Whatcha Playin'? in July 2023

Sorry if I missed a like thread, but is there no place for people to post about what’s currently catching their fancy? Historically I think this thread has covered any sort of gaming, video games, tabletop games, board games, etc.

I just started playing Pentiment on PC.

It’s a character-driven choice narrative set in an incredibly realistic and historically accurate Medieval
City. You play a conscripted artist working in a Scriptorium on your latest masterpiece. Apparently the research is so well done, the design of the church building and the lesser saints and the pagan mythos are all specific to that actual town. When you’re talking to people, and they mention something historically or culturally relevant, you can click on it to learn more about it. This one’s a must for history buffs. The kinds of people and ethical problems you encounter seem very realistic for that era. I’m guessing, I wasn’t there. Plenty of murder and intrigue and sex and violence… but it’s educational! The art style is also wonderful.

And of course I’m playing Diablo 4, the mother of all fantasy action RPGs, on PS4 Pro. It’s worth the $70 so far despite some minor frustrations. It’s most fun doing couch co-op with my husband. We are about to start Season 1. I haven’t lost interest yet.

Diablo 4 is the plan once the new season starts up tomorrow. Realistically though, that’s a distraction until Baldur’s Gate 3 drops in early August. Probably going to run Barrage Rogue in Diablo 4 and not take it too seriously – just focus on the seasonal challenges.

I keep trying to fit in Etrian Odyssey since I got the new PC bundle back in June. I really like that genre and certainly want to motivate future Atlus releases on PC. It’s pretty hard to prioritize it.

The avalanche of releases is about to start. It’s ridiculous. Jagged Alliance 3 is also looking pretty tempting.

Tabletop gamer here. I’ve played Ahau, Cat in the Box, Dune Imperium, Earth, Rise of Tribes, and Vampire: Prince of the City this week.

Yeah, between Diablo, Baldur’s Gate and Starfield I’ll have my hands full. And I don’t even have that much time for gaming.

It’s going to be a busy time for me in 2 years when they’re all on deep enough discount for me to consider buying!

I’ve been playing a bunch of old favorites, mostly in the digital board game variety. Civ VI, Ticket to Ride, Puzzle Quest 3, Terraforming Mars and Wingspan. I’d love to be playing D4, but until the price comes down, I just don’t have the money to spend.

Well, everyone hates it right now, so I imagine by the time you have the money to spend, it will be better balanced and more satisfactory. (I have no major problems with it but I’m only level 63.)

I’ve heard mostly love until you get to around level 50, but then it turns into a grind. I don’t mind grinding when it’s not in Pokémon (that one bores me to death because there’s no satisfactory destroy the evil/pick up the dropped loot). What other bits are unbalanced?

There was just a major patch ahead of Season 1 that nerfed almost everyone and everything. People are pretty mad about it. The developers are already walking back some of it. There is so much outrage they are going to do a Livestream tomorrow addressing the concerns.

There are also a lot of complaints about not enough endgame content, particularly the loot drops not being worthwhile.

Gotcha. I haven’t been able to pay too much attention to the things that really interest me this summer. It’s gotten insanely busy. With all of that… yeah, I’m probably going to be glad to have to wait.

My best friend gifted me her old PlayStation 4, and I’ve been playing Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Final Fantasy IX.

I haven’t bought a new game in ages. I thought about D4 but it seems that after the campaign, the only bit I’m interested in, it’s just endless level grinding. I’m not going to pay £60 for something I’ll only play part of. I’m currently replaying the Starcraft II campaigns, Fallout 3, and Euro Truck Simulator 2.

On a daily basis, I usually play a bit of Legends of Runeterra: Path of Champions (the rogue-lite mode of the collector card game Legends of Runeterra) and the occasional match-3 game.

I’ve also been replaying Pathfinder: Kingmaker which I have started twice before and have yet to finish (partly because it has performance issues on the Xbox One which make it a bit painful to play in the later stages).

Diablo 4

Soulstone Survivors

I wasn’t going to get Diablo 4 originally, but I really needed a new game, and I just love the Diablo series. It has been quite good so far.

Soulstone Survivors is a great gap game, i.e. something you play to kill a bit of time. It is fun.

I grabbed Dave the Diver. The gameplay is chill and extremely polished, and some of the cutscenes are very funny. Overall it’s an incredibly charming game.

I tried that one and didn’t like it. I don’t like having time pressure to do things and the sushi restaurant thing was overwhelming for me. But it has had a lot of great reviews so I can see why other people would like it.

This is how I learned you can get a refund on Steam as long as you haven’t played for more than two hours.

I started this. Never played any of the games before. I thought it was pretty fun but I never got back to it after I got my own ship. I do this with books too (abandon them for no apparent reason.) Maybe I’ll get back to it someday.

I’ve been playing Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous for the first time, while waiting for BG3 (pre-release footage got me hyped for a CRPG!).

The first portrait looked a lot like an older Ciri from the Witcher series, so I rolled a Magus based on her, and I’m doing a pretty good-aligned playthrough. When I’m done if I am not sick of the game I might give it a go as an evil sorcerer into Lich.

Once you hire some staff it becomes much more forgiving, but the truth is that the time limits are purely decorative. There are no penalties for any kind of failure beyond “do it a couple more times until you catch enough fish or make enough money.”

But like everybody else on the Internet I’m really just in a holding pattern until BG3.

I’ve been enjoying the hell out of Medieval Dynasty. It’s a beautiful looking survival game, where you build everything from houses and hunting lodges to families and villages. You also do a bunch of missions and side missions to advance the game, such as paying taxes to the King every spring. It’s surprisingly deep, funny, and pretty realistic (or at least as realistic as I can imagine the Medieval era being.

Last night, it felt like I played for an hour, but it was actually about 3 hours. Good game.

That looks friggin’ amazing! Straight to my wish list.