What Game Are You Currently Playing?

[Foxbat]

There are very few games that keep me enthralled long enough to finish. I recently completed NeverWinter Nights (but I bought that years ago so it’s taken a very long time to get around to actually finishing it).

 

[G.T.]

When I first got Neverwinter Nights, I thought it was the best thing ever (I'm a huge Baldur's Gate fan) but I couldn't play it for more than a few hours, my pc at the time was terrible. Now I'd be afraid the graphics would disappoint.

 

[Foxbat]

The graphics are a bit dated but good enough to get by with (plus it runs pretty smoothly on more modern machines). I enjoyed it immensely

 

[.matthew.]

Me too, I've parked a massive starbase right next to a rival. Our fleets are about the same strength (22k) and the starbase is 27k, so if they ever show up they'll get wrecked

I love a good turtling playstyle... so much so that I miss the old defence stations you used to be able to build

Is that 22k in ships, tonnage or some other factor? I ask only because I’m sceptical you have 27k starbases.

In Stellaris, all forces are given a strength rating. Ship size, tech tier, module layout, etc all contribute to the strength.

Starbases can be levelled up and build additional platform guns to increase their own rating. In either case, these numbers are fairly mid-game strengths but likely enough to seriously hurt any attacking force.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Foxbat, Matthew is correct in his answer.

A 27k starbase is far from invincible but a huge asset for a defensive fleet and enjoy to take a chunk out of enemy fleets by itself.

At the moment the galaxy is limited to my allies, my vassals, and one other power I'm in the process of thrashing in a war. Quite pleased how things are going given by only two neighbours to start with were determined exterminators to the south, and honour-bound warriors (who hated me) to the north.

 

[.matthew.]

I'm currently trying to decide if it's worth buying War of the Chosen for XCOM 2. I got the base game in a bundle ages ago and haven't bothered playing it yet (partly because everyone says WotC makes it soooo much better. But even then, I have far more games than I'll ever play...

 

[Toby Frost]

I thought that XCOM 2 was very good in itself, so I'd recommend giving it a look anyway.

 

[Rodders]

Thinking of getting Hardspace Shipbreaker as it’s on sale on Steam. It looks different from the games I normally enjoy and could be interesting.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Matthew, I really liked XCOM 2 as the base game, and the War of the Chosen DLC adds a lot. I'd suggest playing the base to see if you like it first.

 

[.matthew.]

Thinking of getting Hardspace Shipbreaker as it’s on sale on Steam. It looks different from the games I normally enjoy and could be interesting.

I've looked at that myself but from what I've seen it seems really repetitive and not worth the money even on sale. As an idea it's cool though.

Matthew, I really liked XCOM 2 as the base game, and the War of the Chosen DLC adds a lot. I'd suggest playing the base to see if you like it first.

Well, I enjoyed the first one and other similar games so I'm fairly sure I'll like it. The expansion is on sale for like £7 so felt like a good time to get it... though I also saw I didn't get the Tactical Legacy Pack in the original bundle... and I like the idea of skirmish games to play from time to time too...

 

[Toby Frost]

Bioshock: Burial At Sea, the DLC for Bioshock Infinite. It's the same weird mixture as Infinite - crazed violence interspersed with complex plot and discussions about probability - except this time there's a stealth element and we're back in the underwater city of Rapture, which is basically J.G. Ballard's High-Rise meets the ballroom scene from The Shining. The feel of melancholy is very well done, but it does feel as if the game's setting just allows any old thing to happen.

 

[Toby Frost]

For a change of pace, I loaded up Star Wars: Jedi Academy. It's really dated (being from 2003) and pretty creaky, but a lot of fun.

 

[Rodders]

I played that pretty recently and enjoyed it, a lot.

Yeah, it's dated but as you say, fun.

 

[Foxbat]

If it’s retro fun you’re after, you could do worse than download Risen3D and download the hundred of fan made Doom wads that are available. Old Doom in 3D is wonderful and there are alternatives to Risen like jDoom or zDoom. As for myself, I’ve recently bought Heretic and Hexen from GOG for less than 2 quid.

 

[.matthew.]

I went against buying any new games this month and just continued an older Rimworld colony save. The base game is good and basic, but the modding community are what makes it great.

 

[W Collier]

My grandmother is working her way through Portal 1 and Witcher 3. She tells me what she wants done, and I work the controls. (If you're curious, Geralt stays faithful to, but gets busy with, Yen. And after flying through most of the chambers at a pace that would shame the rest of us, she's currently a little stumped about how to access the weighted storage cube in chamber 18.)

Otherwise, getting a flight sim online. If anyone is curious about learning to fly with X-Plane 11 and VR, let me know. This technology is staggering.

 

[HoopyFrood]

I’m currently on hype overload as FFXIV has just had its fan fest, with lots of new stuff about the upcoming expansion in November, so I’m watching the new trailer on repeat.

I’ve been playing this game for six years now, but I’ve only really been taking it seriously in the last year or so, and that’s definitely thanks to the previous expansion that has managed to turn the story into something absolutely amazing. This next expansion will end everything that’s been going on since the game basically started, so it is huge. Which is why I’m obsessed with the trailer, because it’s the culmination of all of that.

But yes, as I say, it’s also helped by the fact that this has become my favourite game now, and because it’s an MMO, there is so much, and because I’m only just getting into pretty much the 70% of it that I’ve been ignoring, there is SO MUCH. Started my own FC (guild), become a mentor, finally got into healing and found out that instead of being terrifying, it’s actually massive fun, and finally finally got into high end content. I bloody love this game.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

I've become a little addicted to this free open-source game, Widelands. I think it nourishes my empire building ambitions quite nicely

Widelands.org

www.widelands.org

"The game was inspired by Settlers II™ (© Bluebyte) but has significantly more variety and depth to it"

 

[Toby Frost]

I've been playing a puzzle game called The Talos Principle. It's a lot like a serious version of Portal, although the background is more engrossing. It's largely about moving laser beams, boxes, fans and the like in order to access various rooms. It's very polished and has an interesting story. If recommend it, if that's your sort of thing.

 

[Ellizze]