It looks like they're coming out of Early Access next month, so I'll be giving it another go then.
Gaming thoughts, bite-size chewables - new orange flavor!
- Thread starter pauli
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Hence, why I favor human based Shooters, that are closer to MilSim [without the tediousness of MilSim] or offer a Hardcore Mode. Not a lot in that space, sadly.
Hitman, Sniper Elite, Ghost Recon, Insurgency. Really wish all Shooters had a "Hardcore Mode" that made both enemy and player non-sponge.
The Division games allow you to get closer with certain end game builds, or turning down the difficulty - I just wish there was a way to divorce the sponge from the AI/abilities in that scaling.
I watched some footage of this, and it's funny how little they did (in the OG movie and in this game) to make "future cars" look any different from the mix of late 1970s/early-mid 1980s cars that populated the streets of American big cities around the time of the first movie. Cyberpunk 2077 has kind of the same aesthetic.
I'm 3/4 done with the main puzzles in Talos Principle 2 and am really liking it so far. I've been able to solve all the puzzles and metapuzzles so far for the first 3 quarters, and I didn't find any to be overly complex. One of the metapuzzles involved finding something in the environment that I basically just stumbled over via dumb luck, otherwise I was close to giving up there. Another metapuzzle involved using some techniques learned from TP1
that a new player would probably not think of, as so far at least, this is the only time it's been used, and it wasn't super obvious that that was the right solution either.
Overall, I'm digging the new mechanics, I like the story and the philosophy in the game, and am looking forward to playing more. I was playing Starfield before this, and while I liked the game, I wasn't playing every day, even if I had plenty of free time. I'm actively looking forward to playing more TP2.
smuggling items from a puzzle outside of the puzzle's boundaries
Overall, I'm digging the new mechanics, I like the story and the philosophy in the game, and am looking forward to playing more. I was playing Starfield before this, and while I liked the game, I wasn't playing every day, even if I had plenty of free time. I'm actively looking forward to playing more TP2.
Random question re: the vanilla Alan Wake from lo, those many moons ago (Windows version): is the best strategy with the flashlight and pistol to shine it in their faces and try for a headshot? Because otherwise the enemies seem pretty bullet-spongey.
You need to wait for their darkness "shield" to break, then go for head shotting them. Having said that, most of the time, if you can, try dodging around them so that you conserve bullets, batteries and flares. Usually, once you've reach your objective, the enemies will despawn. You can also try timing how long you focus your torch on the enemies to minimize battery consumption.
I wonder if you'll like it by the time your done.
Some one has to. You might be it!
I need to get back to it. I started, but got sidetracked exploring some of the areas that weren't accessible in the demo, and I meant to go back and finally finish Road to Gehenna before getting too far.
I also got sucked into Autonauts. It's not great overall, but it is engrossing. There's a pretty deep settlement campaign, but the mechanics don't evolve much beyond the scripts getting longer. Their commitment to "program by doing" is accessible, but there's a lot of fighting with the limitations of the state machine they've provided. I'd love to see a game like this ship with a connected language server mode you could couple with a real IDE. I have the Piratebots sequel as well, but if the programming gameplay isn't any deeper I'll probably just move on.
Thanks! The breaking shield should be pretty obvious. So I'll try that. I've tried dodging and it's hard to get the timing right. Using the Xbox Series controller on my PC it's supposed to be left bumper and left stick, IIRC.
I was more referencing the movie which was so over the top with its violence specifically as a commentary on 80's action movies.
The original Alan Wake doesn't have location based damage like headshots, and you are not aiming, Alan is. It's more about managing the flashlight boost to break their shield and then just shooting. There's a soft lock-on if you've got an enemy centred on the screen but Alan is not actually shooting at your aim point when you go into flashlight boost he's shooting at the locked enemy.
Looking at the Golden Joystick awards?
Yeah, okay, that’s a fairly respectable list.
End of the year awards are arbitrary contests of popularity, but I feel like the voting public got this mostly right this year.
Yeah, okay, that’s a fairly respectable list.
End of the year awards are arbitrary contests of popularity, but I feel like the voting public got this mostly right this year.
Though when I first read the winners I got as far as "best game trailer" and the internal screaming drowned out conscious thought.
Awards for fucking adverts alongside the awards for the products they advertise at us. Blech.
Awards for fucking adverts alongside the awards for the products they advertise at us. Blech.
Well, that's a goofy system. No way to make sure you're shooting at the unlocked enemy, besides having him fill your screen?
It’s generally pretty good at shooting what you expect, sometimes it has funny ideas but generally as long as what you want shot is in the middle of the screen it’ll happen.
Says a lot about this year for PlayStation.
There really aren't a lot of scenes where you have a ton of enemies. They're mostly challenging because of the nature of Alan being designed as Not A Space Marine and Remedy, up until about Quantum Break, was only so-so with their action design. Though the handful of scenes that do feature a swell of enemies were tense AF.
Playing on Normal, in the vanilla game, I must be doing something wrong because I've hit one of those bits on the way to Lover's Peak, where the cutscene happens and a big dude appears in silhouette against an open gate, and maybe 5 guys come after you. I might have a whole dozen bullets to deal with them. Even with shield broken they seem to take four revolver rounds to kill. I must have missed an ammo cache (or two) with a flare gun in it somewhere.
For that section, your best bet is to just dodge, don't get boxed in, and run towards the light.
I got past it by triggering the cutscene from a place a bit further away from the gate, then doing exactly that, kiting them and trying to kill one at a time close up. Also discovered that if you're standing close enough to the protective light, and the enemies swing at you and you dodge into the light just right and somehow they touch it as part of their swing, it destroys them.
Anyway, sorry for the derail. I also started playing the Dead Space reboot on Game Pass and damn it's good, but also hard. I hate how the Necromorphs sneak up on you from behind sometimes while you're fighting another one.
Yeah, I don't remember that section specifically but there were a couple such areas in the later parts of the game like that.
The one that sticks with me is the "concert" in (IIRC) Chapter 9 or 10. That had me almost cussing Remedy out for their barely passable TPS design sensibilities.
I dunno, I kind of like it so far.
Or I should say once I got the shotgun it got better. The pistol and the starting rifle are rather crappy.
Rage 2 is one of those games where the moment to moment feel of running and shooting it is excellent but absolutely everything else is completely forgettable.
I know I've completed it. I even tidied up all the dots on the map.
I remember almost none of it except that there was pink.
I know I've completed it. I even tidied up all the dots on the map.
I remember almost none of it except that there was pink.
100% this.
I believe my final thoughts were something along the lines that there was a really good game built on that engine, that took full advantage of how smooth and good it felt to play and married it to a good story and fascinating area/level design, and it was a shame how much Rage 2 wasn’t that game.
so I guess there was some event this weekend surrounding Fallout New Vegas. I think it's the 13th anniversary of the game. Ain't that a kick in the head?
Anyway, lots of cosplay involved. This one is really fun.... the VATS
View: https://twitter.com/Obsidian/status/1723751791962300644?s=20
Anyway, lots of cosplay involved. This one is really fun.... the VATS
View: https://twitter.com/Obsidian/status/1723751791962300644?s=20
Finish Rage 2 and come back to us. I’ll be genuinely curious to see what you think.
I remember being optimistic when I started it. That… well, it didn’t last.
I didn't notice this before, but they're remastering Tomb Raider I-III.
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2478970/Tomb_Raider_IIII_Remastered/
For those keeping score, the original Tomb Raider was released in 1996.
The puzzle platforming and exploration was fun, although the combat, if unchanged, is going to age like a fine goat's milk.
I think the original Tomb Raider was the first game I bought a printed guide for. Some of those secret areas were nigh impossible for me to find on my own - "line up on the corner of this rock, face the wall, take two sidesteps to the right, left sideflip onto a backwards slope, immediately do a backflip to land on a forward facing slope and then immediately jump forward to grab a ledge.."
View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2478970/Tomb_Raider_IIII_Remastered/
For those keeping score, the original Tomb Raider was released in 1996.
The puzzle platforming and exploration was fun, although the combat, if unchanged, is going to age like a fine goat's milk.
I think the original Tomb Raider was the first game I bought a printed guide for. Some of those secret areas were nigh impossible for me to find on my own - "line up on the corner of this rock, face the wall, take two sidesteps to the right, left sideflip onto a backwards slope, immediately do a backflip to land on a forward facing slope and then immediately jump forward to grab a ledge.."
The first game was absolutely amazing for the time. I was working in a computer store, and I stayed late for multiple days to play it there, because we had a 3DFX card in the display PC. The end level had some really persistent heartbeat sound, and after finishing the game, I kept hearing it all that night as I slept. It was a superb experience, for 1996.
It has not aged well at all. I don't think modern players would enjoy it much.
It has not aged well at all. I don't think modern players would enjoy it much.
Tomb Raider is a game I didn’t like but played a lot of. My younger sister adored them, but was absolutely terrible at the combat. I would be stuck next to her watching the game until she reached a combat section, then she’d hand off the controller and I would murder everyone. That last part caused some issues between us in Tomb Raider 2 in the Buddhist temple. Murdered the monks every single time even when she explicitly told me not to and they hadn’t aggro’d yet. It got to the point she would try to do the combat herself on that level, but ultimately gave up and left it to me. “Hey sis! Wanna hear a Vietnam soundtrack?” pulls out M-16 with malicious intent
For the time, it wasn’t a bad combat system given the limitations of the era and controls. Everything was tank controls back then. Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid, in my eyes, weren’t much better really.
For the time, it wasn’t a bad combat system given the limitations of the era and controls. Everything was tank controls back then. Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid, in my eyes, weren’t much better really.
Agreed - I had fun playing it because it was fun shooting people, but I can't remember almost anything about the game. That might be an upgrade from Rage 1 where I DO remember exploring the environment....and finding out it was completely empty of content and the only thing to do was head from waypoint to waypoint. That, and the un-fun racing and the horrible quality of some of the textures from Megatexture 1.0.
At the same time, if you can get back into that old control scheme, it actually plays pretty well. The grid system and movement mechanics that align with that grid mean it's generally very precise and once you get the hang of it, there's no wondering whether you can make that jump or reach that ledge - you know already, it's the same every time and not adjusted on the fly by the game dependent on whether you're meant to make that jump or not.
It's kinda like the original Prince of Persia in that regard.
That said, close quarters movement is never anything but completely awkward.
I vividly remember the Prima Strategy guide for the OG Tomb Raider telling you how to setup certainly jumps to get to the secret areas referencing the blue save diamonds.. Which were not in the PC game, which made me wonder WTF the guide was talking about. Luckily I was working at a college with an internet pipe and had enough free time to find the games domain (I think?) FAQ.
I bought that one (on disc even!) and enjoyed it, although I probably never finished it.