What are you playing?

Rajaah · Jan 6, 2023

Kajiimagi said:
I picked up Assassins Creed Valhalla on sale a while ago and since they released the 'final' DLC I decided to give it a go, this game is gigantic and I think it will take me approximately the life cycle of our sun to finish it.

That game is long and arduous. A lot of people complained that AC Odyssey's main campaign ran way too long, so they...doubled the length for Valhalla. After a while I just beelined every mission and sprinted to the next waypoint over and over trying to just get the damn thing over with. Was fun for the first 20-30 hours, then it just kept going...and going. It was the only thing I had to play on PS5 besides DeS for the first few months which might be the only reason I stuck it out. Don't really recommend the game unless you really have nothing better to play.

Vorph said:
The bottom line is that even though it's [sort of] crammed into the FF7R engine, it's still a PSP game which is not something I have any desire to play on my PS5. It's like Type-0 HD all over again.

Maybe if I'd gotten it for the Switch (especially since visually you barely lose anything according to what I've heard) it would have been more tolerable. Well, except for Zack. Nothing could ever make his voice or the maximum-cringe dialogue they wrote for him tolerable.

I played the prologue and chapter 1. The battles are a little boring and redundant coming off of Elden Ring. I like it so far. I think I'm getting more out of it by going for a plat so I'm paying attention to all the little extra things I need to make sure I get. Zack is pretty lame-o in cutscenes but I'm mostly there for the gameplay.

Fogel · Jan 6, 2023

Burren said:
Playing nothing and I'm bored. Too old/don't have enough time for an MMO. Don't have my sim rig yet for GT7. Can't see or react fast enough to play FPS like I used to. Went through Divinity 2 twice and that was fun, but can't see doing it a third time. Just have to wait for the next game from Larian? Maybe the new Space Marine will be decent? I feel like I'd be happiest playing Sim City 2000 today...

Have you played any of the monster hell games like Vampire/Soulstone survivor, Brotato, etc? It seems to be the new genre of choice for us up and coming boomer lites with lives and lost reflexes.

bolok · Jan 6, 2023

Fogel said:
Have you played any of the monster hell games like Vampire/Soulstone survivor, Brotato, etc? It seems to be the new genre of choice for us up and coming boomer lites with lives and lost reflexes.

Someone should start a thread for those. I've gotten quite hooked on the dumb things. Just beat the third world in Genesia last night, had to build super tanky, since those weird 3 dots in a circle attacks were just smoking all the glass cannon builds i had been using previously. Also the 3 billion HP on the boss is a bit much to mega burn through.

Kajiimagi · Jan 7, 2023

Rajaah said:
That game is long and arduous. A lot of people complained that AC Odyssey's main campaign ran way too long, so they...doubled the length for Valhalla. After a while I just beelined every mission and sprinted to the next waypoint over and over trying to just get the damn thing over with. Was fun for the first 20-30 hours, then it just kept going...and going. It was the only thing I had to play on PS5 besides DeS for the first few months which might be the only reason I stuck it out. Don't really recommend the game unless you really have nothing better to play.

I played the prologue and chapter 1. The battles are a little boring and redundant coming off of Elden Ring. I like it so far. I think I'm getting more out of it by going for a plat so I'm paying attention to all the little extra things I need to make sure I get. Zack is pretty lame-o in cutscenes but I'm mostly there for the gameplay.

It's the only AC (non 2d) that I never finished . I'm using a hex editor in lieu of farming for $$ , recources etc and it's still taking forever. Says I'm 80% complete now so only a year or two left!

Rajaah · Jan 8, 2023

Made some more progress in Crisis Core, on Chapter 4 now. Making sure to 100% everything as I go so it's taking a bit longer than just a normal playthrough.

I left the game on for like 4 hours and went out, with the DMW running in Mission 1-1-1, and came back to...no gained levels. I thought that'd (slowly) get you level-ups? Was hoping for like ten (level 22 currently and can't take on 6* missions yet). Not sure if I gained anything aside from totally messing up my ingame timer.

I hate to say it, but I'm getting pretty annoyed at the game. The story doesn't grab me like it did when I played it in 2011 and I'm acutely aware that a large portion of the dialogue is gibberish. Even the Zack/Aerith stuff is weird and I was looking forward to it. Like them going on about what Angeal's wing means was a gibberish conversation.

It started getting on my nerves in Chapter 3 when Zack, a 1st Class SOLDIER as strong as 997 normal men, couldn't capture an overweight scientist who was running around like an asshole. Then in the next chapter, he couldn't catch the little kid who stole his wallet. These scenes both dragged on and just grated on me.

At this point I want to get the Buster Sword (which is in Chapter 6) ASAP so I'm gonna book it through the rest of Chapter 4 and 5. I might leave a lot of stuff for Chapter 7 which IIRC is the last chance you have to do everything in the open world.

yimmien · Jan 8, 2023

yimmien said:
I started ff7 crisis core as well and I agree it is just bad. I have tried 3 or 4 times to play for an hour before getting bored and turning it off.

I instead saw my son playing this and decided to give it a try myself.

It is a total souls clone, almost to the point it feels like it ripped the combat directly from the game. I am only a couple hours in but enjoying it so far. The first major area after the tutorial dungeon really feels like the converted narshe from ff6 to 3d almost. No idea how long it is but i tentatively recommend it.

Ok I finished this and it's actually fantastic. The world is way bigger and more interesting than I expected. It is interconnected very well with lots of hidden paths and shortcuts.

The lore/story actually ends up rather funny the way it sort of twists/references other classic games and incorporates some storytelling into the environments. I don't want to spoil some of the places you go to (obvious ripoffs). I actually ended up reading the majority of item descriptions because of how they reference other game heroes. Every weapon/armor set can be powered up by following a clue in the description and taking it to a spot in the game. For example you have a buster sword that you take to a rip off of the honey bee inn to power it up.

The only negatives are the fast travel system which requires a lot of backtracking if you are keeping up with item rememberance, boss fights are rather easy (but funny), and I encountered some bugs (on Xbox). The npc questline are rather cryptic and missable just like dark souls and encourage a guide/replay, which is both a pro and con.

TBT-TheBigToe · Jan 8, 2023

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 on Epic Games. 8.5/10, however I really liked this series back in the day so I am kinda nostalgically biased.
Looked up to see if they plan on remaking any more and the answer from Tony Hawk is not anymore. That sucks.
Fun game, highly recommend if you enjoyed the series back in the day or if you are looking for something a little different.

Edit: Game is on Epic Games, not Steam.

Metalhead · Jan 8, 2023

Nioh 2. Never played it before or the first one. It has been a bit of a transition from elden ring/souls games but I'm digging it. Combat feels way more satisfying but also seems way more complicated lol. Only on act 4

Falstaff · Jan 8, 2023

Spider-Man Miles Morales. Forgot how much I liked these types of games. And looks fantastic on the OLED.

Rajaah · Jan 8, 2023

TBT-TheBigToe said:
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 on Epic Games. 8.5/10, however I really liked this series back in the day so I am kinda nostalgically biased.
Looked up to see if they plan on remaking any more and the answer from Tony Hawk is not anymore. That sucks.
Fun game, highly recommend if you enjoyed the series back in the day or if you are looking for something a little different.

Edit: Game is on Epic Games, not Steam.

I've got this and it's one of those games I struggle with. I think my saves are about halfway through both THPSes. It's like I just start hitting a wall around 40% of the way through the campaigns and by 50% I can't meet any objectives anymore. The score objectives are higher than I can possibly get with the time limit and the "collect X" objective drops tend to seem unobtainable half the time. I've been wanting to beat both of these games since 2000 but I can't seem to. Same thing happened back then on the PS1. At this point I have them filed away with Cuphead and Mega Man Legacy Collection trophies as things I'd like to do the rest of but need to git gud first.

Then again I think I AM gud at THPS. Considering I can get 40% of the way through them without much trouble and mastered the first couple levels in both. I'm just missing something important, some gameplay nuance that'd make it come together and make sense past this roadblock I ran into with both.

uncognito · Jan 9, 2023

Picked up a free copy of madden 21 on steam a while back and I have been almost addicted to it, despite its countless flaws..

I only play franchise mode, and damn do I love building teams then doing the slow-simulation of the matches so I can watch them in the background while doing other stuff.

The trade system, draft system, free agency, etc are all quite bad. but even worse is that most of the time the game does not give a shit if a 55 rated left tackle is playing vs a 99 rated pass rusher(or any other similar matchups). I'm not sure what, if any, player ratings actually affect the outcome of a simulated match. but for some reason I can still have fun by lying to myself and thinking who I pick up in a fantasy draft matters.

Most recently I have been doing fantasy drafts as GM of one AFC team and one NFC team. One team I draft only offense for the first 16~ picks, and the other team defense. and see who gets to the SB first, or if I can get them playing each other for SB. has been pretty fun.

I would never spend a penny on madden and I hope nobody else does. The game shows just enough potential good, that it makes the lack of effort by EA infuriating. I hope I am still alive when EA loses the license and someone else is allowed to make a good franchise sim.

Favorite part in general is just building something then letting it play out type of game. so I can multi task while playing. if anyone has other suggestions, except fifa because soccer sucks

Hateyou · Jan 10, 2023

Metalhead said:
Nioh 2. Never played it before or the first one. It has been a bit of a transition from elden ring/souls games but I'm digging it. Combat feels way more satisfying but also seems way more complicated lol. Only on act 4

I just fired this up a few days ago too. I got stuck on a boss long ago and never beat it, so decided to start fresh again. It’s really nice now on ps5 with no loading times since I die so gd much. Man this game makes me want to throw a controller through the TV sometimes, it is way less forgiving than dark souls games. The controls are pretty damn complex is I think part of my issue. I don’t even do stance switching and still have issues. I’ll accidentally activate some oni shit right before I kill a mob and it throws me off then the mob just rapes me and I’m like FUUUUU and flipping the screen off.

Hateyou · Jan 10, 2023

uncognito said:
Picked up a free copy of madden 21 on steam a while back and I have been almost addicted to it, despite its countless flaws..

I only play franchise mode, and damn do I love building teams then doing the slow-simulation of the matches so I can watch them in the background while doing other stuff.

The trade system, draft system, free agency, etc are all quite bad. but even worse is that most of the time the game does not give a shit if a 55 rated left tackle is playing vs a 99 rated pass rusher(or any other similar matchups). I'm not sure what, if any, player ratings actually affect the outcome of a simulated match. but for some reason I can still have fun by lying to myself and thinking who I pick up in a fantasy draft matters.

Most recently I have been doing fantasy drafts as GM of one AFC team and one NFC team. One team I draft only offense for the first 16~ picks, and the other team defense. and see who gets to the SB first, or if I can get them playing each other for SB. has been pretty fun.

I would never spend a penny on madden and I hope nobody else does. The game shows just enough potential good, that it makes the lack of effort by EA infuriating. I hope I am still alive when EA loses the license and someone else is allowed to make a good franchise sim.

Favorite part in general is just building something then letting it play out type of game. so I can multi task while playing. if anyone has other suggestions, except fifa because soccer sucks

Ever played the Football Manager series? I have a friend that plays it all the time and he describes it kind of like what you enjoy about Madden but I guess it does it well. Maybe check that out if you haven’t.

uncognito · Jan 11, 2023

I have heard good things about football manager and may try it eventually, but I'm just not much of a soccer fan so I haven't tried yet.

I did try 'Axis football' for a different NFL sim, but its a bit too janky for me to get into.

Utnayan · Jan 11, 2023

Just wrapped up Ghostwire Tokyo last night. Fairly quick game - game play mechanics are the same but the side quests have cool stories attached to them. Lots of Japanese lore. Not a bad game. Coming to gamepass soon

Hatorade · Jan 11, 2023

Hateyou said:
I just fired this up a few days ago too. I got stuck on a boss long ago and never beat it, so decided to start fresh again. It’s really nice now on ps5 with no loading times since I die so gd much. Man this game makes me want to throw a controller through the TV sometimes, it is way less forgiving than dark souls games. The controls are pretty damn complex is I think part of my issue. I don’t even do stance switching and still have issues. I’ll accidentally activate some oni shit right before I kill a mob and it throws me off then the mob just rapes me and I’m like FUUUUU and flipping the screen off.

Yeah you gonna have a bad time...later you get 2 Oni forms and three transformations. If you get the controls down and want the easiest play through I highly suggest high Sta heavy armor Axe build. High stance axe all day for the massive stagger. It is slow as shit so bait attacks then punish.

Really though any heavy armor build is easy mode, you boost Ki and Sta just block everything. Block is very strong in Nioh just have to be ready to dodge the grabs.

Currently playing 40K Chaos Gate with Monster Train again in between.

Gavinmad · Jan 11, 2023

Hatorade said:
Currently playing 40K Chaos Gate

Are you having fun controlling your squad of Imperial Guardsmen?

Hatorade · Jan 11, 2023

Gavinmad said:
Are you having fun controlling your squad of Imperial Guardsmen?

Early game I was like how the fuck are these guys a threat... currently decked out in upgraded max mastercrafted and game is easy mode. Even the princes are going down by round 2.

Gavinmad · Jan 11, 2023

Hatorade said:
Early game I was like how the fuck are these guys a threat... currently decked out in upgraded max mastercrafted and game is easy mode. Even the princes are going down by round 2.

Wonder if the devs re-balanced things or something, one very common complaint I read about the game was how laughably fragile your grey knights were

Hatorade · Jan 11, 2023

Gavinmad said:
Wonder if the devs re-balanced things or something, one very common complaint I read about the game was how laughably fragile your grey knights were

The wound system is lame so I just max armor, chaplain uses +35% range crit and I decimate anything within 10 spaces.
Got a melee squad up and running too, stuns for days get AP back and move onto the next. You aren’t fragile if nothing gets to attack you.

What are you playing?

Honorable Member

Mr. Poopybutthole

Trakanon Raider

Honorable Member

Molten Core Raider

Gemcutter

Blackwing Lair Raider

Ahn'Qiraj Raider

Honorable Member

Trakanon Raider

Not Great, Not Terrible

Not Great, Not Terrible

Trakanon Raider

F16 patrolling Rajaah until he plays DS3

A nice asshole.

Mr. Poopybutthole

A nice asshole.

Mr. Poopybutthole

A nice asshole.