WHAT PLAY YOU!? Version 3.0

[RedRooster]

I played it on release, and while I didn't encounter any bugs, I struggled to get into the game. The world didn't feel interesting to me, and I can't put my finger on why exactly. Perhaps it was the characters in it? While in The Witcher 3, they felt interesting and distinct; from what I played in Cyberpunk, no one stood out to me as being particularly memorable. I bought it for Steam Deck with the intent of revisiting it, but I've not gotten around to doing that yet. Games like Elden Ring have won me over, so there's every chance Cyberpunk will too. 

[Loki]

I feel similarly about Starfield.  I love the aesthetic, I love the openness of the universe and the variety of missions but have struggled to push on with it past a certain point.  It's the investment in time it takes to move through missions, too much back and forth.  I like playing it but don't feel compelled to go play it, if you know what I mean.

On the other hand I've been playing Diablo 4 co-op with my mate, and really enjoying it.  I love the old-school isometric look, reminds me of games from my youth (Immortal, Lords Of Chaos, through to Baldur's Gate) but it's absolutely gorgeous.  Something about simple dungeon delving, very atmospheric.  And the gameplay is kept pretty simple hack-and-slash, although there's depth in there if you want to get into crafting and the like.  The sound isn't great but if you're chatting online at the same time, it doesn't matter.

I think my tastes are definitely different from the mainstream now though.  Yes, I want an interesting explorable world and characters but I also want to be able to play in 1-2 hour slices and move relatively quickly through the whole experience - I reckon 20-30 hours is perfect for me.  Whereas of course online people are complaining about games that "only" take 150 hours of gameplay.

 

[RedRooster]

38 minutes ago, Loki said:

I think my tastes are definitely different from the mainstream now though.  Yes, I want an interesting explorable world and characters but I also want to be able to play in 1-2 hour slices and move relatively quickly through the whole experience - I reckon 20-30 hours is perfect for me.  Whereas of course online people are complaining about games that "only" take 150 hours of gameplay.

 

This is exactly how I feel - I'm playing Persona 3 Reload at the moment, and I'm long past the point where I'm ready for it to finish. Even if I had enough time to play through something with a main quest this long, I'd prefer not to. I'd rather be left wanting more than wishing for less. 

[The Gaffer]

I can't imagine the awkward tension Bethesda (hopefully) had in the months and even years leading up to Starfield's release. 

It's so anachronistic, clunky and dated in so many parts of its design that it's almost like the whole game was baked into code pre this age of neverending memes and YouTube analysis on how dog eared Bethesda's open world game model has become, but it was just too late to go back and change any of it. 

I realise it'll have made its money back and then some, which is the bottom line for publishers, I don't think a triple A title has ever arrived so cold and antiquated once the initial glossy friends-with-the-publishers reviews were barged pass. And I say that as someone who still loves their open world design. But that game was a complete wet fart. 

[Loki]

40 minutes ago, The Gaffer said:

I can't imagine the awkward tension Bethesda (hopefully) had in the months and even years leading up to Starfield's release. 

It's so anachronistic, clunky and dated in so many parts of its design that it's almost like the whole game was baked into code pre this age of neverending memes and YouTube analysis on how dog eared Bethesda's open world game model has become, but it was just too late to go back and change any of it. 

I realise it'll have made its money back and then some, which is the bottom line for publishers, I don't think a triple A title has ever arrived so cold and antiquated once the initial glossy friends-with-the-publishers reviews were barged pass. And I say that as someone who still loves their open world design. But that game was a complete wet fart. 

There are so many things to like about it.  It looks gorgeous most of the time, good sound and voice acting.  And I genuinely love zipping to and fro in the universe, the space craft handling and all that is lovely, and the space craft construction is fun.  Despite the moaning on Reddit, there's a huge variation in worlds to see and visit, although it's also realistically full of barren rocks.

But the combat is really boring and samey, and as you say the actual gameplay mechanics are so clunky and old - from loading screens to fetch-and-carry quests.  And there are so many truncated game mechanics where clearly they ran out of time or decided to cut at the last minute.

I think it fails in all the places Bethesda games have always failed which is frustrating.  If it had been a much slimmer game, if they'd tried to do less, I think it would have been better.  I've talked extensively on here about how I feel open world games have got too big to really work any more anyway.  One or two games in any generation seem to nail it, everyone else falls at a hurdle.

I spent a large part of my teenage years playing Elite, Elite Frontier and FFE.  I am still holding out hope for a console game which gives me that experience.  All I really want to do is whizz around a galaxy in a variety of spacecraft, trading and shooting.  I don't even need to get out and walk around.  I bought Elite Dangerous but it stopped getting updates on my Mac and I couldn't bring myself to start again on Xbox.

 

[SpiritOfTheForest]

 

I am absolutely buzzing for this. THAT is how you do a game announcement. Presented by cast members, hearing from key members of the production team and the director, announced to be out by the end of the year and not years down the line like some bigger studios...and all filmed inside Kuttenberg Cathedral!

I rave about my love for Kingdom Come at any given opportunity but if you haven't played the first one yet, the Royal edition (with all DLC) is currently the princely sum of £3.79 on the PS store. That is astronomically good value for such a wonderful game with hundreds of hours of content. 

[Keith Houchen]

3 minutes ago, SpiritOfTheForest said:

 

I am absolutely buzzing for this. THAT is how you do a game announcement. Presented by cast members, hearing from key members of the production team and the director, announced to be out by the end of the year and not years down the line like some bigger studios...and all filmed inside Kuttenberg Cathedral!

I rave about my love for Kingdom Come at any given opportunity but if you haven't played the first one yet, the Royal edition (with all DLC) is currently the princely sum of £3.79 on the PS store. That is astronomically good value for such a wonderful game with hundreds of hours of content. 

I remember you championing this game and the historical accuracy of it. Hope this one is as enjoyable for you!

[Donald J Trump]

I can also confirm that Kingdom Come Deliverance is a tremendous game, and an absolute steal at the moment given the price and staggering amount of content. I mentioned in another thread that RDR2 was the closest Old West enthusiasts would come to experiencing that short period in history. In a similar way, I think KCD is an unmatched way to get a taste of medieval life, and its a good alternative to all the mage build dragon bollocks you find elsewhere. 

I'm buzzing after watching that trailer. If they're able to build on what they've done previously, and perhaps add a bit of polish to some of the systems and mechanics I think it'll be a big success. 

Edited April 22 by Donald J Trump
An act of cowardism

[Weezenal]

Started playing Lightyear Frontier on Gampass this week. Became slightly addicted. I’ve never played Stardew Valley but imagine it’s a bit like that but with a farming robot. Reminds me a bit of the building part of Death Stranding, with similar visuals to Breath of the Wild.

Pretty slow paced relaxing game. 
 

 

 

[Tommy!]

I've been replying Mercy, the actual story modes which I haven't in years despite playing it semi regular.

Two things which jumped out I'd forgotten is how much big show getting pulled at the 11th hour messed with the world title story. Late elimination in the rumble is the 99 rumble to mania Austin v Rock with the Vince cage match story. Now with occasional Stevie Richards spooned in.

Start as champ and it's Rumble to mania 2000, Vs mankind to cactus, Linda bringing back Foley for the big 4 way, champion v Rock v Foley v Stevie.

Just how late in the day did show get pulled that they couldn't spoon Austin or Benoit in rather than the 1:1 with Richards?

 

Second is a man can play the women's championship, complete with entry to the rumble bikini contest with a little turquoise number. Not sure if that's normal or just my "copy".

[Merzbow]

1 hour ago, Tommy! said:

Just how late in the day did show get pulled that they couldn't spoon Austin or Benoit in rather than the 1:1 with Richards?

Someone probably just really liked Stevie, it would have taken the same time to put anyone else in that spot I'd imagine.

[BomberPat]

23 hours ago, Tommy! said:

Second is a man can play the women's championship, complete with entry to the rumble bikini contest with a little turquoise number. Not sure if that's normal or just my "copy".

NewLegacyInc did a playthrough of the Women's Title story as Vince McMahon - I'm pretty sure it's all versions of the game that allow that for some reason.

On the Stevie Richards thing, I assume he was already in the game and when Big Show was removed, Stevie was indexed in that spot on the roster, so every bit of the story mode that would have pulled from that just picked up Stevie instead of Show? Rather than him being added in specifically to replace Big Show?

The other possibility is that, with Richards doing the RTC gimmick, maybe they thought gamers would see him as a sufficient enough villain to justify an in-game big push

[Donald J Trump]

On 4/20/2024 at 8:52 AM, Weezenal said:

Started playing Lightyear Frontier on Gampass this week. Became slightly addicted. I’ve never played Stardew Valley but imagine it’s a bit like that but with a farming robot. Reminds me a bit of the building part of Death Stranding, with similar visuals to Breath of the Wild.

Pretty slow paced relaxing game. 
 

 

 

Is the game finished? This caught my eye but it said "Game Preview" when I went to download it. You possibly might not be able to tell whether it's 100% the finished article, but does it feel more or less a complete experience? 

Stardew Valley (after many years) has run it course and the follow up from Concerned Ape "Haunted Chocolatier" is probably some ways off, so looking for something else to give me a taste of the good life. Haunted Chocolatier looks incredible too I should add. 

[Weezenal]

9 minutes ago, Donald J Trump said:

Is the game finished? This caught my eye but it said "Game Preview" when I went to download it. You possibly might not be able to tell whether it's 100% the finished article, but does it feel more or less a complete experience? 

It feels like it’s finished, I haven’t experienced any bugs or anything. If it didn’t say Game Preview I don’t think you’d know. 

[BomberPat]

I finished Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley for the Switch over the weekend; perfect little low energy cosy game, and I'm a big Moomins nerd so loved how well it was made as a reflection of that world. None of the puzzles or anything are particularly taxing, but it's fun, it's genuinely hilarious in places, looks gorgeous, and the general themes are great. Would recommend.

Having finished Secret of Mana, I started playing Legend of Mana, which was another PS+ freebie. I mistakenly thought it would be Seiken Densetsu 3, the next game in the franchise, but apparently that is now known as "Trials of Mana". Legend is one I don't think I even knew existed, originally for PS1. It's a weird one, to say the least. It's visually gorgeous, with the backdrops looking stylistically somewhere between the Monkey Island remasters and the second Discworld game, and the characters are big detailed sprites that probably would have felt dated on the PS1 when everyone else was pushing for 3D, but I love them. One of the things that makes it weird, though, is that there doesn't really appear to be a story - every location has its own single quest, and that's it; you finish it, move on to the next one. Maybe they become more connected later in the game, but so far everything is self-contained. That's not the only odd thing, though - when you start, you choose your character and starting weapon, and then choose a place on the map to start from. For the rest of the game, every time you complete a quest you get an "artefact", and you can place that anywhere you like on the map, which then creates the next location you can go to. There doesn't seem to be any relevance as to where or in what order you place things in relation to each other.

I started playing it because I wanted a story-heavy game to play alongside what else I'm playing, but actually it's been nice to know that I can just pick it up for 15-20 minutes and finish a story in that time.

The other game I'm playing is Two Point Campus. A shop near me had the deluxe edition with DLC and whatnot for PS4 going cheap, and I loved Two Point Hospital, so I picked it up even though when I played it previously I struggled to get on with it - I think that was a Steam free weekend. I've got to the same point in the game now that I managed that time around, and I'm enjoying it more but still running into some of the same issues. It lacks the kind of urgency that Two Point Hospital had, because just by virtue of the setting the stakes aren't as high; I'm four levels in and haven't had a single failing student, it's really easy to get marks up to A+ and so on, and gaming the loans system means it's tough to run out of money. There's quite a bit of focus on scheduling events, and I find that quite tedious, but I'll stick with it.