General gaming discussion

[Yevrah]

I just can't see a reason to get onto the Premium tier. Unless there's some retro games in there you plan on playing through like today, then there seems little point.

Extra is where I reckon most will settle on. You get the game catalogue and for now new titles(Stray) seem to be coming to that too.

Problem for me with the classic titles is that anything PS3 and older is streamed rather than downloaded, and if when I tried it on now is anything to go by, it just doesn't work very well.

[Shindig]

At least this will bring more old titles to the store. I've grabbed my PS5 version of Abe's Oddysee. Already had it on PS3 so I could grab it for free.

[igor_balis]

I finally have a dedicated GPU (a 970 from like 2016, lol). First time I can actually sort of play proper games on a desktop computer since the halcyon days of playing battlefield 2 on medium-low settings in 2006.

Any general recommendations lads? As mentioned, I used to love BF2, and some of the Xbox ones from about 10 years ago, but I get the impression the new ones are a bit crap. So a squad based FPS that is fairly forgiving of someone with my cretinous reaction speed would be cool. But pretty much anything tbf.

[Shindig]

You're bound to find something in the summer steam sale.

[Gray Fox]

I've got a 970 in my system. Used to be a decent little card but time hasn't been so kind to it. Provided you have a decent CPU and 8GB+ of RAM in your system you should be able to play Battlefield 4 with reasonable quality.

I wouldn't touch the newer ones that that unless you can upgrade really. Even so BF4 is still the best one they've done since the days of Bad Company 2 and BF3.

[Kikó]

I finished the main story on GTA5 last night (woo!) so will make a choice on carrying on Ass Creed t'Egypt or RDR2. GTA really is just a fun game you can pick up at any point, really perfect when I'm such a flakey game player.

[Yevrah]

Nice one, I do need to go back to GTAV. I think I got a PS5 version for a tenner earlier in the year.

[wullie]

I find it perfect for just farting about in for 20 minutes here and there, they've crafted a great little world that still holds up now for me.

[Kikó]

I only bought it this year after realising I had never played it and it's just an outstanding game. I'm tempted to enter the online world but it will probably make me resent life.

[Baz]

It is pretty outstanding but when you have to learn to fly with Michael it can fuck right off.

[Shindig]

I don't recall the flying school in V which means it must've been better than the one in San Andreas.

[wullie]

One I remember being a pain is where you have to jump a bike onto a moving train with Trevor which was definitely in tribute to the ballache in SA, although nowhere near as annoying. No Zero RC missions either thankfully.

[Raoul Duke]

You can skip them if you balls it up too

[Gray Fox]

Disappointed Father Simulator 2(ish) has a release date of November 9th.

Collectors edition comes with a Mjolnir too.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

My bank balance wont like me for it but I'm buying that collectors edition.

[Shindig]

I'll probably wait until they give it away on PS Plus. I thought that first one had a good story but the combat was a bit meh. I've the the same problem with The Last of Us, to be honest.

[Dark Soldier]

Got my first Ultrawide monitor arriving tomorrow. 200Hz.

Never played above 60Hz before. Fucking stoked lads, bought a shit ton of games in anticipation. God of War, Horizon, Days Gone, Death Stranding, Doom Eternal DLC, Hellblade, Red Dead 2, and installed a ton of others (Cyberpunk, Wolfenstein 2, Hitman 3 etc).

Which means I'll end up playing Slay the Spire, as ever.

[SincereTheRebel]

Going from 60 to 120 was mega for me. Playing on 200 sounds insane.

[Baz]

When people used to minmax counter strike to get the lowest FPS there was always some nerd (https://youtu.be/_nSA96eU1Us) counter arguing that human eyes are only capable of seeing so many frames per second, so what’s the benefit of more Hz?

[Gray Fox]

It's hard to properly describe it without your eyes actually seeing it for yourself, but the image refreshes twice as fast on 120 against 60, so in theory if you're playing an FPS and someone moves across your line of sight, you will see them quicker the higher refresh rate you have.

The higher you go the more buttery smooth all kinds of movement are in games.

[Dark Soldier]

When people used to minmax counter strike to get the lowest FPS there was always some nerd (https://youtu.be/_nSA96eU1Us) counter arguing that human eyes are only capable of seeing so many frames per second, so what’s the benefit of more Hz?

Its more about how its rendered on the screen. Its shown in competitive FPS that higher refresh rate can show enemies quite a bit before lower refresh rate as its rendering more frames per second. It also smooths out the experience, aiming, movement etc.

I've just had to drop res from 4k to 1440. Ended up with 70 inches of screen on my fucking desk now.

[Dark Soldier]

Fuck me how did i ever game at 60fps, this is insane

[Pepe]

I have a 240hz monitor. It all looks the same to me.

[wullie]

Some of my games having a 60fps option on PS5 means I can never now go back, but I don't think I'd want to go any further as it would make real life feel like stop motion.

[randomlegend]

Going from 60hz to 144hz is a huge difference. Going from 144hz to higher is less appreciable to my eyes.

You can notice a big difference between 144hz and 60hz even just browsing, everything is so much smoother.

[Dark Soldier]

Most things run around 100-150 for me. Doom Eternal is just so well coded.

Beauty of G-Sync, no tearing until it drops below like 40.

[Gray Fox]

I’d love to see a 4K 144hz monitor in full action with my own eyes.

Though I do imagine going back to not having that afterwards would be quite the let down.

[Ian]

I have a 240hz monitor. It all looks the same to me.

Yeah there are few things more wasted on me than bigger, fancier screens.

[Shindig]

Televisions haven't really wowed me since I got my first 1080p screen. :D I'll make the jump eventually but I've barely seen 4K in action.

[randomlegend]

Higher resolution doesn't do much for me honestly, but going from 60hz to 144hz is night and day.

[Shindig]

skate. It's going to be free-to-play. Microtransactions will be limited to cosmetics and 'conveniences'. People are annoyed.

[Gray Fox]

It's been 6 and a half years since I put this current PC together and it's starting to show a little bit of age. Probably needs a de-dust and re-paste more than anything, but I have the funds for building an upgrade.
Looking through and yikes prices are a mess. We're paying more in £ over here than the Americans are in $ for most of your main components. For example, one of the top GPUs on the AMD side is the 6800XT. In the US that's $700 while here it's £750.

I knew it had got bad through COVID but I didn't realise it was that bad.

[Shindig]

It's been bad for years, to be honest. First it was crypto miners taking the stock, now it's probably chip shortages.

[Gray Fox]

The yanks seem to be now on the receiving end of the crypto mass sell off, so I'm hoping that doesn't take too long to sail over here. Nvidia also seem to be gearing up for their 4000 series launching in Q3, so hopefully there's some sales.

[randomlegend]

The yanks seem to be now on the receiving end of the crypto mass sell off, so I'm hoping that doesn't take too long to sail over here. Nvidia also seem to be gearing up for their 4000 series launching in Q3, so hopefully there's some sales.

The second hand market over here is already feeling the benefits of the crypto sell-off I understand. Deals to be had.

[Gray Fox]

Yeah just you're gambling a bit if you buy an ex-miners GPU. The thing could be on its last legs when it gets to you.

From what I understand, prices over here tend to follow a few weeks after. So my eyes are out for one new, in a week or two. There is now stock of 3060's readily available coming in around £370(which is still crazy when you think about it). I expect the top range stuff will see the big price drops though, not so much what I'm really after.

[Dark Soldier]

Playing (as in its just moving a cat about, nowt else) Stray.

Stunning looking thing, wonderfully chill. Optimised ridiculously well on PC.

[wullie]

I gave it an hour yesterday and really liked it, I'm hoping it's a relatively short game as it could outstay its welcome otherwise. Plus I've only got a week to complete it thanks to the PS+ Premium trial

[Dark Soldier]

Its about 5-7 hours long I believe, 5 if you just mainline it, 7 if you wanna collect a few things. I've got all day today so just gonna finish it.

Its ridiculously simple but just a joy guiding the cat around.

[Ian]

I'll probably give that a go at some point.

Needed a break from RDR2 because there's only so many times I can do the exact same story quest and the side distraction stuff is all a bit pointless unless you just like being in that world so I'm playing Shotgun King (tricky, fun) and Citizen Sleeper as a bit of a palate cleanser. Citizen Sleeper often doesn't have a lot to it and I think I might be making it a bit easy by actually playing it and getting all the upgrades but it's well written, looks nice and is quite relaxing.

[Pepe]

I am on some little strategy game called The Cyclist Tactics. Good fun, plays like a board game basically.

[phonics]

I’ve been playing Yakuza 1. As with all these games the intro hours are incredibly slow. Seems like an interesting story though.

[Shindig]

I probably should revisit the earlier ones but they keep recapping the story every new game.

[hfswjyr]

I am on some little strategy game called The Cyclist Tactics. Good fun, plays like a board game basically.

Wow, I thought FM was like playing spreadsheets. Now this really is.

[Ian]

Finished Citizen Sleeper. Good stuff. Any worry about resources is basically gone about halfway through and it feels like they're not expecting you to actually play the game properly. Like a lot of games these days I guess where if you fully engage with it you can end up a bit OP.

Next up I did a bit of Into the Breach for the first time in ages because they've added some new content and it's still mega. Such a perfectly honed thing

And also did a bit if Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion. It's a sort of Zelda-y game I guess. Quite simple but a pleasing game to play and quite funny so far.

[hfswjyr]

It's incredible in this day and age that they're still working on a free content update 2 years since their last update. Bravo to them.

I never ended up finishing all the squads on the original, but still have it installed. It's such a well balanced game and satisfying when you get the hang of a new squad. I just struggle to summon the brain power these days.

[wullie]

Finished up a week's trial of the PS+ Premium thing and it all works very well but the only way I could see myself signing up is if there was a game on there I'd been looking at buying for full price. I read somewhere that the value of everything is offset by the amount of time you'd need to get value out of it which was the case as I'd download something and then give it a few minutes before moving on due to the sheer amount of other things I wanted to try. Netflix all over again as I spend longer in menus than actually watching anything.

Stray and Spiderman Miles Morales are both good and while the streaming worked surprisingly well a lot of the games from PS3 back should be left in rose-tinted nostalgia as they're really too rough now to get on with.

[Shindig]

Yeah, the PS3/360 grittiness that just doesn't hold up. I never expected that era to look old but here we are.

[wullie]

Tekken 2 was still playable but Toy Story 2 was the one that really jarred. I remember that being great but my god it's so clunky and unwieldy now.

[Kikó]

I'm playing Road 96 and I love it. What a great little game.

[Ian]

Done with Turnip Boy. It's a fun bitesized piece of Zelda-lite.

Made a start on Dead Cells now and enjoying it so far.

[Shindig]

I really want to finish Dead Cells. It's good but I was better at it when I had so little unlocked.

[Ian]

Oh I don't imagine I'll ever finish it. Haven't found it too hard yet but this reeks of the sort of game I'll bounce off the difficulty curve eventually.

[Baz]

Anyone bothered with this Stray?

[Ian]

I haven't and I'm not much of a cat person but I will at some point as it does look like my kind of thing.

[Shindig]

Seems to me like something I'll enjoy once and then never think of again.

[wullie]

It's exactly that yeah, short and sweet but you'll have no reason to go back to it. It's a lovely version of one of those atmospheric walking simulator type games.

[Shindig]

Oh I don't imagine I'll ever finish it. Haven't found it too hard yet but this reeks of the sort of game I'll bounce off the difficulty curve eventually.

I haven't looked at Assist Mode but I'm going to assume you can walk through the game with that. I'm right back into it. I've got no save on this PS5 so I'm back to square one.

[Mazuuurk]

I finished Horizon Forbidden West:

It's brilliant just like the first one. It did very much feel mostly like an extended expansion with continued narrative (not that many new machines or environments or mechanics, if a few). But I don't mind, I like the game so much. By the looks of it, a sequel is set up for as well so that's nice. Although I wonder when the tropes are going to start to feel a bit done.


Now on to Cyberpunk 2077 which apparently has gotten adapted for PS5 now. So far, my impressions are:

- It's coool, like how some of the cities (Omega) of Mass Effect would be if the game was made today.
- The characters surrounding you at the start seem well done and acted
- What little I've seen of battle so far has been a bit Mass Effect as well - just like a clunky shooter. I feel like it's missing some VATS mechanic or some such, but maybe that will come.
- Though I've discovered you can use Swords so will probably go with that.

The biggest problem so far is that it makes my brain hurt, literally. The city in itself is sensory overload - which I suppose is a good thing that's what you want cities in games to be - but I can see it getting tiresome after a while if the environment is just the same all the time. No Skyrim night skies here, exactly (or the serene trekking of Witcher 3 for that matter....). In fact it's a bit like they were blatantly trying to make the antithesis of Witcher 3 (which I get, but then again - why? It's the best game ever).

And on the topic of brain hurting - the menys are absolutely jarring. I sit pretty far from my TV when I play, so reading in the menus is a massive strain on an old mans eyes. It's getting quite bothersome, as the menus are so bloated with seemingly important info. The Map is extremely confusing as well.

Still, I think I'll end up enjoying this in a meaningless, Fallout kind of way (fuck about a lot).

[Shindig]

THPS1+2 are on PS Plus this month. And Yakuza 7.

[Disco]

Videogames need to get on board with the idea of letting us climb ladders quickly, where's the harm in me just zipping right up there.

[Mazuuurk]

It's one of those things that I reckon gets a little too immersion-breaking compared to the benefit it brings to gameplay.

[Disco]

Of the 8000 things in each game that do that why not have one be useful.

[Mazuuurk]

I dunno. How many ladders do you actually climb in a game?

Unless you are playing snakes and ladders.

[Gray Fox]

It'd put a whole different feel on that ladder climb in MGS3.

[Mazuuurk]

Disco must have hated Red Dead Redemption 2

[Disco]

I've been playing Dragon Age and at the third attempt I've gotten past the prologue/intro of Inquisition and this is just one of the many things wrong with it. It's quite amazing to see the last really good game they made (Origins) get progressively worse in the sequels as they cut all the interesting bits off and replace them with chores and the illusion of depth.

I stand by the ladder thing though, we're all happily zipping down them in ways in which nobody ever used a ladder but still crawling up them at a painfully slow rate. The ladder in MGS3 serves a purpose, it has narrative significance and it's own song for the occasion, probably the most thought out ladder in gaming.

[randomlegend]

Took me a bit to work out you were talking about actual ladders and not climbing rankings in competitive games.

[Ian]

Inquisition has a lot of very good stuff in there but and I enjoyed it a lot on my second playthrough as well but the structure of a lot of the basic gameplay is veeeery MMOy.

DA2 is the most interesting idea of the three but meh.

My thoughts on redoing Inquisition last year condensed:

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.


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.


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.

[randomlegend]

The combat system in Origins is just so fucking good. I tried one of the others and the fact they took that away just made it unplayable for me.

My favourite combat in any RTS I've ever played.

[Disco]

The biggest problem with it so far is the combat (which has done well to be worse than the UI, controls, and the movement) which I assume is a fairly prominent part of the game and by extension the character system. I spent quite a while trying to work out where all my abilities were going to go when I started and why I didn't seem to have any stats or anything. Coming almost straight from Origins where you might have 30+ abilities by the end it was rather jarring to find that you get 8 slots (which I guess means each class gets exactly 8 abilities) and you don't get to assign stats or anything. It feels like they took the worst parts of Mass Effect and painted it all in fantasy colours, it remains to be seen if the same illusion of choice exists here as well. The culling of most of the skills makes the combat far more bland, pop the couple of abilities you have and then sit and wait for them to re-charge or for the enemies to be dead once you've convinced your character to actually attack anything. I understand that modern 'Bioware' games are just not built for me but it's still a shame to see them gutting the systems that helped make the first game so interesting.

[Disco]

The combat system in Origins is just so fucking good. I tried one of the others and the fact they took that away just made it unplayable for me.

My favourite combat in any RTS I've ever played.

I could be incredibly boring about how much fun you can have with an Entropy/Spirit mage and how much the combat/skill system lets you engage as much or as little as you really like. You can convince yourself that it's still sort of there in DA2 but they seem to have removed all pretence of tactics in Inquisition, it seems to be an entirely 'action' based game.

[phonics]

The combat system in Origins is just so fucking good. I tried one of the others and the fact they took that away just made it unplayable for me.

My favourite combat in any RTS I've ever played.

I must have missed the Assassins Creed StarCraft spin off.

edit: Oh Dragon Age. Still not an RTS.

[randomlegend]

I must have missed the Assassins Creed StarCraft spin off.

edit: Oh Dragon Age. Still not an RTS.

RPG*

My bad.

[Kikó]

I finished Firewatch yesterday. Decent enough 4 hours of story with you playing a guy stationed in the forest during the dry season. The atmosphere is compelling but then they kinda just fall off with the ending which was a bit disappointing. I've enjoyed playing this sand Road 96, both games you can dip into without SEETHING.

[Ian]

I liked Firewatch a lot. A perfect "sit and coast through on a Sunday afternoon" sort of thing. If you like that sort of thing Kiko the obvious suggestion is Gone Home and Tacoma is really good too.

[Kikó]

Excellent - thank you. Hopefully they're on gamepass.

[Disco]

Inquisition has a lot of very good stuff in there but and I enjoyed it a lot on my second playthrough as well but the structure of a lot of the basic gameplay is veeeery MMOy.

DA2 is the most interesting idea of the three but meh.

My thoughts on redoing Inquisition last year condensed:

Having ploughed a fair way into the game I'm in broad agreement about Inquisition. Goodness knows why they decided the first area should be so huge and require such high levels for bits of it, I ran into a level 12 rift at about level 6 which I guess is meant to teach you that you're going to be doing a lot of backtracking (thought you'd cleared an are, well here's a load of shards to look for) it isn't as well gated as some of the other areas. In fact I'd go as far as to say it's probably the worst map, immediately afterwards you go to the little desert area that is a thousand times better, something that size would have been far better to start with. On the whole most of the areas are quite fun to explore and uncover, they've always done a good job of telling little stories through notes and little scenes dotted through the landscape and the landscapes are certainly pretty. The addition of jumping is an odd one, that would suggest they want to encourage exploration but you quickly find that isn't the case, there's a prescribed route for almost everything (until of course there isn't and you do in fact have to Skyrim your way up to some areas) and your reward for deviation is normally an invisible wall or being knocked off something by your companions.

The combat and AI are frankly bizarre, in a lot of fights your whole team (and the enemies) will simply stop and stand around for a bit no matter what orders you've given or how their behaviour is set. The tactics screen from Origins got a lot of stick but it did actually work a lot of the time, the only saving grace being that the AI will use their abilities in between taking a break. I really don't understand the shift from everyone auto-attacking to needing two inputs to get the same result, same with no pause on combat initiation, it's an absolutely maddening change. Not the worst offence though, that is reserved for the skill system which I was in fact wrong about. You don't get 8 skills for your 8 slots you get a whole lot more so a decent number of your levels are completely wasted because you can't access all your abilities at once. How that sort of restriction made it into the game is beyond my comprehension, I cannot think of any reason for it let alone a sensible one (console versions of Origins/DA2 let you use as many as you like).

The Skyhold stuff is legitimately great, easily the best bit of the game. I thought they could have done more with the building/expansion (get rid of the repeating and pointless requisition stuff in favour of finding resources to build it up or recruit people for a start) but I do look forward to mucking about between missions chatting to everyone and seeing what I can make/buy etc. The crafting is ok but it does make almost all other weapons and armour that can be found or bought completely redundant and the masterwork system being chance based is a bit bullshit (even if it is run by one the many sexy dwarfs they've crammed into this game). I'm delighted to see that a fine Bioware tradition endures, everyone uses comically massive cups in cutscenes for no apparent reason, this happens in every Dragon Age game and I believe all the Mass Effect ones too. Characters/companions are done well again but I have to disagree on the handling of the 'trans' character (if that's what Krem is meant to be) given the first time it comes up in dialogue literally half the options are 'SO YOU'RE NOT REALLY A MAN THEN WHAT'S UP WITH THAT HUH?' Not sure what they do after that point because they aren't around to ask anymore but it's an incredibly poor start. Cringey writing aside I thought they did it much better with Sera as in someone who doesn't care about *insert aspect of their character*, they should just put trans characters in and not mention it if that's what they want. The cameos from characters from earlier games are fun, I liked how they tagged along on certain missions, of the regular party members only Solas has so far been a bit of a waste of space and Cole I've barely used because melee rogues seem committed to dying as soon as they can unless you micro them or keep them in stealth forever. Voice acting is pretty strong all round oddly apart from the main character whose lines more often than not feel completely disconnected from the scene (Man-quisitor may be different, not tried that). Iron Bull/Varric/Dorian/Cassandra are all really well done as is Cullen and I do like how they all interact between missions.

[Ian]

I know we probably won't because they mix things up a fair bit between Dragon Age games in terms of your character's standing and stuff but I'd love an expanded version of the bits where you pass judgement on people. Bigger choices, more consequences from your actions. Will also be keen to discuss Iron Bull with you once you've finished the main game.

Have you got the Trespasser DLC? It's good and Solas becomes a much more interesting character in it.

I have been playing the Spider-Man game now it's on PC. It's pretty great innit?

[Disco]

I believe I bought it recently enough to get all the DLC, currently doing the deep roads thing which I believe is one of them (delighted to have another War Table, at least this one isn't behind three unnecessary doors).

[Ian]

Even the Deep Roads, the bane of DA:O, is not bad. It at least has some very impressive scale to some of the views.

What race you playing as by the way, Disco? I've done it twice and can't not do Qunari but being Quanri it does come up that you appear to be the chosen one of entirely the wrong religion.

[randomlegend]

I never understood the Deep Roads getting so much hate (always seemed fine to me) when The Fade exists. I absolutely loved the entire rest of the game but The Fade was torture.

[Disco]

I did Orzammar early this time (to get Oghren as he normally turns up towards the end and I barely use him) and it was much better that way, not that I hated them particularly but it was always a bit dauntingly large to do last/late. I found the final part in Denerim to be more of a slog than anything else this time, easily the least interesting section of the game for me.

@Webly I'm elf in Inquisition, which I would imagine is handled exactly the same as Qunari. Beginning to think I fucked up on the Iron Bull front, the choice I thought I was making turns out to make almost no difference (which is a bit of a theme in this game) other than a couple of flavour texts so far. The big chap looks so lonely in the pub now.

[Mike]

Papers Please is out on IOS :D

[Pepe]

Quality game.

[7om]

Any of you tried Rumbleverse?

[Lofty]

Are Nintendo Switches still good? Considering getting one (already have a PS5). I remember reading there were issues with joycon drift? I'd like to play the Mario open world game, also comoleted Breath of the Wild but on the previous platform, so happily give it another run through.

[Gray Fox]

You can buy a plug in controller of decent quality for £20-30, which will eliminate the drift. We've had two in the house and they only tend to drift after decent use after a couple of years anyway.

As always is with Nintendo it's just their first party games. If you want the Mario/Zelda/Pokemon/Kirby/Animal Crossing type stuff, then it's worth getting.

The Switch itself is still £250 or £300 for the OLED screen version. You can get the Lite version for £180 now which isn't bad if you are only using it portably anyway, but you can never plug that one into the TV if you every got the chance to.

[phonics]

I have been playing an absolute shit ton of Ori and the Will of the Wisps after my orignal save file got destroyed and I lost the will to redo all that shit again so took enough time off to forget literally evertything. I'm now I'd say 60-75% of the way through the story? These games are some of the best platformers of all time and by a distance.

[Ian]

I've not done the second Ori yet but definitely will at some point.

Still really enjoying Spider-Man just now though.

[phonics]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/270326079648956433/1009490254710968360/unknown.png

What a game.

[phonics]

Started Spiderman, that active combat is going to do my hands in. It's really interesting what they've done with that and the swinging to make it feel Spidermanny.

[wullie]

Miles Morales is the game I stuck with most while trying to rush through as much as I could on my PS+ trial. The only thing that put me off was all the combos which I would completely forget if I left it any more than a day without playing.

[phonics]

I'm not sure the PC one comes with Miles Morales. Also small note, I miss Peter Parker being a journalist not a scientist.

[Gray Fox]

It's not a Spider-Man review unless you tell us it really makes you feel like Spider-Man.

[Disco]

Have you got the Trespasser DLC? It's good and Solas becomes a much more interesting character in it.

Just finished, he gets a reason for having been tedious but I'm not sure that makes up for it. This and the Deep Roads DLC really did take a walk through the lore didn't they.

[Kikó]

I finished the mini game "What Remains of Edith Finch". Another one of those quick stories that are pretty immersive and fun. It took me a while to realise I was ruining my experience with the inverted controls (as default) but then the game grew on me. Visually very beautiful and some really fantastic sequences including the video game within a video game.

[Shindig]

I get that confused with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. I seem to remember liking it, though. Lots of little stories about her family and a cool bit with a set of swings.

My id software odyssey has reached it's logical conclusion. I've bought Wolfenstein 3D. Mouse controls are not doing what I expected them to do but I'll live with it. German maze hell.

[Mike]

Papers Please is out on IOS :D

It’s properly good!

[Kikó]

I get that confused with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. I seem to remember liking it, though. Lots of little stories about her family and a cool bit with a set of swings.


Exactly this. I don't have much time for gaming at the moment so these mini games are great fun. I've just picked up "12 minutes". Very different game play so far but pretty compelling.

[Raoul Duke]

It’s properly good!

Did you read his dev blog post (https://dukope.com/devlogs/papers-please/mobile/)? Quite techy but interesting

[Ian]

Papers, Please is great and I'll give anything Pope does a go but I am sad he's said he probably won't attempt anything on the scale of Obra Dinn again.

I also can't decide whether that would stand up to a replay.

[phonics]

Spider-Man is so god damn good. What a great podcast game. I just piss about doing the challenges instead of doing anything main line.

[wullie]

Along the same lines of cheapish games you'll play through once, currently enjoying Arcade Paradise. You're some 90s loser who is barely trusted by your dad to run his launderette, there are some old arcade cabinets out the back and an opportunity presents itself so you do the day job to fund the purchase and upgrade of what becomes a pretty snazzy backroom arcade.

In addition to the fun of chucking litter in a skip (you can upgrade your bin bag capacity too if you save enough money) and putting a load of washing on, you can play all of the games you install as well, including a GTA/Pacman hybrid, a Mr Driller ripoff, a Dance Dance Revolution machine I'm saving to get next and so on. Really well done, once finished will never look at it again. Lovely

[Ian]

Spider-Man is so god damn good. What a great podcast game. I just piss about doing the challenges instead of doing anything main line.

I'm enjoying it enormously.

I reckon I could happily stick a podcast on and just swing about. It's very zen.

[Yevrah]

Which Spider-Man is this?

[Ian]

The Insomniac one which has been remastered and released on PC.

[Lofty]

I met John Romero last night and got to frag him in a Doom 2 deathmatch, pretty cool.

[Shindig]

The best hair in game development. Still.

[Ian]

How did that come about?

[Shindig]

He lives in Galway or something. Probably went down to Barrow to look at some lakes.

[Gray Fox]

Which Spider-Man is this?

You’ll have access to the non remastered version on PS+ Extra. I’ll be honest I’ve not looked up if it’s worth stumping up the extra cash for.

[Ian]

It comes with the DLC but otherwise it'll just be graphical I think so the answer is: no, it's not worth paying extra for.

Runs like a dream on my PC though and the loading times but a lot of other games to shame. It's fired up in no time. A proper effort to get it ready for PC release from Insomniac.

[Lofty]

How did that come about?

Arcade Club in Bury held an event, £15 a ticket. My mate is a mega Doom fan so I tagged along.

[Bam]

Got Saints Row for the PS5 on release, fuck knows why I bothered.

[Yevrah]

Just watched a video review of it and it does look proper shit. The reboot angle had me interested, but it looks like they've just churned out the same shit they've been doing for years.

[Shindig]

It's like they had no idea what to do with it.

[Andrew]

Bit late to the party but playing through GTA 5 on the PS5, considering its about 120 years old now it's still worth a play through if you never touched it before if only for watching the Trevor cut scenes.

[Dark Soldier]

Arcade Club in Bury held an event, £15 a ticket. My mate is a mega Doom fan so I tagged along.

Shoulda let us know lad, I live about five minutes away.

[Shindig]

Can't say I expected Destroy All Humans 2: Reprobed to be one of the better things I've reviewed this year. Still essentially the PS2 game but with completely redone graphics. Looks surprisingly nice and colourful and the humour manages to mostly work. The boss battles are a bit shit, though.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I haven't watched F1 in at least 10 years but I've dipped my toe into F1 Manager and I'm enjoying it so far despite having a limited knowledge.

Started at Williams, partly because I like a zero to hero story but also because I knew their expectations would be low.

Qualifying went poorly in our first race and it saw Albon in 19th and Latifi in 20th. In the race I thought we did ok and Albon was up into 17th shortly after everyone had pitted for the first time. Sadly his rear tyres decided to get shredded and after taking an earlier than expected pit stop we only managed a 19th/20th finish in the race. The highlight was Latifi locking up at three corners on the final lap.

Qualifying for the second also went poorly with another Albon 19th, Latifi 20th showing. However I decided to tweak both cars a little and Albon started hot by overtaking Stroll earlier, however he and Stroll exchanged places for a couple of laps. However, I activated the ERS at the right time and Stroll ate our dust. Next up was Vettel who we seemed to trade positions for ages with us both using a similar pit strategy. Unfortunately Vettel overtook Albon right as Mick Schumacher decided to go head to head with a wall and the safety car came out.

When the safety car went in I tried to push both cars but the Aston's had too much and they slipped away and I thought we were getting another bottom two finish (albeit an 18th/19th as Mick was now out). I kept pushing Albon hard though as I thought he had the pace and thankfully Vettel locked up at a corner and Albon flew past and Stroll (who, like Latifi was on a one stop strategy) fell down to 19th. I kept pushing to keep them at bay and they were never able to eat into the 3.5s gap we had over them. 16th for Albon and 17th for Latifi.

[neo_hippy]

I haven't watched F1 in at least 10 years but I've dipped my toe into F1 Manager and I'm enjoying it so far despite having a limited knowledge.

Started at Williams, partly because I like a zero to hero story but also because I knew their expectations would be low.



Can you create your own team on this?

I really fancy a long term game but not sure I'd have the time / patience.

How long is it taking to get through a race weekend? Then how long does the behind the scenes stuff take up to the next race?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Can you create your own team on this?

I really fancy a long term game but not sure I'd have the time / patience.

How long is it taking to get through a race weekend? Then how long does the behind the scenes stuff take up to the next race?
No.

Practice and Qualifying doesn't take too long (especially as you can simulate them although it's better not to). The actual race does take some time but you can use 16x speed at non-vital moments and the game will bring it back down to 1x when something happens that needs your attention. I'd say a race weekend takes up about 1.5-2 hours total.

Stuff behind the scenes doesn't take too long. I usually send out the couple of scouts I have looking at other drivers, I'll get my engineers working on a part/manufacture a part and read a couple of emails. I'm sure others do a lot more but it doesn't seem that there's too much to really dive into out of the race.

[phonics]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/270326079648956433/1013421665692155944/unknown.png

Sad that its over.

[Ian]

I'm just working my way through the DLCs.

[phonics]

I’ve heard they’re not very good. Update me if they actually are.

[Ian]

I'll keep you posted. So far the first bit is... Fine? I'm mostly in it for the costumes.

I think I might like the challenges more than the Taskmaster ones, though Screwball needs launched into the sea.

[phonics]

I tried to play Starcraft BroodWar. I have never played a game. Sadly I'm the only one who hasn't ever played a game playing.

[phonics]

I tried to play Starcraft BroodWar. I have never played a game. Sadly I'm the only one who hasn't ever played a game playing.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/270326079648956433/1013476687947776031/unknown.png

:cool:

[hfswjyr]

Have you arrived in 1998? I don't understand.

[phonics]

They remastered it and it’s free with Amazon Prime.

[Giggles]

I was playing one of those dodgy versions of Goldeneye at the weekend, is there anything similar for XBox One? Not just a FPS where it's online and running about getting killed and reappearing, but something along the sneakier lines that Goldeneye was.

[Raoul Duke]

I was playing one of those dodgy versions of Goldeneye at the weekend, is there anything similar for XBox One? Not just a FPS where it's online and running about getting killed and reappearing, but something along the sneakier lines that Goldeneye was.

Perfect Dark should be available somewhere - it's made by the same team (mostly) and plays very similar. Or Hitman for the classic stealth-em-up shooter

[Giggles]

That one rings a bell. Was it a sort of sequel to Goldeneye, or a follow-up made by the same people?

[Raoul Duke]

That one rings a bell. Was it a sort of sequel to Goldeneye, or a follow-up made by the same people?

Completely different story/world, but essentially a follow-up without the film tie-in. It's a great game

[Mazuuurk]

OK so I'm done with Cyberpunk now (comment in propa thread incoming).

Now started on Disco Elysium. The idea is cool, and I see where they are coming from.

But I think I need something with a bit more action to play in between a little.



So - hit me with Storydriven RPGs that aren't extremely difficult?

I have already played these:

Outer worlds
Fallout NV
Fallout 4
Witcher 3
Cyberpunk
Divinity Original Sin 1 & 2
Horizon Zero Dawn & Forbidden West
Tales of Arise
FFVII Remake
Mass Effect Legendary Edition (1, 2 & 3)
Wasteland 3

[phonics]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/270326079648956433/1013836489521639465/unknown.png

[Raoul Duke]

So - hit me with Storydriven RPGs that aren't extremely difficult?

I have already played these:

Outer worlds
Fallout NV
Fallout 4
Witcher 3
Cyberpunk
Divinity Original Sin 1 & 2
Horizon Zero Dawn & Forbidden West
Tales of Arise
FFVII Remake
Mass Effect Legendary Edition (1, 2 & 3)
Wasteland 3

Skyrim?

Control perhaps, although it's not super RPG-ish.

[Mazuuurk]

Played Skyrim (a million years ago) and yeah Control as well :sorry:

[Shindig]

All of the Yakuza games (well, not the zombie one).

[Disco]

A lot of the things on that list were heavily influenced by Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 so those would seem decent suggestions.

[Ian]

So - hit me with Storydriven RPGs that aren't extremely difficult?

I have already played these:

Outer worlds
Fallout NV
Fallout 4
Witcher 3
Cyberpunk
Divinity Original Sin 1 & 2
Horizon Zero Dawn & Forbidden West
Tales of Arise
FFVII Remake
Mass Effect Legendary Edition (1, 2 & 3)
Wasteland 3


My real recommendation is "shut up and play Disco Elysium" but failing that.... not really an RPG but it's an open world-y thing along the lines of Horizon Zero Dawn (which I also don't think is really an RPG) so you could try Shadow of Mordor, I expect it's knocking around cheap somewhere.

[Ian]

Also Perfect Dark was better than Goldeneye.

[Mazuuurk]

Elvis :cool:

[Mazuuurk]

My real recommendation is "shut up and play Disco Elysium" but failing that.... not really an RPG but it's an open world-y thing along the lines of Horizon Zero Dawn (which I also don't think is really an RPG) so you could try Shadow of Mordor, I expect it's knocking around cheap somewhere.

Oh I intend to play it. But I want to do something else as well.

Cheers for the suggestions. It all seems a little...barren when it comes to games that aren't very old.

Are there no cool JRPGs I've missed?

(nothing too silly, like I tried Dragon Quest but that was just too childish).

[Ian]

I've heard the Yakuza games are really good but never tried them myself.

And Shadow of Morder has the nemesis system so it's worth trying it for that alone if you never played it.

[Boydy]

+1 for Shadow of Mordor. I'm not really a Lord of the Rings fan (seen the films, they're alright, might give the upcoming TV show a go) but those games are great fun.

[Ian]

The story is a lot more lol than anything in actual LOTR, for both better and worse.

[Shindig]

Plus they teach the stealth kill mechanic in the creepiest way possible.

Stealth kill wife to give her flowers.

[phonics]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/270326079648956433/1013836489521639465/unknown.png

Think this is the end of my story. I'm now 1 in 15. Back to Starcraft 2.

[Shindig]

One hour into Saints Row (they've sent us a review code, surprisingly) and it hasn't broke yet. It ... starts slower than a Saints Row should. And the complaints are right about the writing so far. They're sort of trying to hit those The Third mark but the execution is off.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Got a couple more races in on F1 manager today and despite our qualifying still being shit (it's been 19 and 20 in every race bar Italy where Albon jumped to a whopping 18th) we're doing fairly well in races.

We're miles better than the Aston Martin's right now and Albon is doing well against Mick Schumacher.

In Italy I thought we were going to secure our first points as the race was going seriously well for us. Rain was expected to start in Albon's pit window which I slightly delayed until the rain hit. I then sent him and Latifi (who was far enough behind that he didn't have to wait) onto Inters before anyone else had a chance, although Mick Schumacher pitted just ahead and stupidly came out on mediums. When everyone else reacted Albon had pushed into 10th with Latifi around 13/14 and both cars were looking good.

Leclerc then crashed (no idea what happened as the game didn't offer a replay but he was parked right in the middle of the track) and we had a lengthy safety car. This was both a blessing and a curse, it allowed me to save tyres and fuel massively on both cars but at the same time Albon would no longer have a 6 second gap between Ocon who was in P10. When the safety car came in Albon held him off for a bit but it was never going to last. Albon then had to contend with a trifecta of Gasly, Tsunoda and Zhou who were all breathing down his neck. Zhou spun out and Tsunoda seemed to lose a lot of time and Albon was keeping Gasly at bay until he had a massive lock out and dropped back to 15th.

Albon finished in 15th and Latifi who was in 15th at the time got overtaken by both Aston Martin's at the death to finish 18th.

When I get my first points it's going to be so sweet.

[Mazuuurk]

Thanks for the tips guys! Looked a bit at Yakuza Like a Dragon and it seems.... loopy, not in a good way. Mafia and JRPG / Anime seems like an odd combo, but maybe that's the point?

For now, I think I'll just stick to getting through Disco Elysium (a bit more into it now - last night my wife wondered what the hell I was doing "staring at a hanging body for 45 minutes!?").


But then after that... I dunno. The influx of new games on PS5 seems minimal.

[phonics]

I preferred Zero to Like a Dragon but they're both good.

[Shindig]

It's more soap opera than mob bollocks. It's about family. And briefcases of money.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just had a really weird practice session in F1 Manager. I nailed Albon's car setup (and came close to perfecting Latifi's) but that wasn't the strange part, for some reason the game chose carnage:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zqjXPAVfvY

Zhou seemingly dies here, he also crashed out of the P2 session as well. We then had Alonso drive right into the back of his team mate Ocon and then we had two big crashes pretty much happen at the same time:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRD1ZOsyWEM

There were grid penalties for a few in qualifying but sadly that didn't affect us. Latifi got his usual 20th and Albon managed a best of 17th for me. Hopefully with his perfect setup and my aggressive race tactics I can finally nab my first point.

[Shindig]

That was total slapstick. The way Zhou is brought to a dead stop with a comedy thud. It always amazes me when professional commentators sound so stilted when doing games. And the 'Awww ...' noises from the garage. :D

[Mazuuurk]

Yakuza Like a Dragon is on PS+ this month so maybe I should take the hint.

[Shindig]

Had my first major-ish glitch on Saints Row. I died on top of a vehicle during a mission. Respawned permanently in the stunt position unable to move. Had to abandon that mission to fix it. On the plus side:

- Broken fire hydrants don't launch you as much as they did on release. It still launches you in the air but you won't clear buildings with it.
- Traffic seems less suicidal and chaotic.

Other than that, a fairly average game so far. There was one mission I had where it had something going for it. A funny idea that probably didn't need its own mission. Ultimately, the new characters have nothing going for them. They're all just incredibly bland. You can't imagine these guys running a business empire in any walk of life.

[Ian]

I’ve heard they’re not very good. Update me if they actually are.

Done now. They're a bit meh. They set up some stuff for Miles and continue Yuri's story but there's a lot of filler sidequest stuff in there. I enjoyed it well enough because enough of it was side stuff that's either just more of the combat which I enjoy with all the maxed out gadgets and things that rely on you traversing the city quickly which is the best stuff.

It's entirely throwaway but unless you hated the challenge and base stuff it'd be fine as an excuse to go back in.

Looking forward to Miles Morales coming to PC.

I've still got four secret landmarks to do as well which I might use a reason to just swing about the city when listening to podcasts until I find the last four.

I'm gonna try Expeditions: Rome next.

[Raoul Duke]

Yakuza Like a Dragon is on PS+ this month so maybe I should take the hint.

I was thinking - you should get Elden Ring if you haven't played it. Immense game

[Shindig]

Mafia is free on steam at the minute. I'm mainly getting it because my disc version won't install.

I err ... hope this is has the patch where they give you the option to skip the Grand Prix mission.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fbw-0H1XgAECbKe?format=jpg

No points on the board but our best finish by far. Albon was brilliant and he was helped by other teams foolishly using a 2 stop strategy.

The final 3 laps I was having to fend off Ricciardo and Tsunoda with barely enough fuel to finish the race, no DRS (Gasly was too far ahead) and fuck all ERS was nervy as fuck.

[Ian]

Mafia is free on steam at the minute. I'm mainly getting it because my disc version won't install.

I err ... hope this is has the patch where they give you the option to skip the Grand Prix mission.

Skipping the grand prix mission wouldn't be the Mafia experience you pathetic coward.

(I found a cracking cheese for it instead. :cool:)

[Shindig]

Final Saints Row Update:

Two close calls but I have actually managed to finish it. Including an odd glitch on the last mission where my VTOL was locked in plane mode until I rebooted the game. Bang average.

[Mazuuurk]

I was thinking - you should get Elden Ring if you haven't played it. Immense game


Elden Ring doesn't fit my criteria of giving me the possibility to coast through the game.

I hate dying in games, and any game that kills me off more than a couple of times in a row I tend to immediately hate.


I really wished it hade an Easy mode, I do really want to try it.

[Ian]

Expeditions: Rome has a bit going on (turn based tactics, base management, story, campaign map, etc.) and I don't think it always explains itself very well but I am enjoying it so far.

[Yevrah]

Elden Ring doesn't fit my criteria of giving me the possibility to coast through the game.

I hate dying in games, and any game that kills me off more than a couple of times in a row I tend to immediately hate.


I really wished it hade an Easy mode, I do really want to try it.

I couldn't tell you what works now as I haven't played it for ages and they've patched the shit out of it since, but you could make it pretty easy with the right weapons/build.

[Pepe]

Expeditions: Rome has a bit going on (turn based tactics, base management, story, campaign map, etc.) and I don't think it always explains itself very well but I am enjoying it so far.

Might have to look into that. Metal Slug Tactics and Advance Wars Remake being stuck in limbo is making me sad.

[Mazuuurk]

I couldn't tell you what works now as I haven't played it for ages and they've patched the shit out of it since, but you could make it pretty easy with the right weapons/build.


Hmm ok interesting. Maybe if I follow some sort of "how to breeze through Elden Ring guide?"


Might give it a go.

[phonics]

Lol. Don't waste your money Maz. You'll hate it if you don't like dying more than twice in a row.

[Disco]

Dark Souls with a invincibility cheat is the best thing, why they never put casual/explorer modes in these games baffles me.

[Ian]

Might have to look into that. Metal Slug Tactics and Advance Wars Remake being stuck in limbo is making me sad.

It's on Game Pass if you have that.

[Shindig]

Dark Souls with a invincibility cheat is the best thing, why they never put casual/explorer modes in these games baffles me.

Or a really easy duplication glitch they can't be bothered to patch out.

[Raoul Duke]

Elden Ring doesn't fit my criteria of giving me the possibility to coast through the game.

I hate dying in games, and any game that kills me off more than a couple of times in a row I tend to immediately hate.


I really wished it hade an Easy mode, I do really want to try it.

I was kinda the same but so far it's not been too bad. I'm definitely over-levelled but that's about as close to easy mode as it has. I think there's only been 1-2 bosses that have taken me more than 3 attempts and only a couple of optional enemies where I've just bailed on them completely (mostly because it's some take-on-three-bastard-dragons-at-once nonsense)


I couldn't tell you what works now as I haven't played it for ages and they've patched the shit out of it since, but you could make it pretty easy with the right weapons/build.

You could go for some insane bleed build like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AcGNqbPTa0) and you'll be able to fly through most of the game. There are plenty more "broken" builds out there.

[Shindig]

I still feel you have to get through plenty of game before you get to the power fantasy.

[Raoul Duke]

If you take the speed level-up route (killing the big sleepy dragon etc) and chuck it into vigour you can be hard-to-kill in short-ish time

[Ian]

Seems like a lot of effort just to pretend you're having fun.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I couldn't get into Elden Ring.

Getting twatted by almost evrything just isn't fun for me.

[phonics]

Some people don't like the game you like, telling people to drown themselves in FAQs with the possibility that they still won't is dumb. It's not that good of a game.

[Mazuuurk]

It's just painful. I feel a bit like I'm in The Desert of No RPGs, haven't had a drink for days and lo and behold a Glass of icy water on a pedestal is in front of me.

But WAIT. It was laced with the Impossible-to-complete Poison. I die.

[Shindig]

I know the NBA games are polished but 142GBs is taking the piss.

[Ian]

Expeditions Rome starts slow but I'm finding it properly moreish now.

[wullie]

With the recent talk in the film thread I started going through the old westerns which got me in the mood to give RDR2 a second play through. I'd almost forgot that it's clunky as hell but what a world they've created there, like with GTA it's somewhere you can happily just bomb about in for a while without actually doing anything.

[Shindig]

I really like that aspect of the first game. Just looking at the wide expanse and thinking how massive and untouched it all is.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Ended up sacking Latifi after the Spanish GP as he pissed off by being so far behind everyone and I brought in Piastri who has started like fire.

In the Montreal he managed a first for us, he got to Q2 and qualified in 15th.

In the race he was like a man possessed. Half way through the race he had the fastest lap of the race (although it was later beaten by two others) and with just 5 laps to go he was in eighth but he was battling with Zhou, Tsunoda and Gasly hard for 8-11th. It looked like we had a great shot at our first points of the season and then this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lvN1yOVzeY

Fuck Yuki Tsunoda the utter cunt.

[phonics]

Sick physics.

[phonics]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/270326079648956433/1013836489521639465/unknown.png

Meanwhile, in Stacraft 2

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/270326079648956433/1018900659942215740/unknown.png

[phonics]

Zelda announced fro Christmas 2023.

edit: Lol American dates got me. It's May 12th.

[phonics]

In the last 24 hours I got a Tekken 8 trailer and 2 Yakuza games. It was a good day.

[Mazuuurk]

I think I'm nearing the end of Disco Elysium. I'm currently running around on the "coast" bit and tying up loose ends (The insect, the Ravers, the Church...).


The writing and the concept is nothing short of fantastic, so I understand the hype. The narrator voice(s) are also fantastic. At first, I thought I might struggle to have the patience to get through the sheer amount of dialogue, but the more you learn the more interesting the lore-bits become (though some of the lengthier History lectures I have ended up skimming through rather than listening properly). I don't really even miss combat. While Planescape: Torment is one of my all time favourite games - I did enjoy that combat would provide a respite from reading at times, although the voice acting and quality of writing sort of makes you forget about combat.

The ambiance is really spot on as well. There's just this powerful feeling of being at this forgotten, fading part of the world. I don't think I've ever had a gaming experience that's so intrinsically existentially sad (but also pretty funny and the right amount of lightweight to not make it overpowering).

I do sort of feel like man - what a game it would be if you got to explore all of these other places they talk about as well (the rest of Revachol, the insulindian isola, traversing the Pale, Ozonne, etc etc). Like imagine a Baldurs Gate 2 or Planescape: Torment where Revachol/Sigil was the main City but you ended up exploring more and more places. That would be *cool*.


My character is quite brainy, I started with 4-4-2-2 as I read that's a balanced allround build. I wish I would have traded maybe Psyche for Physics though. I also wish I would have looked up that boosting Conceptualization and getting the Actual Art Degree though as early as possible basically gives you a shit-ton more XP.

Not that I'm really finding myself locked out of too many skill checks anyway.

[Andrew]

Disco Elysium is currently 16 quid on playstion store at the minute reading your post makes it awfully tempting to pick up on the ps5

[Pepe]

What a game. :cool:

[Baz]

Disco Elysium is currently 16 quid on playstion store at the minute reading your post makes it awfully tempting to pick up on the ps5

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.3819de7254a8ecad42144c051e11c377?rik=U7cWTcsdgUo Awg&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

[Ian]

Disco Elysium is an all timer and everybody should play it, if only so the rest of us know whether you have good or bad opinions.

[Pepe]

Has anyone had bad opinions?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Fuck Cuno.

[Andrew]

Just had a quick look at metacritic for what it's worth and it seems like you either love it or absolutely hate the game there's no in-between.

But for 16 quid I'll give it a go.

*Edit"

It's 16 quid for the boxed version on Amazon.
Maybe it's my age but I hate having digital copies of anything.

Bring back the days of the huge pc box games and instruction manuals you could sit on the toilet reading for days on end...

[Raoul Duke]

GoldenEye coming to Switch and Xbox (GamePass). Online only on Switch

[Shindig]

The online exclusivity blows my mind but it's probably more down to how Switch's emulators fool the system into thinking it's local multiplayer.

[Raoul Duke]

It's very weird. Apparently there were some shenanigans whereby Nintendo/MS didn't know that both were planning to release it, or something

[Shindig]

I don't believe that for a second. :D

[Clunge]

Been thinking about giving F1 Manager a go, but I fear they've gone too fan into the modern day FM deep end and made it hideously complicated and with far too much micro management...

[Mike]

That’s the very reason I’ve not got it. I enjoyed the really old one loads, at the time I watched a bit of F1 too so had some understanding. I’ve not watched any for years and would have no clue on anything.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fc5G7ORWYAIE1Nl?format=jpg

Our first points finally, all hail King Piastri :hail:

Qualified in 15th but I felt we had a lot of speed in Spain and Piastri (as well as Doohan) performed really well. Before the first round of pits Piastri was looking good in 6th. I changed the strategy (originally Soft, Medium, Soft) to a hard tyre hoping I could nurse through to the end but it wasn't going to happen. So I went back to the 2 stop strategy and despite getting held up a little in the pit Piastri came out and I was able to hammer his tyres.

He quickly got back into points contention and kept pushing. I thought we'd have to settle for 7th as I didn't think we'd have enough time to take Russell.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysfAvx5oOCI

Thankfully we got him on the last lap. I skipped the video a bit more than I'd have liked on that last lap but I got the pit sound glitch.

It only took a season and a bit but we've done it.

[Raoul Duke]

GTA 6 leak (https://www.ign.com/articles/gta-6-gameplay-videos-reportedly-leak-grand-theft-auto) of a bunch of WIP video and images:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPgu-np6I4A

Looks like it's back to Vice City :cool:

[Gray Fox]

Matches up to the early August leaks.

Latina type female lead character, set in Vice City etc. The thing that wasn't leaked at the time was when it was set. Looks from the "WhatUp!" messages being received, like at least 2010+

I'd also say the game looks quite far along in terms of build.

[wullie]

I assumed it was going to be bollocks but there's apparently too much of it in the leak for it to be fake.

[Shindig]

It's going to be interesting to see what they do without the Housers at the helm.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fc86_DCX0AEtnWi?format=jpg

First time we've had both drivers score points. I thought Piastri could really do something big as he was in 4th (fighting with Perez) but he locked up bad in the rain and dropped to 7th.

These are Doohan's first points but Piastri has now got 25 points having finished 6th in Spain, 10th in Canada (fastest lap too), 6th in Silverstone and now 7th in Austria.

Feels like the car is really getting there now and both drivers are getting the best out of it.

[John Arne]

GTA 6 leak (https://www.ign.com/articles/gta-6-gameplay-videos-reportedly-leak-grand-theft-auto) of a bunch of WIP video and images:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPgu-np6I4A

Looks like it's back to Vice City :cool:

Man, I was really hoping (though not expecting) it be based in somewhere much more interesting, such as Rio, Bogota or Bangkok.

[Shindig]

If they still want to go for parody, they don't know those other locations well enough. Part of me wants the nuclear option of it turning out as misguided as the Saints Row reboot.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfwpQil334k

[phonics]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/270326079648956433/1021445899655852113/unknown.png

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FdMLLLiXoAYr0k_?format=jpg

Our first podium :cool:

Piastri qualified in 4th with Doohan in 3rd but a grid penalty meant we were 2nd and 3rd and I knew we could do well here as our cars our very fast right now and well suited to Monza.

Sadly Doohan went wide on an early-ish corner and when he came back onto the track got hit by Leclerc. Changed his tyres and hoped he'd have enough pace to finish in points but it wasn't to be.

Piastri was in a constant battle with Max, Sainz and Perez but locked up whilst he was in second and ended up dropping to fourth. |Thankfully he still had loads of pace and was able to overtake and hold Perez off.

Piastri is currently 10th in the drivers championship (4 off 9th placed Ocon) and we've moved ahead of McLaren into 6th for the constructors. Not a chance we catch the 5th place Alfa but I do think we'll have enough to hold off McLaren.

[Pepe]

Never even heard of that game. Is it fun? Is there a lot of micromanaging or you just hire drivers and engineers and get on with it?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I enjoy it.

Ultimately you can put in quite a lot or scale back and do very little.

Currently I sim practices (but I use a tool to ensure I get perfect setups), I sim qualifying and I speed up the races quite a bit but I'm fiddling with the ERS, fuel usage and tyre usage quite a bit.

I was doing shit in season 1 (nil points) but I've really hit my stride as I'm constantly designing new parts for the car and we're currently the second fastest cars on the grid (by top speed and acceleration) but we're really shit at low speed corners.

[Mike]

1572372646012260353?s=46&t=Yi1dWxP7E8M-ImWPDZSmrw

Game of the year…

[Shindig]

Finally looks like I'm getting into Breath of the Wild. I feel like I'll spend the next 20 hours looking for shrines but it does have the good open world thing of making you check out odd-looking landmarks. Shame none of the weapons matter, at least at the moment.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FdS0_72XoAYW9e-?format=jpg

Our first win and it just happens to be a 1-2 :cool:

Race seemed to fall perfectly in our lap. Piastri went off fast and was battling with Sainz early for first. Rain started falling heavy and I new the track would be wet but it wasn't meant to be for that long and then it was meant to dry out. Thus I decided to put both drivers on inters a touch early and we were able to pull away from the rest of the pack.

A few (including Sainz) went onto Inters not long after but when the track turned to wet they changed to wets whilst we stayed out. Piastri and Doohan were far ahead but with the wet weather and being on inters they were slowly getting caught. The track started drying and I undercut onto dry tyres, I put Piastri on softs stupidly as I thought they'd last (they weren't going to so I let Doohan move ahead) and Doohan went on to mediums.

This allowed them to build up a lead which wasn't going to be caught.

Piastri up into 9th with 69 points (nice) with Doohan on 32 in 12th. We're still in 6th in the constructors on 101 and now have a chance at catching 5th placed Alfa on 136.

[phonics]

Went from 6-10 to 11-12 in Starcraft 2. :cool:

Personal highlight: https://streamable.com/eqzv85

[Ian]

Expeditions Rome has taken me to Gaul and I have the Asterix reference I was waiting for.

https://i.ibb.co/fS9V1c7/image.png

Can't remember who the other Asterix fan on here is. wullie ?

[wullie]

Oh yes. Only just got the latest book in the week too, haven't started it yet

[Ian]

Oh yes. Only just got the latest book in the week too, haven't started it yet

The whole exchange goes on a bit from there and it's quite funny.

What book is that?

[wullie]

https://cdn.waterstones.com/bookjackets/large/9780/7515/9780751584714.jpg

The newer ones have been ok but patchy, hopefully this will be good

[hfswjyr]

Went from 6-10 to 11-12 in Starcraft 2. :cool:

Personal highlight: https://streamable.com/eqzv85

Wow, I forgot how hard it is to tell between player colours.

[phonics]

Wow, I forgot how hard it is to tell between player colours.

Hate to break it to you, you're red/blue colour blind.

[randomlegend]

Nah it is pretty bad. The bits of distinguishing colour on the units are really small.

[Gray Fox]

Gloomhaven is free on the Epic Store this week for anyone into that kinda thing.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Nice.

I had been wanting to get that at some point because fuck paying three figures for a board game.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FddieQpWIAEGz4_?format=jpg

And with that the season is done. We had a difficult end to the season (other than this race) as Doohan crashed out 2/3 times and Piastri had a few wobbles.

This final race was mental, we looked ok but the track didn't favour our car. Thankfully Piastri was in 7th and a safety car came out as Zhou crashed, he was off the top 6 but obviously when it came in he was right there.

Then Kevin Magnussen got torpedoed by his teammate Mick Schumacher which brought out another safety car. Quite a few cars jumped into the pit lane including 4 in front of Piastri which moved him up to third. Tyres and fuel were in a good spot due to the dual safety cars so I went hard after Verstappen and Sainz. We overtook Verstappen and we were getting close to Sainz but Ocon then smashed into a wall and a third safety car came out which took us to the flag.

Piastri finished in 9th on 117 points and Doohan came in 13th with 36 points. In the constructors we finished 6th just 5 points behind Alfa.

[phonics]

I'm now being matched with platinum players and winning. I cannot be stopped. (Except against literally any zerg or a competent protoss)

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/270326079648956433/1023581858237255752/unknown.png

[phonics]

I lost 7 games in a row after the above post.

[Andrew]

Just finished albeit it only took a few hours to complete, Artful Escape it's free if you have the middle playstion plus tier.

A great little indie title, gameplay is a little simple but the music, visuals and voice acting is great.

[Lofty]

Total War Warhammer 2 and Fallout 76 free on Prime Gaming at the moment.

[Ian]

Been replaying the original Dishonored as I couldn't be bothered engaging my brain with something new and I'd been pondering redoing it for a while. It's still great, and Blink still feels very satisfying to use.

[phonics]

Hit diamond. Puts me in the top 12% of the world. Got to find me a Korean lady to exclaim how good I am to.

[Shindig]

Jimmy might know one.

[Dark Soldier]

Spunked out silly money for the new PGA 2k23 on PS5.

It's so so fucking good.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Oh shit I had no idea it was out, I'm going to have to pick it up.

[Dark Soldier]

Early access right now for silly editions, think it launches proper Friday. Has like 40 courses on launch and a new designer for all the mentals to make courses.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Downloading now.

[Dark Soldier]

Absolute legend.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I had forgotten just how gimpy my swing accuracy and speed was.

Sliced shots all over the shop :drool:

[Dark Soldier]

Think my best round so far is like -6 on Pro settings.

Fucking love the glof me

[Ian]

I've just bought a Switch. Work gave us a voucher thing for certain shops and I've been toying with getting one and decided after the shitter of a year so far to go FUCK IT and put the voucher toward a Switch.

[Manc]

Full review in time please, Ian. I'm tempted to secure one for FM23 Touch and would no doubt get involved in Super Mario & Pokemon for nostalgia purposes.

[Gray Fox]

The joy of the Switch is in its "pick up and play." If you've a spare 30 mins and want to play something, you're unlikely to be going off to the room you've set your Xbox or PlayStation up in, but you can just take the Switch out of your bag and off you go. Then when you do have time for a longer session, you can dock it and get it on the TV. You can get a decent more conventional controller for £20 easy too.

Besides if you want Mario and Pokemon you aren't getting them anywhere else(easily). You're not going to ever really get anything other than what it says on the tin with Nintendos top games either.

They're a great bit of kit and if you aren't bothered about the OLED screen you can get one for £250 now. You can also get the Lite version for sub £200, but that's if it's purely going to be portable for you. You can't remove the controllers or dock it to a TV if you get that one.

I would say if you're thinking of getting one, sooner may be better than later. With Xboxes and PS5s still difficult to stock, parents are going to be snapping Switches up soon.

[Pepe]

Zelda, Odyssey, and Fire Emblem make it worth it. Otherwise, a whole lot of meh, imo.

[Shindig]

Metroid Dread as well. And Bayonetta 3's coming out.

[Dark Soldier]

If you have even a half decent PC just emulate and save yourself 300 quid. BotW in ultrawide at 120fps with graphical improvements, draw distance and AA is a thing of beauty.