What game are you playing?

[DavidW]

I'm currently replaying the original version of Until Dawn. It still looks great and absolutely did not need a remaster.

It also runs at 4k60 on the PS5 with no issues, unlike the buggy, hitching, glitching remaster, with bad color timing, and a stupid camera demonstrating that the new studio didn't understand the original game.

It is supposed to be an interactive movie. You're not supposed to have the classic third-party camera.

So yes I'm enjoying myself with the original game, and I have zero interest in the stupid remake except to bash it. I feel bad that PC gamers will only get to experience the trash version, but it is better than nothing.

[LKB]

I'm having more fun than ever with Diablo IV. 

[hopefullytrusting]

Currently playing: Still Life
I'm enjoying this game so far, although, some of the puzzles are ... very point-and-clicky.


Currently playing, but might never finish (I'm at the endgame.): Ara Fell
This is an adorable game, and I've enjoyed every moment of it, but now that I am at the end - I'm just like, eh. An amazing OST, as well.

[DavidW]

I played a bit of FF7 Rebirth but switched to Veilguard. The first might be GOTY material, but I've waited for a decade for the next DA game. I think the conservative hate merchants have distorted the value of the game. It is not up to old Bioware standards but it is a huge improvement over their two previous games. My biggest complaint is that the PC version crashes every five minutes, and I was forced to play it on console.

[hopefullytrusting]

Just rebeat Richard & Alice:



I played this game wayback, so I had forgotten most of it. It has an excellent twist, one of the saddest plotlines, and an ending that wasn't commonplace then, but is commonplace now.

The game will only take a few hours to beat, and is a point-and-click, but only one of the puzzles was "unintuitive." It is more an experience than a game, as the mechanics are minimal and not all that important (this is a game clearly in the narrative camp of ludology).

Fantastic OST, as well.

High recommend, if you like arty games.

[DavidW]

I played a bit of FF7 Rebirth but switched to Veilguard. The first might be GOTY material, but I've waited for a decade for the next DA game. I think the conservative hate merchants have distorted the value of the game. It is not up to old Bioware standards but it is a huge improvement over their two previous games. My biggest complaint is that the PC version crashes every five minutes, and I was forced to play it on console.

Still playing it, actually I think the more I play the more I decide it is up to old Bioware standards. Not old, old but 360 era. It is definitely better than Dragon Age 2 due to not reusing the same locations over and over and feeling half-finished. It is also better than Inquisition which had massive open-world bloat. The narrative is structured around Mass Effect 2 where you spend most of the game completing loyalty quests for your companions before going on a suicide quest.

Steam reviews are overwhelmingly positive, and critical consensus is also quite good. And the game has sold well. It is just YT grifters trying to create a narrative that the game is terrible and a flop because it has non-binary representation. Give me a break. It is 2024, get over it.

[Elgarian Redux]

I haven't stopped playing Red Dead Redemption 2 since 2018. I cycle the story slowly round and round, but mostly I use it as a sort of theme park holiday, continually available. I can drop in and do outlaw-ish things for 10, 30, 60 mins at a time (or longer), when I feel like it. This game (SO much more than a game) was my only reason for buying a Playstation, and after 6 years, I still think it's one of the most wonderful things that ever happened. When I was nobbut a lad, I would never have believed that in my lifetime something like RDR2 would become possible. A childhood dream fulfilled.

[LKB]

I haven't stopped playing Red Dead Redemption 2 since 2018. I cycle the story slowly round and round, but mostly I use it as a sort of theme park holiday, continually available. I can drop in and do outlaw-ish things for 10, 30, 60 mins at a time (or longer), when I feel like it. This game (SO much more than a game) was my only reason for buying a Playstation, and after 6 years, I still think it's one of the most wonderful things that ever happened. When I was nobbut a lad, I would never have believed that in my lifetime something like RDR2 would become possible. A childhood dream fulfilled.

Interesting. What is it about the game that holds you, the environments? Characterizations? Storyline?

[Ganondorf]

I love rdr2! Believe it or not but I actually 100 percented it some years ago. Took me over a year and almost ragequitted more than once but ultimately I did it and it was worth it. Personally, I think this is Rockstar's best game.

[Elgarian Redux]

Interesting. What is it about the game that holds you, the environments? Characterizations? Storyline?

All those things. Imagine the best western movie you've ever seen, with a majestic, tragic story arc, set in the most amazing landscapes. Imagine that you're guiding the leading player in it, deciding on the choices he makes. Imagine a world so vast that you can never quite be sure you've explored all of it, a world populated with wild animals everywhere, with wild horses that you can tame and ride (every one of them beautiful), and with countless people going about their daily business, in the towns and out on the trail - and you can interact with all of them.

This video shows you some of the world, and some of the gameplay:

[LKB]

All those things. Imagine the best western movie you've ever seen, with a majestic, tragic story arc, set in the most amazing landscapes. Imagine that you're guiding the leading player in it, deciding on the choices he makes. Imagine a world so vast that you can never quite be sure you've explored all of it, a world populated with wild animals everywhere, with wild horses that you can tame and ride (every one of them beautiful), and with countless people going about their daily business, in the towns and out on the trail - and you can interact with all of them.

This video shows you some of the world, and some of the gameplay:

Well, either you've convinced me to give it a whirl, or you've inspired me to convince myself. Either way you can take some credit: I'm downloading RDR2 right now. 

[hopefullytrusting]

Just rebeat Richard & Alice:



I played this game wayback, so I had forgotten most of it. It has an excellent twist, one of the saddest plotlines, and an ending that wasn't commonplace then, but is commonplace now.

The game will only take a few hours to beat, and is a point-and-click, but only one of the puzzles was "unintuitive." It is more an experience than a game, as the mechanics are minimal and not all that important (this is a game clearly in the narrative camp of ludology).

Fantastic OST, as well.

High recommend, if you like arty games.

One thing I forgot to highlight it that this is one of the rare games that takes post-apocalyptism seriously, and that is a very, very rare genre (currently, I can only think of four games that fit into that category: Fallout 1 and 2, and Deus Ex 1 and 2).

[hopefullytrusting]

One thing I forgot to highlight it that this is one of the rare games that takes post-apocalyptism seriously, and that is a very, very rare genre (currently, I can only think of four games that fit into that category: Fallout 1 and 2, and Deus Ex 1 and 2).

Whoops, I also forgot about Fallout 3, which might be one of the most extreme games ever made.

[Elgarian Redux]

Well, either you've convinced me to give it a whirl, or you've inspired me to convince myself. Either way you can take some credit: I'm downloading RDR2 right now. 

Thrilling news! Do please tell me how you find it. Worth bearing in mind that Chapter 1 (though visually very beautiful and alive - snow falls off the tree branches when you brush past them) is both an introduction to the story and a game tutorial combined. The glorious open world only opens up properly in Chapter 2.

I've spent a lot of time living virtually in Chapter 2.

[LKB]

Thrilling news! Do please tell me how you find it. Worth bearing in mind that Chapter 1 (though visually very beautiful and alive - snow falls off the tree branches when you brush past them) is both an introduction to the story and a game tutorial combined. The glorious open world only opens up properly in Chapter 2.

I've spent a lot of time living virtually in Chapter 2.

I'll try to post my initial impressions soon. Once I've departed my workplace later this morning my weekend begins, and I'll have a couple days to start learning how to ride this virtual horse, literally and figuratively. 

[Ganondorf]

One thing I forgot to highlight it that this is one of the rare games that takes post-apocalyptism seriously, and that is a very, very rare genre (currently, I can only think of four games that fit into that category: Fallout 1 and 2, and Deus Ex 1 and 2).

While Fallout 2 is my favorite Fallout, I personally don't see it taking postapocalyctic world that seriously (apart from great factional and political conflicts) nor Fallout 3 which is more of a mentality that the world after nuclear war is just a great big themepark. I personally find Fallout 1 and New Vegas most consistent in a proper tone for nuclear armageddon and the aftermath.

[hopefullytrusting]

While Fallout 2 is my favorite Fallout, I personally don't see it taking postapocalyctic world that seriously (apart from great factional and political conflicts) nor Fallout 3 which is more of a mentality that the world after nuclear war is just a great big themepark. I personally find Fallout 1 and New Vegas most consistent in a proper tone for nuclear armageddon and the aftermath.

I agree with you on Fallout 1, but not New Vegas. Yes, New Vegas has the look, but it lacks the fortitude to actually follow-through on what the post-apocalypse would entail, while, Fallout 2 and Fallout 3 both follow that genre to its logical conclusion (the enslavement and/or killing of children; teaming up with enslavers/murders/rapists/etc. - to cite two examples).

[Ganondorf]

I agree with you on Fallout 1, but not New Vegas. Yes, New Vegas has the look, but it lacks the fortitude to actually follow-through on what the post-apocalypse would entail, while, Fallout 2 and Fallout 3 both follow that genre to its logical conclusion (the enslavement and/or killing of children; teaming up with enslavers/murders/rapists/etc. - to cite two examples).

You do know that you can join Caesar's Legion in New Vegas and that they are slavers and murderers? And unlike Fallout 3's ridiculously simplified approach with blowing up Megaton for shits and giggles, Caesar is the embodiment of wicked cultured, even using Hegelian dialectics as reasoning for his actions. Sure it doesn't in any way excuse the Legion's actions but at the very least it is fundamentally more interesting than blowing up an entire town full of people because, according to Tenpenny, the town is an eyesore. And I fail to see logical conclusion in building a town literally around a nuclear device. And I didn't even mention the "AntAgonizer". They also removed all of Brotherhood of Steel's more questionable attributes and made them "cool-looking good guys".

[hopefullytrusting]

You do know that you can join Caesar's Legion in New Vegas and that they are slavers and murderers? And unlike Fallout 3's ridiculously simplified approach with blowing up Megaton for shits and giggles, Caesar is the embodiment of wicked cultured, even using Hegelian dialectics as reasoning for his actions. Sure it doesn't in any way excuse the Legion's actions but at the very least it is fundamentally more interesting than blowing up an entire town full of people because, according to Tenpenny, the town is an eyesore. And I fail to see logical conclusion in building a town literally around a nuclear device. And I didn't even mention the "AntAgonizer". They also removed all of Brotherhood of Steel's more questionable attributes and made them "cool-looking good guys".

In New Vegas, it is all telling, you don't do anything evil if you join that faction.

In Fallout 3, one of the quests is too literally enslave a child - if you join the enslavers. You can then massacre the rest of the children, should you please. You also are quested to enslave others, but the child, especially the one they select, is normally the one people find problematic.

Jericho, the first person you can get to join you, is an enslaving, rapist, if I recall correctly.

I think the most evil thing you can do is become a cannibal in New Vegas, and that's hardly evil given the circumstances (Fallout 3, also did that better.)

Regarding, Tenpenny and Megaton - it is up in the air which end is more evil, I suppose, as you can up destroying none, one, or both - depending on your choices.

And having people so out of their mind they worship a bomb doesn't seem out of place, especially if you have all the DLC because, if I'm recalling correctly, they show what that faction was really trying to accomplish in the end, if you follow one of the quests.