What Games Are You Playing?

Been playing fallout 4 since Tuesday. Took me a few hours before it finally clicked with me. First impressions weren't too great but now I'm really into it and brings back all the feelings I had when I pumped 60 plus hours into fallout 3.

Barely scratched the surface of the game and think this will keep me occupied for a long long time
 
Steins;Gate (Visual Novel - PlayStation 3)

Finished Chapter 10 and the True Ending Route.

I've platinum'd the game.

Mayuri's ending was sweet but still depressing to see Kurisu left dead. Heck Kurisu's ending was also depressing, it felt like a bad end.

Then the True Route began, at first I thought I made a mistake then the ending's music changed and I knew something was about to happen. And the ending was a blast. The post-credits was very satisfying especially since everyone is alive and happy.
 
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I've been playing Fallout 4, which has been taking up far too much of my free time really (that's part of the reason I haven't been around).

It still feels very much like a Fallout game (the new kind anyway), there have been some changes but they all feel like improvements and none of them completely re-invent the game. It does seem like there may be a few more options on how to play the game, with there even being different ways to use VATS. Perhaps it's just more that there are obvious perks to invest in that can more directly favour particular playstyles, so your build feels a bit more relevant and with more room for variety.

I don't know if the combat is that different overall, it does feel a bit more capable of being played as a shooter but I kind of coincidentally built my character in a way that favours using VATS with a focus on Critical Hits. I quite like the new critical system, it kind of makes critical hits into a resource and adds an element of strategy in deciding when to use them or when to save them up. It does also make Luck a much more viable stat than it has tended to be in previous games. I wouldn't say Fallout has been too bad at making all of it's abilities useful in the past but it does feel like they've done a much better job here of making every stat and perk feel potentially worthwhile (possibly excluding the resource and exp perks, depending on how you feel about those, though making people explode in a shower of caps sounds kind of fun).

I'm a little undecided on the settlement building, it's a nice idea but it could also be kind of a time sink and it doesn't seem like it's totally worthwhile unless you just enjoy the actual building up elements. There's a decent amount of customisation potential, to the extent that you can even choose exactly what everyone wears (assuming you can find the outfits) so there's plenty to do if you like the system. In terms of actual game benefits it doesn't seem quite as strong, being able to set up trade routes so you can use your resources anywhere is nice but not really essential (though perhaps that's the point, since it requires some investment in the Charisma stat). You can make your people earn some money for you but it seems slow, perhaps the greatest benefit is being able to set up your own shops so you can buy and sell things more easily.

The biggest issue is that there's not a good enough interface for settlement management, it would be nice if you could get all of the information and re-assign your people without having to physically hunt them down in the world (even better if you could do it remotely when you're out in the field). That said, you can get the basic information on the Pip-boy and there's a bell item that you can use to summon everyone in the settlement to you so it's not that bad in practice but it could be better. There's certainly room to build on the settlement system in the future if they want to go that way.

I haven't done much of the story because I'm far too easily distracted so it's hard to say much about it (plus, I wouldn't want to give any spoilers anyway). The introduction is quite good but I kind of feel that it has the potential to undermine your role-playing options a bit since you kind of have an established backstory. To be fair, there's still potential for a lot of mystery and the small part you see could easily not be telling the full story (there could have been a lot going on in the background that you don't see). It does also seem to be going the same way as stories in related games, where you're kind of assumed to be a heroic type and there's less room to try and be an alternative personality.

The crafting system is interesting, it doesn't seem that you can really make new weapons or armour so loot is still important but you can mod anything you pick up to suit your tastes. Most weapons have two or three variations, with each of those potentially having improved versions for higher level skills. It is also possible to find modified guns, with the modifications being removable, so you can get higher level mods or mods you can't build yourself at times. It seems like quite a good system, it doesn't feel like you have to craft but there's enough benefit in doing so that it's a decent skill investment for those who choose it. The Power Armour system is similar, you can use it if you want to but it doesn't seem necessary (though I still like to paint my armour even if I've only used it once).

It's really a very good game, it does exactly what I'd have wanted and even has a few refinements and surprises. The actual world seems interesting enough so far and I expect I'll end up spending an awful lot of hours exploring and hunting for alarm clocks (they're surprisingly useful).
 
I'm enjoying Fallout as much as I can enjoy it while it's frying my outdated graphics card. I've spent far too much time settlement building and very little actually doing missions. I'm not a fan of the dialogue system or the voice-acted player character, but I never expected to be. It feels somewhat anathema to an open world RPG with character creation (I find immersion is somewhat broken if you make an elderly black person or a young asian person and they still sound like a generic middle-aged white person - also what if I want to make a total **** who doesn't really care about their child?) but I guess the fact I'm enjoying the rest of the gameplay to the extent I'm constantly [over-encumbered and cannot run] makes up for it.

With you on the interface niggles Smeelia, some of it (settlement building and crafting in particular) was obviously made with consoles in mind with its "UP UP UP, LEFT LEFT LEFT" menus. And tabbing to go back through menus but having to press RETURN (all the way on the other side of the keyboard, forcing me to me move my left hand from its WASD position like some sort of monkey) to exit them like a frigging Windows UAC prompt is pissing me off. But at least I can turn UAC off. If I tell a computer to do something, software developers, I want the computer to do the thing.
 
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ayase said:
(I find immersion is somewhat broken if you make an elderly black person or a young asian person and they still sound like a generic middle-aged white person - also what if I want to make a total **** who doesn't really care about their child?)
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This is probably one of my bigger issues, I originally planned a different character but ended up changing my mind when I was presented with the character creation screen (and then the first couple of missions as well). It is possible the story could provide an excuse and there are kind of workarounds for some parts but it does feel like you're being pushed in a specific way to begin with.

I don't have such a huge problem with the voiced conversations (at least they often have the "Sarcastic" option, which is fun) but I have to admit that I'd have been happy enough with the old text only responses. I think another related issue is that there don't really seem to be many (perhaps any) skill based conversation options. I haven't really met too many people since I mostly seem to run into ruins or raider camps in my exploring so it's possible there'll be more later on but given that they seem to have put a bit more emphasis on making different stat builds feel genuinely different it'd be a shame to lose that aspect.

On the plus side, I did discover that you can dress up your dog. I think one of the best moments in the game was when I discovered we could wear matching Goggles. That said, one of my bigger disappointments was when I discovered the dog can't equip a mining helmet (now that I think of it, I need to try a cowboy hat). I often play without companions in these games since they tend to get in the way but they seem to be a bit better in this game than in most (and they can carry thousands of Aluminium Cans, which is handy... I probably don't want to know where Dogmeat keeps them though).
 
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I am currently playing Batman: Arkham Knight. I got it with my PS4 so and I have completed the other two Arkham games so I thought I would play this first. It looks better than the two last gen games but I probably prefer them since they did not having any driving sections (where possible I fly rather than use the Batmobile in Arkham Knight).
 
Played bits of the following recently:

Yoru no Nai Kuni - Fairly simple, but good fun and has a nice clean look on PS4.

MGSV - Clearly a great game, but not one that I can really spend 100+ hours on unfortunately.

The Taken King - Destiny finally getting close to living up to its promise. It's a shame this isn't the game they released originally (even in terms of structure, let alone amount of content).

Halo 5 - Campaign suffers from being the middle part of a trilogy (again). Clamber etc. are neat additions that don't take away from the "Halo" feel, though.
 
NieR Gestalt (PlayStation 3)
This was the next game on my list to finish (and was also the newest PS3 game I bought, it cost a lot because a physical copy brand new was rare) and not long ago I had reached the conclusion.. sort of.

Like its main series Drakengard, NieR has multiple endings but in order to unlock the other endings (B, C & D) you basically have to go through New Game+ multiple times however unlike many video games you actually start about 60% into the story which is cool to say the least. I was not expecting that plot twist with Ending A until I remembered the prologue and how it all made sense. It's funny how the crazy ending of Drakengard caused a lot of **** for the rest of the world. In the end I really enjoyed the story and its music is just godlike, it certainly does deserve to be known as one of the best soundtracks in video game history, well done Keiichi Okabe.

I've started New Game+ and it starts off with a text-based story about Kaine's past which is interesting considering the first playthrough didn't cover it. Also glad to see my weapons and level have progressed to the new playthrough, should make fights and bosses easier to tackle now.

Also Grimoire Weiss (in the English dub notably, thank you Liam O'Brien) is one of my favourite video game characters. His commentary is very entertaining.

Examples of his dialogue (along with the other main characters):
Weiss: "Why, you insolent crone! How dare you address me like some common paperback?"

*Nier picks up special item*
Weiss: "What is this?"
Nier: "I have no idea."
Weiss: "How remarkably useless of you."

Weiss: "I wonder if these people use the same mask for life?"
Nier: "I hadn't thought about it. ...I hope they wash those things?"
Kaine: "You've been wearing the same ****** clothes since I met you."
Weiss: "There is nothing more filthy than your underwear, hussy!"
Kaine: "What, this? I don't wear the same one all the time, I have a different set for everyday of the week. And every night I scrub them with soap and water. So you bet your ass that I'm cleaner than either of you!"
Weiss: "My word..."

*in the sandstorm*
Nier: "This sand is just too much!"
Weiss: "Pth! Bleh! The moment I open my mouth, the sand rushes inside!"
Nier: "Weiss, you don't even have a mouth! Spt! Pfffth!"

Weiss: "Bah, stop! Stop! For the love of all that is holy, stop pounding me!"
Nier: "Then move!"

:lol:
 
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NieR Gestalt (PlayStation 3)
This morning I spent a couple hours going through New Game+. Pretty much I wanted to reach the ending so I just went straight to the story. Interestingly enough more dialogue and cutscenes were added!

The Memory Alloy part was skippable thankfully but the additional dialogue for the Shades really makes you feel bad especially when you discover the game's plot twist - That you are basically the bad guy of the whole situation. The Gestalts (aka Shades) were once human but separated their soul from their body in order to survive the Black Scrawl disease that the main hero from Drakengard caused. During the event the Replicants were made to be immune, and as time passes by, they ended up with a soul of their own and as such the Shades grew violent against them. The main guy and the book in the prologue is Nier before he became Shadowlord and his first encounter with Grimoire Noire.

Ending B was an interesting approach, we discover the King of Facade stopped the Boar but ended up critically injured while Emill survived the explosion with just his head bouncing around. I've spent a total of 23 hours in this game. :thumb:

UPDATE: Due to the amount of stress trying to plant and harvest seeds I've decided not to pursue the C Ending. It's a pain and there's so much to do that it's really putting me off.
 
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So I finished the main quest in Fallout 4 today. I'd say, while I overall enjoyed the game, I still prefer New Vegas overall. The stripping out of Skill Points and the new dialogue system were big steps back in my eyes, as was the faction stuff. New Vegas did pretty much all the RPG elements better, although I think I slightly prefer the story in 4. 4 did massively step up it's shooting though, it's actually feasible to play the game without VATS now, something that seemed impossible in 3 and NV. It probably goes without saying that it's a lot prettier now too, although I did get some bad texture pop in at times. Also, this could very well be my system, but I could not get this game to run very well. It seemed to be fine for the most part but some areas just died in terms of FPS, going down to 20 or less. The ending to the game was also massively disappointing. You know it's bad when you're on the last story mission in the game but you don't even know it. I was shocked as hell when the ending cinematic rolled and I genuinely found myself asking, is that it? I feel like I went down the wrong path when I (Spoilers for last third of FO4)joined the Institute. I think if you go against the institute, it may have a better ending. I'm going to try and play from an earlier save and not join the institute to see if that yields a better ending.
 
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Been playing Bloodborne so I could get to the point I need to be to access the DLC next week (like I'll have enough time to actually play it lol), not sure if I should just start a new character though as I'm level 135, would hate to be over leveled for it and not sure how big a impact the NG+ level I'm in will have (think it's my 4th NG+).
 
NormanicGrav said:
NieR Gestalt (PlayStation 3)
UPDATE: Due to the amount of stress trying to plant and harvest seeds I've decided not to pursue the C Ending. It's a pain and there's so much to do that it's really putting me off.
Click to expand...

After many dozen attempts and admitting failure I tried again today. It took 1 attempt to finally get the White Moonflower Seed.

I feel like I was being joked upon by NieR. Damn hussy!

---

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about.

In NieR there's an optional section of the game where you can grow and harvest seeds, and one of the Trophies requires you to obtain the White Moonflower Seed which can only be accessed by growing & harvesting other Moonflower seed types (Peach and Pink). However in order to get Peach and Pink you need to grow & harvest other types of colours (Red, Gold, Blue and Indigo). The chance of getting White is very low so don't be surprised if you spend 40+ attempts getting nowhere.

Once you have a White Moonflower seed you can then grow & harvest it to earn more and pretty much duplicate it so that you can sell them off to earn money.

UPDATE:

Screw that nonsense, fishing is where it's at hussies!

Catching Sharks and Dunkeosteus are worth quite a lot if you catch more than one!
 
Since I started playing FFXIV, Gathering and Fishing in non-persistent games just seems like a waste of time. When I heard even the new Tomb Raider has that stuff, it kind of put me off the game even though the rest of it sounds great.
 
NormanicGrav said:
NormanicGrav said:
NieR Gestalt (PlayStation 3)
UPDATE: Due to the amount of stress trying to plant and harvest seeds I've decided not to pursue the C Ending. It's a pain and there's so much to do that it's really putting me off.
Click to expand...

After many dozen attempts and admitting failure I tried again today. It took 1 attempt to finally get the White Moonflower Seed.

I feel like I was being joked upon by NieR. Damn hussy!

---

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about.

In NieR there's an optional section of the game where you can grow and harvest seeds, and one of the Trophies requires you to obtain the White Moonflower Seed which can only be accessed by growing & harvesting other Moonflower seed types (Peach and Pink). However in order to get Peach and Pink you need to grow & harvest other types of colours (Red, Gold, Blue and Indigo). The chance of getting White is very low so don't be surprised if you spend 40+ attempts getting nowhere.

Once you have a White Moonflower seed you can then grow & harvest it to earn more and pretty much duplicate it so that you can sell them off to earn money.

UPDATE:

Screw that nonsense, fishing is where it's at hussies!

Catching Sharks and Dunkeosteus are worth quite a lot if you catch more than one!
Click to expand...

Good to see someone else enjoying Nier, a greatly overlooked game at the time. IIRC for ending C and D you only need all 30 weapons, rather than to do all the quests. (also cheat with the play station clock to get the growing done quicker)

Currently playing Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 Rebirth on the Vita, I started the series with Mk2 of the ps3 so it's nice to revisit it. Also they replaced a character I really couldn't stand with someone more fun so that's a plus :)
 
Rosencrantz said:
NormanicGrav said:
NieR Gestalt (PlayStation 3)
*insert Grimoire Weiss quote*
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Good to see someone else enjoying Nier, a greatly overlooked game at the time. IIRC for ending C and D you only need all 30 weapons, rather than to do all the quests. (also cheat with the play station clock to get the growing done quicker)

Currently playing Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 Rebirth on the Vita, I started the series with Mk2 of the ps3 so it's nice to revisit it. Also they replaced a character I really couldn't stand with someone more fun so that's a plus :)
Click to expand...

NieR certainly has kept me entertained especially on the fishing part. Already spent 35 hours on the game now.

I'm aware about the requirements for C & D but the reason why I'm trying to raise the money is to buy the remaining weapons and certain materials if available for upgrade. I'm going to try and Platinum the game for once.

As for Neptunia mk2, I should continue my progress with that game at some point. I buried in 60-80+ hours on the first Neptunia game on PS3, having to suffer through the tedious battle gameplay but in the end I got the Platinum trophy, surprised I was even able to do it.
 
I need to pick up Rebirth 2 myself. I really enjoyed Rebirth 1 on PC, even if it did get a little *too* grindy for my tastes towards the end but that probably it the best TV/Video/Podcast game I've played. I must have been doing something else whilst playing for more than two thirds of that game.
 
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