WHAT PLAY YOU!? Version 3.0

[Jesse]

Cannot agree with your Blue Prince review. I had the chance to play that last year (got mates at Raw Fury) and it consumed me and my group chat. Closest I've come to the feeling I got playing Myst 30 years ago of slowly unfolding this world and feeling like my brain was getting bigger every time I solved a puzzle. I've still got five pages of A4 filled with scrawled notes from sitting on Discord calls playing through it as a group, and now I'm watching other people go through the same process and it's filling me with secondhand joy.

[FLips]

I know some people are raving about it, but those types of games are hit and miss with me. I enjoyed Myst, but hated The Witness. I stand by what I said about roguelikes though. Wish people would make full games again rather than come up with one idea they can loop for an entire game. Lazy.

[Devon Malcolm]

1 minute ago, FLips said:

I stand by what I said about roguelikes though. Wish people would make full games again rather than come up with one idea they can loop for an entire game. Lazy.

I was just looking through the new releases this month on Steam and it's wall-to-wall roguelikes. They're my gaming enemy akin to superhero films now. I hate them.

[FLips]

Just now, Devon Malcolm said:

I was just looking through the new releases this month on Steam and it's wall-to-wall roguelikes. They're my gaming enemy akin to superhero films now. I hate them.

Yeah same. For me if the game has roguelike or crafting/survival mechanics, it’s an instant turnoff. The latter soured both the most recent Zeldas and Animal Crossing games for me too.

[Devon Malcolm]

5 minutes ago, FLips said:

Yeah same. For me if the game has roguelike or crafting/survival mechanics, it’s an instant turnoff. The latter soured both the most recent Zeldas and Animal Crossing games for me too.

My experience of them, which is definitely more limited than yours, is that it's code for ridiculously difficult games over-reliant on blind luck. I stuck hours on Spelunky and never got past the second level. 

Edited April 12, 2025 by Devon Malcolm

[Jesse]

I'm with you on crafting/survival mechanics, which mostly serve to add tedium to the timesinks, but I'm on board for roguelike mechanics. There's a lot of bad ones to be sure. but the best ones for me are where it's not really luck-based, but where the thing being unlocked over time is knowledge. Couldn't get on with Hades, with its thing of slowly upgrading things over time, but something like Binding of Isaac I can sink 200 hours into because as I'm learning more about items, item combos, and how to manipulate the game's mechanics (through things like the D6) it stops being luck-based and becomes skill-based.

I felt the same thing about Blue Prince where by the end I felt like I had basically mastered how the systems functioned and could easily move myself in the direction I wanted. Talking about these reminds me that I really need to go back to Caves of Qud and do a proper roguelike for once.

[Dr. Alan Grant]

12 hours ago, FLips said:

Yeah same. For me if the game has roguelike or crafting/survival mechanics, it’s an instant turnoff. The latter soured both the most recent Zeldas and Animal Crossing games for me too.

I really like Breath Of The Wild and Tears Of The Kingdom, but they contain three of my most hated game mechanics.

Cooking. If I want to regain health, I just want to use a potion or pick up some hearts. I don’t want to collect ingredients and cook it myself and hope I get it right.

Stamina gauge. Whether it’s sprinting or climbing, the fact I have to watch my stamina to make sure I’m not about to plummet to my death or run out of breath as I’m being chased by some big skeleton dude is a massive turn off. Even in Souls games, I’m not a fan of stamina bars. I know it’s there so you have to play smarter and not just spam heavy attacks, but maybe I want to spam heavy attacks. Give me to the option to play with stamina or without. 

Weapon breaking. The single most frustrating aspect of the recent Zelda games. Found a nice sword that obliterates Bokoblins in one hit? Tough shit. It’s just snapped in two and you can’t repair it. Go back to using a tree branch, sucker. 

[FLips]

15 minutes ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

I really like Breath Of The Wild and Tears Of The Kingdom, but they contain three of my most hated game mechanics.

Cooking. If I want to regain health, I just want to use a potion or pick up some hearts. I don’t want to collect ingredients and cook it myself and hope I get it right.

Stamina gauge. Whether it’s sprinting or climbing, the fact I have to watch my stamina to make sure I’m not about to plummet to my death or run out of breath as I’m being chased by some big skeleton dude is a massive turn off. Even in Souls games, I’m not a fan of stamina bars. I know it’s there so you have to play smarter and not just spam heavy attacks, but maybe I want to spam heavy attacks. Give me to the option to play with stamina or without. 

Weapon breaking. The single most frustrating aspect of the recent Zelda games. Found a nice sword that obliterates Bokoblins in one hit? Tough shit. It’s just snapped in two and you can’t repair it. Go back to using a tree branch, sucker. 

I don't mind the stamina, like you said it's there for a reason. Could do without the cooking but didn't hate it. Weapon breaking, especially the Master Sword and Hylian Shield, is one of the biggest reasons I'd never rank either of those Zeldas anywhere near my top 5.

Sadly, until the whole industry moves away from the stagnation it's in, we'll be stuck with stuff like this for the foreseeable future. Nintendo used to be the ones that innovated all these things other companies and developers would imitate but they're so far behind the curve now they're only just introducing voice chat and as much as I like the gimmick, Mario Kart is doing what Burnout Paradise did nearly 20 years ago.

[RedTwoster]

12 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

I was just looking through the new releases this month on Steam and it's wall-to-wall roguelikes. They're my gaming enemy akin to superhero films now. I hate them.

Me too, ‘roguelike’, ‘procedurally generated’ and ‘Souls-like’ (even though I like From Software games) are keywords I’d place on ignore if Steam would let me.

[Jazzy G]

Roguelikes can be frustrating, but I like rogue-lites where there's progress and improvement to your character between runs and more of the story gets revealed. Hades is great. Vampire Survivors is a good one. 

[LaGoosh]

22 hours ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

Weapon breaking. The single most frustrating aspect of the recent Zelda games. Found a nice sword that obliterates Bokoblins in one hit? Tough shit. It’s just snapped in two and you can’t repair it. Go back to using a tree branch, sucker

This is the main reason I don't think those games are as great as everyone says.

"You can go anywhere and do anything!" Yeah and everytime all I ever get is a sword that will break after three fights. Thanks for nothing. 

[Merzbow]

The Oblivion Remaster was just leaked, the dev had a whole bunch of images on their page before they should.

[Dr. Alan Grant]

Apparently releasing next week if rumours are to be believed. That’s me sorted for the next few months. I can already see the Switch 2 gathering dust whilst I sink hundreds of hours into a game I’ve already played to death. 

[FLips]

Decided to go back to my Switch which has sat dormant for a while other than for quick goes on F-Zero 99 and finish some of the games I have on there. Absolutely baffled at the state of my brain when I started digging back into them.

Super Mario Wonder I was on the final world so that didn't take long. A couple of levels and a final boss and it was done. Didn't think much of it but not sure why I stopped playing at the last world. Moved onto Super Mario 3D World and what do you know I'm on the last world, so another few levels and that's done. I go from there to Super Mario 3D World: Bowser's Fury and would you believe it I'm on approach to the last boss. I get it done in quick fashion.

I've been getting headaches and having strangely vivid dreams for a couple of months now. I need to maybe buy a Co2 Detector.

Hyrule Warriors is next and uh-oh it's the final stage again. Got that done. Moving on to Pokemon Brilliant Diamond, surely not? Yup it's the Elite Four!

So 5/5 games I've went back to so far I've inexplicably stopped playing at the final level/world/boss of the game. My head is farting here. What am I doing.

 

[FLips]

Apologies if someone else has mentioned it but Crime Scene Cleaner really scratches the Powerwash Simulator/House Flipper itch. It’s on Gamepass for those that have it.

You’re a guy cleaning up gruesome murders for people to pay for your daughter’s meds. You go there, dispose of the bodies, clean up the furniture and wash the blood off everything. There are hidden rooms, clues and items to find about the scenes, and you can search for secret loot and items. Each level if you’re thorough has taken me just under an hour and i’m about to do the fourth one.

Edited April 20, 2025 by FLips