What are you playing at the moment? - October 2017

[alms]

Credit goes to the Rossignol. We come from here.

[The_Velour_Fog]

I want to give Plunkbat a go. I’m a little worried that people are going to be more skilled now and taking it more serious than me. It is a best-seller though - so hopefully there’ll be a few 11yos running around that I can shoot in the face (and in the game).

I am terrible at it but you can still have fun in solo if you get lucky

if you know anyone that has it, play Duo

most fun I’ve had is with someone who knows what they are doing!

got top 5 a couple of times

[icemann]

Currently playing Tex Murphy - Tesla Effect after playing through Under a Martian Memorandum - Overseer over the past few weeks. Overseer was a bitch to get working properly.

Anyways. Tesla Effect is like stepping into an alternate universe where FMV games never died. Best FMV I’ve ever seen in a game. Good music, great story and gameplay, good conversation system. And puzzles that aren’t evil this time round (they were in all the previous games). Everything I’d want from a FMV game. And I’ve not had to look at walkthroughs (so far) to figure what to do.

Excellent game so far. I love Kickstarter. Never would have got this game and so many other great games (Shadowrun Returns etc) otherwise.

[Tritagonist]

I pulled out the old Logitech wheel for a spin and played a bit of a bunch of racing titles. It’s too bad the genre still doesn’t have a title that combines the lessons of the last decade into one offering, but I suppose it can’t be helped.

Leaving out Live for Speed for the moment, Assetto Corsa is still the most fun to drive, and their implementation of the 2015 F1 Ferrari and its hybrid systems is very fun to play around with. Sadly its AI is still dumber than GP4 did 15 years ago, so I turned to F1 2016 for some actual races. Unfortunately the difference in handling is like night and day, but Codemasters deserves some credit for imitating the F1 viewing experience at least. It drives like it looks, which I suppose is what they were aiming for.

Project CARS is still the half-baked effort it was when it was released, with plenty of inexplicable car movements and a photo mode so bad it’s a small wonder they bothered to include it. The camera orbits, the controls are minimal, the UI can’t be hidden, the screenshots are saved in a proprietary format that can only be opened half a dozen clicks into some obscure menu structure in-game, and best of all: it stretches these screenshots out across a screen and a half so they don’t look anything like what was made in the replay.

Anyway! Now tempted to buy the latest Assetto Corsa DLC packs with the extra LMP1 cars. Those things are fun to drive!

[Captain_Iglo]

Recently played:
Deadly Premonition: More like Deadpan Premonition. The whimsical writing and awkward voice acting remind me quite a lot of Metal Gear Solid. This is a game that wins your heart, which makes it possible to forgive its antiquated graphics, clunky gameplay, glitches and out-of-place boss fights.

Test Drive Unlimited 2: More like Restart Race Unlimited 2. One of the few games I’ve completely given up on in the past few years. I really wanted to like you, TDU2, but I think you wanted me to hate you. I can’t believe the amount of non-fun I had playing and replaying those horribly hard time attack races. I feel like the developers forgot to include a difficulty selection menu somewhere and set “Ultra nightmare” mode as the game’s default setting.

Still playing:
Dragon Age 2: More like Sarcastic Age 2. If you see the game as a comedy, there’s quite some fun to be had. Hawke’s delightful one-liners are made all the more impactful by the fact that dialogue choices never reflect the exact words he/she’s going to utter. “Click here to say something funny”? Well played, Bioware.

[Jurple]

Things are a bit quiet around here. Am I the last one still logged in? What was that noise? Who turned those lights off?

Anyway. I’ve started playing the first XCOM. Unmodded, unDLCed. Maaaaan, this is pretty suspenseful.

I’m still getting a sense for things (what use is that minimap? What’s with the dripfeed of funds? How much risk should I take trying to capture a live specimen?), and getting to grip with the interface (bloody 3D view, bloody camera angles obscuring everything), but I can see fun, tense times ahead.

Other than that I’ve fallen into Terraria again. Skeletron in Expert mode is really kicking my ass. So I do lots of fishing and some bits of engineering while psyching myself up for another try. If all else fails, I’ll take on a non-expert world first. I would like to plunder pyramids for a sandstorm bottle anyway.

And Grimm: Letter Quest for some light puzzling. As expected, I’m hooked by the compulsion of getting all those stars.

[Blackice]

Things are a bit quiet around here. Am I the last one still logged in? What was that noise? Who turned those lights off?

Yes, I think you are…

Edit: Ooh, that worked! I was getting the 403s all weekend… hmm I better think of something relevant to say about what I’ve been playing…

I played about 30 minutes of Slayaway Camp from the latest Humble, and really like it. It’s a puzzle game with a fantastic slasher horror film aesthetic. The puzzles are starting to get a bit trickier now, but I’ll definitely play more if only to see more of the quirky, amusing mini cut-scenes between levels.

[Jurple]

I’ll definitely play more if only to see more of the quirky, amusing mini cut-scenes between levels.

Yeah, I can’t see myself playing, say, Dead by Daylight anytime soon, but cartoon violence really works for me.

[L_No]

I want to give Plunkbat a go. I’m a little worried that people are going to be more skilled now and taking it more serious than me. It is a best-seller though - so hopefully there’ll be a few 11yos running around that I can shoot in the face (and in the game).

I’ve been playing Fornite over the last few days to sate the Battle Royale appetite. I’ve been thinking about buying Plunkbat, but given the performance issues the game seems to be struggling with, I don’t think my pc will run it (despite easily managing other recent games). I think Fortnite’s fun so far, although the cartoony visuals make a stealth approach quite difficult, especially when you’re moving. It runs like a dream though, quite unlike Plunkbat.

[ToomuchFluffy]

Some Titan Quest again. I have advanced my Champion into Act IV. Usually I’m just running circles around Typhon (the Act III-boss) with a poisoned bow, especially when playing a melee-character. This time I tried to do it in melee, which turned out to not be a good idea. It eventually worked out, but I died a few times more than necessary. Also realized for the first time, that Typhon apparently has some kind of Reflection-ability, which may be part of the reason why melee is a bit difficult against him.

I also have mostly made my way through Day 10 of Pathologic. It went well enough this time, because for once, I actually had plenty of time. Usually quests start at 7 o’clock at the earliest and often later than that. This time I could have even started off on 1. a.m., except I had to actually take my medicine and lie down for a few hours, of course.

[Det.Bullock]

So, since it was only three Euros I bought the first Dragon Quest for my smartphone.
Mostly I wanted to test if the touch interface was playable since the google appstore prices are far less steep for the first three games int he series compared to the cost of the Gameboy Color cartridges (III is damn expensive, I and II are cheaper but they have to be imported from the US which makes them expensive too).
I’m almost at the end and while it’s not the most comfortable thing in the world it isn’t that bad either, if after some more time playing I’ll find the controls bearable I might get them after I finish Phantasy Star IV on my Mega Drive.
For the games from IV to VI I have a DS but it seems the western DS version of IV lacks a lot of dialogues between the party members which instead are present in the android version so I sincerely don’t know which one I’ll pick when the time comes, the more complete version or the one with more comfortable controls?

Wolfenstein The New Order on PC
I could give it only a quick try.
I bought it with the recent star deal on bundlestars in a bit of an impulse buy and I was fearing the performance problems many lamented, but at default settings (all on medium it seems) it looks gorgeous and fluid even on my old video card. At the moment I’m the trenches right after the first commander assassination, does it get heavuer afterwards or are the performances in line with the rest of the game?

I also finished Wario Land 3 for Gameboy Color
It was one of the games that my brothers chucked in a box in our garage, one of the few that wasn’t shovelware.
A nice puzzle platformer with non linear elements to the point some say it’s basically a Metroidvania but levels are not directly interconnected though, there is a Super Mario Land style map that lets you go back and forth between levels.
Wario is immortal apart from the final boss which is a blessing for people like me who are rubbish at platforming though the tendency to send you back when you make the slightest mistake in the later part of the game might get on your nerves I definitely NEVER went into AVGN-like angrish-filled rants especially on the final boss, no sir.

[Viral_Frog]

I want to give Plunkbat a go. I’m a little worried that people are going to be more skilled now and taking it more serious than me. It is a best-seller though - so hopefully there’ll be a few 11yos running around that I can shoot in the face (and in the game).

I’m always up for Plunkbat. I’m in the USA, though. If you’re not in North/South America, time zones would be a bother. But regardless, I’m willing to join you for some rounds if our schedules ever line up right! Feel free to add me on Steam. Username is Viral Frog (or try sinnersneedlove, can’t remember if the search works with display name or only username).

Edit: Also, yay! I can post again!

I’ve been playing Fornite over the last few days to sate the Battle Royale appetite. I’ve been thinking about buying Plunkbat, but given the performance issues the game seems to be struggling with, I don’t think my pc will run it (despite easily managing other recent games). I think Fortnite’s fun so far, although the cartoony visuals make a stealth approach quite difficult, especially when you’re moving. It runs like a dream though, quite unlike Plunkbat.

I’m running Plunkbat on a PC with a 6 year old CPU and it runs fine. It does have some hiccups here and there, but I think the cries of performance issues are a bit overblown. It’s also improved drastically for me since the last major patch.

[alms]

I’ve turned into that guy who only plays one game and one game only. What’s the etiquette, should I be wearing a ring?

[Jurple]

should I be wearing a ring?

Too understated. Perhaps a cummerbund? A tiara?

[alms]

What about a ball and chain?

[BillButNotBen]

I want to give Plunkbat a go. I’m a little worried that people are going to be more skilled now and taking it more serious than me. It is a best-seller though - so hopefully there’ll be a few 11yos running around that I can shoot in the face (and in the game).

I was meaning to suggest trying Fortnite… but the 403 errors got in my way and now someone has beaten me to it. I haven’t actually tried it myself, but I’m in the same situation as you.

Things are a bit quiet around here. Am I the last one still logged in? What was that noise? Who turned those lights off?

heh.

should I be wearing a ring?

Chastity belt?

[alms]

Chastity belt?

HotS isn’t jealous. It’s me being very faithful, uninterested in other games, so the ankle bracelet is mostly an expression of an internal state rather than a constraint there to stop me.

I’m second guessing my loyalty. Went on a killing spree, deleted dozens and dozens of games, tens of gigabytes. Isn’t this called apathy?

I was playing stealthed assassins recently (Zeratul, Nova, Valeera) and that post of yours, from back around the megabundles’ launch, came back to mind. What was the hero you wanted to play? I remember it was how much you would have loved sneaking behind enemy lines or something like that.

The most amusing thought now is that, even though I’ve played almost all of the heroes in HotS, I’m still not sure which bundle I would have bought.

[Tritagonist]

Played a game of Heroes of the Storm last night. Team composition was terrible. Two quasi-healers who both wanted to heal, a tank that wanted to go off fighting bruiser/siege camps on his own, and a Nova that seemed determined to remain in stealth throughout the entire game. Not a pretty sight!

Although I get why they don’t allow hero-changing, it’s a bit unfortunate that some games can be effectively lost before they even begin.

[Sp4rkR4t]

Since I got my Switch most gaming on the PC has ground to a halt with 2 notable exceptions, Rocket League (moving to Switch soon) & Atomega. I really love Atomega I just wish it was done by a team dedicated to making it grow, as it is I have a feeling it will simply be forgotten about as an interesting experiment which is a really shame since the core game here is exceptionally solid and if expanded to be more Rocket League like (ranked modes, even cosmetic loot, perhaps themed evolution sets tied to new maps) it could really thrive in it’s own competitive space.

[Spacewalk]

I started on Dragon Slayer IV: Draslay Family (more widely known as Legacy Of the Wizard) with the intention of mapping out the game by hand instead of using a guide. It’s turned out to be a much bigger game than I had planned for so presuming that I don’t go mad in the process I’ll share more of my thoughts on it at the end of the month.