What VIDEO GAME(s) have you been playing?

I'm not usually in this thread much, so I'm not sure what the conversation has been around the new Civ VI expansion, Gathering Storm. I'm digging into my second game of it right now as the Inca, after a first game as Canada.

Civ V was my first love in the franchise, and a big part of that was because of the World Congress and how it allowed me to interact with the other civs more on a diplomatic level. I was hoping Gathering Storm would lean into that more, but the World Congress here is less interactive with other civs. I do think the nature of diplomatic favor is compelling, and it serves as a better metric of diplomacy than wealth in Civ V. But the Diplomatic Victory seems really heavy on the endgame to me. In my game as Canada I had won a crushing cultural victory before a diplomatic victory was ever on the table, and I think that kind of thing will be common.

In fact a lot of the coolest stuff, like the new future techs and climate change, are much more focused on the very late game that may never happen in most situations. I've barely seen them come into play at all, though my Inca game is currently going for a Science victory, so I think I'll see those later techs before too long. Still, it feels like a lot of the neat things are not going to come into play in lots of games.

I really like the addition of natural disasters, and I find that to be a really welcome wrinkle. Civ VI has always been really tied to the terrain, with the way cities are now so dependent on surrounding land, and it just makes that more true. I don't know if that makes it a better game design, but it feels much more true to how civilizations work in real life.

The new civs are, at first glance, really fun. They have strong abilities and allow for different playstyles. The Inca can produce some ridiculous yields, and Elanor of Aquitaine is notorious on /r/civ for converting cities quickly.

Overall I'm pleased with it, and I do think it makes me miss Civ V less. The World Congress is different than I would have gone with, but I don't think it's necessarily bad, and I think the system of grievances allows a player to push more toward a largely pacifistic playthrough. That's something that Civ VI didn't really allow before. I also think it makes some of the mechanics of Rise & Fall more interesting. Golden ages and dark ages are more compelling to me now. It's not a perfect game, but it deifinitely feels more complete to me.

(It's also probably fair to state that I don't play on very high difficulty. I usually try to get to where I consistently win at a specific difficulty before moving to the next one, so I'm basically dwelling in Warlord/Prince territory right now. A lot of the new effects might be very new experiences at higher difficulty.)

Thanks for the impressions, I think you and I are on a similar civ wavelength so it's helpful. It'd be a must buy except it's 40 bucks so a bit steep.

The price is pretty steep, but I buy so few games at release that I was able to justify it without much trouble.

The biggest letdown is the Diplomatic victory. I had hoped to try it, but it takes so long that someone will win another way long before. In general I do feel like Civ VI is a step back in terms of victory conditions. Only Culture, Science, and Domination feel really thought out. Civ V nailed its different victories better.

Weird things are happening in Stellaris. A genetic retrovirus changed my entire species of mushroom people into... Less pleasant looking mushrooms I guess? This games pretty great. I have no idea if I'm doing well or not but these numbers sure are going up.

Definitely the right way to play Stellaris imho. Roll with it.

Last night I was playing Apex Legends with some friends, and one of them mentioned how he turned down his mouse sensitivity in the game to 3.0 from 5.0, and turned down his mouse DPI in Windows to 800. While this does slow your turning down a bit, it also helps you keep the cursor trained on a target.

I checked my DPI, and it was set to 2750.... now it's 800, and I turned down sensitivity in the game to 3; I was hitting people with much more regularity.

iirc, pro FPS players generally play with their entire arm moving the mouse (no wrist) on a huge mouse pad.

I'm 100% certain that I can now destroy Shroud.

Most people will do better with a low sensibility because it's more accurate and helps with tracking. A minority does better with a very high sensitivity because they "snap shot" instead of tracking, though.

I'm here to tell you that it's immensely satisfying to destroy your child in Mortal Kombat and then yell at them "YOU GOT CAGED!"

edit- I forgot to add that this effect is amplified when playing with the Ninja Mime outfit.

Sniper Elite 5 was announced today, and I could only be happier if it was coming out tomorrow. One of the few series for which I will pay full price.

If you like shooters, do yourself a favor and pick up the Sniper Elite collection in a Steam sale. Particularly, parts 3 and 4 are truly stellar games. They are criminally overlooked.

They are extremely dumb games, but in kind of a good way. There's a little bit if Hitman dumbness in them.

Borderlands 2 on the PSVR while using the Aim controller is amazing. The graphic style of BL is not hampered by the VR unlike more detailed titles. I also saw that the Sniper Elite series will be getting the VR treatment. I am immensely happy.

the whole family was down with the flu, then work got snowed in, so its been a week of staying in the house. so I moved the wii u out of the basement, and we've been exploring Nintendo games. Pikmin 3, DK tropical freeze, Hyrule Warriors, Yoshi's Wooly World. Better when they have local co-op available. and since you can play gamecube games on the wiiu tablet, Mario Sunshine, luigi's mansion & Paper Mario TTYD, games I haven't touched in years.

Override: Mech City Brawl... Man, what a great fighting game. It's made by Modus, the same folks responsible for the Trine games.

(P.S.A. - Digital deluxe version is on sale on PSN for $12, and it not only includes the season pass, but for some reason the rest of the DLC is downloadable for free with it.)

I downloaded the digital version yesterday for the living room PS4, so that the spawnling and I can play in separate rooms on our own TV's.

I haven't been playing much as I'd like since it released in December, but here and there I'll play when the spawnling asks.

I am horrible at fighting games, because this one is challenging. It's not overly complex, and in fact, the controls are extremely intuitive. Top triggers control the arms of each side, and bottom triggers control the legs of each side. Good stuff.

But the trick, like all good fighting games, is recalling the combos. If you can play semi regularly, this also becomes intuitive.

The challenge to playing well relies on using counterattacks effectively. For you fighting game vets, this may seem obvious. But the fighting game I have played were not this challenging, despite those games having far more complex combo routines. This all combines into a well designed third person fighting game.

The fact that it is a kaiju brawler just takes this to 11. I don't exaggerate about the 11, as this makes the GameCube button masher, Destroy All Monsters! Melee (the current gold standard in kaiju brawling games), look shabby in comparison.

The variety of arena settings is spectacular as well. With 15 total Mecha to choose from, there is a lot of content here to explore. The Mecha designs range from classic to hyper weird. There are even weapons and other bits of equipment that you can grab to further enhance your rampage through Townsville.

It borrows the overheat idea from MechWarrior and after you've been damaged to a certain threshold, you can unleash an ultimate attack to help even the odds or as a finisher.

There is even a mode where 4 local players can each control each limb. This creates a cooperative nightmare that is a contender with games like Overcooked. That's not my wheelhouse, but I appreciate this eye for variety.

It must be pure hipster irony taking control of me (or my temporary obsession with Adult Swim's Robot Unicorn Attack), but I love playing the unicorn Mecha, 'Stardust'. It's so over the top stupid, and thus magically delicious. "Unicorn posse, forevah!"

I really do suck at this game, but despite that, I enjoy it greatly and it pushes me to 'Git Gud'.