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Post by Bill in the rain on May 3, 2022 0:51:27 GMT
FYI there are some mods to do AI HD textures and also proper glowy lightsabers in DF2:JK. I don't remember if there are for MotS.
Opinions tend to vary on whether they improve the game or rob it of its charm.
Personally, I'd pick JK / MotS over any of the Outcast games in a heartbeat. Though I must admit the idea of running around slashing stuff with a saber on the switch does kinda appeal.
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Post by deekyfun on May 5, 2022 10:48:26 GMT
Finished Cyberpunk 2077 a few days ago, after 70ish hours roaming around Night City trying to make it big time and looking much like someone who tried to get dressed in the tumbler dryer while the clothes were still going round. I didn't do everything - much like my V, by the end I was tired; Night City had chewed me up and spit me out, and I just wanted out of that biz. I did most of the side mission content, some of the gigs and little bits and bobs, but I'm sure there was some stuff I missed.
Overall, pretty impressed. The vibe and sense of place makes up a huge portion of that. The city they've built, it's kind of everything. It nails the aesthetic, the future grunge. It's like Apple took over Slough and filled it with extras from Starlight Express. It feels a little bit Blade Runner, a dash of Ghost in the Shell, and a lot of cheese. My wife saw me playing it and said 'Are you playing in the fake 80s?" "Yes, I said. The future fake 80s." She left me to it, shaking her head like she does.
As a general rule of thumb, my enjoyment of a space can be calculated by the amount of time I'm willing to spend in it, outside of missions, without fast travelling. I never fast travelled. Well, no, sometimes I fast travelled - when the game forced me to. But otherwise, I walked, I rode my Akira-bike, I skipped. I moon-walked. I soaked up the sights like the tourist I was, poking my head into the world building glue, and just breathing it in. I caution against going too far though - poke too far around the corner and you start to see the seams. And don't watch the people for too long, or they'll start to do odd things like floating. Or you might notice how weirdly empty some spaces seem to be.
In terms of bugs. Yeah, I had some. Not too many though, and very few that really ever encroached on my enjoyment of 'The Product(TM)'. I had one crash, early one. At some point, someone had guns glued to their hands at a time when they were meant to be emoting. This was hilarious. Cyberpunk is still unrefined, still raw, still unfinished, but it is, importantly, still good fun in spite of this. In fact, in my head-cannon, I believe it is possible to weave the fragile state of the game into the narrative - your V, after all, is finding the world breaking around him. Would it be that odd if he saw floating people. He does sometimes see floating people 'for legit'. V's destabilization mirrors the game he lives in, and often mirrors my own. But in a good way. It may have been the first time for me that the game, the game's character and the games player were all in Sympatico over it's life-cycle.
The one thing that did diminish the experience a little, as a result of Cyberpunks level of baked-ness upon release, was in the side missions. These are, in general, excellent mini-stories which feel generous and interesting, dealing with various aspects of humanism and faith in a post modern future Slough, but, also in almost all cases, feel like they're missing their endings. One in particular involving a gig for a guy running for office and trying to undercover the mysterious death of the previous mayor of the city was dripping in paranoia and mystery and then... just stopped happening around you. Mission done. I felt this way more than once, enthralled by a particular piece of narrative only to have it vanish into nothing but the sad feeling of a missed opportunity. I hope that more future polish and DLC deals with this.
I enjoyed my time with the game. I enjoyed my time with Johnny Silverhand, whose politics resemble a furious 17-year-old who has listened to nothing but Rage Against the Machine for far too long. But through the narrative, that connection does grow into a genuine bond and, depending on the ending, a sad reflective finale where I actually felt kind of bad for the guy. In fact, most of the characters had this aspect to their tales; it's something that Cyberpunk seems to bathe in, post mission ennui and sad reflection for the resulting conclusions. For a game that starts drenched in neon, tub-thumping and the bombast of young, it marinades in self-reflection and nostalgia. I do wonder if other routes change this, but alas, for a while, my time in Night City is done.
7.5/10
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on May 5, 2022 16:05:05 GMT
As a general rule of thumb, my enjoyment of a space can be calculated by the amount of time I'm willing to spend in it, outside of missions, without fast travelling. Probably the main reason why I'm interested in eventually getting the game. Thanks for your views!
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scanline
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Building a better whirlpool
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Post by scanline on May 5, 2022 16:14:56 GMT
Gorogoa (Xbox)
Really should have played it on a touch device instead but enjoyed it nonetheless.
Got stuck more times than I'd like to admit but whizzed through the final bit - presumably they left that easier so give you a sense of being clever at the end.
8/10
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Post by simple on May 6, 2022 7:22:25 GMT
Sony’s Disney’s Marvel’s Spider-man NG+ on PS4 Pro
A replay of one of my very few Platinumed games. I think I gave it a 10/10 at the old place and its still the most fun open world game I think I’ve played.
It looks fantastic, the facial models are probably only contesting with RE2make as best on the system. The story is really well paced and put together with real care so it works as a framing device for gaming and as just being a good Spider-man story. There’s a great cast of villains, the boss battles and varied and cinematic. Even the open world map spam activities are rewarding.
One slight gripe that bothered me more this time is the base assaults where you can fight somewhere between 3-6 waves of goons and toward the end of the game they just become damage sponges. It doesn’t increase the challenge, they just become a mild chore in the moment.
Still basically the perfect superhero game.
9/10
Spider-Man City Never Sleeps DLC
Big meaty narrative driven single player dlc that serves as a coda and continuation of the main game while setting the groundwork for the Miles Morales and Spider-man 2. Plus some extra map spam to fill the time. This is what DLC should be for me, a proper little expansion pack.
The big minus point here though is that the mission design even though the main story is much less varied than in the base game. There are long stretches where every mission is a base assault beating up waves of damage sponge goons. Which is a shame when one of the side stories manages to be a bit different and a match for almost anything in the original.
8/10
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Post by Bill in the rain on May 6, 2022 8:05:07 GMT
As a general rule of thumb, my enjoyment of a space can be calculated by the amount of time I'm willing to spend in it, outside of missions, without fast travelling. By this metric, Morrowind must be my most enjoyed space, since I spent 2 years playing that and I don't think I ever did a proper mission or fast traveled.
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Post by deekyfun on May 6, 2022 8:39:45 GMT
As a general rule of thumb, my enjoyment of a space can be calculated by the amount of time I'm willing to spend in it, outside of missions, without fast travelling. By this metric, Morrowind must be my most enjoyed space, since I spent 2 years playing that and I don't think I ever did a proper mission or fast traveled. I hope you do enjoy Morrowind then! Just realised reading that that I probably should have qualified this as a metric for videogame open world spaces. It obviously has some weaknesses for real life applicability, where missions and fast travel are less readily available, as least to me!
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Post by Bill in the rain on May 6, 2022 9:25:36 GMT
I did enjoy Morrowind a lot. I finally had to uninstall it as otherwise I'd probably still be playing it, and probably still not have actually made any official 'progress'.
Though I'd also rate my enjoyment of spaces by how much stuff I can climb on and jump from/to. Which morrowind doesn't score so highly on. This also doesn't apply to real world spaces, because I'd break my neck if I tried real parkour.
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Post by simple on May 6, 2022 12:08:18 GMT
Morrowind never properly clicked for me but both Skyrim* and Oblivion were no fast travel games for me.
*apart from one spot on the road near the labyrinth(?) ruin north of Whiterun which would hard crash my Xbox every single time I tried to walk or ride through it heading south back onto the plain.
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Post by damagedinc on May 8, 2022 6:43:55 GMT
Blasphemous
Very solid is how I would describe it, probably draws too much from its inspirations.
The artwork is stunning and visually very impressive. I found the combat to be a bit laboroued at times and there was odd difficulty spikes.
It did at times feel like a "demake" of bloodstained. After playing dread and hollowknight I've been very spoilt with metroidvanias so the bar is high.
Definatly worth the 4 pounds I paid for it and had good fun overall but I wouldn't recommend paying full price and if you haven't played hollow knight / metroid dread / ori etc I would play them first.
Spiky coneheads 6 / 10
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Post by dominalien on May 8, 2022 8:00:38 GMT
Resident Evil 3 the remake on Steam Deck
The game is listed as unsupported on the SD, but runs OK. It looks phenomenal, the SD's screen really does the job. Gyro aiming is a must, I just enable it for everything. I set the screen to 40 Hz and lowered the CPU TDP to mitigate the fan noise.
The game is short, tight, spectacular, a perfect summer blockbuster. It's probably objectively worse than RE2, but this one I did in 3 days, that one I've had on the back burner for 2 years now, which should tell you everything.
8/10
I also now have a piercing pain in my right wrist whenever I pick up something heavier than a feather duster and it's obviously this game's and the SD's fault.
I'll rate the pain 1/10
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Post by simple on May 8, 2022 17:58:57 GMT
Blasphemous Very solid is how I would describe it, probably draws too much from its inspirations. The artwork is stunning and visually very impressive. I found the combat to be a bit laboroued at times and there was odd difficulty spikes. It did at times feel like a "demake" of bloodstained. After playing dread and hollowknight I've been very spoilt with metroidvanias so the bar is high. Definatly worth the 4 pounds I paid for it and had good fun overall but I wouldn't recommend paying full price and if you haven't played hollow knight / metroid dread / ori etc I would play them first. Spiky coneheads 6 / 10 I loved Blasphemous but it did rub me the wrong way that the “true” ending was hidden behind something I think you’d only know if you read about it online outside of the game. Or stumbled upon accidentally. Visual design wise though I think its one of my favour games in awhile.
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Post by Aunt Alison on May 9, 2022 9:41:28 GMT
Seen the reeeeally long credits on Borderlands 3 I thought it was just great. After the first area, it made me laugh quite a bit and I ended up liking most of the characters. I probably started to just tune out anything that wasn't good. I felt quite invested in the story as well. I really like the twins actually. It's refreshing to have antagonists who aren't cool or deep. They're just arsehole brats and I enjoyed taking them out. I liked the COV angle too. Extra points for a straight forward final boss that doesn't have a second or third phase. Minus points for an ending that made me sad (and killed off a character for the sake of it) It's quite a long game but I mained it from start to finish and didn't get bored once or even get tired of my character (Moze). I ended up using Iron Bear more as a familiar than actually riding in him. I abused the hell out of the invincibility you get while you're climbing in. Really good for avoiding the splash damage from the very powerful grenades I just threw too. I've had a few legendary grenades and with all the splash damage skills I've got, it can turn into explodey chaos. Torgue weapons are also quite nice I got a couple of legendary Torgue shotguns from the chest in Lilith's room (can't remember what they're called) which was cool but, despite the stats, they seem to do next to no damage. One does incendiary damage and the other electric but they just fire these slow orbs that don't really do anything. I feel like I'm missing something
Feeling somewhat overwhelmed now in terms of what to do next. There was a pop up saying I could play through again on a higher difficulty for better stuff but I couldn't find that option. I think I can go back and replay any of the bosses though. And there's the combat training thing. And the mayhem modes. And all those new stats that just unlocked. I haven't downloaded the DLC yet so I can do that and really should go back and finish TTWL. Kind of want to start a new character though. Probably siren so I can't abuse rely on a summon. Iron Bear really got me through some scrapes, especially bosses
Is the DLC very good?
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Post by RadicalRex on May 9, 2022 11:17:55 GMT
I got a couple of legendary Torgue shotguns from the chest in Lilith's room (can't remember what they're called) which was cool but, despite the stats, they seem to do next to no damage. One does incendiary damage and the other electric but they just fire these slow orbs that don't really do anything. I feel like I'm missing something
This one?True Vault Hunter Mode (TVHM) can be selected as a game mode now from the main menu, in the place where you can choose to continue or load another character. You can't do it with a new character though, only with one that has finished the campaign on normal. TVHM is the series' traditional New Game+, only that it's kind of pointless in BL3 thanks to the addition of Mayhem modes (consequently, they removed it altogether in Wonderlands). It gives enemies more hit points, enemies and missions always scale to your level, and it increases elemental bonuses and maluses so that using the right element becomes more important. Mayhem modes (which are the real endgame) are based on TVHM no matter if you play it in normal or TVHM mode, so there's zero difference between playing Mayhem in either mode. Which means that TVHM without Mayhem is just one more of its many difficulty levels, and it's between normal and Mayhem 1. The only real use of it is that you can replay story and missions, and you can reset your character's TVHM progress at any time, which you can't on normal. Don't worry about your character's normal mode progress, you can switch between normal and TVHM from the main menu and you'll continue right where you left off in the respective mode--in terms of story/mission progression that is, because character level progress, inventory etc. is shared. Guardian Rewards are real game changers, especially Overkill which makes surplus damage from a kill carry over to the next shot. These are universal, applying to all your characters at all time (unless you deactivate them, which you can whenever you like). Guardian Ranks are earned through XP, which means that you'll earn them much slower with a new character because you get less XP on lower levels. Yeah, for the most part. I believe DLC2 (Hammerlock) is most widely considered the best of the bunch, but DLC1 (Moxxi) is really good too. I thought DLC3 (the Wild West one) was ok but not as good as the previous ones, and DLC4 (Krieg) I found a little lacking.
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Post by Aunt Alison on May 9, 2022 11:23:47 GMT
How?
I got that and another one similar but the orbs just float through enemies and do hardly any damage
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Post by RadicalRex on May 9, 2022 11:40:27 GMT
Well that entire build was made to maximise that gun's damage output, on its own it does only a tiny fraction. That was also right after they buffed that weapon, before that it was basically a meme, the most useless weapon in the game, but after the buff it was suddenly the most OP weapon in the game. They somewhat nerfed it again after that and they may have nerfed it even more later, so I can't say if it's any useful right now. Probably not, because I haven't seen anyone use it in ages.
Anyway, the important thing to know about how it works is that it keeps damaging enemies it touches by 3 tics per second or so, which means you actually want it to just touch enemies, not hit them directly which destroys the orb (at least it did back then). And contrary to widespread belief, it's not DOT damage but actual gun damage. But again, the gun may be useless today and I certainly haven't used it in a long time.
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harrypalmer
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Post by harrypalmer on May 9, 2022 12:11:10 GMT
Did I already mention that I went back to It Takes Two, having abandoned it when it first came out? I've since completed it, but I don't get the praise it gets. Its so slow. The characters are so annoying. The environments are so big every step feels like padding. The platforming is average. The challenge is non-existent. The abilities, whilst plentiful, are all under utilised. The whole game was a slog. It sounds like I could be describing a Kirby game, if not for the pacing, but those games at least feel more carefully crafted from a sandbox perspective. It Takes Two leads with its visuals and considers actual level design last. I’m playing this now and wholeheartedly agree.
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Post by Aunt Alison on May 9, 2022 12:16:59 GMT
Well that entire build was made to maximise that gun's damage output, on its own it does only a tiny fraction. That was also right after they buffed that weapon, before that it was basically a meme, the most useless weapon in the game, but after the buff it was suddenly the most OP weapon in the game. They somewhat nerfed it again after that and they may have nerfed it even more later, so I can't say if it's any useful right now. Probably not, because I haven't seen anyone use it in ages. Anyway, the important thing to know about how it works is that it keeps damaging enemies it touches by 3 tics per second or so, which means you actually want it to just touch enemies, not hit them directly which destroys the orb (at least it did back then). And contrary to widespread belief, it's not DOT damage but actual gun damage. But again, the gun may be useless today and I certainly haven't used it in a long time. Are they always in that chest or was I just supremely lucky to get 2 joke weapons?
Fortunately, I'd just got a legendary rifle so I'm not relying on them
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Post by RadicalRex on May 9, 2022 13:01:09 GMT
The chest's content is randomised, so I guess you just got lucky
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Post by Aunt Alison on May 9, 2022 18:23:18 GMT
Sounds like the best thing to do is start a new character to replay the story and do mayhem 1 boss runs/combat training (I assume these are the arenas you were talking about) with Moze
Agonising over whether to play Siren or Operative next. Siren is probably the most different but given how I play Moze, Zane is more my style and he seems cool
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dogbot
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Post by dogbot on May 9, 2022 20:26:23 GMT
Mass Effect 1.
Great storyline, but somewhat aged mechanics and design. In the end, I stopped exploring because I got bored of driving the Mako over identikit planets with massive mountains that it could barely climb, although I suspect that it was more impressive when it was released.
Epic final level and an in game choice that actually meant something.
On the whole, worth it for the storyline. I might play something else before 2 though.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2022 20:28:16 GMT
No, that part was still shit when it was released. Especially when other games could do vehicle controls and exploration competently enough at the time.
Great game though and some really memorable moments and characters.
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Post by Aunt Alison on May 9, 2022 20:32:43 GMT
Mass Effect 1. Great storyline, but somewhat aged mechanics and design. In the end, I stopped exploring because I got bored of driving the Mako over identikit planets with massive mountains that it could barely climb, although I suspect that it was more impressive when it was released. Epic final level and an in game choice that actually meant something. On the whole, worth it for the storyline. I might play something else before 2 though. The combat in 2 is vastly superior to the first game
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dogbot
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Post by dogbot on May 9, 2022 20:44:30 GMT
No, that part was still shit when it was released. Especially when other games could do vehicle controls and exploration competently enough at the time. Great game though and some really memorable moments and characters. Glad it wasn't just me, then. They made it a pretty big part of the game, too. The combat in 2 is vastly superior to the first game I quite liked the first one tbh.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2022 20:53:37 GMT
2 and 3 improve the combat, becomes Aldi Gears of War with powers.
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Post by RadicalRex on May 9, 2022 21:30:22 GMT
Aunt AlisonThere's many ways to continue, you can play arenas like Slaughter Shaft, you can play those Guardian trial things, and you can play the Maliwan raid or the Guardian raid which really test your skills and builds. When considering a new character, Zane is pretty complex with his drone and clone and whatnot, while Amara is more straightforward. Moze has her mech, Zane has drone and clone, FL4K has pet and invisibility, Amara has none of that. All enemies will always attack you, she has no pet or anything to draw aggro, it's always you vs the world. Amara encourages the most aggressive play style and that's part of why she's my favourite. It's just relentless attack attack attack.
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Post by RadicalRex on May 9, 2022 21:52:08 GMT
The combat in 2 is vastly superior to the first game Hate to be a dick, but I just have to correct you guys on the wrong notion that ME2 combat was better than ME1's. Was it sleeker? Yeah it sure was. Was it as clunky as ME1 combat? No it certainly wasn't. But sleeker doesn't equal better. ME1 combat was clunky but complex. ME2 combat was sleek, but also primitive and simplistic. ME1 had different combat scenarios, sometimes close combat between crates on a freighter, sometimes sniper range combat on whatever planet. ME2 had none of that, it's always the same corridors with convenient hip-high cover everywhere. ME1 had *gasp* hills to move over and get a nice sniper shot from, ME2? Nah fuck that. Now I don't like ME3, but gameplay-wise it's a great improvement over ME2. It didn't have only corridors, it also had arenas. And getting back to ME1, again that game had actually different combat scenarios. ME2 is uniform and repetitive as fuck. In terms of action, ME2 is the worst game in the franchise.
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Post by Aunt Alison on May 9, 2022 22:20:15 GMT
To be honest, I played ME for the story so the combat feeling more weighty and straight forward in 2 was fine for me. It was what you had to do to get to the next story bit. I really didn't care for the gameplay in 1 at all. I could have done without everything apart from the main 5 or 6 missions and the station I also played them all as a soldier for the same reason, to keep it simple
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MolarAm🔵
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on May 9, 2022 23:18:10 GMT
Just try getting into cover in ME1. You can't, it's impossible. And then you die.
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Post by drhcnip on May 10, 2022 0:30:32 GMT
the medium (ps5)
enjoyed this rather a lot until it fucked my save later in the game and booted me back about 2 hours...
resident evil village (ps5)
really enjoyed parts of this - the village itself, the first 3 lords - but i did not enjoy spending about a quarter of the game in the flipping factory place...
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