@brannox No problem, thanks for maintaining the list!

So I played the game for a couple hours at work, for research!

And it confirmed that this is definitely not a game for me, it's not a genre I like (survival/crafting) nor is it a setting I like (post-apocalyptic).

I still gave it an honest shot, I mostly followed the main quest because I figured it would act as a tutorial and it did to some extent, but I found myself struggling with the UI quite often. There's a lot to take in as a newcomer, a lot of loot and systems to learn, that's not the end of the world and I'm sure you get used to it after a while.

What I came away with is that the combat gameplay is quite dreadful, melee is just mindless swinging, while guns seem to hit or miss based on a dice roll, as I was aiming squarely at big robots and only damaging them half the time. That made it very hard for me to get involved, especially after playing games with way more satisfying combat recently (Spider-Man, God of War, even AC Odyssey).

So if I'm not gonna play this for the combat, I guess I'll play it for its world and RPG elements? Again, I have a negative bias towards post-apocalyptic games, especially generic ones. I don't find those worlds appealing to explore, when I know all I'm gonna find are ruins, dead bodies, tragic tales of people who didn't make it, and just overall misery and dread. So that's on me!

But the lack of NPCs, of real tangible people to talk to, help out, make friends or enemies with, really killed the last remnant of interest I could have. Why am I even here, what am I doing? Is there a purpose to this game, an end goal, something to accomplish? Not as far as I can tell, I'm just here to make my numbers go up and listen to audio logs. I did read as much lore as I could on terminals, but I didn't find the writing to be particularly engaging. If all I'm going to do is listen to stories and not take part in them, you better make them good, otherwise I'll go read a book. Alas, it's just the same old cliche post-apocalyptic stuff we've had in all the previous Fallout games, minus the wit or mystery or interesting choices.

While my colleagues quickly grouped up and goofed around together, I played solo because I'm a weirdo I prefer to explore the world at my own pace, but I did encounter other players. I complete a public event with this random dude and that was probably the highlight of my play session. But we never talked, just fought side by side. I'm sure there's great stories out there of players working together, becoming friends and so on, but that's just the nature of online games.

I didn't hate the game, I just don't see the point of it. Part of it because I'm not into online games of this kind in the first place, part of it because there isn't a single aspect of this game that isn't done better in hundreds of others. If I want to play a good FPS I'll play Doom or Wolfenstein. If I want a good RPG I'll play The Witcher 3, Divinity Original Sin, Persona, Octopath Traveler, hell even Skyrim. If I want a fun open-world, I'll play Red Dead, Assassin's Creed, Breath of the Wild, Horizon (the last two actually put an interesting twist on their post-apocalyptic scenarios). If I want fun PvP I'll play Smash or Mario Kart or Fortnite, etc. You get the point.

Back to Spider-Man and Hollow Knight for me!

2019 is stacked!

@brannox Correction: Dragon Marked for Death has been delayed to January 31st, 2019 (I know cause I'm the only one who desires it ;))

Very cool concept, it should be a very fun show to watch once all the production values are injected into it!

I would also suggest having more video game-related questions in there, I believe they only have 2 categories at the moment (retro and modern games), and they were both in the second phase.

Are the Allies actually taking feedback somewhere (Patreon?) or is the game pretty much set in stone already?

@el-shmiablo How many of those are FPS though? ;)

I've still not played Persona 5 and I still was incredibly hyped during that reveal, what an unexpected choice! And it makes me hopeful for a Switch port of Persona 5, this time I promise, I'll play it!

Mega Man X5

Took a break after finishing the first four games, but I'm back into the fray! It was my first time playing this one, and I didn't enjoy it. The game's structure is needlessly convoluted and not conveyed clearly at all to the player, I had to look up some guides online to make sure I was doing the right thing, and even then it wasn't very clear.

The game starts by giving you 16 "hours" to collect items held by the traditional bosses, and an hour passes every time you enter a level, whether you complete it or get a game over. If you haven't collected the items by the time the countdown expires, shit happens and you get one of three endings, the worst one.

This time pressure goes against what Mega Man has always been about, which is pick a level at random, try it out, see how far you get, then maybe try another one, guess which boss is weak to the weapon you just got, etc. This is even more emphasized in the X series where you usually revisit levels to obtain upgrades you couldn't get the first time around. In X5, you better be sure you know what you're doing when you enter a level, because the clock is ticking...

And even weirder than that, with each hour that passes, the level of the bosses increases (giving them more HP). When you defeat a boss at level 8 or higher, it gives you a "Part", an equippable item which grants bonuses (jump higher, charge faster...). So if you defeat a boss on your first try, it'll be level 1 and you won't get a Part. So the optimal way to play the game if you want all Parts is to purposely lose and waste around 8 hours so that the bosses level up, and then beat them all. It's completely absurd and impossible to figure out without reading a guide, none of this is explained in-game.

It's a shame because the design of some bosses is excellent, even though their fighting mechanics aren't very original. It's very clear they were churning these games out way too quickly and trying to find a new gimmick to raise the stakes or add complexity, but they went too far on this one. I still have to play 6, 7 and 8 but I'm kinda dreading them now.

I hope if they ever make a Mega Man X9, they go back to basics and focus on great level design rather than muddy the concept with pointless complexity.

+1 to Monster Boy and Battle Princess Madelyn!

There's also Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden.

It's an XCOM-like game but with real-time world exploration and stealth, you only enter turn-based combat when you're openly fighting enemies. The reviews are good overall and many praise the world and the writing, although the difficulty seems a bit harsh.

Youtube Video

https://www.vg247.com/2018/12/05/starbreeze-stock-insider-trading/

"Interesting" development, the offices of Starbreeze have been raided by the police under suspicion of insider trading.