Get your game on!

[jose]

It had been a long time since I played with another of my favorite flight simulators. IL 2 Sturmovik

It's a shame it doesn't have a clickable cockpit like DCS World. 

I spend hours flying the "Flying Circus" on the Fokker DR I with t he von Richthofen's red skin.

[Knuckledragger]

So, uh, who isn't player Valheim at this point?  It's taken over my Steam friends list.

Spoiler

For HCers, it seems like a great game to become enraged at Brent.

 

[Sherwood]

I am 100% out of the loop, so this comment here was where I first learned about Valheim.  Looks fun, I'll give it a try.

[Icarium]

I am basically a full time team fight tactics player at this point. Trying to hit GM but yeah might not happen this set.

[catscratch]

Ok brain, riddle me this. When you grab a stainless steel pan straight out of the oven with a bare hand, what happens? What's that? You don't know? Ok, go right ahead.

Now that I won't be playing games for a few days, I can reveal that I've been playing Deep Rock Galactic quite a bit with friends (and solo) and for the coop shooter crew it is definitely a game to check out. I haven't really played Killing Floor or Left for Dead or anything like this so I can't compare it to other coop shooters, but the mechanics are solid and definitely feel inspired by some of the old arcady shooters I used to play, and the fully destructible terrain and very impressive procgen keeps the levels varied and interesting. I have a few hundred hours in it already and am looking forward to more, as soon as I can grab a mouse again.

And no, I'm not playing Valheim. Maybe later sometime. Much prefer first person over third person games.

[Sherwood]

I’ve been playing two online D&D games a week all March, and I’m having a phenomenal time.  Not quite the same as my usual fare, but very fun nevertheless. 

[swt61]

I love dice and dominoes!

[TMoney]

I found a pretty cool youtube creator who's channel is called Game Maker's Toolkit. He has some very interesting videos.

I really enjoyed this one. I've always wondered why it is that I am put off by some games that other people love. This video talks about one mechanic in a lot games that just constantly frustrates me, namely, navigation.

I don't know what it is about my brain, but if a game drops me in an open world and expects me to explore, be curious, and make a mental map of the layout as I go I get frustrated and quit pretty quickly thereafter. It is a mechanic some people love, but I really do not.

It is interesting to think about how many games are built around navigation as a core draw. Many of the Zelda games, Souls-borne, etc. I don't think I like any of them. Prior to watching this video I would not have been able to articulate why. Cool stuff.

 

[Fitz]

10 hours ago, TMoney said:

I don't know what it is about my brain, but if a game drops me in an open world and expects me to explore, be curious, and make a mental map of the layout as I go I get frustrated and quit pretty quickly thereafter. It is a mechanic some people love, but I really do not.

It is interesting to think about how many games are built around navigation as a core draw.

The last game I played, The Outer Wilds, has navigation/exploration as literally its only major mechanic. You're thrown into the games world with only knowledge of the basic controls, and are limited to 22 minutes per run (due to a timeloop) to try to explore and learn more about how things work to progress further on the next run. Building a mental map of areas so you can return to them quicker and deliberately in the future, using environmental clues to piece together how to traverse to new areas using mechanics that aren't obvious at first glance, etc. There's basically no replay value because once you've beaten it, there's not really anything to do.

You would absolutely hate it.

[TMoney]

20 minutes ago, Fitz said:

The last game I played, The Outer Wilds, has navigation/exploration as literally its only major mechanic. You're thrown into the games world with only knowledge of the basic controls, and are limited to 22 minutes per run (due to a timeloop) to try to explore and learn more about how things work to progress further on the next run. Building a mental map of areas so you can return to them quicker and deliberately in the future, using environmental clues to piece together how to traverse to new areas using mechanics that aren't obvious at first glance, etc. There's basically no replay value because once you've beaten it, there's not really anything to do.

You would absolutely hate it.

Played it and loved it.

I would have hated it for the reasons you specify, but the game constantly bread-crumbs you and leads you from place to place. I know being lead around really turns some people off, but I love it when developers do that in a smart way. A lot of the bread-crumbs in OW are hidden behind puzzles so it doesn't feel unearned when you find them.

[robm321]

Given your description, I'm guessing that you liked Bioshock? 

Edited April 1, 2021 by robm321

[TMoney]

43 minutes ago, robm321 said:

Given your description, I'm guessing that you liked Bioshock? 

Love that series, but it has been a long time since I played the original. I still think the DLC for Bioshock Infinite is some of the best DLC ever made for any game. I love the way it ties the entire series together.

[robm321]

It's been years for me too. They remastered Bioshock and Bioshock 2. Agreed, it's a great series. 

[MexicanDragon]

Last 400 hours of so of gaming has been Killing Floor 2, Time Spy (90 minutes,) and Fuser (63 minutes.)

Anyone up for some racing tonight? Project Cars 2 - 8PM PT (Proper Time)/11PM ET

Hit me up on Steam if you need info, if you can guess my username.
 

[TMoney]

Rogue-likes and procedurally generated game levels have been an increasing trend in the games business. The promise of saving a ton of developer time and expense and having the computer generate "infinitely repayable" content is an alluring one. It is a trend I hate. Computer generated content can be helpful as a template, but the difference between hand-crafted content and procedurally generated stuff is often not subtle.

The Hitman series is in many ways at the extreme opposite end of the spectrum from Rogue-likes, and I love that about it. Everything in these three games is so obviously hand-crafted and polished to a fine sheen. While the content is less repayable once you've consumed it, I'd rather have less of something great than an infinite amount of "meh" when it comes to how I spend my leisure time.

Hitman is one of my top 10 favorite games. I've been having a ton of fun with it. Best pitch I can give is that it is like being able to play "Groundhog Day" only you role-play as a James Bond-level super assassin in exotic locales instead of a washed-up weatherman in Punxsutawney, PA.

 

[catscratch]

Speaking of not procedural generation, Prodeus is pretty great. Imagine if id went on making more Doom games instead of going 3d with Quake, or what a more modern sprite/3d hybrid would look like. There's some really stellar sprite work and general art work in Prodeus, and in terms of gameplay I like it quite a bit more than Doom 2016 (never played Eternal) - it's faster and more old school. My #1 pick for lo-fi indie shooters still goes to Dusk, but Prodeus is a firm #2 at at this point. Highly recommended.

The boomer shooter market seems to be... booming.

(i'll see myself out)

[Fitz]

Resident Evil Village is unlocking at midnight eastern, for anyone who has it preordered.

[TMoney]

Yesssssss! Finally something to put that PS5 to work. TLOU2 PS5 upgrade hits today!

I know what I’m going to be replaying this weekend.

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by TMoney

[Knuckledragger]

[jose]

Good opportunity if you have never tried it ...

 

[Knuckledragger]

Bought Forza Horizon 4 during the SSS.  89 GB download.  Oh my poor SSD.  Also my craptastic rural W.Mass internet connection.

[Fitz]

15 minutes ago, Knuckledragger said:

Bought Forza Horizon 4 during the SSS.  89 GB download.  Oh my poor SSD.  Also my craptastic rural W.Mass internet connection.

Yeah, the size of games these days is why I bought a big SSD, and a Tice-sized HDD. I shuffle games between them depending on what I'm actively playing, and don't have to worry about deleting then redownloading games later.

[swt61]

^

I approve this message. 

[Knuckledragger]

Woof.  Forza Horizon 4 requires Window 10 and won't even launch on 8.1.   I had to refund it.  Big RIP there.

[Fitz]

16 minutes ago, Knuckledragger said:

Woof.  Forza Horizon 4 requires Window 10 and won't even launch on 8.1.   I had to refund it.  Big RIP there.

More specifically, it requires DirectX 12, which is only fully supported on Windows 10. That was one of Microsoft's tricks to force more people to update to it.