What are you playing?

[Joe Molotov]

spoilers: it was not the final dungeon


great moments in chuuni history

[tiesto]

Yeah, CS2 becomes such a slog towards the end, it ruins otherwise what would be one of the better (and better paced) Trails games. That "final" dungeon was way too long, and then you have a lot of epilogue stuff afterwards. I'd wait till you at least play Zero before doing the first epilogue chapter, else you'll be pretty lost wondering who tf these people are.

Anyways, what have I been playing? Well, I finished Trails of Zero - great game and I appreciated how more down-to-earth it feels than most other RPGs, hell even most other Trails games (looking at you CS). Good sidequests, some fun and challenging battles, and catchy music (though there's not enough of it).

Started playing SO6 and I just got Midas and the big tidday cyborg chick Elena in my party. Good game too, though I don't like how the townspeople don't really have anything to say, aside from challenging you to the (rather fun) minigame or wanting you to engage in (rather shitty) sidequests. A marked change from Zero in those 2 aspects.

Also got a bit hooked on Vampire Survivor too.

[Joe Molotov]

Yeah, CS2 becomes such a slog towards the end, it ruins otherwise what would be one of the better (and better paced) Trails games. That "final" dungeon was way too long, and then you have a lot of epilogue stuff afterwards. I'd wait till you at least play Zero before doing the first epilogue chapter, else you'll be pretty lost wondering who tf these people are.

They should have spread out the bosses more instead of just shoving like 15 boss fights into the last (pre-epilogue) area. Especially when every one of them is like "Yay, we won!" "Not so fast. I'm just getting started, time to use my super move!" "Remember me, your ally from earlier? I'll fight this guy, you go on ahead to the final boss!"

It's like, bro everyone is more badass than me, you guys should go fight the final boss instead and I'll stick here and fight the jobbers.

[tiesto]

Yeah, CS2 becomes such a slog towards the end, it ruins otherwise what would be one of the better (and better paced) Trails games. That "final" dungeon was way too long, and then you have a lot of epilogue stuff afterwards. I'd wait till you at least play Zero before doing the first epilogue chapter, else you'll be pretty lost wondering who tf these people are.

They should have spread out the bosses more instead of just shoving like 15 boss fights into the last (pre-epilogue) area. Especially when every one of them is like "Yay, we won!" "Not so fast. I'm just getting started, time to use my super move!" "Remember me, your ally from earlier? I'll fight this guy, you go on ahead to the final boss!"

It's like, bro everyone is more badass than me, you guys should go fight the final boss instead and I'll stick here and fight the jobbers.

Trails, especially CS, loves to overuse that kinda stuff. Fight a moderately difficult boss, and then "now I'll show you my TRUE power!", as they get ready to attack the party all of a sudden a cameo of another Trails character makes their appearance and saves the day while you escape. Hoping that Kuro mixes things up a bit.

[Potato]

Started up Call of the Wild: theAngler. I am a big fan of theHunter: Call of the Wild so I have been wanting to get into this one too.

Only played 10 minutes so far, but the open world is just as impressive as theHunter and I am keen to explore and do some fishing.

[bork]

Tried River City Girls 2 briefly- more of the same as expected, which is fine.  What's not fine are the load times on Switch.  A bit too long for a game like this.  Makes me feel like I'm playing a PS1 game.  There's a fairly lengthy start up loading screen and then the game will stop and load every area/room that you go to, no matter how tiny.  If the load times are better on Steam, I'm definitely gonna get it on there.

[Svejk]

Was out of town the past week, so I tried multiple SRPG's on PPSSPP to see what appealed most.  Mainly between Jeanne D'Arc, FFT:WotL and Tactics Ogre: LUCT. 

Jeanne D'Arc - I love the presentation, music and the historical euro tone it's inspired by.  Also really like the simplicity of it...  Reminds me of The OG Shining games.  However, some of the characters are just straight goofy and weird.  The art direction is hit/miss.  But finally this game runs practically flawless at 2x resolution.  Looks fantastic.  Will dabble more with it.

FFT:WotL - Gonna be quite honest, there's a lot to like, but there's some awful design choices too.  Of course it's a matter of taste, but the character designer/artist for this fucking sucks... at least for such a game with a serious tone and dialogue.  Granted, the sprite work is tolerable, but the portraits and so forth... Could they have not made the main character so questionable looking?  That is a male, right?  WTF.  This artist's style works for the other games they've done, but I hate it here.   Also, the navigation around the field is clunky as hell.  It's such a chore to pier around obstacles when compared to say Jeanne D'Arc.  Other than that, I do like the way they handle classes/jobs.  The balance between simplicity and being overly complicated is just right…. But the two issues I have above, not sure if I can tolerate it further.

Tactics Ogre: LUCT  – I restarted my game on this one from when I last tried it back in 2018.  This game also runs so much better now on PPSSPP as well.  Off the bat, the art direction is light years better than FFT.  I absolutely love this artist.  It captures the more serious tone of warfare and drama between characters.  I also really enjoy how sprawled out the maps are and the ease of navigating around it.  However, there are some questionable aspects of it like the class upgrading system.   And some of the level/height/distance advantages have a bit of a learning curve.  I am a little intimidated by how long this game can take to play through, but we’ll see how long this SRPG phase will go.  So far, TO has been the most appealing of the 3 I tried.

Oh, and I tried Persona 3 Portable yet again… These Persona/SMT games just do not do anything for me at all.  I just don’t get the appeal for this series. 

[Kestastrophe]

Awesome portable playlist, PSP was such a strategy game beast. Since you're into handhelds, have you tried Persona 4 Golden on Vita? Most accessible entry i've played and an absolute gem

[Svejk]

Awesome portable playlist, PSP was such a strategy game beast. Since you're into handhelds, have you tried Persona 4 Golden on Vita? Most accessible entry i've played and an absolute gem

I always wanted a Vita, but never got one.   

[Pissy F Benny]

As much as I liked unbound I fucking loathe it now. There's little room for error which is fine, but the game has fucking traffic and cops during races so if one even just clips you your race is fucked.

[Joe Molotov]

I started up CS3 and I'm immediately furious because the menus are different and buttons do different things, wtf. I never wanted this. Y used to trigger S-crafts, now it's RB? Start used to open the map, now D-Down does?? Start opens the Save menu???

[Bebpo]

I still find it very bizarre that you're not playing Crossbell first, when Zero is out officially now.

[demi]

Its not that deep, nerd

[Pissy F Benny]

In better news, everything is great at my Junes

[Joe Molotov]

I still find it very bizarre that you're not playing Crossbell first, when Zero is out officially now.

I’m just vibing.

[Bebpo]

I still find it very bizarre that you're not playing Crossbell first, when Zero is out officially now.

I’m just vibing.

I sort of get it, in that you're blowing through them quick and if you beat Zero you'd be stuck waiting for Azure to release.

But story-wise and series gameplay progression-wise it makes more sense to play them in release order. After Azure is out it'll be easy to recommend people play Crossbell after Sky and before Cold Steel.

[Joe Molotov]

When Azure comes out, I’ll knock them out back-to-back. For now I’m just enjoying Rean’s high school adventures.

Speaking of which, the Cold Steel anime is coming next month. It looks like it’s set between CS2 and 3 during Erebonia’s annexation of North Ambria, which was mentioned in CS3 as something Rean was involved in during the year gap between 2 & 3.

[Bebpo]

Yeah, I'll give that a watch cause it's Trails canon and might develop a region that's not gonna get a game (although the anime looks like it's mostly just going to be in Erebonia? zzz Boring). Dunno if it'll be any good. There's an OAV that covers Sky SC/FC and is not good outside some of the fights.

There's some countries in Trails that you keep meeting characters from but you'll never actually visit like North Ambria and that place where the Bracer's guild is (Leman). I'm fine with them exploring these regions in non-game side content.

[Svejk]

Finished Tomb Raider and jumped straight into Rise.  CD just know how to do Lara right.  This is how you do cinematic character action games.  Sure, there's the occasional squeeze through and one handed cliff hangs, but it's all overshadowed by constant solid gunplay and not so magnetized platforming, and exploration that's not unnecessarily spread thin.

I gotta give it to SE to actually caring enough for this trilogy to do the DE, so to speak, of each one, to include all the dlc, but mostly including performance handling options.  Replaying these with 60fps and/or enhancements,etc., breathes new life into them and still look fantastic.

Naturally, I've been playing occasional seshes of Dragon's Dogma, because it's the truly the GOAT.  Man, I forgot how long some of these quests can be, but that's part of the beauty of it.  This game needs some more TLC... The skybox gradient at dusk is rough, but the overall day/night transitions with no silly "clock" or sundial thing, just solidifies how it should be done.  The feeling of exploring, dread, hope, uncertainty, haste to safety, is simply unmatched.  You're forced to make your own judgement on progression just by seeing where the sun is rising or setting. 

Trying not to get on my Dragon's Dogma pedestal again, but yet again... How and why hasn't this been done in other games? It's fucking brilliant.  The pawn system, traversal, the gear variety, character creation... Dragon's Dogma is still the cream of the crop..
And nobody does it better.

[Nintex]

I wonder what you think about Shadow of the Tomb Raider when you get around to it, Eidos Montreal did more of the heavy lifting on that one so it's not quite up there with Rise but I greatly enjoyed it and never understood the hate.
The new UE5 Tomb Raider from CD is actually one of my most anticipated announced next gen games.

[Svejk]

I wonder what you think about Shadow of the Tomb Raider when you get around to it, Eidos Montreal did more of the heavy lifting on that one so it's not quite up there with Rise but I greatly enjoyed it and never understood the hate.
The new UE5 Tomb Raider from CD is actually one of my most anticipated announced next gen games.

I played through Shadow at launch and relatively enjoyed it, but it wasn't as solid as the first 2.  I thought the actual tomb raiding and puzzles were right up there... Possibly even exceeding the prior installments, however the gunplay and combat in general were a step back and weren't utilized properly imo.  You'd have these skills you learn at your disposal, but rarely have any opportunities to use them... It was pretty dumb.  Plus, I really hated the forced outfits. 

However, I feel after playing through the dlc and ultimately the DE, it felt like all the above issues were addressed.  The dlc allowed many more opportunities to use said skills, plus unlocking outfits afterwards to use anytime finally felt like a complete TR package/experience.  The DE is by far the proper way to play through Shadow.

The story too, it also took a step back and didn't feel nowhere near as epic as Rise.  Felt like it should've been the 2nd of the trilogy scale/story.  They were trying for the Apocalypto vibe, but didn't feel like an epic trilogy closer.

Not sure if I'll revisit Shadow or not though after Rise.. I'm surprised I'm playing through these again. Lol However, being able to play it now in 4K60fps, I may still bite.

And yeah, if CD is back in charge of TR, it's back in the right hands for sure.  I almost can't even imagine what they'll pull off. 

[Nintex]

Let's see those starter rides bois



I wanted to change the rims but ran out of money

Almost bought blinkings neon lights instead of engine parts 

[Hamarr]

I wonder what you think about Shadow of the Tomb Raider when you get around to it, Eidos Montreal did more of the heavy lifting on that one so it's not quite up there with Rise but I greatly enjoyed it and never understood the hate.
The new UE5 Tomb Raider from CD is actually one of my most anticipated announced next gen games.

I played through Shadow at launch and relatively enjoyed it, but it wasn't as solid as the first 2.  I thought the actual tomb raiding and puzzles were right up there... Possibly even exceeding the prior installments, however the gunplay and combat in general were a step back and weren't utilized properly imo.  You'd have these skills you learn at your disposal, but rarely have any opportunities to use them... It was pretty dumb.  Plus, I really hated the forced outfits. 

However, I feel after playing through the dlc and ultimately the DE, it felt like all the above issues were addressed.  The dlc allowed many more opportunities to use said skills, plus unlocking outfits afterwards to use anytime finally felt like a complete TR package/experience.  The DE is by far the proper way to play through Shadow.

The story too, it also took a step back and didn't feel nowhere near as epic as Rise.  Felt like it should've been the 2nd of the trilogy scale/story.  They were trying for the Apocalypto vibe, but didn't feel like an epic trilogy closer.

Not sure if I'll revisit Shadow or not though after Rise.. I'm surprised I'm playing through these again. Lol However, being able to play it now in 4K60fps, I may still bite.

And yeah, if CD is back in charge of TR, it's back in the right hands for sure.  I almost can't even imagine what they'll pull off. 

Hmmm... I'm not sure if I played the DLC for Shadow of the Tomb Raider now. I think I got the ultimate edition when it went on sale not too long after launch.  What is different about the DE? 

[Svejk]

I wonder what you think about Shadow of the Tomb Raider when you get around to it, Eidos Montreal did more of the heavy lifting on that one so it's not quite up there with Rise but I greatly enjoyed it and never understood the hate.
The new UE5 Tomb Raider from CD is actually one of my most anticipated announced next gen games.

I played through Shadow at launch and relatively enjoyed it, but it wasn't as solid as the first 2.  I thought the actual tomb raiding and puzzles were right up there... Possibly even exceeding the prior installments, however the gunplay and combat in general were a step back and weren't utilized properly imo.  You'd have these skills you learn at your disposal, but rarely have any opportunities to use them... It was pretty dumb.  Plus, I really hated the forced outfits. 

However, I feel after playing through the dlc and ultimately the DE, it felt like all the above issues were addressed.  The dlc allowed many more opportunities to use said skills, plus unlocking outfits afterwards to use anytime finally felt like a complete TR package/experience.  The DE is by far the proper way to play through Shadow.

The story too, it also took a step back and didn't feel nowhere near as epic as Rise.  Felt like it should've been the 2nd of the trilogy scale/story.  They were trying for the Apocalypto vibe, but didn't feel like an epic trilogy closer.

Not sure if I'll revisit Shadow or not though after Rise.. I'm surprised I'm playing through these again. Lol However, being able to play it now in 4K60fps, I may still bite.

And yeah, if CD is back in charge of TR, it's back in the right hands for sure.  I almost can't even imagine what they'll pull off. 

Hmmm... I'm not sure if I played the DLC for Shadow of the Tomb Raider now. I think I got the ultimate edition when it went on sale not too long after launch.  What is different about the DE?

It may be the same thing.  The Definitive Edition comes with all the DLC; seven additional challenge tombs, a handful of new narrative side missions, and seven weapons, outfits, and skills.  One thing to keep in mind, if you do have them, they can be accessed separately through the main menu, but are also included in the main game, which is the proper way to access them.   This confused me at first, because doing them directly through the main menu, it’s basically a leaderboard time trial that just dumps you right into it.  You want to just load up your game and you’ll see the different colored markers on you map to access them.  Makes it feel much more organic to access and play. 
But yeah, the dlc really felt like the extra meat that was needed to the original base release.  That being said, after playing them, it felt almost that the dlc was already done and plugged into the main game, but SE wanted to extract those certain parts out only to sell off them off individually… Never felt that before playing a game.  It’s like they wanted those suckers “fans” to pay a total of around $120-$130 for a the actual full game essentially.
  I see whachu doin', SE.

[Svejk]

I forgot to gush about the soundtrack. JFC.



(Image removed from quote.)

I love this game so much.

Been riding hard the (possibly false) hype for a MGS1 remake...  Listening to MGS1 OST for the 100 millionth time... TAPPY fucking brought it...
The feeling of immersion from these tracks, with their pulsing ambient/drone vibes, you felt like you were truly infiltrating deep into a highly impenetrable tech base.

This is the one track that really stood out for me... Still sends adrenaline chills (if that's a thing. lol) down the spine...

[Joe Molotov]

Wow, I loved you on the Cowboys.

[MMaRsu]

The only issue is, can they still use the original MGS theme?

I dont know if you guys remember, but it was made by a Russian composer in 1975  and the MGS music was heavily inspired or stolen from that song.





I mean Tappy is great and all but this is just the MGS theme written and performed in 1975 lol

Not even Kojima knew about it

[Svejk]

The only issue is, can they still use the original MGS theme?

I dont know if you guys remember, but it was made by a Russian composer in 1975  and the MGS music was heavily inspired or stolen from that song.





I mean Tappy is great and all but this is just the MGS theme written and performed in 1975 lol

Not even Kojima knew about it

I hear the similarities, but still unique enough to get away with it, IMHO.

[Nintex]

Yeah I would file it under inspired at best.
Much like all the Hans Zimmer and EDM samples that are all the rage.

[Nintex]

Played more Need for Speed. Gave some weeb a lift to his safe house, did a couple of sick jumps, bought some new tires, went to ASAP Rocky's drift fest (thank you mr. Trump), wrecked some undercover cops.

My Eclipse goes 140 miles p/h now.

Criterion made an absolute banger.

[Himu]

This is the NFS you were clowning in Random Talk? I see....

[Nintex]

This is the NFS you were clowning in Random Talk? I see....

It's a very weird product but it's fun. Best Need for Speed in a while. Also the first racer I've played in a while that forces you to pick a car, stick with it, tune and master it and doesn't shower you with dozens and dozens of free cars.
People that don't like it at this point mostly dislike it because of the story. Which is cringe af 


Now I'm playing Live A Live. Finished 3 chapters (pre-historic, near future, wild west) and now playing the Shinobi chapter.
It's a very creative game and it looks great. Not very difficult though so far I could breeze through these chapters with ease.

Pre-historic was probably my favorite chapter so far. It had very little depth but you have a poop flinging monkey in your party.

[Pissy F Benny]

Tbf NFS looked kinda shit in the pre-release materials, a genuinely piss poor attempt at marketing and extremely bizarre considering EA have had fuck all else on the slate this winter besides madden and FIFA

[Pissy F Benny]

Been playing FF12 Zodiac Age all afternoon and god damn this game is so great. Such a shame they just sort of ran out of story about 2/3rds in or whatever it is (no where near yet, still pretty early in), it would have been in my top 5 all time if it kept the quality up

[Himu]

Been playing FF12 Zodiac Age all afternoon and god damn this game is so great. Such a shame they just sort of ran out of story about 2/3rds in or whatever it is (no where near yet, still pretty early in), it would have been in my top 5 all time if it kept the quality up

The gameplay is fantastic even if the story eventually flounders, so you have that at least.

[Pissy F Benny]

Last time I tried replaying it I fell off it as the story started to drift (although I'm sure the bit of grinding I had to do didn't help matters).

[Bebpo]

I picked up Jedi Fallen Order for $4.80 to finally give it a shot. Realized when the EA stuff came up (and having to sign into Origin when launching it from Steam  ) that I haven't played an EA game in a long, looong time. Like maybe since Titanfall 2? EA's output just doesn't appeal to my tastes. I still play some Ubisoft stuff like AC/Watchdogs/Valient Hearts, and some Activision stuff like Crash 4, Sekiro, but EA's style of games just don't appeal to me /shrug

[HardcoreRetro]

The fuck does that even mean?

[Bebpo]

Idk, I just come here to old man ramble 

[Joe Molotov]

I played 50 hours of Cold Steel 3 while the Bore was down so I could bring you a selection of only the classiest screenshots.

Trails of America


Boss music starts playing


Musse is horny on main


Dog Shopkeeper Simulator


God I wish that were me

[Nintex]

Another Live A Live chapter done and dusted.

Japan is at peace now.

[Himu]

Informant Miguel is a chad

[Nintex]

Live A Live Space Chapter done.

Probably the most unique so far? You're basically just a spectator of what's happening.
I liked the story and concept but it was a bit too slow and a bit undercooked.
It must've been even more frustrating without the compass on the original Super Famicom I suppose.

Thankfully I figured out pretty quickly that the

spoiler (click to show/hide)

game console

[close]

was the final terminal.
Otherwise you're left pressing A on every object to progress. 

[Bebpo]

Finished Ragnarok at 45 hours. Still got some post-game, but that's the bulk of it.

Thought even with its flaws it was a pretty fantastic game, maybe objectively like an 8.5/10 until the last hour. The ending seemed...surprisingly weak for what otherwise is a really strong narrative. Kinda surprised. It's ironic that 2018 which I thought was mediocre for most of it, had the opposite where the last hour and ending were really strong and left it at a good place.

Hopefully the next arc has a better story. I think the writing quality and characterization is there, the directing quality is there, the combat design is there. Just needs a bit better level design and a better story next time.

Still would probably call it an 8.5/10 overall. Probably be like 5th best game I've played this year or something when I do my top10 list in a few weeks.

[Hamarr]

I'm back to Ubi stuff again. I finished Far Cry 4 and am playing through Odyssey some more. They've been great for catching up on podcasts.

[Bebpo]

I'm playing Vermintide II because someone told me to buy it months ago in a steam sale for a few bucks. Not sure why I keep playing, just seems like an endless grind for better gear/levels for talent points with very mediocre combat and confusing level design. Finished the first Act's four stages on starting difficulty. May finish the campaign out idk.

I feel like you don't have enough moves? You have slash, harder slash, gun shot, block and 1 super on cooldown. Just feels very repetitive compared to like Diablo. Haven't played L4D so don't remember how limited the weapons are in a stage there. The combat in L4D definitely felt better.

I don't know anything about Warhammer and I have no idea what anyone is talking about during the stages. It's just like blah blah blah in some nerd language

[demi]

Lol, it's not a Diablo game. Just a L4D game with gear score

It's more fun with friends or randos. Solo is not that fun in these type of games

[Bebpo]

Lol, it's not a Diablo game. Just a L4D game with gear score

It's more fun with friends or randos. Solo is not that fun in these type of games

Yeah, I did a couple of the maps with randos. No one really talked or anything and wasn't anymore fun than with bots. I figure it's more fun with friends.

The combat just doesn't feel very good or deep? There's no weight to anything.
I feel like you have to like the Warhammer setting + play with friends to really dig it. Also it probably gets more fun on the higher difficulties since you actually need to have some strategy and coordination.

It feels Diablo-ish to me because looking at the talent tree it looks like if I play for 20-30 hours to hit max level I'd have lots of interesting talents to make the combat better and more fun. +rare gear with unique skills.

Early on it's just slash slash slash. I'm playing as the bow gal and so it's shoot shoot shoot with some slash slash slash.

[Bebpo]

Finished Act II with randos. Gained a few more talents, new job class. Gave me a few options to make it more interesting. Game is alright. I don't think I want to spend the time to really get into it and gear up, but will finish Act III and the finale to see the story map content through.

[demi]

You made this snap judgment in the first levelz? Lol

Nobody plays l4d on easy mode

[Bebpo]

You made this snap judgment in the first levelz? Lol

First act. So errr, 5 levels in?

Nobody plays l4d on easy mode

Sure, but L4D doesn't have a 10 hour grind of getting your power levels up before you can do normal for each character. I mean it kind of sucks that I feel stuck with my bow elf character right now because if I change characters I start at lvl.1 again and don't have any talent points and don't have any good gear.

I mean I've played 5.7 hours so far according to Steam. By the time I finish the campaign on recruit and am strong enough to go into the next "real" difficulty mode it'll be like 8+ hours. That's a lot of time to wait for the real game to start. And I wouldn't want to do those 8+ hours again with the other 3 characters.

I'm just saying I think the game is a bit grindy. L4D isn't a grindy game.

[demi]

You willingly play 100 hour Trails games, you spend more time mashing X than playing the game. You are no stranger to repetition

[Bebpo]

Fair

And game is getting more fun. The third class for elf bow lets you vanish and do crit backstabs for major damage on mini-bosses/bosses which is pretty fun and useful. Still prefer the 2nd class that gets to dash and wider dodges. The movement speed in this game is kind of slow (and no run button) for what I'm used to, so having a dash character feels good.

[Bebpo]

Ok, finished the base campaign and did some of the last maps on Veteran difficulty with people. Game is definitely way more fun and kinda hard on Veteran. Feels a lot more tense and mobs aren't just DW slash slash slash anymore. I do find the bosses kind of annoying in how they either have constant knockbacks or teleport around in a game that's mostly melee where you move fairly slowly.

I was wrong. Game is good.

But still not sure if I wanna put much more time into it now. There's like 4 free post-release maps so I should probably do those before I uninstall it. Not gonna buy the DLC maps and not gonna start over as one of the other characters. If I had friends who were into it though it's definitely the kind of game I could stick with for a while. But I've got other stuff to play.

May play Darktide's campaign when it's like $5 in a few years like this was.

[Bebpo]

Beat all the Solitaire games in Zachtronics Solitaire Collection. Definitely GoTY type material. Awesome game. The final game Fortune's Foundation was incredibly hard at first and I probably spent an hour or two getting nowhere. But now I can win in about 10-15 mins every hand or two. It's great and not too punishing.

I really don't like Shenzen Solitaire which feels way too RNG for the collection because the dragon mahjong card can block a lot of progress and doom you. I also don't like Kabufuda Solitaire, it's just...annoying and really easy to doom yourself. It's the only one with difficulty modes and I beat it on all 4 difficulties, but there isn't a huge difference because once you unlock the free cells (easy = 4 unlocked from the start, expert = 1 unlocked from the start) it's identically difficult.

I'd rank the games:

1. Proletariat's Patience - Cool theme and music, great concept
2. Fortune's Foundation - Really good when you get the hang of it.
3. Scluj Solitaire - Neat concept that's pretty fun
4. Cribbage Solitaire - Really fun and original when but feels a bit RNG in where your score ends up
5. Sawayama Solitaire - Pretty standard solitaire but some neat twists that make it more challenging
6. Sigmar's Garden - Weird game that really isn't solitaire at all and more Chinese chess. It's fun but once you figure it out it's jokingly easy unlike anything else in the set.
7. Shenzen Solitaire - If RNG likes you, this is kind of a fun solitaire mahjong combo. Otherwise you just get stuck quick.
8. Kabufuda Solitaire - Ok concept, too easy to doom yourself. I feel like it'd benefit from an undo button like Fortune's Foundation has.

[Bebpo]

One thing about Vermintide II is the maps are way too long considering how easy it is to wipe. Been trying to get through the first post-game map "Old Haunts" on Veteran and keep getting wiped towards the end by non-stop waves and mini-bosses. No one ever bothers healing/reviving the other players.

Like I read that you're supposed to wipe a lot in Vermintide II and that is normal for the type of game it is, but idk that doesn't seem very fun. You barely get any XP and no loot when you wipe. So it just feels like a waste of time. Think I might not bother with the post-game maps. On recruit the game is too boring, but on Veteran I'm just getting tired of replaying the same bits.

[Joe Molotov]

Cold Steel 3 finished. I could go directly to CS4, but what if.....

[Bebpo]

Finished Resistance 3. It was fun, had some good set pieces. Didn't have a final boss? Rocket enemies were annoying. Enjoyable enough.

[Svejk]

Got my cross save set up and started NG+ in Witcher 3.  Oddly enough, I decided to go with RTX mode.  Coming straight from playing a 30fps game prior, figured it wouldn't be as jarring.  And wow, this game looks incredible.  The interiors really are drastically more detailed than in performance mode.  I'm normally all about performance>>graphix, but like Control, I actually lean towards the RTX mode.  The reflections and shadows give the game a sense of depth that was missing prior and really add to the immersion.. and with the new closer camera, it feels like you're exploring through a vast diorama model.  The open areas don't really show a drastic difference though, unless you're near bodies of water. 

Starting NG+ though, I feel quite rusty.  I don't recall exactly how the igni signs worked, but apparently it's much quicker to use.  I got so much stuff in my inventory not remembering what all does what.  Fought the first witch boss in that small village, and using what I had as default healing items, were doing practically nothing and got my ass kicked. Lol.  Forgot how delayed the healing is when compared to insta-heal in most games.  However, I definitely noticed how much snappier the menus and map are. Nothing is dragging ass like it did on PS4 back then.

Going back to the new camera, it's more common now, but the more over the shoulder view puts a new vibe on the game. I love it.  Granted, I haven't gotten into a battle yet involving more surrounding enemies, but it apparently has a auto switching camera that pans out when enemies are near.  Looking forward to experimenting with it.  The camera still has an auto default to behind Geralt when riding Roach, which I never liked, but it's much more forgiving and nowhere near as bad as it was trying to fight it in the old PS4 version.

 Roach controls much better now too.  Nowhere near as stiff.  Many games have done horses well of late; like AC: Valhalla and Ghost of Tsushima, so it's much more tolerable now, especially in tighter quarters.   Roach can even walk backwards now. lol

Also being reminded how damn good the narrative is.  Sucking me sideways right back in.  Feels like I'm replaying with the goggles I wore back then, so to speak.  Kudos yet again to CDPR for giving this to us. 

I hope you're taking notes, Sony!
 

[Bebpo]

In my quest to do everything possible that avoids getting back to Pentiment, I played through the entirety of What Remains of Edith Finch today.

I quite liked it. I had picked it up a long time ago but never played it because I couldn't figure out what genre it was. Was it a horror walking sim? Was it a drama walking sim? A mystery walking sim? The marketing and game intro was kind obscure about what the game was actually about so it didn't exactly make me want to play it.

But it's an interesting little story about life and death with amazing production and execution. I had no idea the game stylistically would have all these creative style segments like playing out Barbara's story in an old comic book complete with the main 3d engine but in a cell-shade style, the photography stuff, the flipbook animation, etc... really nice variety in styles kept it interesting.

I have no idea how a walking sim got this kind of budget. When the staff roll started I was expecting like 3 people like most walking sim indies, but the names went on and on and on and this was like a 10-20 person dev team over five years of production (2012-2017). That's millions of dollars in budget for a walking sim story about a family. Feels like a once in a generation kind of luck that this thing got to be made. I mean it's not even like The Chinese Room where their games sold well and they kept getting more budget. This dev Giant Sparrow made one tiny game no one played (The Unfinished Swan) and then they somehow got the budget to do this which just seems nuts.

But glad it got the budget and time somehow, because in the end it was a nice interactive fiction movie. Had some feels.


Also wore some of the inspirations directly on its sleeve. Definitely got House of Leaves flashbacks from it.