Whatcha Been Playing?

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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Chopper »

Well, its issues do become more pronounced the more you play. The saving thing isn't too bad - remember if you go to bed for an hour your game will save. I would say also that even though the game gives the impression that you can progress via speech skills alone, that is not true, and you need to spend quite a bit of time honing your fighting skills. Don't be fooled and neglect these. It also helps to buy a decent sword that suits your stats and fighting style (eg stab vs swipe) as the ones you find in the early game are just awful.

Stealing stuff is also very important early on, which might be an issue depending on the role you're playing.

I am playing Dead Space on the PS3. It is enjoyable; the sound design is a bit over the top but gets the job done. Weirdly, the developers have undercut the tension they've spent so much effort building by putting save points everywhere. But for a 10 year old game it doesn't show its age at all.

Silent Protagonists for the win. How much of a noob is Isaac in the intro sequence? :lol: (skip to 59 seconds)

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Craig
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Craig »

Just picked up Owlboy on the Switch which is currently 20% off in the EU store. I’m having a marvellous time so far. Wonderful graphics, smooth game play, and a charming style.
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Simonsloth
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Simonsloth »

Chopper wrote: March 23rd, 2018, 11:48 am

I am playing Dead Space on the PS3. It is enjoyable; the sound design is a bit over the top but gets the job done. Weirdly, the developers have undercut the tension they've spent so much effort building by putting save points everywhere. But for a 10 year old game it doesn't show its age at all.

Silent Protagonists for the win. How much of a noob is Isaac in the intro sequence? :lol: (skip to 59 seconds)

Snap!

It absolutely does not feel like a ten year old game and It’s remarkable how enjoyable it is even today.

Agree about the tension being nullified somewhat by the frequent save points. I think Alien isolation got this spot on but it’s tricky to balance given the instadeaths both games inflict upon you.

I struggled with the asteroid shooting which seemed quite impossible initially but eventually I succeeded by the skin of my teeth. Even this was quite exhilarating.
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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Chopper »

I'm just past the asteroid bit now, I'd forgotten what a PITA it was.

My plans have been derailed somewhat. I've been addicted to Out of the Park Baseball 18 for the last month. Yesterday I noticed OOTP19 had been released for preorder. :|
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

I've been playing a whole lot more PUBG on mobile, with my eldest, Elliot, who's 11.

It is genuinely one of the most fun gaming experiences I've ever had. We've been teaming up as a duo, and it's been really good sneaking together through the map, pincer attacking people, holding our breath as we search the houses. Our highest rank so far is 4th, but if we get a chicken dinner I think we'll explode with excitement!

I've played games with him since he was about 4, but honestly this mobile phone game has probably been the most fun we've had. It's a really good bonding exercise!

EDIT: "A really good bonding exercise" is a really weird way of wording it! You know what I mean!
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

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Chopper
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Chopper »

Nice! :D
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

Congrats, Alex! :P
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

I suspect its a lot easier on mobile due to the player base. Also, here's a tip, turn on the gyro aiming. It makes things so much easier and it's obvious most people aren't using it as they stand there, slowly trying to aim whilst I popped their head off haha.
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Alex79uk wrote: March 24th, 2018, 3:32 pm I suspect its a lot easier on mobile due to the player base. Also, here's a tip, turn on the gyro aiming. It makes things so much easier and it's oblivious most people aren't using it as they stand there, slowly trying to aim whilst I popped their head off haha.
Semi-serious question. On a scale of 1 to 10, how comfortable are you with inconvenient, potentially earth-shattering truths?

If the answer is 7 or above:
Spoiler: show
Click at your own peril!
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Alex79
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

Haha well that explains things, and I can't say I'm not a little disappointed!
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by KSubzero1000 »

ThirdMan wrote: March 24th, 2018, 3:59 pm Oh for fuck sake.
I'm sorry... Should I not have said anything? I thought Alex might want to know... :(

On the positive side (if the article is to be believed that is), the game seems designed in order to tone it down over time as players get better and better.
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Alex79 »

I really thought it was just because I was probably playing against a load of kids haha. Oh well, technically the game is really very good on mobile, and bots or not, its still a lot of fun! I'll be playing this for a while, and now looking forward to the Fortnite Android release.
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Flabyo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Flabyo »

For what it’s worth, my understanding is Fortnite on mobile does the same thing.
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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Flabyo wrote: March 24th, 2018, 6:03 pm For what it’s worth, my understanding is Fortnite on mobile does the same thing.
You're in the mobile sector, correct? What do you make of all this? The article suggests that giving players an early sense of accomplishment may be a way to lure them into spending money on microtransactions later on. Is there any truth to this?
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Flabyo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Flabyo »

To me it seems more like a retention play than a revenue one. Happy engaged players who don’t get blown out every game are likely to stick around, and in this phase of a release you want numbers in the game to tune things. Probably not that fussed about whether anyone is buying any cosmetics yet.

F2P Mobile design tends to focus on “the three R’s”. That is, Reach (getting the game in front of as many people as possible), Retention (getting those people who play to come back and play again) and then Revenue (be that direct in app purchases, or more indirect advertising revenue).

Any new game tends to focus on those three in that order. That’s not to say you don’t consider your monetisation strategies during development, just that you don’t usually roll out whole suite of options immediately. (It’s this aspect I think the AAA biz has missed when they’ve added micro transactions to their games, that’s not something you do at launch, it’s something you filter in once you actually have players).
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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ThirdMan wrote: March 25th, 2018, 1:51 pm More Kingdom Come: Deliverance. I've switched over to the German audio and I'm having a much better time. The English voice track was starting to pull me out of the game. At one point I was sat in a room with accents from England, Ireland and the United States, plus some non-descript European inflections. It felt very silly. The German really adds to the overall sense of place.
German = Medieval? I take offense! :lol:

Just kidding. I actually had a very similar experience when playing The Witcher 3 with the original Polish voice track. It definitely does add to the overall experience in a way that I think a lot of people don't realize.

I've said it before, so I'll take the opportunity to repeat myself: I would love for games to be more willing to explore "canon" language options beyond the usual crowd-pleasing English and Japanese dubs. Watching foreign movies in their original version is such a great experience, so why are games so hesitant to move a little in that direction?

(Yes, I know the answer to that is MONEY. But it's nice to have dreams.)
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

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ThirdMan wrote: March 25th, 2018, 3:11 pm A much more mundane, but often important, benefit to playing a game in another language is that bad voice acting isn't as noticeable in another language (for me, at least). I can't tell if the German actors in Kingdom Come are being cheesy or hamming it up! I just think it sounds very good (and maybe it is).
One interesting thing I'd like to point out is that this even stays true to an extent for non-native languages one is fluent in. Case in point, even though I know for a fact that a lot of the 5th/6th gen era voice acting is of a significantly lower quality than the modern standards, I'm less bothered by it than most simply because English isn't my native language. I notice the quality difference if I pay attention to it, but it doesn't really affect my enjoyment. It's a very interesting phenomenon.

ThirdMan wrote: March 25th, 2018, 3:11 pm I'm going to make a point of seeking out original languages wherever possible from now on. I intend on playing through the Metro series soon. I hope they're playable in Russian.
As far as I know, they are!
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by DomsBeard »

I have played the opening 2 or 3 hours of Metal Gear Survive and yeah it is pretty uninspiring. I have yet to play V so not sure how it compares. The water/food thing was alright for about 1 hour then it got beyond tedious. I do not know why this game exists!.

Mario and Rabbids is fun. Think I have finished the first ''world''
Spoiler: show
beat Rabbid Kong
. It is simple but I have died a couple of times through my own stupidity.

Call of Duty WW2 reminds me of the old medal of honour games and I am enjoying that too. Not too taxing, looks great and the story is alright.

Pretty sure I played Metro in Russian with english subtitles?
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Jobobonobo
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Re: Whatcha Been Playing?

Post by Jobobonobo »

Been trying out Braid on Playstation Now as I had always wanted to try out this beloved indie gem. It is quite fun so far and its puzzles are very satisfying once you figure out what to do. I have not looked up any solutions so far and I want to keep it that way for as long as possible. Definitely need to be in the right frame of mind to play this as it does test your problem solving skills pretty heavily. The little references to Mario are quite nicely done as well especially with the Donkey Kong section in World 4. It is a tricky at times yet weirdly relaxing little game. Definitely want to see what else Braid will throw at me.
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