The Weekly 'What are you playing?' Discussion
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.
Bg3 but its going to take a while to finish how things are going!
I’m playing coop online with my friend now. (Just started, since he’s on Xbox only.)
Since we only play like 4 hours/week, and about half the time our gaming “appointment” gets cancelled because of adult responsibilities, I think it’ll take us a good year to get to the end lol
Signalis (on Switch)
The music, the sounds, the visuals create a perfect mood. I’m not far into the story, but for now it’s very intriguing. One of the few games where I don’t mind the backtracking. Despite the retro look, the game is very immersive.
There is some clunkiness tho. Might be better on a PC.
If you like sci-fi with a bit horror, ambiguous storytelling, gloomy atmosphere, try it.
For what it's worth, I found the PC vers clunky also. I wanted to get into it more than I did unfortunately.
It's not game breaking. the clunkiness shows in combat situations, but you can just do 'dark souls run past the enemies' in most cases. I like this game for the atmosphere and story mostly.
This game has been on my steam wishlist for quite a while. Looks like it'll scratch that old school resident evil itch.
I wasn't a big fan of the old RE games (could never get used to fixed cameras), but Signalis works for me. Still haven't finished it, free time seems precious commodity these days, but come the next weekend I'll hopefully definitely will have the time to continue the game.
I found the game very rough around the edges, and had to look at an internet guide to tell me where to go in the last level, but it's a game really worth playing for the atmosphere and story alone.
There's a great video essay on YT that takes a deep dive into the story and symbolism of the game, which I really recommend watching after finishing the game, if you're into that form of content. A complete story breakdown of Signalis.
Still not finished Signalis.. struggling a bit with free time for gaming. Just wanted to say, I do play games for story and/or atmosphere. Like watching a movie, and I do like my movies to have a story or atmosphere.
I hated the gameplay (for being very easy) and the story was meh on Death Stranding, but the mood and the feel of that game won me over, so I finished it and even went back to try 100%ing it.
My job makes me having social interactions for most of my day, so a game that gave me the feeling of isolation and loneliness like Death Stranding 2 or 3 hours before sleeping was kind of pensive at the time. Few weeks after finishing the game, Covid happened, and since then I had few instances of isolation IRL, and it wasn't nearly as introspective as Death Stranding. So I look fondly on that game even tho all the gaming aspects of it were boring IMO. Just the atmosphere was great.
So yeah, I can consume any media if the atmosphere and/or story is enjoyable or challenging (in a positive way)
I will check the video, I like video essays.
Got back into Super Metroid Randomizers, also still playing BG3 😊
Replaying Control again, having a hard time trying to pass a level of the Foundation, so I'm progressing in the story right now and I'll go back to it later
This has been in my backlog for years. Maybe I’ll play it next. But I did just get horizon zero Dawn ultimate or whatever it’s called in the steam sale
I played through Max Payne 1 and 2 because they were on sale. Absolutely loved them even if they're 20 years old. I was about to go on a Remedy kick because I heard Control was a ton of fun as well but then I realized Alan Wake was on the list and I just cannot enjoy that game despite trying it out several times.
World of Warships. Started jumping back into that recently. I dunno why but it's weirdly peaceful and relaxing for me to play. Might be because I grew up sailing on the ocean due to living on an island.
I do have Alan Wake 2 that I really need to play but I'm also playing Control and Alan Wake 1 at the same time to prepare for AW2. It's... a lot. But Control I've played a half dozen times and will always love. Alan Wake 1 I've never actually played but after learning of the shared world in Control I have been meaning to get around to it. Enjoyable so far but I'm barely into it.
Then there's also God of War Valhalla on the side. Always fun as fuck. Free DLC too. What's not to love?
Oh and Slay the Spire. Silent go brrrrrr.
Friend of mine got me into Lethal Company. Absolutely love it.
Slay the Princess. Just discovered it, 100% it already. I love it so much. The soundtrack, the art, the plot, the voice acting, it's just so awesome. I don't normally like horror VNs (looking at you, ddlc!) but this one is less shock horror and more actual depth to it. You can feel the love put into the game. Sorry if this sounds too much like an ad, just hyperfixating a little :)
Oh and I think the snipers in the current Fortnite season are wayyy to annoying.
FINALLY getting into Hollow Knight in earnest. I have to say: holy shit this game truly deserves all the accolades it was given. Absolutely adoring it.
Still BG3, and probably will be for a long time. As well as tabletop DND now, since the game inspired me to finally give DMing for friends a shot.
I just started Returnal yesterday evening. I have a PS5 Dualsense as PC controller and let me tell you those haptics are really something.
I played it on PC and loved it even without the fancy DualShock features. I bet they're awesome.
I love how fast and responsive the movement is.
Yeah, movement is great. It's also hard as fuck, at least for an old fart like me (I'm 46).
Dave the diver and made the mistake of trying vampire survivors, that thing is fucking addicting to me. Already had a taste of it with halls of torment but this type of game really gives you that "just one more run" feeling
Man, I just don't get that from vampire survivors. I loved Binding of Isaac and can't stand vampire survivor or brotato as the endless waves just seem... Boring and then the builds seem obvious and usually pretty easy to force.
I just never get that pull to do one more round.
still Avatar and since I got Alan Wake 2 in the Epic sale I started to replay the original. The free remaster you got with Alan Wake 2 unfortunately has some nasty visual bugs on amd hardware and too often shatters my immersion with glitches and black screens, but since it only ups the assets I'm fine with the original which is still an awesome looking game and perfectly playable in 2023.
How are you finding Avatar?
It looks intriguing for sure though I have heard comments that it’s sort of the typical Ubisoft hunt the icon type game with in Avatar world skin.
I really like it and since there are no Icons or compass it's really not that type of game. I have the impression that most of the people just repeat the nonsense they heard somewhere.
Yes they are outpost but you don't have to clear them like in FarCry, you can simply follow the story or some some nice written side quests or just explore the world on your ikran. The traversal through the world is amazing and really well done by massive and on top of that you have an unobtrusive gear and skill system for your character.
So overall the game is really good and gets really amazing if you're a fan of the movies or the world.
Finally finished Halo 2 and it was a slog. Now on to Halo 3 and straight away more fun, better movement and better gunplay than halo 2.
Finished Zero Entropy 2 and wow. Its canon in my mind. Feels like Half Life 2 Opposing Forces Episode 2 if valve had shown us the combine side. Now will 3 come? 3 is cursed so I just putting it to one side.
Finished Pony Island. Weird game. Not too sure what was going on but ok. Its off the list now.
And heroes of the storm ofc. Started storm League with a friend and we are having a blast together. Aram when I am solo.
Planetside 2, recently started it up again and it's still fun.
BG3 and replaying FalloutNV
My kids and I have been on a Vermintide 2 kick. Its so damn fun when you're sitting next to each other.
Was coming back into Minecraft but wanted to make the game feel more spicy because vanilla survival has gotten boring for me, so I've been playing the latest April Fools snapshot "The Vote Update" in hardcore, with a personal rule that I cannot say "Do nothing" to any vote.
I did lose my first world to "Replace Creeper spawns with Warden" but the second world has been going well, and it's definitely a more chaotic and interesting way to play the game.
Give Vintage Story a shot. It’s Minecraft as a survival game and much more than that.
Looks beautiful too.
I'll definitely look into it, I have had a couple friends play it before actually, so they might be able to give me a steer on how to play.
Have you explored any Minecraft modpacks yet?
I have, and generally I get overwhelmed with how complicated they can get, especially the really popular modpacks that add magic and stuff like that.
I usually end up making my own "Vanilla+" kind of modpack, but I've gotten bored with most mods that I would usually add to that.
With that being said, I might try adding only a few of the more technical mods and seeing if I enjoy that.
My friendly neighborhood. It's pretty excellent. Visuals are consistent and have a pleasant aesthetic and I never found the controls to cause problems. I was kinda hoping weapon flip could be a parry but it seems to be just for the hell of it. Good map mechanics for tracking completion of areas. Nothing majorly scary for me at least but the occasional startle.
Anyone wanting to do the achievements I recommend doing the fight the boss normally one before the pacifist one as I think it's easier. Also if you plan on doing a NG+ run, doing the nope ending (nope on home after encountering pearl) will erase the ng+ file so start a new save for that. I haven't finished them all but if I didn't lose my ng+ save this way I probably would have been able to get them all in one sitting.
Phantasy Star IV
Monster Hunter World
City Skylines 2
Cities skylines is so fun. It’s just ramping up and will get better. The completely rebuilt the game to ensure it would stand up another decade. It will get better even though it’s already fun. Modding in 2024 will come also which will breathe more life as well. There is a nice long article in Ars Technica.
Started playing Cyperbunk again. (Latest patch as of now. PC) can still bug/glitch out.
I poured dozens of hours into 2.0/2.1. It's a really enjoyable game but I got burnt out trying to complete all the side gigs. Also there's still constant noticeable bugs.
Going into photomode in a moving elevator. You can teleport out. (This is an egde case senario. Not encountered in average gameplay. Not mad at this one)
But if you drive your car into water, you cant get out of the car. That is easily encouterable in everyday gameplay. Slightly more mad/dissapointed that this is in the game.
I'm years late but I finally started bravely default and I'm kicking myself for sleeping on it for so long.
I've been playing the original Doom for the first time over the last few days, and just beat it today. It was really good and I can see why it was such a big deal at the time. It was a significant improvement over Wolfenstein 3D in every way, not just technically, but also in terms of level design and story.
Ive been playing this non-stop. Why? Im not sure. But theres something just so satisfying about tearing down a spaceship in 0 gravity. Wish it had a VR option, would seriously consider investing in a VR headset to play it that way.
Baldur's Gate 3 Continuing to make my way through this behemoth in 2 player coop, tricky to align schedules but damn it's great. Running a Spore Druid and by Act 3 it's often hard to walk around with how many summons I can have at one time. Love it.
The Finals One of the most refreshing FPS games I've played in years. At first I felt my age fighting against the speed of the game, but I soon got the hang of it and now I'm a Light demon myself. Here's hoping the game keeps its current momentum, because there's nothing like digging through the roof with a sledgehammer and wiping out the team you land on as they flail and panic.
Jumped back into some Division 2 lately with friends. Been fun power level my mates who aren't level 40.
Returnal
I completed this amazing game, but I'm still trying to complete all the ciphers in the last biome, and it's taking forever.
I got this too and honestly have to say it's not my type of game. Feels a little repetitive with no goal besides salvaging enough scrap to meet the next quota.
Maybe I'm missing out on some hidden features, but the group plays a bigger role in enjoyment than the game for me.
Just finished Pentiment. It was a wonderful, miserable experience. Don't know how people can stomach multiple playthroughs.
Also just finished Doom Eternal. Mixed feelings overall but I like the idea of the counter-heavy combat system. I just wish they dialed back the number of mechanics a bit.
My current addiction is Kingdom Come: Deliverance. I was skeptical at first but man do I love the immersion in this game. The minigames like alchemy and lockpicking are fun and engaging. The combat is kind of Mordhau-lite which means it requires more thought than just spamming attack. The dialogue is surprisingly funny at times, the story interesting enough, and the voice acting is solid. And I like how the quests aren't all simply "go to the marker"--you have to actually follow clues and pay attention.
I bought Alan Wake 2 literally a day before the sale, not thinking it would go on sale. And now I'm waiting for a patch anyway because some lighting bugs were introduced in the last patch. Oops. Kinda sucks but I'm still very excited to play it!
is always geometry dash
Just finished playing metal gear solid peace walker and now I'm play through MGS 5 again ! Love all the MGS games.
I'm still salty about MGSV not having a proper narrative or ending
If you could recommend only one for someone new to the games, which would it be?
Probably part 2, because it’s got the best evolution of the originals gameplay, without going too crazy deep into mechanics like the later games do.
MGS3 (first game chronologically and best standalone game) or Ground Zeroes which is basically an introduction to MGSV.
I would say MGS 2 or 3 or hard to choose . If you want something in the modern day go with 2 or if you want cold war ear go with 3 . MGS 3 is longer and has a lot more cool unlockables too . MGS 1 is amazing too but definitely shows its age . If you can't tell I'm a huge MGS fan lol .
Here's my collection of MGS games !
Gta online, v rising, planetside. Picked up atomicrops on my switch again and I’ve miraculously made it past year one given the face I have no idea what I’m doing
Started playing minecraft again, wanted something cozy to play during the holidays. I always end up committing to a really big build and then lose interest halfway through, so we'll see how it goes
Skyrim, yet again.
UPDATE (2023/12/21): ~110 hrs of New Vegas playthrough finally finished. Finally finished my playthrough as Mercenary Anarchy Courier. ::: spoiler spoiler Not sure if FPGE did alter something but after finishing the playthrough, it feels the "warmness" vibe of post-post apocalypse of Fallout gone when Hoover Dam battle is near and finished, perhaps because NCR is wiped out, definitely the writing still ok as the only way to make the game "Win" is you do not finish the game if you do not want to make bad decision for Mojave Wasteland. Maybe I will try to explore a bit post-ending with this FPGE mod. ::: While I am glad I finished this playthrough, I also had bit of "guilty pleasure" from finishing this one as much as time consuming it is while also I want to finish it as soon as I can because dragging on playthrough would make it even unpleasant for me to finish it due to busy stuff RL, same reason why I rarely want to pick up JRPGs nowadays because most of time having 60 hrs - 80 hrs minimal to complete is bit painful for those who had busy life. At very least I glad I am done with it.
While also few days ago I tried to emulate WMMT5s on PC, thought to try multiplayer with private client, ended up disappointed as it seems every discord server that "facilitates" the community is closing down their invite link or maybe threatened by Bandai Namco because most of these people play a game that still active on Arcade Cabinet and emulate them on home using a software on their own PC. At the same times I wonder why Bandai Namco would not bring these arcade games into PC while the said system (the Arcade) actually PC system in disguise since the demand is still there for Wangan racing genre although not as much as something like mainstream Arcade Racer (e.g FH5, Crew Motorsport etc). I do not know the latest Initial D the Arcade Stage since I do not have interest in Touge racing.
Planning to get NFS 2015 in winter sale, want to complete my NFS Collection on Steam and experiencing NFS 2015 in retrospective as back during release I did not managed to play it due to lack of interest.
Clocking in at ~100 hrs on my current annual New Vegas playthrough, I'm trying to finish this one as my previous playthroughs always end abruptly nearing the End. The options to solve a problem/quest is what makes this game never be boring and you can RP anything you like (although I have not tried Legion Courier, maybe in future). At the moment I am on my way at the start of Lonesome Road as before concluding the story in Hoover Dam battle.
Viva New Vegas with JSUE tweak makes the game feels like classic Fallout and force player to be resourceful and use every features that the game offer, however I do not recommend to use JSUE tweak if you only played Bethesda Fallout game as Fallout 1 and 2 is a bit infuriating in term of early game difficulty (if you do not know what to do), stick to Vigor Lite if you want closer to vanilla easy difficulty.
I'm currently reolaying Fallout 3 since I last played it around release time on the 360. This time playing on PC. I plan to move on to New Vegas (which is my favourite) afterwards. What is JSUE and what does it do?
JSUE is reworked version of JESawyer tweak mod. It was created by one of original Fallout designer Josh Sawyer but the original version of the mod is gone and people recreate their own as to make improvement out of it (in term of the scripting effectiveness and newer code standard of New Vegas Extended Script modding).
The list of the changes is huge as it overhauls some stuffs within the game. Here is the list of the changes if you are interested to read them. Things that I noticed when I played with it is that you had to make use of Ammo types mechanics, you had to use AP ammos to punch those Super Mutants, Deathclaws or anything that have high DT otherwise you wouldn't punch their HP much through their thick skin/armor, Hollow Point ammos are ok if you want to save some bullet on lower armored High HP enemies. Carry weight is even more lower than vanilla (though you can change it in .ini file; I don't recommend to add more than +50 lbs of carry weight to keep it in spirit of the tweak) which forces you to planning ahead during exploration and use those Mojave Mailboxes when you want to transfer some stuff from locations. Survival skills worth the investment in this tweak as chems item is more rare. On my playthrough, I find Hardcore Mode with this tweak really good combination as to make food, chems, drinks and beverage more useful than simply to restore (or buffs) your character stats.
Oh another tip, if you have both Fallout 3 and New Vegas, consider to try Tale of Two Wasteland on your next playthrough, it simply better experience if you want to play Fallout 3 as it use New Vegas engine which more mod supported than 3 version (finding modern mod and bug fixes for 3 is harder than New Vegas based on my last Fallout 3 playthrough).
In my opinion both game are great in their own way and Bethesda did good job saving the IP on Fallout 3 (Bethesda bought Fallout IP when Black Isle/Interplay bankrupt). Without Fallout 3, New Vegas can not exist.
That free giveaway Desolate co-op. It's like STALKER-lite mixed with Generation Zero.
A neat little early access open world action RPG called The Bloodline.
Starfield a bit, working on getting a Voyager III.
Vampire Survivors when I just want something simple to play.
Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze on Switch.
Desolate is a hoot. Big F.E.A.R. vibes to it too.
Recently decided to give 'Oxygen not included' a try. Still learning the ropes on getting basics sorted out and what is the best path for research.
Kinda in between games, I'm currently playing genshin/star rail as fillers while I decide on something better to play. Occasionally I play pandemic legacy season 0 on tabletop simulator and it's a blast! Always love some pandemic legacy
I continue to feed my X4 addiction. Picked up the DLC during the Thanksgiving sale. I'm on my second play, about 35 hours in. Realized I've made a lot of mistakes, but that's half the fun.
Good old modded Terraria once again. Thorium + Overhaul + Eternity mode with a friend is pretty fun. Turns out Thorium's sword sheaths are fucking cracked with Overhaul's sword changes. I one-shot several bosses and had to stop using them lol.
My other friends started playing RLCraft recently, which has got me in the mood to play a hardcore Minecraft modpack. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble finding any that aren't either complete BS (my issue with RLCraft) or feel incredibly unfinished (like RotN, where over half the guide book entities are placeholder text and the wiki link on the main page leads to a dead wiki).
I've played 20 hours of foxhole in the last week. I'm not addicted. Totally not...
Between Breathedge and call of juarez: gunslinger at the moment
I just started Fire Emblem: Three Houses, my first Fire Emblem game. Bit confusing to me, but so far very fun.
Running the new Warframe content and diving back in to It Lurks Below.
I'm playing a game called "eat and drink my childhood trauma."
I started playing Zero Sievert again and have been thoroughly re-addicted.
Damn. this look like lots of fun! Going to add to my wish list for now.
I like how the moment-to-moment is still strategic and tense, but its not as brutal as something like tarkov. (By default when you die, you keep what you went in with)
Just finished Signalis, got the "Promise" ending. Feel pretty empty after that, it's such a good game and is further proof that games don't have to have incredible graphical fidelity or huge teams to be fantastic and look great.
The newest path of exile build with my newest custom build.
Man I want to love PoE but it seems like you can't enjoy the game after a certain point (not even close to endgame) without following a build guide which I really dislike doing.
Well, until you start understanding the game mechanics, you can follow a build guide.
I do not, and I roll my own builds, and I will say they are generally quite successful. I can get ideas from guides, or other builds on poe.ninja, but then I still research and adjust to my liking, budget, and playstyle.
Rolling a build is more than half of the game for me, and I spend a lot of time tuning and testing.
So yeah I'd say there are several layers to playing PoE:
I've only followed a build once. And it was fun. Then I rolled my own, and it was more fun for different reasons.
But definitely needs a lot of time investment long term. It should probably take a couple of years for you to be able to claim you know what you are doing. But thankfully, the game respects you and does not demand your immediate time investment. You can play at you own pace. I have work and family, I play for a couple of hours every few days mostly. And it is fine. No one is pressuring me with daily quests and shit like that. I play because I feel like playing. I pause and play other games no problem, depending on my mood. It's great.
I've been playing Marvel Midnight Suns since buying it during a sale and man I cannot believe I missed this game around release, it's incredible!
I'm not very familiar with marvel outside of the older cartoons and some of the MCU, so I find myself very surprised to find myself really enjoying the non-avengers cast here.
I had never even heard of Magik before this game, and I didn't know Blade was marvel. Also I love this version of ghost rider. The skull helmet is badass.
In any case I'm shocked at how well the cross between XCOM and a deck builder plays, every character feels distinct from each other while the decks can be customized to lean into different parts of their kit. (Except for Deadpool. I can't seem to make his kit work very well )
The story is pretty meh though I love hanging out with the large cast between missions. It can feel pretty disjointed though, especially with the dlc missions sprinkled in.
I just finished Yakuza 3. I have loved 0, 1, and 2. 3 was tough simply due to the lack of music cues. There is so much time spent listening to "ambient_beach.mp3" or "bustling_small_city.ogg" that it was getting tedious. The story is great and it shows off a side of Kiryu that hadn't been developed and was great fun to see. The gameplay was so-so. Stiff and of the era. I'm currently taking a short break before I dig into Y4. I'm really excited to get up to LaD and that game style, but I am enjoying the story to get there.
I wanted to play Star Wars Rebellion, but my copy is doing a thing where all the icons in-game are upside down. Apparently it’s a known issue running the game on newer OS (How? WHY?!) but until it’s fixed I can’t really play.
I’ve been playing Call Of Duty 2 as part of taking notes about the roots of the series. Not sure if there’s enough meat for a proper essay but I will see.
I really can’t wait for Christmas break to immerse myself in something. Maybe Deus Ex.
Armored Core 6, they added ranked matches today.
Dark Souls 1, want to finally 100% it.
Minecraft, because it's always nice.
Eidolon. Nice little gem, very relaxing and I’m constantly wanting to find the next scrap of info. I’ve been compiling them into a timeline as best I can.
I feel like this gem of a game has pretty much been forgotten. Never expected to see someone mention it. Very atmospheric and one of my favorite walking simulator games.
Yeah and it's almost impossible to find any info about it because of some stupid Warframe thing that uses 'Eidolon' in the title. Get out of here with that AAA microtransaction crap game. :-)