What Game Are You Currently Playing?

[Thaumechanic]

Subnautica was fun. The sequel got a little tedious. I keep going back to Endless Space 2, partially because of the fun captions on the planets and events. Spider Heck has become a go-to time-suck. How can you beat spiders wielding light sabers? No Man's Sky felt like a great set of game mechanics with a vague thread of story holding it together. Give me intricate world-building over endless mining opportunities.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I've decided to - while still running a Factorio, Skyrim, Crusader II and Total War (mega) run/s - get XCom. Starting with number one. I'm viewing XCom-2 with a couple of Yoootubers and it's fired up my interest...

This may be another mistake. As I have soooo many other franchises that are on my harddrive that I need to finish (at least!) once.

 

[Foxbat]

I bought Chimera Squad, XCom 1 and 2 a few months ago but I just couldn’t get into them (which is odd because I normally love these types of games). Maybe You Tube might be worth a visit for me too

Meanwhile….major design faux pas in Rule The Waves 3. My Benito Mussolini class heavy cruisers are no good for refitting. I can’t upgrade the guns (still not sure why my original gun choice is non-upgradeable but often when this happens it’s to do with the turrets).

Where once my ships ruled the waves and vanquished all foes, now they are rapidly being left behind by more modern adversaries. I’ve built fifteen of them and it will be a major financial headache having to scrap and rebuild a new cruiser fleet.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I bought Chimera Squad, XCom 1 and 2 a few months ago but I just couldn’t get into them (which is odd because I normally love these types of games). Maybe You Tube might be worth a visit for me too

Yeah, a couple of Yoootubers in my feed are doing X-Com 2 runs, and something just clicked for me. For complex games, having someone else describe what they are doing does help a lot, I find. Anyway at some point in the future I will be sweating over 90% chances....

....but talking about complex games...

Meanwhile….major design faux pas in Rule The Waves 3. My Benito Mussolini class heavy cruisers are no good for refitting. I can’t upgrade the guns (still not sure why my original gun choice is non-upgradeable but often when this happens it’s to do with the turrets).

Where once my ships ruled the waves and vanquished all foes, now they are rapidly being left behind by more modern adversaries. I’ve built fifteen of them and it will be a major financial headache having to scrap and rebuild a new cruiser fleet.

....I did catch someone starting a RtW3 game in a let's play, so given that you were jumping up and down with joy about it, I had to have a peek. Wow, yes that looks like a beast of an excel simulator . (Nothing wrong with that, I used to play EVE online, and that's just an excel simulator in space!) It strikes me as the sort of game that focuses on deeper mechanics - which will give it a depth that a flashier graphics game won't have. I'll put it on my Steam wish list, in case I get a hankering for the game. (I'll be here asking for advice from you @Foxbat, of course!)

So, state of play of my other "campaigns"...

Skyrim. At experience level 41, because its on hardest settings can therefore just about take a couple of sword blows from ordinary enemies before I have to run to the back to heal. And don't think at all of doing brawls, as there's no way I can handle hundreds of hits while my own punching is still so weak. Doing some of the Markarth missions - never really liked the Cidhna mine one, but taking a deep breath and getting myself arrested to get it out of the way now.

Total War. Trying to complete a short campaign for the German tribes in Rome Total War remastered. Actually quite difficult as I have to take out Scythia to get victory conditions, but they have horse archers and the Germans are mostly light pike infantry. Might lose that one, Egypt usually wins the short campaigns if you are not quick...

Factorio. Getting perilously close to running out of starter resources, needing to go out and find rich fields out in amongst the numerous biter bases. However my oil refinery and related products are in a really basic form, so need to completely redesign my entire factory. Working with drones for the first time, so opening up all sorts of possibilities.

Crusader Kings II: Survived the Black death (in 985, so that's really a bit early!) My King got the plague, but using "advanced medical techniques" he lost an eye and therefore survived. (I know, makes no sense, but I'll take it.) Also almost built out a world wonder for the King. A beautiful garden apparently. In Fife of all places. (I know, makes no sense, but I'll take it.) Eyeing up the rump of England left over, as they are heretic and I'm Catholic, so easy to justify invading and converting them to the true faith. (Under my control of course.)

 

[Toby Frost]

I've reached a stage in Sunset Overdrive where one particular mission is extremely hard - not impossible, I suspect, but sufficiently hard to make the game unenjoyable and make progressing in it not worth the bother. It's also very different to the rest of the game, requiring different skills to complete. Whilst looking for some online help, I found THIS blog entry, which makes a lot of sense to me, particularly this:

"I’m playing an otherwise wonderful game that requires me to do something I can’t seem to accomplish in the given time. The result is that the game is over for me, since this mission is mandatory to continuing the story. The game has ruined itself."

I'm glad that someone else thinks this. I find game design and the concept of fun (and un-fun) really interesting. By imposing an arbitrary time limit, Sunset Overdrive has made its game un-fun and no longer enjoyable. A lot of Sunset Overdrive is clearly designed to maximise active fun (over, say, powerful drama or suspense): in-jokes, bright colours, near-instant (and amusing) respawning if you die. In making this one mission extremely hard, the game has slowed down the provision of fun so as to make playing it not worthwhile.

Which makes me think that games of this sort should always allow you to progress, even if you have to wear some kind of dunce's hat to do so. I remember that American McGee's Alice, which was very flawed, allowed you to skip its sliding tile puzzles, because they were very different to the style of the rest of the game. It's a pity that Sunset Overdrive hasn't done the same.

 

[Foxbat]

I've reached a stage in Sunset Overdrive where one particular mission is extremely hard - not impossible, I suspect, but sufficiently hard to make the game unenjoyable and make progressing in it not worth the bother.

I've had this feeling about many a game. I've always wondered why designers cannot see this. I suspect part of the answer may be in the type of beta testers used - hard core gamers when perhaps a more casual gamer might give a better insight to the problems.


Meanwhile.....
It's 1940 in Rule The Waves 3 and my poor design choices have finally caught up with me. France has attacked once again but, this time, I'm getting wiped out. They have carriers. I can't afford them and rely on poorer quality land based aircraft. They have modern ships with cruisers reaching 25 knots. My, once proud greyhounds of the sea (my Benito Mussolini class cruisers) have poor quality guns and are barely able to reach their design speed of 20 knots. I just don't have the finances to rebuild or replace these ships. All of my prestige gained in previous wars is slipping away. Unrest and anti-war sentiment is growing within the Italian population. Naval blockades are causing food shortages and strikes and my submarines are being decimated by France's superior ASW capabilities. Mare Nostrum has become Mare Francaise and now my spies tell me Austria-Hungary may declare war soon. That Austro-Hungarian eagle would be better replaced by a crow as these dishonorable scoundrels look set to come and pick at Italy's bones.

The government wants me to build more ships but won't give me the money I need. All is lost and if we can't broker an honourable peace there may only be one thing left to do. I stare a the revolver sitting on my admiralty desk........

 

[Toby Frost]

Space Hulk Tactics - a pretty close adaptation of the board game, with some cool first-person camera options. Like the board game, it's very hard, and one tiny mistake can undo an hour's careful planning. Probably a decent game, but I'm not sure I can be bothered with it.

 

[Foxbat]

After my failure as Italy, started a new game as Japan in Rule The Waves 3. An early war with China resulted in me giving them a right good kicking and grabbing Formosa.

They came back a few years later with France helping them. The Chinese cruisers were easy pickings for my better designed fleet (I’ve been studying gun ranges and penetration values before designing my new warships). I couldn’t engage with the French because their ships were just too fast. I need to dispense with coal, secure an oil supply and figure out how to fire up turbines with this black gold. Moving from Vertical Triple Engines to turbines drops the weight significantly and moving to oil helps again. But here’s an interesting thing I’ve learned. The move to oil made ships more susceptible to torpedo attack because the required bunkers for a coal fired ship acted as an absorber of the explosive energy of the projectile. They were deliberately placed next to the hull for this reason. The oil based susceptibility would be negated when bulges and armoured bulkheads were added to the hulls for increased protection.

A stroke of luck intervened in this war and I blundered into an enemy formation in the middle of the night. It was all up in the air but my newly designed destroyers (only 300 tons but armed with torpedoes) managed to let loose and decimate the enemy. I took down two pre-dreadnought battleships, two heavy cruisers and a light cruiser. I lost only a couple of destroyers. A peace in my favour gave me Korea and China is essentially finished as a naval power. France struggles to maintain a presence in the sea of Japan but Russia looks like being the new rising threat.

This is truly a game for nerds and I can’t stop playing it. No other game has been touched now for almost a fortnight.

For anybody interested in early torpedo protection

Naval Gazing Main/Underwater Protection Part 1

www.navalgazing.net

 

[Foxbat]

I need to wean myself from Rule The Waves 3 so I bought Underrail. It’s an isometric RPG like the old Fallout games. It’s received a whole range of reviews. Some say it’s good and others say it’s ridiculously hard and frustrating. The biggest common criticism is the lack of a mapping function. It only cost £4.99 in a GOG sale so if I get a few hours out of it, that’ll do (I’m very rarely able to complete these types of games anyway).

 

[Vladd67]

I was watching a video of Rule The Waves 3 and it was described as a game you could play at work because if you were caught by your boss it could actually look like work.

 

[Foxbat]

Been playing a bit of Underrail. It's too early to say but it seems okay-ish. It definitely takes inspiration from the likes of Fallout 2 but it appears to have a few silly flaws. One that particularly annoys me is that when my character walks behind a wall or barrier, it doesn't become transparent. this happened to me in my first combat and I couldn't see or get the aiming cursor to highlight the enemy and had to spend my action points moving to a position more visible. I can see me becoming extremely aggravated if it continues in this vein. You'd think that, this many years after the release of Fallout 2 and others, the programmers wouldn't be dishing out this kind of nonsense.

I'll have to go back and check the graphics options but you'd think if it was an option, it would be on by default (and I can think of no good reason to want to turn it off). Ominous signs that I might soon be suffering from Rage Quit.

 

[Justin Swanton]

Battle of Amphipolis, a small battle in the Peloponnesian War, using my diceless system Optio.

 

[Foxbat]

I never had the space (or opponents) for something like that so stuck to board wargames. Not as beautiful as your set up but functional

Update on Underrail: it seems that if you hover your cursor over enemies behind obstacles, you get abn outline. Trouble is finding them to highlight them in the first place. Somebody needs an arse kicking.

 

[L-Grant1977]

After a long time, I got a chance to play my old favorite game Ground Control 2 for a few hours

 

[Foxbat]

After a few hours play, I think rage quit is beckoning in Underrail. The combat just makes no sense at all. Here's a couple of examples: in caves, up against kind of giant rat creatures, I can get around 70 or 80% hit chance at a distance with my gun but, up against a sentry bot (which I'm standing right next to) I have a 10% hit chance. I could have understood it if I could easily hit the bot but cause no damage because of its armour but a 10% chance to hit when I'm standing right next to it is just ridiculous. I'm too dumbfounded to even get really angry about this.

I don't know WTF these people were thinking when they created this game. Yes. By all means pay homage to those excellent nineties isometric RPGs like Fallouts 1 and 2 but here's a newsflash: you don't have to recreate all the flaws as well (or even worse come up with ridiculous new ones).

Right now, if somebody were to ask if they should buy this game (even at a discount) I'd say 'don't bother'. If you want to feel the same pain and frustration for free, just slam a door closed when your hand is in the way. It comes to much the same thing.

 

[Toby Frost]

I know that feeling very well! I think the logic of a game either has to be self-evident (ie much like the player would expect) or very clearly explained (and consistently applied). The Banner Saga has a combat mechanic that's completely unlike how a real battle would be, but it's well set out, and you soon realise that every fight is basically a little game of pseudo-chess. And that's fine.

I'm back on Warhammer Quest, a banal, simple but neat and addictive mobile game that I've been playing on my PC (as if it would work on my mobile!), and yesterday I played a bit of Fallout 4, which I think is almost perfect. It's so nice to play a game where you can move around at your own pace, exploring, talking, fighting and making stuff.

 

[Foxbat]

I decided to try a little more Underrail....big mistake!

I went to the last place I'd died and this time I was ready (or so I thought). I'd previously encountered three ridiculously strong enemies (some kind of underground bad guys that were packing guns and crossbows). In the previous attempt, they'd stunned me and took the next two turns (where I couldn't do anything but press the 'end turn' button) to pummel me to death.

This time was going to be different. This time, I'd brought grenades to a gunfight. So I tossed one at them and ensured they were all in the blast zone. Some damage but they were still alive. No matter. Next turn I'd get them, so I pressed 'end turn'. I took a bit of damage waiting for my next opportunity but was still able to toss another grenade when the time came. This second grenade would finish them off.

Wait a minute! WTF is this? Cooldown? WTF is Cooldown?

It seems that, after throwing a grenade, you have to wait three 'cooldown' turns before you can throw another. I bet they don't teach you that in the army.

Sergeant: Throw that grenade soldier!
Soldier: Ah cannae, sir (he's Scottish)
Sergeant: What do you mean you 'cannae', you little jock git!
Soldier: Ah'm on cooldoon, sergeant. Cooldoon, ye ken?
Sergeant: Cooldoon? Cooldoon? That's not the king's english and my name's not Ken. As far as you're concerned, my name's god, you 'orrible little man. Now just throw that F***ing grenade or I'll throw you at them baddies meself!

Soldier *whispers* Cockney arsehole....

Any masochists out there still thinking of buying Underrail might want to read this review

the good and bad of Indie RPG Underrail

Underrail [official site] is a game that wants to be Fallout. That's okay! That's a legendary game for several reasons,…

www.rockpapershotgun.com

 

[Rodders]

I really need to get a new computer as mine is on it's last legs. I'm having a replay of Days Gone and i just bought the Mad Max.

I won't down load it until i get myself a new P, but i might take a week or two off just to play games as i want to replay Days Gone, Horizon Zero Dawn and Jedi: Fallen Order. I also have Jedi: Survivor, The Last of Us and now Mad Max to play.

 

[CrazyKB]

As soon as I get home from work I'm going to purchase the F-160 Raiju on GTA online. Hope it's worth the hefty price tag (don't screw me over Rock Star!!).

 

[Foxbat]

I thought it worth mentioning that Crusader Kings II is available for free at GOG.com.
I struggled to get into the first Crusader Kings but, for free, I'm willing to gve its succesor a try. Anybody wishing to get this should act soon. Limited time only.

P.S. it's the standard edition only that's free. Others like the imperial edition and any DLCs , you still have to pay for. I'm assuming the stadard edition is minus all DLCs (thus giving the owner of the free edition a reason to spend money).

There are a lot of CK2 DLCs so if you're strugling to see it, do a search for it and scroll down. It's at the very bottom of the results page.