Video Games

[mbenigni]

I did full Motivity build on my first playthrough; basically as soon as I got the Police Baton I never used anything else lol

Might have to try running it again some day....I'll probably wait until the DLC drops tho

I went straight Technique the first time. I think I'm finding that Motivity is a bit easier. (Though it's hard to separate the game's difficulty from however many hours of practice.) The trouble with Motivity is that some of the best weapons are very heavy, so you have to invest in Capacity as well as Motivity as you level up.

I'm actually still using the starting weapon - between damage, Motivity scaling, and reach, it's not bad at all.

 

[laxu]

I started talking up Lies of P with a friend of mine the other day, and just for the heck of it, started a new game. (Motivity build instead of Technique build). I got so hooked I finished about half the game in one day. It goes a lot faster the second time!

I'm still waiting on a good enough sale on this one. I want to play it, but am a little bit put off by the setting and art style based on what I've watched.

There's just way too many games to have the time to play them all. My backlog looks something like this, in no particular order:

• Resident Evil 4 Remake
• Like A Dragon: Gaiden
• Armored Core 6
• Robocop: Rogue City
• Lies of P
• Dead Space Remake
• Baldur's Gate 3
• Dragon's Dogma 2 (maybe, never played the first one)
• Jagged Alliance 3
• Aliens: Dark Descent
• System Shock Remake
• Witcher 3 next gen patch. I have the game, have played it through originally, tried the next gen version ,but haven't started a new game.

Realistically I'll probably never get to some of these titles, and the ones I will definitely play will be just the first 4 on the list. LAD: Infinite Wealth alone will probably take me something like 100h easily.

 

[mbenigni]

I'm still waiting on a good enough sale on this one. I want to play it, but am a little bit put off by the setting and art style based on what I've watched.

You're a PC gamer, right? I'd recommend a Game Pass subscription - even if it's just long enough for to play Lies of P.

I was put off by the style at first, too. (Remember, I didn't even like the Victorian thing when Bloodborne did it, Lovecraft and all.) But the setting and art direction really grew on me, to the point where I found certain story elements very effective by the end of the game.

There's just way too many games to have the time to play them all.

I'm kind of having the opposite problem lately - but I'm really only into a tiny subset of games, one or two genres at this point. I'm sure the Elden Ring DLC will be entertaining when it comes, and I'm cautiously optimistic about Rise of the Ronin? Until then, I guess I'll play Lies of P over and over again.

 

[Devin]

Realistically I'll probably never get to some of these titles, and the ones I will definitely play will be just the first 4 on the list.

AC6 is so much fucking fun

 

[laxu]

You're a PC gamer, right? I'd recommend a Game Pass subscription - even if it's just long enough for to play Lies of P.

I was put off by the style at first, too. (Remember, I didn't even like the Victorian thing when Bloodborne did it, Lovecraft and all.) But the setting and art direction really grew on me, to the point where I found certain story elements very effective by the end of the game.

Oh I didn't know it was on that. Game Pass is great, except it gets expensive when you have really long games or games you'd like to play multiple times. Great for trying out games you wouldn't normally buy.

Like I probably wouldn't have tried Hifi Rush otherwise, yet it became one of my favorite games from last year. It's not too long, it's different enough, has a kicking soundtrack and is just fun.

I'm kind of having the opposite problem lately - but I'm really only into a tiny subset of games, one or two genres at this point. I'm sure the Elden Ring DLC will be entertaining when it comes, and I'm cautiously optimistic about Rise of the Ronin? Until then, I guess I'll play Lies of P over and over again.

Rise of the Ronin early impressions that I've seen are a more mixed bag, with complaints about it being kinda Ubisoft-ish "tons of waypoints on a map" deal. I skipped Wo Long despite loving Nioh 2 because it also seemed a bit of a mixed bag.

I don't usually play that broad set of genres either. 3rd person action/RPG games for the most part, but you can fit a good amount of stuff under that umbrella.

My two beloved "play pretty much everything from them" studios are From Software and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (Like A Dragon/Yakuza). For my gf those are Final Fantasy and Diablo games.

 

[mbenigni]

Oh I didn't know it was on that. Game Pass is great, except it gets expensive when you have really long games or games you'd like to play multiple times. Great for trying out games you wouldn't normally buy.

Like I probably wouldn't have tried Hifi Rush otherwise, yet it became one of my favorite games from last year. It's not too long, it's different enough, has a kicking soundtrack and is just fun.

Game Pass is obligatory here due to my daughter's Minecraft addiction. Even if it weren't, between Rogue Legacy 2 and Lies of P, it's paid for itself a few times over this past year. Microsoft is far more generous with early and/or AAA content on Game Pass then Sony is on PS+, which serves mostly as a reminder of how many games exist that I have zero interest in playing. (And if I do have an interest, I've inevitably bought the game already.)

Rise of the Ronin early impressions that I've seen are a more mixed bag, with complaints about it being kinda Ubisoft-ish "tons of waypoints on a map" deal. I skipped Wo Long despite loving Nioh 2 because it also seemed a bit of a mixed bag.

Yeah, I want to be excited about RotR, but I'm seeing a lot of red flags. Of course, for me, the talk of a parry-heavy design is worrying, whereas for you, this might be a good thing? I grew to like the parry mechanic in Lies of P a great deal, but I still hate it in Sekiro, and I think the whole grappling hook/ hang glider thing looks a bit janky and out of place in this setting.

Wo Long is just a mess as far as I was able to play it. There's the usual "it's too hard (specifically the first boss)" vs. "git gud" debate, but I think this misses the point entirely. The issue isn't that Wo Long demands too much (too soon?); the issue is that it doesn't present anything of substance to compel the player to invest in the game in the first place. It's just a handful of (ironically) too easy fights that don't teach you anything, directly into an abusive relationship with a boss the game hasn't trained you to defeat. And all of the writing and "acting" up to and including that boss is so bad I considered playing with the volume turned down.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Game Pass is obligatory here due to my daughter's Minecraft addiction. Even if it weren't, between Rogue Legacy 2 and Lies of P, it's paid for itself a few times over this past year. Microsoft is far more generous with early and/or AAA content on Game Pass then Sony is on PS+, which serves mostly as a reminder of how many games exist that I have zero interest in playing. (And if I do have an interest, I've inevitably bought the game already.)


Yeah, I want to be excited about RotR, but I'm seeing a lot of red flags. Of course, for me, the talk of a parry-heavy design is worrying, whereas for you, this might be a good thing? I grew to like the parry mechanic in Lies of P a great deal, but I still hate it in Sekiro, and I think the whole grappling hook/ hang glider thing looks a bit janky and out of place in this setting.

Wo Long is just a mess as far as I was able to play it. There's the usual "it's too hard (specifically the first boss)" vs. "git gud" debate, but I think this misses the point entirely. The issue isn't that Wo Long demands too much (too soon?); the issue is that it doesn't present anything of substance to compel the player to invest in the game in the first place. It's just a handful of (ironically) too easy fights that don't teach you anything, directly into an abusive relationship with a boss the game hasn't trained you to defeat. And all of the writing and "acting" up to and including that boss is so bad I considered playing with the volume turned down.

Not a gamer, really; at all. But it's nice when a subscription actually works out to be a good deal and you use the darn thing!

 

[laxu]

Game Pass is obligatory here due to my daughter's Minecraft addiction. Even if it weren't, between Rogue Legacy 2 and Lies of P, it's paid for itself a few times over this past year. Microsoft is far more generous with early and/or AAA content on Game Pass then Sony is on PS+, which serves mostly as a reminder of how many games exist that I have zero interest in playing. (And if I do have an interest, I've inevitably bought the game already.)

Yeah Game Pass is definitely a much better service. I recommend giving Hifi Rush a go if it's still on there. It's a bit more similar to e.g Devil May Cry games in how it plays, but I don't generally like those (awful level design) but ended up liking Hifi Rush.

Yeah, I want to be excited about RotR, but I'm seeing a lot of red flags. Of course, for me, the talk of a parry-heavy design is worrying, whereas for you, this might be a good thing? I grew to like the parry mechanic in Lies of P a great deal, but I still hate it in Sekiro, and I think the whole grappling hook/ hang glider thing looks a bit janky and out of place in this setting.

For me games with a satisfying parry system are definitely a plus.

I don't really love Sekiro in this respect because it's so heavily based on parrying that you don't really have a lot of other options in the game as dodging as an alternative often doesn't work and you have relatively few moves in the first place. A couple of the bosses feel very grindy because of this as you can't really break their blocks by attacking.

From Software's other titles, except Bloodborne, require so specific timings that you pretty much need to have a small shield to give you the largest parry window. Even then the rules for what attacks can be parried are often not super clear. Two handed attacks can't be parried, but otherwise it is mainly consistent with knights and human sized enemies that have the clearest windups to their attacks. Bloodborne makes it much safer to try it out because you can parry an enemy further away with a gun shot, just can't get the special attack unless you are up close.

God of War has an incredibly satisfying feel to its parries, so does Nioh 2.

 

[mbenigni]

From Software's other titles, except Bloodborne, require so specific timings that you pretty much need to have a small shield to give you the largest parry window. Even then the rules for what attacks can be parried are often not super clear. Two handed attacks can't be parried, but otherwise it is mainly consistent with knights and human sized enemies that have the clearest windups to their attacks. Bloodborne makes it much safer to try it out because you can parry an enemy further away with a gun shot, just can't get the special attack unless you are up close.

God of War has an incredibly satisfying feel to its parries, so does Nioh 2.

I suspect you might grow to like the parry feel in Lies of P, as well. It's less "all or nothing" than Sekiro, where there are almost no other options, and a failure to press whichever button at precisely the right time often means you've lost the battle. In Lies of P, the parry mechanic is just enough to encourage you to stay engaged at close range and lend a "physicality" to melee combat. Whereas in Souls games I will often tend to play things safe with ranged weapons and/or shields.

 

[DrewJD82]

I’ve realized in the last few days of playing Assassin’s Creed Odyssey that parrying is something some developers don’t give a fuck about.

In God Of War you could actually parry and use all the fighting techniques in a planned out/methodical way. With Assassin’s it’s more like “Lemme push these buttons hoping it’s going to work but make sure I have room to run when it doesn’t”

 

[Aelred]

A couple of days until Dragon's Dogma 2. I'll be using Asmongold as my pawn.

 

[PLX]

Just picked this up at the Goodwill store..

 

[mbenigni]

A couple of days until Dragon's Dogma 2. I'll be using Asmongold as my pawn.

It's getting such good reviews, I'm starting to get curious... despite not really loving the first game. (More accurately, I barely remember it. I have vague flashbacks of various locations in the game. A wide enough variety to suggest I played quite a bit of it.)

Meanwhile, everything I'm reading about Rise of the Ronin is scaring me off: open world with endless map markers and collectibles, single button combat, more or less obligatory parrying, etc.

 

[Jynx]

Between Dragon's Dogma 2 getting terrible user reviews today and Rise of the Ronin getting tepid reviews... Maybe I should start finishing the games I already have but have abandoned for the next shiny thing. I have BG3, The Talos Priniciple 2, and Unicorn Overlord all sitting half-finished on PC.

 

[mbenigni]

Between Dragon's Dogma 2 getting terrible user reviews today and Rise of the Ronin getting tepid reviews... Maybe I should start finishing the games I already have but have abandoned for the next shiny thing. I have BG3, The Talos Priniciple 2, and Unicorn Overlord all sitting half-finished on PC.

I’ll have to check out some user reviews for DD2. It seemed like all the critic reviews were written by critics who adored DD1… and that ain’t me. :)

Meanwhile, BG3 should take you about 5 years to complete, by which time DD2 and RotR will be free.

 

[laxu]

Between Dragon's Dogma 2 getting terrible user reviews today and Rise of the Ronin getting tepid reviews... Maybe I should start finishing the games I already have but have abandoned for the next shiny thing. I have BG3, The Talos Priniciple 2, and Unicorn Overlord all sitting half-finished on PC.

The best thing is to always wait rather than buy something straight at release.

Dragon's Dogma 2 seems particularly terrible though. Abysmal performance on both consoles and PC, single save file so you can't start a new game with a new character - in a RPG. That's just insane. I hope they can fix that nonsense.

 

[Mongillo19]

The best thing is to always wait rather than buy something straight at release.

Dragon's Dogma 2 seems particularly terrible though. Abysmal performance on both consoles and PC, single save file so you can't start a new game with a new character - in a RPG. That's just insane. I hope they can fix that nonsense.

Alot of the negative reviews are due micro transactions in a single player $70 game also

 

[JiveTurkey]

Been rolling hard on Cookie Jam

 

[laxu]

Alot of the negative reviews are due micro transactions in a single player $70 game also

Oh yeah that too. Companies really need to keep MBAs away from all media, don't they? Or else they'll try to shoehorn in microtransactions or some other BS.

 

[maguchi]

Use to play Galaga and Ms Pac Man in this little nightclub around the corner from where I lived in the '80s. They had those games built into a few of the small tables where you'd sit with your drink. So I'd go in there during the day when it was quiet, pay $1.75 + tip for a white Russian and play those games. I was high score on all the Galaga games in my hood.