2017 VIDEO GAME CATCH-ALL THREAD

[jstout]

1 hour ago, RIPPA said:

I bought the cave expansion and that free roam area so that has helped. I'm also trying to not put more than like 10 slimes in a pen.

The rock slimes need to slow their God Damn roll

You can put way more slimes in a pen. I suggest the high walls, though (the roof is great, too). If you get the plort collectors, you never have to set foot in the pens (great tip, Shane). 

[RIPPA]

Yeah - I haven't gotten that far yet.

High walls is next the priority

[Basara]

16 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

5 trophies away from a Platinum in Guacamelee.

I spent about 10 hours over the weekend trying to get King's Fall raid done on heroic with some real douchebags on a trophy hunting site I frequent. I needed to stop because I was getting really mad, but the main one couldn't be online Sunday. I leave to take a mental health break, then they finished about 11 pm last night of course. I ask if there's a way to go back through the raid at the part I left but I get told "find another group to help." And I get blamed and I get told "we had to carry you through it." Well, f*ck them too. 

The King's Fall raid on heroic used to be super glitchy. Ogres teleporting all over the place and damage not counting on Oryx for no apparent reason other than 'fuck you'. It's probably my least favourite raid. I think i only ever bothered to finish that raid on hard mode once just to get the challenge mode done. Considering the ungodly amount of time i spent in Destiny, and that we'd still run VoG and Crota long into The Taken King expansion, says how much i disliked that final encounter. I can only image what sweet hell it must be playing with some randoms since your team has to be super coordinated. The reddit Fireteams sub always used to be good for teams. I'm not sure how many people are still playing King's Fall at this point but whenever we had to fill in a gap with a random we almost always got someone at least decent.

 

I'm burning through Nioh trying to get it beat by the 6th. I've got 5 levels left it seems according to the stats screen, and however many sub missions it decides to throw at me. I've still not really struggled with anything like i did with Bloodborne and Dark Souls (i'm looking at you Orphan and Midir), if i get stuck on a boss i usually get it figured out fairly quick. It's really only the super quick bosses i get my ass kicked by. I still expect to just hit a wall at some point and be stuck for hours. These games seem to traumatise you into that thinking. It's a good game but i'm not enjoying it as much as i thought i would towards the end. And i think it's my fault. I want to play this like Bloodborne and Dark Souls, and while it borrows heavily from them, it's combat isn't the same once you get into it.

The one thing i have noticed is the massive level jump now i'm getting towards the end. I've never really felt under levelled but each time i unlock a new level they seem to be 5-15 levels above what i currently am. That, coupled with the fact that it's a random loot based game makes it almost feel like they want you to have to grind.

[Zimbra]

Starcrawlers is basically cyberpunk Etrian Odyssey with a procedural mission system, a diablo-ish loot system, and like 20 different corps/factions you can interact with and it is extremely, extremely my jam.

[Death From Above]

Has anyone here played Grim Dawn? Because I was only very vaguely aware of it until a couple days ago but as someone with a shitty internet connection, it looks like a hell of a single player alternative to the Diablo III/Path of Exile thing.

[Cliff Hanger]

And that's 2 more for my Steam wishlist.

 

[GojiColin]

So on friday a friend gave me his copy of Yakuza 0 because he "couldn't get into the story".  He called me up Sunday to see how I was enjoying it, I told him I was having a hard  time getting into the story because I was too busy styling on fools on the dance floor.

This game is so much fun.

[Zimbra]

10 hours ago, Death From Above said:

Has anyone here played Grim Dawn? Because I was only very vaguely aware of it until a couple days ago but as someone with a shitty internet connection, it looks like a hell of a single player alternative to the Diablo III/Path of Exile thing.

Yeah, I've played a lot of it and I'm a big fan.  Unlike D3 there's a ridiculous amount of character customization with multiple workable builds for each class combination.  And unlike PoE you can reliably find worthwhile and interesting loot out in the wild.  I highly recommend it.

[SirSmUgly]

Mario + Rabbids is XCOM without the threat of permadeath for a soldier that I poured time, money, and XP into, which means that it's fixing to become my favorite XCOM game ever!

[Death From Above]

ARK: Survival Evolved finally "launched". Spoiler: It's still broken as ever, but it costs three times now what it did at launch. That's without the $40 US season pass or whatever it works out to.

 

Might be the craziest overpricing since Photobucket changed from an image hosting service to a phishing scam.

[Jiji]

I enjoyed it, warts and all two years ago, but I'm more than good on that. 

[SirSmUgly]

Yeah, to elaborate, Mario + Rabbids is a legitimately good game. The game has skill trees and different weapons, but the way that it differentiates itself from XCOM or something like that is in giving the player lots of options for moving around the battlefield via combining on team jumps to cover more ground and a variety of perks to offer quicker movement or extra ground that the player can cover. There are lots of platforms and pipes on the battlefields so far - I'm through the first world - which, if used properly, can allow a player to traverse different battlefields quickly. I've been able to move across a full battlefield in one turn by using the right path and taking pipes over to an enemy.

The game also encourages offense. I love XCOM, but the first game basically encouraged sitting in Overwatch and waiting for the enemy to come to you, even though you were theoretically propelled forward by trying to salvage the element needed to upgrade weapons and armor. M+R gets around this by giving you the possibility to make two offensive moves in one turn per character right from the jump, and as you go along, you get additions (like two moves and a chance to cast a buff) to those initial movement opportunities. I'm not typically compelled to sit and wait for enemies to come to me. 

There is other overworld exploration stuff and light puzzle solving that is fine, but it isn't super-compelling. The battles, though, are genuinely fun. They're not particularly challenging so far, but they do force you to think about movement and consider how your enemies can use the same rules of movement as you. It's fun just to go through battles trying to max out your efficiency of movement and ace the enemies as quickly as possible. Even the battles where you're meant to get one character across the screen as quickly as possible without dying are interesting just because you're spending time looking over the landscape for shortcuts. 

 

[Zimbra]

It is just wild to me that a Mario v Rabbids game a) exists and b) is apparently pretty good.  

[Andrew POE!]

On ‎8‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 4:29 AM, GojiColin said:

So on friday a friend gave me his copy of Yakuza 0 because he "couldn't get into the story".  He called me up Sunday to see how I was enjoying it, I told him I was having a hard  time getting into the story because I was too busy styling on fools on the dance floor.

This game is so much fun.

Well, another one came out this week so you'll have more time to talk to hostesses and play darts.

[Michael Sweetser]

Yakuza 0 made me understand what all the fuss was about.  Yakuza Kiwami is literally more of the same.  

I cannot fucking wait for Yakuza 6 to make its way stateside next year.

AND now Yakuza 2 is getting an HD remake too.  Goddamn, perfect time to get into the series.

[Tromatagon]

Actually Yakuza Kiwami is less of the same but I still love it.  

Only Kamurocho no Sotenbori

I fucking loved Sotenbori.

0 totally won me over though and I'll buy whatever they bring over here.

[Michael Sweetser]

 

[Death From Above]

I picked up Rogue Legacy dirt cheap off the Humble store a couple weeks ago. This game was great fun. Took me about 16 hours playtime to beat the normal difficulty (game also has New Game+ and beyond).

It definitely reminds me of some of the old Castlevania or Ghosts N' Goblins games in terms of the actual gameplay. There's lots of familiar powers and enemy types here. The look and sound are quite good and feel "right" for a throwback action platformer. Controls felt solid and predictable. Overall it's a game that for me lands in that sweet spot of being easy to learn but hard to master, which is a good place to be. 

Between the purchasable upgrades and gear, as well as defeating the bosses, there is plenty of clear progression and goal setting so I always felt like I had something to work towards.

I was on the fence about getting this for a long time but I ended up enjoying it a lot.

Edit: Sorry about the formatting going weird. I'm not sure what the hell happened there or how to fix it.

 

Edited September 1, 2017 by RIPPA
Paste as Plain Text

[Andrew POE!]

One trophy away from a Platinum in Guacamelee. Just have to beat the game on Hard Mode with a chicken suit.

[Basara]

I have beaten Nioh. I've got a few sub missions to polish off but i'm done with the main story. Overall it's the best non FomSoftware take on the Dark Souls style of game. But i'ts no Dark Souls or Bloodborne. I found it quite a bit easier than the DS/BB too. It might be a bit unfair to judge it against DS but it borrows so much from it that it's hard not to compare the two.

One of the biggest things Dark Souls has going for it is the world, how it's all connected and the various shortcuts you can unlock along the way. With Nioh being mission based instead of open world there's no real exploring to do. Sure each mission has it's shortcuts to find but it's all very self contained. It just feels smaller. The other thing is the lack of different enemies. After about half way through the game you've seen everything it will throw at you and it even starts to reuse bosses. And lastly it just doesn't 'feel' as good. The controls aren't as tight, the combat isn't as smooth and it i always get the impression it's trying to make you play the game the way it wants you too. Where as Dark Souls and so much more variety in the gameplay.

That all sounds harsher than intended because it's a damn good game. It's just not the game i wanted it to be. 

Anyway, my gaming schedule is all cleared up for Destiny 2 now! I might try and sneak the first episode of Life is Strange: Before the Storm in between now and Wednesday though.

[Andrew POE!]

Got my 92nd Platinum with Guacamelee today.

Besides Knack II and Destiny II, Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth comes out on Tuesday. It's a SPRG with visual novel elements. Includes a pillowcase with two of the characters on it. Brown paper bag not included.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

I have an update to the question "What are acceptable answers to 'what is the Best Game of 2017?'" Previously the only answers I was accepting were Nier Automata, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and "I'm not going to jump through those hoops to play those." I am proud to announce that I am adding PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS to the list of answers I would accept for "What's the Best Game of 2017?" I spent last night playing in duo mode with first person and it is an FPS-Ruiningly-Good game, and the more people get a chance to play it the more sense that'll make. It could really use a tutorial though.

NBA 2K17 MYCAREER MODE ON ROOKIE DIFFICULTY [3] - got it through the Humble Monthly Bundle, so, decided to give it a fair shot. It's pretty good! I've historically liked basketball games 100% more than watching basketball (SD is just not a sports town like that), so as a Way To Accomplish That, NBA 2K17 suits those needs just fine. I will say, however, that the microtransactiony stuff around stat points Fucking Blows and might be enough to sink me playing this game long-term. Also, the reason I am doing MyCareer is because I am not going to learn enough about basketball to learn how to strategically deploy timeouts. I will leave that to the AI. I'm good just Small Forwarding around. Since I'm literally never going to play any other mode than this, I can only rate that mode, and I rate it "i'll keep doing it!"

DESTINY 2 IN 60FPS [n/a] - the scoring kind of relies on the existence of a financial transaction being a part of this somewhere unless it's an old ass game so no score, but YO DESTINY 2 IN 60FPS HOLY SHIT. Destiny 2 In 60FPS has such power over my nervous system that immediately after the beta expired I officially buckled and bought myself a gaming mouse (because if the melee is bound to C, I will never hit the melee once (nevermind that the buff thing is bound to V, what the hell is that((also because my mouse was old as shit (like seriously a decade straight)))). I am all goddamn in on Destiny 2 In 60FPS.

EDIT: Oh and the android retroarch threw away my Dragon Quest 3 save, so, I will probably do that one last now.

[Shane]

I've been playing Agents of Mayhem. I just had to check out the newest Volition joint, regardless of the reviews. It's entirely average in every way. I'm having fun with it, I guess, but it's super repetitive and most of the writing is...poor. I'm lucky to have access to games through work. Had I dropped $60 on this, I'd probably have harsher feelings, but free is the right price.

[Death From Above]

I know I am probably the last person that is just trying out Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition. It seems really fun so far (just basically did the tutorial missions so far). But I was having awful problems with crashes and thoght I might have to just abandon it. Luckily I was able to find a fix that, ridiculously, isn't listed in any official help source despite being apparently a fairly common issue with Windows 10.

For those who don't know how to disable the service, here is one way:
Open Control Panel -> System and Security -> Administrative Tools -> Services.
There, look for the service called "Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service". Right click on it and select "stop" to stop the service. You may also ban the service from automatically starting there.
You need to disable the service before starting the game.

I have no idea why a process related to touchscreen control would randomly crash a game every 10-15 minutes, but that's what was happening and once I did this I played about an hour with no issues so it seems to work? Knock on wood. Game seems really good so far.

[Zimbra]

I finally got tired of my laptop freezing every time I looked at it crooked so I copped a new Dell this weekend.  And it actually has a dedicated graphics card so I can run games on something other than the lowest settings, which is neat.