henke on 22/8/2017 at 16:26
House of the Dying SunInline Image:
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/859479817420357232/7BDAE63DF799D1957E7D6400BD9257143E2775B1/?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside|1024:576&composite-to%3D%2A%2C%2A%7C1024%3A576&background-color=blackI'd played 40 minutes of this previously, but hadn't really gotten into it. Glad I gave it some more time, after 2 hours it's starting to click with me. It's a space combat game that portions it's levels off into small, challenging, very replayable chunks. You might start a level going up against a big ship with homing missiles, a spacebase with a couple turrets and some smaller fighters. Success relies on figuring out the best plan of attack over several retries, and then executing it perfectly. The ship controls feel great, and I particularly like the Drift-mechanic, which essentially lets you strafe around your enemies.
FATE: I'm keeping this around. Not dying to finish it or anything, but it's the kinda thing that's fun to start up now and then and try to ace a new level.
Next week: LISA
@Tomi: I kinda bounced off the first 2 of those, but did finish A Story About My Uncle. Yeah, it's pretty good!
Jeshibu on 22/8/2017 at 17:30
Wait a minute, did you play HotDS without VR? It's got a pretty good implementation.
henke on 22/8/2017 at 18:48
Of course I played it in VR. What kind of gaming neanderthal do you take me for? :p
henke on 31/8/2017 at 16:20
LISA
You know what, I'm gonna let videogamedunkey explain this one.
[video=youtube;ojapVW-7lQ0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojapVW-7lQ0[/video]
It's a very funny and moving game, with great music and a gripping story. But I don't know if I can put up with it's bullshit any longer. It has got the worst checkpointing ever. My last two sessions with it have lasted about an hour each, and both have ended with me dying before finding another checkpoint. So although I've played the game for almost 3 hours now my progress is no further than it was 49 minutes into the game.
FATE: I don't know man. I want to keep playing, but I don't know.
Next week: Human Fall Flat
Tomi on 5/9/2017 at 18:45
Update: I think I'm giving up on
Eldritch. Despite of the spooky atmosphere and the occasional tense moment, the gameplay is very repetitive and it's simply not that fun. Quite a disappointment. :(
Okay, during the last two weeks I've mostly been playing games that have three letters in their name:
7) FTLInline Image:
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/868487081521312844/9D6AB9DF5541213C35AB2A8DB9466860A7F8B947/?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside|1024:576&composite-to%3D%2A%2C%2A%7C1024%3A576&background-color=blackBack when I was a kid, I spent about a week of my life making a silly little boardgame that I imaginatively named "Space Game". FTL (Faster Than Light) instantly reminded me of it. It's like the dream game that I always wanted to play! I loved it! You get to do quests while traveling through the galaxy, you constantly need to upgrade your ship so that you can beat the nasty spacy pirates and rebels that are chasing you... It's a great adventure in space with a lot of surprises and unexpected twists! The idea of FTL is kinda difficult to explain... I'm gonna file it under "rogue-like tactical spaceship simulator". :D You're the commander of a spaceship, and you're basically in charge of
everything. It's up to you to choose how to divide the limited power of your ship between all its different systems (such as Shields, Weaponry, Engine, Oxygen, Sensors, etc...) and you move your crew around the ship to repair broken systems, extinguish fires, and to kill enemy invaders. Sounds complicated but the UI is simple and good, and of course you can pause the game whenever you want too. The enemy ships get stronger the closer you get to the end, and you'll also have to prepare yourself for the epic final battle against the enemy mothership, by equipping your ship with all sorts of fancy weaponry and augmentations and upgraded systems.
I've played FTL for about 10 hours already, and
four times I've managed to get through the seven sectors in space to face the mothership. And every single time I've failed miserably, I've barely even managed to damage the mothership. :( I've loved the game so far, but at this point I feel like I'm (metaphorically) banging my head against the wall, and while doing so I also feel like I'm not
progressing in the game at all. I spend two hours flying through the galaxy and everything goes well until the game throws the mothership on my face, and it's all over in a few seconds. It also doesn't help that I already know what to expect from many of the random events in the game, so it's no longer as fun as it could be...
FATE: FTL is definitely staying on my hard drive, but it can be so frustrating at times. It's like watching a great movie with a bad ending. I've thought about switching to Easy difficulty because I want to beat that damn mothership, but it kind of feels like cheating. :p
8) FEZInline Image:
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/868487305993341263/A225102CEA4F4ED1DF9A3F2C4B4976E8DBAE26C6/?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside|1024:576&composite-to%3D%2A%2C%2A%7C1024%3A576&background-color=blackWell, this one's interesting. An old-school 2D platformer with a cool twist: you can rotate the view so that the gameworld is basically 3D, but the world of FEZ doesn't follow your everyday physics. This strange 2D/3D rotation thing is the key to almost every puzzle in the game. And there are
a lot of puzzles. And a lot to explore - after 7 hours I feel like there's still a lot that I haven't seen yet. The graphics are simple, lovely and pixely, and I've found the different areas and their "themes" quite interesting! The graphics aren't the only old-school thing in the game either; there's no "hand holding" in FEZ at all. I'm about 7 hours in, and I'm still a bit confused about what I'm even supposed to do apart from trying to find some mysterious cubes and anti-cubes (what are they?), and I've only just figured out how to read some of the mysterious codes that you find all over the game world. I find some of the puzzles insanely hard too, and I'm not even ashamed to admit that I have had to cheat and google the solution for some. The actual action side of the game (jumping and climbing and running around, etc) could be somehow better I think, the little main character feels a bit clumsy and too slow sometimes, and that's a rather big flaw for a platformer.
FATE: Definitely gonna finish this one! The bizarre rotation puzzles and otherwordly geometry make my brain hurt sometimes, but every time the little guy finds a new cube and looks so
happy, I feel like it's totally worth it. :D
9) PidInline Image:
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/869614119848575663/6C93AF8E696533A6D2668169711982B8C283303D/?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside|1024:576&composite-to%3D%2A%2C%2A%7C1024%3A576&background-color=blackAnother 2D puzzle-platformer. I think I've got Pid as a freebie a year or two ago, but I'm not sure. Is there a way to check when you've added a game to your Steam library?
Pid is yet another story about a little boy who gets lost in an alien world. Using a magic gem the boy can create gravity beams, and with the help of those gravity beams he'll have to levitate himself and other stuff through the levels. The gravity puzzles are pretty simple and it's often the action bits that will cause you some trouble... and annoyance. There are annoying toy enemies all over the place for some more challenge. You'll find plenty of bombs that you can use to blow them up, but I usually just tried to avoid the enemies. In my opinion Pid would have been a better game without them. Funnily enough my favourite parts of the game were the boss fights though. :)
The visual side of Pid is a mixed bag. There are locations that look just lovely with a lot of stuff going on in the background, while a large part of the game looks pretty bland and ugly. The same applies for the actual gameplay too actually. Pid has its fun moments and it would have been just fine as a 3-hour game, but it just goes on and on and on for way too long, especially when there's not much variation in the puzzles. At about half-way through the game I decided not to bother with collecting stars and finding secrets anymore, I just wanted to rush to the end. But even that took much longer than I expected - around 10 hours all in all - and while I don't regret it, I really wish that the game had been a lot shorter!
FATE: Completed -->
uninstall! I think that the fact that I'm a bit stubborn about
completing games is a bad thing if I want to do some serious backlog reducin'.
Pyrian on 5/9/2017 at 19:33
There's no dishonor in playing FTL on "easy". :p
henke on 6/9/2017 at 05:17
Tomi, now you're getting into some great stuff. FTL is one of my favourite games of the past few years, and FEZ was great. IIRC it took me around 13 hours before I beat FTL on Easy, so don't feel bad about not having beaten it yet. You really need to plan ahead for the final boss. Hints:
Fire beams are good for taking out the guys in the small weapons-rooms, and you'll probably need 4 shields and some kind of anti-missile defense drone. I've never played Pid tho, looks alright.
Quote Posted by Tomi
Is there a way to check when you've added a game to your Steam library?
Click your name in the upper left corner, then Account Details, and Store Transactions.
PigLick on 6/9/2017 at 12:27
166 hours of FTL yet never finished it
Shadowcat on 6/9/2017 at 12:33
Quote Posted by Tomi
I've played FTL for about 10 hours already, and
four times I've managed to get through the seven sectors in space to face the mothership. And every single time I've failed miserably, I've barely even managed to damage the mothership. :( I've loved the game so far, but at this point I feel like I'm (metaphorically) banging my head against the wall, and while doing so I also feel like I'm not
progressing in the game at all. I spend two hours flying through the galaxy and everything goes well until the game throws the mothership on my face, and it's all over in a few seconds. [...] It's like watching a great movie with a bad ending.
Uninstall it. Seriously. I had exactly the same experience, and had absolutely no regrets getting rid of it. Lots of people love the game, but it's not one I'd
ever recommend to anyone (on account of the exact issue you've raised). If you stick at it you'll no doubt gradually figure out what you need to do, but in the meantime you'll grind your way through those hours of most-of-the-game over and over and over, and I would suggest that your time is more valuable than that. Play something that isn't going to irritate you.
henke on 6/9/2017 at 13:28
Hey Shadowcat, I'm sure it must be lonely being the only person on the internet who doesn't love FTL, but don't try to drag Tomi into your FTL-hater club, he's with us. :cool: