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Animalmother
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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Animalmother » Fri Jan 05, 2024 11:44 am

Ah fair enough, you just don't hear much positive about it these days if anything at all. I was playing on console so have to wait until they enable modding and then for people to start making or converting mods.

Hell Let Loose
Released on Game Pass a few days ago so gave it a punt. WW2 realistic shooter, as in you'll be hit by a bullet from halfway across the map and die instantly. Played one match yesterday and it was confusing, difficult and a tad frustrating. I still somehow got near the highest score on my team and killed 9 enemies. I remember shooting maybe 3 :lol: I never play online games with voice chat on, but it seems to be essential in this. Having a Scouser repeatedly yell "He's up fucking stairs! The Edwin who shot me...up fucking stairs!!!" and not being able to reply may have been detrimental to gameplay :-k

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Drarok
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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Drarok » Fri Jan 05, 2024 12:31 pm

The Entropy Centre after a friend completed and recommended it.

I've only just started this one, but first impressions a very good. The sound, visual, and computer character design is lovely. I'm looking forward to uncovering the mystery!

Cool central device for the puzzles too — you rewind specific objects through time, e.g. collapsed stone columns will re-assemble. Feels like it's heavily inspired by Portal, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing!
Raid wrote:
Thu Jan 28, 2021 2:24 pm
And that's the story of why I'm not allowed near pregnant women for the next few weeks.

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Drarok
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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Drarok » Fri Jan 05, 2024 12:34 pm

Animalmother wrote:
Fri Jan 05, 2024 11:44 am
Hell Let Loose
Played one match yesterday and it was confusing, difficult and a tad frustrating.
Good luck with that one – a bunch of my friends play it, but I absolutely cannot stand it. We call it "running and dying simulator". The maps are huge and you often spawn so far away from the action that you'll have to schlep across fields and hope not to insta-die from unseen attackers.

A good team seems essential – there's a role that communicates with the top brass and relays commands to your squad, which is great when people cooperate. It's very impressive, I just wish I didn't hate it so much! :lol:
Raid wrote:
Thu Jan 28, 2021 2:24 pm
And that's the story of why I'm not allowed near pregnant women for the next few weeks.

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Wrathbone
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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Wrathbone » Sun Jan 07, 2024 3:51 pm

Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader

That was a fun (and exhausting) 80 hours, and I'm left with mixed feelings. First, I should say that I know basically nothing about Warhammer, so I went into the setting blind and wasn't quite prepared for the extent of how grimdark it is. I've spent much of my Christmas break slaughtering people by the billions, and that was with the intention of playing a 'good' character. I frequently found myself making casual decisions that make Emperor Palpatine look tame, scouring planets clean of life from the merest hint of corruption and executing party members for becoming a nuisance. The dangers of warp travel resulting in thousands of my crew members being ejected into space as a precaution became a regular footnote of little consequence. The opportunities for being an unimaginably cruel space Hitler are endless, with planetwide genocide being commonplace, making my demonic playthrough of Wrath of the Righteous and even the likes of Tyranny pale in comparison at the scale of malevolence your Rogue Trader unleashes on a good day. :lol:

It gets a little wearying over time, especially as the only things close to levity are when you do something comically evil. The turn-based combat is reasonable, if a little dense in terms of mechanics and too focused on slowly piling buffs on your characters before unleashing one big hit. I do however love the naval space combat, which is a dance of ship manoeuvres and utilising every ship weapon and tool you have at your disposal in the most optimal way. The colony management invovles some interesting decisions but otherwise seems inconsequential, as does the odd trading system, which doesn't involve currency and is more about gifting loot to various trade envoys to unlock other loot which they gift in return.

If I'm honest, the last 15-20 hours were a slog. There is an unavoidable (I think) and unsignposted sojourn at one point which goes on for ages and is bloody tedious, and worst of all it commits the cardinal sin of party-based RPGs: that of temporarily stripping you of all equipment and then, upon recovering said equipment, not re-equipping everything back where it was. :x There is nothing more soul-draining in an RPG than enduring a classic prisoner section and then having to figure out where each item goes in 20-odd slots per character across 8-10 characters, especially after you've spent dozens of hours gradually gathering and optimising which equipment works best on which character. It's an instant mark-down from me. And the sad thing is that the remainder of the game is mostly a slog of overly-long, overly-difficult battles, with not enough emphasis on resolving the various narratives in a satisfactory way. Even the ending slides which sum up the fate of all the planets and people you've terrorised seemed to bear little relation to my actions, which is hugely disappointing.

I think it's fair to say this is Owlcat's weakest game of their three so far. Pathfinder: Kingmaker was an instant (and broken) classic for me, but I hesitate to recommend it to anyone who doesn't love traditional D&D-style RPGs and janky games in general. Wrath of the Righteous I have no hesitation recommending to anyone who likes RPGs, as it's a masterpiece. Rogue Trader, though... If you're heavily invested in Warhammer 40K, I suspect there is much you will love here; and if you want some grimdark, turn-based RPG action, it will absolutely meet expectations. For everyone else, it's a tough sell. A good game, not a great one.

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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Sly Boots » Sun Jan 07, 2024 4:17 pm

Seems fair to me based on my 30-odd hours into my campaign... I took a bit of time to warm to it initially but I'm in Act 2 and very much enjoying it currently. The major downside for me is the levelling, specifically all the dozens of available skills and talents, which require an A-Level in maths to fully understand (and even then a well-intentioned commenter on one of my recent videos told me I'd been doing it wrong all this time anyway :lol: ). It's the only RPG I can recall playing where reaching a new level elicits a sigh rather than a little thrill of excitement.

But I also was thinking it was probably my least favourite of Owlcat's three RPGs to date, and agree WOTR still represents the pinnacle.

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Wrathbone
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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Wrathbone » Sun Jan 07, 2024 4:30 pm

Sly Boots wrote:
Sun Jan 07, 2024 4:17 pm
It's the only RPG I can recall playing where reaching a new level elicits a sigh rather than a little thrill of excitement.
Yes, 100%! I tried my best to figure out what would be best for each character, but ultimately I ended up just picking whatever sounded plausibly useful, even though I'd little idea what it would mean in real terms.

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Alan
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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Alan » Mon Jan 15, 2024 1:58 pm

Doom Eternal
I'm back trying to get through this on nightmare. I stopped playing for a bit and it took me a while to get back into the ability loop but bloody loving it again. I cant remember why I stopped playing last time, probably just my wandering mind. I'm a bit stuck just after I retrieve the crucible though, mostly because of the bloody marauder! The area you fight him in isnt great for dashing about as theres a lot of stuff you can get stuck on and damn its frustrating! Armoured Manc, Doomknight, stupid slithery twonks, caco - I can reliably get his entourage dealt with its mostly just him and his stupid ghost dog! Once I fell down the well where I came from, found an encounter orb and thought "Ooh, maybe I'll get some BFG ammo from this and cheese him" - the orb then spawned another marauder in an even tighter space. FLM.

It'll feel great when I finally get him but oh the squirming about in my chair, biting my lip every time I die is getting to me.


Street Fighter 6
Still punching away at this. I cant help but think theres prevalent use of macros. I fight guys that seem kind of below average at the ground game but when they land a punch they hit a longish combo that never drops. The combos aren't that hard to do so maybe the just practice that a lot till they get it down perfectly but its just a feeling I get. Still very much enjoying it, still not a fan of the drive system, still pining for the days of SF4...... when there was no Luke.


Divine Frequency Demo
Its a horror shooter made in the doom engine. Its surprisingly effective at its horror but some of that level design feels kind of awful.

Father Forgive Me
Another boomery shooter. I like the art style but again this seems to have bad level design of where do I go next, which of these many doors isnt just a texture but a door etc... Feels good though.
A man who could tell more truth and eat fewer pies.

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Raid
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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Raid » Mon Jan 15, 2024 2:16 pm

Alan wrote:
Mon Jan 15, 2024 1:58 pm
Doom Eternal
I don't think I've ever seen a comment from someone who actually likes the Marauder fights. They're not quite game-ruining, but they really kill the game's pace, and the pace is one of the game's best features. It feels like the devs wanted to put an element of Dark Souls or its ilk in, and the reason I don't get on with that genre is the need for split-second parries (well, split-second-shooting them in the face, which I guess is more of a Bloodborne thing), which is what you need to do with the Marauders. I know they're what eventually made me put the game down; despite it being one of my favourite games ever, I've still never actually finished it.

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Wrathbone
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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Wrathbone » Mon Jan 15, 2024 2:34 pm

Raid wrote:
Mon Jan 15, 2024 2:16 pm
the reason I don't get on with that genre is the need for split-second parries
I almost never parry in those games because of the split-second timing. There are much easier ways to play - parrying is a huge gamble if you don't know precisely what you're doing.

Funnily enough, the only Soulsbourne game where it is a requirement is Sekiro, which remains the only one I still can't get along with.

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Raid
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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Raid » Mon Jan 15, 2024 2:44 pm

Parrying was an example, I was just meaning anything that needs that type of timing, it also applies to dodging or rolling through attacks. I just don't have the reaction times to do it these days, and they end up as tedious slogs of retrying.

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Alan
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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Alan » Mon Jan 15, 2024 3:04 pm

The parrying isn’t so much the issue as having to stay a perfect distance from him or get pelted. With the parry use the slow mo jump+RMB ruin. I find it works best with the super shotty because you can sling round him with the hook and shoot as he flashes. I just keep hitting a wall, a lump or a zombie and die. I’ll get it….. eventually.

I don’t think he’s a bad enemy, just annoying.
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Animalmother
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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Animalmother » Mon Jan 15, 2024 3:13 pm

I must be the only person who disliked Doom Eternal. It just didn't feel like a Doom game and all the grappling hook stuff and platforming was genuinely infuriating for me.

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Alan
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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Alan » Mon Jan 15, 2024 3:16 pm

I wanted more of the platforming but yeah I always said the modern Doom games are more sequels to Painkiller than Doom but theyre still fantastic. I do prefer 2016 to Eternal.
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Raid
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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Raid » Mon Jan 15, 2024 4:13 pm

I generally prefer Eternal's gameplay (although there's really not much between them, I just think Eternal's really stingy ammo reserves force the gameplay loop and it flows a little better as a result), but the setting, story and overall presentation of 2016 were better.

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Wrathbone
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Re: Currently Playing

Post by Wrathbone » Mon Jan 15, 2024 7:27 pm

Just bought Sovereign Syndicate, which I've had on my wishlist for a while, and I saw that the Steam store page is playing our very own resident Boring Dad's playthrough! :o Nice work, Sly!

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