2024 VIDEO GAMES CATCH ALL THREAD

[Death From Above]

I used to love Path of Exile but the last few years it's like watching a Jenga tower where they keep trying to build the Taj Mahal on top of it and I just can't. At some point you have enough stuff, man.

Grim Dawn is where I'd go if I was going to go back, at this point. It still suffers from "you'd better get a guide" syndrome that ARPG is awful about but shit, at least it nails everything it goes for pretty much.

I definitely liked the genre more before you needed a PhD to descipher what the fuck your build does.

[JLSigman]

9 hours ago, Death From Above said:

I used to love Path of Exile but the last few years it's like watching a Jenga tower where they keep trying to build the Taj Mahal on top of it and I just can't. At some point you have enough stuff, man.

I finally managed to beat the story mode once with a pretty boring sword and board build, and at this point don't plan to go back to it. The devs are obviously way more focused on whatever PoE2 is.

9 hours ago, Death From Above said:

Grim Dawn is where I'd go if I was going to go back, at this point. It still suffers from "you'd better get a guide" syndrome that ARPG is awful about but shit, at least it nails everything it goes for pretty much.

I'll get back to them when the release the new expansion (later this year?), but agree you still need a guide for anything above normal mode, and the story in the last expansion is threadbare at best.

[tbarrie]

14 hours ago, Craig H said:

Speaking of ARPGs, I know you’re both talking about some older ones, but I have to say that Lost Epoch does damn near everything right in an ARPG.

Are you talking about Last Epoch? That's what came up when I googled "Lost Epoch".

[Craig H]

1 hour ago, tbarrie said:

Are you talking about Last Epoch? That's what came up when I googled "Lost Epoch".

Yes. My keyboard changed Last to Lost. Last Epoch is excellent.

[Craig H]

Regarding PoE 2, I know they’re aiming for a 2025 release, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes even longer.

[tbarrie]

25 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Yes. My keyboard changed Last to Lost. Last Epoch is excellent.

Cool. And it has a Linux version. Added to my Steam wishlist, thanks.

[Craig H]

Last Epoch is what you’d get from the good parts of the best ARPGs and a story heavily inspired by Chrono Trigger.

[Death From Above]

I swear to God, I have watched all the POE 2 trailers and it just looks like POE but they put a 2 on it to me.

[Craig H]

I thought the same thing. My friend who was hardcore into PoE for years until Last Epoch came out swears though that what they showed of PoE 2 is pretty exciting and different.

Still looks like a game you need an advanced degree in skill trees to play.

[Death From Above]

I don't even think it looks that much better than the original. Like, the game started in development years ago and it already looks dated before it releases in beta.

[blitzkrieg]

So I finished Deus Ex: The Conspiracy(the PS2 port of Deus Ex) and have to say it was a fun little game. I really liked the storyline, choices, and the feeling like you could do anything at any time. It is a game that undoubtedly is probably better experienced on the PC but they did a pretty good job of simplifying things for the PS2. Probably the only big complaints I had were that the skill/augmentation system felt a little useless at times, the lead-up to the ending(s) being a bit anti-climatic, and the load times between sections being a bit annoying if you got lost or had to back track. There's part of me that wants to try another playthrough but I think I'd be more inclined to do it with the PC version than the PS2.

[John E. Dynamite]

4 hours ago, blitzkrieg said:

So I finished Deus Ex: The Conspiracy(the PS2 port of Deus Ex) and have to say it was a fun little game. I really liked the storyline, choices, and the feeling like you could do anything at any time. It is a game that undoubtedly is probably better experienced on the PC but they did a pretty good job of simplifying things for the PS2. Probably the only big complaints I had were that the skill/augmentation system felt a little useless at times, the lead-up to the ending(s) being a bit anti-climatic, and the load times between sections being a bit annoying if you got lost or had to back track. There's part of me that wants to try another playthrough but I think I'd be more inclined to do it with the PC version than the PS2.

I too do not know why I liked the PS2 version. I think it might be on account of the fact that it trimmed some fat, but my better theory is that the framerate made me ditch sniper rifles and make that big blue fancy sword my main weapon, which wound up being a very fun way to play.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

usually i upload reviews straight up over here in the format I've been doing, but I've played enough games from this year that I have opinions on that I'm gonna go out of order and then cannibalize them over there. And to start, reverse cannibalism!

PENNY'S BIG BREAKAWAY [3]
These sick fucks. All the trailers for this game were about how it's the Sonic Mania team and how it's this big fun platform adventure that's a throwback to like what if the sega saturn had more going on. They didn't tell anyone they made Gimmick 3D! Who the fuck would be cruel enough to sell Gimmick 3D to kids?!

TEKKEN 8 [2]
Gift of the Magi'd myself. Got this game to support a friend going through a tough time only to learn they thought I bought it for myself, and the tough time might prevent them from being able to play this. My fault! There have never been two good Tekkens in a row, and, well, behold. I'm definitely not just bitter because I became a Ganryu main at the end of Tekken 7 and will almost 100% never get to play my beautiful boy again.

PIZZA TOWER: THE NOISE UPDATE [4]
Last year, my personal GOTY was tied between Void Stranger and Pizza Tower. I eventually decided to get behind Void Stranger because it was more important to me to tell people to play it and how fuckin impossible great it is. Pure mechanics though? Pizza Tower in a walk. This year, Pizza Tower is threatening to do it a-fucking-gain with a free update that adds a new playable character that plays so differently that all these stages look and act differently now. They also added a secret third mode that I think could possibly get someone killed! What a great game!

UNICORN OVERLORD [4]
Decided to go outside of my comfort zone and hit the jackpot. Time devouring tactics, which I'm fortunate enough to be able to use while on an exercise bike. It also has a story, I hear.

POCKET CARD JOCKEY: RIDE ON! [4]
In my review of the original, I wrote this: "One day they'll put that iOS one on the Switch and I'll scream to death, come back to life, and play the shit out of it, much like my homie the Pocket Card Jockey does." They did. I did. It's a port of a perfect game on a system more people have. Go fuckin play it.

Edited March 18 by Lamp, broken circa 1988

[JLSigman]

 

[Joe vs the Algorithm]

Finished the recent Dead Space remake.  Enjoyed it highly and would recommend it.  Didn’t lose much in translation and is probably the definitive way to play Dead Space 1.

That said, the best way to play the game is still the 2008 release on a Series X (also looks and plays fine on my PS3 with a SSD installed).  Remake is a very good cover of that song you really like.  Nothing wrong with the cover and it will stick in your head for while, but there’s only a fraction of “art” involved compared to the original and the cover will never hit you the way the original does. Remake is already off my console and I won’t be buying the physical edition (I buy digital first, then buy physical if it’s a game I will want to come back to. I rarely end up buying physical copies of remakes or remasters).

[Death From Above]

I'm very happy the remake exists because the original on PC does Very Weird Things with a lot of modern graphics cards.

[Cliff Hanger]

I picked Infinite Wealth back up today despite not finishing the WWE2K24 story modes yet. God damn, the RGG crew are so good at manipulating players' emotions. Not every game should be like this; I do not want to think about my knight's physical and mental health when I play Joust. But I'm glad that if this actually is Kiryu's last ride they're gonna put his self-sacrifice and its ffailings front-and-center. 

[Mike Campbell]

The family has been playing a ton of Disney SpeedStorm lately. It's a fun take on Mario Kart along with various missions and challenges to keep you on your toes and add some replayabilty. We wound up going down a bit of a wormhole with it last night, just as we were thinking of turning it off and doing something else. Here are the sequence of events.

 

I wind up getting a Jasmine shard (used to unlock and upgrade racers) which causes me to grind out a few more tracks to get Jasmine upgraded.

With Jasmine upgraded I can now complete a race that requires her at an upgraded level

Completion of that race unlocks me Ursulla.

Unlocking Ursulla gets us enough collection points to move up to the next level, and be rewarded with unlocking Balloo.

 

All that just from randomly getting an upgrade shartd and deciding to take another ten minutes to get one character upgraded.

[Death From Above]

So I've heard people who have generally good taste for years say try Hunt: Showdown. I always don't try it because it's a Tarkov-style game and I fucking suck at PVP. But the current steam sale suckered me in.

Yeah, go try Hunt: Showdown. It's an amazing PvPvE cross between the late stage wild west and, like, Resident Evil. The atmosphere rules, the matchmaking is actually pretty solid at keeping normal people away from the true sharks, and I actually find the PvE elements really fun. It's also another game that is absolutely gorgeous when it isn't trying to fucking kill you.

[JLSigman]

On 3/16/2024 at 9:11 AM, JLSigman said:

In my quest to find all the old ARPGs I used to own back before Steam was a thing, I picked up Torchlight and Torchlight II for less than $7 during the Steam Spring sale. Torchlight is still as charming as ever.

Took a couple tries, but beat Torchlight. The final boss is a pain, but it's all fun. There's a mechanic I don't remember, about "retiring" your character and giving an heirloom to a new one, but I need to read up on it before I decide to try again. Went ahead and installed Torchlight II.

[odessasteps]

My new “problem” in Dreamlight Valley is I’m started to run into characters from films I’ve never seen. Matt tells me some of them are from Disney properties almost 20 years old. 
 

this is when I looked it up and the last Pixar movie I watched was Incredibles 2 and the last Disney film I saw was Wreck it Ralph. 
 

my actual gameplay complaint I wish you could build a stove outside like you can with the crafting station. 

[SirSmUgly]

Four hours into Rise of the Ronin, the game is just what I was looking for. It's ugly Ghost of Tsushima with enjoyable combat and hell, a glider, because why not. Every open world game post-BotW needs a glider (except GoT, I suppose). 

My wife was watching me play it. She actually enjoyed GoT (it's rare for her to enjoy watching me play a non-Nintendo, non-quirky indie game), but she immediately looked at this game and called it Dollar Tree Tsushima, if I remember her words correctly. She's not entirely wrong! It's fun stuff, though all the systems that I had to quickly learn in the first hour or so had me a little frustrated initially.

I'm also probably four hours into Princess Peach Showtime! Whereas Ronin has a clear gameplay loop once you get into the open world, Showtime! feels disjointed. Fun for what it is, sure, but disjointed. I don't love that you can't skip talky parts of levels that you've already cleared if you've missed a shine or sparkle or whatever the star-shaped crystal things are called. So far, I've enjoyed Dashing Thief Peach and Cowgirl Peach the most. Cavalier Peach is hilarious to play after coming from Ronin because of the understandably wide dodge windows in Showtime! They're so wide it almost fucks me up a bit. 

On the other hand, Patisserie Peach and Detective Peach are the clear losers when it comes to Peach transformations. Maybe the later levels will do something fun with the, though. The opening levels for each are designed very simply for obvious reasons. 

I will say that the people at Good Feel had a blast animating Peach. At one point, she slides down a bannister instead of taking the stairs - great animation. At another point, she does a goofy victory dance next to an NPC. Again, great animation. 

[StevieNippz]

Rise of the Ronin looks like good fun but I need to clear out some more of my backlog before I get another new game. And Helldivers is really holding me back from finishing the other three games I have going on. 

[Kevin Wilson]

4 hours ago, StevieNippz said:

Rise of the Ronin looks like good fun but I need to clear out some more of my backlog before I get another new game. And Helldivers is really holding me back from finishing the other three games I have going on. 

It does look fun but like you, I have a backlog to get through (and may have just ordered Dragon's Dogma 2 anyway). My thinking is by the end of the year it'll be discounted and updated, sounds like a good Christmas gift game.

[JLSigman]

On 3/20/2024 at 5:25 PM, JLSigman said:

Went ahead and installed Torchlight II.

Beat this on normal as an Outlander (pew pew), and you can either New Game + or endlessly run maps. I decided to try Hard, on an Engineer (basically two handed stuff). Since I constantly felt underleveled, I am taking the time to actually clear the areas before diving into the dungeons, which is the opposite of how you wanted to play the first game.