What VIDEO GAME(s) have you been playing?

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

Ah, you got me with Hitman dumbness. I'll have to check them out.

Currently on the Devil May Cry train (Capcom dumbness)

Sekiro is out but I just do not have the time to dive in in the next month. Really fucking sucks.

I got the season 1 battle pass for Apex Legends. Not so much for the "rewards", since they aren't that great. Mainly to throw $10 their way because of how much fun I've had with the game.

I also spent my accrued fake currency to buy the new character, Octane. He is fun, and while I'm not great at hitting his jump pad on the first try, his speed boost trick is super useful and doesn't hurt him very much. His health regen is very slow and not useful enough to save his life in a fight, but still nice to have.

I am coming to terms with probably never being good at this game.

Gary Sax wrote: Sekiro is out but I just do not have the time to dive in in the next month. Really fucking sucks.

This is definitely my next game once I finish assassin's Creed Odyssey. That might be worth a while though, as that game is apparently never ending. I'm real real jazzed for Sekiro.

Hey, I just finished Half-Life 2 for the first time. I had a lot of fun with it. Even though the story itself is pretty whatever, I felt like I connected with the other characters well, and it definitely nailed down the different wild setpieces.

I also completed Grim Fandango, on which I am somewhat torn. I feel like its puzzle and game design is frankly not up to snuff with the best LucasArts puzzle games. Adventure games are always a little touch and go with their logic, and so much of what makes sense and what doesn't comes down to the individual. But this one had more of that than, say, Monkey Island or Day of the Tentacle. So I feel like in terms of actual gameplay it's kind of a cut below LucasArts' standard.

But then I think about the stories and the characters are so good that I'm inclined to be forgiving. Its new engine makes actually playing the game harder, but it also makes the game feel downright cinematic. You could probably create an animated movie based on the game without changing much, and it would feel pretty solid. So on balance I feel generous toward it. I suspect I will actually end up replaying it down the line, just because I don't want to leave those characters.

Next up are some of the old Looking Glass studios designs. I have the original Thief and Deus Ex on tap next. The journey through video game history continues.

The original Deus Ex is probably a top 5 game for me.

Back into Overwatch. They've actually... done a great job with the new characters? I feel like they're 3 for 3 with Wrecking Ball, Ash, & now Baptiste. All seem balanced & add interesting things to the mix. Ash's BOB might need a slight duration nerf but overall, I'm impressed. They made it fun again.

hotseatgames wrote: The original Deus Ex is probably a top 5 game for me.

I am cautiously optimistic. I don't mind old janky graphics (the original Half-Life and Jedi Knight were both big favorites of mine, and I've visited the latter recently) but sometimes games that old can make weird gameplay decisions or be tough as nails. I only paid like $2.50 for it on GOG, so it's not big loss if it doesn't take. But I do hope it does, because it seems like a first-person game I could really get into.

I haven't played in a long time, but I suspect it will hold up. It was WAY ahead of its time, and most games today don't even try to give you the choices that it does.

hotseatgames wrote: I haven't played in a long time, but I suspect it will hold up. It was WAY ahead of its time, and most games today don't even try to give you the choices that it does.

That's good to hear. I actually tried out Ultima Underworld recently, and I felt the openness in that game, although the tiny field of vision and the wonky controls weren't my favorite. Something much more refined would be welcome.

san il defanso wrote: That's good to hear. I actually tried out Ultima Underworld recently, and I felt the openness in that game, although the tiny field of vision and the wonky controls weren't my favorite. Something much more refined would be welcome.

The first System Shock runs on the UU engine but gives you the option of getting rid of most of the HUD so your view isn't so cluttered. There's a remastered version of SS on Steam right now that's been modded to incorporate mouselook and you can toggle between it and inventory mode, much like SS2.

I need to go back and play Thief. The use of sound as a major gameplay element is very well-realized and the atmosphere is top-notch. Some people dislike the supernatural elements in the first Thief but I don't mind them; in fact I prefer them over the steampunk aesthetic of Thief II, which I never cared for. I read that the missions in Thief were designed to fit the story, whereas the Thief II story was altered to fit the missions ("Hey, Garrett should rob a bank!"), and it shows.

So... Apparently this is a real thing.



Following after the original is a tall order, since it's considered one of the best video games ever made. Expectations will be high.

High expectation is an understatement. At the current multiplayer oriented, live service market... expectations will be impossible.

Ultimately I don't think VtMB is one of the best games ever made anymore than Mass Effect or the newer Deus Ex games are. I think much of its critical appraisal is better understood when you consider what other games are also considered "one of the best ever made" and the fact that, for many, it was the first game of its structure, of its "maturity level" and the only one which was decently written.

The main problem with the game is that it's broken. It's probably the buggiest game I've ever played and even with the patch, you'll often come across enemies stuck in walls and doors that should open but don't. Enemies beheaviour is clearly unfinished. They never miss a shot and will attack the second a small piece of you comes out of the door. Guns are a trap because they deal little damage, consume ammo and don't let you suck the blood of your enemies. You walk too slow and I had to abuse regenerating health to get past many of the game's obstacles.

Most importantly, the game just dissipates after its initial area. By the time you get to Hollywood, the old "talk, sneak or fight" gets reduces to "fight" and levels start being shoddily copypasted. NPCs become fewer in number or ultimately irrelevant. The Hotel and the Sewers take a huge chunk of the game yet are awful, awful pieces of design that were clearly put together to rush the game out of the door. I don't believe a game which is, well, garbage for half or more of its playtime can be great, no matter how solid its beginning is.

But even if you fixed all that, I don't think it would be a good game. Like all computer RPGs, combat is not interesting and there's a lot of it. In fact, there's a very clear deviation from VtM, the pen and paper game, in that killing and murdering is promoted. The original game has this mechanic where killing reduces your humanity and it drops even further if you justifty it. In VTMB follows the Nathan Drake school of Heroism where murdering hundreds of people is ok because they are the bad guys.

I mean, if you take Santa Monica...is this really one of the best games ever made? I don't think that beginning part is really that interesting. It's solid and probably the closest you can get to playing a RPG on a computer, but I don't think choosing between a couple dialogue options and them having some sort of impact is enough to make it a great game.

@San il Defanso

I know a streamer who used to say Grim Fandangon was her favourite game. Then she replayed it and she no longer thinks so because the puzzles are poor. Ultimately, it's a Schafer game and Schafer has proven that he's a fantastic writer but also a poor game designer. His games would make for better movies, Psychonauts is probably the best example.

Valve is largely to blame for the flaws of Bloodlines. Troika had a contract stating that they were not allowed to release Bloodlines before Half-Life 2. This of course was not supposed to be a problem... until it was. They ran out of money waiting on Valve to finish HL2 and closed down.