I started the Nioh beta today and it's largely the same as the alpha but they made some significant changes,first off they added a proper tutorial now it's still not great but it's better then what was there before,they made some changes to the lvl design the kodama are harder to find and there seems to be more shortcuts which is good,they also overhauled the techniques list for every weapon to give more emphazis to Ki pulsing which is once again good because it stress how important that is. Now the one change Im in the fence about is how levelling works now,it's largely the same but now each stat seems to improve a certain type of weapon for example if I put points to increase my Ki(stamina in dark souls) I also improve swords and bows now what happens when what I want to improve is dual swords and guns? I have to put points into another stat that improves my usage of more technical gear,but what if I want to use dual swords and use heavy gear? Because the stat that improves heavy gear helps axes and it goes on and on.I really dont understand that change to me this just limits how the player can play the game unless Im missing something,also weapons now have affinity so the more you use then the better they get which is cool but it also cuts on the games loot system because once you find a new weapon you may not want to use it because the weapon you`ve been using has become better which is a bit weird,other then that it`s still alot of fun especially now with dual katanas XD.
Im also playing Mankind Divided I dumped a whole lot of hours into it and yet I feel im still at the beginning of the game,it didnt help that I had a bunch of issues with the game on PC the game must`ve crashed 5 times on me making me turn the graphics down,run it in window mode and remove the subtitles(?) then I got it working but even then the loading times are atrocious and in some areas the FPS drops to bellow 20... Technical issues aside Im really enjoying the game,the intro was pretty flacid but once you`re out and about exploring Prague it`s great the level design is definitly a step up from HR for sure and it`s way closer to the original I feel and while the levels arent super wide they have a vertically to them that add just as much,it was actually a bit annoying how I couldnt seems to walk 5 minutes without running into something XD. Gameplaywise it`s HR again but better,I really like some additions they did to cover and they gave new lethal and non-lethal options also they just give a bunch of augs right away so I just went to the ones that gave me all the options like punching through walls,speech mod,etc most of the new augs are cool looking but other then remote hacking I dont see myself using them unless I decide to do a lethal playthrough,Im really glad Im liking the game so far especially after recently coming back to HR and realizing that game did not age well,while I still find some limitations here it`s way better then how I felt coming back to HR. Storywise...well it`s alright so far nothing offended me like I expected to which is a plus,the game`s "cyber-apartheid" kinda of makes sense in the logic of the game if you dont think too much about it,I didny really expect the game to have anything too meaningfull to say and so far all the storytelling has been very cookie cutter but that means the game can only positivily suprise me ,one thing I hate though it`s how they still have the Iluminatti and take themselfs so seriously with this I mean that was fine for a game in 2000 to have but now every time that comes up the scene just loses any impact.
I stuck with TR: Underworld and the controls have clicked now. Still feels a bit like a Lite experience of a proper TR game to me, but then so did Legend I guess at times.
I've had classic 2D RPG, Alundra, on my Vita for ages, and finally decided to play it. I owned the original on PS1 and never finished it, so was looking forward to giving it another go. In preparation, I read a few reviews online, as I like to do. Most commented on its difficulty. Pfft, thought I. I am a hardc0r3 gam3r and can finish everything I start.
So I'm totally stuck on the first room. Like, literally. I'm wandering around the ship. Talked to everyone, been to my room, tried taking the wheel myself and stealing the boat. No idea. Literally no idea.
I can't look at a walkthrough for the first bloody room!!
I have been playing Kirby:Planet Robobot and it is fantastic. Kirby games are very paradoxical to me. They are extremely easy and child friendly and yet I find because of their difficulty and length they are perfect for any adults who sadly do not have as much time for gaming as they used. They are the ultimate chill out game where you can just switch your brain off and enjoy some lovely platforming with a ravenous pink blob. This game in particular is a particular joy seeing as Kirby not only can pilot a mech but can use his copy abilities along with the mech which can lead to some very memorable level design and there is something just satisfying about you being able to just punch a giant obstacle out of the way which would have impeded your progress before. And I adored fighting the final boss, which is something the Kirby series nearly always manages to nail. Absolutely recommend it to anyone who likes platformers and needs a break from something more intense such as the Dark Souls series.
Anyone taken the plunge with the Attack on Titan game? Was watching some Twitch streaming of it today, it seems to capture the kinetics and traversal of the combat from the show whilst still being very obviously a Koei game (the slight clunkiness in the translation, the really badly put together menu system) but that's all part of the charm.
It seems pretty steeply priced at the moment, but it's on my radar.
Alex79uk wrote:I've had classic 2D RPG, Alundra, on my Vita for ages, and finally decided to play it. I owned the original on PS1 and never finished it, so was looking forward to giving it another go. In preparation, I read a few reviews online, as I like to do. Most commented on its difficulty. Pfft, thought I. I am a hardc0r3 gam3r and can finish everything I start.
So I'm totally stuck on the first room. Like, literally. I'm wandering around the ship. Talked to everyone, been to my room, tried taking the wheel myself and stealing the boat. No idea. Literally no idea.
I can't look at a walkthrough for the first bloody room!!
I had the same problem. Do not feel bad about getting stuck. If you want to know the solution;
One of the people on the ship you have to talk to after you have spoken to someone else.
It doesn't really hint that you have to do that the first time you talk to them, or when you speak to the other person. So if you've spoken to everyone, speak to them again.
Shortly after I made it to a town and didn't really know what I should be doing or where I should be going. I kind of figured it was a sign of things to come and called it a day.
Haha thanks Craig. Yeah I don't mind hard games but I can't be doing with wandering round aimlessly in the hope I'll randomly speak to particular people in a specific order! I'll give it a couple of hours and see how it goes. I've got a nagging feeling this is why I jacked it in the first time round...
Flabyo wrote:Anyone taken the plunge with the Attack on Titan game?
No but interested to hear from anyone that has as well! Largely enjoyed the anime and remember thinking at the time how well it could translate to a video game. The IGN video review seems positive and it sounds like there's a lot of game there (15 hour campaign apparently!): http://uk.ign.com/articles/2016/08/26/a ... tan-review
I'd be more likely to buy if it was actually a bit shorter than that as I get the feeling it could get quite repetitive.....
Im gonna go through a few games that I think are PC only that you might be interested: If you enjoy stealth games I highly recommend Gunpoint ,if you like tactics rpgs and power rangers I recommend Chroma Squad,if you like some adventure games Machinarium and Botanicula are both great entries,This war of mine is a great management survival game with a great theme and the Swapper is a fantastic Puzzle plataformer with a beautifull artstyle.
ThirdMan wrote:Recently I learned that Steam is available on Mac. So I set-up an account. I'm a life-long console gamer so this is quite a change for me.
I recall finding out I could do the same a few years back. That was a good few months!
I finally got to play Half Life 2 and the two episodes that followed, along with Portal. All great experiences, even a decade later.
There are some other titles I liked. Braid was intriguing but I bounced off it. Machinarium scratched my point n click itch. I quite enjoyed the Telltale Monkey Island reboot chapters too from the 3 I completed.
But my Mac can't play much beside those really old titles alas...
I use a Mac Mini with Steam, its not the most powerful of things but it sometimes surprises me with what it can handle. It manages Assault Android Cactus pretty well (although that's on the PS4 as well now, which is probably the better option).
It just about manages Gone Home, but the fan becomes audible (which is rare).
It manages stuff like Pony Island and Undertale just fine (although if you're going to play Pony Island you'll need a mouse with two actual buttons. The Apple Magic Mouse is no good because you can't press left and right at the same time on it, which makes Pony Island impossible to play)
Generally if it's just sprite pushing, you'll be ok. Not tried it, but I suspect things like This is the Police will be fine.
Until yesterday, I've pretty much played nothing for two months. I moved house at the start of July and said goodbye to a gaming Internet connection, now relying on capped satellite broadband and a 1MBPS BT connection, which is currently telling me that the 5GB Paragon download I'm running will take another 11 hours! I can't even remember what Paragon is! That, combined with holidays and a ton of stuff to do in the new (400 year old) house, really killed gaming for me for a while. Even buying a 4K TV did nothing to resurrect it. At least it cured my Clash Royale addiction though...
Last night I decided to fire up some of the PS+ games downloaded just before I moved. An hour of Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell was enough. Rebel Galaxy, Towerfall Ascension and Kill Strain soon followed suit. Then I noticed Super Meat Boy in my library. I quickly got to the first boss then between yesterday and today have spent far too long trying to beat it. I think I'm just not good enough, but blimey, it's addictive. I've also gone through about a third of Guacamelee, which had sat untouched in my library for years. Really good game! As is Tricky Towers, especially to an old Tetris wiz like me!
I'm not quite ready to dive into The Witcher 3 yet, but I'm glad to be on the road to gaming recovery and look forward to hanging around here again!
Picked up Armello today for my xbo. I think it's been out in PC and ps4 for a while now, and ive had my eye on it, and it was a few quid off today so I bought it.
It's a digital board game, although there's only a handful of mechanics that would be impossible in a real physical board game. It feels a lot like the fantasy flight ones in that there are multiple ways to win, and you have to adapt your strategy based on how the game is going. You don't just say 'I'm going to go for this win condition' and stick with it, the cards and encounters you get will change it up.
The setting is a fun medieval fantasy with anthropomorphic animals. Think Disney's Robin Hood, only a little darker. Each character has different starting stats and a unique special.
The tutorials are fun and set up a neat plot to explain the goings on, but they don't cover everything. You'll pick up the others rules pretty easily though, and if not a quick skim of the in-game manual should sort it. (The part I found non obvious was how the dice symbols change meaning for characters that reach a certain level of corruption, but it makes sense once you read it)
I've been playing a bunch of Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut recently. I've bounced off this game so many times. First getting the original version on PC before I could really run it, then the DC version on Wii U where it had insane loading times. Then when Mankind Divided started gathering hype I decided to go back to the original PC version again, and now I picked up the PC version of DC. After so many tries, this time I think I've finally cracked it. I've always really liked the world building in this game, and the general tone, but not got on with the stealth mechanics. This time I took some advice I got from somewhere, and simply didn't spend so much time sweating the stealth. Instead of spending ages waiting around for a safe spot, just going whenever I can, and not caring too much with arousing suspicion. It's allowed me to make progress so much more quickly and smoothly, and I think I actually am starting to get a hang of the stealth, at least a little bit. It gets pretty fun when you get a lot of upgrades and can pull off some daring moves, like running by in plain sight using invisibility. I really like the sense of intrigue to the story too, even if I'm not following it 100%. I think bouncing off the game so many times might have had something to do that. It's been so long since I really tried to pay attention to the earlier moments of the story, as it's rather boring to sit through everything over and over. Although as I've got further in to uncharted territory, I've definitely been engaging with it more again. I've actually found some of the conversation segments you get being among some of the most enjoyable parts of the game, strangely. They're always pretty engaging, tense even, and I've found that intuiting my way through them both more enjoyable and more successful than using the social augments you can get.
I've also been playing a lot of Metroid Prime 2. Initially I was going to wait a bit after finishing the first, but I couldn't help myself. On the whole, I've been enjoying it, but it's not leaving a huge impression on me. I suppose that's because it's mostly more of the same. I'm fine with that, but since I wasn't really that amazed by the first, despite still enjoying it, doing the same thing again is going to feel a little underwhelming. My most recent time with the game though hasn't been too positive though. One big thing is that I find the game almost too non-linear. While the first game had a good balance of being able to explore, while also still making it obvious where you need to go, this game doesn't really. Doubling the size of zones with the dark world stuff makes it unclear exactly where you're supposed to go, which makes you do a lot of backtracking through areas trying to find the right portal to go through, if that's even what you're supposed to do at all. While the hint system in the first game was perhaps too overzealous with pointing you where to go next, here it feels too far the other way, where I feel like I waste a lot of time not doing anything useful before a hint pops up, if ever. I also dislike quite a few of the enemies as well. The bosses are rather hit-and-miss. While some are good, others are kind of a pain to deal with, since it's sometimes not clear what you have to do, or the fight drags on a little too long. A couple of the other normal enemies are rather annoying too. Like ones that phase in and out of existence off-camera, especially when they lock you in the room for the fight. And they also ruined one of my favourite enemy types from the first game. Those weird ice dinosaurs with the shell on the back you had to hit. Here they return as more regular looking dinosaur creatures, but with a spiny back. The method of defeating them is the same. But this time they decided to make the hitbox for their weak point way smaller, and the hurtbox for their biting attack ludicrously enormous. They also turn around quickly all the time, meaning you can hardly ever get behind them. They're a real chore to fight, and take away huge amounts of health if you want to be anywhere near close enough to be able to get around them at all.
@Scrustle:
I agree with the sentiment that the combat in MP2 sometimes feel like a chore. I don't know how far you are exactly, and I don't want to risk spoiling anything, so I'll just say that I hope you stick with it regardless. While MP2 is bogged down by its fair share of annoying elements, the last major area of the game also happens to be my favorite of the entire trilogy. Marvelous design. You'll know it when you see it.
,one thing I hate though it`s how they still have the Iluminatti and take themselfs so seriously with this I mean that was fine for a game in 2000 to have but now every time that comes up the scene just loses any impact.
