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.
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.
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.
I preferred Zero to Like a Dragon but they're both good.
It's more soap opera than mob bollocks. It's about family. And briefcases of money.
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:
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:
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.
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.
Yakuza Like a Dragon is on PS+ this month so maybe I should take the hint.
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.
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.Originally Posted by phonics
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.
I was thinking - you should get Elden Ring if you haven't played it. Immense game
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.
Last edited by Shindig; 03-09-2022 at 05:48 PM.
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.
Skipping the grand prix mission wouldn't be the Mafia experience you pathetic coward.
(I found a cracking cheese for it instead.)
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.
Last edited by Shindig; 04-09-2022 at 06:21 PM.
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.
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.
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.
Might have to look into that. Metal Slug Tactics and Advance Wars Remake being stuck in limbo is making me sad.
Hmm ok interesting. Maybe if I follow some sort of "how to breeze through Elden Ring guide?"
Might give it a go.
Lol. Don't waste your money Maz. You'll hate it if you don't like dying more than twice in a row.
Dark Souls with a invincibility cheat is the best thing, why they never put casual/explorer modes in these games baffles me.
It's on Game Pass if you have that.
Or a really easy duplication glitch they can't be bothered to patch out.
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)
You could go for some insane bleed build like this and you'll be able to fly through most of the game. There are plenty more "broken" builds out there.
I still feel you have to get through plenty of game before you get to the power fantasy.
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
Seems like a lot of effort just to pretend you're having fun.
I couldn't get into Elden Ring.
Getting twatted by almost evrything just isn't fun for me.
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.
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.
I know the NBA games are polished but 142GBs is taking the piss.
Expeditions Rome starts slow but I'm finding it properly moreish now.
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.
I really like that aspect of the first game. Just looking at the wide expanse and thinking how massive and untouched it all is.
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:
Fuck Yuki Tsunoda the utter cunt.
Sick physics.
Meanwhile, in Stacraft 2
Zelda announced fro Christmas 2023.
edit: Lol American dates got me. It's May 12th.
In the last 24 hours I got a Tekken 8 trailer and 2 Yakuza games. It was a good day.
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.
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
What a game.
I'm a twit
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.
Has anyone had bad opinions?
Fuck Cuno.
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...
Last edited by Andrew; 14-09-2022 at 04:03 PM.
GoldenEye coming to Switch and Xbox (GamePass). Online only on Switch
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.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
