Helldivers 2! Played the first one a bit but not nearly as engaged with that as I am in this. Bought on launch day and had a blast until the massive player spike killed the servers, that’s seems to be better now as I was able to get in fine and play for a few hours last night.
It’s 100% worth the price and hype but I recommend waiting a few weeks to a month from now while they fully deal with server load issues and they say mechs are pretty much ready to be added now and are just getting polished.
For background, the first game peaked at ~7000 players, this one had 480K on steam alone and that number again on PlayStation this past weekend. They didn’t expect this level of success and so didn’t plan to have server capacity and robust network code for it, they are putting in the long nights to fix it though and we’re already seeing improvements only a couple weeks in
Archmage Rises on Steam. It’s in Early Access so there are some parts that are rough especially since it has generations history and quests (go see SoAndSo in NewTown. How do I find NewTown? Ask SoAndSo, he knows the area. 🤪). But it’s fun and not as difficult as I was first afraid it was going to be.
The UI is decent but doesnt feel quite there yet: close button for shopping doesn’t feel like it’s on the correct place, font size for time of day is a bit to small for my 15 inch laptop screen at 1080p (not sure if changing resolution would help but non-native resolution on laptop never looks good IMHO).
I’m on my first character playthrough. It’s a perma death open world RPG that has a story to it. The story so far (I’m a few game months in) seems to wait for you but certain missions have time limits once you accept them.
The economy and the cost of things…seem weird. Not bad, but not like other games… And I’m fine with that. I like the ability to haggle with merchants when buying/selling(?) certain items.
Developing relationships give you little bonuses (according to the interface).
When attempting skill checks you get a d20 from that uses your bonuses. A 1 seems to always fail even when you get enough to pass by your bonus. I’d rather see the Pathfinder 2e system than the D&D d20 system when it comes to rolls so that there isn’t a guaranteed 5% chance to fail even an easy check but that’s not game breaking.
I definitely need to start away from gambling. I suck at it.
Content warning:
As an open life simulator, the finished game allows the player and NPCs to participate in a vast range of human experiences both bad and good, including: slavery, murder, cannibalism, sexual activity (non-graphic), pregnancy, and religious worship.
Been alternating between replaying Elden Ring on my PC and the original Ratchet and Clank on my new (to me) PS2. Making good progress in both.
Currently working through the last level in R&C and I forgot how brutally unforgiving that game is with the limited health and scarce checkpoints.
I’m almost through the academy in ER. Fixing to fight whatshername with the giant baby and the kamehameha attack. Already beat that god-damn OP knight guarding the entrance to her boss room.
Last week I went deep into Next Fest and came up with a bunch of demos, to varying success. Tried Synergy (promising), Sword of Convallaria (great, but deeply concerned about the mobile/gacha systems), Guild Saga: Vanished Worlds (not great, borrows shamelessly from Divinity: Original Sin 2), and Balatro (surprisingly interesting).
For now, I’m kind of bouncing around, not being able to settle on anything. Might go back to Atelier Ayesha tonight.
Replaying Ghost of Tsushima. I beat it on PS4 back when it came out and started a New Game Plus save, but stopped playing after that so never played the expansion. I got the Director’s Cut on PS5 and have currently finished Act 1 and the expansion and am working on Act 2.
Mega Man (original NES version) - fast paced and better than I expected platformer
Lonely Mountains Downhill - calming and chill mountain biking game
Voices of the Void - silly and mildly aggravating at times but fun once you get into it simulator game
Sam & Max Hit the Road - funny point-and-click adventure game with puzzles that are fair and logical
Skies Of Arcadia - classic turn based RPG with an entertaining story can’t believe I never played it years ago
My game tips for each game
spoiler- Mega Man (original NES version) - keep shooting while jumping forward, keep distance from the bosses, time jumps based on audio cues - Lonely Mountains Downhill - take the shortcuts whenever possible - Voices of the Void - upgrade your server stability stat as soon as possible, use the toilet to restore stamina, buy shrimp packs - Sam & Max Hit the Road - read the game manual for minigame instructions, check each screen very carefully - Skies Of Arcadia - use gear grease in ship battles, use increm magic to increase attack, red and purple magic are strong against each other
Yes the random battles in SoA do get kinda repetitive especially since many of them seem so easy and the game has you going back and forth on the world map with the same enemies that don’t level scale at all with the characters.
I finally beat Grounded - such a fun game. I happily played almost 60 hours with only a few complaints.
Now I’m playing Yakuza: Like a Dragon. I played Yakuza 0 then jumped straight to LAD, which I think was the right call. It balances the line of not taking myself seriously but really being enjoyable to play. I also love how Game Pass Cloud syncs with my Xbox Series X cloud save, so I can play it on the Steam Deck really easily.
I’ve also been super sucked into EVE Online - I played like 10 year ago and it’s been really fun to jump back in.
I don’t remember his name, but I married the dude that was an apprentice to a potion shop owner. Can’t even remember the town cuz it’s been so long since I’ve played. He’s a good husband though
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