Thanks for the info! Sounds interesting!
I’ve been playing Touhou LostWord for the past few months. At present it’s the only video game I’m playing completely free of cheats, tools, and assists. There’s a better than average chance that it will be my last.
Of course, the whole Touhou phenomenon is far too vast to cover in a post, and any justice I could give would reach the level of spamming (if you’re really interested I can PM you some links). To put it very briefly, a colorful, magical land periodically faces a major crisis at the hands of a seriously wrongheaded troublemaker, and it’s up to a plucky shrine maiden, a saucy witch, and a revolving selection of elite day-savers to defeat the troublemaker and restore peace. The main series is primarily “danmaku” style vertical scrolling shooters, rounded out by a handful of fighting games, photography games, boss games, and the like.
LostWord is is a mobile gacha game, meaning that nearly everything you get…characters, upgrade items, advancement items, enhancers…is random. Most tasks have a specific category of reward (tiles, herbs, etc.), but the exact items received are random. Prioritizing is important, because different characters often require the same upgrade items, and they’re not all equally capable. The randomness means that unless you are willing to shell out a LOT of money, you have to be very open-minded about which characters you end up with. Maybe you get a heavy-artillery blitzer and a sneaky trapper; maybe you get an iron-hided fortress builder and a first-strike poisoner. The best characters, and the tools they need to reach their true potential, are absolutely going to cost a small fortune, so you’d best decide how much you’re willing to put out before taking that first step. Oh, on a related note: No, there are no permanent upgrades; everything that isn’t a character is a consumable.
There’s a truly dizzying array of stats, strengths, weaknesses, and situational benefits/detriments for each character, making it really hard to design the ideal team for a particular stage (which is what actually prevented me from getting the game for a long time). On the whole, however, it’s really easy, at least if you pay attention to level recommendations and don’t bite off more than you can chew. In fact, as I gain experience I’m finding that it’s a challenge to not make a battle a complete romp. There are a plethora of special battles ranging from “murderous” to “murderous with a bunch of zeroes in front of it”, but they’re all completely optional.
The story is…weird. I’m glad that there’s an option to replay the scenes, because I’m definitely going to need it. In particular, the third main story campaign reached an Acquisitions Incorporated level of convolution. Events are less complicated (mainly because they’re shorter) but involve a wide variety of characters, so I still find myself having to look up stuff.
It’s a nice place to look at lots of pretty ladies and get into fights, and I’m not expecting any more than that. There are plenty of promos and announcements, but no intrusive ads, and spending is completely optional (and of course required to be assured of getting anything specific, which I’m not concerned about). Despite an occasional crash, for the most part it runs very cleanly, and the development team works on it weekly to fix any errors that crop up. I don’t know how long this ride is going to last, but it’s almost certainly going to be a lot longer than I expected. Right now I’d put this solidly in the “pleasant surprise” category.
I’ve been playing Farthest Frontier lately. I know it was briefly mentioned up thread. It is a pretty deep city builder and I have enjoyed it quite a bit. It is still an early access game so there are some bugs, however there is a monthly update from the developer, so you know things are still progressing. I love the depth and the overall look of the game and can’t wait for future updates.
Just picked up SIFU on Steam. Was waiting for it to come off Epic exclusive and it just did this morning.
Awesome 3D kung fu beat 'em up. Been playing it for the last couple of hours. As long as you have a controller and enjoy simulated violence, it’s a guaranteed great time.
oooh yeah I would have told you playing henry stickman is just a visual/choose-your-own-adventure spy novel with funny scenes when you pick the wrong choice
since there are other threads on it im going to say diablo 4 might just be better than 2 after the usual tweaks
19.99 for an early access game seems a bit much to me
If they stopped development now, it’d feel like a full game. I’ve encountered zero bugs, and I’ve already put a few dozen hours into it. I REGRET NOTHING.
(But I bought it on like 20% sale).
It’s on 20% sale right now, yes?
I don’t think it is–but there’s a demo. Or you can get it as part of a bundle, and there are some bundle sales.
Also there’s a new update today, and also there’s another update coming in a couple of weeks. I’ve just got on this train and am surprised by how fast it’s moving–especially compared to other Early Access games like Valheim and Satisfactory.
These days, “Early Access” covers everything from barely functional tech demos to fully playable and feature rich games where the devs are still tinkering with features and might significantly change game play or balance (so still want the game to be a ‘beta’). It’s more of a reminder to read up on the game and see what you’re getting than a stop sign.
Obviously, of course, everyone can make their own choices on what’s a red flag for them when game shopping.
If folks think Against the Storm sounds interesting (and I’d love to discuss it with some of y’all), but $4 difference might matter for picking it up, I think I’ve seen it go on sale a few times over the last few months. It’ll almost certainly be part of the Summer Sale. Or just try the demo, see if it appeals!
Tchia
Made about a team of 12, it is a very impressive and laid back game. Kind of like Breath of the Wild, but much smaller and the entire game took less than 10 hours to complete and I looked around. Still, very impressive for a small team. I highly recommend it.
Note: It had an excruciating platforming section at the very end of the game that came out of nowhere. Very frustrating since we had NONE of that before. Otherwise, great game.
Just completed the main story beats of Harvestella, Square Enix’s attempt at a Stardew-valley-type farming/life sim. The story got pretty boringly convoluted in the way all recent Square plots are, but some of the character-specific tracks were fun, and the dungeons were incredible looking; it never felt like a slog to collect things to craft with. It’s not worth the $60 price tag (the farming mechanic is pretty slight), but if you can get it on sale and like this kind of cozy life sim game, I’d say go for it. Also one of the characters is a direct copy of Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle, which is pleasing to me.
It was really frustrating with how badly Square missed the mark on “high budget Rune Factory” on that game. Glad to hear there is something there for the right price though.
FWIW, it’s on sale for $16 over at Epic during their Spring sale, right now.
Recently I have taken up Division 2. Again.
I can’t help it, I miss that game after a while. Started a new agent and this time plan on staying in DC. I’ve been to NY a few times with previous plays, and I’m not going back. I know that content-wise the devs are focusing on NY, but there are so many things about it that I just found that I didn’t like.
My roommate has allowed me use of his PlayStation 3, and I’ve been playing a lot of NCAA Football 11 on it as the Kent State Golden Flashes.
I’ve had a winning record all 10 years so far, but it’s only been in the last 4 years that I’ve won national championships.
2010: 13 wins, 1 loss; Mid-American Conference champions; 6th in final rankings; lost to Washington in Sugar Bowl; Alabama won national championship
2011: 10-3 (MAC #3); 21st in final rankings; defeated West Virginia in GMAC Bowl; Alabama won national championship
2012: 12-2 (MAC Champions); 12th in final rankings; defeated Connecticut in Little Caesars Bowl; Alabama won national championship
Accepted invitation to Big Ten, replacing Illinois
2013: 11-2 (Big Ten #2); 9th in final rankings; defeated Alabama in Capital One Bowl; Boise State won national championship
2014: 12-1 (Big Ten #2); 2nd in final rankings; defeated Virginia Tech in Sugar Bowl; Alabama won national championship
2015: 12-1 (Big Ten Champions); 3rd in final rankings; defeated USC in Rose Bowl; Ohio State won national championship
2016: 13-0 (Big Ten Champions and National Champions); 1st in final rankings; defeated Alabama in National Championship Game
2017: 13-0 (Big Ten Champions and National Champions); 1st in final rankings; defeated Alabama in National Championship Game
2018: 13-0 (Big Ten Champions and National Champions); 1st in final rankings; defeated USC in National Championship Game
2019: 13-0 (Big Ten Champions and National Champions); 1st in final rankings; defeated Alabama in National Championship Game
I wouldn’t say that this is the case. The most recent new map (Fairview Power Station) is supposedly located outside of DC although it’s not connected to the main map. And the last couple of seasons of story content have all revolved around DC with special battles in each of the DC mission maps. This season has Castle re-opening as a viable settlement. Conversely, I can’t think of anything much done with the NYC map since launch. You have Summit, but that’s like Fairview in that you just choose to go there verses running there from the map.
There’s supposed to be a new game mode this year but no details yet on where it takes place and I’m guessing it’ll be another “Go visit Torres at the chopper to get there” thing. In any event, hope you have fun. I no longer play daily but still log on to do the seasonal story content which has gotten a lot better in the past year or so.
Reportedly EA Sports College Football is coming out next year. I can’t wait.
I don’t watch or follow college football, but I always preferred EA NCAA Football over Madden. I love the recruiting and training much more than I like playing the actual games. I like taking a hopeless IRL team like, say, Kent State or Florida International, and developing them into Alabama-like dominance.
Well I’ll be darned. Before I started again, I did some reading on Reddit and what I gleaned there indicated that one needs to go to NY to get the full D2 experience. Thanks for the better info!
One thing I’m really happy with this time around, is that on my previous machine I was pushing/happy to get 30-40 fps with settings on high or even less. (ETA…I did not actually play like that. Just did it to see what I could do) Now I am getting 70-144 with everything maxed that I care to max. It’s a nice looking game, particularly at sunset.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a city to save. 
Edit of the edit: I should have learned my lesson when before I started playing at all, 90% of what I read said that you can’t solo Division or D2.
I’ve liked Kent State ever since I first heard of them back in '02. (I like the colors and particularly the logo.)
The Golden Flashes are one of the handful of teams that don’t have their school fight song in the game, though. There’s just a drum solo that plays after touchdowns and field goals.