Still just a heavily modded Skyrim playthrough that still remains perfectly lore-friendly. But I’m strongly considering playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance soon. Unfortunately for me, the prospect of modding the hell out of Morrowind again is also calling to me.
There are few things more zen than sitting in your ship, thrusters off, in an undiscovered system on the other side of the galaxy. It’s humbling, isolating, and beautifully zen.
Gothic 1 and especially 2 were absolute gems. Clunky as all fuck - especially the first one - but they were hugely impactful on me and way ahead of their time. The soundtrack from Gothic 2 still lingers in me today and makes me feel the way it made me feel even then.
I made some shit ass choices on my first playthrough of ME2, during the final mission. Precious Tali took a bullet to the face because of it. I forced myself to live with it and made more sensible choices the next time around. I don’t believe I lost anyone the next time, but when it came to the Kaiden (accidentally called him Carth there for a moment) vs. Ashley, I definitely let Ashley go boom on that second playthrough and every consecutive time afterward as well. Kaiden is moody and a little annoying to have around, but at least he’s not a fucking dickhead like Ashley.
I got into it a few years back and nearly finished ARR. I found the storyline and cut scenes really engaging, and felt like I was a part of something. But I tried to pick it up and start fresh about a year ago and the bastards oversimplified my class (Summoner), and I swear they even further nerfed the low-mid level difficulty, making me feel most days as though I was playing on creative mode. For those who don’t care, though, the storyline, world and music (holy fuck, Limsa at night and Ul’dah at night are absolutely soul stirring) are really something special.
I will likely try the game again with the upcoming graphical upgrade, but I fear I will always feel too behind on the story and won’t be a part of the entirely new storyline/age that is slated to begin with the next expansion. That graphical upgrade will be huge, though. I play a ton of old games myself, but sometimes FFXIV feels like it’s running modern character models over PS2 environments and grass textures. It deserves to cast off some of that jank and show how beautiful it’s natural world can be.
Have about 200 hours of Valheim logged with my wife. I’m honestly feeling burned out, but she’s still into it, so I’m trying my best to remain interested. I love this game, but we’ve been playing of so much.
Honestly, there are two mobile games I’ve really been blown away by: Night of the Full Moon, and Dungeon Boss Respawned. They’re very polished, very feature-complete games that are on the small and neatly contained side. For PC, Bastion is pretty damn good. Dungeon Keeper 1 and 2 as well, but it’s difficult to get those running anymore. Raft, Ori and the Blind Forest and Stardew Valley are also phenomenal.
I’m sure there are other small games worthy of mention, but I’m struggling to remember them. I usually play large open world games. On that subject, absolutely try Valheim if you haven’t.
I’ll be happy to summarize each of these games if you’d like me to.
Valheim. Just crafted iron scale armor for the first time with my wife and it looks bad-ass as fuck. If we weren’t playing this I’d either be playing STALKER (as usual) or taking a second stab at The Witcher 3.
I don’t know if Gothic 1 and 2 qualify as true cult classics or not, but clunky controls and interface aside, these are two of the best games I have played in my life. Gothic 2 especially. The games offer an atmosphere like nothing I’ve ever played. The soundtrack, themes, and overall color pallete provide this rich and stirring ambience that always manages to make me feel as though I’m exploring an ancient pine forest on a dark, rainy day. See for yourself.
You can feel the spirit of the entire franchise contained within the first two minutes of that audio track, perfectly encapsulated. It was an entire world apart and years ahead of its time. If it resonates with you, then these games are absolutely worth the initial difficulty of figuring out those ridiculous keyboard controls. But if you’re really struggling with them, just read up on the Gothic 1 storyline and then skip straight to Gothic 2. It picks up right where the first leaves off. You won’t miss a tremendous amount, and the controls and gameplay are infinitely improved. However, sticking G1 out long enough to figure out what you’re doing will make G2 far more rewarding when you reunite with various characters and revisit previously explored areas.
A studio is remaking Gothic 1, but everything I’ve seen of it so far is about as faithful to Gothic 1 as The Dark Tower movie was to the books. They’ve massacred it. So stick with the originals.