whatchu playing now

witcher 3 is definitely a vibes game, the gameplay is mediocre and it's just a nice fully-realized fantasy world to spend time in. there werent a lot of impressive fantasy instances of the modern open world game when it came out, just skyrim really, dunno if theres more now besides zelda

Ok I'm really not enjoying RE Village so far. It's so on rails - I'm 1.5+ hrs in and it doesn't quite feel like the game has started yet? It seems like every few minutes there's a scripted sequence where you get abducted to somewhere else. And the escalating amount of hand mutilation that your character keeps experiencing is maybe supposed to be, like, a running joke (like the noir detective who keeps getting beat up)?

From the clips I've seen, doesn't the lead person lose their hand entirely in the previous one and just, like, glue it back on or something? I haven't played this one yet (but found it cheap!). I've heard it's both a return to camp (following its predecessor, maybe the only one people consider truly scary), and also has at least one scary setpiece or something. Anyway, I had kind of been looking forward to it for classic Gothic monster vibes.

Ok I'm starting to enjoy RE Village a bit more. The bits where you're dealing with the normal enemies in the castle are genuinely tense. Still, for the encounters with evil supernatural family I don't always know if I'm supposed to be running for my life, shooting them, or if it's a scripted sequence where I won't actually die but will instead be shoved through another floor or whatever.

xposts fwiw, I think the Control ultimate edition is on sale for $10 right now. That's pretty cheap for one of my favorite PS5 experiences.

Ok he got his hand fully cut off for a sequence, later drizzled on some first aid juice and stuck it back on, this is definitely a trope. Apparently may have to do with him having become a mold person in one of the previous games? Makes sense, these games take place in very damp climates.

i think i'm near the end of control. i love the vibes and environments but the gameplay is not for me. the grabbing/throwing power rules but seizing/floaty jumps/ground pounds aren't as satisfying and the bad guys and combat feel very repetitive after a while.

cocoon is great though. i love games that don't explain anything to you.

And I fr love that the entire game is "figure out this mechanic that we're not going to explain."

I finally grabbed Control for that price, it's never looked appealing to me but I'll give it a shot on some rainy day.

I didn't know much about Wolfenstein 2 except that a lot of people said the courtroom sequence was a real challenge. Yeah, it was pretty tough, but it was also kind of nuts, and ramped up the game's already almost shocking audacity. It's remarkable that it can successfully balance some real extreme tonal shifts, from serious drama to b-movie ridiculousness. It really helps to have good writing and acting, that elevates every game.

That said, I thought I was a little further along than I was, but I suspect there's a huge hunk of this game to go, which might file it in the "too long" category. Still, I'm having a lot of fun playing it.

I never played Youngblood more than a little bit, but the other recent Wolfenstein games were really fun. Good mix of ott and some character drama

I suspect I'm almost done with the main story, but the sidequests in this game have been pretty fun so far. Mostly variations of hiding and shooting, but just different enough to make them enjoyable. Bethesda does a great job with these shooters, Wolfenstein: New Order, Old Blood, New Colossus and Doom 2016 have all been great. I have a copy of Doom Eternal, but it looks like a PIA to play; I can only follow so much action and traversal, and throwing in platforming seems a step too far for a game the thrives on chaos. I also don't have Youngblood, which no one seems to like, but because of that it's seemingly often on sale for less than $10.

(Actually, Bethesda is just the publisher, right? Regardless, they seem to have good quality control.)

I'd beg to differ but I'm reconciled to Morrowind being their high water mark tbh

I've not played any old games from them, and a lot of the recent ones were either disasters or disappointments, right? Deathloop, Redfall, Starfield? But just scanning the list of games in the modern era: Doom, Wolfenstein, Dishonored, Evil Within, Prey, Ghostwire:Tokyo, Hi-Fi Rush, people seem to like all of those. Plus Fallout and Skyrim? I've not played most of those, but their reputations precede them.

Yeah I don't hate them, a lot of the later stuff is just games I haven't played or been into, but I definitely think that Elder Scrolls, like GTA, is a series on a down slope

kinda hard to say that a series that hasnt had a new game in 12 years is on a down slope, theres no data points

Bethesda and Arkane both report to Zenimax on the org chart at Xbox, I think. Redfall's failure was largely due to poor decisions by Zenimax prior to Xbox buying them. Phil Spencer has said that that Xbox was too hands off with that one.

Deathloop is actually quite well regarded though I bounced off it pretty fast. I think the Arkane studio that made it (Arkane Lyon) were allowed to make the game they wanted to make.

Starfield is just Bethesda making the same sort of mistakes they were already making with their previous titles.

Well as far as Elder Scrolls goes there's two games since Morrowind and they're both lesser

Don't forget Elder Scrolls Online (which sucks)

yeah good point

And I like Oblivion and especially Skyrim! But money ruins everything

skyrim was better than oblivion so i dont see a trend line

also with that amount of time between releases its probably not really the same studio/team working on the games even if todd howard is still the public figurehead

I'd beg to differ but I'm reconciled to Morrowind being their high water mark tbh

Oh, if you’re just referring to quality control of Zenimax products in general, yeah, it’s all over the place.

Elder Scrolls Online, despite a rough start, is apparently considered one of the better MMO’s these days though. Fallout 76 supposedly turned itself around too.

I’m not sure what they’re going to do with Starfield. It’s not really a live service game, but if they treated it as such, it could be something worthwhile. Right now it feels about 15 years behind the times. It’s wild how BGS just do NOT seem to learn from their mistakes with their RPG’s.

I think you have to have the MMO gene to like ESO ... it's just not fun to me at all compared to Skyrim.

I have heard that 76 got better. They still release significant expansion content, which is cool.

It's not a straight line of decline is also fair

Think I'm just refusing hope for my own mental wellbeing

I mean the line from Fallout 4 to Starfield is not encouraging. They keep sanding down the RPG elements to the point of it being set dressing. Dialogue choices and decisions are essentially meaningless. They’re making action adventure shooters with an RPG veneer. They seem to have this idea that modern gamers would reject a more pure, free form RPG in line with Morrowind. But the massive success of Baldur’s Gate 3 says otherwise. I hope they learn something from that. And hire some decent writers FFS.

The one reliable thing they had was the sense of exploration and discovery which they, bafflingly, cut down at the knees with Starfield where you essentially pick “points of interests” from a menu.

I’m not sure how true this is any more, particularly now that Microsoft is involved, but historically they seem to have been kind of a homespun AAA studio. A lot of old heads sticking around and a particular, maybe outmoded, way of development. It got them far and had its folksy charms, but it clearly needs some shaking up.

OK, now I'm done with Wolfenstein 2. Surprised it ended without a big boss fight or anything, kind of took me by surprise. Scoured my backlog and thinking of trying Kena, seems to hit the marks for well-received, pretty to look at and not too long.

Working my way through the last episode of Alan Wake (I've met the Log Lantern Lady) and I'm finding this deeply irritating, to the point that I'm tempted to stop playing and just watch a Let's Play for however much I have left.

I started playing Eternal Ring (the pre-Demon's Souls FromSoft game on PS2) and it is.... not good; not good at all. BUT there's something very compelling about it for me as a Soulsborne fan. Like, you can see just enough of the Soulsborne DNA in there. I'd love to livestream it, but it's on PS2 so I don't know how. Apparently you can get it for PS4 in the States, but not here.

A few observations:

- It's mystifying that the analog sticks aren't usable. You have to use the L2 and R2 buttons to look up and down, which makes everything (especially fighting) really difficult.
- You don't have crosshairs or lock on either, so you're forced to just hope you're lined-up enough to connect with the enemies. This is horrible with flying enemies, especially if you're using ranged magic.
- There is a Crestfallen Warrior style NPC and some of the other NPCs do the classic FromSoft laugh!
- The level design of the dungeons is bloody awful! You'll enter rooms and corridors that lead nowhere - you can literally just go from corridor to corridor and end up in a room with a couple of regular enemies and nothing else, so the only option is to turn around.
- But the main challenge is orientating yourself because pretty much everything looks the same, so if you lose track of the way you're facing, there's no real way to tell if you're just heading back towards the entrance.
- Some extremely funny voice acting. Most of the NPCs have Brooklyn accents
- Speaking of which: Unskippable cut scenes. I died by stepping in some water right at the start of the first dungeon and had to watch the entire less-than-action-packed intro sequence over again.

"Kena" is OK so far. It's kind of like a humanoid version of "Ori," with, maybe, a bit of "Breath of the Wild" tossed in. Nice to look at, too.

Chugging along with "Kena," which has been cute and modestly challenging so far. But I just hit a really tough boss that seems to have wandered in from a From game, ugh.

slayaway camp 2 is surprisingly long and good. i "beat" it but i still have almost 100 stages left.

Warhammer Darktide continues to be a fun co-op space murder experience

Finished the main story of Control. This one is an all-timer for me in terms of style & world-building, but the core mechanics grew tiresome by the end. Luckily, it's a short game. Now I need to finish BG3. Then it's on to the rest of the backlog...

Fair assessment, imo. Same with Alan Wake Remastered. The games are so cool and creative, even the fights, but they do get a little repetitive, secondary to the style. But that style!

OK, saying again, these Kena bosses are From level. It's such a weird disconnect to go from cute adventure with occasional fun battles to top tier boss challenges.

Been stomping through Thimbleweed Park (finally!) and it's pretty great. The moment it switched to having to control 5 different characters was a little daunting at first but settled in now, think I'm near the end.

Kena’s bosses definitely hard but not ridiculously so. I played it when it came out and really enjoyed.

Hmm, I dunno, I think a couple of them have been really hard! Not all of them, most have been predictably OK, but there's been a couple that have been real skill checks so far, either due to the amount of damage they do or the other enemies cluttering the arena. There was one (Corrupt Woodsmith) I lowered the difficulty for, because 1) this game lets you and 2) I was getting pretty bored and wanted to move on. Something related that I like about this game is that you gain helpful skills, but even in what must be the last third of the game or so I still don't feel remotely OP. Almost every fight poses some challenges, bosses or no.

But anyway, yeah, especially for (I think) a first effort from an indie studio, this game is really impressive and fun. And they kept the price low and allow an upgrade to PS5 for free.

Now that you mention it maybe I did have to lower the difficulty once or twice! It’s been a bit. Kinda want to play through it again once I finish Elden Ring. Again.

I was struggling with the Hunter, and after I got lucky and finally beat it I realized I still had my settings on lower difficulty, lol. Ok, back to normal! For now.

I'm not playing anything recently and I miss it :(

Start a Dark Urge playthrough?

about 25 hrs into FFXVI
feelings are ... complicated
it's a good game, but not much of a FF game? FF has changed a lot over the years, but the FF elements of this game feel very much like window dressing
music is excellent, story & voice acting is decent, feels a lot like FFXIV crossed with GoT grimdark type fantasy
battle system is basic tho like a dumbed down DMC/Bayonetta and magic is way too overpowered (I haven't died once, playing on the highest available difficulty)
also there are these sort of super boss fights that verge on marvel movie bullshit, I hate them
much better than XIII and XV, but in the lower half of FF so far

I've decided to not purchase anything new until I've gotten through my existing backlog. Starting with the shortest games first and then working my way up to the longer ones. Just finished Abzu, 2016's underwater vibefest from some of the Journey devs (it was fine). Up next: Pony Island. I literally know nothing about this game except that it's the same guy who made Inscryption.

Tracking things here: https://www.backloggd.com/u/zchyrs/. If any other ilxors are on Backloggd, hmu!

really wish those game logging sites were as pretty as letterboxd...

xpost I wish I had your restraint! My downfall is too many 30-100 hour games in my backlog.

finished spider-man 2, playing a little returnal now