Whatcha Been Playing?

[Flabyo]

OH in a similar fashion to Outward, I bought Control and Outer Wilds at about the same time. Toreeee through Control, had a really good time, but bounced off Outer Wilds hard. I realise this is probably my fault, but can anyone who loves it give me a way in?

Outer Wilds is a weird one for sure. It *has* goals, you just have to work out what they are. I’d say the key to it is to pick one of the unanswered questions on your log and see if you can progress it. Like the other games that use this core mechanic, the trick is to realise that you won’t make massive progress on each run, but each run should point you towards a thing to try in your next.

It’s entirely possible to ‘beat’ the game on the very first run, nothing is actually ‘locked off’ mechanically from you, you just won’t know what you can and can’t actually do until you discover it by messing around and by finding things out there in the wilds.

If the core mystery doesn’t grab you, it may well never get its hooks in though. It’s not a game that everyone who plays it enjoys.

[Alex79]

For some reason I've picked up my Fallout 4 save from a couple of years ago and been sucked right back in. It was already at about 80 hours, I can easily see another 40 more coming out of it. I haven't even explored half the map yet!

[Magical_Isopod]

Is anyone else finding that since being stuck at home they somehow have less time to play games than before? Bizarre I know, but perversely I seem to have less spare time than when I was out the house for 8 hours a day. I thought to myself, 'OK lockdown, that's not good but I have a ton of games, movies and comics to get through...'

Nope.

I'm not on lockdown, but I had this issue when I was on EI. I just wanted to get out and do things, or accomplish things. And I felt like a pile of shit sitting and playing video games. So it was hard to sit down for a long play session. I really resent not getting deeper into the backlog than I did.

[Magical_Isopod]

I've been trying to play DKC Tropical Freeze for the podcast but like... I just don't "get" this game. I don't see what's so great about it, to make it so highly revered. I don't like it as much as the older DKC games, nor do I like it as much as Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. It just kinda feels... Kiddy? Like not even in a Nintendo way, it feels even more juvenile than a Mario or Yoshi game. I'm really not seeing the hype. It's a competent platformer, but so many games are.

[NoMoreSpearows]

Oh, that... that is an interesting take. How far are you in Tropical Freeze?

[Magical_Isopod]

Oh, that... that is an interesting take. How far are you in Tropical Freeze?

Finished the first World, but I'm not to eager to keep slogging through more of what I've already seen.

[Stanshall]

For info, the first world is basically infant tier relative to what follows.

[Jon Cheetham]

I have gone back to Deus Ex in a big way. Man, this game is so good. The Hong Kong hub and the spokes that lead off it are some of the most fun questing I've had in a game for quite a while. I'm now at the submarine and naval base, and I just love how you can think and plan your way through each situation the game throws up. It is wonderful fun.

Also JC Denton's deadpan delivery is just incredible.

[dezm0nd]

Got to the final boss of Doom Eternal. That game throws everything at you and is overwhelming but now I'm at the end I'm ready to go again and see what I can achieve with the myriad of upgrades attached as well player experience.

The game definitely skews towards mouse and keyboard but once you adjust you can hit enemy weak points in the thick of it but the final boss needs a bit more flexibility that I cant wrangle just yet.

It feels like they had one more shot at the franchise and stuck every idea possible into it. Its ridiculous and for both positive and negative reasons. I think I prefer Very Doom as it's more focused but Eternal is a very refreshing game overall and one well worth playing if you enjoyed Very Doom.

[Suits]

For info, the first world is basically infant tier relative to what follows.

I’ve been stuck on the last boss now (twice) for about five years .

[Simonsloth]

For info, the first world is basically infant tier relative to what follows.

I’ve been stuck on the last boss now (twice) for about five years .

The boss at the end of the first world?

I’m really enjoying it. I’m playing co-op with my son who is funky Kong who is nearly indestructible and I’m doing it normally as Diddy. He still falls of the edge and uses up all my balloons so most levels probably require even more skill than they should.

On the 4th world now and absolutely loving it.

[Suits]

I’ve been stuck on the last boss now (twice) for about five years .

The boss at the end of the first world?

The bosses in this game are gnarly .

Na, its the last dude. It's hard, I hate it .

[Michiel K]

Senko no Ronde 2. On PC. With Leon.

[PallasRil]

I've been getting my dailies done in Red Dead Online (where the toxicity has reached new levels of horrible of late) and started on Persona 5 two days ago. What a gorgeous game.

[Magical_Isopod]

I picked up Freedom Planet for a few minutes because it also happened to be on my WiiU... Instantly remembered why I Loved that game. Went to try DKC Tropical Freeze again right after... It just doesn't do *anything* for me. Kudos to folks who like it, but I'm just not digging this one. I re-bought it for the podcast, but I doubt I'll play it after my experience this week. Gonna sell it I think... For a second time.

[Suits]

I refurbed an original DualShock for the PlayStation the other day and to test it quickly I threw in Time Splitters 2 on the PS2 yesterday evening.

Just beat Notre Dame and I’m on my way to Planet X .

Still a good game that.

[Alex79]

You do a lot of pad repairs, don't you? I've got a wired controller for Switch, one of the semi-official ones:



I never really use it, so I'm blaming the kids, but the left stick has awful drift. You can be running along and Mario will just veer off to the left. Any idea what could be causing it or if its an easy fix?

(I also recently bought the 8bitdo bluetooth dongle to allow me to use PS4 pad on Switch. It works fantastically, no lag whatsoever, or at least its not noticeable at all, functions exactly as the joycons do, even has rumble and gyro support. I'm not telling the kids I've got it Definitely recommended if anyone thought about getting one - it's cheaper than a pad too at about £15).

[Suits]

You do a lot of pad repairs, don't you?

I do mate yeah.

Stick drift could be a number of things to be honest, I normally major in older peripherals, where often slow to re-set or damaged sticks are due to a sticky liquid (or hair, or dead bugs, or crisps, or a milky bar wrapper) getting into the housing and stopping the stick returning to centre, or just coming to a natural rest just off centre - stick drift.

So far, in my experience, I've managed to eliminate drift in every pad I've looked at. This is likely due to the fact that there's no physical damage to the mechanism and bloody good cleaning and resetting normally fixes it.

T o have a go yourself, its pretty simple mate, just have the correct tools, a good cleaning substance and be confidant.

I'm not sure what screws those Nintendo HORI pads use but it'll either be a Y0 or a PH00 screwdriver head, open it up and have a look about .

Happy to help if you have any questions mate.

[Magical_Isopod]

Suits, you got any tips for fixing a PS4 controller? The left stick has a weird dead zone. I thought Doom Eternal was staggering my walk for texture loading, or that Apex had a bug where I would stop running for no reason... Turns out it just drops inputs near the top of the stick. Was gonna get another controller anyway for the sake of vanity, but why not repair an otherwise functional thing?

[Suits]

Suits, you got any tips for fixing a PS4 controller?

I've not messed with a DualShock 4 to be honest, although in my experience the PlayStation controllers are the most complex of all the others.

DS4 takes a PH00 bit too, I just checked .

Best thing I'd recommend is opening her up (you have to remove the analogue thumb stick, which covers/protects the analogue chassis, and rails, I have a technique for this that is faultless) and dropping a good load of (as high % as you can get hold of, 99.9% ideally) Isopropanol into the mechanism, then focus on the problem dead spot, you may have something in there blocking that part of the rail contact.

Left sticks are often the most used for obvious reasons and most dead spots I've seen are the up track.

You can, if you really need too, get into the housing. Something that will be very fiddly and will very unlikely go back to the same as it was before - last resort stuff this, or just for fun if you buy a new one and want to get stuck into the faulty one.