henke on 10/1/2020 at 06:09
No, started on Jedi Master, turned it down to Jedi Knight.
qolelis on 10/1/2020 at 15:56
I was about to start a new thread about The Occupation (by White Paper Games), a game that I have finally started playing, but why, oh why, did I press the back button? Oh well, it's a chance to write a better post -- I guess -- if I write it at all, that is. Judging from the intro mission, which is all that I have played so far, the game wants to be an immersive sim and it does give off a vibe of being one, but, unfortunately, it doesn't go all the way. With that said, though, the game does show a lot of promise (immersive sim or not): good writing and voice acting so far, and the story and gameplay makes me want to continue, and, well, it makes me want to like it and see past its flaws.
The game is about certain political events, causing protests and riots, and the politicians themselves might have the start of a revolution on their hands. You play as an investigative journalist trying to uncover The Truth, by sort of moving in a legally grey area, bypassing curfews and security (even in your own workspace). The game starts in your office building -- or slightly outside it -- as you're hiding on one of those ledges that aren't proper balconies (accessible only through a window), waiting for things to calm down, so you can go back in and do what you need to do without getting caught. The night guard is keeping an eye on things, but there are a couple of different ways to bypass them.
I might try to start that thread again when I have played more, and write about why it might be an immersive sim -- and why it's not.
Sulphur on 11/1/2020 at 06:06
Quote Posted by henke
No, started on Jedi Master, turned it down to Jedi Knight.
Fair 'nuff.
So, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. I finished it. Pretty good, all in all. Performance is a bit weird because it rubs up against UE4's streaming issues in places, apart from which it looks beautiful and runs well. The level design is kind of fun? I guess? It never escaped the feeling of being slightly elevated busywork to me. The locations are gorgeous, with a wonderful sense of scale; but they don't really have that sense of architectural flow you'd get from a Dark Souls or a Sekiro (or an Ico, or The Last Guardian) where spaces intuitively connect in your head. There's also no bonfire - well, meditation circle - teleport option*. Because of this, it's tiring remembering all the shortcuts and the anonymous areas they lead to, because the in-game 3D map looks like something out of Descent. (
https://www.dosgamers.com/uploads/images/original/descent1f.jpg) Descent! I would have loved for the ability to at least annotate the thing with markers ('spider fuckmung enclave', 'cart ride to hard drive lockup town', 'walking carpet retreat centre', etc.) so I could remember which part was which.
The combat's great, though. As you get more moves and get to do more fun stuff, the game amps up the threat level too, so it's not very difficulty spikey. Some of the bosses can wallop you but good, but it's generally a more forgiving game than a Sekiro or a Dark Souls where you health bar gets polejumped over by a random boss, then seized and rammed up your arse and YOU HAVE DIED becomes the new benchmark pattern for monitor burn-in. It's generally rewarding to measure out your response and react to enemies instead of spamming every move possible. As much as I liked it though, it does lack Sekiro's precision-engineered slash and clang. (Also, it has this very odd thing in combat where it seems to either miss your input for a health stim, or register it but not
do anything [which you can tell when Cal asks BD-1 for a pick me up, and... he just sits there]. This is probably because enemy attack animations colliding with your hit box cancel the health stim, but it's not always obvious why it's cancelled in medium to long-range situations.)
Story's okay. It's got some fun callbacks, some decent setup, and a few standout moments. (Apart from BD-1 being adorable, it's nice to see Debra Wilson again after her standout turn in Wolfenstein: The New Colossus.) All in all, a decent to good Star Wars game with some obviously great talent behind it. Yes! Now please make more, and let them take some fucking risks already, Lucasfilm.
*Not even in the post-game. In a game about going back and forth and scouring levels for stuff. Wut the eff. While the simple reason for this is they didn't pipeline it properly for the way the campaign's designed if they'd unlocked teleporting, the only reason to not do it
after you've finished the game is because they couldn't work it out in time, or their issues with UE4 I/O streaming were simply too large.
Thirith on 11/1/2020 at 12:41
Yesterday I started playing the last of Hitman's “Patient Zero” missions, where you have to kill the titular Patient Zero, a cultist infected with a doomsday virus and anyone else who's been infected. Less than a minute into the episode, Diane pipes up, telling you that another person's been infected and now you have to kill them too.
There and then, this felt way too stressful, so I hoped out and launched Pilgrims instead, a small Amanita adventure game that's got more personality than most 80-hour epics. Like their Chuchel, this is so uniquely Amanita that I couldn't imagine anyone else making it. The graphics, reminiscent of weird ‘70s and ‘80s animated children's series from the Eastern Bloc, the music, the solutions to the (very simple) puzzles: the game is a joy to watch and listen to, even if the gameplay itself isn't much to write home about - though I like how all the characters and objects are turned into playing cards that you combine. It's about five dollars for perhaps an hour, with some replay ability value; if, like me, you don't really do these calculations, this is definitely worth it, though if you want a more substantial P&C game, you might be a bit disappointed by the length.
qolelis on 12/1/2020 at 16:31
Started playing Steep, because it was free. I haven't gone downhill in several decades, so I can't say much about how it compares to real life, but I'm having fun with it, and that's enough for me right now (although I do wish I could do it for real again, but that's another story). The controls feel fluid, and there seems to be a good balance between player skill and character skill. My favourite so far is the snowboard; it's something I never tried for real and I find it easier to get into than the squirrel suit and the rocket wings. The latter is fun too, but will take a lot more practise. I've had only one bug so far where I couldn't finish a previously paused side-quest.
henke on 12/1/2020 at 18:36
I thought A Plague Tale looked pretty generic/derivative when the first gameplay videos came out and ignored it since, but after dema rated it so highly in the GOTY thread I decided to pick it up in the current PS4 sale, aaaaand ended up spending most of the weekend with it! Currently on chapter 12. It's good. It reminds me of The Last Of Us, at times. But like, not in a boring rip-off/retread way, but in a good way. Will write more once I've finished it.
WingedKagouti on 12/1/2020 at 18:43
Been playing Sundered over the weekend due to it being an EGS freebie. Currently near the end of my second playthrough and my only real gripe is the camera zoom during boss battles. Getting a full view of the massive bosses is neat, but it also means you're zoomed out so far that your character is only a couple of pixels tall a lot of the time, which can make dodging the waves of attacks troublesome. Other than that, it's a fun metroidvania I recommend trying out if you're interested in the genre, especially a the current EGS price point.
Pyrian on 12/1/2020 at 20:09
Apparently they're making a Receiver 2 but it looks like all they updated is the graphics.
Malf on 13/1/2020 at 06:41
Quote Posted by Thirith
Yesterday I started playing the last of
Hitman's “Patient Zero” missions, where you have to kill the titular Patient Zero, a cultist infected with a doomsday virus and anyone else who's been infected. Less than a minute into the episode, Diane pipes up, telling you that another person's been infected and now you have to kill them too.
There's one particular person you can knock out which will prevent the spread of the virus completely. If you don't mind it being spoiled, the way to do it is here: (
https://youtu.be/V1-mpuAGRFU?t=135)
But yeah, it's not the best Hitman mission. I get that they're trying to shake things up; but in a game where so much is about taking your time and observing things, this being on a timer feels like control slips out of your hands far too easily.
And without guides to help, there's few to no hints as to how to prevent the spread.
Thirith on 13/1/2020 at 09:10
Yeah, I might try to have another go and just try to relax into things, but it's exactly what you said: the way I play Hitman, it's all about taking my time, getting to know the place, but also seeing what opportunities I am presented with if I go left and follow this guard as opposed to going right and sneaking into the kitchen. Add the kind of pressure that Patient Zero's Hokkaido mission does and I appreciate what they're doing in an academic sense, but I cannot enjoy it the way I generally enjoy Hitman. It doesn't help that I really don't enjoy the idea of killing (relative) innocents in games.
If I can't get myself into the right mindset for the mission, I will resort to knocking out the nurse and then playing the level as I would play any level.
