I picked up Starfield on Friday. I’m not very far into it after 12hrs. Been doing side quests and such around New Atlantis and exploring. So far, it’s fun enough. This is the first Bethesda game I’ve played since Fallout 3 (which I didn’t finish). So I’ve kinda come into this mostly blind, which I think is a good thing. It reminds me a bit of Deus Ex: HR/MD, probably because of all sidequest and explo that I’m doing.
Also restarted Triangle Strategy last week or so, after putting it down for a year or two. Had it for the Switch, but then picked it up for the Steam Deck. Been taking my time with that as well.
In FFXIV, I’m in the post-Shadowbringers DLC content. I’ve taken a bit of a break from the MSQ to get the Nier-themed alliance raids, along with the “Eden” full-party raids. I’ve so far only opened two of the three Nier alliance raids, and god are they difficult. But that difficulty means they’re tons of fun. I think I’ve got the first one down pretty well, though I’ve yet to complete it without dying at least twice due to not paying attention to boss telegraphs. The second one is gonna take me a bit more to get through without dying left and right. Prioritizing these over the “Eden” full-party raids at the moment. Did get my MCH to 90 during all the raiding, which means I now my second Lvl 90 class, the first being RDM. Think I might try a healer class next, just not sure which one.
So many of those old adventure games were hilarious. The Monkey Island series, Day of the Tentacle, Leisure Suit Larry, Space Quest. But I was also a kid back then (probably shouldn’t have been playing Leisure Suit Larry…). I wonder if they’d still hold up for me today.
I think I’ve tried a couple times solo, but never really put serious effort into it. So I’d play for like 30min then just quit. I think the bad experience with my friends made me just avoid it. Realistically, it just happened to be Factorio that we were playing that time; it could’ve been any game. And it has happened in other games. The one friend who was the worst offender, I rarely play games with anymore. It’s silly, I know.
However, one day, when I’m bored and looking at my Steam library, I will make the attempt again. I feel like I should, but I just don’t know when that might happen. The picking Factorio part; I’m frequently bored staring at my Steam library!
Gloria Victis. It’s an MMO with factional PVP warfare that uses directional combat (like Mordhau). I’ll admit, I’m not a fan of these games, but I gave it a try since a friend of mine was interested in it. And I do like MMOs for the story content and to see what players can do with and within the world.
It was horribly boring. The main draw of the game is its PVP, but they definitely tried to also cater to the PVE playerbase, but the quests and story were generic and forgettable. I never even got to try the PVP, which I think my friend said was just OK anyway. I stopped playing after like a week. Apparently, the game is shutting down end of October, after releasing back in February 2023.
Another is the first Watch Dogs. I had played and completed Watch Dogs 2 and really liked it a lot. So thought to try the first one. I knew it was a very different mood and style from WD2, but thought it’d be OK. I can deal with moody and edgy. But it just wasn’t at all fun or interesting. I think I played for a couple hours and then uninstalled.
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (or rereleased as Tactics Ogre Reborn), to me, is that modernized version of FFT. I like FFT, but I liked that Tactics Ogre game waaaaay better.
I’m one of the weird ones who likes Satisfactory over Factorio. I just can’t get into Factorio for some reason. Also didn’t help that my friends who I tried playing with it – who all had hundreds of hours in the game – are the kinds to be like, “No, you’re doing it wrong - the correct/efficient the way to do it is this way…” People, let me learn the damn game. I get being efficient, but let me learn on my own for a bit.
But didn’t matter, just couldn’t get into Factorio.
Really? I do enjoy turn-based games, so that’s good to know! It’s definitely the first-person perspective that I think I just don’t care for. The post-nuclear apocalypse setting I’m into. Looking at some pics, I’m kinda reminded of Shadowrun Returns, which I enjoyed. Is that an apt comparison?
Fallout 3 was one. I had just transferred to a new college and was dorming. Several of the guys were playing FO3, so I decided to get it, even though I knew almost nothing about FO games. But I knew it’d be something to talk about with people. And it worked, even though I didn’t get that far into the game. Made friends; some that 15yrs later I still talk to on occasion. As far as the game itself, I haven’t played another FO since; just generally not my kinda game.
My gaming buddies now, who I’ve known them for several years, have the attention span of goldfish, so I’ve largely stopped FOMO games purchases. I can’t keep spending money on games they’ll play for a week or two, or less. Though if it appears there’s some longevity, then maybe I’ll jump in. Barotrauma and Project Zomboid are a couple where the FOMO eventually won out, but it did pay off. We’ve sunk hundreds of hours into each game over the last 2-3yrs.
There was some kinda incident or protest at the beginning. Some guy or guys walked on stage and said something about GTA6 before they were escorted off.
Agreed. I’m in the one of the null blocs, and have been since for last 4-5yrs. I’m not particularly deep into the community, either the alliance or Eve in general, but I just like playing with other people. Are F1 Tidi blobs fun? No, but I’m still playing with people. Logi wing can be fun, trying to get everything organized, and then keeping cap chains organized and going while get melted. I was doing FW earlier the in year, which is ofc much smaller scale, so I got to chit chat and know the regular gang that I ran in. Which was nice.
Compare that to FFXIV, where I really don’t have to talk or work with anyone, other than in instances. A single player experience in a world filled with others doing their own single player experience. Yeah there’s community, but it never feel like it resolves around the game; it’s all just extraneous stuff like nightclubs and stuff.
Gameplay wise in Eve, I feel like I’ve done everything I’ve really wanted to do in the game. After this many years of playing, the mystique and curiosity is gone. But the players do still make it interesting from time to time. Thank god for that.
It’s an OK game. I say that, yet I keep getting sucked into it. Quit for like 10yrs, then I came back in 2018. Stopped playing again at the start of 2022, only to come back again at the start of 2023. I have a problem…and her name is Eve!
Ultima Online. Idk how it is now, as I haven’t played on vanilla servers in like 20yrs, but you basically just got dropped into the game. Luckily, I had a friend who did play who taught me the basics. Otherwise, I woulda just been running around town aimlessly.
Eve Online is kinda like that, too. Originally, I don’t think there was a tutorial (I started in 2005). Over the years, they’ve implemented a tutorial and iterated on it. Or just completely re-did it over and over again. It was bad. Like Ultima Online, Eve is a sandbox MMO, so no tutorial can show you everything possible in the game. But even the basics felt like not enough and just long and drawn out. The system in place today is certainly better, but players are still better off making friends quickly to learn the ins and outs.
Planetside 2 also originally didn’t have a tutorial. I played the original Planetside back in the day, but the games are pretty different from each other. So it was a bit rough in the beginning. I remember coming across the early biolabs and running around the bottom of it for a quite a long time until realizing there were then “satelite bases” which had jumppads to the top of the biolab entries.
Even when a tutorial was introduced, it was pretty crap. Like sure you learned the basics of how to move, and how to shoot, and how to spawn vehicles. But the game is so much more than that. Big parts of Planetside 2 is understanding the map and environment, flow of battles, where each bases’ capture points are, and of course positioning. And that’s all stuff you don’t get in the tutorial because there are so many different bases and the continent are large. Plus, some of that can only be learned by playing the game. Which can be frustrating when a player is dying 50 times in a row while getting a single kill (if they’re lucky), because they don’t yet understand anything I mentioned.
Playing Danganronpa v3 and FF7 Crisis Core Reunion, both on Steam Deck.
I started Danganronpa a couple weeks ago. And so far, it’s definitely the weakest of the main trilogy. I really don’t like any of the characters. They’re all just too edgy, weird, and/or outright dumb. And not in a funny endearing way often seen with characters in the first two installments. I just finished the the second class trial; the twist there was pretty stupid. The first trial and murderer at least made sense and was unexpected. This second murderer, while also unexpected, just had the dumbest reason; totally unbelievable. That said, the game itself isn’t terrible. And the story is just interesting enough that I wanna see where it goes.
I started FF7 Crisis Core Reunion last week and I’m still in the early stages of it. Don’t really have any opinions on it so far. After finishing FF16, I was in the mood for another action-based FF game, so tried this out.
Continuing to play FF14; still in Shadowbringer expansion (SHB). I’ve been taking my time with it as I had to level up a Machinist so that I can take advantage of the experience gained from MSQs. I finished the Titania trial over the weekend. I am enjoying the level of difficulty with SHB; I felt like Stormblood was a walk in the park. Admittedly, I was massively overleveled through most of Stormblood, but even with level adjustments, it felt easy. So it’s nice to see some challenge again.
Also I’ve gotten back into Eve Online after taking a few months off again. Idk; null blob fleet stuff is something to do, I guess.
Not the original commenter, but I did pay the extra $100-150 for the PS3 for backwards compatibility. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have. I played maybe like 3 PS2 games on it. I was far more interested in then current-gen games. I sorta got swept up in the hype of BC back in the day, especially when Sony stopped production of BC PS3s. I literally ran out and got one before they all disappeared; I still have it.
Looking back, the option wasn’t worth it. But we’re different people, different consumers. Our needs and wants differ.