What games have you been playing lately?

Gamer Bhoy 89

Made an attempt to play The Outer Worlds but I'm having frame drops and frame-pacing issues that I don't think my PC should really be having.

Other than that I was trying out Blazblue for the first time. Started on Calamity Trigger. The game itself is good, but I'm playing through story mode at the moment, and the game, so far, seems to be 20% gameplay and 80% "cutscene" and dialogue (they're still-images with text boxes) and it's really difficult to not get annoyed at being interrupted like this. And they can draaaaag.

wotzgoingon

Gamer Bhoy 89 wrote: »

Made an attempt to play The Outer Worlds but I'm having frame drops and frame-pacing issues that I don't think my PC should really be having.

That's a decent game so stick it out but I played on Xbox so not sure how the PC version plays.

Dcully

Decent game alright , played flawlessly for me on PC.

Gamer Bhoy 89

wotzgoingon wrote: »

That's a decent game so stick it out but I played on Xbox so not sure how the PC version plays.

Oh I've played it before. I played it to death on PS4 last year but I recently obtained a Steam copy so I had an excuse to go in from scratch on better hardware.... at least it SHOULD be better hardware. Game keeps chugging and not stabilising for me at all.

Since last night I've tried tweaking all my components and I even tried resetting my PC to freshen it up a bit. Everything is up to date and it's still acting like my build is sub-par, when I've seen benchmarks with the same setup I have running it on the highest setting at a high frame rate. I'm losing my mind :pac:

Overheal

Decent amount of Apex Legends.

kearneybobs

After playing through Mass Effect Andromeda (which didn't respect my time but felt compelled to complete), I've been playing a few VR games on my Quest 2. Love the The Room games on mobile and the VR game is more of the same, but interactable.

Star Wars Squadrons is REALLY some thing to behold in VR.

Gamer Bhoy 89

Playing Black Mesa at the moment. This is my first dive into Half-Life after just flat-out ignoring it for 20 odd years, not even remotely interested, and feeling I've played plenty of better FPS games (I still do think there are way better games than these), and I did try out the original game but it just looked way too dated, and I didn't feel like looking at a game this ugly for several hours. The audio was horrible as well, very tin-like, and slightly reverbed. I tried out Half-Life Source, and I was instantly put off by the endless reports of horrible bugs in the game. It did look and sound better but that's as far as it went. There was a fix released for it, but it completely removes a few integrations within Steam, such as play-time and play-history, which I am a big geek for, so I will not part with that feature. That's why I don't really play non-Steam games

I digress!

Found out about Black Mesa, which I didn't realise until recently that it was a remake of the original game, so I grabbed that, as well as every other available title in the current series (except Alyx).

So far I'm enjoying it, but I'm taking each piece of enjoyment I earn with a grain of salt, as I have little-to-no love for this series. I'll stick to it as long as I can but I won't be surprised if I fall off of it completely. Never liked the games, but I'm willing to set that aside for now, just to see if I can find something to really like about it, and so far, so good.

Useful.Idiot

Black Mesa is fantastic. A must-play for Half-Life fans who haven't played through the first game in years. The Xen levels have been completely re-done, and visually they are genuinely breathtaking.

Glebee

Ive hit a wall with gaming, nothing holding my attention recently. Trying to get into Fallen Order and while its a decent game im just bored of it..:(

Interested Observer

Glebee wrote: »

Ive hit a wall with gaming, nothing holding my attention recently. Trying to get into Fallen Order and while its a decent game im just bored of it..:(

Kinda the same.

I absolutely horsed through Desperados III and then Shadow Tactics recently, but since then have tried a few TWW2 campaigns which I've bounced off, I'm trying XCom2 at the moment but tbh it stresses me out a bit (daft as that is), think I might need to go back to Factorio or Anno 1800.

Gamer Bhoy 89

Glebee wrote: »

Ive hit a wall with gaming, nothing holding my attention recently. Trying to get into Fallen Order and while its a decent game im just bored of it..:(

You need a game to keep you invested in a passive manner. Like a turn based strategy game. Civilization or something similar, perhaps? Maybe take a break from games that want your attention 90% of the time.

Dcully

@ Glebee & Interested Observer Valheim might be worth a look only €16.79 on steam, great game.

Glebee

Dcully wrote: »

@ Glebee & Interested Observer Valheim might be worth a look only €16.79 on steam, great game.

Ive seen that alright but Ive just stumble upon Greedfall on Xbox game pass. I might have something here:D

youcancallmeal

Finally got around to playing and finishing RDR2 since Christmas, totally deserving of all the plaudits it has received over the last couple of years. Hope Rockstar put another game out soon, I've zero interest in online for GTA V and RDR2.

On to Battlefront 2 now, got it free on epic a while ago. Surprisingly good after all the negative press it received around loot boxes when it was released

Dcully

Glebee wrote: »

Ive seen that alright but Ive just stumble upon Greedfall on Xbox game pass. I might have something here:D

Been meaning to install that myself

Gamer Bhoy 89

Still playing away at Black Mesa, albeit a couple of hours at a time. One thing I really like about this game is that all the levels are connected, at least from what I've played so far. At no point have I felt like one level ended and another began -- no loading screens that said "Loading Chapter 4" or anything like that. I honestly thought after 2 or 3 hours that I was still on chapter 1 since everything merged in.

No cutscenes, no interruptions of any kind. The game puts you in control the moment you turn it on, and it doesn't take control away from you. I'm on Chapter 8, and it's actually really good thus far.

Glebee

Dcully wrote: »

Been meaning to install that myself

Greedfall certainly worth a look. Getting Witcher vibes of it, Witcher 2 not Witcher 3:D

Going to give the Dark Souls series another go as well, wheres the best place to start at this late stage. Also never played any of the Nioh games, I see Nioh 2 ultimate edition just released.

steve_r

Glebee wrote: »

Greedfall certainly worth a look. Getting Witcher vibes of it, Witcher 2 not Witcher 3:D

Going to give the Dark Souls series another go as well, wheres the best place to start at this late stage. Also never played any of the Nioh games, I see Nioh 2 ultimate edition just released.

Hadn't heard of Greedfall but really like the sounds of it after reading some reviews. How do you find the combat?

Also would be keen to know where to start with Dark Souls!

Glebee

steve_r wrote: »

Hadn't heard of Greedfall but really like the sounds of it after reading some reviews. How do you find the combat?

Also would be keen to know where to start with Dark Souls!

Decemt combat system, game is just missing polish. Its feels like a game from a few years ago.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Interested Observer wrote: »

Kinda the same.

I absolutely horsed through Desperados III and then Shadow Tactics recently, but since then have tried a few TWW2 campaigns which I've bounced off, I'm trying XCom2 at the moment but tbh it stresses me out a bit (daft as that is), think I might need to go back to Factorio or Anno 1800.

Gears tactics on gamepass is mega, finished it yesterday, it uses all the lore and units from the gears of war series in a way that makes perfect sense. Surprisingly enjoyable.

gizmo

That's Mad Max done now. Christ, 2015 really was the year of open world excess.

Iguarantee

Back playing BF1.

Man, it’s so much better than BF5

Dcully

Iguarantee wrote: »

Back playing BF1.

Man, it’s so much better than BF5

Yeah doing a bit of BF1 myself, such a good game compared to BF5.
My main shooter is hell let Loose its on a whole different level but its nice to play something less realistic every so often.
Apart from that playing Valheim recently [who isnt :P] great game, mad to think my two most played games so far in 2021 are both early access games.

ancapailldorcha

Finally got round to starting Resident Evil 7. Interesting to see the early stalker mechanic pre-RE2 remake. Overall I like it but it feels a bit more like Silent Hill than Resident Evil.

Gamer Bhoy 89

I beat Black Mesa during the week. I'm onto Half Life 2 now. MUCH better than the predecessor. The gravity gun is a wonderful toy, as well.

All day I've been playing this while keep an eye out for PS5s in stock. Wild goose chase at this stage.

Azza

The Half Life 1 vs Half Life 2 debate is an interesting one.

Unquestionable Half Life 2 makes great strides in graphics, environmental interaction and story telling but its inarguable worse when it comes to combat.

Half Life 2 has technically better A.I capable of doing more advanced actions. The problem is that the map design of Half Life 2 and Episode 1 prevents the A.I from doing its more advanced behavior resulting in A.I that frequently just has soldiers standing out in the open firing or charges straight at the player. Its also a much easier game as the game uses a dynamic supply system where the supply creates in game will always give the players exactly what they need in terms of health or ammo. From my understanding the map design of Half Life 2 Episode 2 allowed the solider A.I to show off what it can as does some mods but in Half Life 2 and HL2 Episode 1 the combat.

Half Life 1 on the other hand has limits to the A.I in that it can't shoot and move at the same time but the A.I is faster, moves around a lot more telegraphs its movements better via audio barks and uses grenades more to flush the enemy out as well as being able to take and dish out damage better, which making them more interesting and challenging to fight. There more fun to fight than the A.I in Black Mesa as well who's ability to move and shoot actually makes them less interesting to fight than the constantly relocating soldiers in HL1. Though you could argue the changes to monster A.I in Black Mesa make the monster more interesting to fight in that game.

Interested Observer

Gotten into Xcom 2 WotC a bit, it is a lot of fun. It's crazy how quickly how wrong things can go for you, my squad is absolute decimated at the moment (none dead though). It's actually not a terrible thing though because it forces you to bring some rookies in and get them promoted.

Gamer Bhoy 89

Trying out Parkitect. It's basically a love-letter to Rollercoaster Tycoon fans - what RCT4 SHOULD'VE BEEN

Slippin Jimmy

Gamer Bhoy 89 wrote: »

Trying out Parkitect. It's basically a love-letter to Rollercoaster Tycoon fans - what RCT4 SHOULD'VE BEEN

Played it last year. Very enjoyable. I believe it has multilayer now.

ancapailldorcha

Finished the main portion of Resident Evil 7 and the Not a Hero DLC. The Madhouse difficulty is utterly unforgiving. It's got some ideas but it's got flaws as well. Why do developers include unskippable nonsense in games? First time is grand but when there are no checkpoints going through the same dialogue over and over again because of a difficult boss fight is just torture.