I was really surprised by Titanfall 2. Looks like an ordinary mech shooter (okay there is nothing ordinary about that these days), but the story was solid and the level design amazing.
My only complaint is that it’s way too short of a campaign. It’s very easy to beat over a few hours, but it’s fun the whole way through and I just want more.
I really hope starfield lights a bit of a fire under the NMS folks to fix some of their half-finished systems along those lines. NMS has procedurally generated ships, we’re just not allowed to tinker with the procedural generator to make our own for some reason.
I totally agree. I do genuinely enjoy NMS too. Plus the procedurally generated appearances also have different stats so you have to be twice as lucky to get what you want.
Needed a break from story-focused games so I decided to pick this one.
Considering it’s originally a WiiU game it’s surprising how well 3D World fits in the Switch - the ~5min levels are very friendly to short playing sessions, so you can just pick it up and get a couple stars whenever you stop for a coffee break. I only played it casually until I finished the main story with ~210 stars, but will probably to back go it from time to time to get the remaining stars and the work on the post-game content.
Also had a ton of fun with Bowser’s Fury, which I think has more in common with Odyssey than 3D World due to its more open-world nature. It’s fairly short and not as polished as the usual Mario games, in particular when talking about the camera work, but definitely worth playing.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned this on Lemmy before, but I’m a huge fan of the Atelier games, having finished all that were released in the west. For those unfamiliar with the series, it’s a long-running JRPG franchise centered around slice-of-life stories, with a huge focus on crafting - I’ve spend countless hours in these games just playing in the workshop trying to get the perfect bomb, or optimizing iron ingots to make stronger gear.
This one is a remake of the very first game in the series, from 1997. It’s a fairly simple game compared to the recent entries, but has the same relaxing feel, and the remade visuals are adorable, looks like they tried to keep the same “chibi” look as the original PS1 version.
Like most of the older games in the series, this one features a time limit - you have 5 years to complete assignments, explore the world and make friends, at which point you get an ending based on your achievements. Exploring, crafting and battling constantly move the clock forward, making “time” one of the resources you have to manage. This mechanic was always divisive and has been largely abandoned in recent entries of the series, but it’s never really bothered me.
The main thing preventing me from recommending this game is the price tag - at its core it’s a 25-year-old game, and while the improved graphics and QOL changes are quite good, it’s fairly short (I expect to finish it in 10h or so), and it’s too simple in both story and mechanics to justify the $50 they are asking on the eShop. That being said, if there’s a good sale it might be a fun game to pick up.
I have come to realise I like 3D Mario games much more than 2D ones. If they want to make different style of Mario games, I would choose 3D game and then instead of 2D Mario I would go with 3D world style games. Though, there are chances Wonder will change my mind.
I have been following Atelier games for quite a while now, but haven’t played any yet. Though Atelier Ryza is on very top of my wishlist.
I was also interested in playing the Marie Remake, but I didn’t know it has time limits. How forgiving are these limits? And what do you suggest I play first Marie Remake or Ryza?
On Marie they are very, very forgiving. I have more than one year left with Marie at almost max level, max knowledge and reputation, only one item left to craft (the Philosopher’s stone, which requires an item that I can only get in one specific day later this year), already killed two special bosses, already made an Elixir to cure Schea… I haven’t checked the ending requirements but I’m pretty sure I already fulfill some of them.
Generally speaking from my experience with Atelier the time limits are only a problem in two situations:
You want to 100% the games, in particular if you don’t want to use a guide or go into NG+
You are playing Atelier Totori
Time limits in Totori are rough, the only game I had to reload an earlier save because I ran out of time and could not get at least a “good” ending. It’s still one of my favorite games in the series though.
Worth mentioning that Marie also does have an “unlimited” mode you can choose at the beginning, but given how forvinging the limit is it’s probably not necessary.
And what do you suggest I play first Marie Remake or Ryza?
Between those two, Ryza.
Marie is cute and fun game, but it’s lacking in depth compared to other entries in the series. If it was $20 it could be an interesting entry point to the series, but for $10 more than what they’re asking for that game you can get a far more complete experience by going with one of the recent games like Ryza or Sophie 2.
I should preface this by saying that I am extremely underwhelmed with starfield, but I’ve been going back to playing space engineers for my sci fi exploration cravings. Everything i was looking forward to in starfield seems to be compromise after compromise, tied together by loading screens. And the setting looks good on paper but really can’t draw me in.
At least in SE, outdated and poorly optimized as it may be, I am loading into the map once and then could fly from earth to the most remote planet without a single interruption (except real life sleep maybe, because it would take literal hours to make the trip without a jump drive).
Se for me has exactly the same issue as NMS. No story, no person-to-person combat, no side quests. Just an empty world you’re expected to populate yourself I guess. Starfield definitely doesn’t do that as well, it isn’t as much a Minecraft style sandbox. If nms or se had quests and story, I might not like starfield this much… but they don’t, and there really isn’t another space sim that also provides a decent shooter and rpg while having a nice open world.
Depending on when you player, it’s generally a very different game every 2 years or so, but it’s still not perfect. I actually just posted a big rant about it upthread.
Playing Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. It’s sad, though. I’ve noticed my urge to play the game slowly drop more and more once I realized how much of the map, weapons, and music is borrowed from BotW. Sometimes, it feels like I’m just playing BotW 2.0 instead of a proper sequel. Still, I keep making progress.
Replaying Paper Mario TTYD. I really love this RPG and the Paper Mario series as a whole. Really hope we get a proper RPG for the next game in the series, with partners, badges and all that stuff.
I’m also replaying Mirror’s Edge. One of my favorite games, thanks to the setting and soundtrack. It still looks beautiful, despite it coming out in 2008.
Thankfully I have very short memory, and I played BOTW on launch, so didn’t had any issue with that. Maybe you should take a break, and come back to it later?
Well, whatever new Paper Mario we get, it will be on Switch 2. Let’s see what they do that with it.
Mirror’s Edged is that parkour game, right? Where you are running around on rooftops?
I only played BotW back in 2021, so that’s why I remember so much haha. I guess a break wouldn’t hurt.
Yeah, Mirror’s Edge is that first person parkour game. If you haven’t played it yet, I definitely recommend giving it a shot. I love how the levels flow, and I find myself getting a lot better every time I run through the game.
it feels like I’m just playing BotW 2.0 instead of a proper sequel
Really? Sure, they carried over some assets and the shape of the overworld map is the same… but most of the stuff ON the map, the chasm map, the sky map, cave systems, new abilities, a crafting system that makes the durability mechanic suck less, new characters, new ways of earning korok seeds, the president hudson puzzles, the shrines are all different (and overall more difficult, thankfully) … there’s so much new, unique stuff in this game that it’s sometimes overwhelming to me, and I 100%ed BOTW twice. I think you’re over-fixating on the fact that the games have the same engine.
Yeah but some of that stuff doesn’t really do anything for me. The depths are alright, the sky map is too empty, with most of the islands looking nearly the exact same, the caves all have the same look. The abilities are cool, crafting is cool, new characters are nice. I hate everything about korok seeds, and the Hudson puzzles can easily be cheesed to the point that you can use the same solution for almost all of them.
Ah, well then it sounds like a lot of the new stuff just doesn’t go along with your tastes/play style. Nothing wrong with that. Meanwhile, I can’t help but explore every square inch, so the Korok seeds are a nice bonus for that; and I’m an engineer so I like coming up with crazy alternative solutions to the Hudson puzzles and shrines
I agree. I played the heck out of it and really got my money’s worth, but much of that time spent playing I couldn’t help but feel it would have been better if
A) I hadn’t played BotW
B) I had skipped most of the side questing (except for the sky which was the best parts of the game imo) and just powered through the main story beats.
I felt like I had done all the sky content in my first 1/4 of the game except for the [Spoiler Area] which was a real shame.
Once this game is done, I’ll have finished all the main line games except for 11. I’m planning on just doin the main quest line until where ever that ends in the base game (I already have a level 20 something character from the trial). I’ve been playing 14 for ten years so I’ve already counted that one.
Just has been a personal goal of mine to complete all of them, and I’m finally close. It’s just funny it’s taken this long. I finished 4 back when it came out in the 90s as 2 here. I still have my ff2 and ff3 SNES carts in the other room here.
I have only played 7, 9, 12, 13 and 15. I reached around level 20-25 in FF 14, but that isn’t even halfway into base game, so not counting that. I dropped it because of the huge time sink it is.
As for older ones, while I don’t mind retro games, they feel a bit too retro. How would you say those older games are, if you don’t have any nostalgia for it?
6 is my favorite of the entire series so I might be too partial to it, but I do really feel like 6 is the their first big step into a somewhat modern/more mature storytelling. 4 also has a good story, but it’s still kinda tied into this idea of the main characters dealing with crystals and whatnot, and that never really resonated with me that much.
6, on the other hand, has a narrative beyond that. You don’t worry about silly crystals at all, and instead of some vague evil plaguing the world because the crystals got broken or out of alignment or whatever, you have real threats from a nation that’s using magitek technology, then later on even worse threats (and the best main antagonist of the series). I also think 6 has the most interesting characters, and even though there are a lot, almost all of them have interesting back stories you can explore. And many of those stories are tragic. You may have heard about suplexing the ghost train, but the story around the ghost train is heartbreaking. This is the first of the series where I cared about all these characters because they are written well.
It’s just a game that feels whole. Things that happen feel correct for the setting they have set up. 6 and Chrono Trigger are the absolute apex of 2D RPGs before the world jumped to 3D. And another big plus is that these games still look gorgeous because the sprites never get old unlike the boxy, ugly humanoid figures of 7.
As for the others, 1-5. They are alright. 4 is the most important of that group. It’s got a good story, though it’s not my favorite. I think the Pixel Remaster versions are pretty nice because you can set the xp gains to 4x, cutting out a TON of grinding in the older ones. And you can turn off random battles if you just want to get through a dungeon. I’ve played 2, 3, and now 5 this way. I think it’s neat to see how the series has evolved, but if you aren’t too worried about playing them yourself you could surely get by by watching some video synopses online. That said, with the 4x bump, I got through 2 and 3 each in about 10 hours. So not bad at all.
As for older ones, while I don’t mind retro games, they feel a bit too retro. How would you say those older games are, if you don’t have any nostalgia for it?
I’d say 5 and 6 are worth playing even without the nostalgia factor. The job system in 5 is really fun to play with and the plot is solid, and 6 is one of the classics everyone should play once.
As for the earlier games, they are surprisingly decent despite their age but I’d say they are best played as a history lesson to the genre.
Finnished Call of Cthulhu the past week, finally finished Prey this one (I’ve abandoned it for about a year), and between all of this I’m playing Baldur’s Gate 3. Now I want to play again the System Shock remake, I’m far in the game and I think I can finish it without much time.
I’m liking it a lot. I’ve never finished Bioshock, but I’ve played a few hours of it, so it may not be a fair comparison, but the environment feels bigger and more convoluted, everything is less linear. It’s more similar to Prey than Bioshock.
Also, the progression of the player is based on gadgets and weapons, there are no powers to level up by using points.
And with Baldur’s Gate I’m playing a thief which a master on almost every skill, but not the best in combat jajajaja.
I definitely recommend Control, since a lot of games you like have big epic set pieces as well as an engaging story. That game is insanely rewarding if you’re willing to put the time and effort into looking for “collectibles” and piecing the game together. Very cool atmosphere and fun to play as well. You really get out of this one what you put into it.
Bioshock Infinite got shit on by both racists and leftists who completely missed the point of the game, but the ending is the best of the Bioshock series IMO and stuck with me longer than most anything else I’ve played. Lots of big cinematic moments, too.
Guardians of the Galaxy is slept on imo and has some amazing moments, and while the story is a retread of things the GotG comic has done, if you’re not a big comic reader, you won’t know, and if you are, you’ll be jazzed about how things are represented.
BG3 is incredible and the hype is well-deserved. The replayability is genuinely off the charts. Ive begun 4 playthroughs and beat it once and have not played the same game twice. Main story is the same but the variability in motivation, drive, and interactions is simply incredible. It is THE CRPG, and this is coming from someone for whom BG2 is my favorite game of all time.
New Vegas is New Vegas. It’s a shining example of what gaming can be for a reason. Needs no explanation (other than “don’t go north at the start”).
I came here to say Guardians of the Galaxy. The gameplay is fine, but the story and music in the game are awesome! I keep trying to get people to play it.
I literally bought No Man’s Sky while waiting for Starfield. I’ve been playing No Man’s Sky for two weeks now and I just can’t put it down because it’s so good.
Now I’m planning to wait to buy Starfield for at least 6+ months until the developers iron out the bugs.
Trying to get to the center of the universe in Perma Death mode was one of the best gaming experiences I can remember. It took so much dedication and patience to finally get to the end (hit, play the main quests).
And here I am deliberately working my way though Origins->Odyssey->Valhalla so that I can completely ignore Starfield for a while until the hype train settles down and some bugs are fixed :-). I keep my eye on NMS (I was a Day 1ish player) but I feel it is soooo wide and soooo shallow it would just bore me to tears now.
If you don’t like base building, you’re opinion on NMS probably won’t change. I still enjoy it and fire it up a couple times a year, but the gameplay loops haven’t fundamentally changed and the survival elements are still pretty loose. I haven’t played the most recent updates from this year yet though.
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