The Weekly 'What are you playing?' Discussion - 20-07-2023
Have you been spending hours trying to pass a level? Or maybe you are completely addicted to a newly bought game. Do you have a question about a game or would like to share something else? In the Weekly Discussion Thread, you can do it all!
Please don't forget to use the spoiler tag as soon as you start talking about a storyline.
Dave the Diver! Honestly one of the most fun games I’ve played in a long time
I’ve been playing for hours every day for weeks now.
What an absolutely charming game.
It's interesting how experiences can vary. I just returned it because I wasn't enjoying it, which was a shame because it looks great.
What makes it fun for you?
Personally, right when I start to get bored, the game throws a new mechanic or mission out there. The 3D mixed with pixel art is well done. I was initially upset about the spear gun controls, but after getting used to it it is nice.
I've been replaing "The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess" and loving the Nostalgia throwback.
The HD version on WiiU or the SD Version on GC/Wii? Are you gonna go for 100% or just a casual playthrough? :)
Personally TP has to be my favorite Zelda title, I replay it casually every 2 years or so.
I have been replaying Divinity 2. I had forgotten how good this game plays and looks. AND I was watching a "Let's Play" of DOS2 and noticed I missed some areas and stuff I didn't know I could do. So much dept and different ways to do things.
I was replaying DOS2 on my Linux gaming PC with an XBox controller because I think the controller will play similar on Baldur's Gate 3.
Fun days ahead soon exploring the world of Faerun and Baldur's Gate.
I’ve been replaying as Fane and it’s still so much fun. I’m almost 500 hours in and still can play a new story line.
I’m close to hitting maximum hype for BG3.
Yep. Only a couple of weeks now.
Baldur's Gate 3 has a community in the Fediverse.
!baldursgate3
Ayy, I'm also currently playing DOS2. Recently remembered that I never finished it; started a co-op campaign of it with my ex on PS4 years ago, then had a house fire and never bought another console. In early Act IV now, so I should have time to finish it up before BG3 releases.
DOS2 is a great game, and I'm enjoying my playthrough (running ranger Ifan, rogue Sebille, geo/pyro Fane, aero/hydro Lohse)but it doesn't hit quite the same as the early access parts of BG3. Hard to put my finger on why, exactly. Maybe the more cinematic dialogue camera makes the characters in BG3 feel weightier. Anyhow, pretty hyped for the 3rd.
Yea the cinematics was the only thing missing in Divinity 2. The voice acting is great. I think Larian knew this when they started Baldur's Gate 3 and made the big commitment to correct this.
Exoprimal. It’s the exact dumb fun I want it to be with its own little sense of humor that actually works somewhat. If you have Gamepass it is a no-brainer. I’m not sure about $60 or $70 or whatever it’s retailing at yet but this will undoubtedly be a game with a huge surge in users when they start selling it for $30 and under. The PvPvE format works very well for it, it gives you a real sense of urgency and has you moving very quickly. Gives the fights and deaths real stakes that aren’t just resetting progression or something.
It has no right to be as fun as it is. Almost good as bonus existence
"Summoning: Tyrannosaurus. Consider this elevated threat an opportunity for professional growth."
I’ve been enjoying this a lot too. Finished the story. Was just a wacky good time.
I love the pacing of the missions. They’ve really thought it through, which is not something I see with such flagrant GAAS games. The random mission changes and story elements popping in really keeps the game fresh. Yesterday in the middle of a really heated match against another team, we suddenly got dropped into an arena and all of us had to work together to take down a neo T-Rex. That was so cool and I was not expecting it at all. if that’s the kind of experience I can regularly expect from this game, then they will have my attention at least for a few months.
They are really in your face about buying things, but I am unlocking things at a steady clip so credit where credit is due. You definitely don’t need to buy your way into the game.
Battlebit, it's everything I wanted in the latest Battlefield titles and more, but made by 3 indie devs. Map votes, weapon attachments, classes, local voice chat, destruction, scoreboard, night mode on all maps... It's great.
Dude yeah battlebit is amazing!
The top rated comment on here when it first came out was "Everyone talking positively about it must be a shill, there's no way a game can be that good"
It really just is that good!
Witcher 3
Never played a Witcher before and I knew I’d like it so I picked it up in the steam sale and man, I was right. I love it so much.
This might be one of my favorite games. So much replay value if you don't look up spoilers. If you didn't get heart of stone or blood and wine, you REALLY need to. They are like entire games themselves.
I got the whole bundle with all the DLCs so I am excited to get into it. I’m not very far in, only a couple hours but I am enjoying the hell out of it. Almost been late to work because I keep staying up too late playing it lol
Unpopular opinion but I didnt really like this game. My favorite games are souls like and I found I was spending more time walking around and talking than I was killing monsters . Also all of my weapons would break so quick. Maybe I was doing something wrong because everyone seems to really like these games
Yooo I've also been replaying it. I've 100% it already but with the next gen updates there were a good chunk of changes. I've been loving it all over again.
My number one gamer is all time.
This was my first introduction to the Witcher world. Currently playing this too and I love it. I actually abandoned the game halfway the first time because my computer was overheating. By the time I fixed it, and a couple of many Paradox games later, it was more than year before I went back to the Witcher. Restarted, and holy hell, this game amazes me in how many different paths one can take in this game.
I’ve tried two times now to play it through but I always end up quitting the game around 25 hours and I don’t even know why.
I still haven't played it. I felt like I should play the first couple before I play #3, but I started this first one, got distracted, and now it's been years.
Do you feel like you missed out on understanding things by starting with Witcher 3 vs. playing the others first?
I'm waiting for Baldur's Gate 3, I've been saving myself from spoilers ever since early access started. I got some time off work for the launch of the full version that's a couple of weeks from now, and plan to sink some good hours into that. Until then I'm wasting time with random games like Brotato, hades, hearthstone battlegrounds, diablo 4, civ 6 and a whole bunch of others.
I'm in the exact same situation. Got 2 weeks off scheduled for Baldur's Gate 3 release and I'm currently just replaying Outer Worlds and Tyranny to pass the time while I wait.
You must gather your party before venturing forth.
I've played almost every RPG I own in the past year trying to hold off on one last EA playthrough of BG3. Haven't touched it since the infamous CONTENT PENDING era and I really want to go from that jank-ass period of EA straight into the full version.
It's been really hard.
I've been working a lot, so I've been decompressing with No Man's Sky
Playing Subnautica (original) for the first time and absolutely loving it!
Using a few QOL mods, I've given Subnautica 500+ hours of my life. It's an excellent indie title that more game developers need to look at as an example of what they should be chasing.
would you mind listing off a few of those? it's clunkiness is a lot of why i haven't been able to get into something that by all rights should be right up my alley.
I’ve finally gave in and tried Vampire Survivors… what have I done. I didn’t realize it was 3AM by the time I put my handheld down and suffering at work today.
Outside of that been casually replaying Halo CE and **Midnight Club 2 **
Once you've beat Vampire Survivors you can lose more time playing Halls of Torment. You can curse me later
Just finished TOTK so now I'm starting Diablo 4
How different is it from 3? There were a lot of complaints when it first came out. But I was wondering how much of that was just people being a bit overzealous.
Honestly, barely played 3. Tried to get into it but it wasn't my cup of tea at the time. Now that my gaming preferences have changed and I play with friends it's a bit more up my alley. I like it though but I'm very early in the game (level 13).
I don't spend too much on games and only buy if they're on sale.
Recently bought sleeping dogs for $2 and finished it 2 days ago. It was a 10/10 experience. Definitely suggest everyone to try it.
Other than that I've been playing Deep Rock Galactic.
Sleeping dogs deserves a sequel.
Also bought Sleeping Dogs in the Summer Sale and I'm playing it on my Steam Deck. I'm loving it so far.
Rock and stone !
Rock and stone !
Days Gone. New to me. My pet peeve is that the motorcycle is a piece of junk. It's got like 1.5 gallon gas tank and gets something like 2km/gallon. Or maybe it's 1 mpg, but the game uses metric for distances and imperial for volume.
I'm playing that one now too. You're right, it's annoying that you can only drive for like two or three minutes on the bike before it's out of fuel. But I quickly got used to looking for fuel cans and planning around gas stations. There are enough of them. It's a deliberate choice, I think, to increase your engagement with the world and prevent you from just driving through it.
Overall I'm very impressed with the game. The story is really engaging. The gameplay and mechanics are solid and well balanced. The rules are not always intuitive, but once you learn them they are consistent. The longer I play it the more time I want to spend with it.
I played through that fairly recently! Unexpected gem, I thought. In the early game, doing missions for Copeland's camp will eventually get you access to a larger fuel tank. The best rewards, imo, were the guns you unlock by taking down hordes.
Minecraft for the first time! With my 5 y/o who sits on his tablet. It's dangerous for us both.
I remember losing so much sleep when I first played Minecraft a decade ago, it's one of those games that I wish I could experience for the first time again.
I’ve been playing Metroid Prime: Remastered. It’s amazing to see the beauty of the world in this game, but kid me must of had way more patience for the backtracking
Mass Effect Legendary Edition!
Got into Rimworld for the first time and I've gone down such a rabbit hole that I don't know if I can ever stop. I've never played such a completely engrossing game before.
I’ve finally caved and got it. I think I’ve made a terrible mistake…
I just picked up all the DLC in the last steam sale so I'm getting back into it. I've played a lot of dwarf fortress so the QoL improvements Rimworld brings are awesome (though I still prefer DF's simulation granularity).
My Prophet and Leader got married and have 2 children so I'm trying to decide how exactly I want to develop my ideology into a cult centered around that family. Though it's rough going right now because I embarked without a good builder so I can't build AC units.
Haven't used much of the Royalty/psychic powers other than building a throne, though.
I've been meaning to pick up Rimworld for years, but it never seems to go on sale for more than 15% off. Consequently, I haven't been able to justify buying it. Suppose I'll eventually get to play a very polished version.
Skyrim
Me too. And I feel bad for replying it AGAIN.
Same here. This time I completely ignored the main quest and finished Dawnguard and Dragonborn first. ::: spoiler spoiler It was fun to kill Miraak with Auriel's Bow. :::
My wife is in her first play thru.
7 Days to Die - Incredible game, when it's modded, it never gets old
Guardians of the Galaxy - everything is amazing except the combat. The combat is really, really mind numbing and repetitive. Makes me wish the game would just be over already.
Dinkum - Pretty bland. Its fun at first but you quickly start asking yourself why you're even doing the grind.
Planet Crafter - More addicting than fun. But still an overall enjoyable experience.
PlateUp! - play this with my wife. Very fun and very challenging!
I also loved GoTG outside of the combat. How I stayed engaged was trying to get the achievements for each other guardians to powers, made for some challenges.
Outer Wilds
Yes! I still need to finish the DLC but I loved this game so much.
The dlc is absolutely exceptional. Me, and a lot of my friends, have been enjoying it a ton recently
I’ve been playing it, sadly I put it down tofay and won’t be picking it back up. This is the second time I’ve tried it.
Im several hours in and I just don’t understand the appeal. At all. Im at a point where it’s like all the frustration of dark souls but none of the rewards. Everyone says this game is a master piece but I don’t see it
Dave the Diver .... This game took me by surprise.. it is SO addictive!
Also Witcher III which I've played before but I've lost my save games and it was in summer sale at Steam including the add-ons I don't know yet so I couldn't resist ❤️
I keep seeing this, I'm really tempted to try out Dave the diver.
DO IT!
Nothing, sadly, way too much work. But I'm planning to get back to my backlog soon.
Same here. Hopefully I have some time this weekend. Otherwise Soon™
Cyberpunk is really good
I practically live in Hyrule (TotK).
Taking a break from DotA 2 atm.
Filling the free time with Binding of Isaac and Factorio.
Lost and Jakob runs costing me my last nerves
The factory must grow.
Going from one time sink (Dota) to a time black hole Factorio.
Same thing I always play. Old school RuneScape
Nice
Control, story based, owned it for awhile and I finally have the GPU to play it.
Next is The Wircher III as I plan on reading the books. Currently finishing The Three Body Problem series.
You can play Witcher 3 main story without needing to read or know much of any books. Having played Witcher 2 is a bonus however
I've just finished Control; picked up the enhanced edition (includes the DLCs), and thoroughly enjoyed it. The combat feels satisfying once you get the mechanics down, and I loved the plot/environment. Like playing a mash-up of the SCP Wiki and The Lost Room.
Oh 100% a fantastic game so far. I am waiting for more abilities. I love powerful woman with a weapon of any sort.
Slay the spire. Advancing ascension levels with all characters.
As someone who's finished ascension 20 on all characters on 3 devices now, it gets unfair later but it's so worth it when things come together. Good luck!
Thanks, and kudos for that achievement!
Been playing Cultic on Steam Deck and Street Fighter 6 on PS5. Cannot wait for the new Armored Core!
I finally caved in and started playing Spiderman Remastered. The combat is pretty simple but it's a lot of fun, and swinging around the city feels great. For some reason the game really likes making you play as MJ and Miles in bad stealth missions though. They're just so boring and I try to speedrun through them but every other mission just wants you to not play as spiderman and it's killing the pacing for me.
The story is also a little disappointing. There's so much spiderman material out there and it feels like they decided to do something more kid-friendly, at least so far. The villains are over the top, it doesn't feel like there's any stakes or drama and everyone is just really shallow. I'm still halfway through so maybe the ending will surprise me (doubt it).
Overall I'd say it's a fun game, but it's not really Amazing or Spectacular.
Dead cells.
I discovered it when it was mentioned in a book by Cory Doctorow. It's an absolutely fantastic rogue-like game.
Did a second playthrough of XCOM Enemy Unknown, and now I'm on to XCOM 2, which I never got into more than a few missions.
There’s a distinct increase in difficulty in 2. God help you if you don’t have the right builds to take down Sectopods in the late game shivers
Playing 2 right now and I love it, but the difficulty! Playing on the easiest difficulty just to figure out what's going on everywhere.
EU/EW had that mission though, which was a lot more arbitrary “fuck you” than anything in XCOM2. At least until the Chosen showed up.
Duuude you didn’t do enemy within!?
Death standing, trying to keep my sanity while delivering cargo in mountains without the baby.
Navigating the mountains without BB is definitely stressful, but as long as you keep an eye on the weather, you should be good. I think I only had a run in with BTs once. You're on the tail end of the story, have fun and keep on keeping on. 👍
I quit playing it after a bit. Can you give me some of the reasons that keep you playing?
It took me a few tries to get into Death Stranding, but its my favorite game now.
For me, I enjoyed being able to take in the environment and experience a simulation of hiking. The opening hours are weird and a bit rough and bare bones compared to later on when you get more freedom and toys to play with, but I'm of the opinion that it's kinda necessary. The first leg of the game distills down a lot of the core gameplay loop to make sure you'll be able to vibe with how slow and different the game is. You really have to be down to play a walking simulator in the most literal sense of the term.
The story is bizarre and confusing and refuses to explain itself properly. But if you can power through things not making any sense for a while, you get this really heartfelt story about forming connections to other people in the face of hardship. That said, the first 2 hours of the game are 75% cutscenes, which sucks for hooking a new player. (This was my first Kojima game and I've since learned that it's peak Kojima weirdness and self indulgence)
Overall it's not a game that everyone is going to enjoy, I dont tend to recommend it to people. But if you're able to vibe with what the game is going for, you're in for a treat.
I started playing couple of months ago for first time, on Game Pass for Pc. It's just captivating for me.
Still playing Street Fighter 6 daily. What an absolute gem of a game, and has taken most of my time recently. Hyped as hell for Rashid, and probably going to try and get my Manon to Diamond before he releases.
Started a bit of Baldurs Gate 3, loved it, and decided to just wait til it releases in a couple weeks now. So have played a bit of Forza Horizon 5, I never came back at the launch of the Rally DLC, but have been really enjoying it, and is a nice twist on the formula(time trial with call outs rather than the braking line), definitely worth trying if you missed it like myyself.
Other than that, about to start Season 1 of Diablo 4... I am not overly excited, and this will probably be the make or break for me on if I continue to check it out every season or not.
Conan exiles
Star Wars Jedi Survivor, similar to old one but you know, it feels good being a Jedi🔥
I have been absolutely loving Dave The Diver, it is super cute.
Divinity original sin 2. The anticipation of BG3 has got me re playing old rpgs and trying out some new ones.
Darktide.
It's bad and I should feel bad for playing it, but once you get past the absurdly long load times, janky cutscenes, regular crashes and absolute lack of any story or plotline, it's got remarkably addictive gameplay, and it's the only game that actively encourages your inner fanatic to pick up their boltgun and chainsword and KILL THE HERETICS.
It's like finding a kilo of PCP laced weed at the bottom of the dumpster behind the 7-11. I shouldn't like it, and it will probably kill me, but for some reason I can't stop smoking it.
I'm off the bike for a few weeks with a right arm radial head fracture after I biffed it hitting a pothole while checking my map, so I'm using it as an excuse to play the Tale Of Two Wastelands mod for Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Trying to see how much of both games I can get through before I'm cleared to bike again.
Good old Sid Meier's Civilization - Beyond Earth. I really love this game for it's slow pace and depth.
Playing Divinity Original Sin 2 one more time with a couple of friends before Baldur's Gate 3 launches. Aside from that, also been trying out Wildermyth and it's been fun so far.
Jagged Alliance 3. New game from Haemimont (Tropico/Surviving Mars). It's way different than those other two games, but I'm enjoying it so far.
Diablo 4
Obduction. By Cyan, the studio that made he Myst series. It's an adventure game with intricate puzzles, and it's been blowing my mind for the last few days.
Just beat tears of the kingdom. I think if totk had been released instead of botw it probably would've been one of the best games ever made... But with it being a follow up to botw it just felt way too similar for me to enjoy it. I essentially 100%ed botw so had no desire to just redo it again in totk. Basically just ran through the main story, did whatever side quests were easy, then fought Ganon. In a vacuum it was still a great game but I was sad it was so similar to botw.
Now playing the system shock remake. I beat 2 for the first time a few years ago and loved prey so have been excited to start it. Enjoying it so far for sure.
Apex Legends: Been playing since Season 0 with my SO and brother and I think it's honestly the longest I've ever played a single game. The gunplay just feels so good.
Tears of the Kingdom: Still working my way through it, taking my time exploring. Honestly it's such a great game, but I have to say the resource gathering is getting a little tedious. I like the weapon durability mechanic from the angle of being forced to switch up your fighting style, but I wish there was a way to repair weapons between fights.
According to Steam Fallout 4, Big Ambitions and Factorio.
Pokemon Crystal Clear! It's a Crystal romhack that adds in a fuckton of QoL changes and customization. Currently up to 1248 soft-resets, waiting for a shiny Snorlax. Also had to defeat him 250 times to get a chain going that helps with the odds of getting a shiny.
EDIT: Got my shiny Snorlax! Named her Blueberry. c: Strength, Belly Drum, Amnesia, and Defense Curl while holding Leftovers is one hell of an effective moveset.
Subnautica
Finished both of them and original is far better. Can't wait for proper sequel.
I’ve been heavily into iRacing lately. Just upgraded my rig and pedals! When I’m not playing that, I have a Madden franchise with my friends that’s been going for like 20 years in game and that’s been a lot of fun.
Other than that, dipping my toes back into Civ, and trying unsuccessfully to convince my friends to try Barotrauma again…
as always Guild Wars 2...