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Games, games, games (Read 273275 times)

Fiend

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#750 Re: Games, games, games
April 29, 2016, 10:23:47 am


For the Games Workshop massive in tha house  :)

Hit me up for some coop on: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197971710064/

Plenty of new game psyched at the moment. Doom4, Deus Ex5, Battlefleet Gothic, Total Warhammer, Rise Of The Tomb Raider.....got Dishonoured 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 to look forward to at some point, and still got Alien Isolation, Metro 2033 Redux and Dying Light to play.

DS3 GOTY so far tho....

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#751 Re: Games, games, games
May 21, 2016, 12:49:10 pm
DS3.

Okay so this is an obviously flawed game:

-  The boss balance is completely fucked up. Some are so easy to be disappointingly negligble, some are so frustratingly hard there can never be any pleasure in the fight. And most of the latter are farcically simple when cooped. Totally unbalanced compared to the game in general.
- The boss arenas mostly spoil the gameflow and are quite arbitrary and out of character with the general progression / exploration of the game.
- The story / plot is entirely incomprehensible and obscure... "Learn it through the game, nub", yeah whatever I heeded all the available lore and it still made no fucking sense.
- The NPC quests are even worse, almost all of them are based on totally secret random conditions and actions that are impossible to quest and almost certainly fail on the first time playthrough.
- The PC port is adequately poor especially bad rebinding and not changing menus to kb+m style (despite the game obviously being perfectly playable with kb+m).
- Bonfire spacings are quite screwy.
- Lothric area always loads like a slideshow.
- Ithryll Dungeons and Smouldering Lake corridor sections are a bit meh.
- Online aspect is an immersion-spoiling mess of invasions messages and bloodstains everywhere.


But....but but but.....

+ The dark gothic fantasy aspect is done perfectly.
+ It looks utterly amazing in style and design (even on Low graphics).
+ Some of the scenes are mind-blowingly good - popping out in front of Ithryll Of Boreal Valley is THE more stunning scene I've seen in 18 years of gaming.
+ The exploration and interconnectivity is amazing.
+ The monsters and enemies are very cool, characterful, varied and impressive - including many of the bosses. Some of the designs are bonkers, some are inspiring, some of the attacks are hilarious/disturbing.
+ The non-boss combat is generally good, fair, and interesting, and the enemy variety and styles make it pretty rewarding.
+ The amount of optional areas and secrets are great.
+ Some of the NPCs are cute / cool (Onion Bro!)
+ The overall world is so well done and immersive (despite the obscure / unconvincing lore), that it is actually a wrench to reach the end and stop exploring it.

In short I'd say it is maybe 80% perfect?? But that 80% is actually just SO good, it's worth 112.5% extra, so I give it 90% perfect.

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#752 Re: Games, games, games
May 21, 2016, 05:38:58 pm
Most of those points sum up most of the Dark Souls series Fiend!

Having been a fan of the series this one has left me a little flat. It's surprising what once felt brutal, difficult and refreshing in the 1st game felt to me like a comfort blanket in this one. Yes it's very good but it doesn't really 'move' the series on tbh. None of the bosses were really a challenge and like I said it all felt rather familiar. It only took me 60 hours to complete too compared to double that for the 1st one. I think the yearly development cycle is starting to show though with a lack of distinct bosses , design etc.

But it's still Dark Souls and the pvp is brilliant, the level design is excellent etc and they could do another few and I'd still lap it up but I hope they try something new.

Shame you don't want a ps4 Fiend as its made me realise just how good Bloodborne is...

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#753 Re: Games, games, games
May 21, 2016, 05:58:15 pm
Yeah my first DS game so I will have quite a different viewpoint on it - although from what I've seen the GFX are an improvement with this one??

One boss took me 60 attempts (and 4 hours grinding for souls in between), so after that I just cooped any hard ones, absolutely zero inspiration to spoil the game with another grind that long.


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#754 Re: Games, games, games
October 24, 2016, 10:52:30 am
Been very quiet here on the games front. But with the announcement of a new Read Dead game coming



and a new Nintendo console/handheld hybrid



I thought I should get the ball rolling again.

I've been playing Deus Ex - Mankind Divided which is pretty good. Good choice of options between sneaking around and going in guns blazing. I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

Also recently played a few of the so-called walking simulators. Including Virginia, which was good but short and weird. And Firewatch, which I really enjoyed. Incredibly beautiful art style. Intriguing story.

Also played Inside, which has been getting a lot of love. I enjoyed it but i think some of the love is a bit over the top. It is very pretty and has some nice puzzles.

Also played Blood and Wine expansion for the Witcher 3. Amazing, of course, more witcher could only possibly be a good thing in my book. Nice way to send off Geralt.




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#755 Re: Games, games, games
October 26, 2016, 10:26:24 pm

I've been playing Deus Ex - Mankind Divided which is pretty good. Good choice of options between sneaking around and going in guns blazing. I'm enjoying it quite a bit.


In my Steam library ready and waiting :)

I've been playing Rise Of The Tomb Raider which is pretty good. Very much more of the same TR2013 which is no bad thing, and it looks stunning. The snow and ice and weather effects you encounter early on could even turn me to winter climbing. If I was a bloody idiot.

Recently finished The Solus Project (neat execution, a few good scares, but too long and not enthralling enough), Metro 2033 Redux (as classily bleak and atmospheric and good as Metro LL), and Battlefleet Gothic Armada (one for the 40k geeks, quite repetitive but very moreish and well-executed), and Doom4 (absolute blast, a reassuringly fun blend of visceral gameplay and modern production values).

PC gaming is looking well fruity at the moment. Will Dark Souls 3 DLC and  Titanfall 2 distract me from DX5, Mordheim, Total Warhammer and XCom2, or will Dishonoured 2 get there first?? Jeez.

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#756 Re: Games, games, games
October 27, 2016, 11:18:42 am
I'm definitely keen to play Rise of the Tomb Raider. Enjoyed the first reboot. I'll ask Santa for it.

OMG I forgot about DOOM! That was absolutely awesome. I was smiling constantly whilst playing and the soundtrack is absolutely pumping! Good shout.

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#757 Re: Games, games, games
November 19, 2016, 12:58:50 pm
Titanfall 2 - and there I was thinking that AAAAAA+++ flagship Call Of Interactive Movie Boredom games were only worth a cursory slagging off on internet fora for ruining quality PC gaming. But this is actually a blast. Looks absolutely stunning (although some interior level design is weak), has a nice buddy style with your Titan, and plenty of varied gameplay with the pilot mobility and the Titan arsenal. A bit "gamey" and "setting you up for MP" in places but good slick fun overall.

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#758 Re: Games, games, games
December 22, 2016, 09:35:50 am
Top Three Games 2016?? #masteraceonly

1. Dark Souls 3
(just the best dark fantasy vibe ever, mesmerising)
2. DOOM 4 (a very reassuring blend of old skool and new skool)
3= Titanfall 2 (short, linear, and gamey but great fun and great gfx)
3= Rise Of The Tomb Raider (like the first reboot but better, just really good all round)

Okay that's almost 3. Honourary mention to Homeworld Deserts Of Kharak (solid, stylish, streamlined RTS) which very narrowly misses out, and several I haven't played which should be on:  Dishonoured 2, Deus Ex MD, Total Warhammer, and XCom2 .

Been a great year for gaming overall.  :spank:


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#759 Re: Games, games, games
December 22, 2016, 09:45:28 am
XCOM2 was my game of 2016 (mostly as it took nearly a year to finish it...) but enjoyed every minute.

Planet Coaster is good fun, wish I had more time to devote to it (pesky child and woody contruction and life...). Relieving my Theme Park / RCT childhood with better graphics (though possibly considerably easier than those were...)

I didn't get on with Homeworlds: Deserts of Kharak, despite really enjoying the original series. It might be because I'm terrible at it and don't find the controls intuitive...

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#760 Re: Games, games, games
December 22, 2016, 10:06:23 am
I suspect most of my top 3 games of 2017 are actually going to be 2016 ones like XCom2!

Have you played much ground-based RTS already? I've sunk a couple of hundred hours into n00bing the hell out of SC2 in the last few years, and found Kharak to be pretty steady (I liked the lack of base-building), I can't claim to have played it efficiently but it felt fairly okay to control.

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#761 Re: Games, games, games
December 22, 2016, 10:29:27 am
Not for a while; Dawn of War 2 was probably the most recent, but before them - lots of AoE2, , Warcraft etc. (Old skool!). I bought Kharak in a fit of nostalgia (and Steam Sale), it's not really my current type of game.

I should probably spend more time on it, but seem to just resort to chucking everyone to attack everything, and then getting annoyed when they inevitably get wiped out as resources are more scarce than normal games so what to build is quite a big decision.
But yeah, generally I find myself trying to remember what key does what, getting annoyed with navigating the maps, and the tactical view is oddly clunky.


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#762 Re: Games, games, games
December 22, 2016, 10:38:39 am
Can't say I've played much on my aged XBox 360 this year but I have enjoyed:


Tony Hawks HD:


Nice retro nostalgia. All the same courses and challenges, but with better graphics. What's not to like?!


FIFA 2016:


Only got it as my work has this on XBox One and there are a fair few people playing it on breaks, but am finding it surprisingly addictive. Never really a huge fan of football games before but it's really good, even on the lesser console.


Only really play one-off matches but what I've seen has been great - it's surprisingly hard to score, and the AI seems to be quite subtle. I actually jumped off the sofa and punched the air after scoring an 89th minute winner for West Ham against Liverpool the other night!


Have actually had approval to get an XBox One (partly as we use the 360 as a DVD player and catchup streaming system) so going to see what I can pick up in the sales.


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#763 Re: Games, games, games
December 22, 2016, 01:38:44 pm
My top games this year (although they may have come out earlier)

Doom - I can't remember grinning ear to ear this much with any other game. Total blast. Awesome soundtrack. This is how i remember shooters feeling.

Bloodborne - Dark Souls never quite clicked. I liked the idea but found it cumbersome. Bloodborne on the other hand was absolutely amazing! Super creepy atmosphere, tough but fair gameplay and weird monsters. Can't recommend enough, but be patient.

Firewatch/Virginia - Enjoyed a couple walking sims this year, both had good stories and pretty artwork. Really nice change of pace. Don't get the whole 'they're not games' crowd. Who cares as long as they are enjoyable/meaningful!

Dirt Rally - Not played a racing game in awhile, but i do love some rally. Absolutely amazing game, but hard as nails. Nothing quite beats the feeling of flying along a welsh forest track nailing every corner before absolutely blowing it and rolling your car down the hillside. Addictive.

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#764 Re: Games, games, games
March 09, 2017, 03:00:26 pm
Been awhile since I've done an update:

Dishonoured 2 - Very good. More of the same, but that is no bad thing. Enjoyed the new powers. Tried to stealth it, failed and murdered everyone. :-)

Rise of the Tomb Raider - Ok. Didn't click with me as much as the original reboot. Felt like the pacing was all over the place and the story was totally stupid. Some nice tombs to solve though, but nothing hard.

Witness - Absolutely amazing. If you like puzzles. Its hard to explain why it is so good, but i just loved it.

Shovel Knight - Old school platformer. Brilliant nostalgic fun! Great music.

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#765 Re: Games, games, games
March 10, 2017, 10:01:02 am
Rise of the Tomb Raider - Ok. Didn't click with me as much as the original reboot. Felt like the pacing was all over the place and the story was totally stupid. Some nice tombs to solve though, but nothing hard.
Can't argue with that. My main criticism was that the pacing went from Skyrim-esque open-world explorathons to tight linear shooting arenas, sometimes with little in between. I didn't mind the story (don't really pay attention to game stories) nor the ease of tombs (can't be fucked with long-winded puzzles), I liked the amount and aesthetics of tombs.

Me, recently:

Grim Dawn - best of the "recent" triptych of fairly similar ARPGs. It's got the grit and style of Path Of Exile (but not the randomly generated maps thank fuck) blended with the fun and spectacle of Diablo 3. All the ARPG cliches you could ever want from an instantly forgettable story, entirely overcomplicated 3-4 tier character system, dungeons with giant spiders etc etc JESUS CHRIST WILL IT NEVER END. But it plays smoothly and looks great, the world detailing is the best I've seen.
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197971710064/screenshots/?appid=219990&sort=newestfirst&browsefilter=myfiles&view=grid

Mordheim - if you thought XCom was too relaxing and casual, this is the one for you. Warhammer dark fantasy warband-based turn-based tactics. Full of RNG, utterly unforgiving, and often rather satisfying. Despite semi-randomised missions, the game world has good graphics, decent style and atmosphere, and the warbands are pretty characterful. Using direct 3rd person control for movement is pretty fresh too. Gameplay makes you try fucking hard, I have actually chewed on the desk with tension in at least one mission and shouted "Get in OGRE BRO" during others. Not finished it yet but highly recommended so far if you like that sort of thing.
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197971710064/screenshots/?appid=276810&sort=newestfirst&browsefilter=myfiles&view=grid

Deus Ex 4 - I got initially turned off by yet more tediously overblown cyber-cliches and the most utterly boring designed-by-committee main "character" ever to spoil a game, but have got properly into this now. It's either a well-presented near future semi-story-based RPG.....or a well-presented near future steal-the-fuck-out-of-everything explorathon secret-hunting sim. Guess what I chose. Despite some graphically issues the world is really detailed and rewards a lot of exploration for both looting and admiring the design. http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197971710064/screenshots/?appid=337000&sort=newestfirst&browsefilter=myfiles&view=grid

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#766 Re: Games, games, games
March 10, 2017, 03:06:48 pm
Hmmm Grim Dawn sounds interesting. Been awhile since I went down the ARPG route. Really enjoyed Diablo 3.

I enjoyed Deux Ex 4, but never actually finished it. Got a bit tired of stealthing my way through everything.

Also been playing some Spelunky. That is a great game for short play sessions. Hard though, so easy to die!

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#767 Re: Games, games, games
April 13, 2017, 05:32:32 pm
Dark Souls 3 DLC 2....



Crazy combats, bloody frustrating bosses, distinctively awesome designs and mad monsters. If you like DS3 you need this, it is great.

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#768 Re: Games, games, games
April 14, 2017, 09:34:49 am
Hey up game wads. I still don't know anything about gaming, but our kid's latest err...open-world first-person shooter 'The Signal from Tolva' is out if anyone is interested.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/457760/
 
 

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#769 Re: Games, games, games
April 14, 2017, 10:12:48 am
That looks pretty well done!

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#770 Re: Games, games, games
September 09, 2017, 10:06:11 am
Been dabbling with games over this summer

Space Hulk Deathwing:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/298900/Space_Hulk_Deathwing/
Quote
Okay so there are issues:

-The UI and menus are quite fugly.
-The command wheel is a bit janky.
-The dialogue is as pompous as ever.
-The graphic style is a bit repetitively grey and grim.
-The central crosshair twitch is still there.
-It's pretty maze-like.

BUT:

+It's more fun in single player as you get to explore the environments a lot more.
+The graphics are good, if dark.
+The level of GRIMDARK40Kpr0n is exceptional.
+The grey corridors are broken up well enough:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=911201446
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=911201331
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=911201240
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=911201044
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=908483572
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=907817491
+Combat is decent. It's shooting 'stealers what do you expect.
+The weapon effects are proper epilepsy-inducing. I can see this would piss some people off but I kinda like it. Assault Cannon is constant strobing, Flamer fire obscures everything. It kinda works with the "I am a fucking powerful terminator but even I can't see wtf is going on when there is bullets and stealer limbs flying everywhere".
+There's mini-progression, relic collecting and micro-upgrading, which is nice enough.

In short, I'm enjoying it, and if you want to experience the Space Hulk vibe from a FPS perspective....this works.

Finished this a while ago, it is quite short but still good. At £15 well worth it.


Battletech Beta:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/637090/BattleTech/


Exceptionally functional, logical, and playable squad-size turn-based mech combat game. Right from the earliest videos they seemed to have gameplay functionality spot on and Lo! it is pretty much perfect, really intuitive and logical. It's one of those games, a bit like XCom EU, with fairly limited combat options but lots of interesting combinations and possibilities of those. Easy to learn hard to master. The early access is skirmish only and still in alpha but it works bloody well - enough for me to play 20+ hours already. Unfortunately it's been delayed to 2018 but if you like the idea of the game it should be an essential purchase.


Divinity Original Sin 2
http://store.steampowered.com/app/435150/Divinity_Original_Sin_2/

I tried DOS1 because I'm a sucker for attractive ARPGs (although this is pure RPG rather than Grim Dawn ARPG). Seemed far too complicated and although the turn-based combat was cool I got my arse kicked so far sideways my PC fell off the desk, and I uninstalled it. For some reason recently I decided to try DOS2. Seemed far too complicated and I got my arse kicked so far sideways I got a nosebleed. But I reloaded, turned the difficulty down, avoided any combat and focused on gathering loot until I sort of got used to it....

And now I'm really enjoying it. It's a pretty different RPG experience for me. I don't know where the fuck I'm going, I don't know what the fuck is going on. Half the paths take me into combat that is instant death. There's a billion incomprehensible skills and items and crafting options. I'm out of my depth, my little party is out of it's depth....and surprisingly I'm really liking that. It feels genuine and "real", we're dumped in this world, banded together, with a decent knowledge of our basic skills, and just have to get on with it. It makes a refreshing change from the "player is god" style of Diablo 3 etc. It also looks bloody lovely. So yeah a pretty good timesink for the current wank weather.
« Last Edit: September 09, 2017, 10:11:40 am by Fiend »

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#771 Re: Games, games, games
September 09, 2017, 04:29:32 pm
I've not played games since Gran Turismo 3 but I wandered round my lad's place last Saturday - he's a bit of a serious gamer. Changes his graphics card every six months or so, watercooled PC etc and his latest purchase is an Oculus Rift headset. I wasn't expecting much as I couldn't wear my glasses plus my right eye is 6/60 vision but set the thing up and wow. I didn't expect anything like that.

So bloomin' impressive.

 :great:

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#772 Re: Games, games, games
October 25, 2017, 09:34:47 am
http://store.steampowered.com/app/337000/Deus_Ex_Mankind_Divided/

DX5 free trial + 75% discount. I really liked it. Very stylish and detailed explorathon.

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#773 Re: Games, games, games
January 30, 2018, 11:01:45 pm
Recently finished Grim Dawn and it's DLC, the best ARPG around IMO, all the classic ARPG cliches you could want, really nice super-detailed graphics, good bestiary, much better world than Path Of Exile, much grittier style than Diablo3.

Getting semi-close to finishing Mordheim City Of The Damned, hard, frustrating, but rewarding and well presented, turn-based Warhammer tactical game.

Also recently finished Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, some entertaining parts and good gameplay, great graphics, but a complete mess of pacing, tone, too many cutscenes and too much thrown in.

Just started Prey which is a complete contrast, only a few hours in but more captivating and convincing than the whole of Wofl2 already. Intriguing and atmospheric right from early on.

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#774 Re: Games, games, games
February 01, 2018, 04:01:48 pm
Not sure if this is the right thread but over Christmas we got and particularly enjoyed;

Dixit - totally unique French game based on oral descriptions of fantastical pictures. Very good.

Nmbr9 - superb spacial awareness testing game. Again, totally unique and great fun.

Both highly recommended!

 

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