Written by Metren on 02.12.2020 at 19:26

...deeply flawed and unsatisfying mess of Final Fantasy VIII.

That drive-by on one of my all-time favorite games...

I still have a physical copy for my PS1 that I play once or twice a year, usually when I take time off work. I also have a PC copy but its changes ruin my immersion. If I ever update my console collection and buy something somewhat modern, I'd love to test out the remastered version. Between that and Age of Empires, I'm only now waiting for the day a Diablo II remaster is released.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 02.12.2020 at 20:12
Spirit of the Law

SotL is one of my most precious "gotta watch something while eating dinner alone" channels on youtube. Haven't played in a long time. Only got the HD version (and not even up to the Rise of The Rajas expansion). One of the only reasons I have to buy a new computer is actually the definitive edition haha.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 02.12.2020 at 20:17

Written by Metren on 02.12.2020 at 19:26

...deeply flawed and unsatisfying mess of Final Fantasy VIII.

That drive-by on one of my all-time favorite games...

As noted in my longer response above, back in the days of playing like NHL '00 or whatever, I'd make a defenseman named Alexander DOOMTRAIN. DOOMTRAIN just sounds like a guy who can throw a fucking hit and clear the crease...

@BitterCold
Have you did sharpshooter chanalnges? How can I shoot 3 hats whit same eye, non YT videos helps, use shotgun's, not pistol, I kill someone.

Edit
Fixed legendary blugill eror

Written by BitterCOld on 08.12.2020 at 21:50

As noted in my longer response above, back in the days of playing like NHL '00 or whatever, I'd make a defenseman named Alexander DOOMTRAIN. DOOMTRAIN just sounds like a guy who can throw a fucking hit and clear the crease...

Doomtrain was one of my most-used GFs throughout the late game for his effects and abilities but imagining it as a bulky hockey player makes me appreciate it even more. Like Chris Pronger or Scott Stevens.

CP2077 has that same quality as Witcher 3: I've spent hours on it already, it's a beautiful and enjoyable time sink, but at the back of my head I'm constantly grumbling about things that I would have designed better. May review it more thoroughly later, but damn they missed some great opportunities with the RPG systems. Street Cred sounds like an awesome concept, but I've yet to encounter a situation I can choose to solve in a particular "cred" way or in some other (easier/more profitable/more convenient) way. I seem to rack it up pretty passively, alongside XP, and it doesn't seem to affect anything apart from access to some loot/side quests.

Backgrounds are also trivial, basically just a prologue and some convo options. I wanted to play a corpo who ends up on the streets and is desparate to prove herself in the underworld, taking some punches in the ring etc. to gain cred. But I have no disadvantages, nobody treats me like scum because of my background. Not to mention I never feel like I'm having to take on jobs just to get by, or that I'm in any way an underdog. There's so much loot, a fancy apartment (that I have no use for), and all-round feeling of safety and comfort around the city. Why the hell did I ever sell my soul to the corporations to begin with, if it's this easy to make it solo?

In general, there's a severe lack of any meaningful choices in the quests. And I mean both dialogue choices and choices of how to approach problems. Yes you can sneak around a bit, choose different ways to kill people, but it's nothing like the approaches you take in Deus Ex, Underrail or Hitman, or some dialogue-heavy RPGs like Age of Decadence and Fallout.

So if you're looking for a nice open world adventure with an impressive, immersive, cinematic story, it's an exciting and fun game. If you're looking for a good shooter or stealth game, it's very meh. If you're looking for a solid RPG, which it was marketed as, don't bother.

If you just love cyberpunk as a genre, it captures that feeling pretty well. But to be honest, the fantasy of being an off-the-grid, on-the-edge, cool underdog merc in a dark, dangerous world ass-fucked by corporations - Shadowrun: Dragonfall and Shadowrun: Hong Kong capture that feeling way better. I would also sooner recommend Deus Ex (original or Human Revolution) and Underrail.

Been binged on Call of Duty Modern Warfare(Going Dark). It's a superb setup.

So Baba is You got a level editor now. Time to get to that again

So... Cyberpunk isn't all that, eh? Not to toot my own horn, but...

...wait, I fucked that up. What I meant to say was:

To toot my own horn, I saw this coming. All hypetrains eventually hit a wall, all bubbles burst sooner or later. A year or so ago when CD Projekt Red posted their famous tweet: "We leave greed to other companies", I became suspicious, the cynical bastard that I am. It felt like they had bought into their own hype, which is never a good thing.

I might still check the game out when I improve my PC and when the price on Cyberpunk 2077 drops a bit, but I am not expecting anything special.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 02.12.2020 at 20:17

That drive-by on one of my all-time favorite games...

I would have you know that I actually enjoy many parts of Final Fantasy VIII The opening hours establish a nice amalgam of relatability and power fantasy, for example. It's a game that feels nice. I wish I could put that into more eloquent terms, but I am lazy.

Written by Metren on 16.12.2020 at 21:24

So... Cyberpunk isn't all that, eh?

Well, it isn't a great RPG, which was expected but still disappointing. (Even Wild Hunt was a meh RPG, I thought.) It's seems like a great open world cinematic action adventure, which is not my preferred genre. It's better than any Assassin's Creed, GTA or Far Cry I've known, but it's clearly in that oversaturated genre of "here's a filler quest, here's a collectible, here's a randomly generated encounter, here's some trivial crafting and superficial character progress". Horizon Zero Dawn and what-have-you. But if you rein in your expectations, the story and a lot of the side quests around the city are very immersive.

I think some of the backlash is just due to the hype, and the trainwreck console release. The game itself, had it come out of the blue, would probably be well-received. Certainly way better than The Outer Worlds, for instance. So far I'd give it a strong 7/10.

Written by Irritable Ted on 17.12.2020 at 11:09

Written by IronAngel on 17.12.2020 at 10:06

Written by Metren on 16.12.2020 at 21:24

So... Cyberpunk isn't all that, eh?

Well, it isn't a great RPG, which was expected but still disappointing. (Even Wild Hunt was a meh RPG, I thought.) It's seems like a great open world cinematic action adventure, which is not my preferred genre. It's better than any Assassin's Creed, GTA or Far Cry I've known, but it's clearly in that oversaturated genre of "here's a filler quest, here's a collectible, here's a randomly generated encounter, here's some trivial crafting and superficial character progress". Horizon Zero Dawn and what-have-you. But if you rein in your expectations, the story and a lot of the side quests around the city are very immersive.

I think some of the backlash is just due to the hype, and the trainwreck console release. The game itself, had it come out of the blue, would probably be well-received. Certainly way better than The Outer Worlds, for instance. So far I'd give it a strong 7/10.

I've stopped buying pre order games. Been bitten by too many unfinished betas. When did the consumer become an unpaid tester? I might look at a PS5 or XSX next Christmas when all the fuss has died down and the bugs ironed out...and Cyberpunk is $5 in the second hand section.

Aren't you to old for games, you should be adult and proper job and kidds lol
anyway no offense man, I will play till I die

I bought Mafia 1 remake ,. otherwise no I hardly buy in pre sale, only concert tickets, but nothing more.

Written by Irritable Ted on 17.12.2020 at 11:09

I've stopped buying pre order games. Been bitten by too many unfinished betas. When did the consumer become an unpaid tester?

Yeah, I've never pre-ordered. Got CP2077 after the first hotfix. I'm a PC gamer, so I almost exclusively buy from digital retailer sales. I think the only games I've paid 30+ euros for in years have been D:OS2, Disco Elysium, NierR Automata and now CP2077. (And 3/4 of those became immediate all-time favorites, so money well spent.) I'm generally happy to play older games, I have 80+ in my to-play list on Steam and GOG. I might get Fallen Order, RDR2 and the new Yakuza game, though, if I get the itch and opportunity to play them, given that the older I get, the more I prioritise time over money.

I'm playing the Spyro remakes and Lego Marvel Superheroes with my 5-year-old now. They're actually pretty fun.

I honestly haven't played in so long it hurts a little, gotta buy that new smash DLC though

Closing in on the end of Final Fantasy IX. Great game, truly, but some of the cracks in the world-building and storytelling are beginning to show now. Garland comes out of nowhere and is boring and pointless. The repetitive "let's go after Kuja again, here's Kuja, bye-bye again, Kuja" story isn't as engaging as the first half of the game was, not by a long shot. Still, the characters are mostly engaging and the locations well-designed and the game never quite loses the sense of humor that it introduced so well in the beginning. The battles are still too easy, but Final Fantasy games have never been about gameplay anyway. IX is definitely up there with VII an IV (the two best ones by far) as one of the greats, even if it doesn't quite live up to either one.

I also purchased Nier: Automata an Ni no Kuni II, because of the Steam winter sale; also, because I have heard great things about both and want to play them. Gotta finish IX first, though.

Written by Metren on 27.12.2020 at 00:36

Ni no Kuni II

Do share your impressions when you get around to it. I haven't played many JRPGs in years, and I dunno which ones are worth the trouble. That one's been on my wishlist, though. One that was well-liked around Codex is TROUBLESHOOTER: Abandoned Children. Apparently it's based on a manga/anime and has a typical JRPG story frame, but tactical turn-based combat like XCOM. Looked pretty exciting.

I considered buying Endless Space 2, remembered I had Endless Legend which I'd only played for a few hours, and spent a day building mill foundries before I remembered why I don't play 4X anymore: I don't live forever. But anyway, it didn't scratch my space itch, and I accidentally stumbled on an absolute gem I had never heard about:

Space Traders: Frontiers. It's a gorgeous indie space RPG/roguelike/strategy/simulator. It's a bit like EVE or the X series in that you have complete freedom in what you want to do in space, but there's more story, it's a lot more accessible, and it has servicable turn-based combat (both ship and ground combat) and great art style. You build (and dress up) your captain, you recruit and train your crew, buy ships and upgrade them, go on missions for individuals and factions that affect their power relations and your reputation, you can blockade and be a pirate, you can patrol and be a good guy, you can spy, explore planets (a lot of these are done through simple card games but have flavor text), trade between outposts etc. There are main story missions but you can ignore them. The universe is procedurally generated, and while it's not immense, it's large enough (I think you can also set the size). Honestly, this may be the best space game I've played - excluding some RPGs that happen to be set in space, like KOTOR. It's more satisfying than FTL, but it has some of that same sense of trial-and-error, and failure is OK.

Basically, it's Mount & Blade: Firefly.

I want to play Omori but it's still sooo expenseive... I wonder when the next steam sale is..?

Well, pray (prey?) for me. decided to sack up and start Bloodborne. thought I was doing fairly well. saved up enough BE to buy the hunter gear, found a couple shortcuts... wandered up some rooftops and eventually got stuck down in a giant rat filled channel wishing I could toss aside my pistol for Tom Baker's Birmingham Elephant Gun. Jumped further down after that as I saw a ladder that might be an escape. Knew there was one foe when I was going to land... and one of the corpses wasn't so much a corpse, accidentally locked to that before it moved and was promptly gutted by the foe I had been preparing for.

Will probably absolutely suck at the bosses, but will say against the trash mobs the more frenetic/aggressive combat is right up my alley. immediate response when hit is maybe a quick roll and strike, strike strike back. Saved my bacon more than once thanks to rally.

*edit - thought I'd give it one more go for the night. ended up on the Great Bridge or whatever, somehow irrevocably engaged in a boss fight with the Cleric Beast. a bunch of molotovs later, I fucking won. first time. I am absolutely stunned. was waiting for some Yakuza-0 Style second health bar. Now flush with Blood Echoes, time to figure out where to spend 'em.

Written by BitterCOld on 18.03.2021 at 02:08

*edit - thought I'd give it one more go for the night. ended up on the Great Bridge or whatever, somehow irrevocably engaged in a boss fight with the Cleric Beast. a bunch of molotovs later, I fucking won. first time. I am absolutely stunned.

One of the best feelings in video games is defeating a tense boss fight like that.

Written by BitterCOld on 18.03.2021 at 02:08

was waiting for some Yakuza-0 Style second health bar.

Oh those may or may not be coming later (that's not to sound ominous, I genuinely don't remember if Bloodborne had those. Sekiro definitely does though)

Written by BitterCOld on 18.03.2021 at 02:08

Bloodborne

I'm still trying to find the guts to start this one. I loved Demon's Souls and Dark Souls mainly because they rewarded caution and you could sort of tank your way in if needed. But I'm kind of a wimp when I play video games and I panic easily, so I've always been wary of BB's attack-driven, fast-paced gameplay, absence of shield and Lovecraftian horror art. So it's gathering dust next to my PS4, waiting for me to grow a pair. I don't see that happening anytime soon, though.

Written by Deadsoulman on 18.03.2021 at 16:02


I'm still trying to find the guts to start this one. I loved Demon's Souls and Dark Souls mainly because they rewarded caution and you could sort of tank your way in if needed. But I'm kind of a wimp when I play video games and I panic easily, so I've always been wary of BB's attack-driven, fast-paced gameplay, absence of shield and Lovecraftian horror art. So it's gathering dust next to my PS4, waiting for me to grow a pair. I don't see that happening anytime soon, though.

So two weeks later, probably sunk another 10 hours into this. Haven't defeated the next boss yet - got WREKT twice - but have leveled up myself and weapon. The general layout is understood and at the point last Saturday I played after knocking back a couple liters of fine Brazilian craft cerveja and was able to do pretty well, died once due to a doom decision. Other than that, it's just fun exploring.

Honestly, difficulty spike at the start is hard but once you figure out how to pick the big clusterfuck of baddies into smaller groups/patrols, it gets much easier. And the game is surprisingly generous with Blood Vials (heals).

Give it a go. Wait until the wife and little ones are in bed, fire up something like Nortt in the background and go. Get accustomed to that initial spike and it is really fun just to explore the horrors.

Finished Wizardry 8.
Hard to get into at first, but rewarding after that. Good game

Written by ylside on 04.04.2021 at 20:09

Finished Wizardry 8.
Hard to get into at first, but rewarding after that. Good game

wow. blast from the past. one of the first games i played on my first pc back in (cough) '94 (cough) was the predecessor, Crusaders of the Dark Savant. Still make jokes with my brother about that game. Never finished, never will. Bought it on GOG, but so hard to go back 25 years in computing games.

Written by BitterCOld on 07.04.2021 at 23:48

Written by ylside on 04.04.2021 at 20:09

Finished Wizardry 8.
Hard to get into at first, but rewarding after that. Good game

wow. blast from the past. one of the first games i played on my first pc back in (cough) '94 (cough) was the predecessor, Crusaders of the Dark Savant. Still make jokes with my brother about that game. Never finished, never will. Bought it on GOG, but so hard to go back 25 years in computing games.

Wizardry 8 has quite ugly proto-3D but bearable
The voice acting alone is worth it though..., 10/10 !
The voices you choose for your character end up making most of the fun in the game... really well made and funny

Written by ylside on 08.04.2021 at 12:16

Wizardry 8 has quite ugly proto-3D but bearable
The voice acting alone is worth it though..., 10/10 !
The voices you choose for your character end up making most of the fun in the game... really well made and funny

Mostly just console now - nice comfy couch, big tv, and hate gaming on the lappy as opposed to old Dark Helmet. But retro are doable. Got the 6 & 7 Bundle, but not 8. might have to check it out. 7 just had really annoying screeching monsters. And, now that I think about it, thank fuck Brother T'shober wasn't voice acted.

Those games are absolutely merciless, though. Almost no direction and, back at the time, outside of a book the size of a Hemingway novel, no real way to get clues or help.

Written by BitterCOld on 08.04.2021 at 19:18

Mostly just console now - nice comfy couch, big tv, and hate gaming on the lappy as opposed to old Dark Helmet. But retro are doable. Got the 6 & 7 Bundle, but not 8. might have to check it out. 7 just had really annoying screeching monsters. And, now that I think about it, thank fuck Brother T'shober wasn't voice acted.

Those games are absolutely merciless, though. Almost no direction and, back at the time, outside of a book the size of a Hemingway novel, no real way to get clues or help.

It's not that user friendly indeed, I wonder whether it's good or bad... I didn't play 6 or 7.
Well, check for yourself : (Male Burly A is one of the best lol) - changes the experience by itself



If console only, have you tried Outer Wilds ? If not, I highly highly recommend... approved by Deadsoulman too

Written by ylside on 08.04.2021 at 23:53

If console only, have you tried Outer Wilds ? If not, I highly highly recommend... approved by Deadsoulman too

Will check the audio later.

Have Outer Wilds, played for about an hour. Liked it, but didn't grab me like some other games have.

Thanks to the External Hard Drive crash, little less flexible with games now. Have only 380gb rather than 1.8tb to play with. Will probably swap something out for it and give it some more time. Might be a nice cool down game.

For now, Spring Sale had Dark Souls III on sale for $14.99 so went and bought that. Beat the first boss and got to a staging area/hub, but not likely to toy around with that one for a while as absolutely enthralled by Bloodborne at the moment.

Written by ylside on 08.04.2021 at 23:53

If console only, have you tried Outer Wilds ? If not, I highly highly recommend... approved by Deadsoulman too

Approved indeed! Although like I told you, I got so desperately lost that I just put it on the backburner and it's stayed there for quite a few months now. But I'm definitely going to start it over at some point, and hopefully complete it this time.

Speaking of Outer Wilds, I got Subnautica for free last week and clocked in a few hours, kind of Outer Wilds underwater with survival features. Once you get past the first few deaths by dehydration/starvation, it's a really nice exploration/archaeology game. I'm liking it a lot at the moment.

Written by Deadsoulman on 09.04.2021 at 11:06

Written by ylside on 08.04.2021 at 23:53

If console only, have you tried Outer Wilds ? If not, I highly highly recommend... approved by Deadsoulman too

Approved indeed! Although like I told you, I got so desperately lost that I just put it on the backburner and it's stayed there for quite a few months now. But I'm definitely going to start it over at some point, and hopefully complete it this time.

Speaking of Outer Wilds, I got Subnautica for free last week and clocked in a few hours, kind of Outer Wilds underwater with survival features. Once you get past the first few deaths by dehydration/starvation, it's a really nice exploration/archaeology game. I'm liking it a lot at the moment.

Better to restart for Outer Wilds indeed, as it's mostly the player who "figures things out", and not things happening in the game - if that makes sense.

Haha I also played Subnautica after Outer Wilds (with a very... "special" game called The Witness in between), I liked Subnautica a lot, you're in for great fun - Exploration is very rewarding, although I changed the play mode to disable dehydration / starvation. Very good game, if not for some blueprints that I kept looking for for a long time.. (but that's just me).

Btw, you can find "Time Capsules" in subnautica, which can contain anything that was put there by previous players who finished the game. There's a chance you might find the one I left, with some useful objects (I mention Morocco in the message left with it lol).
When I found one of them for the first time - I didn't understand, as some had some very sarcastic messages, I thought at first that it was some cheap fourth wall breaking messages from the game developers.

People talk about re make of Red dead 1 and even Red dead 3 comming

I found Mafia IV trailer


This can be super cool game to me, big, more thinking, building, earning money and missions, story line, huge map and well I hope it will be on PC.
new medal of honor was not damn