What game are you wasting time on?

[Adon]

Shadow of Memories

Everytime I think of a story-focused games, adventure games like these are usually what I think of. A game with puzzles where you have to figure out what to do to progress, and multiple endings to incentivize replayability. Of course that might not mean much without good writing to hold it. Shadow of Memories is solid enough in that department, but it does deal with time travel so the usual shenanigans can be expected. Regardless, it is interesting to see where it goes.

Characters are decent enough, certain things make more sense once you unlock more endings and find out information unavailable in other endings. There is some choices you can make to change certain cutscenes, among other small things, but the only big ones affect how the last chapter plays out and which endings you can get. There actually is a way to completely skip chapter 4 and finish it under a minute. But of course what you're supposed to do just gets pushed to another chapter.

A minus is the shorth length. First time around might take you about 3 hours watching every cutscene, figuring out what to do, and seeing what you can do as there is a number of missable things. Repeated playthroughs are going to be a helluva lot shorter with that and with the ability to skip cutscenes you've already seen. Does makes it easier to see the other endings and finishing the game in about an hour, tho.

 

[deuxhero]

Got 3 castles down in Shandalar after getting a reasonably good mono-black deck (get Hypnotic Spector and Black Knight into play, buff them then pound on the enemy. Use Terror and Dark Ritual+Life Drain to remove anything I can't beat down), then the game seemed to have lost count of which wizards I defeated (but won't let me retenter their castle) so I'm considering it done for the time being. Was fun while it lasted. I'll probably play it again when the people update the main game to include the past 20 years of cards (which they are working on and seem to be making good progress). Shame there hasn't been an official quest based Magic videogame since then and the unofficial one is Java shit.

Decided to play around with Manalink. Decided to go with a basic white Samurai "tribal" deck I stole off a Google search created. Works well against most opponents (though part of it may be the AI has no idea how Bushido works and just sends their creatures to die against enemies who they can't actually kill), though the red fucks that spam damage spells like to kill all my dudes as soon as I summon them. Any card suggestions?

 

[DwarvenFood]

tl;dr Old man yells at cloud as the gaming youth of today is too soft to handle the tough games of yesteryear.

Well, it's one thing for a game to be tough because of difficulty - but if it's tough because the GUI is a mess, the controls are totally non-logical or the graphics are hurting your head, that's another thing. (PS. I'm not referencing any game in particular here)

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Well, it's one thing for a game to be tough because of difficulty - but if it's tough because the GUI is a mess, the controls are totally non-logical or the graphics are hurting your head, that's another thing. (PS. I'm not referencing any game in particular here)

There are so many games from yesteryear that are difficult because of ALL of the points you bring up. Only a handful manage to overcome the latter ones but still remain a challenge.

 

[DwarvenFood]

True - but at the same time I find it difficult as well, even though I played the same games back in the day. Although GUI problems seem the most annoying and hard to overcome for me personally. Back then, we didn't really have a choice. Now, after experiencing good GUI design, it's hard to go back to those crude mechanisms.

 

[Ovplain]

Far Cry 4, Football Manager 2014 and I just bought Guacamelee.

Got 3 castles down in Shandalar after getting a reasonably good mono-black deck (get Hypnotic Spector and Black Knight into play, buff them then pound on the enemy. Use Terror and Dark Ritual+Life Drain to remove anything I can't beat down), then the game seemed to have lost count of which wizards I defeated (but won't let me retenter their castle) so I'm considering it done for the time being. Was fun while it lasted. I'll probably play it again when the people update the main game to include the past 20 years of cards (which they are working on and seem to be making good progress). Shame there hasn't been an official quest based Magic videogame since then and the unofficial one is Java shit.

Man, I remember enjoying that game quite a bit, DESTROYING the final boss completely. I wrote down the deck way back when, but lost that fucking piece of paper. Nagged me forever. IIRC it was a mono black deck too!

 

[Baron Dupek]

Restarted my Dungeon Siege III playthrough, again on highest difficulty (Hardcore), because I couldn't deal with my shitty character (Anjali - battle firemage), that can't be improved with equipment and level ups.
Even with her best spear (that you get for killing act1 boss) damage is so bad it's not even funny.

Meanwhile - my current character (Katarina - gunslinger) just mow down basic mooks with no sweat, don't even need that much blocking or rolling.
Can't wait to deal with act1 boss (Rajani) again...sigh.
EDIT2: and done, after 10 tries. Compared to 50 with my previous character - it show how good other characters are.
Only problem now - my current companion is Anjali. what an irony. For some reason this companion have borked AI, don't use blocks and dodges, fall into easy traps... Lucas is friggin' Xan Kriegore compared to this insufferable clone of Kristine Locke.

Squishing out lore and story from shallow fantasy world is achievement, but I barely care, just like in previous DungSieges.
Choosing others dialogue lines than good (like Paragons from ME) give you no profits, refusing rewards from side quests also have no sense (get same XP, just no money and no long term consequences).

EDIT
and I don't remember collecting candelabres, silver and gold bars from dead enemies in my first playthrough (2 years ago). Did they introduced it to some update or patch?

 

[pippin]

Finished The Banner Saga, and again, I must say this game was a really pleasant surprise. While the scope of the game is quite limited, it doesn't get boring at all, because you have plenty of choices and options. The turn based combat is simple, elegant and enjoyable. The art (music and graphics) are just beautiful. I'm going to have to buy the soundtrack, and yeah, I'll pay money for it, it's worth it.

I'm waiting for part two now. I want to know what happens with the characters and the story, I'm really engaged with them. For the ending,

Spoiler

I allowed Aletta to take the shot. I felt really sad watching her funeral. And I must say my heart skipped a bit when Oddleif was wounded by one of those bastards, you don't touch my waifu motherfuckers!

 

[octavius]

Oddleif

What a dorky name.

 

[Elwro]

I should be working.

I set up rsync scripts so I can access my Gateway to the Savage Frontier saves from all my linux machines.

 

[pippin]

Oddleif

What a dorky name.

At least they had icelandic people doing music and voiceovers

 

[circ]

Hard West or moar liek Easy West, really.

Seems to be another Kickstarter funded turn based tactical game with very minimal RPG elements added, that almost completely passed me by. After a few hours of playing I seem to be just about done. So, critique.

Graphics are ok, but someone seems to have forgot to tell the artist(s) they were drawing for a western half the time. Interface is a turd - it's salvageable but could be so much better. Combat is a bore - you have a bunch of skills to use but usually get no opportunity to use them or just don't need to - mostly the latter. At first I thought, could this atleast attempt to rival JA2 combat, nope. JA2 is almost 20 years old, come on people are you even trying? You have multiple levels unlike JA2 - well 3 to JA's 2, but elevation doesn't matter at all. Why bother? Maps are dull - popamole alley. Story I thought sounded interesting from hearing a reviewer on Youtube talk about it, but it sure as hell hasn't been enticing so far - and seems to be a total railroad experience. It's also supposed to have some awesome C&C said one reviewer - C&C that seems to consist of fighting fewer or extra enemies. Das some C&C nigga! I should also mention, because it uses Unity, be prepared for some major latency issues in the menus or more specifically when UI elements are involved, which is most of the time - like the fuck is this?

I don't see any reason to replay this, or necessarily even finish it. Proving once again that Kickstarter is no different from regular financing when stupid design ideas are the norm.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Oddleif

What a dorky name.

At least they had icelandic people doing music and voiceovers

True.dat

(Would Brofist, but DU revoked my license because "reasons".)

 

[pippin]

Oddleif

What a dorky name.

At least they had icelandic people doing music and voiceovers

True.dat

(Would Brofist, but DU revoked my license because "reasons".)

Free Unkillable Cat!

 

[DwarvenFood]

So I need to rage a bit about Civ 5, did a play on my usual earth planet large map long playthrough, maybe my third one on the Civ 5 installment. But sheeeeet. Okay so the hexes are an improvement, and arguably the inability of stacking armies. Also cities got quite stronger which seems to bee a good thing overall. But fuck. Where are the "block enemy city" options for vessels, where are the pirate ships that you could create, allowing you to attack without the enemy knowing your nation.. where are the spies ? Or the monks, or inquisitors.. It must be there somewhere right ? The things that made Civ 4 so cool ? Am I missing something here ? Did they put that shit into some DLC, or what is going on ? Where is the random pollution in the late game ? Why even build the spaceship ? Where are the penalties for using nukes.. And the spaceship.. building it was never less rewarding.. at least they have you ship the parts to your capital now. Time for yet another uninstall. I just keep falling for it.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Only speaking for myself, but...I played Civ 1 a good deal back when it was new, but Civ 2 is "Where It's At" (despite Fundamentalism being stupidly broken) as far as I'm concerned.

I never played Civ 3, but I did play a little bit of Civ 4 - enough to see all the changes that had happened in 10 years (many were good, but not all).

Never touched Civ 5.

The point I'm making is...with a game series like Civilization, everyone has their "favourite" entry in the series, and every post-release sequel from that is inferior.

(This is the RPG Codex, you WILL find people that agree with me.)

So just cool it and listen to the theme song that not only defined the series, but inspired so many megalomaniacal rulers:

 

[Great Deceiver]

That is definitely true, my favourite Civ is actually 3 despite objectively knowing it's inferior to 4. There was just a period in my life when I was really hooked on it.

Civ 5 is just garbage, though.

 

[Mustawd]

I played the hell out of Civ 2 and quite a bit of 3. To me they feel like overall different games with 2 being superior.

 

[United Nations]

Just built a new PC not even a year ago and here I'm waiting on Submachine 10.

Easily the best point-and-click Escape the Room game series I have ever played, and probably the best web-based game too.

Here's the link to Submachine and other current games from this indie developer:

http://www.mateuszskutnik.com/games/

Here's MATEUSZ SKUTNIK's previous game collection:

http://www.pastelgames.com/

 

[circ]

I tried some Subterrain. Kinda interesting concept, pretty shit execution.

Like the UI but could use more detailed information. Yellowish/brown murky infection, is that bad? What are you saying? How does a pill completely negate it only to have it appear minutes later? Etc. But anyway, suck controls, again. It's workable though but, why if I aim exactly at an NPC do I miss half or two thirds of the time? Is this some kind of attempt at simulating accuracy when famished and cold? Not that it works that way, but maybe have it not have two different results when the pointer is in the exact same location? Why does a gun break down so fast exactly? Do future guns just suck ass? A well maintained weapon will last people centuries, if they live that long, but in the future they're so stupid they use weak-ass components that melt when exposed to some plasma? Whut?
How in the fuck does a space shotgun get overheated after ONE SHOT?? And then take two seconds to cool down enough for another shot. Maybe you should rename it to space fucking stupid invention may as well commit suicide gun. If that's your idea of balancing, good fucking christ you suck cock at balance.
Also apparently in the future SMG's only have semi-auto mode now and the rate of fire of pistols is a joke. Uhuh ok.
So much stupid shit. The only reason I need to take a dump, which apparently only means taking a piss is to have me find a toilet in the midst of doing other shit. Is that it? There's so much fucking doing stupid shit it's insane. Try making a gun because your old one broke down. No problem! Oh wait, you're out of part something that's extracted from plants whatever the fuck that means, so you have to settle for shittier gun. Oh well. Let's assume you don't have enough materials, well enjoy four fucking load screens just to build one fucking gun - from mine and back to manufacturing and back. Repeat as necessary. And all the while looking at the same maps with the same dumb mechanics. Fuck.
And having to upgrade software to build better stuff, fair enough, if only the maps weren't such a goddamn bore. Did no one at the design stage object by saying - what a sec, this is fucking stupid. We already have enough fucking around.
Future cold makes you hungrier apparently - not exactly how it works but let's go with it. Cold is such a fucker it makes you eat three full meals a day. Do you not know how food works, or is this more of that sucking ass at balance at work again?

And I could go on. Stop with the fucking autistic filler and add some goddamn variety.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Just finished Ys: The Oath in Felghana. Bought it a few years ago off the recommendation of a friend who really likes these games; partially because of the kick-ass music which I've listened to on occasion long before ever beating this game. I played it before, but I stopped after the first boss to focus on other games.

It was good, like really good. Did play on Normal since it was my first outing with this series, but it was challenging at certain areas. Sometimes to my detriment because save points are usually only in the beginning of a dungeon and before a boss fight. Seems a bit mindless at times given how simple the game is, however, you can get killed in a new area if you're not paying attention to what you're doing. Eventually you do get an item that lets you teleport to any save point (which fully heals you) but anything before then and you have to run/hop back if you're running low in health. Had an amazingly wide variety of enemies that they keep introducing and sometimes requires different approaches to kill them. The dungeons themselves seemed fairly servicable which is really all you need for this type of game.

Check out Ys Origin next (and play it as Yuna first). I found Ys VI to be good too, though many people consider it sub-par.

Just be sure to play on Hard next time. I feel like it's the best kind of experience for your first run, with Nightmare perfect for the second.

These games are on sale on Steam at the moment, by the way.

 

[PeachPlumage]

Since I am on my GNU/Linux box - Freedoom.

 

[Elwro]

BTW, the goldbox games from GOG run on Linux. I made a mistake of installing one of them on my work pc...

 

[Ninjerk]

the horror

 

[panzertoter]

I'm planning to play Wizardy 6,7 & 8 with one team, without class changing, but what irritates me most is the ninja. As you know, in Wiz 6 & 7 ninja is the uber class frontline fighter. In Wiz 8 it's some shitty star throwing weakling. So, help me codex, should i start Wiz 6 without ninja, or clench the teeth and go through Wiz 8 with the shitty team (ninja + no gadgeteer)?