What game are you playing?

[Opus131]

Planescape: Torment is a truly special game. I forgot how old i was when i played it (14, 15 or something like that) but it made an actual impact on me in a way few games did at the time or since.

Keep in mind it isn't perfect though. First, the combat is relatively poor, not for the system as such which is actually pretty solid with some of the best combat animations out of all the Infinity Engine games. The problem is that the encounter design is very barebone and uniteresting, and requires very little in terms of tactics. This isn't a huge deal as the combat is hardly the focus of the game and you'll spend most of the time reading text and doing quests but its still a flaw.

Also, the third act of the game was clearly rushed. They obviously ran out of developing time and the financial problems of Black Isle at the time prevented an extension over the original deadline. Luckily, the strong ending prevents it from going out on a wimper.

If you decide to play it, i strongly recommend playing a character with an high wisdom. Wisdom is the most important stat in the game because it opens the highest number of dialogue options, which in a game that is 90% text is kinda of important. This likely requires you play as a mage (and without spoiling yourself it may take a while to learn how to switch class) but it's worth it.

[Atriod]

I installed Enter the Gungeon a few days ago after seeing it in a Steam sale (logged in to change my password). I haven't played a video game since the first Hotline Miami which I loved.

I suspect Gungeon will be too much for my old man reflexes I'm also not finding the huge degree of luck/randomness in how a run goes to be a fun aspect. I guess I'm not the type for these try the same level over and over again, my patience is thin.

If I recall correctly, Avellone wrote New Reno in Fallout 2 as well which is definitely one of the darker and seedier locations in it while still having plenty of humor (he may have also designed Vault City?). Fallout 2 still remains my favorite Fallout game even while recognizing at the same time that it is one of the least Fallout-esque (after all, it can be a bit immersion-breaking when random events include bridgekeeper from Monty Python and The Holy Grail and most of the game is kind of a big joke which definitely was not the case with 1 and New Vegas).

Have to check out Planescape:Torment in more depth which to this day I still have not played. Other than Fallout I really like Avellone's writing in Star Wars KotR 2.

Fallout 1 and 2 are among my all time favorite games. Before I had kids I would play those every few years.

[LKB]

I'm still slugging away in Diablo IV, though the crass ineptitude and customer disregard continually displayed by Blizzard has certainly tried my patience...

[DavidW]

I've been playing the Dead Space Remake.  It is in everyway superior to the original (gameplay, story, level design) and is not just a graphics overhaul.  It is too bad that the studio almost immediately abandoned the game and stopped patching it.

[Atriod]

I've been playing the Dead Space Remake.  It is in everyway superior to the original (gameplay, story, level design) and is not just a graphics overhaul.  It is too bad that the studio almost immediately abandoned the game and stopped patching it.

I loved the original Dead Space when it came out, especially on good headphones! A little known space horror film that I really enjoyed is Pandorum.

[DavidW]

I loved the original Dead Space when it came out, especially on good headphones! A little known space horror film that I really enjoyed is Pandorum.

Oh I remembered that movie, I really liked it.  I should watch it again, I haven't seen it since it was a new release.

[Atriod]

Full on nostalgia is really starting to kick in! I started playing Bioshock Remastered, about an hour in it's feeling like classic Bioshock with a bit better graphics.

[DavidW]

Full on nostalgia is really starting to kick in! I started playing Bioshock Remastered, about an hour in it's feeling like classic Bioshock with a bit better graphics.

Bioshock is one of my favorite games.  I played it on the 360, replayed it on pc and played the remastered version on my Xbox One.  On my series X I replayed a bit of Bioshock 2 recently which has a very nice implementation of auto hdr.

Would you so kindly replay Bioshock?

[DavidW]

I did finish Dead Space remake awhile back and now I'm playing Final Fantasy 16.

[greg]

I did finish Dead Space remake awhile back and now I'm playing Final Fantasy 16.

Enjoy!



Currently replaying FF9 after nearly 20 years.   

[DavidW]

I got through the prologue but then Starfield came out.  I've been playing that since.  I think many people were expecting No Man's Sky, perhaps due to the marketing which I skipped.  Once you get beyond that and see it as Skyrim in space it is a really fun game.

[LKB]

Yesterday, the 29th and " final " season of Diablo 3 launched at 1700 PDT.

I was creating my seasonal character at 1702. 

Got him to 70 around 0200 this morning, and I'm looking forward to slaughtering vast numbers of pixelated demons going forward.

[DavidW]

I've been trying to see if there is another game on GoG that I'd like to play, but I'm still searching - I wish Far Cry 3-4 were on it.

You would still need uplay even if gog had them, so you might as well bite the bullet and install uplay if you want to play those games.

[DavidW]

Yes I've heard that it is a sleeper (no pun intended) but never got around to it!

[DavidW]

Totalbiscuit's has an excellent introduction to it should you ever be interested in picking the game up. (Well worth it, in my opinion, but I game very slowly.)

Oh that is probably where I heard about it.  I used to be a subscriber and avid watcher of his channel back in the day.

[greg]

Just started playing the first Devil May Cry, loving the aesthetics and it's the perfect mindless thing to play for me right now. Aesthetic vibes reminds me of a cross between Resident Evil and SMT 3: Nocturne.

(never played any DMC game before)

[VonStupp]

Next up (replaying it over a decade later) the best Bioware game:

Beware Judge Fong!
VS

[DavidW]

Next up (replaying it over a decade later) the best Bioware game:

I tried replaying it a few years ago.  It didn't age well for me and I couldn't recapture the feeling when I played it when it finally released on pc all those years ago.  Hopefully it will go better for you.

[DavidW]

I'm still playing Starfield.  I completed Ryujin Industries and the Freestar Rangers faction storylines.  I'm part way through Constellation (the main plot) and put it aside.  I want to complete all the side quests, the UC Vanguard and the Crimson Fleet factions before I go back to the main plot.

I think that the common criticism that the game doesn't do exploration well and there are too many loading scenes is spot on.  I also don't like how the NPCs don't have their own schedules to keep, something that was done back in Oblivion which is a 17 year old game!!

Anyway I'm more than 40 hours into it and I'm still enjoying it.  It is too bad that the discussion on social media has been polarized into haters and fanboys.

[DavidW]

I shall soon see, but everything I've read about the version (GoG) I bought is that it has essentially been remastered (has new game +) and been optimized, but I shall very shortly find out. If it doesn't work out, I'll play the other game that I also recently bought: John Woo's

Yeah it plays fine on pc.  In fact, it was even patched to run at 4k60 on Xbox with better textures (i.e. the textures on pc).  This is not like Neverwinter Nights (another older Bioware game) where it was never revisited.