cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited January 2021
Speaking of Paradise Killer, friendly reminder that (one of) the games that inspired it, The Silver Case, is only $8, and one of the best VNs/crime dramas you'll ever play.
Ah...to actually have money to spend. Well ok, I spent Steam wallet funds I've been hanging onto forever. Anywho! I picked up a few games this sale to pad out my backlog.
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
Star Wars Battlefront II
Islanders
Undead Horde
Islanders is a pretty chill puzzle game/city builder thingy. I played that a bit last night while vegging out with the tv playing in the background. I think I'm going to install the monkey simulator(Ancestors) next.
If I can count DLC, then Monster Hunter: Iceborne and Remnant from the Ashes: Subject 2923 have to be up there. I got to spend a lot of time with some good friends playing through those and enjoyed every minute of it.
If I think of full games that released, I think my top two right now are Monster Train and Hardspace: Shipbreaker. Haven't discussed Shipbreaker with too many other players yet, but Monster Train had a good stint in a couple communities and it was a good time talking strategy and comparing games.
I enjoy playing through terraria, but without clear goalposts, I am kind of vexed. I have done every boss before hard mode but have not adequetly explored the world.
Gonna ignore it for a week and play something tighter.
If I can count DLC, then Monster Hunter: Iceborne and Remnant from the Ashes: Subject 2923 have to be up there. I got to spend a lot of time with some good friends playing through those and enjoyed every minute of it.
If I think of full games that released, I think my top two right now are Monster Train and Hardspace: Shipbreaker. Haven't discussed Shipbreaker with too many other players yet, but Monster Train had a good stint in a couple communities and it was a good time talking strategy and comparing games.
Hardspace for me, hands down. Innovative, funny, and hints of a richly imagined universe just out of frame. It's like Little Inferno grew up and got an engineering degree.
Beyond the game itself, the catharsis of controlled demolition in the near-silence of space was the perfect to unwind from the daily chaos of 2020.
I just installed and started Darkest Dungeon. This looks like something I can get hooked into, but it's also pretty hefty on "stuff" just being lobbed at you. Lots of numbers, things, upgrades, and so forth going on. I did the intro run and my first quest. Got to the last room of the first quest and defeated the bad guys. Thought I had to manually walk out and lost my healer in the process.
So....I'd like to avoid stuff like that happening again if possible. Any protips on encounters, combat, upgrading, etc? The usual "I wish I knew X before I started playing" sort of things.
Here are some maxims I follow. None of them are hard and fast rules, but I think they can help you get acclimated:
Upgrade the stage coach network one level as soon as you can to start getting more recruits. I don't think further upgrades to the network are worthwhile, but you'll want to max out the barracks size eventually.
Upgrading the nomad wagon is probably the lowest priority of all buildings in the hamlet.
Upgrading the guild, the blacksmith, and the sanitarium's ability to treat quirks are all high priority and critical to your progression.
Take someone with a good stun skill on every expedition. Stun the most pernicious enemy every turn, but note that an enemy gains stun resistance for one turn after being stunned, so spread the blackjacking around a bit.
Once you have access to camping skills, take someone who can prevent nighttime ambushes on every expedition that affords you firewood.
Improve your party's scouting ability with the relevant character quirks and trinkets. Scouting reveals traps (among other things), which are a significant source of stress if not detected.
Stress is the party killer. Stress is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face the Bone Courtier first. I will permit the blows of the other skeletons to pass over me and through me. Only when the tempting goblet clatters to the floor will I turn my inner eye to other targets. And where the stress has gone there will be nothing; only I will remain.
Also: did you know you can change a character's active skills during an expedition, as long as you're not in combat? Because I sure didn't until I was 18936102936 hours in and gosh it would've been useful on occasion.
Edit: while watching the Darkest Dungeon 2 trailer for the eleventy-billionth time, I spotted a new player guide in the recommended videos which looks promising:
Speaking of Paradise Killer, friendly reminder that (one of) the games that inspired it, The Silver Case, is only $8, and one of the best VNs/crime dramas you'll ever play.
Oh man I've had my eye on it for a while but always hesitated to pull the trigger because it looked so dark and heavy that I wasn't sure I'd be up for playing through it in its entirety, but this endorsement is what's going to finally get me to give it a shot.
While we're on the topic of detective games, I pulled Outer Wilds out of my backlog. You solve a mystery of a Majora's Mask type Groundhog Day loop. And it has that "I wish I could erase my memory" feel of The Return of the Obra Dinn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6LGnVCL1_A
Honestly, I think I have to give it to Horizon Zero Dawn. It has fairly good gameplay, but it's really the aesthetics and the writing that give it the top spot, I think. Aloy is fun, the game's take on a post-apocalypse feels like it drinks a lot more from the eastern style than your typical fallouts and mad maxes and so on, the backstory is positively haunting, the npcs are often likable and human, and of course all the robot critters are just so gorram cool. Robot dinosaurs is a heck of an aesthetic flex.
@Karoz thinks I am an ash hole and sent me Ashen! Which looks like a really fun souls like! Thank you Pate! ♥ There is no way this will be a trap and I will end up kicked down a hole!
Honestly, I think I have to give it to Horizon Zero Dawn. It has fairly good gameplay, but it's really the aesthetics and the writing that give it the top spot, I think. Aloy is fun, the game's take on a post-apocalypse feels like it drinks a lot more from the eastern style than your typical fallouts and mad maxes and so on, the backstory is positively haunting, the npcs are often likable and human, and of course all the robot critters are just so gorram cool. Robot dinosaurs is a heck of an aesthetic flex.
Sounds neat. Just a shame that PS4 ports to PC seem to really hate my computer. Both Horizon and Detroit: Become Human couldn't even get through frontloading all the shaders before it would just power off my machine.
Started playing Hades and oh man, that art, especially the characters, is so goooooood
e: there's probably no other (higher res?) art out there than the wallpapers on the official site and the steam card stuff, right? My phone needs a greek god upgrade
Most anticipated (that still snuck up on me) was Creeper World 4.
Monster Train is also very good. Haven't played it, and I need to; but Hades too.
HZD getting a pc release this year meant it got a good amount of 'goty' feelings two separate years. Even if I haven't played it a ton, going back to that setting felt so nice.
While Spiritfarer is probably my overall GOTY, I had an arguably bigger impact by Vampire Masquerade: Shadows of New York.
Music, visuals and story was great and never knew that much about the Lasombra clan since they are mostly Sabbat in previous games and even then rarely encountered.
Mid-late game spoilers
The game takes place at the start of 2020 and as you're hitting some serious story beats suddenly the COVID lockdown occurs and the presence is just unnerving even to a supernatural being. The bustling streets full of prey are suddenly empty other than the odd individual who can't stay inside. So often it seems like human life goes on with little impact on Kindred but here is a big enough event to put a sudden jarring change in the environment. Overall it's still rather minor as being immune to disease have as much effect on your and Kindred but it just really resonated.
I hope more video games and other pieces of art record this shocking time instead of just trying to forget it.
My game of the year is Gears Tactics. I very rarely play games twice (unless they're designed for it), but I started a second campaign in the Jacked mode directly after finishing it the first time. Other stand-outs are Monster Train, Astro's Playroom, and Marvel's Avengers.
I haven't been able to pick a GOTY so I'm calling it a 3-way tie between Cyberpunk 2077, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Immortals Fenyx Rising. They're all amazing. I love them all. If they were the only 3 games I owned, I could probably be happily entertained through a good chunk of 2021.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is my GOTY hands down. Close behind are Hades, Ghost of Tsushima, Project Wingman, Persona 5 Royal, Genshin Impact, Spider-man: Miles Morales, and Friendship with Benefits.
Pretty good year for games, I think. Maybe not an all-time great year, but plenty of fantastic stuff still came out.
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KalnaurI See Rain . . .Centralia, WARegistered Userregular
Apparently, Animal Crossing New Horizons and Final Fantasy VII Remake are the only games I played through last year that were released in that year. I started Trials of Mana, but I'm not even at the Holy City yet, so I don't feel comfortable really deciding how much I like it just yet, and I have yet to play Carrion or DOOM Eternal, so I don't have input on those either. I tried Genshin Impact but bowed out before the first real boss fight (the dragon) as the game was already getting too hard to play because of the level bumps combined with what was needed to keep everyone leveled to a point that they could be useful (which apparently I was supposed to pick a "team" but that felt restrictive); I just could not meet the game on its own terms.
Honestly, I rarely play a game in the year it was released anymore. Thanks to my Steam library combined with my Switch and Playstation libraries, I have around 300 unplayed or unfinished games, and I want to give each of them a chance in turn, so it's more likely I'll still be playing 2020 games in a few years from now.
I make art things! deviantART:Kalnaur ::: Origin: Kalnaur ::: UPlay: Kalnaur
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Werewolf2000adSuckers, I know exactly what went wrong.Registered Userregular
Posts
https://store.steampowered.com/app/476650/The_Silver_Case/
I wrote an entire article about how special this game is, and how it being made and finally localized are both different flavors of miracle.
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/the-silver-case/
Also, the art is fantastic.
Don't feel bad, I haven't finished 2 yet.
Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
Star Wars Battlefront II
Islanders
Undead Horde
Islanders is a pretty chill puzzle game/city builder thingy. I played that a bit last night while vegging out with the tv playing in the background. I think I'm going to install the monkey simulator(Ancestors) next.
Thanks @ArbitraryDescriptor for Children of Morta! Had my eye on this one, and look forward to checking it out. Much appreciated!
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
Side plug for parents out there:
It plays two with local-coop, and the kids (6&8) are somehow able to play it without bickering*.
*Not a guarantee
But really the sale should be over now.
AniList
Thanks for Detention!
Steam | XBL
Thanks to @Asthariel for Regalia and Timelie!
Also thanks @DaringDirk for Lego Marvel Superheroes 2!
If I can count DLC, then Monster Hunter: Iceborne and Remnant from the Ashes: Subject 2923 have to be up there. I got to spend a lot of time with some good friends playing through those and enjoyed every minute of it.
If I think of full games that released, I think my top two right now are Monster Train and Hardspace: Shipbreaker. Haven't discussed Shipbreaker with too many other players yet, but Monster Train had a good stint in a couple communities and it was a good time talking strategy and comparing games.
Twitch/Mudzgut
Fall down seven times. Stand up eight.
Gonna ignore it for a week and play something tighter.
Like witcher 1
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
Hardspace for me, hands down. Innovative, funny, and hints of a richly imagined universe just out of frame. It's like Little Inferno grew up and got an engineering degree.
Beyond the game itself, the catharsis of controlled demolition in the near-silence of space was the perfect to unwind from the daily chaos of 2020.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Fuck
For you, the day Steam went down was the most important day of your life.
But for me, it was Tuesday.
Here are some maxims I follow. None of them are hard and fast rules, but I think they can help you get acclimated:
Also: did you know you can change a character's active skills during an expedition, as long as you're not in combat? Because I sure didn't until I was 18936102936 hours in and gosh it would've been useful on occasion.
Edit: while watching the Darkest Dungeon 2 trailer for the eleventy-billionth time, I spotted a new player guide in the recommended videos which looks promising:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjEYqeG-4sc
Apparently we both had the same target on our backs and the class monster wasn't satisifed with just one victim.
Thanks @Iolo - now back to my regularly scheduled lurking.
Oh man I've had my eye on it for a while but always hesitated to pull the trigger because it looked so dark and heavy that I wasn't sure I'd be up for playing through it in its entirety, but this endorsement is what's going to finally get me to give it a shot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6LGnVCL1_A
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Honestly, I think I have to give it to Horizon Zero Dawn. It has fairly good gameplay, but it's really the aesthetics and the writing that give it the top spot, I think. Aloy is fun, the game's take on a post-apocalypse feels like it drinks a lot more from the eastern style than your typical fallouts and mad maxes and so on, the backstory is positively haunting, the npcs are often likable and human, and of course all the robot critters are just so gorram cool. Robot dinosaurs is a heck of an aesthetic flex.
Sounds neat. Just a shame that PS4 ports to PC seem to really hate my computer. Both Horizon and Detroit: Become Human couldn't even get through frontloading all the shaders before it would just power off my machine.
Steam profile - Twitch - YouTube
Switch: SM-6352-8553-6516
Ah well.
Toxic makeup really is just the worst.
What on earth were you building?!
https://youtu.be/sTvAmwnhIxM
I'm sure Ms. Shopkeep would agree.
Shopkeep is scary.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
e: there's probably no other (higher res?) art out there than the wallpapers on the official site and the steam card stuff, right? My phone needs a greek god upgrade
TYVM
Discord: Dudeman#9279 - Battle.net: Dudeman#1385
Twitch: CrashTestJonny - XBox: CrshTstJonny
Nintendo Switch: SW-4469-1892-0302
Most anticipated (that still snuck up on me) was Creeper World 4.
Monster Train is also very good. Haven't played it, and I need to; but Hades too.
HZD getting a pc release this year meant it got a good amount of 'goty' feelings two separate years. Even if I haven't played it a ton, going back to that setting felt so nice.
Music, visuals and story was great and never knew that much about the Lasombra clan since they are mostly Sabbat in previous games and even then rarely encountered.
Mid-late game spoilers
I hope more video games and other pieces of art record this shocking time instead of just trying to forget it.
Pretty good year for games, I think. Maybe not an all-time great year, but plenty of fantastic stuff still came out.
Honestly, I rarely play a game in the year it was released anymore. Thanks to my Steam library combined with my Switch and Playstation libraries, I have around 300 unplayed or unfinished games, and I want to give each of them a chance in turn, so it's more likely I'll still be playing 2020 games in a few years from now.
Ha ha. It is to laugh.
EVERYBODY WANTS TO SIT IN THE BIG CHAIR, MEG!