Currently playing in 2019...

PostRe: Currently playing in 2019... by **Squinty** » Fri Oct 11, 2019 7:10 pm

Lotus wrote:Bioshock 2

I'm enjoying this a lot. The environments and overall aesthetic is great, as are the weapons and upgrades.
The plasmids and tonics I was never that fussed about, but some of them are enjoyable to use. It has all the classic sequel ingredients, some of which are a bit predictable, and the plot isn't particularly interesting, but it's very good nonetheless. Would guess I'm about 5-6 hours in now - looking forward to playing more over the weekend.

The Minerva's Den DLC is excellent for it.

PostRe: Currently playing in 2019... by **Lotus** » Fri Oct 11, 2019 9:12 pm

Yeah funnily enough I always check what DLC (if any) is available and when I checked for Bioshock 2 I already owned Minerva’s Den. :slol:

I must’ve bought it in a sale or something ages ago, knowing it was supposed to be decent (and already owning the main game). That’s the kind of thing I’d do. :lol:

PostRe: Currently playing in 2019... by **Photek** » Fri Oct 11, 2019 10:42 pm

I didn’t rate Minervas Den tbh.

PostRe: Currently playing in 2019... by **Jenuall** » Fri Oct 11, 2019 10:47 pm

Ugh Jak II, such a conflicted beast. The kernel of something great is still there but there is just such a mess of poorly designed mechanics and broken features bolted on top of it that it struggles to stay afloat.

Twice in my last session it has thrown missions at me that demand I locate and transport people from one part of the city to another and it is just the most frustrating time I've spent with a game in goodness knows how long.

The driving mechanics are just horrendous, crossing the city at the best of times is a chore but during these missions where you are constantly under attack it becomes even worse. If the vehicle isn't crashing into everything because of the horrible controls then it's blowing up for no apparent reason or getting stuck on some inexplicably invisible piece of geometry. And even worse when you do find the characters you are supposed to transport they resolutely refuse to climb aboard your vehicle so you just sit there getting shot at and waiting to die because there is absolutely nothing you can do to fix it!

But then every once in a while it throws a beautiful little platforming or exploration section at you and you remember just how amazing the graphics can look when the design plays to its strengths and just how much fun Jak can be to control when he's on foot or given space to let the hoverboard shine. And although you wonder why the strawberry float they had to put all those other gooseberry fool bits in the game, for a just a moment it doesn't matter and you can enjoy yourself again. You remember that the characters are actually really great, that the animation is stunning to watch and that the music is gorgeous as well.

Like a dark eco infused Jak himself this game is a beast with a split personality, it's just a shame that the bad bits can't largely be ignored like Dark Jak can!

Finally tore myself away from Grid Autosport to start Ori and my goodness I’m 20 mins in and it’s already shown it’s going to packed full of emotion, it looks and sounds amazing as well.

PostRe: Currently playing in 2019... by **FatDaz** » Sat Oct 12, 2019 1:20 pm

Lex-Man wrote:I've started playing Borderlands GOTY enhanced. It's sort of a bizarre game. The running and gunning feels pretty good in a lot of ways but have most of the quest stuff being presented in text with mostly static characters. Also the maps feels too small to me. They seem to have focused on the millions of guns and getting feel down rather than focusing on cinematics and story. I'm guessing that the budget was somewhat limited.

The first game was really a proof of concept and a test to see if there was interest. The sequel improves in every area you highlight and then some.

PostRe: Currently playing in 2019... by **Pedz** » Sat Oct 12, 2019 1:36 pm

Photek wrote:I didn’t rate Minervas Den tbh.

You seem to be very different with popular opinion on this. Like I think most consider 2 to be the worst and Minerva's Dan to be the best thing about 2 and one of the best things in general when it comes to Bioshock. I haven't finished 2 or played Minerva's Den. What didn't you like about it?

PostRe: Currently playing in 2019... by **Photek** » Sat Oct 12, 2019 6:58 pm

I finished both, First off I think you’ll find 2 has retrospectively been considered the better game of the trilogy. Now, it plays better than the other 2, that’s just a given, it’s story isn’t as good as 1 but until the ending of infinite it’s way better than that games story.

I always preferred Rapture to Columbia but the fact that Infinite barely has time to let you get to know how it works before it’s a warzone is a major disappointment. Bioshock 1 came with Rapture and was magnificent for it but B2 expanded on it, with a slight miss step of the Big Sister it unfolds Rapture to places and directions not seen in 1 and just overall infused that sense of being a real place.

The fact you can dual wield plasmids and guns is huge, playing 2 and going back to 1 is annoying. Gunplay has never been Bioshock’s strong point but preparation has, so setting up to defend the Little Sisters is interesting with mines, trap bolts, mini turrets, it’s a game within a game for these optional moments.

B2 refines what B1 did and even though it’s story isn’t as good as 1 or as broad as 3 it is self contained. I played Minerva’s Den only last year for the first time. I think this is why I don’t rate it, I think back in the Day it’s story was great and it is but without giving the game away I guessed what was going to happen a mile off, probably because it was so revered so I was looking for when ‘it gets good’. I prefer the main campaign far more.

So it seems rather than being scary once you hit the wine cellar in Amnesia on PS4 it becomes a broken mess where you can’t progress... great!

FFV on PS1 by way of PS3. Not that far into this I’ve recruited my party, found the first set of jobs and I’m about to meet a dragon. Seems pretty good thus far.

EDIT: Just found a great spot to farm ABP to level up my job classes. Most battles here yield 3 ABP instead of the usual 1 ABP.

I wish I’d known about this place sooner as it would have saved me a lot of time. I plan on hanging around until I’ve maxed out everybody’s first job then likely get some of the lower levels for a few more jobs too.

PostRe: Currently playing in 2019... by **Robbo-92** » Sun Oct 13, 2019 5:25 pm

Playing some more Ori today, my goodness is it a beautiful game :wub:

The music is wonderful as well. Only thing I keep forgetting to do is manually saving my game and official save points seem quite sporadic with how they’ve appeared so far, does this improve? Or do I need to just remember to save more?

Tried some of The Witcher 3 on the Switch last night as was actually quite impressed with how well it runs, sure its not as pretty to look at but it’s clearly The Witcher 3, some parts (from the 2 hours I’ve played so far) look better than others but at least it runs pretty stable at 30fps as well which is nice.

PostRe: Currently playing in 2019... by **Ironhide** » Sun Oct 13, 2019 6:09 pm

Dicey Dungeons - a turn based rogue like dungeon crawler similar to Slay the Spire but with tonnes more humour and some of the catchiest music I've heard in a game in ages.

Really enjoying it so far.

Hmmmmmmm, Niice!

Cracked on a bit more with Ori this morning, probably nearing 1/3 of the way through as I’ve just restored the tree and I’m currently trying and failing to escape.

As for The Witcher 3 I’m taking it slow, just enjoying the world and all of its bits of lore surrounding it. Not really advanced the main quest since I reached the White Orchard but the side quests have been very good so far.

Photek wrote:I finished both, First off I think you’ll find 2 has retrospectively been considered the better game of the trilogy. Now, it plays better than the other 2, that’s just a given, it’s story isn’t as good as 1 but until the ending of infinite it’s way better than that games story.

I always preferred Rapture to Columbia but the fact that Infinite barely has time to let you get to know how it works before it’s a warzone is a major disappointment. Bioshock 1 came with Rapture and was magnificent for it but B2 expanded on it, with a slight miss step of the Big Sister it unfolds Rapture to places and directions not seen in 1 and just overall infused that sense of being a real place.

The fact you can dual wield plasmids and guns is huge, playing 2 and going back to 1 is annoying. Gunplay has never been Bioshock’s strong point but preparation has, so setting up to defend the Little Sisters is interesting with mines, trap bolts, mini turrets, it’s a game within a game for these optional moments.

B2 refines what B1 did and even though it’s story isn’t as good as 1 or as broad as 3 it is self contained. I played Minerva’s Den only last year for the first time. I think this is why I don’t rate it, I think back in the Day it’s story was great and it is but without giving the game away I guessed what was going to happen a mile off, probably because it was so revered so I was looking for when ‘it gets good’. I prefer the main campaign far more.

BS1 is always going to be my favourite, largely due to nostalgia but also because I felt BS2 was...missing something. The first game, if one bought into that world, gave a feasible background to the city and why it was in the state it was. In BS2...not so much. The gameplay is, as you say, far better but the whole thing just feels far less legitimate as a work due to its weird take on the world. It felt like fan-fiction, basically. It tried to retroactively add in a character central to Rapture's very fabric and have the player be ok with her total absence from the first game. Which, for me, didn't work.

The overarching message (can a Utopia exists if there are no Utopians to populate it?) is fascinating but could have been handled in multiple other, more effective ways. Didn't help that I hated a lot of the voice acting too (Sophia and Eleanor were so hammy as to be unbearable, and they turned Andrew Ryan from an misguided fallen believer of the capitalist ideal into a seething monster from the get go).

Asphalt 9 Legends on Switch
How can a free to play game be this good? Bar the over the top micro transactions this is easily one of my favourite games of the year.

Also been playing this new CoD mobile, really fun mobile version of the mutliplayer that plays really well, just need controller support or even better a Switch port.

PostRe: Currently playing in 2019... by **Robbo-92** » Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:56 am

Finally escaped Ginso tree in Ori!, can finally enjoy this again after that quite frustrating portion of the game.

As for The Witcher 3, I’m just starting to advance the main quest after quite a few side quests, got to hunt a Griffin though which I’ll probably get killed by a couple of times no doubt.

PostRe: Currently playing in 2019... by **Photek** » Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:53 am

So I gave Fortnite one more try and I enjoyed it a fair bit tbh, I also enjoy Apex Legends (just found out it has a ranked mode :fp:

) I still prefer PUBG but I have to say, both Fortnite and Apex look LUSH on X1X, like absolutely gorgeous. Fortnite looks like that recent trailer IN GAME, it's stunning and Apex is nearly up with it.

Gone back to A Plagues Tale, currently on chapter 12 and this game is glorious probably my favourite PS4 game this year.

Ni No Kuni (Switch) - I absolutely loved the setting of this when I first played it on PS3 but for some reason gave up around the 15 hour mark. Probably a lack of TV time made me move on to something else. Anyway, took the plunge on Switch and now I'm back in love again. It definitely has it's problems, the ai of your partners is dreadful, the environments are a little empty and there is far too much wandering around between objectives (particularly in some of the towns). But it looks lovely and has the greatest videogame character of all time so that cancels out the negatives. Drippy is utterly superb and hats off to Dave Coaches for the voice work.

PostRe: Currently playing in 2019... by **Jenuall** » Thu Oct 17, 2019 1:51 pm

Nearing the end on Jak II (PS4) now and I have to admit it is a better game than I have given it credit for in the past. It still has more problems than it's predecessor and is definitely a less consistent experience in terms of quality, but on reflection I'd say the good does indeed outweigh the bad.

I don't think it helps that it front loads some of the worst content - the opening areas and missions are some of the worst in many ways. These starting areas are some of the most dull visually as well as being more frustrating to explore and navigate than much of what comes later.

Either way I think I must have just a final boss/area to do now as according to my save I'm on 90-odd percent complete!

Currently playing in 2019...

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