whatchu playing now

been playing various things since I was last checking in on ILG but the very recentest things are Inscryption and Tactics Ogre Reborn, both on Switch, The Only Console™

should i get tactics ogre y/n?

i mean, i played it on SNES and PSP if that gives you a frame of reference

I didn't, so idk

I'm having a good time.

forks, do you want to know my pain
i've been hopelessly addicted to Snap, playing it day and night
grinded ranked mode this month all the way from level 10 to level 99 and 1/10 cubes!!!!! when the season rolled over. so close. i don't know what do with life anymore

lol i was at 39 and 8/10 and lost and then it rolled
Snap is the new MPQ, try and convince me

Presentation-wise it's light years ahead, which makes sense because it's 8 years newer

But in most respects I think it's actually far more evil and bad, as a thing that exists in our world. I still play MPQ but it feels sooo much more chill, and I can play it once a day, a little or a lot, Snap demands more of your time IMO, though it seems like they use the same behavioral tricks

MPQ you can play completely at your own pace because it's turn-based vs. AI, at least - because this is real-time multiplayer it's much more compelling and also interrupting of real life :(

The psychological hooks and predatory model are sooooo much worse in Snap. But goddamn it, it's addictive. At least I know I won't try to get EVERY card in the game which is basically impossible. Haven't hit CL 1000 yet, will be in Series/Pool 3 probably another few months, but the new cards get slower and slower once you pass 600-ish?

Also it becomes impossible to predict games and decks with the wide variety of cards, but I suppose all CCGs probably end up like this?

The Kazoo deck (Kazar, Blue Marvel, 1-cards etc) got me most of the way though painfully slowly. Thank God you 'only' get dropped 30 ranks at the new season, so I don't have to grind nearly as much this time

okay, share some beginning strats plz. What's a good starter deck?

Kazoo deck is still my most consistent, and I'm still using almost all Pool 1+2 cards!
https://marvelsnapzone.com/marvel-snap-infinite-decks-october-29-2022/
I'd drop Blade and Angela for Bishop and Okoye, they're are more helpful. I use Iceman instead of Nightcrawler to pester early if I've nothing to run on turn 2.

Early decks use stick with a basic ability and a 6-power finisher to combo. You can use the filters in the collection area to figure out which cards have which property...

Discard - Blade, Lady Sif, Sword Master etc. hoping to slash Apocalypse into a beefy guy. Tier 3 version is Hela which randomly resurrects all your discards.
On Reveal - Hawkeye, Wolfsbane, White Tiger -> Odin to reactivate said abilities on one location. Tier 3 uses Wong which doubles activations.
Ongoing - Ant-Man, Spectrum which gives +2 to all going, which can be doubled with Onslaught's ability.
Destroy - Nova, Bucky Barnes, Carnage, Deathlok, Killmonger - basically killing your own cards to make them stronger. Tier 3 you start to get some really crazy cards like Destroyer and Death... Stuff like Bucky and Nova you want to kill, while cards like Armor and Colossus you use to prevent them.

--

You'll see natural combos like:

Moon Girl (4-cost) doubles your hand, Devil Dinosaur (5-cost) gains power based on the # of cards in your hands. If you played MG on Turn 5, you can play DD twice a row.

Sunspot gains power for each unused energy point. The Infinaut requires you to skip a turn (5) to you can play the massive 20-power card on turn 6. Soooo on Turn 5 all the wasted energy goes into Sunspot! You need to bring an Armor so Sunspot doesn't get sniped by Elektra or Killmonger, though...

--

And when you're tired of having your combos break all the time, go grief deck and put in your ability blockers like Cosmo, Enchantress, later Professor X, Spider-Man etc. Or straight up jerk cards like the Goblins that jump to your opponent's side with a negative power value. It's fun!

BTW, retreating when you're unlikely to win is essential - losing 1 (or 2) cubes is the only way to move up, because every 4-cube (or 8-cube!) loss hurts super bad in the climb

Thoughtful and helpful. Thanks!

marvel midnight suns is the x-com/persona/slay the spire mashup we've all been waiting for, fun stuff. first video game with magik in a starring role.

I like it so far! It seems like it loads you up with options of satisfying stuff to do to goons right from the off. Haven't played enough to see what it's like when the missions are actually difficult.

Interesting phenomenon with this one where reviews came out saying it was good, and disgruntled commenters who hadn't played it piled in saying "no it isn't, it has cards and bad graphics and a team building mechanic and I won't be buying it", the inverse of the usual situation

God of War Ragnarok - there are lots of problems with it. Lots. My latest qualm is with major difficulty spikes within a game that is not particularly challenging on the whole. But I'm warming to it. The story, characters etc are great great great. I just wish it were more fun to actually play as a game.

Demon's Souls - yeah I'm a Souls fan now.

FFVII - the original, not the remake. I've been told by a friend it's better

they're different games with different gameplay and different things going on in general

started 13 Sentinels. have been hyped to play this for a while, but it's not hooked me yet. only a couple of hours in though. hmmm.

I gave up on 13 Sentinels after a couple of hours, but I'm also generally skeptical of games that have to be localized from Japanese (Yakuza 0 being a notable exception).

the fights in 13 sentinels are pretty whatever, the appeal of the game is as a mystery story, piecing together the timeline

God of War Ragnarok - there are lots of problems with it. Lots. My latest qualm is with major difficulty spikes within a game that is not particularly challenging on the whole. But I'm warming to it. The story, characters etc are great great great. I just wish it were more fun to actually play as a game.

I can't wait to play it! Waiting for a sale.

Demon's Souls - yeah I'm a Souls fan now.

I can't wait to play it! I bought it.

FFVII - the original, not the remake. I've been told by a friend it's better

I don't really know what this is, is this one of those JPRGs with melodramatic gibberish plot and people carrying giant swords?

I started "Lost Legacy," which is fun so far as an afterthought (by design). It shows how easily Uncharted can pivot from Nathan Drake to another protagonist.

Queued up in my head for when it's done is probably/possibly something similarly light or easy, like "Guardians of the Galaxy" or "Ratchet and Clank" (which I suspect I may get as a gift; surprise!). Then LOU2 and Demon's Souls, maybe, for winter games, possibly followed by Witcher 3 (if I dare) once it gets its PS5 patch. Backlog is full of other distractions, though, like the Resident Evil games (I've never played any of them; RE4 reboot is imminent), Mass Effect (which people love), a ton of other stuff. The game's not supposed to be great, but I got "Deathloop" for $10.

Best Buy actually coming through on its holiday deals for that Deathloop

Case of the Golden Idol is the Obra Dinn of games for people like me didn't like Obra Dinn.

I liked Obra Dinn a lot but that also seems cool, I look forward to seeing if it gets a Switch version

was gonna say that looks cool and then i went to wishlist it on steam and turns out i already bought it

lol i know the feeling...

norco was depressing!

next up is Moncage which appears to be like Gorogoa but in a 3d cube

ah looks like i actually got the rec on this from upthread here

mmmmm cube

Bought a few things on sale to add to the infinite backlog. Tunic, Dysmantle ... the latter sounded neat for $10.

xps playing moncage on the phone, really slick

Inscryption was mostly fun to play but the story ended up feeling pretty stupid and then looking up whatever stuff you learn from the puzzle hunt didn’t make it seem less stupid, game designers stop writing stories

I picked back up the first Arkham Asylum for the first time since it originally came out. Surprised by how natural and easy it still feels. I remember it being utterly exemplary and unique in its moment.

It definitely felt I want to say not necessarily ahead of its time but so well done that it might as well be. A lot of people compared that new Gotham Knights game to Arkham Knight, which came out in 2015, to show how this six year old game still looked and played better than this purportedly next gen sequel. Iirc I really enjoyed playing as the cartoon version of Batman, which was a fun contrast to the oppressive environments.

was arkham asylum the first game to do that "see behind walls" extra-hard-listening-detective-mode thing? i feel like it's in everything now

I think the first Assassin's Creed might have beaten it, though I don't remember exactly how they compare. Batman's was probably much better

Sniper Elite 5 is so chill. Underrated stoner game

I've been playing that for the last 4 weeks or so. I'm really slow and quite bad at it, think I'm averaging about 3 hrs per level. A lot of fun though.

I loaded up Hitman 3 just to check something, and that seems like it will be similarly fun and silly.

the modern hitman games are so good

finally stopped playing apex for RE2 remake - also class

not related to what i'm playing but can i say it pisses me off so much when outlets publish lists of the best games of the year and do not include what platform each game is on in the list? so fuckin dumb to have to google half the games to see if i can actually play them or not

a pet peeve of mine as well, with game review outlets that can't figure out how to mention which platform it's available on

xp that's a shame, i blame the editors. Walker's a good-un

2022 really was the most extraordinary year for point-n-click adventures. The genre demonstrated the reasons for its longevity, and in almost all cases, in its most classic form. With Norco, Return to Monkey Island, Lucy Dreaming, The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow, One Dreamer, Nightmare Frames, and The Plague Doctor of Wippra, plus surely many I’ve missed, it’s been good times, and that’s even in a year without a first-party Wadjet Eye release. But top of all of them for me is Perfect Tides.

i forgot there was a new monkey island, should queue that up next

Norco has an amazing atmosphere. The Excavation of Hob's Barrow and a couple of others on that list have been on my wishlist for a while, but there are also a few I haven't even heard of.

Yeah it's 2022 and that sites still don't list platforms of their year-end best games is still mind-boggling!

Finished "Lost Legacy." It did a pretty good job splitting the difference between the other games in the series, with great visuals and set pieces and funny banter/bickering, but just a little taste of drama. Surprised they haven't followed it up, though rumor has it there's another one in the works. Or a reboot, which seems ... unnecessary. Which probably means they're going to do it, lol.

Started "Death's Door," which seems fun.

playing "Please, Touch The Artwork", a puzzle game based on Mondrian paintings
the puzzles are set up very like The Witness where you slowly discover the rules of the game by yourself
I have a thing for big blocks of solid colour next to each other, so this game visually is like catnip to me
only thing I don't like is the cocktail jazz soundtrack, a bit too polite

playing return to monkey island, it's a monkey island game, new artstyle is fine but not amazing, feels a lot like the 3rd game which was my fav as a kid

Playing Yakuza 3. steered away from it for a while as general consensus is it was the worst but just had the feeling recently. So far, it’s my favourite of 0,1,2 that I’ve played. Hanging out at the orphanage, Ted Lasso-esque good vibes helping the kids out. Nearly a tear to my eye when we see what Saki is drawing in her sketch book. Feel like this series gets better the more you play it. Really absorbed with Kiryu now. Every time he does something I shout at my screen “hell yeah, that’s the dragon of dojima!”. Enjoying the more simply combat mechanics too. It’s a much more simple game than the kiwami’s + 0, but that simplicity + its story/setting makes it for excellent holiday cozy summer gaming with a beer in hand and dog by your feet gaming experience.