Currently Playing in 2020...

Back into the wonderful incredibly gorgeous Final Fantasy XIII (4K X1X version). Still can't quite believe what the wizards at MS did with this game, it's breath taking in parts. I've bought X111-2 and 3 in sale which are also (essentially) remastered. Battles are getting tricky for me now (which is when it's at it's best) and I'm having to switch between paradigms quite a lot. Love it to pieces.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:

Alvin Flummux wrote:Kingdom Come: Deliverance - Royal Edition.

I'm in love with this game. I think it the most perfect historically-set game ever made. It has everything I could ever desire of a history-based game.

Oh, I know that the combat has a steep learning curve, character faces and voices are limited in a Bethesda-esque way, the map isn't quite 1:1, and I know some of the town recreations aren't quite accurate due to being based on larger, wealthier towns... But strawberry float, it's got me in its sway.

Though I shall long for a sequel, a next gen remake with full VR capabilities would be great to have as well.

I keep thinking about trying this one on Game Pass. What other RPG's would you say it is comparable to? You mentioned Bethesda, does it share a lot with the work they have done?

The main Bethesda elements that it shares are the limited number of people faces and voice actors. IIRC it was a Kickstarter funded game and it's entirely understandable why they would have to limit these things.

I've heard it called a real world Skyrim sans magic, but I've not played that game enough to really know. Could be that the leveling up system is similar, too - every couple of levels (the exact number differs for each trait and skill) you earn a new perk point. These are especially useful in lockpicking and horse riding, but increasing strength lets you use better weapons, wear better armor, etc.

It's all first person, so I suppose you can compare it to Chivalry and games like it on that front.

Definitely try it, but be aware that mechanics like combat are difficult at first, due to the realism of it all. Once you get the hang of them, it becomes a much more rewarding experience.

Got hyped watching reviews of Ghost of Tsushima, but I don't have a PS4, so I bought Nioh instead, and I've just bought Dark Souls again, haven't I?

I also was not expecting this samurai game to have me playing as an Irish man fighting his way out of the tower of London. Colour me confused.

Alvin Flummux wrote:

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:

Alvin Flummux wrote:Kingdom Come: Deliverance - Royal Edition.

I'm in love with this game. I think it the most perfect historically-set game ever made. It has everything I could ever desire of a history-based game.

Oh, I know that the combat has a steep learning curve, character faces and voices are limited in a Bethesda-esque way, the map isn't quite 1:1, and I know some of the town recreations aren't quite accurate due to being based on larger, wealthier towns... But strawberry float, it's got me in its sway.

Though I shall long for a sequel, a next gen remake with full VR capabilities would be great to have as well.

I keep thinking about trying this one on Game Pass. What other RPG's would you say it is comparable to? You mentioned Bethesda, does it share a lot with the work they have done?

The main Bethesda elements that it shares are the limited number of people faces and voice actors. IIRC it was a Kickstarter funded game and it's entirely understandable why they would have to limit these things.

I've heard it called a real world Skyrim sans magic, but I've not played that game enough to really know. Could be that the leveling up system is similar, too - every couple of levels (the exact number differs for each trait and skill) you earn a new perk point. These are especially useful in lockpicking and horse riding, but increasing strength lets you use better weapons, wear better armor, etc.

It's all first person, so I suppose you can compare it to Chivalry and games like it on that front.

Definitely try it, but be aware that mechanics like combat are difficult at first, due to the realism of it all. Once you get the hang of them, it becomes a much more rewarding experience.

Thanks for the in depth write up. I really should give it a go. It seems like one of those fairly lengthy titles that will probably get cycled out of the service the month after I start it though! Will add it to my list. I usually know if an RPG is for me pretty quickly, and if it sticks it gets my undivided attention.

Super Lucky's Tale arrived from The Game Collection yesterday and I played a fair bit of it last night, and whilst it's incredibly easy, the game is super charming and really fun like an old school 90's platformer.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:Thanks for the in depth write up. I really should give it a go. It seems like one of those fairly lengthy titles that will probably get cycled out of the service the month after I start it though! Will add it to my list. I usually know if an RPG is for me pretty quickly, and if it sticks it gets my undivided attention.

I'm not super into most RPGs, but this one captivated me, and I've sunk 250-ish hours into it.

The variety of stories and quests have meant that I've rarely, if ever, felt the kind of samey mission fatigue I've seen listed among the issues of the more recent Assassin's Creed games. And that's not an easy thing to pull off, given that it's also an open world.

That may prove to be a negative if they want to go down the sequel route, though - have they fulfilled the majority of the potential of the series in one title? That's something that only time will reveal.

I wish it had a photo mode, though.

I couldn't get into Kingdom Come Deliverance AT ALL. It's, just kinda shoddy.... like overall.

Photek wrote:I couldn't get into Kingdom Come Deliverance AT ALL. It's, just kinda shoddy.... like overall.

It's not for everyone, but I wouldn't call it shoddy - it's much better than Bethesda's overrated output.

One of the things I found really off-putting was the lock picking... did you find a better way around that Alvin?

Alvin Flummux wrote:

Photek wrote:I couldn't get into Kingdom Come Deliverance AT ALL. It's, just kinda shoddy.... like overall.

It's not for everyone, but I wouldn't call it shoddy - it's much better than Bethesda's overrated output.

Skyrim is a FAR bigger game and imo a FAR better one and the Lockpicking is an abomination, genuinely game breaking.

Photek wrote:

Alvin Flummux wrote:

Photek wrote:I couldn't get into Kingdom Come Deliverance AT ALL. It's, just kinda shoddy.... like overall.

It's not for everyone, but I wouldn't call it shoddy - it's much better than Bethesda's overrated output.

Skyrim is a FAR bigger game and imo a FAR better one and the Lockpicking is an abomination, genuinely game breaking.

Bigger? Yes, dramatically so. Better? Ehh, it's a Bethesda game. Based on my experience with the Fallout series, I have no confidence in their ability to create a believable world (in any genre), or come up with a coherent, well-written narrative, or bug fix.

KCD has a modest map size, but it doesn't necessarily suffer from it, and I find the world to be eminently believable to a degree I don't think any other historical game has been. The stories are well written and interesting, and most of the bugs plaguing the game at release have long since been patched away.

The lockpicking in KCD is very frustrating in the beginning, I agree - I was shouting at the game at points because of it. But once you level up that skill a bit, acquire a couple of perks, learn the value of the Padfoot potion, it gets considerably easier. Using the simplified version of the lockpicking system, toggled in the options menu IIRC, also helps a lot.

The opening couple of sections of the game definitely suffer from the game's too-steep learning curves, though. One of a handful of crucial missteps by the developers that probably put a lot of people off, sadly.

KCD is also, to me, proof that first person historical adventure games set pre-19th century can and do work, and consequently, warrant considerable in-depth exploration. I recall being laughed out of at least one thread some years ago for suggesting that FPS type games didn't have to be limited to the last 150 years or so, people complaining that it wouldn't be fun, or that early guns took forever to reload.

There are countless times, places and events and that KCD type games could now illuminate and bring to life without needing Dan Brown sci-fi plots to justify it.

Still really enjoying Far Cry 5. The constant kidnappings are so stupid though

I'm not feeling well at the minute and being able to just jump into this for an hour to blow stuff up or take over another outpost is helping me keep calm.

It's junk food.

I'm an idiot for forgeting to use the Switch's capture feature, but I'm back to Farming Simulator and undertook the trip to the shops to get more seeds. The pallet fork got stuck inside the floor upon trying to pick one of the seed pallets up, so the vehicle was just bouncing up and down when I tried to pull it back out. Had to reset the fork to get it unstuck, then had no problems for the rest of the loading. Doubt such a thing will ever happen again, but it was quite funny to see, so I kind of want it to happen again.

Binned DMC5, so started Far Cry 3 remastered edition. Runs like balls on Xbox one, but it's alright. The map is huge, it's the perfect game to just turn your brain off to.

Still plugging away at Final Fantasy III. I’m quietly confident that with a few more level ups and a better strategy for the end boss I can have this beaten today.

I'm most of the way through Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter. It's one of those series that keeps going and improving in some ways, but not in others. It throws a lot of new mechanics and systems for specific events, and has a lot of bullshit moments that thankfully the developers have had the foresight to add an option to skip almost any of them. I have never understood the lockpicking system, and in one section where Holmes goes into his mind palace to figure out how an ill-fated expedition to an aztec temple went wrong, and imagines multiple ultra-bullshit instant death collapsing floor/poison gas/rotating pillar puzzles, all of which are just padding for the sake of it. I was getting close to the end of that section and turned a corner to see a rickety bridge and exclaimed a laboured "for strawberry float's sake..." knowing this would be another one, fortunately the game seemed to know too and the skip option popped up almost immediately. Among those and a few others such as some not great stealth sections I would have abandoned it fairly quickly if not for that system in place.

This is not a series or genre where being ultra MLG pro is the driving impetus, I want to participate in some intriguing mysteries and deduce the cause/culprits. It would be like playing the excellent Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective game with friends and having to physically go play a round of paintball or do an assault course before being allowed to read from the next destination text; that's not what I come to this kind of game for.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

So far, so good. More of the same but I much prefer the jungle setting and the first challenge tomb felt like a proper tomb rather than a puzzle room.

Made to the second island in Far Cry 3. I'm enjoying it despite the jank of it, the Xbox one remaster is à total shitfest though. Persistent framerate problems, looks to be 720p with very little anti aliasing going on. Graphical glitches when climbing towers as well. This was completely shat out with very little love put into it.

Zilnad wrote:Still really enjoying Far Cry 5. The constant kidnappings are so stupid though

I'm not feeling well at the minute and being able to just jump into this for an hour to blow stuff up or take over another outpost is helping me keep calm.

It's junk food.

Generally find this with Ubisoft games. I’m currently quite enjoying Assassin’s Creed Odyssey simply because it’s easy to just relax in front of (I’m also quite enjoying the story that seems to be a little more considered than most Ubisoft fares). However, I found FC5 to be quite unlikeable. Felt almost unrelentingly mean spirited.

I finally managed to finish a Soulsborne game last night!! \o/

I've played Dark Souls on PC, DS Remastered on Switch, Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 on PS4 and have always got stuck around 3/4 in, and given up. A few weeks ago bought Dark Souls 3 on PC and finally got past Yhorm the Giant (he still gave me the most trouble, even though everyone claims he's easy) and went on to complete the game. A bit of an underwhelming ending to be honest. I felt I deserved Miyazaki to turn up at my door with a medal or something!

So I'm now playing something much less stressful... Atelier Ryza! Big breasted Japanese RPG cuteness!

And have a Oculus Quest on order for my daughter. So will be buying Half Life Alyx this week.