I haven’t bothered with Gears of War since 3 was a bit disappointing. I don’t think I’ve missed much
Satsuma wrote:
4) The robot is the next big idea for Gears 5, so every other scene you’ve got to point and have the robot “hack” something. It’s like fucking Destiny. (What’s the fucking deal with TV, films and video games and fucking hacking... it’s so boring and beyond a joke these days).
Do you hack via playing pipemania?
I vaguely remember a horrible escort section of one of them protecting such a robit. It was shit.
Bamba wrote:
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap: I picked this up cheap on Android and started playing it this morning. It looks fucking lovely and I enjoy the exploration aspect of it but even by the standards of touch-screen controls these aren't brilliant so I suspect I'll hit a difficulty point that'll derail the whole enterprise sooner rather than later.
Aaaand, here we are! Tried the Lion-Man level this morning and it can get fucked. I went in all armoured up and with three blue potions and the combination of hundreds of fireball-chucking assholes followed by shedloads of ninjas and the teeth-grindingly annoying samurai just leeched all my health away before I even got to the boss fight. Interestingly there's no issue with the controls as I predicted because they're actually pretty good once you adjust them a bit. No, it's just another example of a shitty old game with awful design that no amount of turd-gilding graphics can dress up. It's kind of fun up to that point but it can get fucked.
I am playing Zwift, the controls are easy, just takes a lot of effort.
Iyam playin Tell Me Everything. It's a very cheap detective-em-up where you construct sentences out of a bank of words to interrogate suspects in murder most foul. It's more satisfying than Lah Nwah's comical attempt at cross-examination and is a fraction of the spence. It has smooth jazz playing while you grill em too!
Meh. Put hours into stick of truth on Xbox to find it's censored to Jeffries. Completed the first world on Astrobot as I'm trying to savour it and found out how God awful Doom VFR is.
More Borderlands today and tomorrow.
More Borderlands today and tomorrow.
I am mostly playing Nobodies. It being a crime scene cleanup point n clicker. It's a bit simple and doesn't take much to work out each scene. At least it drowns the voices out for a few minutes.
I tried Skyrim VR last night and it wasn't nice.
Even with settings adjusted the motion felt jarring too often, too much text to read (menus felt too close too?). Shame.
No Mans Sky VR to try next.
Even with settings adjusted the motion felt jarring too often, too much text to read (menus felt too close too?). Shame.
No Mans Sky VR to try next.
Forza Horizon 3.
It's amazing. I was a bit annoyed when it sent me on a 13km drive to try and make me pay £16 for the area, but then I found a barn find and it happened to be my dream car (Ferrari Dino) so I wasn't too bummed. Fantastic game though, looks incredible too.
It's amazing. I was a bit annoyed when it sent me on a 13km drive to try and make me pay £16 for the area, but then I found a barn find and it happened to be my dream car (Ferrari Dino) so I wasn't too bummed. Fantastic game though, looks incredible too.
Zardoz wrote:
I tried Skyrim VR last night and it wasn't nice.
Even with settings adjusted the motion felt jarring too often, too much text to read (menus felt too close too?). Shame.
No Mans Sky VR to try next.
Even with settings adjusted the motion felt jarring too often, too much text to read (menus felt too close too?). Shame.
No Mans Sky VR to try next.
Yeah, it’s almost like the best VR games are the ones designed from the ground up to be VR games, not the ones that have it shoehorned in after the fact.
Superhot is the exception, but they sort of destroyed it and built it back up again
Control (PS4): gngh. I was loving it for the first two-thirds of the game, but it's trying my patience now with bulletsponge enemies and a series of boss fights where success comes down more to luck than skill - and to add insult to injury, where the restart point was some way back from the boss. Oh, and you appear to permanently lose a small amount of one of the game's currencies for dying, to boot...!
For example: a boss fight on a floating platform where you have to dodge attacks. Each attack successfully dodged leaves a hole in the platform. So I'm watching the boss, timing the attacks, strafing to dodge, and I... fall through a hole I couldn't see. Again and again and again, until I got lucky and didn't fall through a hole for long enough to kill it.
I have enough affection and investment in the story to persevere, but I think it'll be head-down dash to the end now, whereas I was enjoying the side quests.
For example: a boss fight on a floating platform where you have to dodge attacks. Each attack successfully dodged leaves a hole in the platform. So I'm watching the boss, timing the attacks, strafing to dodge, and I... fall through a hole I couldn't see. Again and again and again, until I got lucky and didn't fall through a hole for long enough to kill it.
I have enough affection and investment in the story to persevere, but I think it'll be head-down dash to the end now, whereas I was enjoying the side quests.
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
I have enough affection and investment in the story to persevere, but I think it'll be head-down dash to the end now, whereas I was enjoying the side quests.
Genuine question, here, but why don’t you just stop at that point? I’ve never been a completionist in games, so collecting every tin can down side streets doesn’t bother me, but when a game turns from enjoyable romp to grindy frustration I just stop, and find it very easy to do so, but I know a lot of people keep persevering, and I do t know what my question here quite is, but is that... fun? Entertaining? (Or whatever else it is you get out of the game in general?) And is that tied to competitive instinct, do you think? I don’t seem to have one. Board games I don’t care if I win or lose at all, so mostly play co-op game as if I play against people I tend to just let them win.
Mimi wrote:
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
I have enough affection and investment in the story to persevere, but I think it'll be head-down dash to the end now, whereas I was enjoying the side quests.
Genuine question, here, but why don’t you just stop at that point?Oh, I miss bderstood the wording wording, but maybe even moreso don’t get it. If the side quest has been causing so much frustration why did you keep retrying it? I Get you mean you’ll abandon them for now, though.
Mr Chonks wrote:
Zardoz wrote:
I tried Skyrim VR last night and it wasn't nice.
Even with settings adjusted the motion felt jarring too often, too much text to read (menus felt too close too?). Shame.
No Mans Sky VR to try next.
Even with settings adjusted the motion felt jarring too often, too much text to read (menus felt too close too?). Shame.
No Mans Sky VR to try next.
Yeah, it’s almost like the best VR games are the ones designed from the ground up to be VR games, not the ones that have it shoehorned in after the fact.
Superhot is the exception, but they sort of destroyed it and built it back up again
Wipeout is the other exception, as is Resident Evil.
Exceptional!
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
Control (PS4): gngh. I was loving it for the first two-thirds of the game, but it's trying my patience now with bulletsponge enemies and a series of boss fights where success comes down more to luck than skill - and to add insult to injury, where the restart point was some way back from the boss. Oh, and you appear to permanently lose a small amount of one of the game's currencies for dying, to boot...!
For example: a boss fight on a floating platform where you have to dodge attacks. Each attack successfully dodged leaves a hole in the platform. So I'm watching the boss, timing the attacks, strafing to dodge, and I... fall through a hole I couldn't see. Again and again and again, until I got lucky and didn't fall through a hole for long enough to kill it.
I have enough affection and investment in the story to persevere, but I think it'll be head-down dash to the end now, whereas I was enjoying the side quests.
For example: a boss fight on a floating platform where you have to dodge attacks. Each attack successfully dodged leaves a hole in the platform. So I'm watching the boss, timing the attacks, strafing to dodge, and I... fall through a hole I couldn't see. Again and again and again, until I got lucky and didn't fall through a hole for long enough to kill it.
I have enough affection and investment in the story to persevere, but I think it'll be head-down dash to the end now, whereas I was enjoying the side quests.
I was on the fence about this because although the setting and general look of the thing is obviously awesome I was very concerned the gameplay wouldn't hold up to that. Everything you've described there would be a recipe for frustration for me so I'm happy I can now put it firmly on the 'maybe watch someone else play it' list.
markg wrote:
Mr Chonks wrote:
Zardoz wrote:
I tried Skyrim VR last night and it wasn't nice.
Even with settings adjusted the motion felt jarring too often, too much text to read (menus felt too close too?). Shame.
No Mans Sky VR to try next.
Even with settings adjusted the motion felt jarring too often, too much text to read (menus felt too close too?). Shame.
No Mans Sky VR to try next.
Yeah, it’s almost like the best VR games are the ones designed from the ground up to be VR games, not the ones that have it shoehorned in after the fact.
Superhot is the exception, but they sort of destroyed it and built it back up again
Wipeout is the other exception, as is Resident Evil.
Resi 7? That had VR from the start, I thought.
It did.
Yoku's Island Express, the cutesy pinball/Metroidvania mash-up thing that came out last year and was free with Amazon Prime this month. I've played a couple of hours and thoroughly enjoyed it so far. I can slightly foresee the proper pinball sections becoming annoying if either the difficulty ramps up or you need to replay the same section multiple times when traversing the map, but it might not come to that so hopefully it'll remain fun throughout.
Bamba wrote:
free with Amazon Prime this month
Whatnow?
Grim... wrote:
Bamba wrote:
free with Amazon Prime this month
Whatnow?
I believe he means Twitch Prime.
https://twitch.amazon.com/tp
TheVision wrote:
Grim... wrote:
Bamba wrote:
free with Amazon Prime this month
Whatnow?
I believe he means Twitch Prime.
https://twitch.amazon.com/tp
I do, but as that comes directly from having an Amazon Prime sub it's an Amazon Prime benefit regardless.
Not free
Mr Chonks wrote:
Not free
'Free at the point of download'.
Actually, Yoku's Island Express was from last month's set and I just managed to grab it in time. October's 'free' stuff is:
Serial Cleaner looks cool and is on my Steam wishlist so I'll be giving that a go.
Note: as far as I can work out you don't need to have an active sub to play games you've already claimed so if you grab something now you don't need to try and play it before cancelling.
- Stranger Things 3
- The Walking Dead: Michonne
- Deadlight: Directors Cut
- Serial Cleaner
- Adam Wolfe (Episodes 1-4)
Serial Cleaner looks cool and is on my Steam wishlist so I'll be giving that a go.
Note: as far as I can work out you don't need to have an active sub to play games you've already claimed so if you grab something now you don't need to try and play it before cancelling.
Bamba wrote:
Mr Chonks wrote:
Not free
'Free at the point of download'.
Acceptable
I’m playing Dragon’s Quest XI (JRPG thing)
Most of the enemies have a sort-of pun based name. One of the enemies I’ve come across is a crazy crab called Crabba Dabba Doo.
Most of the enemies have a sort-of pun based name. One of the enemies I’ve come across is a crazy crab called Crabba Dabba Doo.
Control (PS4) (Completed): I know I did some kvetching about this in previous updates, but overall I definitely enjoyed it, and I'm happy I finished it. The writing, performances, and voice acting were top-notch, and the world building was sublime. It really is SCP: The Videogame and if you like that or similar stuff like the Laundry novels by Charles Stross you'll definitely dig this. As I complained earlier, I found the shooting aspect to be a little weaker - it occasionally tipped over the line into frustrating-instead-of-difficult - but I never tired of using telekinetic powers to wrangle massive chunks of reinforced concrete and hurl them into the faces of my enemies. It doesn't overstay its welcome either, and it's pleasant to have a game not filled with thousands of identikit collect-em-up sidequests. There's some single-player DLC due next year and I could see me picking that up.
Untitled Goose Game (Switch) ("Completed"): Delightful from beginning to end, and man, they didn't lie: this goose is horrible. The ending made me laugh out loud. When you complete it, you get a load more tasks to do, which look notably more involved/complicated than the ones you do in the main flow of the game; plenty to keep you busy if you find the main game too easy. I don't know how many of them I'll tackle. Mostly, I just got a tremendous kick out of being a complete feathered arsehole to a whole bunch of totally innocent people.
Untitled Goose Game (Switch) ("Completed"): Delightful from beginning to end, and man, they didn't lie: this goose is horrible. The ending made me laugh out loud. When you complete it, you get a load more tasks to do, which look notably more involved/complicated than the ones you do in the main flow of the game; plenty to keep you busy if you find the main game too easy. I don't know how many of them I'll tackle. Mostly, I just got a tremendous kick out of being a complete feathered arsehole to a whole bunch of totally innocent people.
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
The ending made me laugh out loud.
Amazing, isn't it? Really gets across that feeling of "that FUCKING goose" on the part of the villagers.
GazChap wrote:
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
The ending made me laugh out loud.
Amazing, isn't it? Really gets across that feeling of "that FUCKING goose" on the part of the villagers.
Absolutely!
The ladies in the pub loved him.
The Outer Worlds: It's a cover version of Mass Effect by the band that brought you Fallout. I am almost genetically predisposed to love it. My character is Daisy. She's an utterly heartless thief, a sneaky negotiator, a decent shot, and occasionally she's shockingly rude.
The Outer Worlds (PS4): Loving this. At a slow pace, savouring everything, I picked everything in the Vale absolutely clean before heading on to the second game area. The writing is great; Pavarti, in particular, is a triumph of both characterisation and performance. I love what I've seen of her story so far and am looking forward to seeing where she goes next.
The flaws others have mentioned -- it's pretty easy; it's not groundbreakingly innovative compared to its heritage; there can be a lot of running back and forth talking to people if you want to explore everything -- I cannot refute. But this game is just so much my thing that I am helpless before it.
The flaws others have mentioned -- it's pretty easy; it's not groundbreakingly innovative compared to its heritage; there can be a lot of running back and forth talking to people if you want to explore everything -- I cannot refute. But this game is just so much my thing that I am helpless before it.
The story and plot and settings and characterisation are just lovely. I am, however, a gearhead at heart and the equipment part of the game feels like a wildly lost opportunity. "MK2" versions of the early guns is some lazy ass bullshit.
Tried Quake 2 RTX today. It's still Quake 2....
Been putting most of my time into TOW, but COD MW is installing as I poke this. All 130gb of it.
Been putting most of my time into TOW, but COD MW is installing as I poke this. All 130gb of it.
The Outer Worlds [PS4]: Completed. I did everything: went everywhere, spoke to everyone, did every sidequest.
Look, I can't deny the criticisms the game is taking are accurate: it's a bit easy, it's a little too slick, it's a bit shallow. Half the companions' writing is weak. Some of the weirdness of Fallout is missing, and that's a shame. Because it's quite easy, some of the systems (like weapon modifications) don't feel like they really have much weight to them - ie. you can ignore them and will probably breeze through combat anyway. You don't feel like lots of time spent pouring over gear options in the inventory menus really affects your experience of the game.
Buuuuuut: I really, really enjoyed it anyway. Half the companion's writing I really enjoyed (Ellie, Noyka, and particularly Parvati.) The quests had genuine moral conundrums in them. It was repeatedly laugh-out-loud funny. Its dedication to multiple paths through conflict is so deep that I barely fired a shot in the game's conclusion. It's also mercifully short, by the standards of RPGs; that might be a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective. I vote "good."
A shamelessly subjective 9 from me; probably a more objective 7.5 or so.
ProTip: somewhere in the late game, visit the character respec machine on the Unreliable, and optimise your skill points and perks around a consistent set of gear and companions. By doing that, you get enough points to nail 100s in a few key skills (I went for Persuade, Lie, Lockpicking, and Hack; plus 80s in Medicine, Engineering, Science, Sneak, and more) that open up paths through some tough skill checks as you approach the finale.
Look, I can't deny the criticisms the game is taking are accurate: it's a bit easy, it's a little too slick, it's a bit shallow. Half the companions' writing is weak. Some of the weirdness of Fallout is missing, and that's a shame. Because it's quite easy, some of the systems (like weapon modifications) don't feel like they really have much weight to them - ie. you can ignore them and will probably breeze through combat anyway. You don't feel like lots of time spent pouring over gear options in the inventory menus really affects your experience of the game.
Buuuuuut: I really, really enjoyed it anyway. Half the companion's writing I really enjoyed (Ellie, Noyka, and particularly Parvati.) The quests had genuine moral conundrums in them. It was repeatedly laugh-out-loud funny. Its dedication to multiple paths through conflict is so deep that I barely fired a shot in the game's conclusion. It's also mercifully short, by the standards of RPGs; that might be a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective. I vote "good."
A shamelessly subjective 9 from me; probably a more objective 7.5 or so.
ProTip: somewhere in the late game, visit the character respec machine on the Unreliable, and optimise your skill points and perks around a consistent set of gear and companions. By doing that, you get enough points to nail 100s in a few key skills (I went for Persuade, Lie, Lockpicking, and Hack; plus 80s in Medicine, Engineering, Science, Sneak, and more) that open up paths through some tough skill checks as you approach the finale.
Doctor Glyndwr wrote:
[b]The Outer Worlds [PS4][/b[: Completed. I did everything: went everywhere, spoke to everyone, did every sidequest.
Look, I can't deny the criticisms the game is taking are accurate: it's a bit easy, it's a little too slick, it's a bit shallow. Half the companions' writing is weak. Some of the weirdness of Fallout is missing, and that's a shame. Because it's quite easy, some of the systems (like weapon modifications) don't feel like they really have much weight to them - ie. you can ignore them and will probably breeze through combat anyway. You don't feel like lots of time spent pouring over gear options in the inventory menus really affects your experience of the game.
Buuuuuut: I really, really enjoyed it anyway. Half the companion's writing I really enjoyed (Ellie, Noyka, and particularly Parvati.) The quests had genuine moral conundrums in them. It was repeatedly laugh-out-loud funny. Its dedication to multiple paths through conflict is so deep that I barely fired a shot in the game's conclusion. It's also mercifully short, by the standards of RPGs; that might be a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective. I vote "good."
A shamelessly subjective 9 from me; probably a more objective 7.5 or so.
ProTip: somewhere in the late game, visit the character respec machine on the Unreliable, and optimise your skill points and perks around a consistent set of gear and companions. By doing that, you get enough points to nail 100s in a few key skills (I went for Persuade, Lie, Lockpicking, and Hack; plus 80s in Medicine, Engineering, Science, Sneak, and more) that open up paths through some tough skill checks as you approach the finale.
Look, I can't deny the criticisms the game is taking are accurate: it's a bit easy, it's a little too slick, it's a bit shallow. Half the companions' writing is weak. Some of the weirdness of Fallout is missing, and that's a shame. Because it's quite easy, some of the systems (like weapon modifications) don't feel like they really have much weight to them - ie. you can ignore them and will probably breeze through combat anyway. You don't feel like lots of time spent pouring over gear options in the inventory menus really affects your experience of the game.
Buuuuuut: I really, really enjoyed it anyway. Half the companion's writing I really enjoyed (Ellie, Noyka, and particularly Parvati.) The quests had genuine moral conundrums in them. It was repeatedly laugh-out-loud funny. Its dedication to multiple paths through conflict is so deep that I barely fired a shot in the game's conclusion. It's also mercifully short, by the standards of RPGs; that might be a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective. I vote "good."
A shamelessly subjective 9 from me; probably a more objective 7.5 or so.
ProTip: somewhere in the late game, visit the character respec machine on the Unreliable, and optimise your skill points and perks around a consistent set of gear and companions. By doing that, you get enough points to nail 100s in a few key skills (I went for Persuade, Lie, Lockpicking, and Hack; plus 80s in Medicine, Engineering, Science, Sneak, and more) that open up paths through some tough skill checks as you approach the finale.
Y'see, that makes it sound like my ideal RPG. Not too long, with skill trees and inventory upgrades I can largely ignore and still get by fine.
Of course, if I hadn't read the above, and was playing it myself, that wouldn't be my experience at all. I'd be fretting over poor choices and FOMO and ultimately turning it off, never to switch back on.*
So I will get this when it's cheap (big backlog and XCom WOTC is eating any available gaming time)
*Writing this, I realise RPGs are perhaps not for me.
Attachment:
20191118_172509.jpg
I never thought I'd see the day.
I'd best get on and play number 2.
I'd best get on and play number 2.
TheVision wrote:
I never thought I'd see the day.
I'd best get on and play number 2.
I'd best get on and play number 2.
I started 1 last year, but still haven't finished it. I've given up and dived straight in.
Mostly been playing VelociDrone the last couple of days.
It's just really fun and satisfying to learn a track and then keep beating your ghost. And it's as near to actually flying one as makes no odds, so as well as improving a completely useless skill on my PC I'm also getting better at one of my completely useless real life skills!
It's just really fun and satisfying to learn a track and then keep beating your ghost. And it's as near to actually flying one as makes no odds, so as well as improving a completely useless skill on my PC I'm also getting better at one of my completely useless real life skills!
Like the video glitches! 
Are you using your Taranis TX or the Xbox pad?
Are you using your Taranis TX or the Xbox pad?
Oh god, Taranis, I think trying to do this on a pad would be like playing a piano whilst wearing mittens.
I was playing Human Fall Flat and quite enjoying it. But, there's a water based level which expects you to fumble four hooks onto specific bits of a shipping container so you can move it which is a job that can absolutely get fucked given the (purposely) silly physics of the game so I'm done. Not like rage quitting, just "I've got a good few hours out of this and I'm happy with that" sort of a way.
ETA: actually, I've just looked something up that's shown I didn't need to do that shipping container stuff at all. I'm an idiot. However, fucking around with the boats on that level was already mildly annoying so I'm not unhappy to be done with it anyway.
Now I'm onto Planet Alpha, a side scrolling platformer that's incredibly pretty but also a bit basic (and is free with Twitch Prime). If it's only a few hours long I'll probably smash it out but anything more than that and I'm not sure it'll hold my attention.
ETA: actually, I've just looked something up that's shown I didn't need to do that shipping container stuff at all. I'm an idiot. However, fucking around with the boats on that level was already mildly annoying so I'm not unhappy to be done with it anyway.
Now I'm onto Planet Alpha, a side scrolling platformer that's incredibly pretty but also a bit basic (and is free with Twitch Prime). If it's only a few hours long I'll probably smash it out but anything more than that and I'm not sure it'll hold my attention.
Is there a VR mode? I haven't vomited for a while
Thankfully not. I had a quick go on the multiplayer earlier, joined the only session I could find and it was a joke, I was just nowhere near. It was like an Austin Allegro in an F1 race. Anyway one of them was this kid:
https://www.instagram.com/heepsyfpv/p/Bq8zcjjFAIU/
So I don't feel too bad.
https://www.instagram.com/heepsyfpv/p/Bq8zcjjFAIU/
So I don't feel too bad.
PC gamer magazine on paper magazine of magazines came with 2 weeks free Game Pass so I done that from the magazine and done played Forza Horrrrrrr 4 for a while. Which was much better than 3 which didn't grab me (or my magazines). Now I am playing Outer Worlds after signing up for another month for a quid. budget gamings. and magazines.
