Topics created by Chocobop

Arise: A Simple Story Tbh I don't know a lot about the game but the trailer in the last State of Play was intriguing. I will check it out probably, and suggest you guys the same. Youtube Video

Revisiting Half-Life 2 some more makes me think about modulation of action. Both Half-Life 1 and 2 punctuate a series of combat encounters with a long period of down time. In HL1, that is often the form of exploration and completing an objective so you can return elsewhere. In HL2 it is often just having to take note of your environment to find a disguised path or occasionally a physics puzzle. Both games also have some platforming/hazard challenges. There are many times that I find HL2's modulation to be unsatisfying. The stop and go nature doesn't always heighten the tension like it should, but rather could easily make me disappointed that the previous combat section was too briefly paced. The game will throw soldiers with pistols at you for a long time after you are rocking the automatic and high caliber weapons, for instance, which isn't enough of a threat to break things up. Or there will be a very brief pack of enemies that don't feel like enough meat to fit in the middle of two slices of the puzzle section sandwich. There's also a period in the later chapters where you frequently stop to pull landmines ('hoppers') out of the ground, or else stop to disable an inconsiderate turret around a corner. You kind of just want to get going with the "resistance uprising" at that point! De-emphasizing HL1's sense of exploration and mini-objectives seems to make this feel like issue when the same amount of downtime wasn't before, perhaps because it turns the game's pacing into a more conscious part of the player's experience worth paying attention to and remembering. Because it should be pointed out that HL2 is very paced at times as well. Half-Life 2 is consistently overly generous with ammo, and the resupply crates are clearly marked this time (big timesaver!). And so when you know exactly where you are going, the game can slip into more of a Doom-like "fire and forget" rapid combat & traversal experience. There's almost a silly realization that you will have plenty of ammo to use the shotgun against plain Jane normal headcrabs and zombies. Likewise, the crossbow isn't "a waste" to use as a 1-hit kill against standard combine soldiers. There's so much ammo to go around that the magnum basically stops getting use after you collect more of your arsenal. I haven't revisited every chapter, but the courtyard setpiece where you have to protect Alyx seems like it takes the cake for hardest section. I don't think I've ever had a perfectly smooth run of that encounter. I wonder if there is some great strategy here. I tried to maintain a rear minefield of hoppers to hide behind when the final wave of enemies flood your position just as you need to leave. Preserving as much health as possible until that point was also very important, but that's all I came up with.

@e_zed_eh_intern Yeah and I'm really curious about how they all feel about it being a really ''cargo simulator''. I don't think majority of gamers were expecting that it will be literally about long cargo deliveries. Also, if Ben's review is anything to by(go and read it, well written) action, stealth, boss fights etc are not good and just average.

Anything with Future of Dreams will do just fine.

Let's Play Shadowgate: final episode! Expect Yorick to not be terribly useful for hints, grabbing a new piece of goblin armor, familiarizing ourselves with proper crossbow handling, and finally opening one stubborn locked door. Let's Play Shadowgate bonus episode: a few of the puzzles we missed Youtube Video Like I alluded to, there are more "secrets" (achievements and ways to use items or puzzles to kill yourself) we could do with a guide in hand, but there are (almost) no more items/puzzles/hidden deaths that haven't been covered. Two exceptions: There is one way to use one of our items that isn't for just fun: the tempered dirk. Removing the loose gear (to uncover the intended hint, shown in the video) requires a proper implement. Normally, this implement could be the sword (or even the regular dirk on "easy"). On Master though, the sword and regular dirk won't work, only the tempered dirk and the metal bar. Grabbing the metal bar (from the flooded 'Epor' room) requires solving one of the gear combinations, so the intended gear solution (i.e., without trial and error) requires discovering and using the tempered dirk early in the game. Since you can't safely explore the furnace yet (no crystal orb to defeat the fire drake) the only source of hot fire you have at that point is the big brazier (with the hook legs at rickety bridge). Interestingly, on the easier difficulties you both don't need the tempered dirk and you can put out this fire using vials of water. On Master, the brazier is now a useful source of fire, and likewise the game doesn't provide the water elemental to extinguish the brazier until you find that gear combination. The clue to let the lights go out in the catacombs is relevant for an optional puzzle that gives a "Master Investigator" achievement and some easter eggs. You need a lit candle in your inventory (so you can relight your torch) and you need to extinguish your torch at two locations in the catacombs ("the Pit" first, then the "Mine" near the hollows). By doing this, special items "from a different time and place" appear that you have to examine: at the Pit you find a trilby/fedora hat and at the mine you find a "coat of arms" with the letters "PI" on it (it looks like a police officer's bronze badge). You have to examine them, but your hand passes through them when you try to take them. Everything else is a red herring or only has "just for fun" uses. For example: The keys we didn't use don't have any purpose. The gems and gold bar we found in the catacombs don't have any purpose. Magj'ryk & the enchanted hammer is only for the two hidden deaths that use it. Exquish is only for the "cast all spells" achievement. Some achievements require otherwise useless items and actions (and they don't seem to involve any leftovers clues to make them feel like puzzles.) For example: There is an achievement for praying/speaking to every statue. There is an achievement for using every weapon to kill something (including the black axe). There is an achievement for killing every goblin (including the hidden death where you shatter frozen Yorick). There is an achievement for finding all the special interactions with Yorick: you can feed him the otherwise useless gold coins, you can let him smoke the pipe, you can show him the female skull, and a bunch of other stuff... Phew!

My roommate owes me for buying a new Samsung QLED so he’s buying COD Modern Warfare for PS4 Pro while I buy The Outer Worldson PC. I feel deep down that COD MW is going to be a top 10 game of the decade. It looks fantastic and a perfect blend between strategy and fast paced chaos. The single play seemed better before I got those cheesy preview cinematic but the gameplay scenarios sound fantastic. Here is to hoping. I wish Modern Warfare the best. I think it’s gonna be a classic.

@tokyoslim I can't wait for my copy of Catherine to arrive, I absolutely love the original and can't wait to see what is new with it. Greedfall is also looking pretty good, but it is definitively one to wait and see, and then wait and see if I ever end up having time for it.

@bam541 Most excited for Control, it's my dark horse for GOTY. This and Man of Medan really do a great job closing out the month and getting me ready for the madness that is the Fall gaming season.

@bard91 Yeah I think the only surefire hit is Fire Emblem (although not for everyone), but Marvel could range from very disappointing to good dumb co-op fun indeed. I didn't hate New Colossus, it had its ups and downs and was overall less solid than the first game, but I still enjoyed it. I think Youngblood will be decent at the very least, and at half-price I probably won't resist!

My irregular craving for fighting games has showed up, so I think I'm gonna get Samurai Shodown when it comes out. Never played any of em', so I'm excited to see how it works and controls.

@hidz That looked actually incredibly interesting, thank you for bringing this up!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B45QpVDnrMU Zanki Zero would have been my only real interest for April. The game was unfortunately hit with the censor stick though, so I shalln't be buying it. It's a shame really, the changes are your recently stupid alterations such as having an issue with panties shown etc. I personally don't think it matters whatsoever and I'm sure the game isn't really hurt at all by the changes, but I'll no longer ever support the idea that such things are problematic in any way, especially when there was apparently no problem with such things just 10 years ago with the number of PS3 and Vita games I own.

I missed Return of The Obra Dinn completely in October and honestly this is one heck of a gem. Now that i'm getting around to playing this game I can't really stop. Haven't played a mystery game like it before. Highly recommended!

Youtube Video The Liar Princess and The Blind Prince Really interested about it because story looks promising. A good change of pace for all these big games

Gonna pick up Smash and Guacamelee 2 on Switch. Will hopefully grab Hitman 2 and Tetris Effect on sale for PS4/VR.

Deracine (11-6) - The first VR game made by the Dark Souls/Blood Borne developers and it seems to share that same melancholic atmosphere and calming, moody soundtrack. I am very excited to delve into its world, uncover its secrets, and learn about the denizens of the boarding school. Tetris Effect (11-9) - It is Tetris, but made by the mind behind Rez. It is also in VR. Given the demo, I cannot wait to experience the Tetris effect in full. SENRAN KAGURA BON APPÉTIT! FULL COURSE (November, Limited Run Games Physical Release) - Senran Kagura has always been a fantastic series, despite what some vocal minorities may try to say. This is also one game that isn't affected by the asinine censorship pushed by the dummies at Sony. Culinary warfare is carried out via rhythm battles, and players who can create the ultimate Super Dish may be treated to a special feast for the eyes as well.

Return of the Obra Dinn came out yesterday. It is a new detective-style adventure game by Lucas Pope, the creator of "Papers, Please". I've been hotly anticipating this one ever since the first screenshot some 4 years ago! It is a fully 3D point and click adventure game, yet uses a monochrome, pixely art style inspired by classic Macintonsh/Apple computers. To describe the game in short, a 19th century merchant ship has drifted into port with its 60 passengers and crew all long dead. The player plays the role of the investigator, and the object of the game is to determine a) the identities of each dead person, and b) the circumstances of how each person died. Most were murdered. The player must use logic, deduction, and even guesswork to determine -- in each case -- who killed who, who else was present, and what was the cause of death/murder weapon. (Sort of like a 60-fold, interconnected version of "Clue", I take it.) Here's a video of the first 15 minutes: Youtube Video Obra Dinn's unique game mechanic is a magical pocket watch which lets you view a "3D freeze frame scene" from the past, and it is from these scenes you can piece together not just how each person died but also the actual sequence of events that went down and motives at play (it will make more sense in the video). Presumably, the grander mystery of "what happened?" unfolds as you play and is fully revealed by the completion of the game. Description from the Steam Store: In 1802, the merchant ship Obra Dinn set out from London for the Orient with over 200 tons of trade goods. Six months later it hadn't met its rendezvous point at the Cape of Good Hope and was declared lost at sea. Early this morning of October 14th, 1807, the Obra Dinn drifted into port at Falmouth with damaged sails and no visible crew. As insurance investigator for the East India Company's London Office, dispatch immediately to Falmouth, find means to board the ship, and prepare an assessment of damages.

Gambit is a very fun game type in Destiny. Its PVPVE. Two teams compete to kill waves of enemies in seperate arenas. When you kill enemies they drop "motes" which you can feed to a machine that will, depending on the amount of motes you've banked, send a "blocker" which essentially shuts down their machine until a high level enemy is defeated. You can also spend your motes to activate a portal that will allow you yourself to invade the enemy's arena. First the fill the machine and defeat a boss wins.

The Messenger is releasing August 30th. I've had an eye on this one for a while, but didn't realize it was coming out so soon until today! The EZA review is live. It's a Metroidvania game that starts out looking and playing like an 8 bit linear, Ninja Gaiden-style game. The game's main gimmick is that you very quickly unlock the ability to flip between two worlds, the 8 bit one and a 16 bit one, and I gather this ability coincides with the game morphing into a full-on Metroidvania. Now, this is just me speaking, but I think it deserves some comparisons to Shovel Knight. Yes, yes: the action genres of those two games are different and Shovel Knight is hugely successfully whereas The Messenger has less buzz going for it. But the reason I've kept my eye on The Messsenger is because it reminded me of that same sense of a "retro-style game infused with modern ideas" that I got from Shovel Knight.