Whatcha Been Playing?

[Goodman Darkness]

PS: And oh yeah, welcome to the forum Goodman!

Thanks for the warm welcome! Will definitely keep you posted on Infinifactory, and also when I dip my toes into any of the other Zachtronics games.

[Magical_Isopod]

Yeah, I'm done with AC Odyssey. I had this same problem with AC4 - there is so much shit everywhere and so many distractions that you feel like you're making no progress, and nothing feels genuinely rewarding. There's so much good about this game, but Ubisoft just can't help themselves with this whole kitchen sink approach to open world design. It's one of the best looking video games ever made with a genuinely intriguing story, but Ubisoft just had to, well, be Ubisoft. They can take something good and make it such a drag.

Gonna play Thumper and some other little things til RE2make comes out.

[Pitwar]

I've gone back to playing Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, and what a bloody great game it is too.

I finished the first set of levels back when it was released on the Switch, and it got put on the back burner due to a million other games coming out. But now I'm fully onboard to finish this and I can't wait to crack on.

[Chopper]

I've tried to get on with Impact Winter (PC but recently available on console too), but just can't, so that's one off last year's backlog, for good or for ill.

Despite a promising setup, which is you and your small group of survivors have to survive for 30 days in an apocalyptic, eternal winter-type scenario, it hasn't clicked. I've started it twice now, but a clunky inventory system that hints at a lot of micromanagement (you have to assign individual food rations to each of the group members before you go out foraging, for example) has done me in both times. Good to accept it's not for me and get it off the list though.

[Goodman Darkness]

Good to accept it's not for me and get it off the list though.

I think I need to be more comfortable with accepting when I'm done with a game before completing it, whether it's because I don't like it or have just gotten all that I can from it. Anything to minimize the backlog.

[Magical_Isopod]

I've tried to get on with Impact Winter (PC but recently available on console too), but just can't, so that's one off last year's backlog, for good or for ill.

Despite a promising setup, which is you and your small group of survivors have to survive for 30 days in an apocalyptic, eternal winter-type scenario, it hasn't clicked. I've started it twice now, but a clunky inventory system that hints at a lot of micromanagement (you have to assign individual food rations to each of the group members before you go out foraging, for example) has done me in both times. Good to accept it's not for me and get it off the list though.

If you"re down for the whole "winter survival" thing, I strongly recommend Near Death (2015). It's short, and it's really more of a survival horror than a Sim. But it absolutely had me hooked the entire time I played it. Absolutely dripping in atmosphere and sheer dread - you're a scientist leaving base camp in Antarctica, but your plane crashes during one of the coldest nights of the year. The only salvation is an abandoned research station, and whatever equipment was left behind. It's one of those "here's an indie game literally no one's heard of" I love to push. :3

[Magical_Isopod]

Good to accept it's not for me and get it off the list though.

I think I need to be more comfortable with accepting when I'm done with a game before completing it, whether it's because I don't like it or have just gotten all that I can from it. Anything to minimize the backlog.

Yet ANOTHER how-to I'd love to write for this forum is how to tackle a backlog, because there are a lot of good tips I've learned over the years. One important thing is to sit down with you collection and ask, "Did I buy this because I actually want to experience it, or did I buy it because I heard it was good?" Because the games in the latter description are some of the games I've absolutely hated the most - RDR, Shadow of the Colossus, pretty much every indie darling (Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley, Gone Home, etc.). Those are some of the games that I bought because I was told I needed to like them, but I really had zero interest in the theme, setting, art direction, whatever the case.

If you're feeling like it's a chore to play a game, stop playing it. Like, AC Odyssey above, I got to a point where I was dreading turning my PS4 on and procrastinating on it. That's a sign I need to stop. Obviously this doesn't apply to difficulty spikes though - I actually had a great times grinding out job points in Final Fantasy Tactics because I loved that story and the core mechanics were genuinely fun, even in repetition. Throw on some music or a podcast, hit the grind, conquer a difficult challenge.

Also, avoid big-ticket purchases where you can't get your money back. Like. Never buy a AAA, full-price game digital if it's just gonna sit on a backlog.

[ColinAlonso]

Disc 3 of Final Fantasy VIII is complete. This is now the furthest I have ever got in the game. Still smashing a lot of enemies. Keeping magic well stocked and junctioned so I can just steamroll over everything. Pretty happy to keep going to be fair.

The plot took us to

Spoiler: show

Esthar. Which has been closed off from the rest of the world for about 20 years. Though for some reason their level of technology is a good 50 or 100 years ahead of the rest of the world.

Then there was a casual trip into space that could have went like this for how sudden it was:
"Hi, I was told to come here."
"Oh you're the guys going into space."
"Space? What? I wasn't told about going into space."
"Yeah, but the lady you're looking for is up there."
"Um, I suppose then."

So then three people with no space training, one of whom is unconscious, get launched in individual pods into space and caught by some sort of tractor beam from a space station. We're a long way from disc 1 that's for sure.

The plot threads start tying together and the final dungeon and boss were a bit dull compared to the spectacle of the endings of discs 1 and 2.

Then disc 4 starts and the time compression sequence is quite trippy.

[Magical_Isopod]

Disc 3 of Final Fantasy VIII is complete. This is now the furthest I have ever got in the game. Still smashing a lot of enemies. Keeping magic well stocked and junctioned so I can just steamroll over everything. Pretty happy to keep going to be fair.

The plot took us to

Spoiler: show

Esthar. Which has been closed off from the rest of the world for about 20 years. Though for some reason their level of technology is a good 50 or 100 years ahead of the rest of the world.

Then there was a casual trip into space that could have went like this for how sudden it was:
"Hi, I was told to come here."
"Oh you're the guys going into space."
"Space? What? I wasn't told about going into space."
"Yeah, but the lady you're looking for is up there."
"Um, I suppose then."

So then three people with no space training, one of whom is unconscious, get launched in individual pods into space and caught by some sort of tractor beam from a space station. We're a long way from disc 1 that's for sure.

The plot threads start tying together and the final dungeon and boss were a bit dull compared to the spectacle of the endings of discs 1 and 2.

Then disc 4 starts and the time compression sequence is quite trippy.

One does not simply rationalize Final Fantasy VIII into Mordor.

[Goodman Darkness]

If you're feeling like it's a chore to play a game, stop playing it. Like, AC Odyssey above, I got to a point where I was dreading turning my PS4 on and procrastinating on it. That's a sign I need to stop. Obviously this doesn't apply to difficulty spikes though - I actually had a great times grinding out job points in Final Fantasy Tactics because I loved that story and the core mechanics were genuinely fun, even in repetition. Throw on some music or a podcast, hit the grind, conquer a difficult challenge.

Also, avoid big-ticket purchases where you can't get your money back. Like. Never buy a AAA, full-price game digital if it's just gonna sit on a backlog.

Oh 100% agree on all points. And sometimes it's not even a negative thing, per se; I haven't played Odyssey but I did play IV a few years ago, and spent 30+ happy hours with it, until one day I had just had enough - it didn't do anything egregious, nothing specific to buck me off, but I was just sated, completely full of the game, and happy to move on.

Another issue with the backlog these days how insanely easy it is to get games cheap, particularly digitally. AAA stuff is an obvious threat here but so are old games that, as you say, you just hear/read about somewhere, or from someone. Just today I bought Deadly Premonition and Stephen's Sausage Roll with no immediate intention to play either, just because they were on steep discounts online. Two more in the backlog, just like that.

[Chopper]

If you"re down for the whole "winter survival" thing, I strongly recommend Near Death (2015). It's short, and it's really more of a survival horror than a Sim. But it absolutely had me hooked the entire time I played it. Absolutely dripping in atmosphere and sheer dread - you're a scientist leaving base camp in Antarctica, but your plane crashes during one of the coldest nights of the year. The only salvation is an abandoned research station, and whatever equipment was left behind. It's one of those "here's an indie game literally no one's heard of" I love to push. :3

Looks interesting, I will check it out at some point, cheers! With the whole 'genre-bleed' introduced by the rise of the roguelike and the survival game, it can be hard to determine whether I'll like one game (eg Impact Winter) over another these days. Often the premise sounds great and then certain aspects of the game push it over the edge into unlikeability, but it's difficult to identify these elements ahead of time.

I am now playing the absolutely fascinating The Council. I'm doing it a bit of an injustice when I say it's a take on the Telltale formula, but one in which you choose a class (Diplomat, Detective or Occultist) and build up stats, which then determine what choices you can make/the cost of those choices. For example the diplomat has skills that allow him to deflect questions easily, while the detective might be able to adopt a forceful line of questioning in his encounters, and be able to pick locks, while the diplomat has to find keys for those locks. The art style is quite something, the character models are a cross between Dishonored 1 and a bunch of grotesque freaks. Just finished episode 1 of 5, and it is very promising so far.

[Magical_Isopod]

I've heard very good things about The Council, but that art style is a total non-starter for me. I'm comfortable enough in my gaming tastes to know that an art style that doesn't agree with me can be a deal-breaker.

Definitely update your thoughts when you've had a better go at 'er.

[hazeredmist]

I tried Papers, Please last night on Vita. My god, the controls are awful. Seems interesting though.

Do you think? I played a lot on iPad before playing the Vita version and thought the controls translated to the smaller screen fairly well. It can get a little cramped, but I found myself using a note book so I didn't need to keep opening certain documents.

Oh yeah, I play narrative games on Vita, 3DS etc. in bed, I'm not gonna be getting a notebook out! I kinda like the idea of it, but in practical terms for me a handheld game can't really require any complications as I'm generally playing in bed or my car or somewhere similarly restrictive. I need everything easily on-screen.

I've given up with Papers, Please for now, I kinda get the gameplay loop and I have liked some elements of it but the controls are seriously annoying to me and the interesting bits (people blowing themselves up etc, spy's coming) aren't frequent enough to retain my interest.

So, I've moved on to Root Letter. Too early to assess it thus far but it's a visual novel and sounded interesting. Got my fingers crossed.

[Alex79]

I was very excited to discover, last night, that the standard PS4 supports HDR, I thought it was just the pro! We got a new TV yesterday and I tried it out on RDR 2 but I think the game looks worse! More blurry and lower contrast. I'm not sure if it's meant to be like that or I just don't get it! I turned it off, but not before spending an hour going back and forth trying to convince myself the HDR looked better! (it just doesn't...)

[Pitwar]

I was very excited to discover, last night, that the standard PS4 supports HDR, I thought it was just the pro! We got a new TV yesterday and I tried it out on RDR 2 but I think the game looks worse! More blurry and lower contrast. I'm not sure if it's meant to be like that or I just don't get it! I turned it off, but not before spending an hour going back and forth trying to convince myself the HDR looked better! (it just doesn't...)

This has been an issue with the game since day one on both PS4 and Xbox, and Rockstar are fully aware that the HDR makes the game look worse. I've not heard much about them fixing it though. But you can rest assured it's not just you

[ratsoalbion]

What’s weird is though that I still find - despite knowing that it’s broken/fake - on my setup and to my eyes RDRII does still look better with the HDR left on.

[KSubzero1000]

I am now playing the absolutely fascinating The Council. I'm doing it a bit of an injustice when I say it's a take on the Telltale formula, but one in which you choose a class (Diplomat, Detective or Occultist) and build up stats, which then determine what choices you can make/the cost of those choices. For example the diplomat has skills that allow him to deflect questions easily, while the detective might be able to adopt a forceful line of questioning in his encounters, and be able to pick locks, while the diplomat has to find keys for those locks. The art style is quite something, the character models are a cross between Dishonored 1 and a bunch of grotesque freaks. Just finished episode 1 of 5, and it is very promising so far.

Seems intriguing. I'll keep an eye out.

[Chopper]

Seems intriguing. I'll keep an eye out.

Nooooo!

Have you finished SOMA yet?

I've heard very good things about The Council, but that art style is a total non-starter for me. I'm comfortable enough in my gaming tastes to know that an art style that doesn't agree with me can be a deal-breaker.

As someone who can't play certain Grand Strategy games because of their font, I'm not going to question this.

The Council (which to provide context, is set in 1793) is pretty interesting. The skill trees, with which you can influence conversation, look like this:

Spoiler: show

Diplomat
Etiquette - allows you to adjust your attitude and behavior to a given situation.
Conviction - your character is better at convincing others.
Politics - your character receives geopolitics knowledge and can use it during conversations.
Diversion - allows you to avoid answering questions and to distract NPCs during conversations.
Linguistics - your character understands texts and conversations in a different language.

Occultist
Science - your character is familiar with contemporary science and medicine.
Occultism - expands your knowledge about religions and mysticism and allows you to understand texts written in ancient languages.
Manipulation - you can force other characters to perform certain tasks.
Erudition - increases your character's knowledge.
Subterfuges - allows you to steal items, open locks or recognize fake documents.

Detective
Questioning - your character can notice peculiar behaviors of other characters.
Vigilance - your character can notice important details or weirdly placed elements.
Psychology - helps you understand others better.
Logic - increases your logical thinking abilities.
Agility - increases your physical abilities which are useful in confrontations where you need to use force.

You also have eight action points, so there might be an option in the conversation to convince someone for three of those, assuming you are level 3 in that skill. Then three points are exhausted, so you only have five left for the rest of the conversation, otherwise you have to choose more generic conversational options - with which you can still get things done, I believe, by assessing the character of your 'opponent'. Each character also has certain characteristics which make them immune to your blandishments in certain areas, for example

Spoiler: show

George Washington

is immune to any leverage you try and exert using Politics. There are some nice subtleties like the servants being prone to 'conviction', so you can pull aristocratic bluffer stuff like, "Dammit man! Stop messing about and hand over the evidence', and they'll do it when they don't want to.

I believe the voice acting could be better (I'm not bothered) and the story allegedly takes a turn for the worse later on, but the premise is pretty far out there already so I'm looking forward to it.

[Alex79]

What’s weird is though that I still find - despite knowing that it’s broken/fake - on my setup and to my eyes RDRII does still look better with the HDR left on.

It certainly doesn't look bad, but on my set up (not a pro and a lower end TV (I don't mean compared to your set up which I have no knowledge of, just mean in general!)) it looks a lot more washed out. The dark isn't dark. I was riding around 2am in the moonlight and without it on I needed my lantern out, with it on it looked like dusk!

[KSubzero1000]

Nooooo!

Have you finished SOMA yet?

Whachu mean? I kinda wanna play it!

Ahem... no. I fall asleep at the wheel playing these things! Especially when I have such a prestigious specimen of game design like VC4 with all its lush gameplay and cutscene goodness just lying around.

But... now I feel bad about bailing out on it so I will go back and finish it before RE2 arrives. Promised. No more VC. Grounded. Bad KSub.