Whatcha Been Playing?

[Chopper]

@MajorGamer

Do you know if there's a shortcut from Act II of Heroes of Hammerwatch, to Act III at all? Beat the Act II boss and died but can't find a shortcut (just the Act I -> Act II one). Thanks!

EDIT: Oops, found it, never mind!

[Craig]

Wargroove is wonderful. Scratches that Advance War itch that’s been itching a long time now. Pixelwork is fab too.

[Alex79]

I think I'm heading towards the final stretch of RDR 2 now. I've just...

Spoiler: show

Returned to America after a couple of hours in the jungle. Just climbed out the boat in the Van Horn (is it?) village and saved.

I think the section I've just played it what I've heard people refer to as the games lowest point, perhaps, but I quite enjoyed it. It certainly looked and sounded incredible.

[Magical_Isopod]

Oh my god the ball puzzle things in Final Fantasy X are some of the worst, flow breaking pieces of junk I've ever played. Just utterly pointless, irritating, boring, there is literally nothing good about them. Ugh.

Ahh yes. Cloyster of Trials.

[Magical_Isopod]

I'm definitely interested in KH3, but I'm still only halfway through the first game. Last time I played it a while back I was lost in some caves in Aladdin world. That's definitely on my list of things I want to finish this year after RDR2 and Spiderman.

I'm determined not to buy any games this year as I just own too many I really want to play and haven't had time. An exception may be made for Sekiro when it drops in price a bit, but other than that.

Kingdom Hearts is a weird series. I recommend playing KH1 and DDD if nothing else. KH2 has a lot of plot, but it's just not a very good game. BBS has a lot of prequel baggage nonsense, but I know less having played it than just watching summaries. The rest are literally pointless for the most part.

[Suits]

Wargroove, Wargroove and a little bit more of Wargroove this weekend.

[DomsBeard]

Kholat

Kholat is a game I have had my eye on for a long time. Based around a real event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident

Which is a quite grim and sinister one full of conspiracy theories.

It isn't easy to get into as you are given a map and a compass and no indication of where you should be going so you are largely left to your own devices. You also can get one hit killed by a mysterious creature who can appear at any time by the looks of it (but I have figured out the cues to it appearing now). When you die you go back to the last point you triggered which is either an important location or notes left by previous travellers. The sound design is excellent and it has a good soundtrack.

For £3 I would recommend if you are at all curious. Also it is narrated by Sean Bean!

[dezm0nd]

Its currently free on Steam

[shadowless_kick]

even though I've never been into horror and have always been a bit of a wuss with such things, I gave the RE2 demo a whirl and I think I actually wanna get it...

Wargroove, Wargroove and a little bit more of Wargroove this weekend.

literally just heard of this game this week. I think I shall make it mine.

[Chopper]

The review I read said it was extremely cheap in the way it dropped in troops to up the difficulty, just FYI.

[Suits]

The review I read said it was extremely cheap in the way it dropped in troops to up the difficulty, just FYI.

Oh, I’ve not come up against anything that I’d throw that criticism at it yet - I’m at Act 3 level 1.

The whole troops are deployed via barracks, which are powered by gold, gold is earned by capturing/holding towns that generate gold per turn.

I hit a difficulty spike which I overcome by effectively storming the enemies barracks, which rendered them unable to deploy more troops completely.

I suppose it could mean late game, which I’ve not experienced yet.

[Chopper]

That review might be a bit of an outlier then; I’ve only glanced at a couple of others but they seem more positive.

I’m playing Football Manager Touch on the iPad; it’s pretty bewildering. As Colchester, I signed a Swansea reserve on loan, but he hasn’t turned up in my squad yet. Maybe he’s on the train?

[Chopper]

Where is Colchester anyway? Is it on a main line track?

[dezm0nd]

The review I read said it was extremely cheap in the way it dropped in troops to up the difficulty, just FYI.

Not experienced that myself but its no walk in the park.

It does spawn some enemies around you on some maps but it hasnt felt cheap to me

[chase210]

I've been playing Kingdom Hearts 3! Which is good, really enjoying it, looks great to an extent too. But I'm a little curious as to what here took them 13 years to release?

[ratsoalbion]

Licensing?


No, I don't know, but I suppose if you look at the series timeline it hasn't like there's been 13-14 years of just nothing:

2002 Kingdom Hearts
2004 Chain of Memories
2005 Kingdom Hearts II
2007 Re:Chain of Memories
2008 Coded
2009 358/2 Days
2010 Birth by Sleep Re:coded
2012 Dream Drop Distance
2013 1.5 Remix
2014 2.5 Remix
2015 Unchained χ
2017 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue

[Alex79]

I've been playing Steep this evening. It's oddly addictive. Even though it's not the best snowboarding game I've played (see SSX), or even the best snow racing game I've played (see Sled Storm), the bite sized challenges which lead on from one another have caused me to continue playing a good 90 minutes after I intended to go to bed!

[Magical_Isopod]

I'm about 12 hours into KH3 now... Beat the Toy Story world, started on the Tangled one. I still have no idea what to make of this game. The combat is fine, but I think I've identified the "rides" as the only piece that doesn't really fit.

The writing and acting is just all over the place. Nearly every scene where a Xehanort shows up is just... Kinda stupid and out of place? The attempts at humour *sometimes* hit but are usually cringey and awful. The voice performances are a mixed bag, with characters straight up changing voices between worlds due to what I can only assume are gaps in recording schedules and varying levels of performer health? (James Woods as Hades does a great performance, but you can tell his age is starting to affect his voice - he's 71).

And the juxtaposition of stilted, poorly localized writing for characters like Axel and Riku with goofy, cartoon voices like Donald Duck and Buzz Lightyear is just bizarre, even moreso than in previous games.

I also hate Sora as a character. *If* they were making some kind of commentary on child actors and how their busy careers often leave them as socially awkward, maladjusted adults, Sora could be super compelling. But as it is, he's an anime protagonist with an adult voice and body that still fundamentally behaves like the 8 year old Sora from the first game, and it comes off as creepy and wrong. Actually, I think he may be even more of an idiot than he was in KH1. This dude is gonna need some serious therapy when he finally gets out of all this.

That said, there are still lots of positives. There are collectibles and side objectives that feel far less like collection padding and more like fun optional objectives. Some of the OCs like Riku, Axel and the kids from Twilight Town are pretty interesting, and have compelling motivations. The graphics and enemy designs are absolutely wonderful. The Disney cast, whether the original actors or soundalikes, all do an amazing job here - God bless Jim Cummings as Pete.

And when the planet's align, some of the original "Disney x Square" stuff works super well. There's one really great scene early on where Woody from Toy Story faces down one of the main antagonists, and I genuinely cheered at how the heroes turn the tide. There's a part where you assemble a ladder from toy blocks, only to find it forms a neon Cactaur as the Final Fantasy fanfare chimes in. Things like that are where Kingdom Hearts 3 really shines, and I can suffer through a lot of cringe to get there.

Also, the Gummi ship SHMUP sections are pretty legit.

[Magical_Isopod]

I've been playing Steep this evening. It's oddly addictive. Even though it's not the best snowboarding game I've played (see SSX), or even the best snow racing game I've played (see Sled Storm), the bite sized challenges which lead on from one another have caused me to continue playing a good 90 minutes after I intended to go to bed!

I really want to pick up the Olympic Games version of that - but for cheap. I'm a massive fan of Snowboard Cross, so dropping $20 for a competent Snowboard Cross game is something I'd do.

[chase210]

Licensing?


No, I don't know, but I suppose if you look at the series timeline it hasn't like there's been 13-14 years of just nothing:

2002 Kingdom Hearts
2004 Chain of Memories
2005 Kingdom Hearts II
2007 Re:Chain of Memories
2008 Coded
2009 358/2 Days
2010 Birth by Sleep Re:coded
2012 Dream Drop Distance
2013 1.5 Remix
2014 2.5 Remix
2015 Unchained χ
2017 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue

That is true, but it feels as though there has been very little gameplay advances even with the spin offs and what not. I also don’t care what anyone says, this story is nonsense.

But I shouldn’t be griping too much, it’s an awful lot of fun.