I hope they learned from the No Man's Sky team of how NOT to release this, because this has GOTY expectations and anything less than that (while still may likely make a great game) will seem like a huge disappointment. I normally don't pre-purchase, but this one will (probably) get the exception.
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I've had a bit of time lately, and finally caught up on my Game Pass backlog.
I know MS has dropped the ball when it comes to AAA titles lately coming to the service, but man do they have some really good small dev/indie titles to play.
I'm a fan of single player story driven stuff, and I absolutely loved;
Citizen Sleeper
Death's Door (very similar to Tunic which was great)
Ghostlore
Norco
Signalis
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I need to revisit Citizen Sleeper - I started playing a couple months ago and just didn't get back to it. I will say that the game has one of the best soundtracks that I have personally heard in a long time.
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I just dove into it this weekend and I've barely scratched the story (I think). Still getting my bearings on playing with a necromancer, but its been fun. I'm not understanding the backlash the game is getting (which all seems to be about the micro transactions).
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Look a $21 cosmetic horse armor isn't a micro transaction, that's a lot of money for some pixels.
While I have criticisms, I think it's been a great release for a AAA game which hasn't happened in a while. I am having lots of fun with my necro. Though be careful to not fall into the "I want to explore everything" trap because you will level yourself out of gear without progressing the story/difficulty. Prioritize the story, get to WT3 and then explore. Otherwise you hit level 5p with out leaving the first area and then have 4 more regions of shitty loot to play through.
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I read some criticisms yesterday and all I can say is this people don't want to play diablo they want a different franchise.
1) All builds are not viable end game - has never been the case in a diablo game. Diablo 3 was quite good after reaper of souls to rotate the viability of builds between the seasons
2) world feels empty not like an mmo should - from some one who started and isn't in the later world tiers and not doing helltides, I always see people in them
3) Complaints about loot - this has an odd blend between diablo 2 you're never going to get it (looking at you shako, which only one confirmed drop in d4 and I still never found in d2) and here are sone affixes to add to any gear (like easier rune words I guess). So far I've not had an issue keeping my gear cross to what I need for the world tiers and my level, the progression has felt good.
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So Survivor was as advertised and improved on the first game in some nice ways. Story was exceptional and beyond my favorite single player star wars game so far. I've never felt so powerful in a star wars game as in survivor it should be game of the year to me atleast.
Also all the previews for Star Wars outlaws looks amazing Ubisoft dropped a 10 minute gameplay reveal today and it looks sweet. MORE SPEEDERS AND HYPERDRIVES
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I finally got around to playing Spider-Man Miles Morales. I really loved Spider-Man and this was plenty entertaining. I am about to get the platinum trophy once I breeze through New Game +. Really looking forward to Spider-Man 2!
I played Street Fighter 6 for a bit but I am really, really bad at fighting games. So I might end up getting Diablo IV.
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is this New Game+ a normal thing in modern games? I just finished God of War (returning to gaming after a 2 kid hiatus) and I saw the option. Is the point of it for people who want to level everything up? Are the enemies thought because you start advanced?
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I would say yes it's normal in modern games, but it is not a new thing. It's been around since the 90s.
NG+ can be used for people who want to max out their characters, collect new loot, explore new areas, etc. while retaining all of your powers and abilities.
Implementation depends on the game.
Games like Elden Ring make the enemies tougher in each successive NG+, however, I always found that my levels always overpowered the enemies in NG+. I find it really fun to just absolutely steamroll enemies that gave me a hard time during my initial playthrough. I think I went up to NG++++ in Elden Ring.
Games like the upcoming Final Fantasy 16 has a New Game+ mode that is essentially a remix of the base game. Battles might feature different enemies, more enemies, or enemies with different movesets than before.
Spider-Man and Miles Morales NG+ are identical to the base game but you can get a few unlockable items and trophies in the NG+.
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Cities Skylines 2 release date announced for Oct 24. Game looks stunning and has a lot of the QOL mods from SC1 included. Also, from a content standpoint several things, like parks and industries that were DLC are included in the initial release.
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Beat Tears of the Kingdom last night. What a game. I wasn't sure if they'd be able to top Breath of the Wild but they definitely did. Great main quest line and awesome story. Now to see how many of the side quests I can finish...
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I don't know if I'll ever finish this game. I suspect I am a little past halfway through the main quest line and I keep getting sidetracked with the labyrinths and the depths.
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I spent a lot of time with both of those. Once I did one labyrinth I made sure to do the other two right after and had some fun with those. The depths has been cool but also terrifying at times.
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I've been putting most of my gaming into Tears of the Kingdom and I have zero complaints. It's a time-sink but it's really fun. The Steam Deck has been a big help in getting me through my goal of playing all the Final Fantasy games in order. Being able to pick games up for 15-20 minutes or take them on the go is very nice. Currently on FFIX and it's way better than I remember. I plan on moving to Jedi: Survivor once I'm done with TotK. Looking forward to Cities Skylines 2 and Oxenfree 2 later this year.
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You're not wrong, lol. I started over a year ago with FF1 and I'm sure it'll take another few years before I'm done. It's been fun to see this franchise's beginnings and to play a bunch of these titles that I've never played before.
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I started and stopped with FF3 (US release). I have FF7 (via Steam) and FF7 remake (on the PS5). I might get to those this summer and see the differences, but right now Diablo is getting all the attention.
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Allowing the demo progress to carry over into the main game is a brilliant idea. I really want to play the demo but I won't play the full game for another month or two, so I don't want to tease myself.
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Diablo 4 killed it in my opinion. The gameplay, style, music, and story are all top notch. They have some work to do for sure and I'm just getting into endgame grind but they announced a bunch of QOL updates today coming soon so they're listening to the players at least. Best Blizz game in a long time.
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With what I've played so far (maybe about 10 hours into it, still on Act 1 and on the verge of 2) I'm pretty happy with the game. There's still plenty that I'm trying to figure out, but so far the story is pretty good and much better than D3
Not counting Overwatch (because I dont and its another game trying to copy what Quake III mastered 20-something year ago), I didn't realize Blizzard hadn't introduced any new IP since StarCraft in 1998... 25 years since a new IP was hatched.
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Darkest Dungeon 2 has exceeded my expectations. It's everything I loved about the original with none of the stuff that annoyed me. Also, Cities Skylines 2 is the first game I've ever preordered. My kids need to become a lot more self sufficient so I have time to let that game consume my life.
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Remember when you bought a game you could actually play it without server log in troubles? Diablo 4 servers have been down for last 7 hours for most battle net users due to a DDOS attack. Nothing beats waking up to play a little on a Sunday morning only for logins not working for a game you paid 70$ for. If they want to start charging more developers need to start producing and maintaining better products like servers etc.
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This is why a mandatory internet connection is dumb for the game. I still haven't bought the game but I'd play solo 99.9% of the time, but an event like this would prevent that.
Still holding off on buying it for now.
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not new, but for those that remember and especially for those that never played, there's a modded and expanded version of Tie Fighter that can help you relive some peak nostalgia out of the Star Wars universe, when Lucas Arts still had focus and ambition and before the Mouse got involved...
Good god was TIE Fighter an awesome game. (I mean it still is, but back in the day it really blew this SW fans mind) I remember buying a Microsoft Sidewinder joystick specifically for that game.
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Ch Pro for me. I had been playing the game with mouse/keyboard and Gravis Gamepad up until I had a chance experience playing at a family friend's house with the controller. Totally worth the $75 investment to get that stick.
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So I'm watching a little bit of closed beta testing of Ubisoft's Skull and Bones, and.... Its looking like the exact kind of game you would hope would have spun off AC: Black Flag. Gameplay looks to be something you can pick up and play right away if you played Black Flag. I'm curious about the multiplayer aspect of this, I really hope it doesn't suck because it does look like it should be a good one to play when its out.
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I only have had the opportunity to play over the last few weekends, but I'm absolutely engrossed right now. It's a slow burn, and Bethesda eases you into it, by the time it fully opens up, you'll appreciate that they did.
The whole ship building and customizing is addictive as hell.
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Comments
Ars dropped a good article about Starfield along with an embedded video from Bethesda, and this looks impressive.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/06/bethesdas-starfield-direct-shows-...
I hope they learned from the No Man's Sky team of how NOT to release this, because this has GOTY expectations and anything less than that (while still may likely make a great game) will seem like a huge disappointment. I normally don't pre-purchase, but this one will (probably) get the exception.
please don't suck. it looks so promising
Edit: except for the teeth. Bethesda can never seem to get the mouths right on their characters. Too many teeth are always visible when they talk
I've had a bit of time lately, and finally caught up on my Game Pass backlog.
I know MS has dropped the ball when it comes to AAA titles lately coming to the service, but man do they have some really good small dev/indie titles to play.
I'm a fan of single player story driven stuff, and I absolutely loved;
Citizen Sleeper
Death's Door (very similar to Tunic which was great)
Ghostlore
Norco
Signalis
I need to revisit Citizen Sleeper - I started playing a couple months ago and just didn't get back to it. I will say that the game has one of the best soundtracks that I have personally heard in a long time.
DIABLO!!!!!
I just dove into it this weekend and I've barely scratched the story (I think). Still getting my bearings on playing with a necromancer, but its been fun. I'm not understanding the backlash the game is getting (which all seems to be about the micro transactions).
Look a $21 cosmetic horse armor isn't a micro transaction, that's a lot of money for some pixels.
While I have criticisms, I think it's been a great release for a AAA game which hasn't happened in a while. I am having lots of fun with my necro. Though be careful to not fall into the "I want to explore everything" trap because you will level yourself out of gear without progressing the story/difficulty. Prioritize the story, get to WT3 and then explore. Otherwise you hit level 5p with out leaving the first area and then have 4 more regions of shitty loot to play through.
I read some criticisms yesterday and all I can say is this people don't want to play diablo they want a different franchise.
1) All builds are not viable end game - has never been the case in a diablo game. Diablo 3 was quite good after reaper of souls to rotate the viability of builds between the seasons
2) world feels empty not like an mmo should - from some one who started and isn't in the later world tiers and not doing helltides, I always see people in them
3) Complaints about loot - this has an odd blend between diablo 2 you're never going to get it (looking at you shako, which only one confirmed drop in d4 and I still never found in d2) and here are sone affixes to add to any gear (like easier rune words I guess). So far I've not had an issue keeping my gear cross to what I need for the world tiers and my level, the progression has felt good.
Ghost recon is on sale right now on the Ubisoft site. $12 for reg version and $24 for ultimate.
So Survivor was as advertised and improved on the first game in some nice ways. Story was exceptional and beyond my favorite single player star wars game so far. I've never felt so powerful in a star wars game as in survivor it should be game of the year to me atleast.
Also all the previews for Star Wars outlaws looks amazing Ubisoft dropped a 10 minute gameplay reveal today and it looks sweet. MORE SPEEDERS AND HYPERDRIVES
I recently started playing my son's Nintendo switch...NBA2K23 all day
I finally got around to playing Spider-Man Miles Morales. I really loved Spider-Man and this was plenty entertaining. I am about to get the platinum trophy once I breeze through New Game +. Really looking forward to Spider-Man 2!
I played Street Fighter 6 for a bit but I am really, really bad at fighting games. So I might end up getting Diablo IV.
is this New Game+ a normal thing in modern games? I just finished God of War (returning to gaming after a 2 kid hiatus) and I saw the option. Is the point of it for people who want to level everything up? Are the enemies thought because you start advanced?
I would say yes it's normal in modern games, but it is not a new thing. It's been around since the 90s.
NG+ can be used for people who want to max out their characters, collect new loot, explore new areas, etc. while retaining all of your powers and abilities.
Implementation depends on the game.
Games like Elden Ring make the enemies tougher in each successive NG+, however, I always found that my levels always overpowered the enemies in NG+. I find it really fun to just absolutely steamroll enemies that gave me a hard time during my initial playthrough. I think I went up to NG++++ in Elden Ring.
Games like the upcoming Final Fantasy 16 has a New Game+ mode that is essentially a remix of the base game. Battles might feature different enemies, more enemies, or enemies with different movesets than before.
Spider-Man and Miles Morales NG+ are identical to the base game but you can get a few unlockable items and trophies in the NG+.
Chronic Trigger is my first memory of it
Mine too. Going back through and absolutely demolishing everybody that gave me any trouble.
Haha. Chronic Trigger
Another season, same old failing at car soccer.
So how are people thinking starfield will fair?
Just watched the 45 minute starfield direct and I'm impressed but afraid they tried to do too much and it'll be a buggy mess for a while after launch.
It's a Bethesda game, the bugs are half the fun.
Features, not bugs
Pre-ordered over the weekend.
Also, this:
Anyone else notice the Firefly-esque music after "anywhere we want?"
I swear if I can't get the slave 1 ship at some point in this game I will be pissed
Cities Skylines 2 release date announced for Oct 24. Game looks stunning and has a lot of the QOL mods from SC1 included. Also, from a content standpoint several things, like parks and industries that were DLC are included in the initial release.
Yeah I'm pretty hype over this. Will need to see what the minimum specs are for it, because it is looking way more resource intensive than CS1
The specs posted on steam seem pretty reasonable.
between this, Starfield and Phantom Liberty I can already feel all my free time slipping away
Beat Tears of the Kingdom last night. What a game. I wasn't sure if they'd be able to top Breath of the Wild but they definitely did. Great main quest line and awesome story. Now to see how many of the side quests I can finish...
I don't know if I'll ever finish this game. I suspect I am a little past halfway through the main quest line and I keep getting sidetracked with the labyrinths and the depths.
I spent a lot of time with both of those. Once I did one labyrinth I made sure to do the other two right after and had some fun with those. The depths has been cool but also terrifying at times.
I've been putting most of my gaming into Tears of the Kingdom and I have zero complaints. It's a time-sink but it's really fun. The Steam Deck has been a big help in getting me through my goal of playing all the Final Fantasy games in order. Being able to pick games up for 15-20 minutes or take them on the go is very nice. Currently on FFIX and it's way better than I remember. I plan on moving to Jedi: Survivor once I'm done with TotK. Looking forward to Cities Skylines 2 and Oxenfree 2 later this year.
... all of the FF games? That seems like a very tall task.
You're not wrong, lol. I started over a year ago with FF1 and I'm sure it'll take another few years before I'm done. It's been fun to see this franchise's beginnings and to play a bunch of these titles that I've never played before.
I started and stopped with FF3 (US release). I have FF7 (via Steam) and FF7 remake (on the PS5). I might get to those this summer and see the differences, but right now Diablo is getting all the attention.
I dont think I've beat FF1 with out game genie, because well its super fun having 4 fighters
I wasn't planning on playing the FFXVI demo but then a buddy convinced me otherwise. Wow. This game is going to be amazing.
Allowing the demo progress to carry over into the main game is a brilliant idea. I really want to play the demo but I won't play the full game for another month or two, so I don't want to tease myself.
Diablo 4 killed it in my opinion. The gameplay, style, music, and story are all top notch. They have some work to do for sure and I'm just getting into endgame grind but they announced a bunch of QOL updates today coming soon so they're listening to the players at least. Best Blizz game in a long time.
It seems like the seasons will have more story in them too, so hopefully it will be even better!
With what I've played so far (maybe about 10 hours into it, still on Act 1 and on the verge of 2) I'm pretty happy with the game. There's still plenty that I'm trying to figure out, but so far the story is pretty good and much better than D3
Not counting Overwatch (because I dont and its another game trying to copy what Quake III mastered 20-something year ago), I didn't realize Blizzard hadn't introduced any new IP since StarCraft in 1998... 25 years since a new IP was hatched.
The story is fantastic as you get further involved in what's going on.
Reallllly tempted to finally press "Purchase" after waffling on this game since it launched
Darkest Dungeon 2 has exceeded my expectations. It's everything I loved about the original with none of the stuff that annoyed me. Also, Cities Skylines 2 is the first game I've ever preordered. My kids need to become a lot more self sufficient so I have time to let that game consume my life.
Why did I reinstall Endless Space 2? Goodbye free time.
Remember when you bought a game you could actually play it without server log in troubles? Diablo 4 servers have been down for last 7 hours for most battle net users due to a DDOS attack. Nothing beats waking up to play a little on a Sunday morning only for logins not working for a game you paid 70$ for. If they want to start charging more developers need to start producing and maintaining better products like servers etc.
This is why a mandatory internet connection is dumb for the game. I still haven't bought the game but I'd play solo 99.9% of the time, but an event like this would prevent that.
Still holding off on buying it for now.
not new, but for those that remember and especially for those that never played, there's a modded and expanded version of Tie Fighter that can help you relive some peak nostalgia out of the Star Wars universe, when Lucas Arts still had focus and ambition and before the Mouse got involved...
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/07/getting-tie-fighter-total-convers...
Good god was TIE Fighter an awesome game. (I mean it still is, but back in the day it really blew this SW fans mind) I remember buying a Microsoft Sidewinder joystick specifically for that game.
Ch Pro for me. I had been playing the game with mouse/keyboard and Gravis Gamepad up until I had a chance experience playing at a family friend's house with the controller. Totally worth the $75 investment to get that stick.
Starfield pre-load is done
I'm pretty excited for this one with no way to play it at the moment. Lol
The steam strategy game sale is going on through the weekend. Good time to pick up paradox titles or dlc if you were holding out for a sale.
So I'm watching a little bit of closed beta testing of Ubisoft's Skull and Bones, and.... Its looking like the exact kind of game you would hope would have spun off AC: Black Flag. Gameplay looks to be something you can pick up and play right away if you played Black Flag. I'm curious about the multiplayer aspect of this, I really hope it doesn't suck because it does look like it should be a good one to play when its out.
Anyone playing Starfield. Just downloaded on Xbox. Any tips I should know before I start?
I only have had the opportunity to play over the last few weekends, but I'm absolutely engrossed right now. It's a slow burn, and Bethesda eases you into it, by the time it fully opens up, you'll appreciate that they did.
The whole ship building and customizing is addictive as hell.
It's the only think I'm playing right now. Every time I sit down for a session it feels like I blink and 2-3 hours has gone by