That daily game progress thread...
- Thread starter KAC
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I beat Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice
It's basically an expansion pack (but a standalone install) for Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. Which is basically a modern take on the old Commandos formula. The game controls similar to an RTS style game with a 3/4 view. You have a team of characters, each with their own skillset that you use to infiltrate and complete a mission. You can click on an enemy to watch their view cone, watch their patrol patterns and use your skills to distract and take out the enemies.
I find the game a satisfying experience. It's fun to pick off enemies one by one. Coming up with a plan and having it work out. On the negative side, the controls are sort of difficult sometimes since you're dealing with real time and point and click controls, and dealing with multiple characters in parallel. And sometimes you just miss that a guard is looking at you. So the game basically involves save-scumming your way through. The game basically encourages it with a timer reminding you how long since you've saved.
I played the full Shadow Tactic: Blades of the Shogun a few years ago and liked it. So I liked this one. This game is pretty short. There's 6 missions, but 3 of them are tiny interludes that barely count. So you have three quite expansive missions and that's it. Having not played the original in a while, this one did kind of feel like I was being dumped in the deep end. And then it's kind of over by the time you get into things.
Coincidentally, a new Commados game just came out.
It's basically an expansion pack (but a standalone install) for Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. Which is basically a modern take on the old Commandos formula. The game controls similar to an RTS style game with a 3/4 view. You have a team of characters, each with their own skillset that you use to infiltrate and complete a mission. You can click on an enemy to watch their view cone, watch their patrol patterns and use your skills to distract and take out the enemies.
I find the game a satisfying experience. It's fun to pick off enemies one by one. Coming up with a plan and having it work out. On the negative side, the controls are sort of difficult sometimes since you're dealing with real time and point and click controls, and dealing with multiple characters in parallel. And sometimes you just miss that a guard is looking at you. So the game basically involves save-scumming your way through. The game basically encourages it with a timer reminding you how long since you've saved.
I played the full Shadow Tactic: Blades of the Shogun a few years ago and liked it. So I liked this one. This game is pretty short. There's 6 missions, but 3 of them are tiny interludes that barely count. So you have three quite expansive missions and that's it. Having not played the original in a while, this one did kind of feel like I was being dumped in the deep end. And then it's kind of over by the time you get into things.
Coincidentally, a new Commados game just came out.
Played through Doom II: No Rest for the Livin.
One of the add-on wads that was buried in one of the GOG releases that I had missed when I did my Doom playthroughs a while ago. I just wanted a game that I could quickly jump in and out of during the intermissions while watching the NHL playoffs.
It's just more of the same. I did like these levels. Nothing special. But a little more straightforward than the last Episode I did (Sigil 1 and 2). Sigil 2 especially got annoying with the secret that always closed 60 seconds into the map and having a cyberdemon on every map. No Rest for the Livin felt more like getting back to standard Doom. The secrets were relatively easy to find. And, I think this was the first episode where I actually found myself having to conserve ammo a bit. A few of the later maps throw a lot of enemies at you so the limited ammo ends up being a bit of a concern.
Next, I'm probably going to do the new episodes that came with the Bethesda re-release. Legacy of Rust. Looks like the latest versions of GZDoom work with it.
One of the add-on wads that was buried in one of the GOG releases that I had missed when I did my Doom playthroughs a while ago. I just wanted a game that I could quickly jump in and out of during the intermissions while watching the NHL playoffs.
It's just more of the same. I did like these levels. Nothing special. But a little more straightforward than the last Episode I did (Sigil 1 and 2). Sigil 2 especially got annoying with the secret that always closed 60 seconds into the map and having a cyberdemon on every map. No Rest for the Livin felt more like getting back to standard Doom. The secrets were relatively easy to find. And, I think this was the first episode where I actually found myself having to conserve ammo a bit. A few of the later maps throw a lot of enemies at you so the limited ammo ends up being a bit of a concern.
Next, I'm probably going to do the new episodes that came with the Bethesda re-release. Legacy of Rust. Looks like the latest versions of GZDoom work with it.
Finished the oblivion remaster.
59/60 achievements, I don't understand why they had separate achievements for the mania/dementia duke choice when every other achievement is achievable in a single playthrough.
Dick move, bethesda.
Oh well, I enjoyed my time with the remaster, I had forgotten just how much the level scaling broke the game though, once you get near level 20 you are swimming in money due to how much valuable gear random enemies drop.
I kind of wish that they would have made a separate remix mode where they actually fixed the level scaling.
59/60 achievements, I don't understand why they had separate achievements for the mania/dementia duke choice when every other achievement is achievable in a single playthrough.
Dick move, bethesda.
Oh well, I enjoyed my time with the remaster, I had forgotten just how much the level scaling broke the game though, once you get near level 20 you are swimming in money due to how much valuable gear random enemies drop.
I kind of wish that they would have made a separate remix mode where they actually fixed the level scaling.
I've been playing Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon.
It's a pretty neat bethesda-like rpg, it does not have npc schedules or anything like that, but the gameplay and leveling is heavily inspired by the elder scrolls series.
And unlike doom, I can't stop playing it.
It's a pretty neat bethesda-like rpg, it does not have npc schedules or anything like that, but the gameplay and leveling is heavily inspired by the elder scrolls series.
And unlike doom, I can't stop playing it.
Drexion
Well-known member
Completed Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 about 45 hours in. 10/10 - Every single aspect of the game was exceptional (except maybe some occasional clunkiness in the UI) and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment from start to finish. Agree with those saying GOTY so far, it puts tripleA titles with 10 times the budget to shame.
I'm looking forward to it. Knowing I wanted to play both Avowed and Clair I decided to do Avowed first so that I wouldn't unfairly judge it poorly by comparison.
Finished BOOM The Bark Ages. It was...fine. I mean the combat is still largely enjoyable and eventually I was okay with the parry system. You do get into a decent flow. Cycler, Ravager, and Shredder (+ricochet) were all good weapons, the former I used like 90% near the end with the electric perk thingo. That said, still not a great shooter imo. The story is an utter waste of time (mine and the developers). The game is probably overlong and was hard to play more than a few levels at a time because it's just a grind. Dragon missions sucked, Atlan missions were meh. Level design in general was mediocre at best with a strange obsession with pirate ships and cthulhu. I would say it's slightly better than Doom Eternal because it had no garbage platforming. So Doom 1 > Doom 3 > Doom 2 >> Doom 2016 >> Boom: The Bark Ages > Doom Eternal
Playing The Alters. Just finished the prologue and it's quite good so far. If it doesn't become grindy (my fear) then it should be a strong one.
Playing The Alters. Just finished the prologue and it's quite good so far. If it doesn't become grindy (my fear) then it should be a strong one.
Played through Doom Legacy of Rust.
Continuing playing through the Doom wads during the intermissions of the NHL playoffs. This is the new one that Bethesda added about a year ago.
This one was a bit hit or miss. They had different level designers do each level. Two compaigns of 7 missions each plus 2 secret levels. I played through GZDoom, which needed the latest release and still had a minor bug. I think it still messes up some graphical effects and a lot of old mods don't work. So maybe it's better to play the official release instead of through GZDoom.
They did put a lot of new work into this one, with new textures, and a few new graphical features such as some destructable objects. They added a number of new enemies (one flying enemy that explodes when you kill it doing damage at close range, some quick flying skulls that shoot fast projectiles but are taken down in one shot, a human enemy using the Doomguy model that shoots with the plasma rifle, a demon that shoots fire and a few others). It also has a new soundtrack.
They also added a couple new weapons. A flamethrower and the calamity blade, which replace the plasma rifle and the BFG. They use fuel as ammo instead of energy. The new weapons are almost overpowered. The calamity blade is a room clearer like the BFG. You can charge it, which uses more ammo, but has a wider shot. Way more reliable than the BFG. It's very powerful, and a no-charge shot only uses 10 ammo. The only limitation is that it can only shoot straight, so it's useless if the enemies are more than a step higher than you. The flamethrower is also really powerful. Shoots flames at an enemy, which do initial damage plust leave a flame pillar behind that does continuing damage. So it basically does really fast damage, and stunlocks an enemy. You can basically kill a cyberdemon with it and it will stunlock it so you can just stand still and it won't get a shot off (if you're lucky). The only limitation is that it uses ammo quickly and you can damage yourself with it if you get too close to the flames.
Most of the maps are pretty good. But too many of them just throw hordes of demons at you. Like 500+ enemies on a map. And often they will look you into a limited space and warp in a bunch of enemies, or warp enemies back into rooms you've already cleared. There's a few times that it starts to feel tedious. The last map, actually kind of sucks, where you pretty much get insta-killed constantly near the end if you aren't lucky.
Continuing playing through the Doom wads during the intermissions of the NHL playoffs. This is the new one that Bethesda added about a year ago.
This one was a bit hit or miss. They had different level designers do each level. Two compaigns of 7 missions each plus 2 secret levels. I played through GZDoom, which needed the latest release and still had a minor bug. I think it still messes up some graphical effects and a lot of old mods don't work. So maybe it's better to play the official release instead of through GZDoom.
They did put a lot of new work into this one, with new textures, and a few new graphical features such as some destructable objects. They added a number of new enemies (one flying enemy that explodes when you kill it doing damage at close range, some quick flying skulls that shoot fast projectiles but are taken down in one shot, a human enemy using the Doomguy model that shoots with the plasma rifle, a demon that shoots fire and a few others). It also has a new soundtrack.
They also added a couple new weapons. A flamethrower and the calamity blade, which replace the plasma rifle and the BFG. They use fuel as ammo instead of energy. The new weapons are almost overpowered. The calamity blade is a room clearer like the BFG. You can charge it, which uses more ammo, but has a wider shot. Way more reliable than the BFG. It's very powerful, and a no-charge shot only uses 10 ammo. The only limitation is that it can only shoot straight, so it's useless if the enemies are more than a step higher than you. The flamethrower is also really powerful. Shoots flames at an enemy, which do initial damage plust leave a flame pillar behind that does continuing damage. So it basically does really fast damage, and stunlocks an enemy. You can basically kill a cyberdemon with it and it will stunlock it so you can just stand still and it won't get a shot off (if you're lucky). The only limitation is that it uses ammo quickly and you can damage yourself with it if you get too close to the flames.
Most of the maps are pretty good. But too many of them just throw hordes of demons at you. Like 500+ enemies on a map. And often they will look you into a limited space and warp in a bunch of enemies, or warp enemies back into rooms you've already cleared. There's a few times that it starts to feel tedious. The last map, actually kind of sucks, where you pretty much get insta-killed constantly near the end if you aren't lucky.
Drexion
Well-known member
I'm enjoying Stellar Blade a lot more than I expected to. The devs did a good job of merging Souls-lite and Character-Action games while keeping the gameplay fun and exploration rewarding and interesting. Similarly to Clair Obscure, hitting a bunch of perfect parries in a row feels amazing. PC Gamers eating good this year.
I'm looking forward to it. Knowing I wanted to play both Avowed and Clair I decided to do Avowed first so that I wouldn't unfairly judge it poorly by comparison.
Wrapped up Avowed. Enjoyed it. I felt pretty much invincible for the most part and rarely needed a potion (which is more or less what I always aim for in these games because I have a HUGE mental hang-up about using a finite resource.)
Started Clair Obscure... just the opening sequence sets the mood so hard. Hits the emotional notes and sets the scene... great storytelling thus far.
I beat Ruiner
It's a twin sticks shooter/beat-em up. It's set in a dystopian cyberpunk world. There's a storyline, but it wasn't very interesting. The game is bogged down by a lot of cutscenes and dialogue. There's even a city section that you go to in between levels (only happens 3 times) but it's kind of a waste. There's a few people you can talk to and they give you the most basic of side quests that largely don't affect the game.
The levels in the game are fairly linear. You walk from area to area where you eventually get locked in until you kill all the enemies. There's little opportunity to explore. A few boxes off the main path that give you more XP, and the occasional weapon locker. But the weapons don't last and enemies drop a ton of weapons, so there's not a whole lot worth exploring. And for some reason they add a bunch of slow elevators and these speedbike transitions. I don't know if they're covering up loading screens (there are actual loading screens between levels, so I doubt it). There's just a lot of stuff that slows the gameplay down.
You gain levels and can distribute skill points. You get a few different shields and other combat abilities.
There are a few mini-bosses throughout the short game, but a lot of them just get repeated.
I found the gameplay fun, though. You have a dash button to avoid damage. And you run around and shoot things and beat them with melee attacks. Your main gun is called the titular 'Ruiner' but actually the melee attacks are more powerful. It's fun to shoot, dash at enemies, beat them with a few melee attacks and dash to the next enemy. There's a Speedrun mode, which was a lot more fun. It basically removes all the dialogue and the city section and speeds up the elevators/speedbikes. There's a fun game here, but it was bogged down by all the trappings of the main storyline, which wasn't particularly interesting.
It's a twin sticks shooter/beat-em up. It's set in a dystopian cyberpunk world. There's a storyline, but it wasn't very interesting. The game is bogged down by a lot of cutscenes and dialogue. There's even a city section that you go to in between levels (only happens 3 times) but it's kind of a waste. There's a few people you can talk to and they give you the most basic of side quests that largely don't affect the game.
The levels in the game are fairly linear. You walk from area to area where you eventually get locked in until you kill all the enemies. There's little opportunity to explore. A few boxes off the main path that give you more XP, and the occasional weapon locker. But the weapons don't last and enemies drop a ton of weapons, so there's not a whole lot worth exploring. And for some reason they add a bunch of slow elevators and these speedbike transitions. I don't know if they're covering up loading screens (there are actual loading screens between levels, so I doubt it). There's just a lot of stuff that slows the gameplay down.
You gain levels and can distribute skill points. You get a few different shields and other combat abilities.
There are a few mini-bosses throughout the short game, but a lot of them just get repeated.
I found the gameplay fun, though. You have a dash button to avoid damage. And you run around and shoot things and beat them with melee attacks. Your main gun is called the titular 'Ruiner' but actually the melee attacks are more powerful. It's fun to shoot, dash at enemies, beat them with a few melee attacks and dash to the next enemy. There's a Speedrun mode, which was a lot more fun. It basically removes all the dialogue and the city section and speeds up the elevators/speedbikes. There's a fun game here, but it was bogged down by all the trappings of the main storyline, which wasn't particularly interesting.