Just completed - The Bear and Badger

Bob

Still need to play 3

fullspectrum

JonB wrote:

Here's where you need to go first. I'll spoiler the details in case you want to find it yourself. Once you split from Barry the first thing you need is a key.

Spoiler:

You need a golden arrow, which is in the corridor near the bit with the spikes on rails. Then go back to the main hall. Go up the first stairs and out the door in front of you (opposite the main entrance) to get outside. Have a look round this area until for the sword key (examine the arrow to get an item you need to open the way).
With the key go back to the main hall ground floor and through the door opposite the dining room entrance.

Spoiler:

You'll find a room where you can get a map and then another door that you can unlock. Follow that route and you'll eventually find the shotgun room (but it's not so simple playing as Chris).
I mentioned the Z upstairs from the dining room because that room is a circuit, and if you get the Z following you one way it's then easy to run around the opposite way. Just keep using aim to check its position.

I'm making progress!

I realised what I'm scared of, not digital zombies or a scary mansion, but the fear of repeating tasks in a Resi game. That's the real horror.

With this in mind I'm saving and reloading a lot, making sure to burn Zs in the annoying places as you wisely said. I'm playing on the harder setting and it feels nicely pitched once you get in to a rhythm.

I can't decide which control scheme to go with, the new one feels more natural but it's impossible to aim up or down without running around, which I remember being key when I first played, for the purposes of popping heads up close and aiming at downed Zs. Am I missing something, or is it more tactically sound to play with the old one?

JonB

I use the new one most of the time. It's not perfect but quicker overall. On some sections with awkward camera angles it can help to switch.

But even with the new scheme, it's best to use the stick just for running around, and switch to the d-pad for aiming.

fullspectrum

You can use the D pad for aiming...I see. Thanks.

TheBoyRoberts

Titanfall 2.

Fantastic - can't praise the campaign enough.

Spoiler:

Bob

TheBoyRoberts wrote:

Titanfall 2. Fantastic - can't praise the campaign enough.

Spoiler:

Cried a little at the end when BT died too!! ;-(

Two Chalices and I'm in. Come on HMV.

XOMuggins

Just finished The Beginner's Guide. Not sure what to make of it really, but I do know I enjoyed playing it. I assume that

Spoiler:

[Deleted User]

Bob wrote:

Two Chalices

That's forty quid.

hylian_elf

He meant two Bobs. A Bob is half a Chalice.

[Deleted User]

Actually there are four hundred, but whatever.

Bob

hylian_elf wrote:

He meant two Bobs. A Bob is half a Chalice.

I thought we'd all decided the chalice had suffered post Brexit ?

hylian_elf

Yeah but Trump win reversed it.

Bob

hylian_elf wrote:

Yeah but Trump win reversed it.

Missed that news flash,

Tempy

XOMuggins wrote:

Just finished The Beginner's Guide. Not sure what to make of it really, but I do know I enjoyed playing it. I assume that

Spoiler:

the Coda guy is fictitious or meant to be the dude narrating it right?

Kinda

Spoiler:

Tempy

Just finished Hyper Light Drifter. Love the colours, the music, the general feel and and aesthetic of the world, but couldn't say the same for the actual combat which felt too restrictive and finicky, or the exploration, which felt very dependent on using a wonky map and scouring terrain for secrets, which just isn't my kind of thing.

Syph79

Just finished Dishonored 2. Not sure what I think yet.

Bollockoff

I look forward to elucidation.

JonB

Tempy wrote:

Just finished Hyper Light Drifter. Love the colours, the music, the general feel and and aesthetic of the world, but couldn't say the same for the actual combat which felt too restrictive and finicky, or the exploration, which felt very dependent on using a wonky map and scouring terrain for secrets, which just isn't my kind of thing.

Yeah, getting into wandering about looking for the subtle visual cues is a big part of it, although I thought the combat was well done too (worth unlocking horde mode to get the most out of it).

The map is definitely wonky though - really doesn't make much sense at all. Also annoying that it doesn't register all the keys, bits etc. you've found.

Syph79

Bollockoff wrote:

I look forward to elucidation.

Here we go then... Dishonored 2

I'm a massive fan of the first game. It was, for me, a very fresh experience at the time of release. I recently played through it again and it genuinely stands up four years on. My anticipation for the sequel was very high.

Firstly, the technical. I started playing this on my launch PS4 before the day one patch installed. Movement was fine, but looking around was jerky and if you looked quickly, there was heavy screen tearing. The patch did improve this (from memory), but I decided I was going to get a Pro shortly after starting and to wait to play the game on that. I couldn't now say whether it was the Pro or the patch (or both), but the experience was much better than when I first started the game - YMMV.

The game itself has left me conflicted. It's more Dishonored (a good thing). There's more variation in powers due to the multiple characters (also a good thing). It's certainly a more refined experience. The story is fine too, but isn't as strong as the first in my view. I can't really fault it from any perspective, except I wasn't left with a 'wow' overall and I've been struggling to put my finger on why. I think it's an issue with the format.

There are one or two simply outstanding missions in the game. I won't go into why, but they do stand out head and shoulders above the rest. Beyond that, the others play very much like the first game; however, I'm beginning to wonder if they're not a little stale and too guided an experience.

In the penultimate mission, knowing the game I immediately looked for a high vantage point. I heard two guards talking (the first I came across) and then I got the cursor to tell me where to go. I did that and then the mission was largely over - I barely touched the floor the whole time and there was zero challenge.

When it was done, I thought 'why the hell did I know where to go?'. I've literally only just arrived in this location. A guard has said something about finding a mark for me to take out in some way and then a cursor has told me where that is. Why would my character know where one person is? What happened to exploring, finding a map on the wall and using it, or more subtle signposting? I then recalled that most of the missions followed format - me following a cursor.

You wouldn't put Dishonored in the same pot as Call of Duty, but one of the criticisms of that series is you are just following another character's cursor for large parts of the game - the same is happening here, albeit without the other character.

I hope some of this rambling makes sense.

Tempy

JonB wrote:

Tempy wrote:

Just finished Hyper Light Drifter. Love the colours, the music, the general feel and and aesthetic of the world, but couldn't say the same for the actual combat which felt too restrictive and finicky, or the exploration, which felt very dependent on using a wonky map and scouring terrain for secrets, which just isn't my kind of thing.

Yeah, getting into wandering about looking for the subtle visual cues is a big part of it, although I thought the combat was well done too (worth unlocking horde mode to get the most out of it). The map is definitely wonky though - really doesn't make much sense at all. Also annoying that it doesn't register all the keys, bits etc. you've found.

The biggest sin of the combat is the dash not phasing you through enemies or terrain, thus getting you stuck on stupid things. The amount of times I died because I tried to dash past a boss but got stuck on their head because the game doesn't know how to figure out depth and 3D space in 2D plane, was frustrating. Also I found the bullet deflecting dash occasionally didn't trigger, and I couldn't figure out why, and the dash+slash often just didn't trigger even with full stamina. I could see the potential, but it just felt very stop start, and ultimately I felt the lack of mix of progression and absent story made it feel rather meaningless. Great aesthetics though.

trippy

Owlboy

Whoever drew the clouds must have eyes in the top of their head. They're absolutely gorgeous. A great deal of the art is lovely, though it's a shame much of the game is spent underground.

Unfortunately, Owlboy himself is also completely adorable. My daughter fell in love with him so I had to play through this frustrating game, where the punishing gameplay seems strongly at odds with the beautiful art and cuddly character designs.

Most of the baddies and bosses were infuriating, the bits in the dark and the one hit kills were awful and I found the controls to be needlessly complex.

I can see that perhaps the game simply wasn't aimed at me, nonetheless Owlboy can go take a flying, feathered fuck.

g.man

hahaha

regmcfly

Watch Digs 2

This is the surprise of the year, hands down. I've always been interested in narratives in games, and yes, the pre-release blarney even turned me off. However, the actual quality of the writing, and characters, as many other outlets have highlighted is excellent, and I genuinely like the main team. Specific shouts out to Josh who is clearly Aspergic (not autistic btw) and struggles with keeping up with jokes. A moment where he tries to crack one himself, although totally badly, is lovely.
And Wrench. He's yer emoji eye character. There is a narrative reason to him wearing the mask which is nowhere near as 'ashamed of thoughts and deeds' as quiet (and rightly has never been highlighted as that) but that does make you see him in a different light. He's also a cracking comic relief, especially in an early exchange that suggests

Spoiler:

Gameplay wise it's a bright, colourful and generally optimistic open world, which defies the nihilism of Rockstar and even WD1. I've just had a lovely time exploring San Francisco and being around these characters. Main story is about 13 missions long (broken into several sub stages) and ends a little underwhelmingly; however along the way you will address Scientology, Google cars, Smart houses and other things.

Forget the shitty marketing, this is a game wheeling in unabashed fun - the first main mission post credits is to find a pair of trousers from a shop, as you lost them, drunk, the night before.

We can all align ourselves with that.

Sorry Forza, but WD2 has shunted you off my GOTY list for just being bright and breezy, and surprisingly so. Wonderful.

[Deleted User]

How is in terms of side quests etc?
Typical Ubi or a bit more inspired?

regmcfly

Liveinadive wrote:

How is in terms of side quests etc?
Typical Ubi or a bit more inspired?

Much more inspired. You often have to 'find' them, and they're all a little daft. My favourite was having to challenge one of your crew's nieces who

Spoiler:

It's that sort of silly. As I've said, whole game is real fun. All the side quests generally seem to be unique.

Bob

Is it better than mafia 3 though, my surprise open worl goty?

There's only one way to find out.

[Deleted User]

Sounds interesting.
I did watch 5 minutes of a Twitch stream and liked how vibrant the city looked, reminded of GTAV in terms of it being a realistic city caked in sunshine.

Will look out for it coming up cheap next year, I won't be able to put any time into games anytime soon anyway because of the new dog.

regmcfly

Bob wrote:

Is it better than mafia 3 though, my surprise open worl goty?

There's only one way to find out.

I gave up on Mafia 3 because of the incongruity between story and gameplay. Didn't meld with me. In WD2 the ridiculousness of an 'anonymous-esque' melds accurately with the types of activities you're doing in the game. See the Scientology mission for an example.

[Deleted User]

Edit: Regarding that incongruity, the video review Tempy posted highlighted that a lot of what you do is at odds with the narrative. Fair enough if you didn't find that, but the aesthetic does seem at odds with the gameplay.

regmcfly wrote:

We can all align ourselves with that.

Speak for yourself.

regmcfly

Andy wrote:

Edit: Regarding that incongruity, the video review Tempy posted highlighted that a lot of what you do is at odds with the narrative. Fair enough if you didn't find that, but the aesthetic does seem at odds with the gameplay.

regmcfly wrote:

We can all align ourselves with that.

Speak for yourself.

I am. And I disagree with the video point although I appreciate the argument.

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