What are you playing?

[Rufus]

Infinifactory


This one felt particularly good to finish, because it gave me a lot of trouble on an earlier attempt. Turns out the timing was much easier than I had anticipated. They introduce a counting block in this section of the game (triggers other function block when 2-9 blocks pass by it), so I got it in my head that I had to incorporate it, but conventional methods worked just fine.

I have also made the mistake of looking at some top scoring solutions to this one. I don't even know what's happening here.
What plays in my head when I look at it.

[Bebpo]

btw, part of the reason why I'm down on RDR2 PC is the performance is shit on my PC if I try to play above 30fps. I've been trying to diagnose it because this is what it's looking like on mine even though it's running at 70-80fps and never dipping below 60fps Feels choppy as hell. Runs smooth at 30fps for 30fps but since I'm pulling 70-80fps would rather have that 60fps feel if I can when I actually sit down and play this.

[MMaRsu]

Yeah that looks weird. My system sucks, but most settings are a mix between high/medium but textures are on ultra.

I get around 40-45 fps in Saints Denis but for some reason in some heavy grassland area's it will dip into the 30's. Im happy, it looks and plays better than on consoles.

What kind of settings are you using, and which renderer are you using? I seem to have had the most luck with the VULKAN renderer.

Did you try locking it to 60fps in rtss?>

[Bebpo]

Yup, using high/medium mix and trying to lock at 60fps in RTSS. Nothing seems to make it smooth

[Freyj]

Wanted to finish Control before the end of the year since it seems like it’s winning GOTY if Sekiro isn’t.

I liked it a lot for a lot of the same reasons Bebs already mentioned with the exception that I was a little cooler on the combat coming off the heels of playing 50 hours or so of Remnant and being a little tired of TPS with “another add wave” as it’s primary difficulty modifier. Levitation and Launch are both great but I found myself dying from explosive objects I never saw pretty much the entire game and was never really aware of what I was supposed to be doing differently. I feel like at the very least removing the energy cost of dashing would make the game much more enjoyable. Also it desperately needs to give you launch and dash like right out of the gate. Way too long to get most of the abilities.

The setting and lore is incredible but I found the plot kind of just okay outside of that? I picked up on what they were getting at with

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dylan and Jesse being one person split by the projector but then the game just ends with the least subtle “Control Part 2 coming soon!” I’ve ever seen in a video game. Felt like I’d reached the halfway point of the narrative.

[close]

[Don Rumata]

Finally got Sekiro and just played a bit of the beginning.  Wow... I can tell this going to turn out to be something special. Is this the next level Tenchu game I've always been wanting?!?
 

No no no.
But it's a fantastic action game.

[Bebpo]

Finally found a fix for my RDR2 stuttering. Used rammap and emptied the standby memory and suddenly the game is buttery smooth. Now I can actually play and enjoy it, yay.

[Potato]

I really wish RDR2 didn't control like absolute arse. I so wanted to like that game.

[BIONIC]

Finished The Witcher 1 with about 50 hours on the clock. Great game, but fuck does it drag with the endless running back and forth to complete quests, and shifting NPC routes/schedules where you don’t know where the fuck they are. Although I enjoyed it, I'm glad to be done with it.

Made lots of progress in the Witcher 2 (playing on 360) since. I feel I’m very close to be done with Chapter 1. I understand there are two routes in this game, so I’ll likely just make a save before the big decision point and do them both. I don’t see myself having the patience to restart the game since there’s quite a bit to do in the first chapter as it is, and I’m not interested in going through the motions again.

Gameplay is much improved over the first game. Actual button presses to attack instead of a weird rhythm/qte thing. Such innovation! I don’t get why you can’t drink potions mid-combat, but can apply sword oils just fine. Non-sensical restriction.

The UI unfortunately is a complete fucking mess. The map is nondescript and a fair bit useless. The inventory is a monstrosity of 500 different tabs, with some items occupying multiple tabs, with ZERO sorting options. This extends to crafting and enhancing.  Just absolute amateur hour stuff. Not to mention the obnoxious weight capacity. I will say that I love that all the journal entries are as if they’re written from the perspective of Dandelion. Fairly enjoyable.

It might sound like I’m shitting on the game, but I’m actually really liking it. Quests and characters are pretty fun which is what matters most. It’s just some of the issues you wonder how they could’ve been okay with shipping like that. Hopefully Witcher 3 has a non-shitty UI.

[HardcoreRetro]

Make sure you do the Troll Trouble quest. One of my favourites in that game.

[BIONIC]

If it’s the one with the drunk troll then I did it yesterday. Great taste in alcohol. Vodka da bes.

Humans are always so cruel but I made sure to fuck them up 

[Nintex]

I'm enjoying Ace Combat 7 more and more. This might be a late contender for GOTY for me.
Sekiro is also nice but difficult and at times janky. Ace Combat 7 is buttery smooth so far

From what I finished/played so far these stand out the most:
Resident Evil 2
CONTROL
Ace Combat 7
Ion Fury
Fire Emblem Three Houses
Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order
Sekiro
Link's Awakening

Also have Astral Chain and RDR2 sitting wrapped.

[MMaRsu]

I really wish RDR2 didn't control like absolute arse. I so wanted to like that game.

It doesn't though

Set up " Standard FPS controls" if you are using a controller. Set deadzones to 0. Game is much more responsive than on consoles. In first person it's the most responsive though. You still have animation priority so you just need to accept Arthur needs to turn before he can pick up something for instance. I certainly wouldn't say it's absolute arse.

Good to hear your problems have been fixed Bepbo! Never heard of rammap or standby memory O_o.. I'm glad you were able to fix it. You already finished it on PS4 or no?

[Bebpo]

I really wish RDR2 didn't control like absolute arse. I so wanted to like that game.

It doesn't though

Set up " Standard FPS controls" if you are using a controller. Set deadzones to 0. Game is much more responsive than on consoles. In first person it's the most responsive though. You still have animation priority so you just need to accept Arthur needs to turn before he can pick up something for instance. I certainly wouldn't say it's absolute arse.

Good to hear your problems have been fixed Bepbo! Never heard of rammap or standby memory O_o.. I'm glad you were able to fix it. You already finished it on PS4 or no?

Oh cool, I'll mess with the dead zones cause yeah the controls for shooting are little ehhh. I'm fine with everything else but the shooting feels pretty meh early on.
And nah, I only played about 5-10 hours on PS4 through Valentine/Horshoe Overlook first set of quests unlocking tutorial stuff. Got distracted and never got back to it and then figured I'd wait to play it on PC. Basically at the same spot now on PC as where I left off on PS4.

[MMaRsu]

Well all I can say its an amazing game and personally I thought it was one of the best stories in gaming ever. Its def in my top 10 of best games Ive ever played. I know that might not mean much but that means its up there with ocarina, metal gear solid, mario 64 and those kind of classics heh.

Are you using free aim? And are you playing with kmb or controller? Ive just stuck with a controller

[Bebpo]

I'm using a controller and I actually like the auto-aim assist lock on since I'm not great at aiming and the targets are often pretty far out and just little pixels.

Oh, when you're using dead eye, is there a way to not XXXXX over everywhere your analog moves? I remember in RDR1 being able to just do headshot, headshot, headshot against a group of enemies in deadeye, but here I hit deadeye and it makes like 4 spots on the way to marking the head and I spend all my deadeye/ammo clip on one target when I just wanted to put on X on his head and move to the next target. Also problematic for hunting animals in deadeye when I just want a clean headshot but it marks all over the body before getting to the head.

[MMaRsu]

yeah eventually you'll get it in chapter 2 I think, then you can manually paint targets which is much better

I wouldnt go hunting till they have introduced you to most of it like in chapter 2 or something and youll get a map where to find legendary beasts

[Bebpo]

Yeah I did the legendary beast bear quest at the start in horshoe overlook and I killed it and skinned it but apparently I'm not gonna run into the trader for a while and since there isn't like a box you can dump stuff in it's just sitting on the floor in my camp which apparently is how you store items. Can't keep it on my horse or no room for anything else 

[Chooky]

it's too easy to level up, but you can activate enemy level syncing at any time, and adjust the difficulty

[Svejk]

AC: Origins

60 hours in.
60% of map done (defogged).
Reached max level (40).

That's some bad gameplay balance, Ubisoft :tsk :tsk

Then they up and swung too far the other direction for AC: Odyssey with making leveling up a total grind.   

[MMaRsu]

Yeah I did the legendary beast bear quest at the start in horshoe overlook and I killed it and skinned it but apparently I'm not gonna run into the trader for a while and since there isn't like a box you can dump stuff in it's just sitting on the floor in my camp which apparently is how you store items. Can't keep it on my horse or no room for anything else 

You should be able to find a trader just going to his place. Check out a map on the interwebs tl find him. He's in multiple places

[Don Rumata]

AC: Origins

60 hours in.
60% of map done (defogged).
Reached max level (40).

That's some bad gameplay balance, Ubisoft :tsk :tsk

Did you do a lot of extra stuff? I had the opposite problem, wanted to wrap up the story, but had to do some side missions to level up.
The map is absolutely massive though (i love it).

Odyssey is even worse, as Svejk pointed out, which is why i used cheat engine to get, like, 10x XP, and even then it was slow as shit. 

[MMaRsu]

So would you say its mediocre? Or at least most of the content is meaningless and boring filler quests?

[demi]

I would wish they shake this formula a bit in Assassins Creed: Ragnarok or whatever. They cannot create a 3rd game with this amount of copy-paste content (Forts, Camps, Animal Lairs etc. etc.)

A third game? Assassins Creed has been literal copy paste since the first.

You're playing Assassin's Creed #50 and checking all the same boxes, filling all of the same maps, etc.

I fell for the marketing hype when they said it was going to be different. It's not, Origins is literally the same shit I played since the first game.
Odyssey proved that to me after release, and whatever they're doing next is going to be no different.

[Don Rumata]

AC: Origins

60 hours in.
60% of map done (defogged).
Reached max level (40).

That's some bad gameplay balance, Ubisoft :tsk :tsk

Did you do a lot of extra stuff? I had the opposite problem, wanted to wrap up the story, but had to do some side missions to level up.
The map is absolutely massive though (i love it).

Odyssey is even worse, as Svejk pointed out, which is why i used cheat engine to get, like, 10x XP, and even then it was slow as shit. 

Yes I do ALL side stuff first when I reach a new region. I have 11 "maps" left:

- 2 seas up above - should be pretty empty, 30 mins each?
- 4 deserts at the bottom - ehh... usually desert maps are less populated but still those are huge. 1 - 2 hours each.
- 2 tiny areas on the right side (near Memphis) - 1 hour each? they are pretty small after all.
- 2 "normal" maps in the middle - 5 hours for both because they are large and they are not deserts but forest regions.
- Cyrene map (Kyrenaika Region) - currently doing side quests here. 2 hours at minimum due to the Fort.

1 of the sea "regions" it's literally nothing but water. I think a story quest takes place in it but that's it.
Similarly a couple of the desert areas at the bottom are mostly empty except for a couple of cool areas.

So would you say its mediocre? Or at least most of the content is meaningless and boring filler quests?

It's kind of like Witcher 3, a lot of the content gets repetitive if you just start to clear out the map top to bottom, but it's supposed to be extra activities you're doing between one main quest and the other, not to be robotically cleaned up.

A third game? Assassins Creed has been literal copy paste since the first.

You're playing Assassin's Creed #50 and checking all the same boxes, filling all of the same maps, etc.

I fell for the marketing hype when they said it was going to be different. It's not, Origins is literally the same shit I played since the first game.
Odyssey proved that to me after release, and whatever they're doing next is going to be no different.

If you think Origins is a copy paste of Assassin's Creed 1, you must have ridiculously broad definitions, to the point where Rez is a copy paste of Ikaruga.
If anything is closer to the Witcher (but with better combat/stealth and a vastly shittier story).

[demi]

The game is no different than it was then, yes

[MMaRsu]

Did you really not play AC2 and just start with Odyssey? O_o

Either way, Odyssey and Origins are better than what came before in most ways. Except the games were a much more linear story you could get through without messing with the side content.

[Nintex]

AC2 was the best AC game for a long time and a great game in general.

I stopped there once I found out it hadn't changed much with sequels. Dipped my toes in AC3 once which was horrible in comparison.
Jumped back in with Odyssey and was pleasantly surprised how much lessons they took from the likes of Witcher 3.

Like all Ubisoft games though, they get repetitive and you need to change it up with some other games in between.
Luckily Odyssey has a pretty good story, so it's interesting enough to play from time to time.

[Svejk]

AC2 was the best AC game for a long time and a great game in general.

I stopped there once I found out it hadn't changed much with sequels. Dipped my toes in AC3 once which was horrible in comparison.
Jumped back in with Odyssey and was pleasantly surprised how much lessons they took from the likes of Witcher 3.

Like all Ubisoft games though, they get repetitive and you need to change it up with some other games in between.
Luckily Odyssey has a pretty good story, so it's interesting enough to play from time to time.

This was my exact same scenario.  AC3 left such a bad taste, I dropped the series completely... But Odyssey looked to be changed up enough to draw me back in.  Even though Witcher 3 still annihilates it, they did a pretty good job with it and revitalized my interest in the series again... we'll see how long that lasts. 

[MMaRsu]

AC2 was the best AC game for a long time and a great game in general.

I stopped there once I found out it hadn't changed much with sequels. Dipped my toes in AC3 once which was horrible in comparison.
Jumped back in with Odyssey and was pleasantly surprised how much lessons they took from the likes of Witcher 3.

Like all Ubisoft games though, they get repetitive and you need to change it up with some other games in between.
Luckily Odyssey has a pretty good story, so it's interesting enough to play from time to time.

As others said in the resetera Witcher 3 is very influential thread..

Did Ubisoft really get influenced by TW3 or is it just they saw the best way to get engagement in a title if you turn it into an RPG with colour based loot, and a huge world of activities to take part in?

Because aside from the fact that TW3 is an actual RPG, whereas Odyssey and Origins are just action oriented games with some slight RPG mechanics such as leveling up and loot, this does not make it similar to TW3 in any regard imo.

[demi]

Oops, I forgot there were 20 AC games before You are right of course; I started with Odyssey heh... I think AC4: Black Flag kind of was the precusor to Origins, no? Did not play AC1 but did it have: Forts, Animal Lairs and bush stealth?

No, it didn't - every release since the first added on a new mechanic, but the core gamplay was still the same open world checkbox simulator. I kept with it until about Black Flag then I tapped out. Came back for Origins because OMG dude its different, it's like an RPG!

Sike, more checkboxes for you to do

[Don Rumata]

Oops, I forgot there were 20 AC games before You are right of course; I started with Odyssey heh... I think AC4: Black Flag kind of was the precusor to Origins, no? Did not play AC1 but did it have: Forts, Animal Lairs and bush stealth?

No, it didn't - every release since the first added on a new mechanic, but the core gamplay was still the same open world checkbox simulator. I kept with it until about Black Flag then I tapped out. Came back for Origins because OMG dude its different, it's like an RPG!

Sike, more checkboxes for you to do

Side activities in an open world game! 
GTA and Mass Effect are basically the same game, by this logic. 

AC1 is quite different from all the others, AC 2 introduced the GTA style game design of taking (mostly scripted) missions.
Then with Unity and Syndicate they introduced the black box concept for main assassinations (in Syndicate in particular, they even had elements like Hitman, with opportunities).
Origins and Odyssey especially, changed the combat to hitbox based combat, and basically applied that base concept to what they do in Witcher 3, with rpg progression shit, dialogue choices and branches for quests as well as loot.

[nachobro]

ubi games have all kinda become the same game now, not just AC games. much more than how other open world games can be similar to each other.

[Joe Molotov]

Ubisoft removed towers from the one game they make, such innovation.

[Rufus]

Infinifactory turned into work, so I've moved on to Opus Magnum

[Rman]

Almost done with Sekiro. Definitely my game of the year.

[Spieler1]

Open world is trash. Real level design >>>> empty space with fetchquests and repeating design patterns. Thankfully the former is finally having a comeback in the AA/AAA space with Capcom, FROM, idSoftware, etc.

[Chooky]

i remember back in the day before open world when games had no repetitive content, copy and paste design, time wasting activities like grinding or backtracking, or filler content

great times

[tiesto]

Spent my staycation playing a whole lotta Cold Steel 3 and Mario Maker 2.

Just started the chapter 3 field study in CS3, and am extremely impressed with the game so far. It's probably the best of the CS series. The pacing seems to be a bit better than CS1, while the difficulty level doesn't seem to be as frustrating as CS2. The graphics look a bit more polished but I notice quite a bit of slowdown. Music isn't as memorable as CS2, my big complaint. Also the whole second chapter I felt I missed out on a lot because I'm still waiting for official releases of the Crossbell saga. The new cast is good (I like Ash and some of the NPCs) except for Musse, who never shuts up about wanting to jump on Rean's dick. It was funny the first time, groan-inducing the 237th. The command orders in battle is a nice addition to the battle system.

Mario Maker 2, been doing the single player. I completed the castle but still have about 30+ levels to play through. Each of the levels seems super gimmicky and not as interesting as the levels in a traditional 2D Mario, but I get what they were going for (mainly to show off the new features of the editor).

Also started playing Yu-No, which I'll probably go through after CS3. Playing with the original FM soundtrack, of course (though I wish there was also the option to play with the original PC-98 artwork as well).

[tiesto]

i remember back in the day before open world when games had no repetitive content, copy and paste design, time wasting activities like grinding or backtracking, or filler content

great times

Yeah but back then the average length of the games was much shorter. A few hours of grinding/backtracking/asset repetition in a 20 hour game isn't nearly as egregious as 40 hours of the same in a 100 hour open world title.

[Spieler1]

Oh shit there were were bad games in the past?
Compared to other genres, blandness has become the expected default for modern open worlds. Developers keep trying to beat each other's map size as a selling point, before anyone ever made enough interesting content to fill even a smaller one.

[Don Rumata]

I don't like thing, it must mean it's bad! 

[Svejk]

I agree on enemy scaling. Hate that shit. It seems like such a cop out of game progression.

[toku]

Backtracking is just so rarely done well.

[Bebpo]

i remember back in the day before open world when games had no repetitive content, copy and paste design, time wasting activities like grinding or backtracking, or filler content

great times

You mean you remember when open world games were giant sandboxes with almost nothing to do actually do in them?


I agree a lot of open world games have gone overboard in filling the map, but man a lot of those early ones like AC1 or even GTA4 were rough and boring. There's definitely a healthy good middle ground in making use of the map you built through gameplay missions/activities/collectibles without going overboard. I'm really liking what Death Stranding is doing in terms of making use all most of the terrain they've built without feeling overboard ubisoft.

[Bebpo]

I agree on enemy scaling. Hate that shit. It seems like such a cop out of game progression.

Scaling sucks, but I needed it on in AC Origins because otherwise if you're doing lots of side stuff you're like a billion levels over everyone and they die in one hit and there's zero challenge at all and it's just not fun.

[MMaRsu]

Neither man, if you dont like the sailing dont even bother with black flag (personally I like Black Flag). The other games are pure garbage. 3 is horribly dull and what a boring story and main character. Unity is also just mediocre.

Just get AC2+ brotherhood for a nickle. Shit Id even buy for you instead of you playing any of those 3 garbo games and waste your time.

[Nintex]

Did you really not play AC2 and just start with Odyssey? O_o

Yes. Odyssey was my first AC game (platinum, ~150 hours), then Origins (78 hours so far, working on the platinum).

I logged in to UPlay just now (remember that store front? haha) and I have the following AC games because Ubi gave them away sometime ago:

(Image removed from quote.)

Which one would you guys recommend to play next? Note that I *hated* the sailing parts in Odyssey/ Origins.

Play Unity to climb the Notre Dame. Then quit.

Although overall that is a very pretty looking game. When Ubisoft made it they sorta overestimated what the PS4 and Xbox One could do.
AC3 is just poor overall. A step down from AC2 in pretty much every way. I believe 'Brotherhood' was decent and Black Flag too but it focuses a lot on the sailing.

Not sure if any of those three are worth it but I'd say give Unity a try.

[Joe Molotov]

Unity was the one that was so broken, they cancelled the Season Pass.

[Stro]

How is the AC franchise still going

[MMaRsu]

It sells a lot.

People like garbage news at 11

[MMaRsu]

I mean I like Bayek, but besides Revenge and loving his wife, what exactly is this arc you speak of?

[Chooky]

bayek and aya were the best main characters since ezio. i hope they somehow find a way to bring them back in another title.

[MMaRsu]

I mean I like Bayek, Edward from Black Flag and Ezio. But I feel like even the dude from the first game had more of a actual reason to go after these templars.

Ezio.. hmm yes. But besides revenge isnt that all the motivation most of these characters have? They are all very very shallow.

They killed my X I shall avenge them/him/her!

Wow what a great character

[demi]

Play the Ezio trilogy. Best parts of the entire series before it went plummeting downhill

[MMaRsu]

And it has Jesper Kyd doing the soundtrack, especially for 2 and brotherhood they are great. Revelations was a bit meh tho

[Svejk]

Sekiro is the shit.  I wish I jumped on this at launch.  Tenchusouls   

[bork]

Been playing Control (PS4)- it has been pretty enjoyable, for the most part, especially after patches have made it run better compared to launch and added an option to turn off the ridiculous motion-blur. 

Also played a shitload of Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate over the past two weeks, but took a break the last few days.  Played a bit of Samurai Shodown and then finally jumped back into SFV- been months since I've played it.  The CE changes feel great!

[MMaRsu]

All hail pork

[Rman]

Started RE2 Remake. Wow! Capcom ain't playing! I got it on sale for under 20 bucks on the Xbox Marketplace.  Just a few minutes in and the atmosphere is fantastic. 

The last RE game I played was RE5. It was fun, but it was way more action-focused. It's nice to play a classic RE with modern sensibilities.