Video Games - Waiting for a New AAA Game (that isn't Elden Ring)

[Centrist Simon Steele]

On 7/7/2022 at 1:46 PM, Soylent Brown said:

It seems there's a fun-looking RoboCop game on the way-

I love the original film, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed this turns out well.

The terminator game these devs made is pretty good. More than anything, you can tell they love the property. Maybe the best Terminator main theme rendition ever: 

 

[Werthead]

Mass Effect in the style of the intro to Arcane.

 

[Rhom]

FYI The Mass Effect Legendary Edition is free for Amazon Prime members through the end of 7/13.

It is a digital unlock through Origin.  I already have it on PS, but figured “Hey… why not claim a free game?”

[karaddin]

On 7/10/2022 at 4:24 AM, Fez said:

Another interesting thing I've discovered in my Elden Ring re-playthrough is that by following the Rogier and then Ranni questlines in order and not going to any areas in advance, it almost feels like a main story questline in another game. But its something almost impossible to do without both a guide and having played the game before. Which is a shame since not only do the quests give some nice structure, they give a ton of lore too. I did the Ranni stuff in my first play, but well after I had been to most of the areas already, so it was just a lot of fast travel backtracking. And I hadn't done the Rogier stuff at all, it was too easy to miss. I'm really hoping From revamps their quest and NPC systems in their next game.

I think the golden "summon NPC to assist you" at boss fights needs to be visually more noticeable. It's one of the few ways that contributes to feeling a sense of the quest progression and on playthrough 5 I still found more that I ran straight past without seeing. And I'm sure I'm still missing some. It was the first time I noticed you can summon Rogier for Margit which I feel really kicks off that quasi main quest storyline, even if I had no idea who he was (in story) at the point I summoned him lol. I know I've still never met D the first time wherever he shows up first.

[Slurktan]

9 hours ago, karaddin said:

I think the golden "summon NPC to assist you" at boss fights needs to be visually more noticeable. It's one of the few ways that contributes to feeling a sense of the quest progression and on playthrough 5 I still found more that I ran straight past without seeing. And I'm sure I'm still missing some. It was the first time I noticed you can summon Rogier for Margit which I feel really kicks off that quasi main quest storyline, even if I had no idea who he was (in story) at the point I summoned him lol. I know I've still never met D the first time wherever he shows up first.

The interesting thing with the Rogier stuff is his questline isn't really part of rannis but is actually fias. You just need to get in rannis goodbooks to get to that point.

[polishgenius]

Because I was sick, I indulged in a freshly-released indie called Time on Frog Island. It's not bad, but while I understand, from the production values, why it's launched at fifteen quid, that's probably a bit dear considering the depth and length of the actual game, which is essentially a big (but not that big) multi-stranded trade quest. Like there is literally no gameplay apart from running, jumping, and picking things up to give to people. It's a neat miniature open world and I appreciate that there is no handholding whatsoever (like there's no text at all in-game and very few clues to what to do) but while some of it hits home, on occasions it gets the balance wrong in either direction - which was inevitable really because the core gameplay is so shallow there's almost no room for mitigation. There are times when what you need to do is frustratingly obscure and any hint would just give the game away, or requires tedious backtracking to gather stuff, but also at least one occasion where I accidentally found the cheeky workaround before being able to even consider the proper intended puzzle, which would have been more satisfying, so that was odd.  

But there is also plenty to like, and a few times when figuring it out for yourself is very satisfying. And it's full of charm. 

If you like this kind of thing it's certainly worth trying at some point, but it definitely comes below A Short Hike and Alba as far as these tiny open worlds go. It's proof that the developers certainly know what they're doing, but possibly need more budget to add more depth to, hopefully, whatever game they do next.



But I've also been playing Neon White and that is totally the opposite sort of game - speedrunning-platforming-shooting-deliberately-over-the-top-aethsetic etc etc and it's fucking great. I'm not good at it, being a reflex-based 3D game, but it's perfectly landed at what it's aiming to do. Seems to have broken out in the mega-crowded indie market, and deserves to have done.  

[Werthead]

Unity is merging with a malware distribution platform, which is an interesting choice.

I get the impression that Unity has seen a drop in people using it every since Unreal went free to use, so probably not as major a problem as it would have been five or six years ago.

[Werthead]

Subnautica becomes a lot more fun when you get the Cyclops (despite it being almost preposterously huge and difficult to maneuver in underwater caverns).

Even moreso on getting the Prawn Suit. "Right, where are all those fucking sharks who have been taking bites out of me since the game started?" <fires up drill arm>

[Werthead]

Stray is enormous fun. They really nailed the cat behavioural thing right down. It's also a weird thing readjusting your expectations, since in most games a locked gate with bars will stop you progressing, but in Stray you can simply walk through the bars because you are smol.

 

[Argonath Diver]

Well that looks and sounds delightful. I can't have a cat in my apartment building despite offering the landlord a significant overpay on rent, and miss the petulant little bastards; everyone I know has dogs - wonderful, delightful dogs they all are.

This should be a delight. Thanks for the rec, Wert. A cursory Google search shows it's gaining lots of word of mouth, but you as always are ahead of the curve.

[briantw]

On 7/15/2022 at 1:18 PM, Werthead said:

Subnautica becomes a lot more fun when you get the Cyclops (despite it being almost preposterously huge and difficult to maneuver in underwater caverns).

Even moreso on getting the Prawn Suit. "Right, where are all those fucking sharks who have been taking bites out of me since the game started?" <fires up drill arm>

If you're looking for a similar game, Planet Crafter is virtually identical to Subnautica, only on a lifeless planet that you are trying to terraform.  There are no enemies that I've encountered (I'm like two hours in), but it's got this sense of haunting isolation that the music does a good job of playing up.  I know I'm not in any real danger (aside from keeping an eye on my oxygen and water levels), but I still feel on edge when exploring this inhospitable world.  

There are also likely some actual dangers in the game.  There are occasional comet storms that send rocks crashing into the ground, although none have come particularly close to me yet, and there's definitely lava, although it was far enough away that I haven't explored that area yet.

I've enjoyed it enough to keep playing.

[mcbigski]

Into the Breach Advanced Edition dropped today.  Free expansion for previous platforms, and somehow also now available via netflix, I hear.

Five new squads, new pilots, new promotion perks, new missions, new weapons, new enemies, plus Unfair mode if you really want a challenge.

Started a new campaign, got all the new squads unlocked.  Retired Ralph after the first timeline, sorry but Camila is just way more skilled.  Played through with the bomb oriented guys and lost 6 grid on the last turn of the final mission, so got pretty unlucky there.  Should only lose about 1 out of 8 there but oh well.  Won it on the second pass, started something new with the arachnoid oriented squad.

Some of the new level up perks are pretty cool.  Having Henry who can pass through enemies with a speed boost for each enemy killed gets really useful.

If you have it, go mess around with the update.  Fun.

[polishgenius]

Bit disappointed that I can't play Stray right now, but I'm consoling myself with the thought that this might scratch a similar itch when it comes out:
 

 

[Poobah]

13 hours ago, mcbigski said:

Into the Breach Advanced Edition dropped today. 

If you have it, go mess around with the update.  Fun.

I do have it, and I enjoyed it a ton in its original form so I'll definitely check this out, thanks for the info!

[Werthead]

Stray was good, but short (I finished it in 7.5 hours and that was with a lot of dicking around). The ending felt quite rushed, one second you're in the second major hub area and about 10 minutes later the game is over. Still, very enjoyable.

Returned to Subnautica. Reached the Lava Zone for the first time and immediately had to deal with power-sucking leeches (argh) and what I am informed is a Sea Dragon Leviathan, which is different from regular Leviathans in that it literally shits lava at you. Tempted to engage it in battle, now I have an upgraded Prawn Suit with the drill arm, or as I like to call it, the "Leviathan Skull Excavator." Apparently dispatching it allows you to build a base in the Lava Zone, although I'm not sure it's necessary if you have a base in the Tree Cove above, which is only about 3 minutes away. I think I'm quite close to the endgame now.

[horangi]

3 hours ago, Werthead said:

Returned to Subnautica. Reached the Lava Zone for the first time and immediately had to deal with power-sucking leeches (argh) and what I am informed is a Sea Dragon Leviathan, which is different from regular Leviathans in that it literally shits lava at you. Tempted to engage it in battle, now I have an upgraded Prawn Suit with the drill arm, or as I like to call it, the "Leviathan Skull Excavator." Apparently dispatching it allows you to build a base in the Lava Zone, although I'm not sure it's necessary if you have a base in the Tree Cove above, which is only about 3 minutes away. I think I'm quite close to the endgame now.

Subnautica is such a gem of a game and a good example of why you dont need AAA budgets to produce something great.  The ambience just got better and better (the starting reef was probably the least interesting to me, though pretty, and I almost bailed on the game at that point) and the music nails the terror of the deep.  The 'heartbeat' soundtrack as you are taking the Cyclops down into the midnight zone, not knowing whats lurking around you is paranoia inducing.  One of the rare games I've played start to finish.  My first play through on hardcore I made the mistake of going AFK in the Cyclops in a safe area but forgot to surface completely and ended up suffocating .

I was able to cram a small base into the lava area right before the mountain where the Sea Dragon swims around which remained unmolested so long as you don't train the dragon back to it on a return run.

I should give the sequel a try here sometime, but heard it doesnt live up to the original in terms of story and ambiance, which, if true, is  a shame.

[Werthead]

2 hours ago, horangi said:

I should give the sequel a try here sometime, but heard it doesnt live up to the original in terms of story and ambiance, which, if true, is  a shame.

I think the sequel much more ramps up the story content compared to the original game. There are actual NPC humans hanging around and you have a "man in a van" AI that talks to you and you talk back (unlike the passive AI in the first game). I also understand that the sequel takes place much more on land (something like 70-30 in favour of being underwater, whilst the original game was more like 95-5, if that) and some people weren't keen on that, especially as you have a whole other system for survival on land, since it's freezing.

I think the game is also shorter and the map is smaller, although it's also more dense (the zones aren't as huge and sprawling), because so many players of the original got lost, bored and gave up, or mainllined the main story and ended up not seeing half the zones. Also, the new game does not (I believe) have a Cyclops and the "Sea Truck" replacement becomes quite unwieldy quite quickly.

Against that, the base-building is apparently far superior (complete with 100% on-land bases) with more rooms and more ways of doing things, the UI is much better (you can pin "here's what I need" notes to the UI when you go out scavenging) and the game is much less buggy. In fact, Subnautica is currently being upgraded to the Below Zero version of the engine, with apparently all its building and UI upgrades coming with it. They're calling that Subnautica 2.0 and it should be out in a couple of months.

I'm certainly going to check out Below Zero but will probably play a few other things first.

[Corvinus85]

Wartales has had several updates since its EA release late last year, so I decided to jump back in. The game could still benefit from some quality of life features, but there have been improvements.

If you like a modicum of realism in your fantasy RPG game, then this is it. This is a game that forces you to unlock a skill to be able to place markers on the map for better guidance, instead of just having it as an auto feature.

Characters have been improved by adding relationships between them, which I don't know exactly what they do. It could benefit from having a wider variety of customization to really make the characters more unique in both looks and traits.

[Denvek]

Just finished Psychonauts 2, and for the amount of time since the first one they've really managed to retain the aesthetic of the original. Worth playing if you enjoyed the first one, even if none of the individual levels are as batshit as Lungfishopolis or The Milkman Conspiracy.

[Werthead]

Hard West 2 is out in a week and looks like an enticing Western XCOM-'em-up. The original Hard West was a really solid game, but a bit underrated, so this going further and looking better is promising.