Currently Playing in 2019....

Lotus wrote:Xenoblade Chronicles
Thankfully the side quests have thinned out somewhat

I think you're probably just missing them. More appear at previous settlements and most only appear at certain times of day.

In fact I'm certain you must be missing some because "side quests" and "thinned out" are not phrases that make sense in the context of Xenoblade Chronicles from what I played!

OrangeRakoon wrote:

Lotus wrote:Xenoblade Chronicles
Thankfully the side quests have thinned out somewhat

I think you're probably just missing them. More appear at previous settlements and most only appear at certain times of day.

In fact I'm certain you must be missing some because "side quests" and "thinned out" are not phrases that make sense in the context of Xenoblade Chronicles from what I played!

How much did you play? I don't think I'm missing any, although admittedly I'm not constantly returning to previous locations and checking (although I do go back from time to time). I'm not saying I don't have any - I probably have between 5 and 10 at the moment - but that's less than what I did have, and they seem to be a bit more infrequent. Thankfully some of them are easy to complete as well, i.e. defeat 2 of these monsters, 3 of those monsters, etc. Although there's lots of them it isn't detracting from my enjoyment...yet. I like ticking them off, and it was only really the ones in Colony 9 that I found frustrating with all the backtracking and such. Famous last words...

30-40 hours. I guess it's possible I was on the cusp of breaking through the waves of sidequests into sweet, sweet freedom.

I’ve just finished Oxenfree (Switch) for the first time. The gameplay itself is little more than walking around and choosing dialogue options but I thought absolutely everything else about it was fantastic. Neat art style, great music, interesting story with characters who actually talk like teenagers (despite clearly being voice actors in their thirties). I played the whole thing with headphones and nearly shat myself a couple of times.

Currently swapping between:

Rogue Trooper Redux (Switch) - I missed playing this when it first came out, despite loving the look of it. Playing it now, it’s like going back to a time when Resi 4 and Gears of War didn’t exist. Reminds me of Freedom Fighters but without the squad stuff, it’s not a great game but as a kind of solid, retro experience it’s been really fun. Here’s hoping it’s successful enough for Rebellion to do a Dredd vs Death remaster.

Wulver Blade (Switch) - Fairly standard, fairly difficult hack ‘n’ slash. Golden Axeish, but about the Scottish kicking the gooseberry fool out of the Romans. The developer’s obvious love for history elevates the whole thing.

Thimbleweed Park (Switch) - Funny, self-aware, crude and bizarre point and click modernised adventure game. Really enjoying it at the moment.

Also Neuro Voider, Thumper, Shantae, Mario Kart and Splatoon 2. I’m on a little bit of a Switch kick at the moment, thanks in no small part to me quitting WoW for the foreseeable future.

Lotus wrote:

OrangeRakoon wrote:

Lotus wrote:Xenoblade Chronicles
Thankfully the side quests have thinned out somewhat

I think you're probably just missing them. More appear at previous settlements and most only appear at certain times of day.

In fact I'm certain you must be missing some because "side quests" and "thinned out" are not phrases that make sense in the context of Xenoblade Chronicles from what I played!

How much did you play? I don't think I'm missing any, although admittedly I'm not constantly returning to previous locations and checking (although I do go back from time to time). I'm not saying I don't have any - I probably have between 5 and 10 at the moment - but that's less than what I did have, and they seem to be a bit more infrequent. Thankfully some of them are easy to complete as well, i.e. defeat 2 of these monsters, 3 of those monsters, etc. Although there's lots of them it isn't detracting from my enjoyment...yet. I like ticking them off, and it was only really the ones in Colony 9 that I found frustrating with all the backtracking and such. Famous last words...

There came a time when I just stopped doing them altogether, I think I stopped doing a lot of them quite early on, probably around Bionis leg. The game is huge, the story is quite long without even throwing all that into the mix.

That was a good game. I loved exploring the different areas.

Playing SkyForce Anniversary on vita . Really enjoying it in a retro way. Never heard of it before and it's a bit Rogue Legacy I guess in that you die, improve and die again before getting better.

Enjoyable on Vita for lunch time blasts

Witcher 3 GOTY- picked this up for bargain £16. Borrowed this from a mate last year and enjoyed it never played the DLC and from what I've heard it's pretty much the best stuff in the game, so I'm starting over and taking my time again. Loving it just as much as first time around. Got a different ending to bloody Barron storyline this time which was unexpected!

Squinty wrote:

Lotus wrote:

OrangeRakoon wrote:

Lotus wrote:Xenoblade Chronicles
Thankfully the side quests have thinned out somewhat

I think you're probably just missing them. More appear at previous settlements and most only appear at certain times of day.

In fact I'm certain you must be missing some because "side quests" and "thinned out" are not phrases that make sense in the context of Xenoblade Chronicles from what I played!

How much did you play? I don't think I'm missing any, although admittedly I'm not constantly returning to previous locations and checking (although I do go back from time to time). I'm not saying I don't have any - I probably have between 5 and 10 at the moment - but that's less than what I did have, and they seem to be a bit more infrequent. Thankfully some of them are easy to complete as well, i.e. defeat 2 of these monsters, 3 of those monsters, etc. Although there's lots of them it isn't detracting from my enjoyment...yet. I like ticking them off, and it was only really the ones in Colony 9 that I found frustrating with all the backtracking and such. Famous last words...

There came a time when I just stopped doing them altogether, I think I stopped doing a lot of them quite early on, probably around Bionis leg. The game is huge, the story is quite long without even throwing all that into the mix.

That was a good game. I loved exploring the different areas.

I did nearly all the side quests in the game. Think the only ones I didn't do where because of the events that stop you from finishing them. There were loads to do but I never felt they were that much of a grind because I just did most of them as I explored. This and carrying an EXP boost gem meant I was well OP by the end. It was glorious.

Currently playing All Ghillied Up in CoD MW:R
On Veteran

Syndicate (2012 FPS, xbox 360)

I picked this up on a whim as part of a 3 for 2 preowned after hearing it wasn't terrible and I mostly agree. The tech powers you have and the combo-like system to power them up encourage you to be fast and creative with your shooty-bang-bang tactics, making it more interesting than a normal hurr durr run and gun shooter.

It is a very 2012 game; slightly too wobbly first person camera, mash x to open doors/grates, a basic upgrade tree with largely passive benefits and a now irrelevant co-op mode tacked on for good measure. Its definitely a 6-7 hour one-and-done game which i have no intention of holding on to after the fact, but i'll definitely stick with it to the end.

Trelliz wrote:Syndicate (2012 FPS, xbox 360)

I picked this up on a whim as part of a 3 for 2 preowned after hearing it wasn't terrible and I mostly agree. The tech powers you have and the combo-like system to power them up encourage you to be fast and creative with your shooty-bang-bang tactics, making it more interesting than a normal hurr durr run and gun shooter.

It is a very 2012 game; slightly too wobbly first person camera, mash x to open doors/grates, a basic upgrade tree with largely passive benefits and a now irrelevant co-op mode tacked on for good measure. Its definitely a 6-7 hour one-and-done game which i have no intention of holding on to after the fact, but i'll definitely stick with it to the end.

I got bored with that quite early on. Being from Starbreeze I was expecting something akin to Chronicles of Riddick or The Darkness rather than a typical FPS.

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:

Trelliz wrote:Syndicate (2012 FPS, xbox 360)

I picked this up on a whim as part of a 3 for 2 preowned after hearing it wasn't terrible and I mostly agree. The tech powers you have and the combo-like system to power them up encourage you to be fast and creative with your shooty-bang-bang tactics, making it more interesting than a normal hurr durr run and gun shooter.

It is a very 2012 game; slightly too wobbly first person camera, mash x to open doors/grates, a basic upgrade tree with largely passive benefits and a now irrelevant co-op mode tacked on for good measure. Its definitely a 6-7 hour one-and-done game which i have no intention of holding on to after the fact, but i'll definitely stick with it to the end.

I got bored with that quite early on. Being from Starbreeze I was expecting something akin to Chronicles of Riddick or The Darkness rather than a typical FPS.

Ditto. This was not the same Starbreeze however. If memory serves most of the talent had left at this point, going on to found MachineGames who would eventually make the new Wolfenstein games.

Brerlappin wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:

Trelliz wrote:Syndicate (2012 FPS, xbox 360)

I picked this up on a whim as part of a 3 for 2 preowned after hearing it wasn't terrible and I mostly agree. The tech powers you have and the combo-like system to power them up encourage you to be fast and creative with your shooty-bang-bang tactics, making it more interesting than a normal hurr durr run and gun shooter.

It is a very 2012 game; slightly too wobbly first person camera, mash x to open doors/grates, a basic upgrade tree with largely passive benefits and a now irrelevant co-op mode tacked on for good measure. Its definitely a 6-7 hour one-and-done game which i have no intention of holding on to after the fact, but i'll definitely stick with it to the end.

I got bored with that quite early on. Being from Starbreeze I was expecting something akin to Chronicles of Riddick or The Darkness rather than a typical FPS.

Ditto. This was not the same Starbreeze however. If memory serves most of the talent had left at this point, going on to found MachineGames who would eventually make the new Wolfenstein games.

Oddly enough tho, Starbreeze did go on to make Brothers: Tale of 2 sons, one of the greatest experiences ive ever come across in gaming, so they clearly have a lot of talent left at that studio

Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons

Squinty wrote:

Brerlappin wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:

Trelliz wrote:Syndicate (2012 FPS, xbox 360)

I picked this up on a whim as part of a 3 for 2 preowned after hearing it wasn't terrible and I mostly agree. The tech powers you have and the combo-like system to power them up encourage you to be fast and creative with your shooty-bang-bang tactics, making it more interesting than a normal hurr durr run and gun shooter.

It is a very 2012 game; slightly too wobbly first person camera, mash x to open doors/grates, a basic upgrade tree with largely passive benefits and a now irrelevant co-op mode tacked on for good measure. Its definitely a 6-7 hour one-and-done game which i have no intention of holding on to after the fact, but i'll definitely stick with it to the end.

I got bored with that quite early on. Being from Starbreeze I was expecting something akin to Chronicles of Riddick or The Darkness rather than a typical FPS.

Ditto. This was not the same Starbreeze however. If memory serves most of the talent had left at this point, going on to found MachineGames who would eventually make the new Wolfenstein games.

Oddly enough tho, Starbreeze did go on to make Brothers: Tale of 2 sons, one of the greatest experiences ive ever come across in gaming, so they clearly have a lot of talent left at that studio

Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons

Fair doos, didn't realise that was Starbreeze. Obviously a very different studio these days.

Just started RE4 on the PC. The camera.

Feel like it is giving me motion sickness so £3 down the drain.

In the spirit of the season I've started Alien Isolation again. How does it still look so good? I mean besides the dodgy character midwife the game still looks damn near perfect

Tafdolphin wrote:

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:

Trelliz wrote:Syndicate (2012 FPS, xbox 360)

I picked this up on a whim as part of a 3 for 2 preowned after hearing it wasn't terrible and I mostly agree. The tech powers you have and the combo-like system to power them up encourage you to be fast and creative with your shooty-bang-bang tactics, making it more interesting than a normal hurr durr run and gun shooter.

It is a very 2012 game; slightly too wobbly first person camera, mash x to open doors/grates, a basic upgrade tree with largely passive benefits and a now irrelevant co-op mode tacked on for good measure. Its definitely a 6-7 hour one-and-done game which i have no intention of holding on to after the fact, but i'll definitely stick with it to the end.

I got bored with that quite early on. Being from Starbreeze I was expecting something akin to Chronicles of Riddick or The Darkness rather than a typical FPS.

Ditto. This was not the same Starbreeze however. If memory serves most of the talent had left at this point, going on to found MachineGames who would eventually make the new Wolfenstein games.

The multi-player was the best part of that game if memory serves. You could be really sneaky and hack the environment to attack players from behind or above.

Well i've sacked it off now, i got to the bullet spongey enemies you have to hack their shields before you can attack them and fighting them and a load of other guys in a load of dull corridors put me right off. I read the plot and it sets up for a sequel which has never come, and i'd rather play something else.

Lords of the Fallen on PS4. I want to platinum this as it seems doable. I’d forgotten how frustrating acquiring some of the enhanced boss weapons can be. Trying to beat First Warden with no damage is a right ball ache because his reach is ludicrous.

EDIT: nailed it

Back on Lords of the Fallen, banana split boss at the graveyard is no more.