the disconnect between the control and the character gets to me.
I'm going to try to get deep enough into this one though so that the story can actually shine through
I am waiting for Baldurs Gate 3 to release and in the meantime I was just staring at my screen buuuut just got the word that both of the Zelda Oracle games are now on Switch Online or whatever it is called, so that is how I will spend my weekend:))
Just finished the main story of Pikmin 4, now working on the post game content. Also played a little bit of Cassette Beasts with the gf and it's an interesting game, pretty fun for the couple hours I played it.
Finally got around to playing Vermintide 2. Holy crap, I LOVE this game. Me and my girlfriend have been playing it, trying out all the classes and weapons. It is amazing how much build diversity there is in Vermintide.
I'm shuffling around a couple of games, when I get tired of one I go to the next, and so on until I hopefully beat them all.
The current one is Monster Hunter: World, followed by Desperados 3 and TLoZ: BotW.
I've been going single player as of late. A lot of the outer worlds spacers choice and gates to hell Ostfront. Fighting against corporatism and fascism
Pikmin 4. It's real good. I was always more interested in the environmental puzzles than the combat so the lower difficulty suits me just fine. I got to credits yesterday, then
turns out there's a whole extra pikmin 1 campaign in there and seems like at least one more area in the main campaign. Must save Oatchi!
Been dabbling in a lot of games lately. Battlebit has been taking most of my game time for the last few weeks. Is it just me, or have servers been getting laggier?
On the single-player side, I've been slowly making my way through Asterigos, which is a Zelda-like from last year. Enjoyable combat, gorgeous settings, but I can't help being reminded of a post on r/truegaming about how bad writing can ruin a game. All of the dialog feels way too modern for its own good (which isn't helped by the "aspiring voice actor" grade acting), and most of the plot points have been boring or predictable.
I also have a guilty pleasure in f2p trash like Smash Legends and Flash Party. Judge me all you want.
Trying to beat Tails of Iron on the hardest difficulty. The game was fun and somewhat challenging on normal and I did 100% it. The hardest difficulty feels random and just unfair at times and honestly isn't very fun to play. But I'm determined and have reached the last area, so hopefully I'll succeeded this weekend.
I've started playing Ys 9: Monstrum Nox. It's a quite charming action RPG. I played Ys 8 a few years back and generally found it enjoyable, so wanted to give it a shot. Not the most complex game (so far), but definitely fun!
Finally started playing Chrono Trigger. I've never been a huge fan of older games or JRPGs, but what I heard about the quality of the game and it's story interested me enough to give it a shot regardless. So far I'm actually enjoying it a lot!
Xenonauts 2 Early Access - got to the end of playable content.
What is there already is solid, and I have no doubts the full game will be really good. It feels like somewhere between 30-50% along the plot has been added. The game on display right now is not worth the listed price, so anyone not super duper interested in seeing it take form along the way should hold off until release.
Could we add a date to the titles going forward, rather than numbering them? I was attempting to start this weekly discussion myself, and have been posting it on Sundays for the last few weeks, but I'd be happy to cede to this thread from you if you'd like, @quinten@lemmy.world
Mostly for reference later on down the line. I’ve used threads like this several times to see what people are saying about more recent games, and it’s nice to have the date in the thread title to more easily contextualize the comments. Just a suggestion in case anyone else uses these threads like I do.
Armored Core 3! I was interested in AC6 coming out in a month, so I decided to jump into the older games to get a taste of the series beforehand. AC1 was very clunky and difficult for a newcomer to the series, that's for sure. After a bit I decided to skip to 3 since I heard it was a good entry point to the series.
I've been having so much fun! I spend way more time customizing and tweaking my mech and theory-crafting new builds than I actually spend doing missions. I've mostly done arena fights, since they're less stressful (no ammo or repair costs), but the entire game is great so far.
Now having played this, I'm more excited for Armored Core 6 than I thought I would be, and I cannot WAIT for it to release.
I suckered myself into another Hollow Knight playthrough, so that's been my week. All I've got left are the round-2 dream bosses, and the dreamers themselves.
Not sure what I wanna pick up next. Pikmin 1&2 before 4? I never actually played 2. Persona 5: Strikers? God of War 2018? Final Fantasy 7 Remake? Horizon: Zero Dawn? Finish Hyrule Warrior: Age of Calamity?
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, and experiencing extreme levels of nostalgia. My goal is to play through every HD Remix and reexperience the joys of my childhood before finally seeing what Kingdom Hearts 3 is about.