Current gaming

[hobbes]

Two weeks until Spiderman 2.

[delicatemoth]

Baldur's Gate 3 is possibly the best AAA game I have played. There is a playfulness rarely found in big-budget fantasy fare (I think the portentousness common to the genre is what puts a lot of people off fantasy stuff).

Stephanie Sterling says more in this article - https://www.thejimquisition.com/post...ckgirls-review

[hobbes]

(I think the portentousness common to the genre is what puts a lot of people off fantasy stuff).

Oh christ, yes. All the "Bring Forth the Sword of Dobber!" stuff leaves me absolutely cold.

[hobbes]

And suddenly Spiderman 2 is almost upon us.
See you on the flip side.

[hobbes]

I've sort of lost interest in Spiderman 2.
I know, right?
I think I just don't like the fighting mechanic (or rather the weapons mechanic) as much as the first one.
I got a bit bored and went back to finishing my New Game + on Witcher 3.

To be fair it's not just Spiderman. I'm probably 2/3rds of the way through TOTK as well and I've not picked that up in ages. It's just a bit boring.

[Mr Delicieux]

Did you go back to Spiderman? The web slinging looked very well executed from what I've seen of it.

Speaking of things being well-executed, I'm about half way through Robocop: Rogue City, and it's everything you could hope for in a game taking its cues from the first film. Robocop has a satisfying sense of heft, the story is serviceable, and from what I gather, the studio involved isn't massive, but what they've put together here is well crafted and with little fat.

It's the most fun I've had being a cop since LA noire, and I'd definitely buy it for a dollar.

[hobbes]

The web slinging is great, just like in the first game. It's an absolute joy just to mosey around - just like the first game. And the story is deep and varied... Just like the first game.
What I'm not keen on is the arbitrary change to the fight mechanics. In the first game, you could build up an array of non-lethal weapons that did different things - web traps, drones, electro webs etc. so at different stages of a battle you had different tactics. And the weapons were limited and regen-ed slowly.
Miles was different in that you had no toys but two special attacks.
In this game they've sort of merged the two so Peter now doesn't have toys, just special attacks that work off the directional pad rather than a selector fired from the web shot trigger.
It makes the fighting less fun as you have far fewer options.
For example one of my favourite moves was dropping a couple of web bombs off a building into a crowd of baddies, then following up with a ground pounder landing, which blew the baddies backwards sticking some of them to the just released webbing from the bomb. You had to time it right or the webbing went off and you just had 20 angry thugs coming at you.

That sort of thing is missing in the new game. It's a shame.

[Levin]

Baldurs Gate is fun. The companions are generally dickheads so far.

[Mr Delicieux]

It makes the fighting less fun as you have far fewer options.
For example one of my favourite moves was dropping a couple of web bombs off a building into a crowd of baddies, then following up with a ground pounder landing, which blew the baddies backwards sticking some of them to the just released webbing from the bomb. You had to time it right or the webbing went off and you just had 20 angry thugs coming at you.

That sort of thing is missing in the new game. It's a shame.

That's a shame, I understand that all game publishers will look for maximum sales, which results in mechanics becoming simplified. An option to play with either control scheme would have been nice.

[delicatemoth]

Baldurs Gate is fun. The companions are generally dickheads so far.

You think? The only one I actively dislike is Astarion. Lae'Zel and Karlach are great fun imo.

[Levin]

You think? The only one I actively dislike is Astarion. Lae'Zel and Karlach are great fun imo.

I've only met a handful so far. Astarion is a twat. Lae'Zel is a dickhead. Gale is a bit slimy. Shadowheart is nice, apart from all the lying to my face she's doing.

[diggedy derek]

I'm really excited for the Tomb Raider Remastered package, coming to the big platforms soon. I used to love those games. Great puzzle solving.

[Mr Delicieux]

Dead island 2 is the most dumb, pulpy fun I've had since earth defense force, and the weapon throwing mechanic remains a thing of beauty.

[hobbes]

So I've had a couple of months of not really playing games apart from the odd dip back into Forbidden West and making some carnage in The Division 2.
I decided I'd give Jedi Survivor a go after remembering that I quite liked the first game.
It's ok. But there's too much traversing and not enough fighting for me. It's like an old platformer. And I wasn't very good at those.

[hobbes]

I'm really excited for the Tomb Raider Remastered package, coming to the big platforms soon. I used to love those games. Great puzzle solving.

I'm tempted as I liked them. But I did play them through a couple of times, so I might be TR'd out.

[hobbes]

Jedi Survivor. A game made by sadists and bastards for masochists and idiots.
Yes I am stuck right near the end.

[delicatemoth]

Been hanging out with my BFF in Valheim, a gorgeous and dangerous Viking/fantasy survivalbuilder where you can have private worlds with your pals. Where you die a lot.

[Mr Delicieux]

Jedi Survivor. A game made by sadists and bastards for masochists and idiots.
Yes I am stuck right near the end.

I played the first one of those star wars games, and got about half way through before putting it on the easy level which was way too easy and something in between would have been nice but it was great fun in the main, I've just made my peace that I'm not very good at these dark souls-like games, too much dodging and rolling out the way for me.

Finished that Dead island 2, it's on gamepass and I'd highly recommend it, the various world hubs representing parts of Los Angeles are that pleasing kind of size, not too big or small where you can memorise every part to your advantage, and it's a good sign when running from A to B always feels fun. I'm also impressed that it turned out so well after being stuck in development hell for 12 years. A game changing developer is usually enough to create a mess of a game, but this ended up in the hands of 3 studios and 2 game engines.

[Mr Delicieux]

From the pulpy fun of Dead Island 2 to the profound experience that is Nier: Automata.
When I finished that game 4 years ago I found myself thinking about it, leading me to try and understand everything behind it, and I'm struggling to think of any form of media which has led me to want to understand it fully as much as that game.
I'll link to a documentary - and it's an hour and twenty minutes long, so get comfy - which explains it in a manner that would take me forever to express in writing, but what I can say is I wish more things were made like this.
For me, it's a near perfect balance of gameplay and story, where one informs the other and fuses what are often disparate elements within a game, having played so many with great game mechanics but a terrible story or vice versa.

[Mr Delicieux]

When I first saw this game released to much hype, I was struck by the characters outfits, and couldn't work out why they'd gone for that at a time when boob armour had long been called out, and yet, once you play the game you realise that they - being androids - have been created to look that way by design, and how that reflects the psychotic, sexualised hyper fascistic world they inhabited at that point of human history.
There's no fat on this cut of meat.

[hobbes]

I tried it, but got bored. The constant flipping between styles just felt tiresome to me. I'm sure it's my failing.

[Mr Delicieux]

I'd say that it's worth persevering with, that opening section serves as a tutorial - and a bit of a flex of their programming prowess - to the game itself.
What a fucking trip though, felt like a new way of telling a story, and what a story.

[pebblethefish]

It's taken me 10 years, but I've finally bothered to play The Last Of Us.

Jesus it's good.

[hobbes]

It’s alright. A bit repetitive. There are some lovely set pieces, mind.
The second one is a load of shite.

[Mr Delicieux]

That second game is wild. 20 hours of forcing you to kill or be killed, only to turn around with spectacularly misplaced confidence in itself and say 'WELL AKCHUALLY, DID YOU CONSIDER THAT KILLING IS BAD?'
Well yes, yes I did, and good games provide the player agency to play as more of a pacifist, crikey Metal Gear Solid was doing that in 1997, so fuck that game and it's stupid, ham-fisted, patronising message because they couldn't script the game well enough to give us, the player that choice.