NFS Unbound and BF2042 cause it‘s five bucks each rn.
I think BF is fine for 5 bucks if you don‘t think about how much worse it is compared to BF3 or 4, it‘s still silly fun for cheap on its own.
NFS I struggle to recommend even for this price, unless you‘re already done with all the Forzas, Crews, Grids, and Dirts of this world. The driving just feels incredibly wrong, lots of „what the fuck just happened?“ And it runs poorly even though it looks mediocre.
Chained Together was fun so far with a friend, although it‘s clearly not very polished.
I also got Deep Rock Galactic, but I haven‘t spent much time in it yet. This one in contrast looks very polished lol
Lastly, Chicory has been a lot of fun and a unique experience. A cute and wholesome game I can recommend.
After I became „worthy“ this week in Distance, I also want to recommend it again. It‘s a game I discovered through people talking about it on here and it was a great experience.
Mass Effect. First time through the trilogy.
My buddy convinced me to play the trilogy for my first time like half a year ago now.
Have fun
How did you like it? I’m like 10 hours in and so far it seems ok, but I’m not seeing the super amazing game that my friends raved about. For instance last night while playing I thought about how Bioshock was much more immersive and gripping, and it came out the same year.
The first game is a bit different from the rest and it’s greatest strength is the world building of the universe, where it is the strongest title of the trilogy. People mostly like the mass effect series for the companions though, and they are at their best in the second game.
The first game suffers a bit from being an awkward hybrid between an infinity engine game and a more action-oriented game. It was a rough time for RPGs in general in that respect. ME2 and 3 lean more in to the action game play for better and worse (mostly better).
Unless you are in hurry to get on to the next game, I’d encourage you to do some of the optional and very easy to miss sidequests that you can get from exploring planets. Its worth checking the wiki for these if you don’t feel like doing enough exploring to stumble across them organically, I can in particular recommend the Cerberus quest chain and Talis geth quest chain.
I liked how the combat system evolved and became more immersive instead of a third person rts. The story was interesting, with your choices following you through the games. I did a renegade run and still ended up with paragon points. Also, don’t explore and find everything unless you are dedicated to 100percent run.
Super amazing? No. But fun and a good story with fun characters. Talking to them for side missions actually makes bonding with them worth the time and effort. If you have all three games you might as well play the series as intended 1-3.bur if you only have one or two, the game falls flat. They need each other to make sense, have fun, and become one giant decent game.
So i say again, have fun. If you are getting frustrated, back off, relax, play some BioShock, then you get back up and eat that horse. It’s more important to enjoy the game then it is to finish it within a set time.
Mass Effect 1 is really like the first season of a TV show. The series was still finding its footing, but the story and characters make up for the grindy bits
Totally this. The series really gets its legs in ME2.
I’ve been replaying Pillars of Eternity II - in fact I have the tavern music stuck in my head right now. Mostly I just need some CRPG gameplay, so I’m not doing anything wildly different with my character this time around. Maybe I should do an evil run…
Knowing how the ending works, I’m still not sure which faction to go with.Starting deadfire today :)
The tone is much less dour than the first one, and I think it does a better job introducing the world. It’s still a lot to take in, but all of the text has links you can click on that explain anything you don’t recognize.
I just started the first one, took me a few tries to really get into it but I’m enjoying it a lot now. I feel like it’s a little bit harder to get into all the lore compared to something like dragon age or elder scrolls. But the gameplay is amazing
Yeah, my main complaint with PoE 1 is the way it bludgeons you with lore. The writers are so excited to show off this massive world they’ve invented, they just aren’t very artful about it.
Playing through Hades 1. I never got out of Hades until this time around, and I’m having fun grinding to complete some of the fated choices and lounge renovations.
Have fun, in my opinion it only gets better as you go
That’s been my experience, too! I was a little worried, after I got out the first time, that I would have no more reason to keep playing, but they did a good job giving the player something(s) to keep working towards.
Outlast Trials and I’m giving Destiny 2 a shot.
Nothing new yet. Well, the last few weeks I started a new character in Valheim, the first one for me since the mistlands biome update.
Valheim has been on steam for a year or so, but is only just nearing 1.0 release. I had gotten on fairly early to play with budddies, and it was 20 bucks well spent. Played a good bit with my buds, Iv played a lot more solo. Survival/Base builder. Norse mythology setting. Not sure the price now with release imminent, but worth adding to the watch/wish list if the genre is right or you.
But, iirc the game is called Druidstone. Turn-based tactics game, foresty magic pg 13 looking. Been on my steam list for ever and was 5 bucks recently. Gonna play it soon I swear. I’m a little disheartened because it looks like you are stuck with 3 specific characters, instead of building a party. But hey maybe skill trees? Anywhoots I’ll post more about that one later.
Watch Dogs 2, didn’t really like it, but it’s probably fun on a steam deck on a flight I’d bet
It’s mostly RTS games for me
- Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
- 9-bit armies: A bit too far
Dragon Age Origins for the first time. I think I’m at the climax of the Redcliffe arc, and finally I understand why people call Veilguard “disneyfied”.
Why is that? I played Origins on ps3 but I’ve never played any of the sequels, so I have no idea.
“We might be able to banish the demon and save your son.”
“Really?”
“No, it’s just fun to get your hopes up. I’m gonna kill the kid.”Veilguard doesn’t let you be an absolute dick the way Origins did. The story (what little I’ve seen) is filtered and sanitized like it’s meant for six-year-olds.
It also approaches sensitive topics, like the gender of one character, with the graceful and delicate touch of a fucking brick. If your character in Origins is a woman, Sten will bluntly comment on your role as a warrior, which is reflects the Qunari culture and their strict adherence to their norms. In Veilguard, a character blurts out “I’m non-binary by the way, I use pronouns” and another starts doing push-ups for accidentally misgendering them. It was fucking ridiculous.
Bleh. But in the end I don’t expect anything good out of the AAA industry. I goes it’s an exception nowadays whether as gave like this can be good. And I mean, it’s not like I was gonna play it anyway.
The games followed a similar path as elder scrolls. Very heavy RPG in the beginning, DAO is very similar to morrowind or BG3 in that way. As the games came out they stripped RPG elements slowly, although I recall the second game still being very much an RPG.
Then inquisition and veilguard dropped the RPG elements and became action games. You generally choose what type of action you like (caster, rogue, warrior) and thats all of the roleplaying involved.
Veilguard specifically is a re-skin of Hogwarts legacy, so if you tried that then you know what it will be like. Maybe the newer assassins creed games would be a good comparison too, heavy action, minor RPG.
Haha. No, those games give me no frame of reference. But that kind of tells me everything I need to know anyway!
Cheers!
Pseudoregalia. Indie game with ridiculous movement tech. Very fun!
That one is great! I love this indie trend of low poly graphics.
I played through Gris and had an absolute blast. I finished it in <3 hours, but spent another 3 or so tracking down collectibles (momentos) because the world is so pretty.
I also played Monument Valley 1&2, each in one sitting. The puzzles weren’t very hard, but I’m a sucker for non-Euclidean worlds (also loved The Bridge and Manifold Garden).
Other than that, I’ve been playing a bit of Fire Emblem: Engage. I probably won’t finish that before Christmas though, it’s a long game.
I’m probably going to pick up Bomb Rush Cyberfunk this Steam sale, which recently turned 1. I have kids, and they’re each getting a Switch game for Christmas, so I’ll have a few more to play soon.
Gris is such a beautiful game. It’s up there with Journey and Sayonara wild hearts for me in the games I can easily hold up as art category.
It absolutely is. I try to play 1-2 of these each year, and I have a collection in Steam called “short games” for experiences under 5 hours with something unique to them.
Some others:
- Gorogoa
- What Remains of Edith Finch
- INSIDE
They’re all very different, but they fit into that “games as art” category and don’t overstay their welcome.
I’m not always in the mood for these kinds of games, but when I am, they really scratch that itch.
Sayonara Wild Hearts was such an unexpected banger to play through. I still hope they make another one.
I’ve been playing Monster Hunter Now on mobile, it fucking sucks unfortunately, but it’s making want to play MH:World again to just grind out armor pieces casually… Although thinking about it, that’s also a chore because unlocking cosmetics is super tiduous and can be really hard… Hmm…
Also playing Legends of Runeterra.
RuneScape. Always heard about how “grindy” it is. 1 hour in and I think I’m beginning to understand.
Wow you really were patient about this one
The first 10-20 levels of any skill are pretty quick, but then it becomes much slower to progress.
The exp requirements for each skill level are exponential for every seventh level, so the half way point in fully levelling a skill works out to be level 92 (out of 99)
I started and finished The Case of the Golden Idol. Good stuff. Playing the sequel now.
Took me a while, but I finally took the time to play Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs 2, and recently started Watch Dogs: Legion.
