I’m proud to return and proclaim that I finished 2 games this month.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning: This one was a lot of fun. Tried it on Game Pass years ago and it didn’t grab me, I think the all-you-can-play nature of Game Pass made me breeze through games without really giving them a chance. It’s a Skyrim-type game, but not nearly as deep or open world. I like the action combat, the different weapons and builds you can use, and the look/feel of the game. The map is a bit maze-like. I was inspired to finish this in just a few weeks. If you want an action RPG you can just breeze through without getting too deep in plot or optimizing your build, this is it. Not that far into the game on normal (maybe hard?) difficulty I got a devastating fire spell that would just decimate most groups of enemies. I don’t mind being overpowered sometimes.
Far Cry 4: I had started this game years ago and wandered away from it when I was about 70% done. Came back to it with a new appreciation and did a bunch of optional activities to unlock all the skills and storage capacities, cleared all the outposts, and finished the main storyline along with a few sidequests. Other than a few nitpicks Far Cry 4 still holds up well today.
And and I sort of finished Ghost Recon Wildlands again, for the anniversary of Ghost Recon Ubisoft actually released updates and a new series of missions for Wildlands. Played the ~7 missions with a friend and had a great time being back in Bolivia. The movement and shooting in Breakpoint are better, but to me the look and feel of the Wildlands map is much better.
Been playing Star Wars Zero Company for most of my free time since it launched. Amazing Star Wars game and X-Com like. Great story, great cast, great cameos, gameplay might seem a touch too easy for hardcore X-Com veterans, but its a brand new game and I expect this will eventually be fixed with mods. Hoping for a long war or new game + experience.
I’m playing my umpteenth game of Balder’s Gate 3 but this is my first one messing with mods, in this case an item addition and randomizer mod. I’m not sure if opening a chest and getting three pairs of Shadowheart’s knickers is enhancing the experience but it is a thing that happened.
I still haven’t gotten around to mods yet, but I’m playing on Honor Mode for the first time. And because I’m a glutton for punishment, I’m adding to my challenge that I’m not using any melee-focused classes. I have a sorcerer; Gale; Shadowheart; and Wyll re-classed as a Bard. I just lost all the poor saps at Last Light Inn, but I survived, so on I go. Maybe once I lose Honor Mode it’ll be time to play another game - there’s certainly plenty of suggestions in this thread.
Very early in. I’m enjoying it so far but need to really think about optimization. Hard difficulty feels very bullet spongy but I’m not really utilizing a lot of class abilities.
The synergy between classes is one of the highlights of the game. Also, make sure you use the assist ability every single round, even if you don’t optimize for it. The assist shot ALWAYS hit, and even if there is no chance of hitting a target it still builds bond on every use so its best to use it every time. It also costs nothing.
Pure Pool Pro: This is pretty nice pool simulation. I kind of wish the camera was a little better in some situations. My favorite pool video game is from GTA San Andreas but this one is up there. It is nice to put on some music and play some pool.
Forza Horizon 6: I finished most of the single player activities more or less and the main part of the game. Now I usually just race on tracks and routes that I have made myself. I don’t race online because there are a lot of rammers and cheaters.
Hogwarts Legacy: I know I am late to this party but this game has been quite enjoyable. I liked the books when they came out. The movies were not bad. This game is very well done.
It has a fair amount of puzzles, which I hate but all the answers are on YouTube. The combat is awesome and there are so many small details to the world.
I do wish the social interaction/friendship interactions were deeper. Apparently there were plans for that but the lead developer died.
Grim Dawn: This is an OK Diablo clone so far. It is good for when you just want to destroy mobs. Compared to Path of Exile, the character development is not as complex. But it is fine.
The story is lame but who plays these types of games for story?
I don’t like that figuring out where your quest actually is, is a challenge.
007 First Light: I am just past the training phase. So far this has been a good game. There have been a few bugged places where I have gotten stuck and had to reload and try again. Hopefully all the bugs stay surmountable. That would be bad if I get deep into it and then can get no further.
Star Wars Zero Company: As I said in the other thread, this game has been a good time so far but I love turned based combat and XCom style games. I like the characters so far. The story is meh to me but not so bad that I don’t want to play.
I am usually only playing one or two games at a time, so I am really spoiled for choice right now.
I watched a Youtube series on the first ~20 hours of the game. I was a bit surprised by the sheer number of collectables that you can find and by the sheer amount of vendor trash equipment that you pick up. The combat looked fun, though.
I LOVED the fully explorable Hogwarts Castle and castle grounds. It was honestly amazing and exceeded expectations. I could probably load that game up right now and walk around the school and visit classrooms and other sites to see.
I disliked its open world. I flew around a bunch, upgraded my broom, and did stuff. But it fell into repetitive and bland quests.
They are making a sequel. I can’t wait and hope they can:
improve or eliminate the open world
make it feel more like a school year. Classes, friends, house cup points, etc.
Hmm. I liked flying around the open world and discovering stuff. I did not find it repetitive or bland but this is only my 2nd playthrough. I also really liked broom racing and beating that Slytherin girl’s records.
The Merlin trials I could do without.
Menagerie managing did not do anything for me.
I wish the poacher’s did not respawn. That way you could rid the countryside of them.
I thought about an evil playthrough but the options and consequences are not really there. It is more like you get a choice between being nice and being a jerk.
Picked up Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition for $32 on GOG.
Haven’t fully gotten into it yet, I started it up, made my character, Nomad start, and played the first 30 minutes or so, but I already know this beginning part of game, having watched the first hour or so of gameplay on YT back when it came out. Just got into the city and watched the “first six months” montage, and that’s where I’ll be when I go back in.
I also just picked up CP2077 Ultimate Edition a couple weeks ago, as you may have noticed by my posts on it upthread.
Let me know if you have any questions or anything. But, if you’ve been watching YT videos on it, you may already know a lot more than me, story-wise. I’ve been trying to go as spoiler-free as possible, only googling or going on YT for the most basic ‘how-to’ info.
After it took me approximately 2077 tries to kill the first big boss Royce, I realized I was out of my depth, and on advice here, stepped back from the main storyline a bit and am currently concentrating on building up street cred and XP by doing side jobs and gigs, NCPD scanner crime cleanup, and trading in spare stuff for cash so I can cyber-upgrade, like the shiny new enhanced tendons I recently got. Also, I don’t spend a ton of time gaming, maybe a couple hours a day, 3-4 days a week. I’m up to ‘Go to the Afterlife’ in the initial main quest so far.
Y’know what, forget about asking me any questions, I’ll probably be asking you all the questions, after you totally eclipse me in game progress!
I find some small parts of the lore interesting. In particular the stuff from the Forgotten Gods DLC, which goes into the origins of the three Witch Gods and their opponent. But yeah, story is always secondary in ARPGs.
So I almost never watch play-throughs. As a video genre watching others play a game usually don’t appeal to me. But I randomly ran across one for Cyberpunk that I gave a try that I am actually enjoying. She apparently wrote a dissertation on video game dystopias and she dives deep in terms of reading every scrap of information she finds and trying to mentally process it while trying to play mostly unspoiled. The videos are long, her progress is glacially slllloooowwww as she tries to process every bit of lore and world building and she of course doesn’t play like me, which I find occasionally annoying to watch . After 11 1.5-2 hour episodes, I am now predicting she will be done with the game in approximately 2032.
However I appreciate her lore and analysis-heavy approach and I find myself now looking forward to her very occasional releases in the series: NyxAndChill, Cyberpunk 2077 Part 1.
I’m getting to the end of the dlc Dave the diver - In the Jungle and it’s excellent. If you liked Dave the Diver, you’ll love this. Very worth the 8 quid I spent on it, lots of mini games and more adventures.
I do wonder if there are many other great dlcs out there. It’s a turkey shoot sometimes, I liked Teardown but the dlcs are supposed to be crap. Prey - Mooncrash is one of the few which I’ve found absolutely excellent. I remember though from the AAA games, that Assassins Creed - Odessey was pretty much the “making you pay for the rest of the game” which I wasn’t so fond of.
Blood and Wine for Witcher 3 is the gold standard, in my opinion. Undead Nightmare for Red Dead Revolver and Claptastic Voyage for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel are also good ones.
Ah yes, I’ve done Blood and Wine (still haven’t completed Hearts of Stone though), I was unaware of the Borderlands pre sequel one, played the main game, but Red Dead Revolver isn’t for the PC, my main rig then, wait, the wiki says its for Red Dead Redemption which is on the PC and I have, and is the dlc is included… Nice. Off to find the borderlands dlc.
It appears I have that as well, I never really could find the line between the main game the dlc when playing the Borderlands games, so I may have played it…
‘Legacy of the Forge’ for Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 unlocks many, many hours of rebuilding and upgrading your father’s blacksmithing business. In addition to looking cool & providing income the forge upgrades provide quality-of-life perks in the game.
I’ve spent almost as much time working on my forge as I have on the rest of the game at this point. And it’s free.
I recently re-visited this game. I’m not super far along (Level 18), but I sure am enjoying it so far. I haven’t paid as much attention to the main storyline as I probably should have, but I’m planning on circling back to that pretty soon.
Interesting feedback! I’ve loved pretty much every James Bond game, and have been keeping an eye on this one to drop in price. It’s currently on sale ($55 vs $70) but that’s not enough of a drop for me yet. Hopefully they will patch it some more to work out those bugs before it ever gets to a price range that I’m comfortable with. (which is probably under $40).
I also just picked up the re-mastered Silent Hill 2 today but haven’t installed it yet. Looking forward to seeing how it looks. Anyone have any experience with it?
I watched a play-through of this one too. It was entertaining to watch, although it wasn’t very long by some standards (maybe 20 hours). It reminded me a bit of the Watch Dogs series with the combination of combat, stealth and hacking objects. Maybe 50% Watch Dogs, 50% Hitman.
. After 11 1.5-2 hour episodes, I am now predicting she will be done with the game in approximately 2032.