Whatcha been playing! I’ve been camping all week so I really haven’t been playing anything! Aside from a few crosswords here and there :)
Same as last week.
Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes] - I’m back on my bullshit again. Uzuki arc was fun, but when it comes time for bracket I gotta lock in. And by lock in, I mean still play like a clown.
Splatoon 3 - Didn’t have too much time to practice this week, but had one good session. Really trying to work on more actionable callouts, coordinating with our specials and planning a push together rather than merely announcing things after they happen.
Persona 4 Golden - Still just post-Kanji dungeon. At the rate I am going I will finish this game… someday.
Summon Night: Swordcraft Story - Man, forgot how annoying it was that you have to always go for weapon breaks against bosses or else you miss their blueprint forever. Also, RHDN shutdown has me wondering, if/when the third game’s translation patch ever gets finished, where do I even look to find out about it?
Slay the Spire - I can quit any time I want, I swear.
Mahjong Soul/Riichi City/IRL mahjong - Came dangerously close to losing my Master 1 rank on Soul, but got a few wins so I’m safeish now. I know I’m too reckless and I’m trying to work on that. I did play one of the best games I’ve had at club this week, had the discipline to fold several tempting hands and it turned out to be correct every time. Sometimes protecting second place through smart play is more satisfying than lucking into first.
Finally started Vampire Survivors so that’s all I’m playing ATM
I managed to complete one round in Monstrum . I nearly quit a couple times, because wow this game can be frustrating. But I made it through in the end, once I got a better idea of where certain items would be and how the monsters vibe. I’m kind of glad I stuck with it for a couple days; it made escaping that much more satisfying.
The Spectrum Retreat seemed intriguing, so I gave it a go. It was not quite what I was expecting, and I’m not sure I really liked it. The set up was a little odd, in my opinion, where you would have a bit of story and then a block of Portal-like puzzles, sans the humor. The puzzles weren’t really all that difficult, but they seemed disjointed from the story, which in itself was vague and left me with a lot of questions. I guess I shouldn’t have expected much for a game built around puzzles, but still.
Also played through The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux. I gotta say, the story is not at all what I expected, in a good way, although I’m not sure I’m a fan of the ending. Walking between areas was a little tedious, but the scenery was absolutely beautiful, and the sprint speed was a lot better that most walking sims I’ve played. It kind of reminds me of What Remains of Edith Finch or Dear Esther, both of which I also enjoyed. I think I might play this again sometime just to take screenshots.
I’m not sure what game I’ll be playing next, but Diablo 4’s Season 5 is coming up next week, so I’ll probably dip back into GamePass to see what’s on there.
I didn’t know they redid Ethan Carter! The original release used photogrammetry and was GORGEOUS, was one of my favorite walking sims
It’s an Unreal Engine 4 remaster! I haven’t played the original so I can’t really compare, but I have read that they added some additional dialogue lines as well.
I’ll have to check it out, thanks!
Rotwood, early access roguelite beat em up.
Started playing God of War (2018) again. I played through it twice on the PS4 and now playing through it for the first time on the PC. This is the best God of War game in my opinion.
The World of Warcraft Expansion Pre-Patch Event went live this week, and it was complete garbage. The event got changed two days later, which fixed basically everything wrong with it, and now it’s pretty good. I managed to level almost all my level 60 characters to max through the event, since it barely takes an hour each. Basically none will ever see any serious playtime and will just collect dust again.
Then I just finished the Solasta: Crown of the Magister - Lost Valley DLC and enjoyed it much more than the base game. The gameplay is still D&D, no changes there, but the setting is much smaller this time. You’re not on some world-saving quest or killing a god, but a very confined area, with about a dozen locations you can visit (plus sub areas like caves or dungeons). Your party gets trapped in a valley and has to find a way out. There are people living in the valley, complete with a city and everything, but there’s kind of a civil war going on, so you gotta pick a side and which faction to support. Due to my choices, the ending was kind of unspectacular, but still fine. Since there are multiple factions, who are at war, and you can’t please everyone, there’s stuff you can’t do in a single playthrough (mainly quests and dialogue, not locations I think). Since the DLC is on the shorter side, you’re encouraged to play through it multiple times, but I most likely won’t do that. I do however look forward to the second DLC campaign, Palace of Ice, which I’ll probably won’t play for a few months.
Next week, Diablo 4 Season 5 will start, which I look forward to. This time I’ll play a Sorcerer. Let’s hope it’s not another bust, like the Minion Necromancer last time.
Roboquest! An absolutely delightful high-speed rouge-lite first person. It feels very Borderlands-y, in both aesthetic and gunplay. The weapons include deagles, revolvers, assault rifles, machine guns, crossbows, grenades, (dual) chainsaws, power fists, Iron Man palms, shuriken, flamethrowers, and more! It’s packed to the folks with secrets, challenges, and skill expression. Tons of fun, like, 25$ on Steam, two player co-op with matchmaking, go buy it.
Still trying out new games from the ‘Pixels with Porpoise’ pack I bought on Humble Bundle a week ago. (So far my faves are Children of Morta and Towerfall Ascension.) I highly recommend it if you like pixel-art based games and fantasy.
And lots of PinballFX.
Towerfall was one of our favorites in college, so much fun if you can get a full game! Fuck brambles 😤
Still Rocket League. Can’t shake it for some quick challenges in ~10 minute increments. I really wish I could either switch over to some SCUMMVM retro stuff, or a semi-casual fantasy adventure, but in ~10 minute doses.
I’ve considered Witcher 3, but it looks too time-intensive for a busy dad. I’m hoping for something that might need a few hours to get started, but then you can pick up & make actual progress in under 15 minutes.
Anyone have recommendations?
I would actually say Witcher 3 is good for that. There’s like 100 smaller quests you can do in 5-10 minutes each. Some of the main storyline quests (which are marked as such) might take 20 or 30 minutes when you’re ready for them. It also has imo one of the best quest tracking systems I’ve seen, as well as best inventory system (sorting, yay) so you don’t have to remember everything after time away from playing.
Dark Souls games can also be played that way - from one bonfire (checkpoint) to the next is usually around 5 to 10 minutes depending on how you play.
Maybe some CRPGs? Like Shadowrun Returns. Missions will be longer than 10 minutes but you can save it any time once it’s your turn.
I’m going between Stardew Valley and Coral Island. The latter especially because of the last update with dates/hangouts.
I played a bit of a closed beta I’m not really allowed to discuss in detail, but I had a blast! Looking forward to the full release.
Also got part way through episode 2 of Walking Dead, I forgot so much of this story. Handing out 4 pieces of food to 10 people (well, 2 to 8 since the kids were guaranteed) isn’t easy 🥲
And story time: My partner and I were down 146 to 149 in Destiny 2 crucible. We were separated and each crouching with glaives so they wouldn’t see us on radar.
I waited around a corner and filled someone with stab holes while she simultaneously killed some guardian with a sword (which kill in one swipe), since we were holding 2 zones it gave us the 4 points to steal the win! Glaives are so much fun in pvpCamping sounds fun, I’m jealous!
