What game are you currently playing?

[Antimatter]

Great to hear you gave NieR a go!

The prologue is probably the hardest part of the game because there are no saves, and when you die, you need to start over. And it's the first area the player gets, everything is still new. The double saw-bladed arm boss is brutal, and usually, my solution was "somehow I survived" there.

I didn't use any mods to change controls and played with KBM. I guess I just got used to it?

Left Mouse - Light Attack
Right Mouse - Heavy Attack

So you don't need C and V. If controlling the pod is too much at this stage, don't worry about it.

 

[Cahir]

I've never really been much of a console gamer (except for jrpgs like final fantasy) and anything but kbm feel unnatural to me. I would probably be fine if the bot autofired it's primary attack when I had something targeted, and then I could have a key for its secondary attack. That and the mouse look is really sluggish (I can't seem to find the setting for mouse sensitivity, but I'll keep looking).

I just had my first death against the double saw-bladed arm boss. I'm not sure if "sliding" into the blade swipes can send me under them to dodge. It doesn't seem to work, but the camera can't keep up with my movement so I'm not sure if my timing is rubbish. I dunno. I'll tinker. I like everything about it so far except the controls, but I'm hopeful I'll get there.

I didn't have much experience with playing using controller until I bought PS4 some years ago. Not every game plays better with controller, but I find more and more are. Recently I bought Xbox X controller, since I found my old Dualshock (PS4 controller) not
that handy anymore, and currently playing Clair Obscure with it. And I gotta say, I have a blast. It's extremely comfortable and I can't imagine playing game on keyboard and mouse.

 

[mlnevese]

There are things that are better with keyboard+mouse, others are better with a controller. For me, trying to play a race car with a keyboard just results in a wrecked car, for instance

 

[Primavera]

I didn't have much experience with playing using controller until I bought PS4 some years ago. Not every game plays better with controller, but I find more and more are. Recently I bought Xbox X controller, since I found my old Dualshock (PS4 controller) not
that handy anymore, and currently playing Clair Obscure with it. And I gotta say, I have a blast. It's extremely comfortable and I can't imagine playing game on keyboard and mouse.

Yup. I am exclusively a PC player, but I first got a controller (one of those PowerA unofficial XBox ones, since they have back panel buttons that aren't there on official models, and now I just can't play without the back buttons because they are so handy) when I was playing some JRPGs, metroidvania platformers and soulslikes on my PC but was finding the kbm control schemes very cumbersome. Having to move my fingers all over the keyboard and pressing multiple keys to pull off combos was very stressful, and it definitely compromised with my immersion and enjoyment. Immediately felt the difference after moving to controllers and I could pull off a lot of the precise movements and combos with significantly greater ease. Nowadays, I almost exclusively use controllers for the aforementioned three genres, as well as some other stuff where it is more comfy to use (like Dredge and Sunless Skies), but for shooters of any kind, isometric RPGs, 4X grand strategies and anything requiring more precise control, I switch to keyboard and mouse because it's easier to target as well as click on a whole lot of different UI elements directly while managing resources and units. It's true that some games have great optimization for either control input method, but in my experience I've found most games being more partial in terms of optimization towards one over the other, though again a lot of it boils down to individual preference so there's that too.

 

[O_Bruce]

Controllers are both cool and comfortable when playing many video games. What I dislike about them, however, is that modern controllers inevitably will have the right analog stick problem (known as stick drift). Regardless of how careful you are with them, it will always happen. This issue was nearly non-existent years ago.

 

[Cahir]

Controllers are both cool and comfortable when playing many video games. What I dislike about them, however, is that modern controllers inevitably will have the right analog stick problem (known as stick drift). Regardless of how careful you are with them, it will always happen. This issue was nearly non-existent years ago.

I was seriously contemplating to invest in XboX Elite controller, but I ready top many remarks that it broke after couple of months that I thought it's not work the risk. On the other hand I play sporadically now, so it would probably last longer than it usually does, so maybe I could have made that risk. Still, I'm really happy with regular XBox Series X controller. Significant improvement versus old Dualshock.

 

[mlnevese]

I was seriously contemplating to invest in XboX Elite controller, but I ready top many remarks that it broke after couple of months that I thought it's not work the risk. On the other hand I play sporadically now, so it would probably last longer than it usually does, so maybe I could have made that risk. Still, I'm really happy with regular XBox Series X controller. Significant improvement versus old Dualshock.

I bought a cheap Logitech controller recently because my previous one, a GameSir, started to present drift after two years of use. I'm usually lucky with Logitech hardware, so I'll wait and see.

 

[JustKneller]

I'm a die hard kbm gamer. I'm currently playing Elite Dangerous with all the auto piloting features off and Newtonian physics on. Definitely more complicated controls, but I'm getting there. I gotta find a way to make it work with Nier. It's super obnoxious that I can't access the controls from the main menu or until after I pass the intro with cruddy controls.

 

[WarChiefZeke]

I have spent the past couple days grinding up a character in the original Everquest (or what is as close as you can get), Project 1999.

I love how they clearly tried very hard to make it feel like an authentic DnD world. I roll a halfling, and I start inside this quaint little halfling town full of named characters in a peaceful region. If I were a troll, i'd start in a swamp and civilized races wouldn't want anything to do with me. At least to begin with.

That's another thing I like about it, the faction system. There are very few "trash mobs" in the game who only exist to be killed. Almost any group of intelligent beings can be made to like you, or hate you, depending on your actions. Why hunt the orcs when you can join them and fight the elves instead? Why not befriend the pixies or centaurs? Entirely possible with in-game mechanics. Later on, more powerful quests and items are locked behind reputation.

It is a very brutal, very hard game, but extremely rewarding by providing a very good role-playing (and not just grinding) experience.

 

[JustKneller]

I recently added the Odyssey expansion to Elite Dangerous and I'm kinda not loving it. It amends the game so that, instead of just flying a ship from port to port, you can actually disembark in starports and do ground missions. However, the FPS plays like an alpha release on a good day and a lot of the other added features are really meh. On top of that, it's not optimized well so while the base game runs totally smooth on my system, the expanded game get kinda choppy in places. I think it's a good start with a lot of potential, but it doesn't sound like the devs are prioritizing fixing/improving it. Instead their roadmap is oriented more towards coming up with new ships (there's already a ton of redundant ships) and the more typical MMO bits and bobs. This is the first time I've been tempted to remove DLC. Doing so will lock me out of all this "fantastic" new content, but that might be a good thing.

 

[WarChiefZeke]

I have spent the past couple days grinding up a character in the original Everquest (or what is as close as you can get), Project 1999.

I love how they clearly tried very hard to make it feel like an authentic DnD world. I roll a halfling, and I start inside this quaint little halfling town full of named characters in a peaceful region. If I were a troll, i'd start in a swamp and civilized races wouldn't want anything to do with me. At least to begin with.

That's another thing I like about it, the faction system. There are very few "trash mobs" in the game who only exist to be killed. Almost any group of intelligent beings can be made to like you, or hate you, depending on your actions. Why hunt the orcs when you can join them and fight the elves instead? Why not befriend the pixies or centaurs? Entirely possible with in-game mechanics. Later on, more powerful quests and items are locked behind reputation.

It is a very brutal, very hard game, but extremely rewarding by providing a very good role-playing (and not just grinding) experience.

I am almost ready to tackle the main dungeon I always wanted to see in this game, Kedge Keep. When I read the lore of it I was instantly hooked.

Unlike most dungeons, Kedge Keep is entirely underwater. It was the once-proud stronghold of the Knights of the Kedge, followers of the ocean god Prexus. Many powerful warriors, clerics, and wizards of the ocean born races made their way to study within its halls.

Not all of the knights have fled its halls. Phinigel Autropos, a mighty wizard and one of the most ancient beings in all of Norrath, still resides within, gathering followers in an attempt to revive the dormant knighthood.

Among the notable followers of Phinigel one can find within are Cauldronboil, the powerful megalodon warrior, Shellara Ebbhunter the mermaid ranger, and Undertow the seahorse wizard.

Sadly, the long years of isolation have made the residents of Kedge Keep immune to appeasement. Their faction can not be made to like you as a surface dweller. Even clerics of Prexus will find no sanctuary within.

Which is a shame. I would have absolutely made this my home base for a Paladin or Cleric of the ocean god. This isn't true in other areas, where following a similar deity can make hostile factions friendly towards you.

 

[Antimatter]

I noticed my schedule doesn't allow me to spend many consecutive hours in immersive games these days, so I decided to come back to session-based games. Since I left ESO as well, I needed to find another game to provide me with that opportunity, where you can play for 1 hour plus or minus, and achieve something for the overall progress.

I came back to Hades. A few years ago, I played Hades and managed to beat, well, Hades, once or twice. I saw there was a lot to do after that, but just migrated to other games.

Now this time, I started fresh and so far have been enjoying it. The thing I admire the most is that you don't stop discovering and getting access to new features or even story bits. Even a failed run leads to another discovery and moves the story forward. The game rewards you for any progress you make in the form of getting new resources that steadily make your character stronger. You yourself as the player become better at the game as well, with each attempt.

And it's not just gameplay that is addicting, it's also interacting with characters and learning about your past that is probably the main fun factor here.

Music and VO are exceptionally done in this game btw!

Spoiler

Oh, and you can pet Cerberus in this game. Look at this adorable furball!

 

[WarChiefZeke]

I noticed my schedule doesn't allow me to spend many consecutive hours in immersive games these days, so I decided to come back to session-based games. Since I left ESO as well, I needed to find another game to provide me with that opportunity, where you can play for 1 hour plus or minus, and achieve something for the overall progress.

I came back to Hades. A few years ago, I played Hades and managed to beat, well, Hades, once or twice. I saw there was a lot to do after that, but just migrated to other games.

Now this time, I started fresh and so far have been enjoying it. The thing I admire the most is that you don't stop discovering and getting access to new features or even story bits. Even a failed run leads to another discovery and moves the story forward. The game rewards you for any progress you make in the form of getting new resources that steadily make your character stronger. You yourself as the player become better at the game as well, with each attempt.

And it's not just gameplay that is addicting, it's also interacting with characters and learning about your past that is probably the main fun factor here.

Music and VO are exceptionally done in this game btw!

Spoiler

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Oh, and you can pet Cerberus in this game. Look at this adorable furball!
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If you are looking for some good session based casual RPGs, I would highly recommend Chrono Ark, Wildermyth, and (to a sightly lesser extent) Gordian Quest all for different reasons.

The first two held my full attention for quite a while.

 

[Skatan]

Haven't played much at all since February but just started again. Needed a fix of old school RPG so now I am playing a bit of NWN modules. I tried one or two end of last year after doing a rerun of SoU/HotU but now I'm quite invested in Aielund Saga. Kinda funny in a way to play such a classic module this many year later. It's quite long though, let's see if my interest keeps me going all the way. In act 2 second half or so now.

 

[WarChiefZeke]

Aielund Saga and Swordflight are the two big NWN modules that everyone talks about. Aielund got a lot of love with a lot of updates when the EE came out, and Swordflight is still ongoing with the latest chapter (6 maybe?) being released relatively recently.

 

[Cahir]

Aielund Saga and Swordflight are the two big NWN modules that everyone talks about. Aielund got a lot of love with a lot of updates when the EE came out, and Swordflight is still ongoing with the latest chapter (6 maybe?) being released relatively recently.

Are those modules set in Forgotten Realms or in a completely new setting?

 

[WarChiefZeke]

Are those modules set in Forgotten Realms or in a completely new setting?

Swordflight is Forgotten Realms and starts in Calimshan if I recall correctly. Aielund is its own setting.

 

[Cahir]

Swordflight is Forgotten Realms and starts in Calimshan if I recall correctly. Aielund is its own setting.

Interesting, I'll tag Swordflight for a (distant) future. Thanks for clarifying!

 

[WarChiefZeke]

I feel like I should mention that someone I know has quite a lot done on an NWN module that is a totally open-world game set in its own world within the astral sea.

The landmass itself is more or less done and content is being filled in, it can viewed now.

Chronicles - NwN: EE Sandbox Module | The Neverwinter Vault

neverwintervault.org

 

[JustKneller]

I think I'm actually going to make this my steam review.

So, I'm playing Elite Dangerous, but I'm not 100% sure which Elite Dangerous I am playing. It's a peculiar thing. For all intents and purposes, there are two versions of the game. Elite Dangerous: Odyssey (EDO) and Elite Dangerous: Horizons Legacy (EDHL). Long story short, the devs stopped supporting console players at a certain point, but they kept their version alive via EDHL. Odyssey is the latest DLC that is currently supported with all the new content, blah blah blah. The good of EDO is that they are delving deeper into the lore. There are a variety of factions and powers to support which has a real effect on the politics and economies of various systems.

However...

everything else EDO adds is rubbish. At its core, it's poorly optimized and the visuals are generally considered to be a downgrade. You can get kinda sorta close back to Legacy quality if you really jack up your settings (but Odyssey already runs a lot hotter than Legacy), though you won't ever really get there. The antialiasing in particular is rough on the eyes. Elite has always been a space flight sim, and Odyssey adds a FPS ("On Foot") element to it. It's kinda cool to walk around space stations instead of just running things from a terminal in your ship. However, the actual FPS combat is extremely unrefined and plays like a pre-alpha game. Not to mention, even in peaceful settlements, it's pretty easy to make a misstep On Foot (pun intended) and suddenly that base is on red alert and everyone wants to kill you. The settlements themselves are trite and uninspired. They all look pretty samey with the same basic architecture and lack functional logic. It's not immersive. It doesn't feel like a spacestation on a distant moon. It feels like a randomly generated deathmatch map. They've added a new form of exploration, exobiology. Much like finding new planets and selling that data to the powers that be, you can do the same On Foot by landing on different planets and wandering around to look for life. This is a bit redundant, though, and doesn't add much of anything to the loop. It's just a slight twist on a pre-existing loop. Additionally, while they have embellished the lore, they are partly doing so by dialing up the MMO grind of it. Not to say that there isn't a grind to Legacy, but it's dramatically less there. I would call Legacy a space sim and Odyssey a spreadsheet sim with regards to this aspect of things.

There's probably more to critique, but that is enough right there. The only other thing to add is that the community has been pretty vocal in their feedback, particularly about the optimization/visuals and the On Foot element The devs have done minimal work with the optimization/visuals and next to nothing with improving On Foot. They also seem to have no intention of doing so. Instead, they are more focused on creating new ships (there's already a redundant amount of inventory from which to choose) and adding new loops (for which nobody is asking). Odyssey seems to be leaning hard into the quantity over quality content approach. If the devs indicated any interest into fixing the features already launched, I'd be more tempted to invest in Odyssey. However, as it stands, I'm not optimistic. Granted, you can actually just ignore all the On Foot content by never leaving your ship (and the missions from your ship's terminal will never require that you do). But, if you're going to ignore it, then why even install it?

So, at this point, I've been mostly playing EDHL with the console gamers and other holdouts. I'm occasionally tempted to jump to Odyssey, despite what rubbish it is. The only thing missing for me here (and it's not major) is more lore to help me choose one faction over another. I think I might get that in EDO. I don't want the forced visual downgrade, performance issues and all the dead weight with which it comes, though.

EDHL is a 5/5 game for me. It does what it does well and better than probably anyone else. EDO is a 2/5, though. The extra lore is nice, but the rest of it is potential that will almost certainly never be realized.