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Just started a play through of Baldurs Gate with an 'evil' group. Have to say I'm not enjoying it so far, although the 'paths' opening up are different to what I normally get playing as a 'good' character.
What Game Are You Currently Playing?
- Thread starter McMurphy
- Start date
Yesterday in Skyrim, I discovered a pass through the mountains (Wayward Pass). As I reached the end of it, a colony of screeching bats took to the air and flew directly towards me, veering off at the last second. It was just like something out of Scooby Doo and another reason why I enjoy this game so much
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- Jan 22, 2008
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Having finished the main quests (at least, I think so), I'm now wandering about in Oblivion, finding random places to explore. It's still a brilliant game. The slightly odd scaling-up of the enemies means that it's not a complete walkover, and there's loads to see and do. When I've forgotten Skyrim enough, I'll load that and start it again.
Re: Skyrim I also like the random encounters you can stumble into.
There I was, just trying to get to the heart of Eastmarch hot springs, when I ran into a fight between a hagraven and a spriggan.Then, before I could cast a spell, a blood dragon appeared, immediately making the fight a three-way. Each going for each other.
So I rolled up my nord armour sleeves, conjured up an frost atronach, and went for all three with my mercenary companion and ice giant friend - like some sort of medieval WWE smackdown.
Took a little while to finish them off (with a bit of potion and healing help - still very fragile in legendary mode!), but ending victorious....
....for a second, as I was then ambushed from behind by a sabre tooth cat - and being in a heavily injured state, got killed in one bite.
When I came back from the latest save, I made sure l took out that cat first.
There I was, just trying to get to the heart of Eastmarch hot springs, when I ran into a fight between a hagraven and a spriggan.Then, before I could cast a spell, a blood dragon appeared, immediately making the fight a three-way. Each going for each other.
So I rolled up my nord armour sleeves, conjured up an frost atronach, and went for all three with my mercenary companion and ice giant friend - like some sort of medieval WWE smackdown.
Took a little while to finish them off (with a bit of potion and healing help - still very fragile in legendary mode!), but ending victorious....
....for a second, as I was then ambushed from behind by a sabre tooth cat - and being in a heavily injured state, got killed in one bite.
When I came back from the latest save, I made sure l took out that cat first.
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- Jan 22, 2008
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Alien: Isolation - 80% brilliant, 20% absolutely tedious.
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- Jan 22, 2008
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Farcry 5 remains entertaining. The wild lurches in tone are really strange, however. Many of the missions are close to action-comedy, almost on the level of The Dukes of Hazard, where you have to save a redneck's dog from cultists in the pumpkin patch. And then the main storyline is violent folk horror, and plays like The Conqueror Worm with hunting rifles. It reminds me of how I feel about a lot of manga: that it can casually lurch from adventure to horror to slapstick, with some random sexual assault thrown in for good measure. How am I supposed make sense of this?
Alien: Isolation was good. I've played it before. The graphics are excellent and the setting is absolutely superb: as a piece of art, design and storytelling, it's much better than most of the Alien films. It's also quite frustrating at times: quite often you just die, and I suspect that some of the physics of it all could be improved.
Alien: Isolation was good. I've played it before. The graphics are excellent and the setting is absolutely superb: as a piece of art, design and storytelling, it's much better than most of the Alien films. It's also quite frustrating at times: quite often you just die, and I suspect that some of the physics of it all could be improved.
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- Jan 22, 2008
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A while ago, I got a game called Sunset Overdrive in a sale. I fired it up last night. It's a sort of sandbox game set in a city after an apocalypse, very brightly coloured and very self-consciously wacky and "punk".
The weird thing is that, despite being made in 2014 and having the graphics to prove it, it feels like it was created in about 1998. Much of the gameplay is about "grinding" (ie sliding along) railings and cables, like a skateboarder except you don't have a skateboard. The visuals remind me of Tank Girl and the music sounds like American "punk" bands like Blink 182. You can outfit your person with combats and flip-flops (in fairness, this is how I dress when it's warm, but then I am a product of the 90s anyhow).
Inevitably, it feels rather forced and corporate, although it does sometimes get the comedy about right. Time will tell as to whether it's worth sticking with, but at the moment it has enough fun and charm.
The weird thing is that, despite being made in 2014 and having the graphics to prove it, it feels like it was created in about 1998. Much of the gameplay is about "grinding" (ie sliding along) railings and cables, like a skateboarder except you don't have a skateboard. The visuals remind me of Tank Girl and the music sounds like American "punk" bands like Blink 182. You can outfit your person with combats and flip-flops (in fairness, this is how I dress when it's warm, but then I am a product of the 90s anyhow).
Inevitably, it feels rather forced and corporate, although it does sometimes get the comedy about right. Time will tell as to whether it's worth sticking with, but at the moment it has enough fun and charm.
HoopyFrood
It's me! Hurrah!
Hogwarts Legacy.
I used to be a big Harry Potter fan but stopped liking them back in my teens after the fifth book and only read the last two to finish the series. So while I was interested in the sound of the game I didn't expect to be overawed by it.
Boy, was I wrong. I. Am. LOVING. It.
It's set in the 1800s (and because wizards are basically stuck in that asethetic anyway, you barely even notice this) so the only thing from Potterworld is the setting itself (and a few familiar names, because the Wizarding world is so small and interbred), with its own unique storyline. I didn't expect to be so involved in that but the game starts in a seriously dramatic way that does get you invested.
But the thing I can't get over is how BIG the game is. Of course you expect Hogwarts, and it's a full sized Hogwarts with all the random corridors, stairs, rooms, puzzles, ghosts, moving portraits and whatnot. But then you also have Hogsmeade, which is a large village full of houses and shops. But then you also have a huge section of the Scottish Highlands full of hamlets, puzzles, dungeons, creatures, and roving enemies. It's MASSIVE.
I think it's important to note that it's not The Sims: Hogwarts. You don't need to go to bed on time (or at all), while students chat among themselves you can't interact with them unless the game allows, you don't have to go to classes unless it's important to the story, you can't sit down to meals with your House friends. What it more is is Elder Scrolls: Hogwarts. I've been disappearing (and making a joke about it, in that teachers must be thinking 'we haven't seen the new student for three weeks...') into the Highlands to explore at all opportunities, but like with Skyrim it seems likely that the main quest will take you to most spots and encourage you to stay a while and do all the things available in the area.
The combat is great, fluid but also packs a punch so you actually feel deadly. It's a weird mix of being very simple with not that many spells to learn, but also tricky in that you can switch spell slots while in combat and also toss in things like deadly plants and useful potions.
It's a really beautiful looking game as well.
Overall, I'm so glad I bought it. Of course it's going to appeal to Harry Potter fans (lots of set pieces to come across, like Peeves scaring the crap out of students, enchanted armour, students messing around with magic etc) but I think it's also well worth the look from people who enjoy open world RPGs in general because as I say it's not that much Harry Potter at all.
Highly recommend.
I used to be a big Harry Potter fan but stopped liking them back in my teens after the fifth book and only read the last two to finish the series. So while I was interested in the sound of the game I didn't expect to be overawed by it.
Boy, was I wrong. I. Am. LOVING. It.
It's set in the 1800s (and because wizards are basically stuck in that asethetic anyway, you barely even notice this) so the only thing from Potterworld is the setting itself (and a few familiar names, because the Wizarding world is so small and interbred), with its own unique storyline. I didn't expect to be so involved in that but the game starts in a seriously dramatic way that does get you invested.
But the thing I can't get over is how BIG the game is. Of course you expect Hogwarts, and it's a full sized Hogwarts with all the random corridors, stairs, rooms, puzzles, ghosts, moving portraits and whatnot. But then you also have Hogsmeade, which is a large village full of houses and shops. But then you also have a huge section of the Scottish Highlands full of hamlets, puzzles, dungeons, creatures, and roving enemies. It's MASSIVE.
I think it's important to note that it's not The Sims: Hogwarts. You don't need to go to bed on time (or at all), while students chat among themselves you can't interact with them unless the game allows, you don't have to go to classes unless it's important to the story, you can't sit down to meals with your House friends. What it more is is Elder Scrolls: Hogwarts. I've been disappearing (and making a joke about it, in that teachers must be thinking 'we haven't seen the new student for three weeks...') into the Highlands to explore at all opportunities, but like with Skyrim it seems likely that the main quest will take you to most spots and encourage you to stay a while and do all the things available in the area.
The combat is great, fluid but also packs a punch so you actually feel deadly. It's a weird mix of being very simple with not that many spells to learn, but also tricky in that you can switch spell slots while in combat and also toss in things like deadly plants and useful potions.
It's a really beautiful looking game as well.
Overall, I'm so glad I bought it. Of course it's going to appeal to Harry Potter fans (lots of set pieces to come across, like Peeves scaring the crap out of students, enchanted armour, students messing around with magic etc) but I think it's also well worth the look from people who enjoy open world RPGs in general because as I say it's not that much Harry Potter at all.
Highly recommend.
Age of Wonders 4 (PS5). Liking the game a lot, very customisable factions/races (large number of small decisions that add up to a lot of variation). Still feels like early days but right now enjoying it. Most of the way into my first sandbox rather than story game, playing as Jenza Mossfoot, leader of the Gnomes. Will shortly be entering the final run (hopefully) to an expansion victory.
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2008
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- 8,072
I'm still playing Sunset Overdrive. Against my better judgment, I like it. It should be really grating in style (I play it with the music off, which helps a lot), and I really dislike jumping games. It's helped by being fairly amusing and light, the voice acting for the lead character (the woman at least) being pretty good, and the loading if you die being virtually instant, with a range of nice animations. It also completely lacks that element of punishing the player that a lot of modern games seem to have. There's no perma-death or any of that garbage. It is stupid fun and knows it, even if the characters break the fourth wall much too often. Also, you can dress up in loads of ways and run around looking like a complete idiot, which I like.
I'm busy playing Rule The Waves 2 in anticipation of Rule The Waves 3 being released next week.
As Austria-Hungary in 1915 I've already fought two wars with Italy and won them both. The second war could have been a bigger victory but my ally (UK) cost me a lot of victory points when one of their battlecruisers exploded due to a turret flash and, to paraphrase Beatty: there seems to be something wrong with their bloody ships today.
As tensions rise once again with Italy, I've been allocating a lot of money to building a couple of battle cruisers with 15 inch guns and scrapping the old 1890s built pre-dreadnoughts that are inefficient, under-armoured and slow. About as much good as an ashtray on a motorbike.
I thought I was doing quite well until my spies brought me word of Italy's 8 new 16 inch gunned dreadnoughts. Oooer....
As Austria-Hungary in 1915 I've already fought two wars with Italy and won them both. The second war could have been a bigger victory but my ally (UK) cost me a lot of victory points when one of their battlecruisers exploded due to a turret flash and, to paraphrase Beatty: there seems to be something wrong with their bloody ships today.
As tensions rise once again with Italy, I've been allocating a lot of money to building a couple of battle cruisers with 15 inch guns and scrapping the old 1890s built pre-dreadnoughts that are inefficient, under-armoured and slow. About as much good as an ashtray on a motorbike.
I thought I was doing quite well until my spies brought me word of Italy's 8 new 16 inch gunned dreadnoughts. Oooer....
I have suddenly had a big itch to play Factorio. Still got some easy achievements to scoop up and want to build a BIG factory.
Could be up late for the next couple of weeks...
Could be up late for the next couple of weeks...
Rule The Waves 3. Out yesterday and I bought within minutes of release. It is definitely an evolution of RTW 2 and no real surprises. Simple graphics and a souped up version of Excel is the best way to describe it.
Although it is essentially a sandbox game where you end up creating your own alternate naval history starting in 1890, it is a good exercise in learning the issues naval designers had to face. Some of the real meat is in ship design and it's here that you can research and develop new technologies and then put the new practices to the test. But the pace of change is frantic and often a ship is out of date by the time it is built. Still, you can always try out your new designs and tactics in the next war that comes along (hoping that you have assigned at least reasonably competent officers to command your capital ships).
I'm playing as Japan where my one battleship (Fuso) displaces a mere 3,300 tons with two eleven inch guns. It's actually better described as a Breastwork Monitor than what we know as a battleship. My protected cruisers only have eight inch but are at 8000 tons. Sound wierd? It did to me until I learned that, in that time period, battleships with their large calibers were not only slow (13-15 knots) but highly innaccurate. Add to that the fact that their heavy guns have a very short range and you find that they're not a lot of use apart from a bit of shore bombardment. The protected cruiser is where it's at. Running at around 20-22 knots, they're the greyhounds of the seas and, with much more accurate and longer ranged eight inch guns they're perfecting for racing in and putting some serious metal on to enemy battleshipsand getting out again. Torpedoes are in their infancy, short ranged and highly unreliable. But, here's the clincher, if you happen to let off a torpedo that doesn't happen to be a dud, any battleship it hits is likely to sink because of the lack of compartmentalisation to stem flooding.
Of course, this is just the beginning and the game runs through to 1970 (it can run further but tech advances stop in the seventies). Waiting in the future are nuclear subs, guided missile cruisers, jets and, of course, the queens of the seas, the carrier (after seaplane tenders etc).
I know this all makes me sound a bit of a nerd (and I probably am) but this is the best spreadsheet I have ever played.
Although it is essentially a sandbox game where you end up creating your own alternate naval history starting in 1890, it is a good exercise in learning the issues naval designers had to face. Some of the real meat is in ship design and it's here that you can research and develop new technologies and then put the new practices to the test. But the pace of change is frantic and often a ship is out of date by the time it is built. Still, you can always try out your new designs and tactics in the next war that comes along (hoping that you have assigned at least reasonably competent officers to command your capital ships).
I'm playing as Japan where my one battleship (Fuso) displaces a mere 3,300 tons with two eleven inch guns. It's actually better described as a Breastwork Monitor than what we know as a battleship. My protected cruisers only have eight inch but are at 8000 tons. Sound wierd? It did to me until I learned that, in that time period, battleships with their large calibers were not only slow (13-15 knots) but highly innaccurate. Add to that the fact that their heavy guns have a very short range and you find that they're not a lot of use apart from a bit of shore bombardment. The protected cruiser is where it's at. Running at around 20-22 knots, they're the greyhounds of the seas and, with much more accurate and longer ranged eight inch guns they're perfecting for racing in and putting some serious metal on to enemy battleshipsand getting out again. Torpedoes are in their infancy, short ranged and highly unreliable. But, here's the clincher, if you happen to let off a torpedo that doesn't happen to be a dud, any battleship it hits is likely to sink because of the lack of compartmentalisation to stem flooding.
Of course, this is just the beginning and the game runs through to 1970 (it can run further but tech advances stop in the seventies). Waiting in the future are nuclear subs, guided missile cruisers, jets and, of course, the queens of the seas, the carrier (after seaplane tenders etc).
I know this all makes me sound a bit of a nerd (and I probably am) but this is the best spreadsheet I have ever played.
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Utterly addicted to Rule The Waves 3. My first foray as Japan at the starting point of 1890 taught me a lot. In a war with Russia, I let loose half a dozen light cruisers. Their mission was to harass and decimate Russian merchant shipping but I lost most of them to predatory heavy cruisers. With so much invested in a flawed strategy, my policy was hamstrung for years by underperforming ships. I found the coming of the jet age a bit of a culture shock so decided to start a new game as Italy.
This time, my ambition was limited to simply controlling the Med. I used my espionage resources to check out other powers technical specifications and built a dozen heavy cruisers with ten inch guns and gave them as much speed as I could. It turned out to be a masterstroke as my first battle against Austria-Hungary led to three of my new cruisers pummelling one of their pre-Dreadnought battleships until it disappeared beneath the waves. My very own Battle Of The River Plate
The war escalated as Austria-Hungary’s allies (Russia and Spain) entered and I found myself fighting against three significant naval powers. This development taught me when to run and when to fight. My fast, ten inch cruisers caused havoc and destroyed almost every commerce raider they found. Japan stepped in to mediate a peace agreement but the fact that I survived against three opponents without having to concede any territory means that I’m treating it like a win. Meanwhile, peace has brought recession and now I need to think about scrapping some ships. So much for the ‘peace dividend’.
This time, my ambition was limited to simply controlling the Med. I used my espionage resources to check out other powers technical specifications and built a dozen heavy cruisers with ten inch guns and gave them as much speed as I could. It turned out to be a masterstroke as my first battle against Austria-Hungary led to three of my new cruisers pummelling one of their pre-Dreadnought battleships until it disappeared beneath the waves. My very own Battle Of The River Plate
The war escalated as Austria-Hungary’s allies (Russia and Spain) entered and I found myself fighting against three significant naval powers. This development taught me when to run and when to fight. My fast, ten inch cruisers caused havoc and destroyed almost every commerce raider they found. Japan stepped in to mediate a peace agreement but the fact that I survived against three opponents without having to concede any territory means that I’m treating it like a win. Meanwhile, peace has brought recession and now I need to think about scrapping some ships. So much for the ‘peace dividend’.
Vladd67
Stake Holder
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- Jun 10, 2007
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- 4,175
Me too alternating with Subnautica.
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2008
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- 8,072
Almost everything I play is off-line, I'm afraid. I often see a game that sounds good and think "But is there a single-player option"?
I bought Space Hulk in a sale yesterday. It's probably alright, if difficult. It's interesting how, despite all the creativity of the artists and model-makers, Warhammer computer games often look mediocre and drab. Yes, it's meant to be a sinister setting, but a lot of it just looks dull.
On the other hand, Sunset Overdrive is not dull. I'm pretty late in the game now, and it's still entertaining. A lot of the humour is a bit obvious, but it's fun and the voice-over for the female lead is good. It's nice to play a computer game that doesn't take itself seriously.
I bought Space Hulk in a sale yesterday. It's probably alright, if difficult. It's interesting how, despite all the creativity of the artists and model-makers, Warhammer computer games often look mediocre and drab. Yes, it's meant to be a sinister setting, but a lot of it just looks dull.
On the other hand, Sunset Overdrive is not dull. I'm pretty late in the game now, and it's still entertaining. A lot of the humour is a bit obvious, but it's fun and the voice-over for the female lead is good. It's nice to play a computer game that doesn't take itself seriously.
CrazyKB
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2023
- Messages
- 216
I still enjoy GTA online, plenty of missions to do with other people. However, if you don't have someone to help guide you through the game it can be quite overwhelming.
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