What Game Are You Currently Playing?

[Bugg]

That was exactly how I felt about it, too, even with all the work that's been done on it since launch. One of the most irritating games I've played in recent years, it's just not enjoyable for me. I found Starlink more fun, tbh.

 

[Toby Frost]

One thing I've realised about games is that I don't want to have to be continually topping up the petrol tank in any way. I even felt this with weapon damage in Fallout 3, that the game was effectively penalising me for being in it. I want to be able to accept the challenges that the game offers and do them in my own time. I will get the greatest enjoyment out of it if I'm given the opportunity to explore it at my own pace, without pointless diversions to collect more fuel.

I'm quite interested in the way that games (computer and otherwise) work, and one thing I've come to notice is the introduction of mechanics that make the game more complex or give the player something new to do, but actually reduce the amount of fun that the game delivers.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Toby, I like Kingdom Come Deliverance a lot (being into history) but one thing, since patched, that bugged me was the lack of an exit save and saving only being possible by sleeping or using a special potion. It's not that hard to game (plenty of inns about) but it just added a bit of hassle for no real benefit.

I agree on weapon durability, something that also featured in Oblivion. Another realism aspect that can make things worse is the shift from Oblivion to Skyrim of paths and mountains. They're far more realistic in the latter, but that also constrains movement, whereas in Oblivion you could go anyway you liked and crab hop up a mountainside, making exploration easier and increasing the number of locations you might find that way.

I think that more sophisticated difficulty/gameplay settings is the way to go, so you can toggle things on or off as you like. Easier for some stuff (like fast travel) than others, of course.

 

[Toby Frost]

Yes, I think that probably is the only way to do it. Years ago, I played a bit of World of Warcraft, and again, I got the feeling that the designers had confused the amount of time players spent in the game with the amount of enjoyment they got out of it. Last week, some friends and I played a board game called Gloomhaven, which is a sort of Heroquest-type dungeon exploration thing. The main feeling I had was of unnecessary complexity. Every mechanic (moving, fighting, picking things up etc) seemed to have a little sub-game linked to it, which was clever but completely unnecessary, and removed the sense of exploration and moving forward that those games need to have. Presumably there are people out there who find these annoyances actually benefit the game – but I can’t see it.

(As a complete aside, almost everyone in Dragon's Dogma seems to sound just like Brienne of Tarth.)

 

[Bugg]

Speaking as someone who loves JRPGs, the amount of different complex systems, busywork, grinding, the complete disrespect many of them have for the player's time is quite mind-boggling, and this has only got worse in recent years. Most of them now require 100+ hours to complete. And I have to say, I think open world, sandbox and MMO games are largely to blame. They've encouraged this form of gameplay where chasing down icons on a map is more important than direction or story, it seems to me anyway.

 

[thaddeus6th]

The Dragon Age series went backwards with this too. The side-quests in Origins were relatively few in number and many were at least somewhat interesting. In Inquisition, it was all shopping lists and busy-work.

It's an interesting step that Obsidian have taken with The Outer Worlds to make it relatively short (say, 30 hours).

 

[Toby Frost]

Speaking as someone who loves JRPGs, the amount of different complex systems, busywork, grinding, the complete disrespect many of them have for the player's time is quite mind-boggling, and this has only got worse in recent years.

I agree. Another problem with this is that it becomes increasingly difficult to tell whether you're making a good job of playing the game. When the decision to be taken between Armour X or Y with Hat A or B, I just tend to stick whichever looks more entertaining, which defeats the object.

To me - and I may be being an old fart here - RPGs offer the opportunity to explore and have adventures that, while exciting, are safe. I'm unlikely to have the money to go to the Grand Canyon and I'm certainly not going to be able to fly a spaceship down it - but on a computer, I can do something a bit like that. The introduction of tedious minutia weakens that, and I think that is a huge problem with No Man's Sky.

 

[Bugg]

I agree. Another problem with this is that it becomes increasingly difficult to tell whether you're making a good job of playing the game. When the decision to be taken between Armour X or Y with Hat A or B, I just tend to stick whichever looks more entertaining, which defeats the object.

Yes, and a lot of it seems to go along with the completionist mindset that comes along with achievements/trophies, too. For me, I like games that have story and characters (and good gameplay, of course) and, once I've finished the story, then I'm happy, done with it, and can move on. The endless search for a particular type of some completely irrelevant thing just to get an achievement doesn't interest me at all. I'm happy to say that I've never got 100% on any game. I think the closest I've got was 80% on Horizon Zero Dawn.

This is possibly why I am so enamoured with Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, because it is has a brilliant story and quite wonderful characters to match the engaging gameplay. It's a JRPG that doesn't require grinding to progress. If you hit a battle and you die the game just puts you back at the start of said battle and automatically adjusts the difficulty (this can be turned off in the options, for those who don't like that sort of thing). It doesn't punish you at all. But the fact that the developers just want the player to enjoy the experience first and foremost, in whatever way they please, is a revelation.

 

[Happy Joe]

Was surfing the web (not looking for anything in particular) and just found out that there is a new (last year) expansion to Titan Quest called Titan Quest Ragnarok... since titan quest Anniversary edition (a prerequisite) is still on this machine I figure that I will order the expansion (along with, perhaps, Grim Dawn) From Good Old Games (GOG).
2 games (Grim Dawn is on sale) for less than $30... not bad!
Has anyone played these?

Enjoy!

 

[Bugg]

Never finished Titan Quest but really liked it.

I'm into the final chapter of Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC, which I guess means I have about 10 - 15 hours to go. Such a great game. I already have the other games in the Sky trilogy, and the first two in the Trails of Cold Steel quartet, plus I've got the Japanese versions of the linking Crossbell duology, which has never been released in the West, but there's a fan translation available which I've patched into both games. It's recommended to play the games in order (Sky trilogy, Crossbell duology, Cold Steel quartet) as the stories are all linked and characters from one go on to appear in others etc etc. Going to be a long haul!

 

[Overread]

I never liked Titan Quest - the combat felt a little "flat" (a bit like the early Divinity games) and the maps were very linear. That worked in Dungeon Siege (much older) and Torchlight at least added some random elements to map creation - but by and large Titan Quest was just one long road through Greece.

Grim Dawn though is fantastic fun and possibly rising to become second to the great Diablo 2 (which still rules!). The maps are fixed, but I've personally found them to be a lot of fun. They are more sprawling and filled with hidden bits so they don't get that "rail roads" feel. The character classes are varied and fun to play as and the option to merge two classes (like in Titan Quest) works well to provide variety. There's also a third layer of abilities in their constellation system which lets you get at a few more abilities and bonuses for combat.
They've also added a way in which you can use an illusion ability on your equipment, which at a practical level means once you've found an item of a certain look you can recreate it on different items of the same type. This means you can keep chasing the best stats without sacrificing looks. Though it suffers from the same thing that most "generic central character" hack and slash games suffer from which is that your heroes (male and female) end up looking much the same once armoured. Granted they've some creative armour sets, but its not like the old Diablo 2 where the sorceress and all her gear was visually distinct from the barbarian.
Grim Dawn is well worth it and, like I said, I'd rank it second to Diablo 2 (followed fast by Torchlight series).

 

[Bugg]

I'm almost at the end of Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC. Hands down one of my favourite JRPGs that I've played to date.

My late night Switch sessions over the weekend have been taken up with Cosmic Star Heroine, which is bloody brilliant. It looks and plays a lot like Chrono Trigger - minus the time travel - which immediately escalated it in my estimation.

Also still working my way through Persona 4 Golden during my lunch breaks. I did decide, though, that I want to make more use of my recently acquired Vita than just this one game, so I got Suikoden I & II and Wild Arms for the princely sum of £3.99 each. I never had a PS1 so haven't played any of them before, but I've heard so many good things about them, especially Suikoden II, that it had to be done.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Nearish the end of XCOM 2 plus War of the Chosen. Only on normal, but still surprised to have had so few deaths at this stage.

 

[Bugg]

Been waiting for what seems like forever for this and now it's only a couple of days away

 

[Toby Frost]

Back on Shadowrun: Dragonfall, which really is an excellent game. Both the writing and the gameplay are very good.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Aaah, my level 42 character in Fallout 4 just sat down in The Third Rail and got a few songs. Sweet!

Love just taking it slow. I am playing it on (hardcore?) survival mode so any place that I can relax, then sleep off a save is excellent. Plus I get the bonus for sleeping with Cait, as I've decided that I didn't like my husband...Still to get, in this run, to find out what the institute are about, so way back in the main plot line.

Have to say, still at level 42 I am not suffering from "high level overpowering-ness". A bunch of rust devils, or half a dozen super-mutants are enough to get me to retreat, creep in the shadows then ponder the best way to kill them or find another way around them.

 

[thaddeus6th]

I got to about that level on Survival Mode, and enjoyed the challenge quite a lot. Would've preferred a slightly longer day/night and food cycle. One problem is that in that mode if you're facing something like a rocket launcher-toting maniac (or more than one) at close quarters, surviving is very difficult and that becomes more of a pain than anything else. But in many other ways it works well, stressing resources, limited carry space and so on.

I just finished XCOM 2 with the War of the Chosen expansion. Mixed feelings, mostly positive. I like the DLC a lot, although the two crashes I had at the end of long Lost missions didn't thrill me. I did only play on standard difficulty but was surprised that, discounting the two scripted losses in the tutorial (I wanted to see if there was any change with the DLC, and there was, albeit minor) I only lost two soldiers during the campaign (got lucky sometimes, but even so) and none during the final mission.

I still haven't actually finished my PS4 Dragon's Dogma playthrough, so I'll return to that, I think.

 

[Bugg]

Back on Shadowrun: Dragonfall, which really is an excellent game. Both the writing and the gameplay are very good.

I loved that game. I really like Shadowrun: Hong Kong, too, but I am nowhere near finishing it yet.

I just finished The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC. Holy crap, that ending! Was not expecting that at all. I think I mentioned before that it's probably my favourite story/character driven JRPG that I've played to date and that finale drove that home for me, right in the feels (or should that be 'feelz', never quite sure . . .). Don't know whether to dive straight into SC. The temptation is almost too great, but I think I should try and finish some other games first.

Oh, who am I kidding <starts SC downloading>

 

[L.L.Lotte]

Speaking as someone who loves JRPGs, the amount of different complex systems, busywork, grinding, the complete disrespect many of them have for the player's time is quite mind-boggling, and this has only got worse in recent years. Most of them now require 100+ hours to complete. And I have to say, I think open world, sandbox and MMO games are largely to blame. They've encouraged this form of gameplay where chasing down icons on a map is more important than direction or story, it seems to me anyway.

Not every jrpg is like that, as you discovered with legend of Heroes. Of course almost all jrpgs are long games but to me thats a good thing.

A game that gets it right is Dragon Quest IX. The newest one in the series. You'll spend close to a 100 hours or more just doing the main story. Its a long game. And the story is damn good. And the characters are the best ever! You get to the end, defeat the villian and then think. I'll go do the endgame now which is surely a final fantasy style grind fest to max out levels... Nope you have 20 more hours of main story to go yet...

Dragon Quest has easily become my favorite jrpg and i play a lot of jrpgs... A lot...

 

[L.L.Lotte]

I haven't been playing all that much atm, but when I do, I'm working through Kingdom Hearts 3. It's been a long road. I was way behind on the games and knew KH3 was coming, so I picked up the ps4 bundles that contain all the games you need to play first to know what's going on in KH3.

You see, them calling it Kingdom Hearts 3 is a lie. It's actually like the 10th one or so...

Yes, every single on of those "spin off" games is actually important to the main story. And I made myself play through every single one of them before finally starting on KH3. No wonder I'm not playing it consistently... probably a bit burnt out on Disney stories/characters atm...

Overall, the game is more of the same with more polished graphics. They have put a lot of effort into the worlds, and the interactivity of each zone is pretty good. But really... it's just another Kingdom Hearts game...


Once I get through that, I'll start on NieR: Automata, which I've been told is really good. I've got it sitting there, waiting...