Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. I’m on Sequence 9.
- Loving the switch between Jacob and Evie. Evie’s stealth feels cleaner, Jacob’s chaos is fun.
- The rope launcher is doing heavy lifting. Makes London feel fast.
- Side gigs with the Rooks are a nice break, but I’m trying not to get stuck in collectibles.
- Favorite bit so far: the train hideout and the industrial set pieces. Good mood, solid music.
Plan next:
- Finish Evie’s main investigations before pushing the finale.
- Maybe clean up some Templar Hunts after.
- Loving the switch between Jacob and Evie. Evie’s stealth feels cleaner, Jacob’s chaos is fun.
- The rope launcher is doing heavy lifting. Makes London feel fast.
- Side gigs with the Rooks are a nice break, but I’m trying not to get stuck in collectibles.
- Favorite bit so far: the train hideout and the industrial set pieces. Good mood, solid music.
Plan next:
- Finish Evie’s main investigations before pushing the finale.
- Maybe clean up some Templar Hunts after.
7 Yrs♥$✓#
ThomasE
7 Yrs♥$✓#
I'm still playing Medieval Dynasty (~19h in). It's my second try for this city builder type game. The first time around I found it horribly stressful and threw in the towel after around the same time as now.
But for this playthrough I changed the length per season from the default of three in-game days to 10 days and now it is a much nicer and relaxing experience. I cannot understand how three days could be the default. All quests besides the main quest have time limits. The most important quests have a time limit of a few years which is fair. But NPC quests and King's challenges need to be done within three or five seasons, respectively. That often means virtually the second you take on such a quest you have to focus fully on completing it. Otherwise you might just fail it.
For example, I just took on a King's challenge. You don't get any information on what the challenge consists of before agreeing to it. It's producing 50 vials each of 4 different potions within five seasons. That is insane. The schematics to be able to produce the 4 potions cost 250 coins each. Then you need 200 vials, plus its schematics and hundreds of herbs. Oh, and a special building that I hadn't built at that point, staffed with a villager because you might not have the technology level to produce these goods yourself (I didn't). And that, on default settings, within 15 (five seasons * three days) days or less (I think the current season counts towards the limit, even if it's almost over). I'm 90% certain I would not have been able to achieve this within that time. With the 10 days per season setting I just might be able to do it, but only just so. I literally spent 4 in-game days just collecting sticks and stones to produce goods to sell in the near-by village in order to get the money for the schematics. Oh and one of the herbs only grows in summer. So if you forget to pick up several dozens of that herb in that season you either have just failed the challenge or you are forced to buy it from vendors.
Anyway, long text, random rambling to anyone not familiar to the game. I really enjoy the game now with the more relaxed setting. I love the hunting, providing for my villagers, building new things. The graphics are beautiful. Progression is a bit slow but setting season length to 10 days also contributes to this issue as some progression relies on season change, e.g. harvesting crops/fruits. I'm not a fan at all of the random NPC quest and avoid them always.
Having a great time with the game. I hope I manage to stick to it and complete the main quest at least. Because with little time in general to play of course my eyes keep wandering to other games I could be playing too. I would like to play a CRPG with a great story and I have several unplayed ones in my backlog but these are so time-consuming. I think I'm going to start Jagged Alliance 3 soon. I loved JA2 as a teenager and have had this in my backlog for a few months now. It's also a bigger game but I remember loving this type of gameplay so hopefully it catches my interest this time too.
But for this playthrough I changed the length per season from the default of three in-game days to 10 days and now it is a much nicer and relaxing experience. I cannot understand how three days could be the default. All quests besides the main quest have time limits. The most important quests have a time limit of a few years which is fair. But NPC quests and King's challenges need to be done within three or five seasons, respectively. That often means virtually the second you take on such a quest you have to focus fully on completing it. Otherwise you might just fail it.
For example, I just took on a King's challenge. You don't get any information on what the challenge consists of before agreeing to it. It's producing 50 vials each of 4 different potions within five seasons. That is insane. The schematics to be able to produce the 4 potions cost 250 coins each. Then you need 200 vials, plus its schematics and hundreds of herbs. Oh, and a special building that I hadn't built at that point, staffed with a villager because you might not have the technology level to produce these goods yourself (I didn't). And that, on default settings, within 15 (five seasons * three days) days or less (I think the current season counts towards the limit, even if it's almost over). I'm 90% certain I would not have been able to achieve this within that time. With the 10 days per season setting I just might be able to do it, but only just so. I literally spent 4 in-game days just collecting sticks and stones to produce goods to sell in the near-by village in order to get the money for the schematics. Oh and one of the herbs only grows in summer. So if you forget to pick up several dozens of that herb in that season you either have just failed the challenge or you are forced to buy it from vendors.
Anyway, long text, random rambling to anyone not familiar to the game. I really enjoy the game now with the more relaxed setting. I love the hunting, providing for my villagers, building new things. The graphics are beautiful. Progression is a bit slow but setting season length to 10 days also contributes to this issue as some progression relies on season change, e.g. harvesting crops/fruits. I'm not a fan at all of the random NPC quest and avoid them always.
Having a great time with the game. I hope I manage to stick to it and complete the main quest at least. Because with little time in general to play of course my eyes keep wandering to other games I could be playing too. I would like to play a CRPG with a great story and I have several unplayed ones in my backlog but these are so time-consuming. I think I'm going to start Jagged Alliance 3 soon. I loved JA2 as a teenager and have had this in my backlog for a few months now. It's also a bigger game but I remember loving this type of gameplay so hopefully it catches my interest this time too.
6 Yrs♥✓#
Civilwarfare101
6 Yrs♥✓#
I'm playing DmC Definitive Edition again all though I'm annoyed that I got to beat it once for for must style mode which is what I'm here for. With that said, this game is shockingly well designed. DmC is basically the Halo 4 and Sly 4 of the series in that it was an entry handed off to different developers but those said devs are clearly competent people who know what they are doing.
The story is not bad and solid. I wouldn't call it writing masterclass but it at least gets the basics down. On top of filling in blanks that the numbered entries never really bothered to fill unless you read some expanded universe or supplementary material. Dante's personality in this can get a little try hard and vulgar but nothing that gets on my nerves. He can be too serious considering DMC 3-5 Dante is over the top and joking where everyone and everything around him is serious. He doesn't annoy me as much as Nero does. The writing is also better than the Netflix show, I wouldn't consider that show awful but DmC isn't written in a "ha ha ha I'm so funny" ironic kind of way like that series is and it's able to get to the point and get the point across a lot faster. Story beats move at a fast and reasonable rate too. It is funny how this story of all things was considered on par with a David Cage game when it isn't, far from it. It's also far better written than Bayonetta and most of Platinum's games outside of maybe Wonderful 101 but I haven't played the latter in a while.
The gameplay is also good. There are some nice additions like a glow when doing a pause combo. My favorite part is that it gives Dante a fucking grapple mechanic WITHOUT needing an entirely new character to justify having one. The platforming never gets in the way and is more involving by comparison to Uncharted. Levels don't drag on and no backtracking that needlessly gets in the way of the action. The devs also introduces things to the player and let them get a handle on it before letting them lose. One moment I love is when those big large charging enemies who were annoying but later you get a fist weapon that makes dealing with them easier. It felt so chathartic and intentional too. Devil Trigger with everyone flying in the air can be obnoxious and not being able to switch targets. Fighting style and style switching isn't there which sucks. With that said, most versions of DMC3 don't let you style switch unless you mod the game and it was NEVER designed with that in mind. DMC4 and 5 doesn't have you play as Dante the whole game. Not even other annoying things like letting go of the left stick to the d pad to switch style but you could be wide open for an enemy to attack you during those few seconds to change. I miss it but not overwhelmingingly so.
I came here because I wanted to trudge to unlock must style mode but what I got was a solid and well made game. At least as far as the definitive edition is concerned. Vanilla game might've had more problems. I appreciate playing this a lot more now than when I played it the first 2 times.
The story is not bad and solid. I wouldn't call it writing masterclass but it at least gets the basics down. On top of filling in blanks that the numbered entries never really bothered to fill unless you read some expanded universe or supplementary material. Dante's personality in this can get a little try hard and vulgar but nothing that gets on my nerves. He can be too serious considering DMC 3-5 Dante is over the top and joking where everyone and everything around him is serious. He doesn't annoy me as much as Nero does. The writing is also better than the Netflix show, I wouldn't consider that show awful but DmC isn't written in a "ha ha ha I'm so funny" ironic kind of way like that series is and it's able to get to the point and get the point across a lot faster. Story beats move at a fast and reasonable rate too. It is funny how this story of all things was considered on par with a David Cage game when it isn't, far from it. It's also far better written than Bayonetta and most of Platinum's games outside of maybe Wonderful 101 but I haven't played the latter in a while.
The gameplay is also good. There are some nice additions like a glow when doing a pause combo. My favorite part is that it gives Dante a fucking grapple mechanic WITHOUT needing an entirely new character to justify having one. The platforming never gets in the way and is more involving by comparison to Uncharted. Levels don't drag on and no backtracking that needlessly gets in the way of the action. The devs also introduces things to the player and let them get a handle on it before letting them lose. One moment I love is when those big large charging enemies who were annoying but later you get a fist weapon that makes dealing with them easier. It felt so chathartic and intentional too. Devil Trigger with everyone flying in the air can be obnoxious and not being able to switch targets. Fighting style and style switching isn't there which sucks. With that said, most versions of DMC3 don't let you style switch unless you mod the game and it was NEVER designed with that in mind. DMC4 and 5 doesn't have you play as Dante the whole game. Not even other annoying things like letting go of the left stick to the d pad to switch style but you could be wide open for an enemy to attack you during those few seconds to change. I miss it but not overwhelmingingly so.
I came here because I wanted to trudge to unlock must style mode but what I got was a solid and well made game. At least as far as the definitive edition is concerned. Vanilla game might've had more problems. I appreciate playing this a lot more now than when I played it the first 2 times.
5 Yrs♥✓#
GreenStarfish
5 Yrs♥✓#
My plan to play more Deltarune got derailed by P3R getting removed from Xbox game pass, so I had to play the DLC real quick. Rest of the month will consist of playing the games on my wish list that are also on game pass, so I can maximize the value I get from it.
August 16th - Persona 3 Reload - Episode Aigis: The Answer - 44h 20m - 7/10 - Main+ - Started September 22nd 2024 - 328 Days Taken - Beat the dlc, did all Elizabeth requests, completed 94% of the compendium and did two bosses in the Monad Chamber.
Full Review
TLDR version:
Pros:
Story that compliments that of the base game, with plenty of cool moments and plot twists.
Neutral:
Gameplay difficulty was more balanced than I was expecting for a Persona game.
Cons:
The DLC lacks the life management and calendar system that Persona is known for and 90% of it consists of playing through an inferior version of Tartarus (which I wasn't that much of a fan of either).
August 16th - Persona 3 Reload - Episode Aigis: The Answer - 44h 20m - 7/10 - Main+ - Started September 22nd 2024 - 328 Days Taken - Beat the dlc, did all Elizabeth requests, completed 94% of the compendium and did two bosses in the Monad Chamber.
Full Review
TLDR version:
Pros:
Story that compliments that of the base game, with plenty of cool moments and plot twists.
Neutral:
Gameplay difficulty was more balanced than I was expecting for a Persona game.
Cons:
The DLC lacks the life management and calendar system that Persona is known for and 90% of it consists of playing through an inferior version of Tartarus (which I wasn't that much of a fan of either).
1 Yr✓
hoarder
1 Yr✓
Single Player
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
Baldur's Gate 3 (Honor Mode & Modded Campaigns)
Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water's Edge
Stardew Valley (Solo Farm)
Infinity Nikki*
Umamusume: Pretty Derby*
Multiplayer
Baldur's Gate 3 (Unmodded Co-Op w/ friend)
Stardew Valley (Unmodded Co-Op w/ friend)
* = I consider these "Endless" games as they have no proper ending and continuously receive updates for EN servers at this time.
I plan to play more Nancy Drew games until I finish all the ones I personally own on Steam and then borrow the ones I'm missing from my mom. And I'll either finish one of my single player games or pick something new to play, depending on my mood.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
Baldur's Gate 3 (Honor Mode & Modded Campaigns)
Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water's Edge
Stardew Valley (Solo Farm)
Infinity Nikki*
Umamusume: Pretty Derby*
Multiplayer
Baldur's Gate 3 (Unmodded Co-Op w/ friend)
Stardew Valley (Unmodded Co-Op w/ friend)
* = I consider these "Endless" games as they have no proper ending and continuously receive updates for EN servers at this time.
I plan to play more Nancy Drew games until I finish all the ones I personally own on Steam and then borrow the ones I'm missing from my mom. And I'll either finish one of my single player games or pick something new to play, depending on my mood.
6 Yrs♥✓#
Illusera
6 Yrs♥✓#
Finally playing Kraken Academy after having it queued for so long. Surprised to find that it’s essentially campy Majora’s Mask.
6 Yrs♥✓#
Illusera6 Yrs♥✓#
.
7 Yrs♥$✓#
TheAutisticGamer
7 Yrs♥$✓#
I'm in a OG Xbox mood so I decided to play Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes which I've been wanting to play for a while. And so far it's awesome. Seems like a really stellar Diablo Style game and I'm just enjoying the 6th Gen graphics as the water looks VERY Xbox/PC Like for this time. I'm playing a fighter, but if this goes well I'll probably play again to try the other 3 Classes and also get into the Coop Mode available for it. Glad I'm finally getting to play an actual D&D video game after all this time. I'm hoping to start small and work my way up to the big guns (BG, Planescape: Torment, NWN 1 and 2, Temple of Elemental Evil)
6 Yrs♥✓#
Civilwarfare1016 Yrs♥✓#
I dropped Assassin's Creed Shadows and I'm just done with this franchise. I can see why the RPG games are so disliked but it's not because it's not "true to Assassin's Creed" bullshit. It's because AC just wants to be a western RPG so damn badly. Instead of that whole "social stealth" that the series envisioned, it just wants to chase trends when the older games were ALSO not even close to being what the series was pitched as.
This game got on my nerves in a way not many games do. I usually try to be careful on what I buy and according to the "previews" of this game, it was supposed to be a ninja stealth game where it'd be easier to play as a ninja. Yasuke was supposed to be the brute force option. It's all lies, you will get into just as many forced fights as Naoe too. It also has the nerve to shove in Splinter Cell's darkness system as a selling point when that is all bullshit. Most of the game is spent running around in vast empty terrain and doing stealth that lasts about maybe 5-8 minutes if even that. Then there's also lengthy cutscenes and flashbacks too. I would've just ignored this game entirely but the fact that Ubisoft was trying to appeal to the Tenchu and Splinter Cell fan in me is what greatly pissed me off.
I thought Shadows was supposed to be the best game mechanically and would be like Mirage where you infiltrate enemy strongholds and occupied areas with an open world connecting all of them but no. This game, this franchise, it's almost amazing how the first game in a lot of ways is where the series peaked in spite of it's problems. I almost wished Patrice Desilets made AC2 a game that flopped so this franchise would be dead and buried. Maybe he'd get fired from Ubisoft later on and still have his mainstream gaming career would last a little while longer. Anything to just have this series not last as long as it has.
I need to let off some steam. Twitter wasn't going to let me say all this stuff with it's character limit.
This game got on my nerves in a way not many games do. I usually try to be careful on what I buy and according to the "previews" of this game, it was supposed to be a ninja stealth game where it'd be easier to play as a ninja. Yasuke was supposed to be the brute force option. It's all lies, you will get into just as many forced fights as Naoe too. It also has the nerve to shove in Splinter Cell's darkness system as a selling point when that is all bullshit. Most of the game is spent running around in vast empty terrain and doing stealth that lasts about maybe 5-8 minutes if even that. Then there's also lengthy cutscenes and flashbacks too. I would've just ignored this game entirely but the fact that Ubisoft was trying to appeal to the Tenchu and Splinter Cell fan in me is what greatly pissed me off.
I thought Shadows was supposed to be the best game mechanically and would be like Mirage where you infiltrate enemy strongholds and occupied areas with an open world connecting all of them but no. This game, this franchise, it's almost amazing how the first game in a lot of ways is where the series peaked in spite of it's problems. I almost wished Patrice Desilets made AC2 a game that flopped so this franchise would be dead and buried. Maybe he'd get fired from Ubisoft later on and still have his mainstream gaming career would last a little while longer. Anything to just have this series not last as long as it has.
I need to let off some steam. Twitter wasn't going to let me say all this stuff with it's character limit.
Cat Quest on my Nintendo switch :)
2 Yrs✓#
Dorobo
2 Yrs✓#
I've been struggling to get into a couple games lately. I tried starting The Outer Worlds and got extremely bored of it quickly, and ended up retiring it. Then I had to give up Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night because of stability/crashing issues, and I wasn't enjoying it enough to try and troubleshoot it anyway. So I've been falling back onto my comfort games recently for the first time in a while, mostly Bloons TD 6.
Bloons TD 6 is always fun for a few rounds, no matter how much time I put into it. I did unfortunately lose my original account that I had for it so I had to start a new one recently, but it's still been fun unlocking everything again. I forget how much time it takes to get everything, especially since I last played there's a lot more in the game.
Another great game I've been playing recently that's sort of saving me from these rough retirements and burnout is Final Fantasy IX. There's nothing about it that's exceptional except for maybe the story, but every single about it is at least good. There's never a moment where I'm not having a good time with it. I also absolutely love how it takes of ton of inspiration from classic Final Fantasy, it's an amazing game.
Bloons TD 6 is always fun for a few rounds, no matter how much time I put into it. I did unfortunately lose my original account that I had for it so I had to start a new one recently, but it's still been fun unlocking everything again. I forget how much time it takes to get everything, especially since I last played there's a lot more in the game.
Another great game I've been playing recently that's sort of saving me from these rough retirements and burnout is Final Fantasy IX. There's nothing about it that's exceptional except for maybe the story, but every single about it is at least good. There's never a moment where I'm not having a good time with it. I also absolutely love how it takes of ton of inspiration from classic Final Fantasy, it's an amazing game.
Just finished with Core Keeper. Was planning on going for 100% but the grind seems a bit too much, for now anyway. Started Graveyard Keeper and seems really fun. Also few hours away from 100% V Rising with my wife. After V Rising we will either start Abiotic Factory or Grounded, I think.
6 Yrs♥✓#
Civilwarfare1016 Yrs♥✓#
I just dropped The Thing Remastered. It is so bizarre how this game has a cult following at all. I never thought Spoony's review of the game would be so on point but it is. Ugly Fish's review is even more on point. Nightdive truly has some weird choices when it comes to remasters because this game wasn't good even back in 2002.
Spoony pretty much described it perfectly as a uninspired knock off piece of shit. It's basically just Half-Life but worse in every way. It only had squad mechanics because Rainbow 6 and tactical shooters were rising in popularity at the time. I'd describe it but that'll take me too long and I already wrote a lot with the last game I dropped.
Spoony pretty much described it perfectly as a uninspired knock off piece of shit. It's basically just Half-Life but worse in every way. It only had squad mechanics because Rainbow 6 and tactical shooters were rising in popularity at the time. I'd describe it but that'll take me too long and I already wrote a lot with the last game I dropped.
7 Yrs♥$✓#
ThomasE7 Yrs♥$✓#
I'm still playing Silksong. But I have to admit that the difficulty is getting to me. I'm starting to think that I'm going to retire the game if I can't finish it within the next few hours. I've done quite a bit of Act 2 with the exceptions of Mount Fay and the path in Sinner's Road. Now just started getting my ass kicked by Lace II.
I haven't really gotten stuck for a long while, ever since I needed _33_ attempts on the Last Judge which is the most so far for me. Since that boss fight, Act 2 had actually been easier for me. I needed around _13_ attempts for Trobbio, _17_ attempts for the arena fight in the High Halls/The Forum but only _5_ attempts for Widow as well as also _5_ for Clockwork Dancers, which while a fun boss fight was so out of place difficulty-wise - would have been even an easy Act I boss. Now that I've reached Lace 2 I can already see myself being stuck here for a while.
I'm really not a gamer that looks forward to these challenges. I actually usually avoid hard games and might have just beaten 3 hard games throughout my life: Hollow Knight (but without hardest parts - 107% completion), Celeste (but just A-sides or however it's called) and Elden Ring (but with massively overleveling my character). In Silksong the difficulty is in the main/non-optional parts, no overleveling, no real advantages by exploring more (yes, you get a total of _2_ additional masks in Act I and II combined, if I'm not mistaken, and of course a few additional tools/crests/charms - some helpful like Multibinder. But for example look at the charms: I can now decide after over 35 hours of playing whether I want to take the compass into a boss fight, or a charm that retains some rosaries after death, or one that let's me pick up more shreds, ... In other words nothing at all that helps you beat a boss or a particular hard platforming section).
I like the game so much but dying constantly and getting from "stuck here" to "stuck over there" is getting on my nerves. I heard from KerfMerf that there's a Bad Ending somewhere in Act 2, maybe I will seek that out. I cannot see myself playing Act 3.
I've also started 2 new games. Maybe just in an attempt to play something without struggling so much. First one is Tales of Arise. Can't say I've been a JRPG fan in the past but it looked fun and I got it at a major discount. One thing I can say already is that this is a really "family-unfriendly" game as there are already like ~ 10/15 minutes of cutscenes in the first 30 minutes of the game and as a father of 2 small children I basically have to always be prepared to save and exit a game at all times. This already made me lose 20 minutes of progress in Tales of Arise. And I've heard that the amount of cutscenes gets much worse later on in the game but I'll see how this goes.
Second one is W40k Battlesector (which I bought days before the currently available Humble Bundle that would have given me several additional W40 games for the same price). Some tactical W40k game that apparently plays quite a bit like the real thing (the tabletop, I mean). I have just played the 3 tutorials (and could not even finish the third because of a bug I assume?), so I can't really say anything about this game. Besides maybe: How ridiculous is it to hand out 5 (again: FIVE) achievements which amount to 17% of the total achievements for playing three short tutorial missions?
I haven't really gotten stuck for a long while, ever since I needed _33_ attempts on the Last Judge which is the most so far for me. Since that boss fight, Act 2 had actually been easier for me. I needed around _13_ attempts for Trobbio, _17_ attempts for the arena fight in the High Halls/The Forum but only _5_ attempts for Widow as well as also _5_ for Clockwork Dancers, which while a fun boss fight was so out of place difficulty-wise - would have been even an easy Act I boss. Now that I've reached Lace 2 I can already see myself being stuck here for a while.
I'm really not a gamer that looks forward to these challenges. I actually usually avoid hard games and might have just beaten 3 hard games throughout my life: Hollow Knight (but without hardest parts - 107% completion), Celeste (but just A-sides or however it's called) and Elden Ring (but with massively overleveling my character). In Silksong the difficulty is in the main/non-optional parts, no overleveling, no real advantages by exploring more (yes, you get a total of _2_ additional masks in Act I and II combined, if I'm not mistaken, and of course a few additional tools/crests/charms - some helpful like Multibinder. But for example look at the charms: I can now decide after over 35 hours of playing whether I want to take the compass into a boss fight, or a charm that retains some rosaries after death, or one that let's me pick up more shreds, ... In other words nothing at all that helps you beat a boss or a particular hard platforming section).
I like the game so much but dying constantly and getting from "stuck here" to "stuck over there" is getting on my nerves. I heard from KerfMerf that there's a Bad Ending somewhere in Act 2, maybe I will seek that out. I cannot see myself playing Act 3.
I've also started 2 new games. Maybe just in an attempt to play something without struggling so much. First one is Tales of Arise. Can't say I've been a JRPG fan in the past but it looked fun and I got it at a major discount. One thing I can say already is that this is a really "family-unfriendly" game as there are already like ~ 10/15 minutes of cutscenes in the first 30 minutes of the game and as a father of 2 small children I basically have to always be prepared to save and exit a game at all times. This already made me lose 20 minutes of progress in Tales of Arise. And I've heard that the amount of cutscenes gets much worse later on in the game but I'll see how this goes.
Second one is W40k Battlesector (which I bought days before the currently available Humble Bundle that would have given me several additional W40 games for the same price). Some tactical W40k game that apparently plays quite a bit like the real thing (the tabletop, I mean). I have just played the 3 tutorials (and could not even finish the third because of a bug I assume?), so I can't really say anything about this game. Besides maybe: How ridiculous is it to hand out 5 (again: FIVE) achievements which amount to 17% of the total achievements for playing three short tutorial missions?