What games are you playing currently?

[Cavil Claus]

I was in the midst of my 2nd Elden Ring playthrough with the new DLC when a few real life curveballs sucked the "fun" out of the Souls experience. Then the Ghost of Yotei trailer dropped. So now here I am on my 3rd playthrough of Ghost of Tsushima. Such a beautiful and fluid experience.

Also I don't know if it was real life distractions or not, but the Elden Ring DLC didn't really grab me - at least the content I've played so far.

 

[BigFoot]

I've been playing Dredge for almost a week now. Man, what a cool game.

 

[jenji120]

I was in the midst of my 2nd Elden Ring playthrough with the new DLC when a few real life curveballs sucked the "fun" out of the Souls experience. Then the Ghost of Yotei trailer dropped. So now here I am on my 3rd playthrough of Ghost of Tsushima. Such a beautiful and fluid experience.

Also I don't know if it was real life distractions or not, but the Elden Ring DLC didn't really grab me - at least the content I've played so far.

I was in the middle of another Elden Ring play through to prep for the DLC and wound up stopping. The problem was that despite being open world there was literally nothing new to discover and you need to take a linear path each time so you go in the same order to the same places each time. Without a sense of discovery or wonder Souls games become chores or just too grind like. I’ve said it before but any DLC for a Souls game needs to launch within 3 months of release.

 

[The Naughty List]

Been playing some BOTW this week. Working on some shrines, items gathering and enemy fighting practice.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I've been playing Dredge for almost a week now. Man, what a cool game.

That does look like a really cool game that I've had on my wishlist for a while.

 

[Stoo]

I did a quick search on this thread, seems at least a couple of you have enjoyed the Dishonored series? I used to be a huge fan of the old Thief games, and so was drawn to Dishonored since it's very much a spiritual successor. Same sort of stealth, pseudo-victorian setting and bits of dark magic.

I'm finally playing through the second one, as Corvo (they even got the Thief voice actor in!), stealthy and low chaos. Loving the emphasis on exploration, creativity and freedom to figure out your own way past problems. (sneak past the robot? rewire it? Attack from above? throw whale oil tanks at it?)

 

[BigFoot]

^ Both Dishonored games are absolute classics as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I love the Dishonored games, and shame on Microsoft for canning Arkane Lyon Studios. Apparently both studiuos always closely collaborated on their games. What Microsoft should have done was to leave them playing to their strengths, ie the immersive sim genre. Although I personally loathe the genre name itself as I don't think it accurately describes the gameplay. Don't forget Death to the Outsider as well, which played off like mid-quel to the 2nd game and a crossover with the first.

I think I personally liked the first game better than the first, which had a more open-ended level structure, compared to the sequel which has more of a linear level design, but the second game had some really great setpieces.

 

[jenji120]

I did a quick search on this thread, seems at least a couple of you have enjoyed the Dishonored series? I used to be a huge fan of the old Thief games, and so was drawn to Dishonored since it's very much a spiritual successor. Same sort of stealth, pseudo-victorian setting and bits of dark magic.

I'm finally playing through the second one, as Corvo (they even got the Thief voice actor in!), stealthy and low chaos. Loving the emphasis on exploration, creativity and freedom to figure out your own way past problems. (sneak past the robot? rewire it? Attack from above? throw whale oil tanks at it?)

I actually sprung for the limited edition that came with Corvo's mask and Emily's ring. I lost both in a house fire. OH says he does not miss the mask (it used to spook him).

That's all to say I LOVE the Dishonored series. And I remember Thief Deadly Shadows fondly

 

[jenji120]

Yeah, I love the Dishonored games, and shame on Microsoft for canning Arkane Lyon Studios. Apparently both studiuos always closely collaborated on their games. What Microsoft should have done was to leave them playing to their strengths, ie the immersive sim genre. Although I personally loathe the genre name itself as I don't think it accurately describes the gameplay. Don't forget Death to the Outsider as well, which played off like mid-quel to the 2nd game and a crossover with the first.

I think I personally liked the first game better than the first, which had a more open-ended level structure, compared to the sequel which has more of a linear level design, but the second game had some really great setpieces.

Didn't Redfall do them in? Who the hell has Arkane do a live service game?

And I also think I like the first one best. I replayed it more but it's hard for me to pinpoint why. I do think Dishonored 2 borrowed a lot from the DLC. As for Death of the Outsider, it rankled me a bit that they released it as a game rather than a DLC. Also, I didn't like them finalizing/burying the Dishonored series with it. I know some think it's the only way they can move on to a new project but I thought it was premature as hell.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Didn't Redfall do them in? Who the hell has Arkane do a live service game?

Yep, exactly. And I was wondering the same thing. Honestly, I feel that's what's wrong with a lot of gaming companies. After a purchase, instead of playing a studio to their strengths, they get put to work on something outside their usual experience, and then the parent company is surprised when it doesn't do well, and closes them? And that's what frustrates me so much about MS at the moment in that they made a big grab at some pretty iconic studios with nothing to show for it other than closures like Arkane Lyon and with the potential just sitting there to make some great games with more resources. Would it have been so bad to just let Arkane do what it's good at? And besides, MS has needed more diversity in its games portfolio as of late.

And I also think I like the first one best. I replayed it more but it's hard for me to pinpoint why.

I personally loved the artstyle more in the first one. While the second took more advantage of better visuals, I feel it also lost some of the charm that was supposed to mimic oil paintings. And the first game made better use of the hub world in between jobs, which was genuinely fun to explore. It felt like there was a whole story of its own to discover.

 

[Stoo]

Yeah, I love the Dishonored games, and shame on Microsoft for canning Arkane Lyon Studios. Apparently both studiuos always closely collaborated on their games. What Microsoft should have done was to leave them playing to their strengths, ie the immersive sim genre. Although I personally loathe the genre name itself as I don't think it accurately describes the gameplay. Don't forget Death to the Outsider as well, which played off like mid-quel to the 2nd game and a crossover with the first.

I think I personally liked the first game better than the first, which had a more open-ended level structure, compared to the sequel which has more of a linear level design, but the second game had some really great setpieces.

I'd have to revisit the original to properly compare, it;s been a while! It does feel like the maps aren't especially huge, although they are packed full of details.

I do notice they added more options for non-lethal KOs, which makes life a bit easier for people pursuing low chaos.

I guess "immersive sim" isn't a great title but it seems hard to find a concise definition of what these games actually are. They're often stealth-based but not always. They're often RPGs but not always....

 

[Rincewiend]

I love how each world has their own different game mechanics.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I guess "immersive sim" isn't a great title but it seems hard to find a concise definition of what these games actually are. They're often stealth-based but not always. They're often RPGs but not always....

I understand the term was coined by Warren Spector when designing the original System Shock. He'd envisioned a game where you could have multiple paths to approach things how you wanted to by 'simulating' the environment and its complex systems to your advantage. But it's such a vague term, because none of those games with the genre in question I would consider to be simulations. When I think of Sims, I think of games that simulate real-world jobs, like flight sims, driving sims, etc.

But the ironic thing is that I've felt way more immersed in those actual sims than I have ever been with the 'immersive sim', and strangely never really felt all that immersed in these immersive sims, and it's always felt to me like I was playing a game, as they feel very... gamey if that makes any sense. Regardless, it feels more like an internal development term that stuck around to become a genre title for everything it resembles.

And anyway, what makes me sad about the closure of Arkane Lyon, is that rather than letting them focus on what they're good at, Microsoft closed one of the few Studios that were really good at making immersive sims, and they could have used them to launch a new immersive sim IP for their exclusive IP portfolio. Now though, I'm not sure they'll let Arkane Austin do that. That's been the frustrating thing with Microsoft's purchase of all these studios, in that they never just let them make what they're good at, instead trying to put a square peg through a round hole.

 

[Jax]

Wanted to play Uncharted 2 again since it's 15 years old now but the D-Pad on my PS4 is dead. The PS4 generation for hardware felt cheaply made as opposed to the XBox One.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I've recently gotten back into Disney's Dreamlight Valley, and I'm not sure why. I suppose it's something to do, but I don't find it to be a great game. And I suppose I'm really not the right demographic for it, but I've never seen a game be so condescending without saying anything outright, but actions are often louder than words, right?

In this case, you can design a male character, and and most of the rewards in this game are either furniture or outfits as per what the game is trying to be. Early in the game's progression you'll be allowed to choose between outfit variants of reward items. But as the game progresses, and the more content has been added, that choice disappears, and you're left with reward items that I'll never use. As a guy, playing a guy, who grinds out a pretty lengthy questline after questline only to receive a... dress, well, colour me disappointed and dejected. It would be comical if it didn't happen constantly. It's like the game is trying to tell me something!

I'd just like content that I could actually use for my character.

 

[The Lensman]

I was in the midst of my 2nd Elden Ring playthrough with the new DLC when a few real life curveballs sucked the "fun" out of the Souls experience. Then the Ghost of Yotei trailer dropped. So now here I am on my 3rd playthrough of Ghost of Tsushima. Such a beautiful and fluid experience.

Also I don't know if it was real life distractions or not, but the Elden Ring DLC didn't really grab me - at least the content I've played so far.

That Ghost of Yotei trailer was awesome! I would've preferred more adventures with Jin as the game was essentially a superhero origin story (and I guess we could always come back depending on what GoY tells us about Jin if it tells us anything at all). But the new game looks amazing, and Ghost of Tsushima is one of my all time favorite games so I'm pretty excited to see a new game.

Also, I didn't like them finalizing/burying the Dishonored series with it. I know some think it's the only way they can move on to a new project but I thought it was premature as hell.

I was pretty bummed about that as well, but considering everything that's happened with the company, I'm glad we got some kind of ending, but I didnt' care for the whole premise of it as well as what it removed from that world.


As for what I'm playing, nothing seems to really hold my interest. If I'm gaming then I'm hopping between Tiny Glade, Sons of The Forest, Far Cry 5, Hogwarts Legacy.

 

[jenji120]

Assuming I can get it working, I'm going to try Fallout London. My version of Fallout 4 is on Steam tho so IDK if the downgrade will work. Here's to hoping tho....

ETA: YAY! Working and so far it's got me hooked.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Thank goodness Internet Archive is back because I needed 1993 gaming magazine guide help for Zelda: Link to the Past

I've also started Vertigo Remastered in VR, but holy shit the first boss is like playing tennis, it's physically exhausting.

 

[BigFoot]

I started playing Metaphor: ReFantazio a couple of days ago.