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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2023 14:07:19 GMT
Binary Domain PC. Originally beat it on PS3. 10/10 still the greatest third person shooter of all time. Fast paced and responsive controls and mechanics, surprisingly smartly written story with cheesy dialogue. It’s like playing an 80s sci-fi blockbuster starring Arnold, Sly, Jean Claude or Dolph. Nice! I originally played it on PS3 but wishlisted it on PC when I saw you were playing it earlier in the week. Looking forward to getting into it again, though what scanline says about controller config difficulties gives me (a tiny) pause.
It’s a common bug. Fix is simple. Just unplug the controller and plug it back in while the game is already running. Not sure why the mapping is wonky on launch, but once you do that, you’re golden. Unfortunately, you need to do it every time you launch, but at least there’s no mandatory ini config editing or mods you need to download.
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Post by Chopper on Feb 11, 2023 15:54:04 GMT
Nice! I originally played it on PS3 but wishlisted it on PC when I saw you were playing it earlier in the week. Looking forward to getting into it again, though what scanline says about controller config difficulties gives me (a tiny) pause.
It’s a common bug. Fix is simple. Just unplug the controller and plug it back in while the game is already running. Not sure why the mapping is wonky on launch, but once you do that, you’re golden. Unfortunately, you need to do it every time you launch, but at least there’s no mandatory ini config editing or mods you need to download. Great to know, thanks!
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uiruki
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Post by uiruki on Feb 12, 2023 16:41:24 GMT
6. Hi-Fi Rush - PC - 5/5
What a lovely surprise this game is. I wasn't sure about it at all given the initial presentation but in truth the game barely puts a foot wrong even though it could have gone badly in so many ways.
The action is extremely fun, especially once you unlock all the basic abililties, the whole game's style is amazing and though the licensed soundtrack's a bit old they do a great job of actually getting you into the rhythm. Both in terms of the fighting system and the amazing visuals and fantastic animation, the game commits to its style completely and with great success. From the aimless, sloppy, stodgy feeling of Ghostwire, this is focused, system-driven action which totally satisfies. My only real complaint, aside from an aspect ratio bug in cutscenes which squashes cut-in still images, is that I wish there was more fighting!
Steam Deck report: Exceptional, close to perfect. It sometimes has a bit of difficulty delivering frames consistently but for the most part you're looking at a solid 60fps in Medium detail with Quality XeSS giving an extremely smooth, bold and vibrant image. Cutscenes are perfect. It even loads quickly from SD card - to the point where I didn't even realise I'd installed it there and assumed it was on the SSD. An excellent example of how smoothly a UE4 game can run and the highest praise is due to the programming team.
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askew
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Post by askew on Feb 12, 2023 18:40:15 GMT
Finished God of War on PC. Only a year and a bit after buying it, but then we did get Elden Ring just a few weeks later. While I enjoyed it, it did drag in places: "Oh, I've got to revisit this location again?". I'm not totally sure I'll bother with Ragnarok when that emerges in 2024/25.
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Post by Trowel 🏴 on Feb 13, 2023 14:42:39 GMT
Bayonetta (PS4 version played on PS5) I finished this and Vanquish on 360 years ago, and having the taste again picked the double-pack up in the sale. Vanquish has held up really well (a solid 8/10 still), but Bayonetta has not. Most of the issues come from the fact there's little incentive to do little more than spam the punch/kick/dodge buttons all the time, and once you find a half-decent combo you can stick with it all the way to the end. It even gives you the best weapons pretty close to the start (the katana and whip), so the lack of any more variety as you progress adds to the repetitiveness. Speaking of repetitive - if you like fighting nothing but a handful of enemy types then you're in for a treat, because boy does Bayonetta love to repeat and repeat and repeat the same 7/8 standard enemies, and of course the bosses reappear later in the game, sometimes 3 times (fuck off with the Jeanne fights!). It might be forgiveable if the gameplay were fluid, but the game does its level best to stop you playing as often as it can thanks to the episode/chapter design, locking you in to small arenas over and over with cut scene after cut scene. So many other things I hate - the random insta-kill QTEs; the way items are massively overpowered (shield!); the pricing in the Gates of Hell which means you'll never be able to afford most things until later playthroughs. But it's still fun and funny at times, and nice to look at of course 5/10
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Tomo
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Post by Tomo on Feb 13, 2023 14:50:11 GMT
Finished God of War on PC. Only a year and a bit after buying it, but then we did get Elden Ring just a few weeks later. While I enjoyed it, it did drag in places: "Oh, I've got to revisit this location again?". I'm not totally sure I'll bother with Ragnarok when that emerges in 2024/25. I've played it for about 90 mins and that was about 2 months ago :/ I started it and thought... urgh, I've played this so many times before. Need to give it a bit longer for its story and systems to come to the fore, but I'm struggling to see what lifts it from very competent open world game into the realm of must play open world game, which is what the hype led me to believe.
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askew
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Post by askew on Feb 14, 2023 11:36:03 GMT
Certainly very cinematic, and - like the rest of the first-party Sony ports - incredibly polished. I seem to have a number of games that I've left at about the 80% mark: I finished the Mafia remake last night, and couldn't get over the sluggish controls. I'd remembered some details incorrectly, so there were still some surprises me for me during the last few missions. It does that thing mentioned in the 'mechanics we hate' thread where the game takes control away from you at key points: I want the catharsis of delivering the killing blow, dammit! It was nice to recognise Vito and Paulie(?) from Mafia 2
I enjoyed Mafia 2 in 2010, but I remember giving up on Mafia 3 and selling it to Duff in 2016, so won't be playing the two sequels – even if they have also been remastered.
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Post by Rubicon on Feb 14, 2023 17:07:20 GMT
2. Will Rock (PC)
This is an early Serious Sam clone from Ubisoft that was mentioned in a discussion around Painkiller. It's available as abandonware and with a bit of tweaking managed to get working so thought I'd give it a look.
In that regard it feels very much the opposite to Painkiller. Levels are bright and colourful taking inspiration from Greek culture/history (a trojan horse pops up at one point for example) and are large but not quite the empty space I remember some of the Serious Sam maps could be. It seems quaint now but your weapons have some basic reflections and get covered in blood which seems bit of a demand on hardware for the time.
Enemies vary from axe throwing minotaurs to skeletons that look like they've been lifted straight from Jason and the Argonauts and you have to keep on your toes as they can be pretty punishing. Sensibly you get access to a shotgun and machine gun early on until the heavier firepower arrives (your classic rocket launcher being one) which is fun and each weapon has it's place. There are powerups (invincibility, double damage and slow-mo) as well which can be bought at shrines with treasure collected.
The only real negative comes down to the bosses which are bullet sponges in the first instance, but their homing attacks do insane amounts of damage and your not quite fast enough to outrun them, which is also combined with having to contend with regular hordes as well. If there is any pattern to their attacks then I couldn't see it and ended up cheesing them with the powerups. There are also a couple of sections that use bounce pads which if mistimed means a lava bath so cue lots of saving and loading.
Otherwise it was bit of a fun throwback. Graphically I think it still holds up but the fast and frantic gameplay is great for something to pick up and play without having to give too much thought.
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Post by theguy on Feb 14, 2023 19:40:43 GMT
Iris.Fall
Finished this myself now. It's a 2.5D puzzler, with light point and click elements.
It's alright, very rough around pretty much every edge though. It didn't feel like a cohesive game to me, the puzzles don't really follow a theme through the game, you just plod along and do different ones that feel disconnected from each other. Combined with the vague, hard-to-care-about story, it doesn't give much of a sense of progression. It's pretty short as well.
That said the puzzles themselves aren't actually bad, I liked them though some aren't all that clear initially. They're decent enough. You better like pulling levers though because there's a lot of that and it's pretty slow. Art style is nice enough to look at but again, nothing standout which I suppose sums up the game too.
It's alright, maybe slightly above alright.
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Post by bichii2 on Feb 16, 2023 10:06:38 GMT
Midnight fight express.
I really enjoyed this. I think it's the closest I've played to being John wick or the guy from the raid. It helps that the animations are varied and all epic. I upgraded all the parry moves first and without too much effort you can make your character fight like the above mentioned action heroes. 40 levels with nice variety and all over pretty quickly. Maybe 6 or so hours to complete and lots of fun.
7.5
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Post by Chopper on Feb 16, 2023 10:35:17 GMT
Slice and Dice (PC)
This is basically a deckbuilding/card-battling roguelike which is based on dice rolls rather than cards - you have 5 heroes and they each have a die with different stuff on each face (damage, shield, health, blank sides, specials etc). You fight through 20 levels and new, more powerful heroes are offered as upgrades after each couple of levels. For example you might get a much more powerful fighter, but 3 sides of his die are blank. You also have re-rolls, modifiers, items and all sorts to enhance your heroes, and I think there are 100 heroes in total to unlock (but you don't choose who to start with).
Anyway, after 15 goes I finally beat it on Easy. I usually have trouble determining the intent of unlocks (even for example in Slay the Spire - I'm peering at a card thinking, yeah, but what the hell does this actually do?), so for a game that is very very much about synergies, it's taking me a little longer than most to grasp it.
On to Normal now; hopefully I'm getting better. Really good game, very apparent that there is a ton of strategic depth!
*Game is also available on Mac and Android but not iOS. If you want all three versions, buy it on Itch.io; otherwise it should be available on the Play store. Could be an amazing game for mobile.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2023 22:56:40 GMT
A Plague Tale Requiem.
A B tier Last of Us, but it is rather good. I loved the characters, particular the main girl who was fantastic, the tone of the story was great, but it all felt a little half baked and really could do with some polish. It lacked that naughty dog sheen that just elevates the spectacle. But it does try and has heart.
Free on gamepass, and worth the play. I may pick up the first.
8/10
Persona 3 Portable.
Hasn't aged well, should be portable, not on series X and every single part of the game is better implemented in 4 and 5.
6/10
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Post by LockeTribal on Feb 18, 2023 10:07:38 GMT
Opus: Echo of Starsong
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. Charming sci-fi visual novel adventure game. You take on the roles of the crew of a lumen (cosmic space energy) seeking spaceship travelling between space stations and asteroids. You have to manage fuel, armour and exploration kits and can upgrade your ship as you find materials. There are encounters that play out when traveling between locations that get decided by dice roll (also affected by how you've upgraded your ship and key items for each of the characters).
There are basic 2.5d exploration sections at certain locations and basic puzzles to solve. There's no combat in the game and a couple of timed sections. It's very relaxed, very chill and I had a really nice time with it.
The story is grand, but I think I enjoyed the setting of it and the world as much as anything. For me, the game doesn't do anything amazing or new, but does everything well. Definitely a high 7/10, possibly tipping into an 8.
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EMarkM
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Well, quite...
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Post by EMarkM on Feb 18, 2023 10:48:45 GMT
TRICKY DOORS Xbox Series X Following our family adventures with Escape Academy, we took a look around Game Pass and the Store for something similar. We tried a couple of different ones. The Aladdin hidden object game bored us almost immediately, and we couldn't get Desert Quest to work at all. Hidden Object: Time Trap kept us entertained for its first few "free" levels, but we didn't want to pay to keep playing. We settled on Tricky Doors, and have enjoyed it immensely. It's another "escape room" type game, which had us scratching our heads a few times during the couple of weeks over which we have played it. Main differences between this and Escape Academy: EA has a single story running through it, whereas TD is a series of unconnected "worlds" from which you must escape. Whilst this might lead you to believe that EA gets a little samey, and TD is more varied, there is one aspect that makes the opposite true. Each area of EA felt new and fresh with very different puzzle elements, whereas TD, despite its mixture of environments, tends to overuse the idea of "find some missing parts to this door lock, put them in place, now solve this pattern-matching game to open the door". I don't mind this myself but the other two family members often found themselves just sitting and watching me repetitively trying out techniques in order to solve a puzzle, without really being able to contribute much. Everyone joined back in, once the door was open, excited to see what new area had been unlocked. We really enjoyed the game, and are looking forward to the next chapter when it is released, hopefully both soon and free of charge! The little 'un would give this 10/10, as we did with EA, but I'd possibly knock a point or two off just because of that feeling of repetition and redundancy. Would highly recommend it, though
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Post by deekyfun on Feb 18, 2023 11:09:36 GMT
Much like a bunch of other folks on here, I've been making my way through the Mass Effect series via the Legendary Edition. I've played them all before, when they originally came out, and enjoyed them at the time. The idea of playing through them all in sequence with all the DLC and improved controls appealed a lot.
I've now beaten ME1 and just finished ME2, trying to do everything I can, but not going mad trying to scan every planet in the system. They play very nicely, and the improvements to ME1 make it a much nicer onboarding experience than it was trying to play the original in more recent years.
ME1 is a very good game, but I feel like ME2 blows it out of the water in almost all respects. It's a much tighter game, with a mission structure that works for a quick burst here and there. It makes it all feel very light and breezy throughout, whereas sometimes other RPGs can sometimes sag in the middle. ME2 is a taut as Jacob's skin-tight space-trousers. The combat is famously improved, making the game feel much more of a shooter than RPG sometimes, although I feel the area spaces do start to become a little over-familiar. The overall feel of playing alongside Cerberus and assembling a rag-tag bunch of specialists for a mission they can't hope to come back for gives the whole thing a Magnificent Seven kind of vibe, which I dig. Where ME1 felt vast and alien, ME2 feels more like Aliens like, and urgent (without really being that urgent if you're just a bit careful).
Other than that, I've also finished the main play(read)through of Chaos:Head Noah, and am trying to whittle my way through the alternative routes so I can reach the best ending. I kind of need the best ending, as that game has been one long misery and I would like to see it end on a somewhat more brighter note. However, these side routes have been a mix of tolerable to uncomfortable as they involve weird side romance branches with support characters that I'd rather not bother with. Especially, as one of them is your younger sister. Why Japan, why?
The main narrative is really interesting, and it was cool to play the thing that started the Science Adventure series and would lead to the (superior) Steins;Gate, but man, it's a bit dark for my tastes sometimes. I'm hoping the others don't veer so close to the hentai bone(r).
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Bongo Heracles
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Feb 18, 2023 12:10:20 GMT
High On Life: actually alright.
7/10
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Post by pierrepressure on Feb 19, 2023 8:23:37 GMT
Hi-fi Rush - 9/10
Proper loved this. The characters, animation, the music, are all top notch. As already discussed, it does hark back to a time in gaming before much of it went all grimdark. My only criticism, which is probably more of a me issue, was keeping to the beat with the different combos.
Would love a sequel and also more music themed games in general.
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malek86
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Post by malek86 on Feb 19, 2023 19:07:50 GMT
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Series S)
Finally a somewhat different Lego game. The changes are for the better, though the jokes do eventually start to run dry. This is mostly evident in the final movie, I guess even they couldn't salvage that shit.
Each episode is pretty short, around two hours and half. But there's nine of them, so it adds up. In the end, I played for 22 hours. I wasn't bored for the most part, which is actually a surprise.
Don't feel especially motivated to go around the galaxy collecting the trinkets though. I feel I've played quite enough.
8/10
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Rich
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Post by Rich on Feb 19, 2023 19:47:43 GMT
Persona 5 Royal
I didn't get it at first. I've not played a Persona before and just heard it was a good jrpg. The whole school/social activities loop within A graphic novel wasn't really what I was after. But I stuck with it as the first palace was fun and it was all very stylish.
Glad I did as when it all clicked I thought it was brilliant. It did drag on a little though and probably could have dropped one or two palaces. I stuck with it to the end clocking up 172 hours so definitely got my monies worth. I stress though, it really was dragging towards the end.
9/10
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Post by Triarii on Feb 19, 2023 20:21:57 GMT
Persona 5 Royal I didn't get it at first. I've not played a Persona before and just heard it was a good jrpg. The whole school/social activities loop within A graphic novel wasn't really what I was after. But I stuck with it as the first palace was fun and it was all very stylish. Glad I did as when it all clicked I thought it was brilliant. It did drag on a little though and probably could have dropped one or two palaces. I stuck with it to the end clocking up 172 hours so definitely got my monies worth. I stress though, it really was dragging towards the end. 9/10 I'm looking for the keys to get across the scythe bridge in the first palace (Kamoshida) and I am also really not getting it. Looks great, music is pretty good but I just don't think I can stand JRPGs. What made it click for you Rich?
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Rich
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Post by Rich on Feb 19, 2023 21:08:52 GMT
I really enjoyed how slick everything was in that palace, and how simple the battle system seemed after playing a number of jrpgs that seemed to all be clamouring to make things as complicated as possible. I decided to stick with the real world stuff and see where it went and just slowly got hooked into it.
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Post by theguy on Feb 19, 2023 21:49:48 GMT
Hoa
I was after something a bit laid back and this was in the backlog so gave it a play. It's a (very) pretty 2D platformer with a pleasant soundtrack.
Gameplay wise it's nothing really special, you'll have seen most everything here before, it's not really challenging and the plot and gameplay structure are very basic too. But you know, not every game has to be mechanically brilliant or push limits. This does the basics, does them mostly well and it was just nice to play through. There are some annoyances but nothing that mars it significantly.
Lasts around 4 hours, if that, fit what I was looking for and was happy with it.
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Post by Rubicon on Feb 19, 2023 23:02:37 GMT
3. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus + DLC (PC)
This is actually my second playthrough of the game as I wanted to see if there was anything I actually liked about it. I loved The New Order and came around to The Old Blood and didn't want this to be how things ended.
Each time I come back to the game I'm reminded just how stunning it looks. Particularly the moments when you can just sit back and watch and see the animations, character detail, lighting/shadow come together and how smooth it all looks. These moments however, are few and far between and attached to some of the most uninteresting level design that never fully manages to utilise them until the game is all but over.
I applaud the plot (which might be all the more relevant today) but the tone is such a shift from the previous games that it jars and there isn't the same connection to any of the characters as there was from The New Order. There are also a couple of plot points the game goes out of its way to highlight but never expands on them.
Gameplay is fine but where the real issues are. BJ is more agile which means he can now be knocked over by explosions or dragged to the floor by dogs (I doubt either anyone asked for) but by the time the animation for him to stand back up plays out your all but dead. This connects with him not being the bulletsponge he was from previous games and can be killed in the blink of an eye, which takes away that feeling of being a badass, but more importantly any actual fun.
It's that lack of fun that is the common thread that connects all these areas and I would struggle to say if there was any point I actually enjoyed myself. I appreciate what they've tried to create but that has come at the expense of the arcade-y nature of the previous games so what your left with is a frustrating experience.
6/10
The DLC itself is slight and rehashes assets from the main game with each episode lasting about an hour if you ignore collectibles. The only real positive it does is expand on the universe (which is something I think the main game needed) but also is just visually much more interesting. The Captain Wilkins episode being the standout of the three.
3/10
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Vortex
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is apparently a mangina.
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Post by Vortex on Feb 19, 2023 23:19:52 GMT
Hitman trilogy.
Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Got a lot of entertainment from being a menace at the infiltating and accident/murders game with the baldy barcoded boy.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2023 23:23:36 GMT
Hitman good.
Loaded up last night for the first time since the WORLD OF ASSASSINATION update. Didn’t realise there was a new stage. It was fine for the most part. Didn’t kill anyone too smoothly, but I got to wear a pirate costume and electrify a target.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Feb 20, 2023 7:06:01 GMT
My impression on Wolfenstein II was that a lot of the complaints stemmed from how many - and sometimes long - cutscenes there were.
I finished Landlord of the Woods, a short puzzle game with weird visuals and - I suppose - an odd sense humor. Elements of black humor, sure, but overall it was kind of hard to grasp what it was all about.
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uiruki
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Post by uiruki on Feb 20, 2023 11:28:48 GMT
I had a few issues with the combat in Wolf 2. The big one when I played was the very poor feedback when you get hit: it was hard to tell you were being hit at all, never mind where from.
The other big issue for me was that in the first game and Old Blood, stealthily picking off enemies as you creep through an area was very much an option as in normal difficulty they did a good job of designing the more stealthy levels in a way that you could intuitively crouch walk around and pick off the enemies with your silenced pistol which was a lot of fun and felt satisfying. In the New Colossus you ended up with wider spaces, less cover and enemy guard cover was a lot tighter so you could be spotted from another angle while doing what felt like decent stealthy play. This is the big thing that made BJ feel really weak, even more so than your 50HP limit at the start of the game, in my opinion.
In the end it was the crazy story and cutscenes which kept me going to the end and in a way it rescued the game for me.
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Post by pierrepressure on Feb 20, 2023 14:23:42 GMT
Did the second one have that difficult bit in the courtroom? I really struggled at that point and almost totally ruined the game for me.
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uiruki
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Post by uiruki on Feb 20, 2023 14:33:59 GMT
Yes, it was murder in the unpatched game because you were being attacked from all angles. The cutscene afterwards was so crazy it was almost worth it though.
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malek86
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Post by malek86 on Feb 20, 2023 15:00:54 GMT
I hated the non-existent damage feedback too. Also, I played the game on Xbox One, and performance (and graphical fidelity) really wasn't where they needed to be. I dropped it relatively quickly.
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