whatchu playing now

Just picked up FTL in the Steam summer sale, and spent about 90 minutes dying a lot but can tell this is an instant addiction.

Untitled Goose Game will have to exceed my expectations to knock Baba Is You out of my Game of the Year slot

Adapting to Total War: Rome II (75% off Steam sale). Visually gorgeous compared to Rome I, but the economy, city and agent management is less intuitive. I'd avoided this on release in 2013 (?) due to all the kvetching about AI glitches. The Emperor Edn reportedly fixes most, but battle AI still doesn't take much initiative, and one can routinely roll up enemy lines while at a numerical disadvantage.

Been dipping my toe in career mode in NBA 2K9. The story is actually quite good (!), except for one issue: the character you embody is like the worst guy who ever lived? So far there have been characters played by Michael Rappaport, Anthony Mackie, and Rob Huebel.

seriously! it's like why exactly did i make this asshole have my face? i am embarrassed now

second problem: holy fuck hire an editor. some of those conversations are so long without adding anything

i always wonder why video game companies don't hire a SINGLE person who knows ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT WRITING. even just an undergrad who has taken an honors class in creative writing. anything. any person with any expertise about writing at all would be an improvement

I post a lot to the internet hire me!

i don't know exactly how this works, but...you're hired!!

We're going to need you to work nonstop until crunch is over ... welcome aboard!

bad news guys, project is canceled

i would not look to an annual sports cash-in franchise to find good examples of writing in games

sure, but why can't those stories be good? why can't they just pay some undergrad creative writing major $8000 to come up with about 10,000 words of text to cover 10 major scenes:

- a hotshot young talent is about to participate in a prominent amateur tournament that college scouts pay attention to
- the hotshot is deciding whether or not to go to college or go pro
- the hotshot has started the year on the bench but he's about to get his big chance
- hotshot needs to do well in a big game/tournament
- hotshot is deciding whether or not to stay another year in college or go pro
- hotshot is about to make pro debut
- hotshot goes to the all-star game
- hotshot decides whether or not to accept a sponsorship deal
- hotshot struggles with whether or not to confront coach about a problem
- hotshot retires

- hotshot is deciding whether or not to stay another year in college or go pro

*phone rings*
- "hotshot, it's me, your agent! you played well this year! some pro teams are really interested in drafting you! but if you play another year in college, you stand a good chance of improving your draft position and making megabucks as a bonus! what do you think, hotshot?!"

^^ imo this is standard-quality videogame dialogue. but what if we flesh that shit out?

*phone rings*

- "hotshot, i'm up to my knees in water here, i'll never play canasta with you again you lousy - oh, sorry, wrong hotshot. but i have news for you too! word on the street is that several pro teams want to draft you! wow, we're gonna be rich! but first you have to make a decision: go pro or stay on for another year of college? if you go pro, you'll really disappoint all your college teammates and they'll probably never talk to you again. and those teammates are the only people you've ever really *connected* with, you know?! are you going to let down your friends like that? it's time to find out who you are, hotshot. who ARE you, hotshot? why don't you play a high-tension scenario in the upcoming game and see if you can nail a three-pointer and find out!!"

etc

lol they hire people who know about writing................... ... ... .... ....

Has anyone played Outer Wilds? It's getting pretty high praise but is first person which is, for me, typically off limits (though I managed Obra Dinn well enough).

not yet but it seems to be the indie darling of the year, its on my list

Oh man I dug my PSVR out of the box it’s been in all year and started playing Astrobot Rescue Mission. It’s the best thing I’ve played in the last 3 or 4 years, it honestly feels like this is to VR what Mario 64 was to 3D. Every level is blowing me away, it’s just crammed full of new ideas I’ve never seen anywhere else before while also being super polished, charming as heck and even laugh out loud funny on a regular basis. Can’t recommend it enough.

anyone played Observation?

Crash Team Racing?

Young's GTS revue has beguiled me and reminds me of my first impressions of GT1. this kind of luxe John-Woo-jazz-club vibe

i've only been playing Judgment this month. going camping next week so no gaming for a bit and then fire emblem after that probably

Planning on getting Wargroove for PS4 -- has anyone played it on other platforms?

have made it most of the way through the campaign on Switch, it's fun! Note that the PS4 version's online multiplayer will not be cross-platform. Xbox, Switch and PC can all play against each other.

Yeah, I saw that the PS4 won't support cross-play (again), but I rarely ever do PVP anyway.

has anyone played Control? I'm tempted, but it's from the makers of Alan Wake. I played several hours of Alan Wake and kinda lost interested - seems well done, but just not for me. If I didn't like Alan Wake should I bother with Control?

i don't know but i am enjoying it so far. it's both extremely straightforward and pretty fuckin weird.

control is superb. the weirdness! the Kubrickian interiors! the throwing photocopiers across rooms at people!

sold

the weirdness! the Kubrickian interiors! the throwing photocopiers across rooms at people!

I already have this job

lol

i think i will check it out!

i was waiting to hear what you guys thought about it; i think i will buy in next week

its on sale on amazon already, tempting

oh nvm i guess it sold out at the lower price

this seems to be the new business strategy, selling new releases for $10-20 off the standard price and just always being sold out. i dont really know how or why its a thing but both amazon and walmart have been doing it all summer for new games

Control is a fun game and my new gpu makes the shiny surfaces extra shiny.

http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2019/08/control_to_get_a_photo_mode_map_fix_and_general_improvements_in_future_patches

Apparently it's got some performance issues. No idea how it'll run on my PS4 Slim.

I have been playing NBA 2k19, enough to have gotten my career player (a Saudi shooting guard) to 90.

90 years old and still in the league?

lol

nah he's rated 90, out of 100. played a full season and a half but I'm running out of interest now that he's actually good. it was one of the better rpgs I've played though! I wish the story line had continued after the prologue though; I want to rub my finals MVP in the faces of Marcus Young and Corey Harris. and I want Kareem & Shaq to keep showing up at my apartment, and for AD to keep making gumbo for me.

played Goosebumps: the Game and Donut County on PS4, both short games. I like how Goosebumps includes a very useful smart phone, but the game's puzzles are designed without it in mind. and coincidentally DC is all about using an app.

playing antimatter dimensions on my phone. I never got past the linear initial portion when I played it on PC a few years ago. turns out it's one of the best idle games.

I took the plunge on GRIS (playing on PC with a keyboard, go me) and it's astonishingly pretty with nice controls, but the gameplay is pretty shallow. Probably best to sip it slowly than trying to chug it at once.

Dicey Dungeons Is good. Not as good as Slay the Spire, which seems to be the model.

I haven't seen many people talking about Horizon Chase Turbo but it's a fun 80s arcade racer throwback that was free on PS Plus a few months ago. No idea about its longevity but I had a blast with it during my first session.

This Control gameplay is on a base PS4, and people are complaining vociferously about the frame rate drops, but I don't see anything that egregious?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvG0CVa4IvE

oof. that doesn't look good - every time an explosion goes off with the sparks the action jutters, very bad for this sorta game.
i'm still curious, but good to know how bad it will be on a stock ps4

as low as 10fps if i remember the digitalfoundry article correctly - supposed to be a lot better on the pro and the xbox one x

oh shit, that's not even a base ps4, that's a pro. yikes. still, it looks like the kind of stuff they could fix in patches.

like by turning down the fx / shader quality or something, just to stop those hitches from being so noticible

I guess I don't notice anything awful because I'm still mentally stuck in the Goldeneye 64 era.

wait, that IS the pro? ouch

some chuggy points on the xbox one version when you're really tearing up a room with heaps of desks or whatever, I thought it was fine for the most part. I've done everything, tremendous game all up, the last couple of missions in the main storyline I did find to be tough but I ended up working out a strategy around one of the weapons I'd not used much to that point.

could stroll around and throw things at other things forever though, god what a satisfying mechanic.

Looking for something else in my son's bedroom - which is slowly turning into my study the more time he spends away - I found his old PSP with Symphony of the Night. I have played it as far as the bad ending a long time ago, but had forgotten that is such a spectacularly well-crafted game.

control is one of my favorite games maybe ever? love the vibe and also chucking forklifts at dudes

I finished GRIS, and the ending is kind of beautiful.