I have one season objective left for Diablo 3: Season 30, and it's to complete another conquest. All three that I have left are driving me nuts because I just am not fast enough and/or get bad layouts. But I still have another month or so left before the end of the season, so I might be ok.
I finished my first run of Dead Space (2023), and it is absolutely amazing. I could rant on and on about it, but for the sake of sanity I'll just say, this is probably one of the best and most faithful remakes of a game I have ever played. They lift so much from the original, and every change in the story only adds to it, or makes it better. Plus, while I understand that the original never intended Isaac to talk, I love that they gave him his voice (with the same VA from 2&3, I might add, which makes it even better imo). It makes him seem more like a part of the Kellion crew rather than just some dude running around being told what to do. It's all just chef's kiss.
For this next week, I think I might find a quick one/two night game before I go into ng+ for Dead Space '23. I need a breather before I reboard the Ishimura.
Alpha Protocol. A spy RPG released by Obsidian. I’ve only really gotten past the tutorial so far and I have no idea if I’m going to enjoy it. It uses the Fallout 4/LA Noire style dialogue system where you don’t really know what your character is going to say that I really hate.
That game is worth putting up with its jank. You may not know exactly what the character is going to say, but each option is always channeling either James Bond, Jack Bauer, or Jason Bourne.
So far it’s been pretty good. I find the patrols NPCs do a little odd. Kind of jerky and I can never really tell if they are going to see me. There haven’t been a lot of super unexpected outbursts from the protagonist thankfully so I feel like you might be right. Everything has been pretty subtle. I’m not choosing the Aggressive option and just having the protagonist responding with “Fuck you”.
I'm going through some more of The Outer Worlds. Still really enjoying it. It's got a good pace to it.
Palworld is still my second screen game for podcasts and such. It needs some tweaking in the progression, but I'm at the point now where I can expand to additional bases.
I picked up Penny's Big Breakaway. It feels great to play. The boss fights are really interesting. This could and should have been one of the best platformers I've ever played, and maybe it still is, but some bugs and jank occasionally get in the way. If you're swinging from your yo-yo and hit a wall, you're supposed to do a small climbing animation, but it doesn't always work. Sometimes when riding your yo-yo, you'll kind of just skip and jump off with poor feedback for why. Sometimes you get stuck in a wall. The design for air dashing by pressing the button twice can often get eaten by other inputs, and that doesn't feel great. The bugs and jank are not the most prevalent part of the experience, but they happen enough to bring down my opinion of the game a peg or two. I'd highly recommend this game, but maybe wait a few months for a couple of patches.
My friends and I beat the main campaign of Quake II in co-op. It's much faster in co-op and with the compass feature than they intended, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Next we'll move on to the expansions.
Still labbing some stuff in Skullgirls for my Combo Breaker grind. It's painful going through replays for my losses, but it's necessary, and I took good notes.
I had been dipping my toes into the waters of loot games with Titan Quest, and I think I'm at the point now where I can say I see the appeal with the genre and I'll stick with it. For this game in particular, I do wish the bosses were more involved, because they don't really hit a crescendo that a boss fight should have. Due to what defensive options the game gives you and doesn't give you, they often just end up being running away from the guy in a circle until you can land some hits. Still, it's fun. After this game, I might check out the sequel, Grim Dawn, or V Rising.
I did finish it. Liked it, really enjoyed the presentation. There was a bit of abstract in the ending, which isn't really my bag, but I'm on board for the sequel.
Did you end up playing around anything further with the combat and the combos? I ended up really enjoying fighting in the game, I just wish the bosses were a little more refined maybe. The feeling of being in sync with the voices and dodging instinctively when they yell a warning is really cool, and unlike any other game I’ve played.
The ending didn’t click for me immediately either, but I ended up replaying it and giving it some more thought and I think I get what they’re going for. Really looking forward to the sequel.
And sorry again that I spoiled that trial! I hope you enjoyed it anyway, it’s still my favourite part I think.
No worries. I was not really able to deduce any more depth out of the combat, really. There were some defensive options that seem to always cancel into offense options to feel snappier, but I think it was really a matter of what the game bothered to teach me and what I needed to do in order to make it through the game. If they want to make it a priority on the sequel, I trust them to know how to do that.
Yeah, the combat has some depth to it but it’s never really explained nor needed. I guess the only truly useful one is the melee button pommel smash after a parry which stuns the enemy for like 15 seconds, very useful against the horde fights. I liked playing around with it and the animations and combos are satisfying, but that’s about it.
They had enough of a foundation there though that I’m hopeful for the sequel.
Halls Of Torment. It’s a simple game on the surface, but has some surprising depth I wasn’t expecting that I like. Plus when you do a completely broken build and your frame rate drops because of all the damage your causing to the entire screen, it makes me laugh.
Plus killing the skeletons makes the most satisfying crunchy sound. Similar satisfaction to Vampire Survivors when you have enough garlic to “pop” enemies by walking into them.
Probably Civilization V (with the difficulty set below maximum so you’re not too restricted and don’t have to play so sweaty). I like just seeing whatever the Planet Simulator map spits out, putz around with half my brain turned off, trying out niche civs and basically just playing it like solitaire.
I don’t play it even every week anymore, but when I need some distraction and relaxation that’s a comfort game go-to.
West of Loathing. The RPG stuff is great and the comedy is great but really the main strength is I just enjoy reading its dialogue. The vocabulary and sentence construction have a real sincerity for the setting contrasted against the silliness of the rest of it that makes both parts hit harder.
Similarly, the first three Monkey Island games which achieve that same injection of the heartfelt into the wacky by way of their gorgeous art and music.
But as far as the joy of just doing something it’s hard to beat the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games, to just be dropped into a level and be told “do cool stuff for a while”.
Factorio without bitters. The music of desolance, alone on the planet trying to get efficient so you can leave and go home. I don’t know why it is so relaxing, but it is… just having time to plan and build exactly what you had in mind is bliss.
On the other hand if you want some adrenaline, play bitters in deathworld.
Factorio has this thing where if I play it while listening to a podcast or audiobook they use up exactly 100% of my focus. No less, I can’t think of anything else. But also no more, I never get tired. It’s a very specific form of relaxation for me; where I feel like I’m existing “just right”.
Exactly what I do. I use Angels and Bobs mods for a huge amount of stuff to do, loads of trains (almost 1,000 in my current playthrough!), and loads of stuff to build.
I always say that the Mad Max video game is my comfort game, and it's very much true. For me there's just something so relaxing and enjoyable about just driving across the wasteland, going from site to site gathering scrap and taking down camps. It always puts me in a better mood.
Return to Grace! It’s a short AWESOME sci-fi adventure in FPS perspective but no fights, no hard puzzles, the controls are very well explained and quite basic.
I haven’t seen anyone mention Mirror’s Edge yet! The free running (especially in the first game) is such a unique and rewarding experience. A little janky and frustrating sometimes but when it clicks it just feels so good
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