Patient Gamers

I wish I had listened to general fan wisdom and played Super Metroid first. Having played the original Metroid, then Zero Mission, this is my third romp in the planet Zebes, and I'm finding the game extremely redundant.

The original was a little tedious, but I absolutely loved Zero Mission. I appreciated the slightly more linear gameplay. Paired with the manga, it also had a surprisingly good story that establishes Samus as a character. In context with the manga, the Wrecked Ship segment where you lose and then regain your suit is an amazing piece of gameplay-driven storytelling.

And then Metroid II was just as interesting. A completely new horror-esque locale plus a really creepy minimalist storyline that makes you really question the orders forced on you by the Galactic Federation.

So I was expecting a lot more out of Super Metroid. So far, I'd say I'm about halfway through the game. I beat Torizo, the Spore Spawn, Kraid, and the Crocomire. Aside from a really stellar cinematic opening, there hasn't been any plot to speak of, just a nonlinear dungeon to explore without a clear path. I know that in development, Super was meant to just be a 16-bit remake of the NES Metroid game, but was later retooled to be its own game, so that might be why the story feels so barebones?

Everything feels like a rehash of the original. I looked up the wiki and all (Brinstar, Norfair, Crateria, Wrecked Ship, and Tourian) but one of the levels (Maridia) are lifted from the original game, and I've heard that one new level we get is considered the worst one. It feels like a remixed new game+ rather than a full-fledged game that stands on its own, and honestly, I'm bored. It kind of reminds me of what I didn't like about Castlevania after a while, that game after game took place in the exact same mansion.

This might seem a little unfair. Super Metroid came out first, so it might be more accurate to say that Zero Mission is just an asset flip, that it's the less original game -- which is absolutely true, but I played Zero Mission first. And nonlinearity isn't a bad thing at all and it's great for this genre, but since I feel like I've done all this before, I don't feel motivated to discover all of Super's secrets. Does it get any better, or can I skip to Fusion?

TL;DR I played Zero Mission first and read its tie-in manga. Now Super Metroid feels boring because it "reuses" all but one of its areas on the planet Zebes, and it has a comparatively barebones story. Should I keep going or skip to Fusion?

I recently finished the game Tunic, which is sort of like A Link to the Past + Fez + Dark Souls... And it's amazing!

I actually owned the game soon after release but bounced off of it due to being busy with work, picked it back up the past few weeks and finally sat down and enjoyed it. Despite looking like a straightforward and cute adventure game, it gets REALLY deep the further you go in. There's so much to discover and the game gives you just enough hints on what to do and where to go.

Tunic ticks all the boxes for me. The graphics are gorgeous, the combat is fun, the world is fun to explore and rich with secrets, and progression was very satisfying.

The most unique part of the game is that you slowly find pages of an instruction manual containing maps of areas and secrets, explanation of mechanics, and guides on how to play... except it's all written in an alien language, so you have to figure out what it's telling you by paying attention to all the pictures and context clues.

Understanding the manual is a bit rough at first but lead to so many "A-ha!" moments when you try something and it actually works. It even foreshadows future bosses and things you'll encounter before they happen which is brilliant. My best advice to someone just trying the game: Pay attention to the manual, seriously!

I won't spoil any more than that, but I really wish more people talked about this game. It's not for everybody, the game is intentionally vague and needs some critical thinking if you're not following a guide, but I think it's absolutely brilliant if you're into exploration and discovery. One of the most unique games I've played in ages.

About a year ago I picked up a copy of Dirt 4 for very little money and put it on the side to play later (it appears that rally games drop in price when they no longer feature the latest cars).

One of the environments it features is Tarragona in Spain, which is where I live. Having actually started playing it I can say that the modeling and course design for my home stages is absolutely spot on - I live in a small village halfway up a small mountain which is often used for the WRC, and the stages really do feel like my daily commute.

The car handling, progression, team management stuff, etc, is good - with the variable difficulty settings it's very accessible to casuals like me :-)

At about 3/4 completion I'd give it top marks, and I'm enjoying it a lot more than the more simulation oriented rally games.

Screenshot for context

On a note, Humble Bundle is amazing when you got loads of games at once. Owned this for years before I was in the mood to play it.

Call of Duty hasn't excited me since Blops back on the PS3. I was never into single player, and my attempt during Blops and Call of Duty 3 left me not wanting to play more.

However I was really in the mood for a WW2 shooter after my visit to a local war museum, so I thought. Hey why not. I had no expectations going in other than I wanted to play a WW2 shooter.

Starting the game up for the first time, I was impressed with the graphics and visuals. Aesthetically the game is toeing the line between realistic, and video gamey. Like on a wide shot of troops, it could be mistaken for real. Then when you see one of the handful of main characters it's like; "oh yeah, it's a game".

However functionally the first thing I ran into was the game bugs. This game came out in 2017, almost 8 years ago now. However I never realized how bad the "release now fix later" mentality was. The game endlessly crashed, and would need constant validation to work. I don't know if it's because of my rural broadband connection loosing packets. Or because the game corrupts itself. Maybe it was a Proton thing. But almost every mission I had to validate the game files for it to work.

When the game worked, though I had a good time. Shooting baddies was satisfying. The aesthetics mixed in with the gameplay was exactly what I was looking for. And the game had good variety. Though the game lost it's polish outside of the main game loop. That one flying section was awkward, same with the tanks and while the stealth sections aren't mandatory, it felt like it was.

The only other thing which didn't work for me was the story. Yea it's a work of fiction, and over the top all the time. I could suspend my disbelief and enjoy the action. Right up to the mid way point when the game pauses for long sections of time to focus on the stories "drama". This drama was there from the beginning, but I felt it was more subtle, or maybe tolerable compared to closer the end. There's also a b-plot about the protagonist's brother which was extremely predictable which I actually eye rolled when I saw it's conclusion.

With that said, I liked the epilogue, I liked the shooting, the level designs were great, and the overall story was good. I just think if you are in the mood to play some WW2 shooters that you should probably pickup an older title before this one. However if you do find this game on a discount or already in your library, I did enjoy my time with it. So if you are in the mood. It may be worth picking up.

I used to love the eery atmosphere and immersiveness of the first installment, but I remember missing these aspects from DL 2 at launch day (pirated it), but I wanna buy it at the summer sale perhaps now.

If anyone played DL 2 recently, did the game get some more immersive improvements or perhaps are there mods that can make it have a more atmospheric feeling?

I had bought Stardew Valley the other day when it was finally discounted on Steam. I couldn't play it myself because it is too much reading. Offered it to my wife. And after a little apprehension she tried it, complained about it and is hooked to it.

So now she wants to rope the children in and play multiplayer with them. But for some reason that is bugged on Steam on Linux. So I went ahead and bought it again on GOG for full price. Makes sharing with everyone easier as well.

Well played ConcernedApe, well played.

I played it on my Steam Deck, 30 FPS average with lots of audio crackling, apparently because of the CPU load. I played the game in hard mode because I was afraid survivor and grounded would break the balance.

The gameplay is great: it was insanely fun outsmarting the infected, circling around the clickers, burning the bloaters. Against those enemies, stealth really was a challenge and I had to manage my stress level (stalkers and runners were especially hard to deal with in the sewer); I'm convinced I would not be able to finish this game in permanent death as certain sequences took me 5-7 tries to do correctly (optimizing to use the least amount of gear or straight up surviving). It was really hard to aim well enough on a controller to be able to do headshot with consistency (this game with a controller and a mouse must feel like heaven to master).

Stealth against humans is way too easy though: you can easily never use your weapons and just throw a glass bottle against the wall, cleanup with a bomb or a Molotov, and you will never be punished when doing a stealthy kill if you take too long which basically means that shiv are useless for anything other than doors (I did not buy the ability to get off the grasp of clickers with shivs).

The hostage mechanic felt so cool, but I rarely used it because I felt like I couldn't afford to waste bullets because of the resource scarcity. I would have loved the game to be more punishing and to force me to spend my gear; I was never spotted and I am horrible at stealth (hello Cyberpunk 2077).

On the writing side, the game shines even more. I was so heartbroken when Sarah was murdered, when Tess sacrificed herself, when Sam turned and Henry killed himself, when Joel said horrible things to Ellie, when he murdered all the fireflies, the surgeon, Marlene in cold blood.

And that's where the game shines! It shows you this great dynamics between Joel and Ellie, this growing bond that is so precious. You despise and love Joel: you despise his lack of moral, his emotional immaturity (not wanting to talk about the hard stuff and lying to Ellie) but you understand where it comes from, you understand why the violence happened.

This constant tension, this gray area makes the game so real and gripping; you can only look with a mix of disgust and support as you're ripping your way through the enemies in the hospital with savagery.

What Joel did is unequivocally wrong and selfish but I cannot judge because I know full well I'd probably have done the same thing in this situation. Well, I'm not sure but I can see it.

This game really made me understand the complexity of moral and decision, the conflicting goals and the harshness of survival. I highly look forward to playing the sequel.

EDIT; I think the right difficulty for me is the "Survivor" one, grounded looks to hard without a mouse.

Steam had the entire Witcher series on sale for a few dollars. I bought everything for the first 3 games.

There was some discussion of it at the time, and folks seem to agree that the first one in the series sucks hard.
As that seemed to be the worst plan, I went with it.

Yes. "It's rough." I guess the engine and content have gotten some backports and extensions. I'm not sure if you could ~~play other characters besides Geralt before, but now you can~~. (EDIT ... Sorry, this seems to be BS. My bad.) They updated the graphics a lot. Its not great, but I think they fixed most of the really bad problems.

I don't know about the story. Seems pretty awful. Awkward acting. Its been fun just trying to play the damn thing.

Um ... I sort of like it. Gonna play some more now ...

In this online roleplaying world, with a gameplay reminiscent of Ultima Online and Runescape, players develop characters along a semi-classless system, though the pace of mastery hinges on their character's attributes, engaging in strategic Rock, Paper, Scissors combat through point-and-click, delving into intricate crafting systems like the notoriously complex alchemy, maintaining immersive IC roleplay, and establishing themselves by building or renting customizable castles, mansions, or houses.

Hello fellow patient gamers!

Bit US centric, but I had the day off for memorial day. I was in the mood to catch up on my steam deck wear and tear with a good round of Civ5 BNW. I have had the long term goal of beating it on deity. Did not get there and the game might be lost due to runaway civ, but slim chance of turtleing down and going for a science victory.

Any games that you are still getting use out of while you wait for sales or for something new to drop?

I bought Armored Core 6 shortly after it was released on the PS4 (one of the few games I paid for full price for). I enjoyed it very much the 1st playthrough. Stopped during my 2nd or 3rd playthrough.

Its on sale now on steam. Thinking about getting it for my steam deck, but I was wondering how different of a game it is now. Have there been any cool updates? More build options? Multiplayer still active?

How easy is it to mod on a deck? I forgot about mods!!!

Before I deep dive into my option about a game. I just want to preface that while some people believe that we should be forced into whichever house the sorting hat puts us in. We all can choose which house we feel we belong in. Like Harry in the first book, and in the movies and in this game So please keep this in mind since we are talking about a game here.

I've been playing the Harry Potter games since the PS1 and absolutely love the Zelda inspired games for the system and the RPG's for the GameBoy Color. PS1 Hagrid an all. When the games moved to the PS2 they were better, but never felt as polished and often times felt short. Where I lost interest was the DS game for Goblet of Fire and the Trophy folder games on PS3. I saw my sister play them, but even she just sticks with the early PS1 and 2 games.

So while I've not played them in a while I can say I've seen Hogwarts from when consoles could first render it. To when it could render it well.

I know I've been in the future for a while now. But the little kid inside of me never realized it until I was walking from Hogwarts Castle into Hogsmeade and I looked back upon Hogwarts castle. I was breath taking and beautiful. A sight I'd never thought I would ever see in my life, outside of recreations in theme parks or fan videos.

And I think that's a perfect way to describe this game, it is absolutely beautiful. Details are everywhere and a lot of attention was given to everything you will look at. Whether it's Hogwarts or Hogsmeade, a Dragon Fighting Tent or the Forbidden Forest. The game is a visual feast especially for long time fans of the series.

However to get to that point, you'd need to get through some of the more... unpolished aspects of the game. Combat.

Now combat in Hogwarts Legacy isn't bad, but I wouldn't call it good. Works well enough for the job it's suppose to do. But for the uninitiated, especially if you don't know what a Dark Souls is. It can be a challenge. Combat is effectively color coated spell attacks, dogging and parrying. Combo each and you have a fun system. Problem is, when every game was just mash buttons to win and you have many many non-gamers struggle to get past the tutorial. Myself included (even with my gamer cred). I eventually learned, but the reward wasn't satisfying. More enemies all looking similar with very little in the ways of weaknesses. By the second trial I just turned the difficulty down to easy and left it there for the rest of the game. Honestly it's probably the most fun when you set it to story only mode.

Since where the game wants you to be in the most is in the exportation of the open world... barf. Open World in video games is a fun idea. But for a story driven game like this... I just gets in the way. Don't get me wrong it's neat, but not a game where you are a student at school... which is where you are suppose to spend your time. Not in each and every hamlet around the castle and beyond.

And your reward for exploration... rare items and gear. I get it, but this isn't what I was hoping for in a Harry Potter game. I want a linear story, and that's here, but where I spend time at the school and maybe sneak out from time to time. Not all the time. Actually I don't think I've been to classes since the beginning of the year.

Honestly where Hogwarts Legacy could've improved was if it looked in the past, and borrow from it's contemporaries.

I am imagining a RPG style game, like the GBC harry potter games, with items purchased from a shop and all that. But with the Persona social aspects. Keep combat the way it is for those who like it, but toning down the difficulty doesn't need to ruin the parts of the experience. I think it would work and I'd probably buy it, and if no one makes it, I would... when I have time to make games again.

In hind sight though, despite there being potential to be a better game. What is here isn't bad. In contrast with previous games, this is the best Harry Potter game I've played. There's lots to do and to see. And while I am not a fan of the combat, I wont say that it's bad. Overall I do hope Avalanche games has another opportunity to make a new game, and WB Games lets them spread their wings.

As some of you know, there were a couple of L4D-influenced games, like Killing Floor, Dead Island and Yakuza: Dead Souls for some reason.

One of these, Warhammer: Vermintide, developed by swedes in FatShark, flew under radar for a long time, until their second Vermintide game, where, with much pain, they finally brought out the product that is a highly addicting PvE coop shooter\slasher. Just like in games of old, there were certain mechanics you could abuse to become invincible, but instead of bunnyhope, there were enemy positioning mechanics and evasive dodge. It led me to put in hundreds of hours, and due to the PvE nature I rarely had any toxicity as a newby and learnt to care about other gamers as we as a squad were moving through the map to the common goal. I won't say about outstanding voice acting, character writing and stuff, there are a lot of things to love besides the gameplay, but the gameplay is the core to why I liked it.

BUT

FatShark decided to get EasyAnticheat there, and with their setup it completely prevents any online gaming from Linux unless you are a host - you get kicked out from other's games every other minute. Hosting games means waiting for others to connect or playing with bots, so it means they slashed a game in half for those not indulging into the windowsphere.

After leaving Windows for good, I had this one reason to be sad - that my favorite game is no longer playable in full. But later they shipped another one of their games.

Enter the Darktide.

This one does have anticheat, but it works right with Linux, and it presents another spin on the same formula.

When Vermintide was mostly melee based, and ranged enemies felt like cheaters, there nearly every threat has a gun like it's the US. It's narrative is based around being a random escapee from a prison camp slowly going up the hierarchy of faschist Inquisition, and every quote and every loading screen title reminds you that you are a disposable resource.

And it's gameplay, while in moba fashion depends on individual skills and equipment, still has this L4D breaking points: this games shoots hundreds of heretics onto you, and your positioning and clever timing is the only way to survive. Unless special enemies, that can disable you or deny area, would arrive. Unless someone from your team walks off and go solo only to die.

Skip the antifascist messaging, skip the cooperation implied there, this game has a hard and vulgar core of purely kinetic violence. Since the first game, they made sure, that your melee attacks feel like you are swinging the blade youself, and coming to Darktide, they worked on making the same for the guns that making the show there. Shooting there from various guns feels like in Doom 2016, and that's very enjoyable too.

I joined this hype train long after release, but I'm joyful to find a game that scratches me in all the right places without kicking me, and the one that shows real progress over what I've seen and got addicted to before.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/30139581

In my case there's a huge timeframe between 2008 and 2025 I have played mainly multiplayer games like Tibia, Runescape, Realm of Mad God, Counter-Strike, Killing Floor and rarely touched singleplayer games.

I have barely touched GTA1, GTA2, GTA 4 or GTA 5 (finished GTA3 and GTA:SA not so long time ago). I have spent 30 mins in Skyrim. In Witcher 3 2-3 hours while (Witcher 1,2 stay unfinished). HalfLife series keep waiting for me to come back and lead Gordon to the end of the story.

I can go with more and more examples with classic singleplayer games which patiently wait in my library and if you ask me, the multiplayer games really "help in this regard.

Off the top I'll say that Wasteland 2 isn't a bad game, its actually quite good in a lot of ways. The ways in which it isn't though are what really end up hurting the game for me.

My main gripe is that this has the Bethesda style of choice impact where NPCs are hardly bothered by your choices and the world around you only meaningfully changes with a small handful of your choices. And when it does change, the thought put into those changes isn't all that impressive or meaningful.

The world mostly reacts to your changes by just changing NPC dialog and then there is a slideshow at the end. Thats it. So each time you leave a location you feel like your main contribution is just clearing it of enemies.

The other side gripe I have about it is that the story and characters aren't of particular interest. It has a couple good storytelling moments in it (that I won't spoil here for anyone interested) but otherwise I just can't say it pulled me in. I was initially interested after hearing the 3rd game got good reviews and this series is somewhat similar to fallout but I can still see why Fallout maintains its charm all these years later and Wasteland does not. You see glimpses of greatness with certain voices or ideas or plotlines but you are ultimately just edged by these stories and the payoff isn't really there.

This isn't just a space to complain though, I had a lot of fun with the combat and gore and other aspects of the game. They also feel light in a lot of ways but still are satisfying. I enjoyed my time here, looking forward to playing Wasteland 3.

So did anyone else play this or are interested in it? I'm curious if anyone shares these thoughts. Its a game I definitely feel like classic RPG fans will enjoy more than I did.

For both PC and Xbox