The "rando talks/rant/glee about 'a game'" Thread 😄

[Gnuffi]

Seems (i) sometimes can end up with thoughts or just talking about “a game” elsewhere, mid topic, or something, so figured would try to condense them to “here” where/if possible

so if you feel like you have a game you want to share some thoughts, opinion, ranting or just your exuberant exhilaration, on; feel free to let the waterfall flow about whatever here,
(just in case you thought it might not happen to momentarily “fit” in another reply/“derailment”)

-alright lets kick things off:

[M00]

I’m having lots of fun with Quake Champions atm still

[CptMold]

XCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOMXCOM

Recently I made a s***post mashup between a certain Childish Gambino meme and XCOM… and opened up the game on my PC to get some reference points and make sure I was representing everything correctly (GUI, symbols, turns, etc.). For some reason, I just never really put any hours into the PC version. That’s about to change, as the little bit of time I put into it reminded me of how great the game was.

I have the game on pretty much every platform I used frequently at some point-- I started with the Xbox 360 version where I have the base game and the Elite Soldiers DLC, and I have the Kindle Fire HDX port that includes all DLC. I also have the vanilla PC version, as well as XCOM 2 with all Season 1 DLC.

XCOM is a fantastic series that feels like two games fit together seamlessly. The first half of this game is a base management game where you prepare for invasion and keep your military resources at max capacity, handling research and engineering divisions to try and level the playing field to the best of your ability. All the progress from this part of the game will play into the Tactical view, where after taking on a mission, you’ll take direct control of your soldiers and do your best to carry out the mission with minimal losses.

It’s an amazing game, and one that I feel deserves continued praise in spite of its sequel improving many things. I’ve been back and forth on a lot of things between this and the original game, and I think they’re dead-tied for the definitive singleplayer combat strategy experience. No match of Age of Empires, Dawn of War, or Company of Heroes ever matched the sheer brilliance of the game-- that shock as you walk into an obvious trap, that thrill when you take a hopeless shot and see the camera change to a dramatic killcam angle, that sense of dread as you feel forced to take a mission you know you aren’t ready for to protect your funding… it’s a complete long war that ends just as you feel that you can’t take any more.

The UI, presentation, and every aspect of the game builds on the theme and never feels like it gets in your way. Each camera pan and turn change is just long enough to feel uncomfortable about what could be about to happen, and not a moment longer (unless something did happen… RIP). That’s not even mentioning the soundtrack, which was composed by Deus Ex HR/MD composer Michael McCann.

I’m not a huge fan of the keyboard controls, which feel like they’re trying too hard to be RTS-ish to the detriment of the game. That said, both the touchscreen and gamepad controls feel perfect. Making a strategy game feel good on consoles is no easy feat, but Firaxis pulled it off.

I’d highly recommend picking up XCOM Complete on GOG at your earliest convenience. I’d also recommend Unknown first just to get a feel for the game-- Enemy Within is a much better game if you have some previous experience, as it has a bunch of new mechanics and missions that might be a little too overwhelming for a new player. For the clunky and timeless alternative, check out X-COM UFO Defense on GOG with the OpenXcom mod.

[Gnuffi]

allow me to gush a little bit about Hollow Knight
"note slight potential spoilers might occur" (have tried to tone it down a bit for hollow knight newcomers, tho it’s also hard to completely avoid in my glee)

first of, it’s a 15$ title, why do i bother to mention this you might think ?
-well, because not only is the game great, awesome and amazing in its own right. It’s also packed full of content, putting many higher priced titles utter and completely to shame in terms of “tangible” value per “invested purchase $”
On top of that the devs (apparently not completely discharged from the insane asylum) was committed to keep adding stuff for free, be it for Kickstarter stretch goals, getting on the Nintendo, or whatever other crazy reason they felt like just tossing stuff in and complete it even more on top anyway

I’m thoroughly disappointed in myself for going this long without trying it , it’s truly fantastic, and very satisfying to play.

So what happened, well besides the “usual” excuses to not play games, given how this game was “heavier” on the platforming side of things (pls don’t let that deter you!) it was easier to put in the "will get later"pile, since those games often frustrates me because of my own clumsiness
Anyway, a couple of chronies on the forums got to mildly gushing about how fantastic the game where, (oh boy they were not kidding ), and happened to coincide with a Humble sale
Now, i also had some leftover funds there, essentially making it an overall combined steal for me (-however there were still other things on my list too, making me not pull the trigger immediately).
But someone saw fit to take the choice out of my hands, and straight up gifted me the game instead (you know who you are, and you have my eternal gratitude and glee for that ) and so at the first proper free moment sometime after i prepped up, (no not mountain dew , apple cider and gifler), and jumped in for a trip to Hallowsnest

And holy royal mofo **** golden ****** *** crown **** chocolate **** stick in a ice cream sundae…!
From the very beginning the way it just sucks you in, cute little bug, hero landing and all , it’s just amazing in every aspect!
The art, the story, the world/characters/dialogue, sounds and music, all utterly engrossing. Combined with the freakin combat, movement and controls it’s just so close to near perfection as possible, it makes Skyrim "10/10"s, etc, look utterly redonkulous by comparison

I’m still on my first playthrough, going on some 25hours i guess, and part of the beauty of this game’s gameplay is its openness, -very little is “gated” off.
In fact once you get past the beginning, which serves as a mild cheeky “setup” tutorial, you can apparently go almost anywhere, (if you can survive the journey), because the game wasn’t meant for you to go in just 1 or even 2 directions, but allows you to explore to your heart’s content.
This was wonderfully demonstrated to me multiple times, where i (give the enemies hp/moveset) clearly was missing something semi-vital to make the experience, more, uhm, “manageable” for me.
But it allows you to try, or even go on, or a big circle around if you’re like me and too chickensht to look at anything 50% larger than your own size

Suddenly before i knew it i was in the deepest darkest corner (or so i thought) of what turned out to be one huge giantass freaking map/world.
Basically because of my usually wanderlust and meandering i had gotten myself in some slight trouble. Traveled pretty far, and also far from my latest checkpoint (thank holy high fck for benches!, everytime i walk by a bench i pat it on the back now, whispering “that’s a good bench”),
anyways i was mildly panicking over losing my soul+hard earned Geo(currency), and i had no clue where the next checkpoint might be, or how far, or even where the last one was considering backtracking
so i soldier on, like a good little bug of the knight’s table, and find a train (mind you the game already had another mode of “fast travel”/transportation between some areas), so i sorta rejoice, remembering i had seen such a very train back up in the starting dungeon area.
Oh boy… oh boy oh boy oh boy… What is it they say about taking rides with strangers?, i’m guessing that now also applies to rides without others present

slight "spoiler"

I took the tram, ending up a station i had been before, far away, and still far from where i wanted to be, so i hit the button again, fully expecting to get back to the station i was at before, or the one i had seen/intended to go to… Yaiks… was i wrong, and somehow ended up on the far side of the world, with 2 areas i hadn’t been in yet

-luckily the traveling came with a bench so i just decided call it quits there before i had a nervous gps-related breakdown and wait with finding my way another time

in all this time, zigzagging across the world, finding all these neat little pieces of lore, fun segments of challenging play, be it platforming or combat, or just figuring out where to go next, i somehow ended up “not playing the game”, at least not usual a-b mainline in a campaign
because i had killed only a fraction of the bosses, and no story related boss apparently
Instead i’d been finding secrets, and this game has them in spades, or been “banging on walls” . And if not directly secrets then those metroidvania-lite moments too, of acquiring a power “later” that then means you can go back and do something new in an old area, so an area can take a long time to fully consume.
but since there is no mandated linear path to get your upgrades, you can skip forth and back in so many different ways -especially since some secrets or areas intertwine in an awesome way of making pathways, letting you take advantage of having gotten Y before X even

This game does so many things right imo, it’s amazing, if you remotely like platforming or even metroidvania’lite aspects, hell just as a 2d action adventure game this is freaking fantastic and you owe it to yourself to try this. It just has everything that makes a wonderful game and experience.

There are these little silly moments, or just things, stuff that didn’t need to be there, but the kind that just oozes passion and quality, and further adds to sucking you into the world.
and wow, the kickstarter backers that helped bring this to life , it’s an actual treat finding something backer related in the game, in whatever shape/plaque they might have been honoured.

I think part of what keeps me from moving on with the main story, is all these things that are tossed in here and too that just further fuels my desire to find something else and constantly look around the “next corner”. Be it some crazy recluse snob, or some fellow “knight” that’s out adventuring, or just some silly little wayward grub
the game just keeps me going and exploring, -and if i’m lucky i might stumble upon a boss on my travels, and maybe even complete the game one day eventually, (if their path happens to be on whatever offroad track i end up on)

(and omg does the prospect of Steelsoul mode look awesomely daunting to me!! )

much recommended, much continued Hollow Knight gushing likely to ensue

[YQMaoski]

@Gnuffi

much recommended, much continued Hollow Knight gushing likely to ensue

Well done! I would have quoted more, but I don’t think it was really necessary!

[Rhyagelle]

I’m going to talk about Mount & Blade: Warband

I (almost) recently bought it on GOG and Steam (I mostly play on GOG via Linux) and have been having a blast in thie game. Now I normally do not like games that do not have storylines in a traditional sense, so I really hesitated on getting this game. I looked through Steam reviews and saw countless people with 1k+ hours heartily recommending it and would think, “How in the world are they finding that much enjoyment in a game where you don’t really get much done besides battling things?” but it was a classic “never judge a book by its cover” moment.

Now, I bought the series with Vikings Conquest and started with that, so I didn’t have to start Cold Turkey without any story (VC has some story) and I pretty much instantly fell in love with it (especially since I love the Scandinavian history/culture/etc). I love how extremely difficult this game is even on newb level (I still stuck and I’m 100 hours in) and I love how insanely satisfying battles are when there are more than 50 people on the field.

You can organize your people into groups based on what they do. For example (this is for the benefit for anyone who has never heard of the series before) you can have your archers follow you a hill, have them hold that hill and fire freely while you then order your infantry to form ranks in front of them and then order your cavalry to follow you into the thick of the battle while your archers pick off the enemy and your infantry holds off any enemies looking to take down your archers. And then when you want, with a click of a button or two, you can scream for your infantry to charge forward and help you (or your archers, or everyone!).

Now, imagine setting up insanely intricate battles while there are 500+ men on the field…on each side! And at ANY moment an enemy fraction could join in and help your enemy, or a friendly fraction/friend could join in and help you. It can get intense and be so very fun!

And you can do so much more, like marry some noble Ladies/Lords for some land, do quests, pillage, be noble/evil for the sake of it, conquer the entire realm for yourself, help your favorite lord/lady be king, etc etc.

My only gripe, seriously as a depth seeking person, is that there is no concrete storyline, but this is a sandbox game, so it is to be expected. You craft the story line with your imagination.

I forget what I paid for the entire series on Steam but I think it was definitely around $15. For GOG, I paid $9 for Warband + VC. Yup…I bought it twice! Because I love it!

P.S

I have several characters, but my most developed is a loyalist in a well loved mod called “Prophesy of Pendor” to the king of Fierdsvain. I’ve conquered almost every single fraction for my king and I’m on my way to conquering the rest…with an iron fist!

(The next installment, Bannerlord, is going to be epic too!)

[kylehayman361]

hello, my name is Kyle and Im a Dark Souls addict.

But the sad thing is, Im not even that good at it.

but it ain’t ‘alf fuckin’ epic

[Gnuffi]

@kylehayman361

but it ain’t ‘alf fuckin’ epic

sooo it’s a quarter fcn epic?

you eyein’ the “sekiro shadows die twice” then too to see what “souls” spin fromsoft puts on the whole 'murai thingy?

@kylehayman361

Im not even that good at it.

i reckon that’s part of the more fun part with games, the stage between; sucking completely to the point of “might as well quit” - and “meh, cakewalk”
-i personally like to come out of my gaming sessions having build up a nice proper sweat that requires a shirt change during the halfway break
(then again maybe i should just quit solitaire and accept i’ll never win)

[GanbaRANGER]

@kylehayman361

hello, my name is Kyle and Im a Dark Souls addict.

I’m a new Dark Souls addict. Do you have meetings?

This is exactly the kind of game I was looking for. Something I can get into and stay into for a while. And I like how it’s very light on story (so far anyway), so there’s no pressure to remember stuff.

When I wake up, I wanna play Dark Souls. When I’m at work, I just wanna be home playing Dark Souls. Every other game (including Hollow Knight) is kinda on hold at the moment, but I was looking to stop bouncing around between games, and I finally found something that can keep me for a while.

I still don’t understand how all the stats work, and I’m wary of looking stuff up because of spoilers, but I’m doing ok.

I like my new addiction. I like it a lot.

[kylehayman361]

@Gnuffi

you eyein’ the “sekiro shadows die twice” then too

I was skeptical at first, but then I realised they have a more souls like game coming, Miyazaki said recently that there were 3 games From had in production, a “souls like” game, a game completely different but still similar, and something completely different period, knowing now that sekiro is definitely the “completely different but still similar” option, I may pick it up, I didn’t want that game to be my souls fix though, there’s no PvP! or clothes! or weapon arts! it’s all damn parrys! didn’t you hear me say “I’m not good at it” xD I can’t parry for my life, which is oft taken from me. xD

@GanbaRANGER

This is exactly the kind of game I was looking for. Something I can get into and stay into for a while. And I like how it’s very light on story (so far anyway)

the story is only there if you want it! if you see a boss and think “hmm that guy looked cool, but what was that hanging out of his gaping maw?” you may find the answer in his soul description, its how I got dragged into the lore xD got super interested in a boss in DS2 haha

[Nateninja21]

I will be talking about Portal 2, there is no spoilers.

I recently played, Portal 2, for like the 9th time. And it’s still the best puzzler I’ve ever played and probably will ever play.
The story is amazing, and probably the best story I’ve experienced, and very in-depth.
The gameplay is amazing, and has mechanics I’ve never seen in a game before. It’s also packed full of little secrets, that maximizes the replay ability.
It has a good amount of achievements.
Now back to Portal 2s, story. I feel that even if you are not one for puzzlers, you should still play it for the story. It has amazing voice acting, and a overall amazing experience.
The graphics are a little outdated though, but it still looks good and pulls of a very impressive amount of relislim. And a good amount of detail.
Another plus is it has very few cutscenes, and when there is a cutscene they nail it, and it feels like your there. Okay were hitting spoilers past this point

So at the end of the game, you get blown up by a trap, and then you hop into a cutscene. And every fregin time, I am blown away at how massive Wheatley is. And it really nails the feeling of just being there, and I just flipping LOVE IT.

And that’s all I have to say about, one of the best games out there. Portal 2

[GanbaRANGER]

@kylehayman361

I can’t parry for my life

I’m not a blocker, so I’ve been using two swords (the merc’s twinblades), and when I do use a shield, I get staggered all the time! Any advice on how to avoid this?

@kylehayman361

you may find the answer in his soul description, its how I got dragged into the lore

I like this method. When I feel like story, I can get story. When I’m ready.

I’ll probably get dragged in, too, cuz I can choose when and where. If I need a respite but don’t wanna stop Dark Soulsing, I can read. I like this a lot.

@Nateninja21

I will be talking about Portal 2

Now this game was really hard for me! I don’t have the patience. I was shouting "Can I kill something, please!!?"

Never could finish these. I know they’re very beloved, and I love that they exist. Glados is in Poker Night 2, and she always makes me chuckle.

[kylehayman361]

the obvious advise I guess is to increase your stamina, which is endurance? I don’t remember the names they change every game. the one that makes your green grow bigger >.> ooh err

but duel weapons as a whole aren’t bad, especially once you notice there’s a double attack button where block used to be. Right now I’ve discovered the caestus is the fastest weapon in the game and breaks anything with poise to break.

@GanbaRANGER

If I need a respite but don’t wanna stop Dark Soulsing, I can read. I like this a lot.

you may like other works from the fabulous Miyazaki :3 he’s my new Kojima until death stranding becomes affordable and I get a ps4… WHY DID HE HAVE TO GO TO SONY wah

[Nateninja21]

@GanbaRANGER

Can I kill something, please!!?”

“911 what’s your emergency?
HELP ‘click’

[Fraggles]

@GanbaRANGER

I still don’t understand how all the stats work, and I’m wary of looking stuff up because of spoilers, but I’m doing ok.

When you’re in your stat screen there’s a rather helpful button that brings up a description window that explains most of what everything does. As you hover over a stat it will also mark every substat that stat influences, so you can see what each one does.

@GanbaRANGER

when I do use a shield, I get staggered all the time! Any advice on how to avoid this?

As mentioned it’s due to the stamina drained for each hit. You don’t recover stamina while holding your shield up so you need to drop your guard between attacks to let it recover. Even then long attack combos will exhaust you so usually it’s best to combine blocking and dodging, which works best is usually dependent on the enemy and attack pattern in question.

Yeah I’ve been playing a lot of Dark souls 3 as well, it’s alright… I suppose.

There’s a lot of hype around these games and a lot of ridiculous notions coming out of a die hard fandom. There’s this really dumb idea that the games are perfectly fair and you can often read people claiming things like “any time I get hit or killed, it’s my own fault” and that’s utter tripe. There’s plenty of unfair BS coming out of both original Dark Souls and DS3. I don’t know enough about the 2nd one to say for certain but I’d wager it’s the same.

There’s several points of pretty terrible game design going on too, none of which I can really speak about clearly as they’d be spoilers. I really loathe a game that breaks “quests lines” and blocks off content for a player if they make an experimental mistake. Especially if the game thus far has done nothing but encourage exactly that sort of experimentation. Sure CHANGE the quest line if you want, but don’t just straight up remove content in an irrevocable manner for a single action.

Still the game is really good and very engaging. It’s hard to say they’re fun though but I am certainly enjoying my time with it.

yeah… griping about things is my kind of gushing. I don’t complain about things if I don’t like them well enough to wish they were better. : )

[xist]

@Gnuffi

(and omg does the prospect of Steelsoul mode look awesomely daunting to me!! )

I obviously enjoyed Hollow Knight but didn’t really feel the need to try out Steelsoul, at least not immediately after finishing the game. I did some of the other hard stuff, but the timed challenges and Steelsoul just looked like busywork. I’d worry that it’d just become more annoying than anything else, and make my good memories turn to frustrated ones.

Do the Grimm Troupe DLC, try out the Path of Pain and then you’ve done two of the bigger challenges.

[Gnuffi]

@xist

Do the Grimm Troupe DLC

i actually initiated it by complete accident on my exploring, after i got the dream nail (such neat little bonus feature it posses ) i was backtracking everywhere i had been whacking away at stuff for for those little tidbits of dialogue, and the essence tree thingys. And while accidentally “nailing” it/something, (get it? , oh boy i crack myself up sometimes), i came across, what turned out be, its starting thingy
-for a moment i thought i might have messed something up because of how ominous it all became for a second when initiating lol
but didn’t start the quest tho, was too busy exploring, +when visiting the other lady, and she hold my charm hostage, then i sorta had to go grinding for bug bucks -so awesome
only “boss” i killed on the path on purpose was ofc the first knight because you need to clear him to unlock the way forth (+Hornet ofc)
but after that’s it’s been completely random, non story bosses most it seems (at least it was all minor rewards like a charm or spell, and nothing story related, -since i’ve stayed away from the big quest “icon” thingys too)

[Gnuffi]

did you ever get around to portal 1?

[Fraggles]

Just encountered a prime example of a thing where the game just dicks you over for no good reason.

Spoiler warning

I’ve gone through an entire area already at this point so I have a decent haul of souls on me for this point in the game and my healing is starting to run low so I am of course anxiously looking for a new bonfire, really starting to feel like there ought to be one around here somewhere.

The path forks both sides mostly blind one path takes you up into dead end with a couple of chests in it. There’s no indications anywhere that this is a trap, even if there was there is no way one could disable it or otherwise prepare oneself for it. So what happens, right, is that once you open the chest ~10 basilisks drop from the ceiling about 10-15m away from you blocking your path back.

Now if you don’t play this game, basilisk have a gaseous AOE attack that curses you, they don’t really do much damage but once your curse meter fills you die instantly. 2 of these bastards would have been enough to fill the corridor with smoke. 10 of them I don’t even know how one would handle, there’s no immune to curse item that I’m aware of so this is just a straight up fuck you to the player. Nothing fair about it.

Now I’m not saying the game HAS to be fair, it’s just that it’s something an awful lot of people claim that it is. It just plain isn’t.

[GanbaRANGER]

@kylehayman361

duel weapons as a whole aren’t bad, especially once you notice there’s a double attack button where block used to be.

I’m still figuring out all that I can do. I’ve been mostly using LB - RB - LB, makes a sick combo. LT also does a spin attack that uses only 4 FP.

@Fraggles

As you hover over a stat it will also mark every substat that stat influences, so you can see what each one does.

@Fraggles

You don’t recover stamina while holding your shield up so you need to drop your guard between attacks to let it recover.

Thank you!! I didn’t know either of these things!

There’s way too much information on the stats screen it makes me dizzy, and I’m too ADHD to read through wikis. This will help.

I’m too busy watching the enemy to look at my stamina. That’s probably what’s doing it. I’ll try this out. Seriously, thanks! You may have just given me a fighting chance against a certain enemy that I have big problems with. I’m not afraid anymore! just kidding, i’m still afraid.