Video Games

[Devin]

Having the core game on Game Pass for so long, and then yanking it, has left me in a weird position. I played through the game twice for "free" (for the cost of the subscription) and now if I want to play the $30 DLC (I do) I have to buy a $90 bundle.

I know, I know. It's a fantastic game, the devs deserve my money, all that jazz. But it's kind of a mindf*** paying retail for a game I'm not likely to play again for DLC whose quality and duration are a complete mystery to me. My inner cheapskate says, "Quit while you're ahead."

Damnn that blows man. If Steam is an option, the bundle is $60 there

I hope you get to play it kimg

 

[mbenigni]

Damnn that blows man. If Steam is an option, the bundle is $60 there

I hope you get to play it kimg

I haven't had a gaming PC in a long while (and any potential budget for one just got earmarked for a Helix Stadium LOL.) I can't do $90 for a video game, even though that's slowly becoming the new normal. I'm just not there yet. Hopefully this will go on sale in a few months and I can dive back in then.

 

[laxu]

I complained in my little review up there about Team Ninja tripling down on complexity, with Samurai/Ninja added to all the stance, skill, weapon, etc. etc. etc. stuff. Also:

"The circle that fills up to the left of your health bar - no not that circle to the left of your health bar, the other circle to the left of the circle to the left of your health bar. We have clever but entirely arbitrary names to differentiate them - weren't you paying attention? Press triangle and circle when it fills up... No wait, that one's L1 and square! No wait, in this stance it only seems to work half the time, maybe? And there's a weird delay so that the enemy will have retreated by the time it fires, if it does, so you really needn't have bothered. Oh, and trying your luck has left you vulnerable so now you're dead. Again. Are we having fun yet?"

Oh yeah it throws a shitload of terms at you, and you forget half of those things exist soon after. But that's again standard fare for Nioh. Nioh 2 kept adding new mechanics even in further NG+ modes.

Samurai/Ninja styles really just split the Nioh 2 weapons into two categories allowing you to switch with ease, or do "tank vs nimble" type builds. I think the intention is to switch often since they tied the red attack parry to the same button.

There's a no cost skill you find that allows you to switch it so that R2 is only red attack parry, and holding R2 switches styles. I tried it for a bit and went back to the instant switch because at least in the demo areas there's just not enough red attacks coming where it would be beneficial to stick to the same style over just having a very fast switch.

It took me a long time to get back into the groove of the game, and I still can't do stance switches on Ki pulse the way I used to.

 

[mbenigni]

Oh yeah it throws a shitload of terms at you, and you forget half of those things exist soon after. But that's again standard fare for Nioh. Nioh 2 kept adding new mechanics even in further NG+ modes.

Samurai/Ninja styles really just split the Nioh 2 weapons into two categories allowing you to switch with ease, or do "tank vs nimble" type builds. I think the intention is to switch often since they tied the red attack parry to the same button.

There's a no cost skill you find that allows you to switch it so that R2 is only red attack parry, and holding R2 switches styles. I tried it for a bit and went back to the instant switch because at least in the demo areas there's just not enough red attacks coming where it would be beneficial to stick to the same style over just having a very fast switch.

It took me a long time to get back into the groove of the game, and I still can't do stance switches on Ki pulse the way I used to.

Maybe since this was structured as a demo they had to "cut to the chase" and throw everything at you at once. It seemed to come more gradually and naturally in the earlier games. Nioh 2 was quite complicated by the time all was said and done, but Nioh 3 just piles more on and it seems almost comical at times. The two glowing circles recharging while your ninjutsu is also recharging and God only knows what else... Gah.

I just found the "Resolute" skill last night, and personally I prefer it. I do like to have distinct controls for distinct actions, and changing my playstyle (and clothes LOL) just because I blocked an attack felt weird to me. They managed to make the short press R2 vs. long hold R2 feel pretty good, which surprised me.

But overall, I'm still just not feeling it. Everything feels floaty and death often feels arbitrary. After the fact I tell myself I must have lost track of my stamina again, but all I really feel is: Kind of a shame, since I was an absolute Nioh/ Nioh 2 fanboi. Ah well, alpha. Maybe they'll turn it around.

 

[laxu]

I got to the final boss in the Nioh 3 demo. For a demo, this is just huge. I can't imagine how big the full game might be, considering Nioh 2 was way longer than I honestly preferred.

The final boss is really tough. I have a hard time pulling off parries on it, and it's tough to get in the mentality of swapping the styles on the fly.

 

[Jynx]

Has anyone tried The Alters? Heard it's great.

 

[Devin]

I haven't had a gaming PC in a long while (and any potential budget for one just got earmarked for a Helix Stadium LOL.) I can't do $90 for a video game, even though that's slowly becoming the new normal. I'm just not there yet. Hopefully this will go on sale in a few months and I can dive back in then.

Booted it back up for the first time in years and forgot that I had started NG+

So now I gotta play through 75% of the game again until I reach the point to enter the DLC lmao

 

[Dave Lewis]

My 20 year old son has been a big gamer since he was around 7 or 8 .
I was chatting with him about the new GTA game and when is it being released ?
He then tells me he has invested a shit load of money in it .
I wasn’t expecting that

 

[mbenigni]

Booted it back up for the first time in years and forgot that I had started NG+

So now I gotta play through 75% of the game again until I reach the point to enter the DLC lmao

Exact same boat LOL.

I restarted the Nioh 3 demo and really took my time the second time. Almost convinced myself I was liking it. In fairness, I was liking it on and off, but the kitchen sink vibe combined with the steep difficulty spikes and open world randomness eventually wore me down again.

Then I noticed Lies of P (the main game) was half price on Playstation, at $30. And the DLC was also $30, but it wasn't 100% clear to me that it wasn't a standalone prequel. So I bought it (Happy Father's Day to me), found that I couldn't download it, and then noticed the tiny little "level" badge that indicates it's DLC. Sigh. So I bought the main game. Fine, great game, $60 in total instead of $90 on XBox, woot. Then I launched it and found out that you can't play the DLC without having a late game save file. For a prequel WTAF?? All my saves are on XBox, naturally. So that kind of annoyed the shit out of me since I hadn't really intended to play LoP a third time, and had hoped to play some new content right away. I thought about trying to get my money back... But of course I got addicted and played the game for a few hours anyway.

Here we go again, apparently...

 

[mbenigni]

Has anyone tried The Alters? Heard it's great.

First I'm even hearing of it!

 

[Jynx]

Something just feels sacrilegious playing Forza Horizon 5 on Playstation, but goddamn this game is fun as hell.

 

[the swede]

Has anyone tried The Alters? Heard it's great.

ive been watching its dev, and it seems interesting. For me it depends on how much focus it is on the "inside" management stuff and the whole "manage the personalities" thing. It need to be interesting, not a chore. I will try it probably.



in the meantime.

I still cant let Cyberpunk go... been playing it for years now. 2 times each year, spring and fall.

Still not done everything i want, and there's still different builds to be build and played with. Each time i find new things. That game becomes better each time i play it. Im at the point where i plan combinations of roleplaying mindset with different outcomes in the end... even the ends are combinable.

Just finished a female V, Corpo lifepath, with focus on sword and Sandevistan. Went all in on the Corpo mindset and aimed for the "Devil" ending. Changed the whole game, so different from the other playthroughs. Definitively a mindset thing.
Imo thats the ending that the game is about. All other endings are based on selfishness, ego and love.

Next playthrough i will be a Street kid, stealth/pistol build, no HUD or minimap, Hard.
Phantom Liberty will be done early because this time i hate the Voodoo Boys and

Spoiler

Brigitte wont get away this time. Takemura and the Parade will have to wait.... fuck... even Hellman will have to wait.

 

[hemmelight]

Something just feels sacrilegious playing Forza Horizon 5 on Playstation, but goddamn this game is fun as hell.

Haha yeah it feels so odd to have the PlayStation buttons appear in the UI. But I’m so stoked to have this available on the PS5. It’s cool to swap from this to Gran Turismo on the same machine.

 

[Devin]

Still having a blast helping noobs catch W's on Nightreign

Gotten several wins against the new Everdark Sovereign Gaping Jaw (including solo); stoked for the new Sovereign boss drop on drop Thursday

 

[the swede]

Still having a blast helping noobs catch W's on Nightreign

Gotten several wins against the new Everdark Sovereign Gaping Jaw (including solo); stoked for the new Sovereign boss drop on drop Thursday

I really like watching Nightreign, I can sit and watch my son’s sessions. It’s very entertaining. I also watched him play Elden Ring a lot, more than I played it myself

Elden Ring actually traumatized me a little…. It was…. a journey… to say the least.

 

[Devin]

I would personally take the homies under my Elden wings if anyone wanted to get in to NR

Got it on PS5 and PC lmao

 

[mbenigni]

I really like watching Nightreign, I can sit and watch my son’s sessions. It’s very entertaining. I also watched him play Elden Ring a lot, more than I played it myself

Elden Ring actually traumatized me a little…. It was…. a journey… to say the least.

Elden Ring wasn't too bad relative to the rest of the genre, but Shadow of the Erdtree, ugh. I finally had to throw in the towel. For a while it seemed too difficult, but I persevered. Then it just seemed too dull.

Speaking of DLC, I'm still chipping my way through my 3rd run through Lies of P so that I can eventually play Overture. This is the first time I've actually purchased the Electric Coil thingamajig, which I ignored for some reason on previous playthroughs. OMG this weapon is basically a cheat coat. :O

 

[ccc118]

Elden Ring wasn't too bad relative to the rest of the genre, but Shadow of the Erdtree, ugh. I finally had to throw in the towel. For a while it seemed too difficult, but I persevered. Then it just seemed too dull.

Speaking of DLC, I'm still chipping my way through my 3rd run through Lies of P so that I can eventually play Overture. This is the first time I've actually purchased the Electric Coil thingamajig, which I ignored for some reason on previous playthroughs. OMG this weapon is basically a cheat coat. :O

I thought the Elden Ring DLC was really good for the most part, except the final area was underwhelming. The final boss was just ridiculous though. It wasn't fun at all. I lost track of how many attempts it took me to beat it. I even quit a few times and said it wasn't worth bother with, but kept eventually coming back because I couldn't leave it unfinished. After I finally beat it, I was so burned out because of it that I never played the game again and totally lost interest in it. I did manage to get my teenage son hooked on it. He has hundreds of hours in it and is currently playing Nightreign.

 

[the swede]

I doing the Metro trilogy now. Bought the whole package three years ago on Xbox because it was cheap but never played it.
think I’m halfway through 2033 now, considering the age, it’s a good game. I like the story and mood.

 

[laxu]

I thought the Elden Ring DLC was really good for the most part, except the final area was underwhelming. The final boss was just ridiculous though. It wasn't fun at all. I lost track of how many attempts it took me to beat it. I even quit a few times and said it wasn't worth bother with, but kept eventually coming back because I couldn't leave it unfinished. After I finally beat it, I was so burned out because of it that I never played the game again and totally lost interest in it. I did manage to get my teenage son hooked on it. He has hundreds of hours in it and is currently playing Nightreign.

The final boss of the DLC is really like all the worst parts of From boss design thrown into one.

I also hate how most DLCs of any game try to cater so much to the hardcore players by amping up the difficulty. I want more of what the basegame did, I don't want "more challenging". Hell, even Astro Bot's free extra content misses this by adding just more challenge levels when those are often the least fun levels in the games.