General gaming discussion

[Shindig]

I need to recreate it but he spotted he, walked to where I was outside the booth, and we happened to be by the booth window. I got the prompt to push him, he fell over and gave a very loud, "Aaarrrrgh!" as if he'd fallen to his death. It definitely killed him as a colleague bagged him up.

I know in Blood Money you can take real liberties with what counts as a stair kill. As long as you push them on the stairs, they're dead. Regardless of how many steps they actually fell down.

[phonics]

I can imagine that's correct as well. The beauty of Hitman is that it's so clockwork that everything will work as the prompt says. I can't imagine the push prompt came up for more than a couple of frames as to do so you'd need to approach from behind in stealth which would give you a silent attack prompt unless the chracter model was directly attached to a window or ledge. The booth will be qualified as a window. It's the sort of game logic that results in the homing briefcase.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/GlassDigitalAmericanriverotter-size_restricted.gif

I can't wait for their Bond game.

[Raoul Duke]

The homing briefcase is a bug which they left in because people found it amusing - there's one of a guy flying around on a jet ski being chased around by it :D

Hitman is one of the games that the speed running is basically magic. How people come up with some of these things I don't know. Something like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2GJ0naJUXE) I find awesome to watch.

[Shindig]

Almost up to 19 Mastery in Paris now. All I want is the auction starting point because I never get there in time. I also want to drop every chandelier in the level. Then on to Sapienza.

[Ian]

Yeah I don't think I've done anything with the auction on that one at all, either. When I go back to do some more next I think the challenge I fancy is sniping from the tower in Sapienza. I suspect the challenge will be getting the gun up there unless it has an ICA dropoff point in there already.

Did a bunch more KOTOR2 over the weekend. After a pretty slow opening with Peragus into Telos I've now done Nar Shadaa which is where it really started to pick up steam, and I loved the lengthy mission where you end up taking control of a bunch of different party members either on their own or in groups without the protagonist. Why don't more party-based RPGs actually make more use of the party more in this sort of way? It always irks me. "Right lads, I need two of you to come and help me fight the Collectors / Darkspawn / whatever."

"Why don't we all come?"

"Because.... erm, reasons. Shut up."

It also, as I already knew, just has a really interesting cast of characters. I'd love to see something like Darth Nihlus attempted on screen, having something a bit different done with Sith / the Force than just an angry man with a lightsaber. The combat isn't especially engaging but luckily by spamming battle meditation, speed and knight valour I haven't had to worry about it too much.

[Ian]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-delayed-again-and-hardsuit-games-are-no-longer-developing-it

Uh oh.

[Disco]

Yeah I don't think I've done anything with the auction on that one at all, either. When I go back to do some more next I think the challenge I fancy is sniping from the tower in Sapienza. I suspect the challenge will be getting the gun up there unless it has an ICA dropoff point in there already.

Did a bunch more KOTOR2 over the weekend. After a pretty slow opening with Peragus into Telos I've now done Nar Shadaa which is where it really started to pick up steam, and I loved the lengthy mission where you end up taking control of a bunch of different party members either on their own or in groups without the protagonist. Why don't more party-based RPGs actually make more use of the party more in this sort of way? It always irks me. "Right lads, I need two of you to come and help me fight the Collectors / Darkspawn / whatever."

"Why don't we all come?"

"Because.... erm, reasons. Shut up."

It also, as I already knew, just has a really interesting cast of characters. I'd love to see something like Darth Nihlus attempted on screen, having something a bit different done with Sith / the Force than just an angry man with a lightsaber. The combat isn't especially engaging but luckily by spamming battle meditation, speed and knight valour I haven't had to worry about it too much.

The first Dragon Age game did it but only once right near the end. More games should let you send other party members on side missions or the like, Andromeda has the Strike Team missions but only as a shitty online component, really you should be able to send spare companions (hi Liam!) to take care of them instead.

A fair way into Andromeda now and it really is a piece of work, I think every aspect is a genuine step backwards from ME3.

[Ian]

Yeah and obviously you had the Suicide Mission in ME2 but then you didn't control anybody else but even that is better than people just doing nothing while you're away with the baddies trying to kill you and your chosen two mates. I'd forgotten about it happening at the end of DA:O but that's a good example of it too. This stuff should be the rule rather than the exception.

As for Andromeda I'd need to go back and read my thoughts in the thread but yeah, there's not much that it does even as well as the main trilogy did. I liked the jetpacks, the Nomad (?) is better than the Mako and some of the planets (mostly the ice one) are nice to drive around, the mission to the empty Ark was pretty atmospheric.

.....is that it?

Like they're in a new galaxy and even the selection of races are work because half of the ones we knew were kept back in DLC that never got made and of the two new ones the Kett are just like a much duller version of the Collectors, and you've had every type of fight you'll ever have with them about an hour in.

[Shindig]

I enjoyed my auction hit in Paris. I stood up, shot her during her speech and drainpiped the fuck out of there. Got back to the ground floor, found Novikov and popped his dome whilst his bodyguard was distracted by the sushi. And then ran for home inside five minutes. I still have no idea how to get to the Sheikh before the auction, though. My main take from all of this is you can absolutely go loud and scarper. Makes me feel confident about my Chandelier run. I'm considering the following rules:

- Every Chandelier must drop. Preferrably with people underneath it.
- The light rigging must also drop as it's basically a big Chandelier.
- Both targets must die to chandeliers. Separately.
- Code 17 should not be used. It puts them in an unguarded room (with a chandelier) and the last time I used it the security guard outside was more annoyed by me climbing a ladder rather than the murder I just committed.
- Escape by the most guarded exit.
- Kill the Shiekh and Helmut Kruger.
- No saves.

[Baz]

Anyone wanna buy a PS5 for £500 posted? Console is brand new, as are the leads, but comes with a used controller and stand.

edit: https://imgur.com/a/zTModhQ


SOLD

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

How is the console brand new but the stand and controller are used?

[Gray Fox]

Shindig was after one, though I feel he may wait until he can Amazon one now after waiting so long.

[Baz]

How is the console brand new but the stand and controller are used?
Warranty replacement.

And yeah I PM’d Shindig but he passed. Sold elsewhere now.

[Shindig]

Shindig was after one, though I feel he may wait until he can Amazon one now after waiting so long.

Yeah, or wait until GAME spin back up so I've got a branch to dump it at if something breaks.

[Mazuuurk]

I got the offer to buy a PS5 now. You who have it, are you happy with it?

It's really going to be a bit of a stretch fitting it into my TV bench lying down, but my measurements say it should work. It's not going to be given a huge amount of space though. Will this be a problem? I read it gets very warm (but I mean, it must still be possible to keep it in a fairly standard ikea TV-bench, right?)

[Mazuuurk]

Also Ian - finished the DLCs of Control now, so I'm done with it. The Foundation DLC was rather good I though. It does pose more questions than it answers though, which sort of was true for the whole game.

All in all, I really enjoyed that game, even though it very very very much felt like a prequel or start of a series or something.


Now I'm on to Assassins Creed: Odyssey. Playing as Kassandra, as I read she's the better option basically. First impressions are.... a lot. It's just a bit of information overload, from the very first menu, which seems to be full of offers (?) and random shit, to in game where the map seems cluttered with stuff and the world is really dense with vibrant colour.

It's very nice in the sense that I have kind of come to hate games with sepia overload, but it's also partly making my eyes quite literally hurt (in part this is also a bit that I think I need glasses).

The effect of this becomes a little extra strong since I'm also working my way through Shadow of the Colossus again, one colossus per day basically. So going from that to this vibrant and saturated world becomes a tad much.


The combat feels OK, but it's not as fun (so far anyway) as Control and especially not as Horizon Zero Dawn, but it's still very early days.

It's also super weird that you can't jump? I understand it might not be a huge part of gameplay, but it's kind of immersion breaking that a character that climbs up on this and that and jumps down from rooftops etc cannot skip over a stone :cab:

[Ian]

I haven't played as the dude whose name I already forget but Kassandra is definitely good fun and the voice actor does a great job. She's just an enjoyable character.

[Shindig]

I'm running out of steam with Hitman now. Sapienza's a big map but Paris spoils you with everything it gives you. I need to play something else now.

[SincereTheRebel]

GT7 has been delayed until 2022. Probably December 31st of that year.

[Browning]

Apparently Oddworld: Soulstorm, which comes out in April, is going to be the free PSN game :drool:

[Ian]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/deathloops-new-trailer-has-me-fully-on-board-for-the-first-time

This trailer combined with learning that the player-invasion multiplayer thing is optional has me the most hyped I've been for the game so far.

And that power sure as hell looks like Blink to me. :cool:

[Shindig]

Not much from the Sony thing grabbed me. I'm interested to see Returnal, given that it's Housemarque doing something larger in scale. Given how lacklustre the Nintendo Direct was, it's safe to say the industry's a bit buggered at the moment through Covid, shortages, etc.

[Ian]

"Returnal" is a shit name though, and "third person action shooter psychological horror" or whatever I saw it labelled as has a proper genre bingo feel to it.

[Shindig]

And it's a roguelike.

[Ian]

-like or -lite?

[Raoul Duke]

Apropos nothing: it occurred to me earlier that Hitman is basically a Groundhog Day simulator. Given enough time you'll eventually learn everyone's routines and timings.

[Shindig]

It also occurred to me that Hitman Absolution is the Bond game they've already made.

[Ian]

Hopefully the Bond game will be actually good, though.

While Absolution had its moments it just wasn't a great game in general rather than simply being a disappointing Hitman game.

[Shindig]

It worked for me, as long as I don't think about it too much. The Hitman bits took place in some really small locales and some of the sneaking around stuff felt more like set-pieces.

[phonics]

It was shit. Who wants linear Hitman.

[Shindig]

Again, I didn't mind it. The comparisons with Splinter Cell: Conviction are apt. It's an alright one of those and a sub-par Hitman. I'd sooner play it over Hitman 2: Silent Assassin or Codename 47.

[Ian]

You mean to play now or on their respective releases? Because I really liked Silent Assassin at the time.

Also Absolution did that bullshit thing of letting you perfectly stealth a level then end it with LOL YOU FAILED ANYWAY BECAUSE CUTSCENE.

The latest Thief was rotten for that too.

[Shindig]

Now. I've been back to Silent Assassin recently and it doesn't really click into gear until Contracts. I played that not long after and it's night and day.

[Ian]

I mean Silent Assassin is right old so it doesn't surprise me if it doesn't hold up.

I couldn't get into Contracts at the time. I can't remember exactly why, possibly the flashback driven story but I'm guessing. I didn't play the original, loved Silent Assassin, didn't get going with Contracts and then loved Blood Money.

[Shindig]

Yeah, Contracts felt like a Hitman clip show. Half the missions were remade levels from the first game. It does have Traditions of the Trade though which feels like the first proper Hitman level.

[Ian]

Invitation to a Party. :nodd:

[Shindig]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/930549964

Decided to try the chandelier thing. Realised it was shit and did something else. I've discovered some problems:

1. The bar area has five of them to drop but only one mechanism. Instead of dropping all of them, it drops the one closest to the bar. Pointless.
2. Too many of them are in empty rooms, allowing you to drop them without suspicion.
3. Novikov's AI stops at some point meaning that Code 17 is necessary to move him.

Other things:

1. Guards take their sweet time to wake up unconscious targets. :D
2. I'm really good with pistol headshots.

I also never realised before that the church staff in Sapienza all dress like Ned Flanders.

[Ian]

Just got Malachor V to do in KOTOR2 now. I dunno whether I've somehow missed stuff, if the game has bugged stuff for me or if I maybe did something in the wrong order because I feel like some of the companion stories (specifically Mira and Bao-Dur who I haven't even come close to having the option to get them all Jedi'd up despite speaking to them every time I'm on the ship to check for new conversations) haven't revealed themselves to me as on my first playthrough.

Still, the writing is broadly excellent both for how the overall story uses KOTOR1 and pulls together it's various threads to the end, to Kreia just being a brilliant character so unlike almost anybody else in an era of RPGs where you try to make everyone in the team your BFF and also just a great, interesting Star Wars story with interesting villains and a supporting cast that is probably a little underrated, I would say. Also I think I found Nihlus' ship way easier this time than previously probably because I understand the annoying D&Dish systems more.I didn't have one drawn out fight on the ship, just kept Enlightenment running, walk into room, hit stasis, spam a few rounds of Force Storm, job done.

We'll see how I get on with fighting Kreia at the end (there's not a chat-only option, right?) as I remember that fight being a right pain in the arse but on the whole after the slow start I've very much enjoyed this.

The droid factory is good too from the cut content, though it could do with less grindy combat. The guns just aren't fun enough for that to be all your combat, especially when the mines don't work that effectively on the droids.

I think it says a lot that despite this being unfinished and broken in places there are still things that basically every other RPG of this type should be doing (especially with how it handles your squad, both in terms of writing and how it has you doing stuff with them away from the protagonist sometimes) to this day and barely any seem to do.

[Disco]

The companion triggers for jedi training are a bit mad, they involve having certain characters in your party for certain events or conversations and getting them all would involve a lot of backtracking and juggling of party members. Last time I went with Handmaiden and Bao-Dur and that was fairly simple but again, some events lock some characters out of it altogether (like a certain conversation with Visas will prevent Handmaiden from becoming a jedi no matter what you do).

Did you have the droid planet/sith colony bit tacked onto the end of the Korriban level?

[Ian]

I must have just got it right by dumb luck on the first playthrough then because I'm sure I had all of the potential Jedi first time around. I was playing as a lady Exile this time so I got the Disciple instead of the Handmaiden. He's a bit of a dullard.

Droid factory came after Kreia murders the Council on Dantooine I think? I only just did it over the weekend there, anyway. And this line is superb: "Statement: But you said so yourself. You have just admitted your own weakness. You have just shown me your soft, meatbag-like underbellies, and said, "HK-47, please shoot me repeatedly there until I die.""

What is the Sith colony?

[Disco]

Oh yeah, the Disciple is a right gimp. I don't think I've ever bothered with Atton or Mira as one is a tosser and one tends to turn up too late for me to care.

For me it was the second part of Korriban, you confront the gribbly dude and then find out the jedi master you were looking for has scarpered. You then go to a sith colony where everyone has been murdered and just the droids are left. It's a bit like the droid factory in that it's a little barebones and grindy so I assumed it was a newer part of the restored content mod (I went to the workshop and just subscribed to the topest rated mod so maybe it adds more than I thought).

[Ian]

Yeah I definitely didn't get that and having Googled it it looks even more unfinished and broken so I'm guessing I'd have needed to subbed another mod or an extra bit of this one to get that. Doesn't sound like I missed much.

I quite like Atton in that my takeaway from his backstory is that he's entirely a product of Revan, who found his ability to disguise himself from other Force sensitives more useful as a means of having him hunt down Jedi for turning / execution rather than training him up and that this even helps him keep Kreia out of his head, etc.

Did a bit more Malachor last night and my Enlightenment > Stasis > Lightning strat is still bearing much fruit. I am pleased that again your squad have a bit of agency, with Mira, Disciple, Atton and Visas making their way to the Academy to confront Kreia after you've already left the Hawk and the droids all doing their own thing too, though Bao-Dur appears to have just died offscreen. Sounds like from the files in there that he was meant to die on Telos helping HK-47 get to the droid factory.

[Ian]

And that's it done. A good ending, and Kreia was pretty easy to deal with this time. Love the final chat too. Typically well written. Really glad I replayed it though I feel it now may be unwise to give Greedfall a go right after.

I'm thinking of maybe doing Spiritfarer next.

[Shindig]

Sapienza is now mastered. Cannons are fun. The mansion is pretty neat but I still hate how under the cosh you are for the lab stuff. I did manage to clear the virus place out by trespassing into the place and changing quick into the hazmat suit. Gave me a free shot at the vial and then I could run off.

Also, fuck the speedboat escape. It didn't pop for me because I used a speedboat in the harbour instead of the one by the ruins.

[Ian]

The bit with the virus is total turd especially at the end of such a freeform level.

[Mazuuurk]

Quite enjoying Assassins Creed Odyssey. I still find it really dense with information (even the landscapes are so rich that it almost is hard to discern stuff) but I'm getting used to that. I've always had the idea that Assassins Creed games are a bit shit and not at all RPGs, so I'm very positively surprised actually.

The combat is a little odd. I find it a little tricky to do any successful stealthing, and now and then find myself surrounded by like 10 soldiers and 3 mercenaries.

Another thing is the loot, which you find so damn much of that you end up not really having time to get "attached" to any of your weapons or armour. And while it's nice to be able to customise how you look (specially since I'm playing as Kassandra and her walking around in a massive Spartan-abs-style bronze breastplate looks a little odd), it would have been nice with a little more character to the things you find.


And I'm stilla little annoyed that you can't just jump. But the parkour/climbing functionality is really satisfying - I really love it when games basically just allow you to go anywhere you damn well please, and always find it a little odd when in other games like Ghost of Tsushima or Horizon Zero Dawn (which is still a better game mind you) there are these little marked ledges and bars and stuff that [someone] conveniently stuck out on a mountain out in nowhere.

[Ian]

I didn't find stealthing that hard but the game is sort of built to let you be able to defend yourself once things go pear-shaped. I'd say it's more comparable to the Arkham games insofar as you're stealthing because you're helpless, you're stealthing because you haven't decided to get messy.

[Mazuuurk]

I generally always go for gung-ho messy style in any game I play. But I find it hard to manage a battle where I'm facing more than 2-3 opponents of the same level as me at once. The shields that all the enemies are carrying are so annoying.

[Ian]

I'd try and pick them off first. And if a fight gets messy just climb something the baddies can't until they lose interest and forget that a heavily armoured woman was just kicking their heads in.

[Mazuuurk]

Yeah I do that. But I'm a stubborn fucker, so I'll heal and then just get back the fuck into it.

Yesterday I killed a fucking huge Boar, which was the toughest fight so far in the game :cab:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Pikemen in Valhalla were the worst. They have insane range and dodge a lot of attacks.

[Lofty]

Playing back through God of War on PS5 and it is fantastic. New Game Plus, mopping up everything I missed on my first play through, which was on PS4 Pro through my old Sony Bravia HD tv. Safe to say with the upgrade, PS5 running through an OLED is gorgeous :drool:

[Vercetti]

Finished off the main story in Odyssey, and I spent a little session today mooching around knocking off cult members. I really liked it, overall. I'd imagine I'll end up getting Origins and Valhalla at some point in the future. Not for a while, though. I reckon if I went into another one too soon I'd end up burnt out on the concept.

Was a bit lost for ideas of what I fancied next, so I've downloaded Detroit: Become Human from PSNow, to make a start on tomorrow.

[Shindig]

Booted up Sekiro to check out the boss rush thing. Took on Owl and then it crashed. Uninstalled. :D

[Ian]

I'm thinking of maybe doing Spiritfarer next.

This is fun. Just the right balance of management and other stuff to not drive me away from it. Even the busywork doesn't really bother me as there's a rhythm to most of it and doesn't take away from the relaxing vibe coming off the game. I haven't encountered a moment yet of YOU NEED TO DO THIS THING RIGHT NOW!, you just take your time and do stuff as you see fit. Add on that it's beautiful animated, has good music and good writing and it's a winner for me though I'm curious as to how long it is.

[Mazuuurk]

Finished off the main story in Odyssey, and I spent a little session today mooching around knocking off cult members. I really liked it, overall. I'd imagine I'll end up getting Origins and Valhalla at some point in the future. Not for a while, though. I reckon if I went into another one too soon I'd end up burnt out on the concept.

Was a bit lost for ideas of what I fancied next, so I've downloaded Detroit: Become Human from PSNow, to make a start on tomorrow.


Damn son, I'm only just getting going it feels like.

[Mazuuurk]

Also, Athens is really impressive. It's not Novigrad in terms of ambiance, but they did a really good job of creating a vibrant city, even if it's a lot of surface.

[Ian]

Athens is great the approach up to it being able to see the Acropolis from so far away adds to the spectacle. And then when you get there and it's so sprawling and ends up in the slums, etc. it does feel like a proper place.

I think Korinth was my favourite city though just for being so pretty.

[Disco]

Andromeda is done.

Boy that was a slog come the end, I was audibly relieved when the last 'planet' turned out to be an asteroid you just drive about on a bit rather than another map covered in unrelated icons that it's apparently very important that I go and scan with my arm robot thing. Not sure I could recommend it to anyone else unless you really can't live without some more Mass Effect in your life (and even then, just play 2 or 3 and squint a bit it will be much more enjoyable). I don't hate the premise or the setup of trying to support fledgling colonies etc but the implementation is garbage which you are distracted from by the frankly bizarre character models and facial animations that are always the worst thing happening at any point of the game (this must be why they left them in). The characters themselves grew on me a bit by the end (by which I mean they weren't all awful) but only until I realised the good ones are just copies of Garrus/any Krogan you ever meet.

The tank was ok and I've still never mined a fucking thing in any of these games.

[Ian]

Yeah the premise is really promising but even if what is there had been implemented as planned going to another sodding galaxy just to mostly spend more time with humans, Turians and Krogans would still have been enormously disappointing.

I think I found that I quite liked the squadmates at the time and they were really believable characters for the most part but I can barely remember anything about them now. Peebee was the thirsty one, Drack was Wrex but with some of the more aggressive edges sanded off. Liam had a sofa. That's about the extent of my specific memories of the squad other than what they look like and some of the names.

It's just a very meh experience. I also couldn't tell fucking anything about the story other than the Kett want to.... do something. Probably evil? I dunno.

I think it would have been more interesting if it turned out the arcs had arrived in the middle of a more even war rather than just some Collector-alikes being dickheads and driving the Angara out of everywhere because it just ended up being the races were all know doing a new war of their own while colonising everything.

[Disco]

Well you found out one more thing about Liam than I did, he was binned after the prologue and I reckon the other spaz from the ship is still waiting in the pub for his game of poker. I mostly used Peebee (although I reckon plenty would find her annoying) Vetra (Garrus with a sister) and Drack (pallete swapped Wrex). You are right though, the situation you arrive to is the least interesting arrangement of factions/species that you could come up with. It all smacks of this being designed to be shovelled out the door rather than there being some kind of developmental difficulties. For instance, it occured to me today that I still don't know what The Scourge is (beyond the obvious), how it came to be or what it was doing in the game in the first place. Add that to the lacklustre variety (were there more than 10 new species of anything in this entirely new galaxy?) and it can only be low effort cash grab thinking.

[Disco]

I think it would have been more interesting if it turned out the arcs had arrived in the middle of a more even war rather than just some Collector-alikes being dickheads and driving the Angara out of everywhere because it just ended up being the races were all know doing a new war of their own while colonising everything.

On this bit specifically, there are so many ways they could have gone. I thought today how much better would it have been if the Kett (I'm capitalising it even if the game can't decide) had already enslaved the other species in some not immediately obvious way and was slowly spooging them into more Kett. You could then uncover this and take a side etc which could lead to all the other stuff and give you some of the 'branching' stories you see in the other games. Episodes of Star Trek have better premises than the one they went for.

[Ian]

I just don't think I can be arsed with another "humans save the aliens from an outside force" type effort. I don't mind having the Milky Way races basically having to pick up the shit planets nobody else can live on but I just think if you can't do the evil race thing better than the Reapers / Collectors then just make some interesting new races who're in conflict with each other and you have to help resolve that, either stopping an ongoing war or maybe just stopping it from happening in the first place.

Or just chuck all that in the bin and make a management game about an all-Elcor Shakespeare troupe.

[Ian]

Or a Blasto game, obviously.

MAKE A BLASTO GAME YOU COWARDS.

[Mazuuurk]

Athens is great the approach up to it being able to see the Acropolis from so far away adds to the spectacle. And then when you get there and it's so sprawling and ends up in the slums, etc. it does feel like a proper place.

I think Korinth was my favourite city though just for being so pretty.


Haven't even gone there yet. I have been to Megaris, Phokis (lol), Athens, Keos and Andros (really fucking random to end up in an Alien cave with high-tech but ok) and most recently Hydrae.

I have changed the leadership in Megaris 3 times I think :D. I enjoy these conquest battles quite a bit.

I've basically followed the story so far, but it seems like I'm now at a point (searching for the Mother) where it all goes a little more do what the fuck you like so I'm mainly doing that now for a bit, having just paid the biggest damn truck of a lady I have ever seen 17 fucking 000 on Keos.

[Vercetti]

(really fucking random to end up in an Alien cave with high-tech but ok)

Yeah, I gather the weird modern stuff is all a part of the series heritage, but it was so completely at odds with everything that I found it really jarring.

I also really got into the conquest battles. Reminded me of a less shit version of a Dynasty Warriors game that I played years ago.

[Ian]

Believe me, the much lighter touch they take with the sci-fi stuff in Asscreed these days is a total godsend because it's complete bollocks.

[Ian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHMYwrC7oAo

From the people who did Streets of Rage 4.

Need this.

[Raoul Duke]

Looks like basically a re-skin, but I'm totally fine with that. Plz do Cyborg Justice

[Mazuuurk]

Me an my mate still play co-op through Turtles in Time (usually through emulator, although I do have the SNES game lying around somewhere I think) pretty much every time we get drunk at home.


It's the absolute best. Such a fun game.
Fucking Slash.

[Pepe]

From the people who did Streets of Rage 4.

Need this.

So you will finally play coop with me then?

Still sad no one played SoR with me. :(

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'd be up for some co-op turtles.

I claim Raphael.

[Vercetti]

They can hook that Turtles game up to my veins, or something :drool:

AC: Origins is £10.99 on the PS Store, so I'll likely have a dive on that, even if I don't actually start it any time soon.

I completed a run through of Detroit. It was alright. Seems to have a load of endings, but I can't see myself doing another run.

[Shindig]

I was thinking about installing that the other day. I might get into it next week. I'm not in the mood for anything taxing at the minute.

[Mazuuurk]

I'd be up for some co-op turtles.

I claim Raphael.


Ha loser. Terrible range.

[Baz]

Me an my mate still play co-op through Turtles in Time (usually through emulator, although I do have the SNES game lying around somewhere I think) pretty much every time we get drunk at home.


It's the absolute best. Such a fun game.
Fucking Slash.Maaaaaan, I just had a shower.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Ha loser. Terrible range.

https://www.cracked.com/blog/we-finally-proved-who-best-tmnt-turtle-with-science/

Range counts for shit when you're as deadly as he is.

[Shindig]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56320899

I reviewed Monstrum. It's alright but you can tell it's a student project. Very small scope but a neat premise that mostly works.

[Ian]

Adam Procter, pictured in that article, really needs to accept that he's a bald man now.

[Shindig]

Christ. Got enough grease in that fringe, mate?

[Baz]

Long shot but has anyone played Phar Lap (https://www.xboxtavern.com/phar-lap-horse-racing-challenge-review/)? Probably directed at Shindig and him having to review any old shite. :D

[Shindig]

Nah, I've not had any horse racing sims thrown at me. Thank Christ. :D

[Ian]

Spiritfarer done. There are a few busywork bottlenecks but on the whole I found it to be a pretty relaxed experience. Being a story wanker it'd have been nice to have some of the characters fleshed out a bit more in game or have them comment more on how certain things play out but on the whole I enjoyed it.

[Ian]

I love when she does new ones of these anyway but this is a belter.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kXgwdmOYfw

[Shindig]

I'm in the mood so I've started Witcher 2. The pad I'm using has no R3 by the looks of it and the game was keen to say, "Hey, play this one easy." So I am. I'll play through the story, finish Gears of War 2 and then box the 360 up forever.

[Ian]

I'm in the mood so I've started Witcher 2. The pad I'm using has no R3 by the looks of it and the game was keen to say, "Hey, play this one easy." So I am. I'll play through the story, finish Gears of War 2 and then box the 360 up forever.

You aware of the whole thing with the second act?

[Shindig]

The fork in the road? Yes. I'll probably go with Roche because I've never liked Dandelion.

[Ian]

is it the first time you're playing it? Both sides are good and genuinely very different so might be worth making sure you keep a save before the decision and play both.

It's still mad to me that they spent so much time on two sets of things a load of people won't see.

[Shindig]

It's my first time. I'll probably replay it once things settle down.

[Ian]

Having binned FM21 I needed a "doesn't need my full attention" game so I now have two things on the go.

One is Phoenix Point which is............. fine? The only significant different so far feels like the free aim thing which is good but not desperately exciting. There is also an in-mission vehicle it gives you in the prologue that seems cool but I'll need to see how those pan out as I play more. There are some good twists on the modern XCOM format (you get 4 AP and can do things in whatever order you choose being the main one, I guess, with the free aiming) but maybe the issue for me so far is that the enemies aren't very interesting yet. Maybe once I get further into it and missions become harder / more chaotic they'll come into their own but I feel like at the start of the various XCOM games different enemy types immediately have their own distinct identity and you have feelings about them straight away.

The other thing which I started halfway through the United game last night when I decided I don't need FM back into my life (but also don't really want to give a United game 100% of my attention) was Yes, Your Grace. It's basically Reigns but as a more coherent adventure game. Seems decent so far, I'll be interested to see how long it takes to do one run as I assume it's meant to be experienced multiple times to see different endings.

[Ian]

Bit more Phoenix Point and it's growing on me now though I feel like it requires a level of admin that's going to grate on me.

When you recruit a new soldier they don't come with any gear so you need to craft their class-specific armour and weapon as and when you need it.

I do like the in-mission vehicles though.

[Ian]

Anybody played Madden 21 much? I see it's on Game Pass but I've no idea if it just has a proper, normal franchise mode these days or if you have to endure some FUT-style bullshit.

Sir Andy Mahowry?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Anybody played Madden 21 much? I see it's on Game Pass but I've no idea if it just has a proper, normal franchise mode these days or if you have to endure some FUT-style bullshit.

Sir Andy Mahowry?

I skipped it this year as 20 was horrendous (Superstar abilities and X Factors made the game way too arcadey) and reviews seem to suggest I made the right decision.

They haven't cared about Franchise for at least 3 years now as they just want money from MUT.

[Ian]

Cool, sounds like I'm safe to give it a swerve then.

[wullie]

I played one Franchise season through and have absolutely no compulsion to pick it back up, I'm going to leave it for a while in the hope they do something with it or even someone else does. I'm similarly keeping an eye on the new PES in the hope I can leave FIFA behind.

[Ian]

To be honest I think I might just be past the point of caring enough for games which are getting updates churned out annually.

It's a shame because I would really love some sports games to be into but it feels like it's not gonna happen.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I played one Franchise season through and have absolutely no compulsion to pick it back up, I'm going to leave it for a while in the hope they do something with it or even someone else does. I'm similarly keeping an eye on the new PES in the hope I can leave FIFA behind.

I think they might end up re-vamping stuff soon-ish as they're getting called out by NFL players now.

[wullie]

Fingers crossed. FIFA could do with the same, they made a big wow about the PS5 version having NEXT-GEN LIGHTING EFFECTS but the main one I notice is how night games in the tele camera have no shadows whatsoever so everything looks like it's floating. Still, lovely sweat effects that you never get to see

[phonics]

I would never watch sport-based game esports normally but I had to checkout that lad who won 100k without throwing the ball once. I tried to play this years one but it's a mess. You can tell they've just been adding broken systems on top of broken systems for a while now.

[Ian]

Fingers crossed. FIFA could do with the same

The main thing they could do with is caring about literally anything other than conning mugs out of money for lootboxes.

[Disco]

Any franchise that popular will never be free from the 'games as a service' money grubbing bullshit.

[Ian]

I see there's now some crossover between Game Pass and EA, so I'll be able to give Squadrons a go on that which is nice.

Plus the GOTY edition of Dragon Age Inquisition which is handy as I was considering replaying it ahead of the new one coming out, whenever that's going to be, but didn't have any of the DLCs on Steam.

[Baz]

If PES 22 uses Unreal engine 5 (rather than 4), FIFA should be left for dust.

[Ian]

A new Shadow Tactics standalone expansion thing coming late this year, on top of Mimimi still working on their new one. :drool:

[wullie]

Resumed Days Gone after a few months of inactivity and upgrading consoles and the framerate on PS5 is smoother than my eyes can process. I'm not sure how far into it I am but I'm in a militia and if I go to a certain part of the map mutant crows start attacking which genuinely shits me right up and I have to switch it off and do something else.

[Shindig]

I'm tempted to pick up Train Sim World 2 whilst it's cheap-ish. I wouldn't mind something meditative and it's the closest I'll get to international travel right now.

[Baz]

My hacked Switch has arrived. Time to spend hours loading it up with ROMs, for it to sit on my shelf and never get played.

[Shindig]

Those Play at Home games have dropped on the PS Store. A third copy of Rez :drool:

[Ian]

Finished Yes, Your Grace. Good fun though I feel like they aimed it at replayability but I don't see that there'd be much point because playing it once and getting a bad ending would make it pretty clear how to get a better ending next time, I'd say. Maybe it changes more than I'm giving it credit for. It's a good game though and does a good job of helping you relate to the characters so when I got a good ending (I'm guessing not the best though) I did a little air-punch because I thought I'd fucked it.

Installed Dragon Age: Inquisition through Game Pass so I'll probably play that alongside Phoenix Point, which I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about.

[Vercetti]

Finished the main story (and a lot of side stuff) on AC: Origins, now.

I think I preferred Odyssey, but that might be because I played that first. Not much in it, though. Climbing the pyramids and that lighthouse :drool:

The fact that you could still reasonably expect to actually assassinate targets in Origins is a win, but I preferred the actual fisticuffs in Odyssey, mostly because I was better at it.

The map not levelling up with you is better, too, so another win for Origins, there. And Bayek is the superior lead, but I played Odyssey as Alexios, which everything I've read seems to suggest was the wrong call.

Maybe I preferred Origins...

[Ian]

I thought Bayek was pretty meh but yeah, I played Odyssey as Kassandra who is excellent.

I'm redoing Dragon Age Inquisition. Still a good game but the regions you travel to still feel a bit MMOey and I think I'd rather each area was roughly the same level rather than having to travel back and forth between different places. It's good though and I like how it handles you controlling the Inquisition, etc. Also credit where it's due for keeping on the Dragon Age-y thing of not being able to be BFFs with all your companions if you're actually playing a consistent character.

[Disco]

I'm shamelessly copying you Webly, after playing Andromeda I had a hankering for more open world stuff (that wasn't Andromeda) and I never got out of the tutorial of Inquisition on the first attempt. Hopefully the control scheme and general layout will appear less hateful this time around.

[Ian]

I'll say this: it might not be a very high bar but I don't think I'd appreciated just how much better than Andromeda it is. As I said the world / missions feel a bit MMOey (or maybe Ubi-esque with a map full of icons to clear) but the story, world building, etc. are much better. Builds on the previous games, much more coherent and I am again enjoying some of the extra dialogue that comes with playing as a Qunari.

It gives me more hope for the next Dragon Age game than I could currently bring myself to have for new Mass Effect.

[Baz]

Some cunts robbed £21 of my Steam balance buying some 12p gun. :moop:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

What dodgy website did you give your Steam login details?

[Shindig]

Probably Amazon.

[Raoul Duke]

This looks kinda interesting:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13NzZfbATW8

Some decent Walking Dead/Day Z vibes. Main issue here is they've got people demoing games who apparently have just picked up a controller for a first time :moop:

[Raoul Duke]

Continuing the zombie theme:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB5C2gmaD9s

Looks like The Walking Dead crossed with Mirrors Edge/Dishonoured

[Ian]

I couldn't get into the first one but I'll keep an eye on that.

[Ian]

This isn't a thought I remember having the first time but I reckon Dragon Age Inquisition might do the best "that bit at [whatever your base is] where you catch up with all your party members" from any party based RPGs I've played once you get to Skyhold. The party itself isn't as strong as Mass Effect 2 because obviously what is? But it's still good, plus you're in a big castle which has some cosmetic stuff you can change, all your crafting in the one place, merchants, your characters move about sometimes so it feels like they have a little agency of their own plus the occasional other characters turning up, being able to send agents on missions, the bits where you make a judgement over some wrong'un the Inquisition has arrested, etc. It's great.

The actual stuff out in the world is still definitely too MMOey and while I'm able and happy to just switch my brain off and relax for those bits as I run about crossing icons off a list it'd probably be worth suggesting to anybody playing it for the first time to just ignore some of those altogether. But yeah, I'm enjoy it again and it's making me both a little more hyped and a little more optimistic for Dragon Age 4 than I was.

[Shindig]

I've made a start on Detroit: Become Human. Possibly David Cage's worst work. I'm a few scenes in and have some issues with what he's going for.

- Androids = Second class citizens. Except they're not. They're Androids.
- They're literally at the back of the bus.
- Most of them are white.
- Androids are responsible for a 37% unemployment rate. Remind me why I should care for Robot Rosa Parks?
- Despite the unemployment, any protests are small scale. There's one token homeless guy in each town.
- Androids, despite being sophisticated machinery and cutting edge technology, can be acquired by deadbeat people.
- Cops hate them even though they hire them to do cool shit like hostage negotiation. It's like pissing on the bomb disposal robots.
- You remember how Ethan in Heavy Rain downscaled to a three-bedroom house and was considered poor? That house turns up again. David Cage has never seen poverty but he can depict it by just making the house a bit grey.
- Single dads are shit and can't handle simple conversations.
- Just to be clear, everybody hates Androids in this universe. A universe where it's so prevalent everybody has one. :cab:
- Poor people will hire robots to do the most basic of things whilst they sit around unemployed and bored. This extends to their kids who can't even tidy their own room.
- "Should we have robot Quarterbacks in the NFL?" - No. They'll be expensive to fix.
- Y'know, for a country with such big unemployment, there's no breadlines or food banks.
- There's fancy future cars everywhere but the cop Lieutenant has to drive a Buick. Probably because he hates robots.
- I think David Cage is implying there's a drug problem in this town but that's only manifesting in a behind closed doors manner. No crackheads out on the street but no-good sons will have a tiny amount stashed away.
- David Cage can't write convincing bad people. He has to have them prone to MASSIVE BOUTS OF ANGER just to show how bad they are.
- Are the government bothered by over a third of the working population not being in ... work? Do the Androids pay tax?
- Detroit's really turned itself around in 15 years. Eat a dick, San Francisco.

Now, I sort of know how the rest of this goes and I can't go with it. Androids are clearly bad for this world. It's not a civil rights movement, it's something that has actually ruined society. You're not good at this, David Cage.

[Disco]

But it's not an allegory for racism, you can tell because he said so.

[Shindig]

Yeah, I've found an interview where he's more, "No, it's about AI. I've read Kurzweil. Here's a banger:


GamesBeat: How plausible did you think it was that the onset of AI would cause this 30 to 40 percent unemployment?

Cage: That’s something I studied for Detroit as well, the social impact of technology. In my research I discovered that the same discussions happened when the first steam engines appeared. Everybody said, “Wait a second, but workers will be unemployed. It’s going to be a disaster.” We know now that this isn’t what happened, because we needed more people to design machines and maintain machines and build other machines. The people who were doing these old low-paid jobs shifted to something else in different positions. But there was no massive unemployment.

I tend to think that this is also what will happen with AI. We’ll see a new breadth of jobs. They’ll be different, but machines will just replace us in the most common jobs that we won’t need to do anymore.

Erm ... so ... there probably wouldn't be mass unemployment but you did it anyway?


Cage: In the game I was interested in raising that point. I thought, “Let’s play with this idea.” It’s also a plausible scenario, honestly. No one can be sure. But I imagined the opposite scenario, where there would be unemployment, and I was interested in the social impact of this, where rich people would have a job, but also have androids serving them, while poor people would have lost their jobs and couldn’t afford androids.

Second scene of the game, a poor unemployed man buys a replacement Android to do all his cleaning. Billboards for androids are everywhere. Androids are everywhere. You've not created a barrier to entry, David.

[Ian]

I, meanwhile, have been very much enjoying the Inquisition story/writing and had forgotten how solid it is. The game itself is still bad at the stage I'm at for wasting your time but at least the later regions you go to are a bit slicker rather than the massive sprawling one you first visit and you kinda get into the rhythm of knowing what stuff to clear off and when to make it easier in yourself. Could really do with a filter for the map though to turn certain markers off.

But anyway, the writing. It carries on the mages and templars stuff well from previous games and unlike the David Cage stuff you've mentioned there it's not just a really naff allegory for something else. Mages are clearly dangerous and are responsible for a lot of the bad shit, but then you set Templars to watch them and basically turn them into addicts to help give them the abilities to fight/hunt mages and that causes all sorts of problems of it's own. On top of which that whole set up is governed by the church so you've got an interesting thing going on with different characters discussing where the issue lies here, are all three parts of it to blame or one of them? Or none? You've got a character who is a former Templar and basically trying to go cold turkey, there's a trans side character who I think is handled quite well (but I acknowledge my own ignorance on this), an interesting thing with a spirit who's accidentally become a person and is learning to deal with that and almost all the characters have at least some interesting twist to their basic outlook when you start digging into it.

All this on top of the more standard 'evil wizard wants to take over the world' thing, and I just did a main story mission which is mostly you trying to do an investigation into an assassination plot while keeping up appearances at a fancy ball. The game is definitely strongest with the more story-focused stuff. I hope the actual stuff you're doing for your average sidequest gets a bit of a rework in DA4.

[SincereTheRebel]

Gran Turismo will be part of a few virtual sports at the Olympics

https://www.olympic.org/news/international-olympic-committee-makes-landmark-move-into-virtual-sports-by-announcing-first-ever-olympic-virtual-series

[Disco]

'David Cage is bad at writing' must be the definition of pushing at an open door, he has garnered a reputation for being crap at every aspect of it within the realm of videogames. That is akin to being the smelliest tramp or having the worst heart disease in Scotland, quite impressive really.

[Shindig]

But he keeps trying. And people pay him to keep trying. He's not even bad in a Kojima way. Hideo at least dives deep on a few wikipedia articles whilst Cage looks at a book's back cover and says, "Yeah, I've read that." He clearly loves his sci-fi but has the most high-school takes. Telltale died whilst this still rolls on.

More problems in Detroit's erm ... Detroit:

- Pollenating bees are extinct so the solution is to either find some other bees or make robot bees.
- In a world where Androids are killing people at an alarming rate, robot animals populate zoos.
- Canada is Android free because David Cage lives there.
- Androids can remove the only distinctive marks that single them out from humans.
- Androids appear to be built from interchangeable parts but we have to dump all of the defective ones in a landfill rather than recycle said parts. FUCK.
- The cop station has Androids manning reception. A reminder that cops hate Androids.
- The human population is booming and living longer despite the mass unemployment and poverty.
- There is a robot Jesus.
- Nobody manufacturing these androids has ever heard of a product recall. Seems like a concern when they're like .... murdering and rebelling against their masters.
- I've not seen my cop buddy do any cop work. I'm doing all the cop stuff like a really shit Robocop.

I think I prefer Two Souls with the weird purgatory ghost family twist. :D

[Mike]

I started playing UFC3 on GamePass and laughed a little too much cos it had my 2017 moustached FIFA Face in the Game face for download.

[Baz]

I started playing UFC3 on GamePass and laughed a little too much cos it had my 2017 moustached FIFA Face in the Game face for download.

Let’s see him.

[Kikó]

I've enjoyed Shindig's posts on this page.

[Ian]

- Canada is Android free because David Cage lives there.

This reads like an entry from a list of David Cage Facts (in the style of Chuck Norris facts) written by David Cage himself.

[Disco]

Have you got to the patented David Cage Plot Twist™ in Detroit yet Shinners?

[Shindig]

I think what you're referring to is ANDROID CHILDREN. That's been telegraphed so Alice is definitely a BLUE BLOOD. Also, all these Androids need to do to live as undercover humans is rip the light off the side of their head yet none of the Robot Underground Railroad do it. They don't feel pain and it leaves no identifying marks. There is absolutely nothing stopping them from doing it. They aren't even tracked because, conveniently, rampancy makes the tracking chip stop working.

For that reason, I'm making Markus' Android revolution the most violent waste of time I can imagine. Oh, and apparently Androids are a dying species despite the clear fact Androids sell well in shops and permeate all facets of society.

I LOVE THIS BOLLOCKS.

[wullie]

Bought F1 20 in the PS Store sale (6 months of having a PS5, still not bought a proper PS5 game yet) and really enjoying it. I think the last one I tried may have been 16 or 17 and I found it way too tricky and light to handle whereas it feels like there's more weight to this. The career option where you can be driver-owner of a new team is a great addition, although Mick Schumacher should crack on with joining me in the top 10 if he wants a contract for another year. If he thinks his name alone will do it he can forget it when Jean Alesi's kid is waiting in the wings.

[Shindig]

It's the first one of them I feel confident on without TCS and ABS. The weight just makes the car stick nicely.

[phonics]

EA coming to Gamepass means that I've confirmed, Burnout Paradise is still the best racing game of the millenium and its 15 years old.

[Gray Fox]

https://i.gyazo.com/2542d7b1cac457612b4aad5a4c4496d3.png

[Shindig]

Yeah, this kid's definitely an android. She hasn't eaten anything in 3 days and spends most of her time freezing but doesn't complain. This is the Scott Shelby twist. And I bet 'android free' Canada is an android haven.

[Disco]

I thought it was less ridiculous than the Heavy Rain twist but managed to actually make less internal sense, which is an achievement in itself.

[Shindig]

It makes Todd's cartoonish abuse not a factor and actually understandable. How none of the others cotton on to it is laughable, though. "Hold my hand Alice" <data transfer>. The TV station section was rough as well. It shouldn't be that easy to convert people to terrorism. Didn't like the speech either because giving Androids property rights and jobs exacerbates the human unemployment. And overpopulation. It's a bollocks future.

[Disco]

Obligatory 'don't know how far through you are' but yeah, Todd gets a fucking rough deal once that is taken in account. Conner and his buddy cop bromance (if played a particular way) is the only decent bit of the game.

[Shindig]

I've just freed up the Androids from the CyberLife store. Kara, Green Mile and Alice are setting off for Canada. Connor and Cop are two steps behind Jesus and Mary Magdalenebot. I'm going pacifist on the revolution because, at the end of the day, the Androids are a superior species that require less shit to function.

EDIT: And now Connor's ruined. Full human boy after a meeting with a cunt God.

[Shindig]

Christ, that ending was retarded. Connor and Hank were buddies til the end, though. Managed to avoid Kara getting sent to Auschwitz and she somehow got to Canada despite all her components failing in the scene prior.

After this and Vanquish, I've determined Hilary Clinton would've been a shit President. And the whole civil unrest dies on it's arse once you realise the woke Robots don't want to continue doing work. Sorts out unemployment, stops World War 3 but they still have to murder all the other robots because HUMANS BAD. When Alice got revealed as an android, they decided, rather than pick the countless other obvious clues, to give you one from earlier in the game to drop the curtain. For a game with really good flow-charts that lead into divergent paths, this seems a shite way to do that.

But not as shite as how you resolve the protest. Fucking hell. Apparently the other endings make more sense but I went big on pacifism.

[Mazuuurk]

Finished the main story (and a lot of side stuff) on AC: Origins, now.

I think I preferred Odyssey, but that might be because I played that first. Not much in it, though. Climbing the pyramids and that lighthouse :drool:

The fact that you could still reasonably expect to actually assassinate targets in Origins is a win, but I preferred the actual fisticuffs in Odyssey, mostly because I was better at it.

The map not levelling up with you is better, too, so another win for Origins, there. And Bayek is the superior lead, but I played Odyssey as Alexios, which everything I've read seems to suggest was the wrong call.

Maybe I preferred Origins...


I got a bit stuck. As in, haven't been playing for about a week or two. Need to get back into it, think I'm about 2/3rds into the main story (of Odyssey that is).




a load of inquisition stuff


You better be snuggling up with my darling Josephine.

[Ian]

I sure am. She was my romance option the first time round too and I considered mixing it up but playing as a wimmin Josephine is definitely the best option I'd say. I mean as a Qunari I could've gone Iron Bull but I wouldn't have the heart to keep him and Dorian apart.

Though I have enjoyed Sera as a character generally more often this time. I'd put this game pretty high up the the rankings for Bioware companion sets. Like it doesn't have one absolute stand-out like HK-47, Mordin, Garrus, Shale or whatever but I don't think there's a duffer among them and they're all quite well written and have good arcs, etc.

I'm gonna be starting some of the DLC next I think. I know Trespasser you have to do last but I gather some of the gear you get from Jaws of Hakkon and The Descent is pretty swish so I wanna get that before I finish up the story. Not that I'm really struggling. Other than spamming potions when I fight dragons I don't really struggle with fights thanks to loads of AOE mage goodness.

I have mixed feelings about some of the areas though. On the one hand I do really like how they have multiple levels (vertically, not in terms of instances) which not a lot of games with massive open areas I've played do that, so you'll have little winding canyons below you and cliffs spanned by walkways and whatnot but this does sometimes make the regions not fun to traverse if you're trying to get to somewhere that looks close on the map as there isn't climbing or any magic-y means of getting about. And even mounted you just don't move that fast, and the game is still a bit bad for having you criss-cross the same areas of the map if you're not careful but I'm kind of in the rhythm of it now so I know to just ignore some stuff and usually try and unlock all the camps first as by then you'll have a decent amount of your map icons added for you to sweep up.

Still enjoying it though and I'm looking forward to the DLCs as I never did any of them first time around and I know Trespasser has big implications for DA4. I mean I already know what those are but still, it'll be cool to see how it plays out.

[phonics]

Not sure if I mentioned it but I did install Inquisition and immediately unisntalled it because I couldn't remember all my choices and I couldn't face making them up so it was play all of them over again or uninstall. I took the easier option.

[Ian]

Think I had to do that going into Inquisition and between Dragon Age Keep and a Wiki it didn't take me long to work out what I'd gone for and enter it but then there were only a few things I didn't really remember once I'd see the options.

That said: if you don't care enough to remember your decisions anyway then what does it matter?

[Mazuuurk]

I sure am. She was my romance option the first time round too and I considered mixing it up but playing as a wimmin Josephine is definitely the best option I'd say. I mean as a Qunari I could've gone Iron Bull but I wouldn't have the heart to keep him and Dorian apart.

Though I have enjoyed Sera as a character generally more often this time. I'd put this game pretty high up the the rankings for Bioware companion sets. Like it doesn't have one absolute stand-out like HK-47, Mordin, Garrus, Shale or whatever but I don't think there's a duffer among them and they're all quite well written and have good arcs, etc.

I'm gonna be starting some of the DLC next I think. I know Trespasser you have to do last but I gather some of the gear you get from Jaws of Hakkon and The Descent is pretty swish so I wanna get that before I finish up the story. Not that I'm really struggling. Other than spamming potions when I fight dragons I don't really struggle with fights thanks to loads of AOE mage goodness.

I have mixed feelings about some of the areas though. On the one hand I do really like how they have multiple levels (vertically, not in terms of instances) which not a lot of games with massive open areas I've played do that, so you'll have little winding canyons below you and cliffs spanned by walkways and whatnot but this does sometimes make the regions not fun to traverse if you're trying to get to somewhere that looks close on the map as there isn't climbing or any magic-y means of getting about. And even mounted you just don't move that fast, and the game is still a bit bad for having you criss-cross the same areas of the map if you're not careful but I'm kind of in the rhythm of it now so I know to just ignore some stuff and usually try and unlock all the camps first as by then you'll have a decent amount of your map icons added for you to sweep up.

Still enjoying it though and I'm looking forward to the DLCs as I never did any of them first time around and I know Trespasser has big implications for DA4. I mean I already know what those are but still, it'll be cool to see how it plays out.



(Potential) Trespasser spoiler depending on choices (I think), if you haven't played that:


Iron Bull is a cunt. I loved that dude.

[phonics]

Think I had to do that going into Inquisition and between Dragon Age Keep and a Wiki it didn't take me long to work out what I'd gone for and enter it but then there were only a few things I didn't really remember once I'd see the options.

That said: if you don't care enough to remember your decisions anyway then what does it matter?

I didn't say it was the logical decision.

[Ian]

:D

Fair enough. How much did you enjoy the previous two?

[phonics]

I've played all 3. Just it's free on Gamepass now and there's no games out so looking for something else to play.

[Shindig]

Horizon Zero Dawn is quite good. Early days but I'm enjoying sneaking around and blowing robots up. Or the overpowered 'hide in bushes and stealth kill everything' move. Not big on the story. I'll be interested to hear what the Zero Dawn was but the tribal wank can go quietly. I was tempted to run through Detroit again but I don't fancy it just to experience another ending. This now canon.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf0XLOloDaA

I should've went militant. :moop:

[Mazuuurk]

The "tribal wank" feels less and less important as you progress through the story. But even that gets a little better as you understand the different factions more IMO.

Don't rush it though, it's a lovely game to take your time with. And do the DLC before you finish the main story.


The one thing missing from HZD I thought was a little more bioware style cause & effect to your actions. You get the choice to react to how some people treat you for instance but it has quite little bearing on the world around you.

[Shindig]

Well, I've just spoken to a metal door so I'm guessing that's what they'll focus on next. HAIL DOOR.

[Lofty]

HZD is excellent. Anyone played Returnal yet? ACG rated it. I am too busy buzzing my tits off with the Ghostbusters Planet Coaster DLC whilst also lamenting the lack of any decent Warhammer games ported to console.

[Mazuuurk]

Well, I've just spoken to a metal door so I'm guessing that's what they'll focus on next. HAIL DOOR.

Are you still in the Embrace? (the frosty part at the start with all the Noras)?

All of the factions have their tribal idiosyncrasies, but the Noras are the worst, and all that stuff sort of stops feeling quite as imposing once you get out in the world.

[Ian]

Started the first bit of DA:I DLC. Frostback basin looks lovely (as most of the regions in this do) and the uptick in gear quality is ludicrous.

[Shindig]

Are you still in the Embrace? (the frosty part at the start with all the Noras)?

All of the factions have their tribal idiosyncrasies, but the Noras are the worst, and all that stuff sort of stops feeling quite as imposing once you get out in the world.

Yeah, I'm taking my time with it. It's introducing the side stuff like the bandit camps and the big giraffe masts.

[Mike]

Started It Takes Two last night. Did the first two ‘bosses’
Wasn’t expecting to suck a hoovers eyeballs out with its own hose!

[Mazuuurk]

Yeah, I'm taking my time with it. It's introducing the side stuff like the bandit camps and the big giraffe masts.

That's the way to go :thbup:

[Ian]

Turns out the fight with Corypheus at the end of the DA:I main story is pretty lol if you've done Jaws of Hakkon and The Descent first. I absolutely rinsed him.

The two DLCs were both good too. Frostback Basin in JoH is gorgeous and I loved the Deep Roads / Dwarf stuff in The Descent and that ending could impact future games if they decide to use it (they don't always, as with the Awakening DLC for example.)

Just need to do Trespasser now.

[Lofty]

Started It Takes Two last night. Did the first two ‘bosses’
Wasn’t expecting to suck a hoovers eyeballs out with its own hose!

Is it worth the money? Me and the mrs enjoyed their previous game, A Way Out.

[Mike]

Deffo! It’s really well done and good fun. Seems each ‘level’ has its own gimmick too, which keeps it fresh.

[Mazuuurk]

Turns out the fight with Corypheus at the end of the DA:I main story is pretty lol if you've done Jaws of Hakkon and The Descent first. I absolutely rinsed him.

The two DLCs were both good too. Frostback Basin in JoH is gorgeous and I loved the Deep Roads / Dwarf stuff in The Descent and that ending could impact future games if they decide to use it (they don't always, as with the Awakening DLC for example.)

Just need to do Trespasser now.


Hah yeah that happened to me too. But then again, that tends to always be the case in RPGs with extra content, doesn't it? They need to put the difficulty of the final boss at a level that you can conceivably beat them with just having breezed through the main story - which always seems a little shit, in that "the most powerful being threatening the world" never really is, instead they add a bunch of other Weapon-style challenges (in DA:I it's the dragons, which are all quite fun challenges if you do them at appropriate levels).

[Ian]

There's also really not that much companion banter in them anyway so I probably should've done main story then start the DLCs.

[Ian]

I've been watching Game Grumps playthrough of Detroit: Become Human, inspired by Shinners, and man I hate those games where it's all QTEs and "press this combination of buttons to turn a door handle" or whatever.

[Shindig]

It was worse in Fahrenheit. Simon Says overlayed over the action. I do like the conceit that you're effectively moving a puppet (I mean, that's all games are) but I don't need the mundane shit. I watched the Super Best Friends' playthrough. Episode 0 when they hammer out the bingo cards is great.

[Ian]

At least Fahrenheit had the decent to be proper mental. There can't be many games with such a big mismatch of opening scene (that tense OH FUCK HAVE I JUST DONE A MURDER??? scene in the bogs) to ending with that fucking boss battle.

I finished Fahrenheit but I think that was more the insanity of the story and it being unlike anything else I'd played at that point which pulled me through rather than actually thinking it was good.

[wullie]

With the snooker on I got back into Snooker 19 and despite being dumped out of the Riga Masters, Chinese Shootout and Dudley Deathmatch tournaments I took Harvey Chandler to an unlikely world title, beating the beta tester from Leicester in the final.

As fun as it is you can tell it was done on the cheap by the lifeless character models and more notably the AI kicking in when you snooker an opponent


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6paNUGlxFjA&t=43s


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGur8dMtfFI

[Shindig]

Yep. It was one of a kind. They still kind of are from a control standpoint. Nobody's cloning Quantic Dream but the Telltale format became a template for that kind of narrative adventure game.

EDIT: That snooker AI is daft. You can see Robotson self-destructing when he starts potting the cue ball under no resistance. :D

[wullie]

The beauty of it is that when you've got the table and need about five snookers to catch up you know one decent one is likely to give you the lead, they go absolutely batshit sometimes.

[Ian]

That second one where he just clean misses the edge of the pack and it goes right into the pocket is the sort of thing I'd do.

Is it still fun in spite of all that, wullie ? I'd quite like a good snooker game but I feel like the AI melting down would only be funny for so long.

[wullie]

Yeah I do really like it. The opposition AI is actually good otherwise, it's only when they get snookered you've got a fair chance that their heads will explode.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I bought it a while ago when it was on sale and also experienced the AI going full mental with a relatively easy snooker.

It was beautiful.

[Ian]

I'm watching Many a True Nerd's (first?) Resi Village video and similar to Resi 7 Ethan is ridiculously durable.

[Ian]

Hah yeah that happened to me too. But then again, that tends to always be the case in RPGs with extra content, doesn't it? They need to put the difficulty of the final boss at a level that you can conceivably beat them with just having breezed through the main story - which always seems a little shit, in that "the most powerful being threatening the world" never really is, instead they add a bunch of other Weapon-style challenges (in DA:I it's the dragons, which are all quite fun challenges if you do them at appropriate levels).

So did you do Trespasser as well?

Just finished it and I really loved it. The Solas stuff is done really well and I like that it ties the whole story together, and that last rush through the Qunari forces with the Anchor turned into both a liability and a really powerful weapon is really cool as well. Loved it, Inquisition has gone up in my estimation and it makes me both more hyped for Dragon Age 4 but also more worried they'll fuck it up.

Not sure what to go onto next. Thinking either Star Wars Squadrons or maybe Pendragon, because obviously those are very similar games to be debating between...

[Ian]

Oh, also regarding Trespasser (I'll spoiler in case anybody who's not played it plans to before DA4):
That fucking Iron Bull heel turn. I probably ought to have seen it coming but I did not.

I had Cole with me and he comments that Bull doesn't hesitate and has no regrets.

[Mazuuurk]

Yeah played it as well, and agree - it tied off the whole thing very nicely.

All in all, I think I spend a little too much time in Inquisition walking around exploring the regions before in that "I've done all of the main story except the final boss thing now, so gotta spend about 40 hours picking off side-quests and objectives and chasing artefacts".

So when I was doing Jaws of Hakkon I was starting to feel a little bored by it all. But then Trespasser really kind of made it all feel quite worth it again.



Yeah fucking Iron Bull. He was one of my favourite characters. You can apparently avoid that happening as well somehow.

[Elbastido]

So when I was doing Jaws of Hakkon I was starting to feel a little bored by it all.

I found the Jaws of Hakkon to be really enjoyable as it does at least ramp the difficulty up a fair bit. The Descent was interesting, story wise and the more linear nature of the quest was a good change from the more MMO style maps. Trespasser was excellent though and really makes Inquisition shine

How are guys letting Iron Bull turn on you? Don't tell me you monsters let the Chargers die on the beach? :|

[Ian]

Maybe. :uhoh: He was the one giving it Billy big bollocks about the Qun and duty and all that shite. Treacherous swine.

I agree with you on the Descent and it not having the MMO-ey style map, that works in Trespasser as well. The open areas were well designed in a lot of ways I just wish so many of the side quests didn't feel like admin. And that it doesn't only let you find certain things once you've essentially pressed a button somewhere. Given how much time I spent mashing V / the 'find' button it was annoying to find shards places I'd already been but couldn't see them because I hadn't done the skull things yet.

In other news I've been enjoying the runs on Pendragon I've done so far. The strategy of the fights is fairly simple controls-wise and in terms of options but ends up being surprisingly nuanced, and I always enjoy Inkle's writing so that side of it's a winner for me too.

[Ian]

I've probably got another couple of runs in me but I don't feel like Pendragon has enough variety for me to want to keep going to unlock all the runs and I'm not sure if there's any real reward for doing so.

Also did the first couple of missions of Squadrons and it seems fun enough. It's very pretty and it offers a very different experience to playing the Rogue Squadron games just because of the perspective but I like how you can see all your HUD stuff as part of the cockpit rather than it just being an overlay. Looking forward to it hopefully letting me try more different ships.

[Ian]

Giving up on Pendragon. I've got my fiver's worth, or whatever I paid, but it's too fussy about when you unlock characters for me to want to push through and get all of them.

[Shindig]

That SuperHot is on sale at the minute. I now have SuperHot. It crashed 10 minutes in. :moop:

[Ian]

Hope you get it working, it's a fun game and trickier than it sounds like it should be.

[Shindig]

It runs fine and I don't think my temps were getting high. Unity just decided to peace out after 3 levels.

[Dark Soldier]

That's Resi Village finished.

Basically split into 5 parts. First part is strongest, 3rd part also good. 2nd part is fucking laughable, other 2 serviceable. Not scary or tense in the slightest and feels like a VR experience, just not in VR. Looks fucking pretty though and the plot is probably the most insane one from Resi so far. Good pacing too.

Solid 7/10.

[Shindig]

Project Cars is finally finished. Or it would be if I wasn't DQ'ed at Le Mans for track limits. I always wish they could take into account actual lap time instead of 'OMG, YOU WENT WIDE LAPPING TRAFFIC!'. I'm not doing another 2 hours of that. Frig it.

[Ian]

Star Wars Squadrons is starting to give me some more interesting missions after the more tutorial-y first two and I'm really enjoying it. Only just got my third ship to play with so I'm looking forward to more of those but I love the presentation of it and in missions where more stuff is going on it's satisfying once you've got the hang of manoeuvring the ship and doing tighter, turns, etc. it's really quite satisfying.

I've also been playing Rain on Your Parade as RPS talked about it and it's on Game Pass. It's silly but fun.

[Yevrah]

I like Jim Sterling, but his latest video must be the most self-indulgent, entitled and whingey things he's ever done.

Dressing as a Woman and losing 3% of your subscribers and focusing on that rather than the 97% who stayed is pathetic and if you don't like Youtube get off it, they don't owe you a living and if every Tom, Dick and Harry on there wasn't infringing copyright there wouldn't be a need for the system you hate so much.

[Ian]

What's he done? A very quick google didn't give me an obvious answer and I couldn't be arsed wading into the muck.

[Yevrah]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz03oRqJmyc

Probably isn't fair of me to summarise his perspective.

[Ian]

Alright well if watching a 30 minute video is the next best option then it turns out I don't care enough. :D

[Yevrah]

:D

[Shindig]

I don't think Jim has liked what he does for a very long time.

Oh, wow. It really is 30 minutes of "Why ... aren't you watching?"

[Yevrah]

It's really odd given he seems to have lost only 27,000 subscribers. Which is actually a much higher proportion of people being ok with his change than I'd have expected, but somehow GAMERS.

It does however offer a very interesting insight into the wider discussion and a perspective from the inside that I personally don't believe is that consistent with reality. Far from the UK trying to kill trans people I don't think we've ever had a minority of people as small with such a loud voice and depth of support.

He's an interesting character to listen to, whatever he's talking about, which is why I subscribe, but much more of this stuff (I genuinely don't care what he dresses or looks like and neither seemingly to 97% of his subscribers) and the tirade against capitalism (which is a bit too Gary Neville for my liking - he makes a handsome living from the content he produces off the back of what these apparently very bad people do) and I'll get closer to switching off.

[Vercetti]

I've played through Gears Of War 4 recently, and started Gears (Of War) 5 pretty much straight off the back of it. Nothing groundbreaking, but something about these games speaks to me. I never finished 3, so I'll probably run through that, at some point.

I'm also slowly starting Control. This is the second time I've tried, and I've gone further this time, which wasn't difficult. Still early on, and I hear it picks up as it goes on, but I'm not sure I'll end up getting that far.

[Ian]

Control was just engaging enough to pull me through to finish the main story but no more. If some misfortune had befallen my save game and the option was not see the end or start again I'd definitely have been moving onto something else.

[Shindig]

It does however offer a very interesting insight into the wider discussion and a perspective from the inside that I personally don't believe is that consistent with reality. Far from the UK trying to kill trans people I don't think we've ever had a minority of people as small with such a loud voice and depth of support.

Twitter is a trumpet. And yeah, his anti-capitalism rants are played out now. It's a business. It always has been. Screaming at the fire does not put it out.

[Ian]

That's Squadrons done. After a slow start I ended up liking it a lot and I'd really like more single player content from it.

Not sure what to go onto next. I might give Ghost of a Tale a go.

[Raoul Duke]

Dying Light 2 looking good:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwJAAy7tPhE

[Shindig]

Replaying Fez has reminded me how good that weird thing is. I also played a championship on Formula 1. For a game from 1995, the handling feels alright. Very tippy-tappy but it's fine until you get into the gravel. Also, that chicane en route to the Wall of Champions is horrid. I'd forgotten the Nurburging had a decent first corner, once upon a time.

[Mazuuurk]

So I finished the main story now in Assasins Creed: Odyssey.

It was a pretty huge anti-climax. After all that, the ending had nothing to do with the cult, no real final boss... it just felt like a super-dragged-out side mission, basically. Still, a pretty god side mission, even if Diemos/Alexios is a complete wanker and an awful "villain". Can't imagine what the game is like playing as him. If you do, is Kassandra the villain? I got a happy family ending which just didn't feel quite right, but still sort of was nice anyway in the end. I suppose they are all 4 complete assholes in the end, even Kassandra, so. .

Then, after that, I proceeded with what felt like the "real" main story and killed off the rest of the cult.

Also anti-climatic. OK I was surprised by Aspasia (I was convinced it was the Oracle/Pythia), but then I managed to fuck up the dialogue options and just let her go, which I didn't want to do because she seemed to have some complete faschist ideas. .


Apart from that, I've done most of what seems worth doing in the main game. I've killed/beat all of the Legendary animals, and all 3 mythical beasts - which were all the most fun three fighs in the game and the only real boss-fights, something I missed quite a lot in the main story otherwise. I have uncovered most of the world map and been to all islands as far as I can tell.


So, now I just started the "Gates of Atlantis" or what it's called, and it involves this Layla Hassan in modern times quite a bit. I don't really understand much, as this is the first Assassins Creed game I play and there seems to be this other, parallell story arch that goes across games but in modern times? Anyway, I read the expansion is really good, so gonna give it a try.

All in all the game has been amazing though, but it suffered a bit from monotony after a while. The landscapes are all the same, the forts are all the same, the enemies are all the same, etc.

[Ian]

The modern part of the story is wall to wall tedious bullshit. Ignore/skip anything it'll let you.

I've been playing Ghost of a Tale and it's quite fun. Quite a pure stealth game, at least at the stage I'm at, as you can't kill/permanently incapacitate enemies to give you the run of the place.

[Mazuuurk]

Can someone explain what the story even is though? I don't really get it and how it connects to the actual Assassins in the different series.

Do all of the AC games have this sort of game-of-thrones like notion of it's mostly normal humans around, but the odd insane supernatural element or creature all of a sudden?
(we are talking game of thrones 1-5 here).

[Ian]

Before humans there were these alien folk who ended up being worshipped as gods and had magic technology and stuff. The Templars want the magic to rule the world and be evil, the Assassins are anti-Templars. Modern day folk use the Animus technology to send people back in time to relieve people via.... genetic memory? Or something? To get clues on all this stuff.

That is very broad strokes but honestly it's mega dull. It'd be much better if it was just historically set Assassins vs. Templars to be honest. Keep some of the alien shit I guess as there's been some fun stuff but really I'd be happy if that was kept vague. Though I gather the Odyssey DLC is fun. Kassandra gallivanting around with women even more giant than she is.

[Yevrah]

One of the things I enjoyed most about Jumanji 2 was how it shone a light on appalling vide game narratives.

[Pepe]

DLC for Streets of Rage 4 coming. Who is IN?

[Shindig]

Before humans there were these alien folk who ended up being worshipped as gods and had magic technology and stuff. The Templars want the magic to rule the world and be evil, the Assassins are anti-Templars. Modern day folk use the Animus technology to send people back in time to relieve people via.... genetic memory? Or something? To get clues on all this stuff.

That is very broad strokes but honestly it's mega dull. It'd be much better if it was just historically set Assassins vs. Templars to be honest. Keep some of the alien shit I guess as there's been some fun stuff but really I'd be happy if that was kept vague. Though I gather the Odyssey DLC is fun. Kassandra gallivanting around with women even more giant than she is.

It had so much promise when Desmond was starting to unravel. They should've rolled with the "We're training you be an assassin but in the process we've properly snapped your head in half."

[Ian]

I thought Desmond was dull as dishwater from the get-go so I always just rattled through his stuff as quickly as humanly possible.

That said there are definitely people who dug it and have the opposite opinion to me on this and it's just as well as without them we probably wouldn't have got a sequel at all to the incredibly meh original game.

[Shindig]

He was definitely dull. Then he stabbed Kristen Bell and and the internet Egyptian spoke to him. It got nuts, just for a second.

[Ian]

Finished Ghost of a Tale. Final mission is balls but otherwise I really enjoyed it. It's a brilliant game given it was mostly a one-man show that developed it.

[Mazuuurk]

Before humans there were these alien folk who ended up being worshipped as gods and had magic technology and stuff. The Templars want the magic to rule the world and be evil, the Assassins are anti-Templars. Modern day folk use the Animus technology to send people back in time to relieve people via.... genetic memory? Or something? To get clues on all this stuff.

That is very broad strokes but honestly it's mega dull. It'd be much better if it was just historically set Assassins vs. Templars to be honest. Keep some of the alien shit I guess as there's been some fun stuff but really I'd be happy if that was kept vague. Though I gather the Odyssey DLC is fun. Kassandra gallivanting around with women even more giant than she is.


Cheers this helps :thbup:

The concepts of Assassins and Templars as some form of organised entities or guilds didn't seem to much exist in Odyssey though? There's the cult but they are quite explicitly called a Cult.

[Ian]

Yeah for Origins and Odyssey it's all about the organisations that sort of paved the way for them I think. In the case of the Templars I think it's all meant to be the same organisation in different forms. Whereas I don't think that's the case with the Assassins, I think that's meant to be just different groups rising up to biff the proto-Templars.

[Shindig]

Prods and Caths. Got it. Although Ubisoft would like to remind you it's a company of different beliefs and cultures.

[Ian]

I'm enjoying Disco Elysium all over again. Playing more into empathy, emotions and substance abuse this time and I'm solving some stuff in a slightly different way.

Cuno is still a prick and full scouse voice acting doesn't help his cause.

[Pepe]

Oh yeah, I heard that it received a massive update. Might have to give it a go too. Fantastic game.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I never finished it for some reason.

I really should as I was enjoying it a lot.

Might buy it on the Playstation when a sale happens and restart on there.

[Ian]

I've made better headway with Cuno this time. Didn't even have to give him a clip round the ear. I'll be interested to see how it plays out.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Should have slapped him down anyway.

[Ian]

I haven't even tried in either playthrough, and not only because I'm never playing a physical enough character to have a good chance of it. I didn't meet Cuno's dad in my first playthrough but did this time but that whole thing is kinda sad when you get into it.
Pepe didn't you try it and it go badly? :D

[Pepe]

Yes, I made a physical character with that sole purpose. Took a swing and missed. Dropped that playthrough right then and there.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I haven't even tried in either playthrough, and not only because I'm never playing a physical enough character to have a good chance of it. I didn't meet Cuno's dad in my first playthrough but did this time but that whole thing is kinda sad when you get into it.
Pepe didn't you try it and it go badly? :D
He's still a cunt.

Yes, I made a physical character with that sole purpose. Took a swing and missed. Dropped that playthrough right then and there.
:D

[Ian]

Yes, I made a physical character with that sole purpose. Took a swing and missed. Dropped that playthrough right then and there.

:D

On my first I took a total punt on having a swing at Measurehead and it actually worked with a 5% chance or something. :D Well I think he might always catch your fist but if you succeed it lets your boot him in the danglies.

[phonics]

My problem was that I made a character with such low physique that failing to run away from your hotel tab while giving the owner the middle fingers killed me so many times I restarted a new character.

[Ian]

That sounds like a questionable level of commitment to that one decision.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

1400135437763584002

I've been expecting that but still :(

[Shindig]

Visual novels that copy children's stories word for word > The rest of the creepy shit.

[Ian]

Apparently Firaxis are working on a "XCOM but Marvel."

I mean, I want that and will play it but I want XCOM 3 more.

[Mazuuurk]

Visual novels that copy children's stories word for word > The rest of the creepy shit.


There's something off with this statement :saywhat:

[Shindig]

Seriously, the only two I've enjoyed have been based around Cinderella and a children's novel from 1905. Although the latter had to sneak in a gay marriage between two adolescents. So ... err ... there's still that.

[Ian]

Got quite a different closing sequence in Disco Elysium this time. Also saw Cuno's full story and it's pretty good, glad I was able to pursue that a bit more this time.

[Pepe]

'Don't blame him, blame society.'

Come on now, Ian. Do not sympathize with that twat.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Spark him out.

[Ian]

I'd be as seething as Pepe if I'd failed to beat up a child too, tbf.

[phonics]

I’m playing Suzerain and it’s having a massive impact on me. Every decision feels monumental And like I made the wrong one but I feel the need to play the character/person I am.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Disco Elysium was on sale on the PS store so I picked it up last night and started a high intelligence, specialising in visual calculus.

It was a semi-productive first day as I got my hotel bill down from 130 to 60 by injuring myself running into the wheelchair lady. I also had a talk with Cuno which obviously went badly.

[Vercetti]

I also got this in the sale. Went with a sensitive start. No idea why. I always go physical when given the choice, normally.

I tried to knock the little scouse fucker out, but fell over in a heap. I'm also locked out of my room at 9pm at the end of the first day.

[Ian]

Aw man, you're really playing the role properly. :D

Such a good game, and I really think not going for a physical type is a great decision having done two different variants of that now.

[Vercetti]

My hope is to play as a complete degenerate piece of shit, as much as possible.

So far, I've asked everyone that I possibly can to give me money, tried to punch a hole in some woman's door, and took some wheelchair-bound broad's brooch and pawned it for a few quid.

[Baz]

When’s it coming on Xbox :(

[Ian]

My hope is to play as a complete degenerate piece of shit, as much as possible.

So far, I've asked everyone that I possibly can to give me money, tried to punch a hole in some woman's door, and took some wheelchair-bound broad's brooch and pawned it for a few quid.

I hope you're pumping points into electrochemistry and doing whatever the Horrific Tie tells you.

[Pepe]

Pards gets it. :cool:"

I should really do another run.

[Vercetti]

I've been hitting whichever drug you get from the pawnbroker pretty hard, and rattling a few cages.

Also getting vibes that I might end up banging some rent boy.

That Titus geezer fucking hates me, too :cool:

Just had an abrupt ending after making several random phonecalls from some shithole fishing village. Wasn't expecting that to happen. Apparently I resigned. I thought it was merely a mental breakdown.

Had to load the last save, meaning I've got to pinch the stuffed bird from the unwatched five-year-old in the unlocked house, again.

[Pepe]

:lol:

[Ian]

I died of depression when inspecting the levers in Kim's car on my first playthrough. That was quite something.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

:D

[Shindig]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QZcAe80uCs

Dead on arrival. £250.

[Gray Fox]

Taking your controller with you enabling you to take your game library is a nice feature but that’s pretty much where it ends.

If you’re going to make something like this don’t price it at the exact price point of the Switch ffs.

[Shindig]

That's the thing. It's clearly a complex piece of kit being designed to play what is essentially mobile games. They want the Wii market but that market no longer exists or is 15 years older/dead at this point. And the ones still alive probably have a phone.

[Raoul Duke]

The Switch USP is Nintendo, otherwise you might as well just use your phone