Last game you finished, tell us about it

[JFarrell71]

I played Gone Home and Edith Finch back to back, and enjoyed both.

 

[azraelck]

I finished Mega Man X4 earlier this evening. Yes, it's old, it's classic, and it's still fun. Of course, I erased my Zero file, because I'm brainless and can't press down to select another save slot. But I can probably beat it with Zero again later.

 

[Arhu]

Mass Effect 3. What a ride.

I never played it when it came out because of bad hearsay so I don't know much about the state it was in, but with the legendary edition it was an overall great experience. Really good DLCs, too (addon-sized). I did a Paragon run with my Adept Shepard with Tali as a love interest.

Already have an itch to do another run with a female Soldier Shepard (Renegade), also imported from ME2. Or start all over again in remastered ME1 as a more neutral Engineer. Then again I could also be playing other games or invest in other hobbies for a change, so there's that.

 

[Philistine]

What Remains of Edith Finch - 9/10

Quite a short walking simulator - and it's usually not something I bother with.

In this case, though - I'm glad I did. I played the first 5 minutes or so and just immediately connected with the vibe and tone of the game.

It's one of the most genuinely creative experiences I've had - and it's both very strange and very touching.

I think I might have shed tears at least twice during the 2-3 hours it took me to finish.

When I wasn't crying - I was smiling or just being really immersed in the world that's been created here.

Anyway, if you have the time and inclination - this comes very highly recommended.

I play walking sims often in between bigger games when I need a short casual palate cleanser. Never played Edith Finch yet, but I'll make sure to do it next.

 

[JDR13]

Finished What Remains of Edith Finch today. I wouldn't score it as high as some of my fellow Watch members, but I'm also very much not a fan of story-heavy walking simulators.

That said, It's a good game. Or maybe good story is more accurate because there really isn't much of a game there. The fact that it's from an indie developer and only their second title is pretty impressive though. The production values and presentation are very much on a AAA level.

 

[wiretripped]

Just finished XCOM: Chimera Squad. It's very much a quick, lightweight experience compared to XCOM2 but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It's short, so that helps.

Now back to KC: D (kinda lost steam with that one, but will try to pick up again).

 

[DArtagnan]

SS2 done

Loved most of it, but the final levels remain its weakest part. Hardly news at this point, but "Body of the Many" is particularly bad in more or less every way - except in concept.

I played on Hard - which is what I usually do in co-op where it's easier - and it was actually a little challenging here and there for solo play. I would say most of the challenge is down to ridiculous enemy placement and saturation towards the end game - but the first half or so of the game is tough but fair in the best possible way.

Final boss fight was tougher than I remembered, and I had even saved 3 Ice Picks for the hacking part. It was pretty annoying, to be honest.

For the rest of the game, I had an easier time for the most part, because I'm so very used to the resource conservation aspect of the game, which is where I think most people who're struggling will stumble a little.

I could point out a few design flaws here and there, but why bother. We all know it's a fantastic game anyway.

What surprised me the most was the fact that I used one single level 1 PSI power for 95% of the game = Cryokinesis.

I expected to find much more use for later powers - but ultimately, there really wasn't a reason to.

I'm glad I finally finished SS2 with a PSI character, but I don't think I'll ever do it again - as it was a little dull.

Navy is the way for me.

 

[Arhu]

Finished Dark Quest 2.

From our Steam Curator: "Dark Quest 2 is a turn-based RPG. The addictive concept of the tabletop game Hero Quest was adopted. The charming intuitive design and challenging combat are pluses of the game - Recommended!"

Even better: play it with a friend or two as a Co-Op game. We had a blast with a Knight + Mage party. Excellent value for a few game nights.

 

[DArtagnan]

Resident Evil 3 Remake.

This was quite good, though I certainly liked the first half more than the second half.

I also educated myself and learned that it was originally called Nemesis - and that would have clued me in on what it was going to be.

The thing is that I don't particularly enjoy that aspect of Resident Evil - as in, that ever present boss chasing you around that you know you can't defeat until the game decides it can be killed.

So, you know it's going to mean a lot of running away and a lot of cutscenes where you almost die, but miraculously make it anyway.

I understand it's supposed to bring tension - and it does do that sometimes. But mostly, it just gets in the way of me exploring and immersing myself in the various locations.

That's really what I enjoy about these games - the quiet moments and the scavenging.

I love horror when it's subtle and sort of "in the air" - you might say. That's my favorite kind of horror. Once it gets in-your-face, I start getting immune to it - and just end up waiting for whatever "cinematic" moment to be over, so I can get back to it.

Anyway, the engine they're using remains fantastic - and the game is absolutely beautiful. The controls are tight - and the inventory system is flawless. It's just a gorgeous game - especially in HDR with a good OLED screen (bragging a bit here) - where all the neon signs around town are popping.

It was also a decent enough length for what it was - which was around 6-7 hours. I would have wanted more - but not of the latter half of the game.

7.5 first half and 5/10 second half.

I'll be generous and give it 6.5 overall.

 

[Arhu]

Return to Monkey Island.

Fantastic. Made me feel warm and fuzzy and a bit sad... and happy, all at the same time!

 

[danutz_plusplus]

My RDR2 review. Shockingly, I've had to chop it up a bit, since it was too long for steam. I guess I really went hog wild Hope it still makes sense.

A true magnum opus if I ever saw one. I guess under the right direction and vision 1000 people working on this for around 7-8 years, and this is what you can get. It really is impressive. Not perfect, and there a few annoyances throughout (ranging from small to big), some due to conflicting design goals, but overall, in the grand scheme of things, it is truly a great achievement in storytelling and writing, world and landscape design, immersive game mechanics, cinematic direction and characterization, especially the main characters, but a lot of the supporting cast as well.

TLDR:
+ solid story, even though derivative in parts or themes of a lot of media; very nicely written and still manages to tug at your heart strings
+ great narrative arc for the main characters, especially Arthur Morgan
+ impressive amount of hidden content (dialogue, story, characters, notes, etc) and one of the most dense games in terms of content.
+ attention to detail is out of this world. it really shows that a lot of people have worked on this for a lot of years.
+ graphically, the most impressive landscapes I've ever seen in an open world game. both in terms of their beauty and in terms of how realistic they look. mountains are actual mountains, and not just large hills. screenshots do no do it justice.
+/- controversional decision to focus on a lot of immersive gameplay and visual elements, even at the expense of quite a few quality-of-live features that others games simply would not do without. But you also have to respect the strong vision, and it's worth putting up with its quirks. some though, can really be annoying
- rigid mission design, with a lot of hand-holding and not much challenge. aside from the immersive elements, it is very streamlined and mainstream. very little freedom during missions. also, very ridig in that you're always only on one mission, some missions restrict where you can move. kind of goes against the whole idea of an open-world, if you close it off to only where the design want you to move, during the actual missions

The long version:
The story, while not original in the themes and messages and heavily inspired from a lot of western and other media, it is very competently portrayed. And because of that, even though it is likely a classic story or a hybrid of classic stories, it still manages to pull the proper emotional strings and get a reaction out of you, the player/viewer. The writing is surprisingly down to earth and even subtle a lot of times, with very few outrageous and unbelievable moments, as you usually see in GTA games.

Arthur Morgan's narrative arc is great. He's a fantastic anti-hero that truly grows throughout the course of the story, and I dare say a few of the story hooks that relate to Arthur are probably a first for a game character. SPOILER: (do not hover over spoiler text):

There are a few nit-picks one could have with some of the moments in the story, as they could feel a bit heavy handed and not so subtle, in the emotional punch they were trying to elicit. But, one can live with these, given the rest of the accomplishments. A solid and strong narrative with a smart and subtle ending.

The other main characters and supporting cast is also pretty great overall. They really managed to create a band of interesting characters that you grow along-side off and get to know. I especially loved all the little attentions and interactions between them in the various camps that you keep moving to and from. With cool little moments of celebrating, singing around the fire, arguing and chatting about various things. Really impressive how much work went into that. To create a feeling of community in that band of outlaws.

The one real controversial thing about the game is the gameplay designers decision to go fully in the immersion and simulation end of the spectrum, a lot of times to the detriment of quality of life features that other games have. This has to be applauded on a certain level, them having the guts to go this strong with their vision of building a, as close to possible, 1900s western americana simulation. But it has had the effect of a lot of people complaining about various things, for good reason sometimes, from slower reaction controls; more authentic and longer than usual animations, even for the most benign and common actions; to picking up items from some containers where you need to be looking at each item; to even the way certain weapons fire and reload, all to keep the experience as authentic and immersive as possible, while still not overly annoying. The only issue is that where that limit is, and if it goes over your own limit, is a very personal thing. But, in my opinion, it is worth putting up with some of its quirks and annoyances, to get at everything else that it has to offer.

Another negative aspect is the very rigid mission design, where you're pretty much hand-held at every step. There's not a lot of freedom in quite a few aspects, and the most cinematic set-piece missions are controlled by the game to an incredible level that it almost feels like the game plays itself, aside from letting you choose who you shoot and with what, and that only happens when the cinematic part of the set-piece is done with (when present at all) and all hell breaks loose. Also, the mission design hasn't really evolved much past the most recent GTA games. But at least it does reload you next to the closest checkpoint. But due to how little freedom you have within missions, aside from, as I said, who you shoot and with what, and the fact that your characters take so much punishment before dying, it is very rare that you need those checkpoints.

But I think that's about it, in terms of negative aspects during my experience. Going back to positive remarks, another thing which is outstanding, and which will likely keep getting more impressive in future playthroughs, is the amount of content that's just out of the way of the main paths or hidden away from the open. This applies in terms of hidden dialogue that's contextual to a lot of variables, hidden notes, people and places. Just going over youtube videos that compile these will likely leave you impressed at the amount of work put in under the surface, and which requires active exploration. Also, the amount of detail and minutia put into everything is constantly impressive.

Beside just the amount of random content, it's also impressive seing the amount of detail put into everything, from several animations for the most mundane and common things, to the way the interfaces of shops are handled (which you can either browse in the 3D game space or via a items catalogue), everything to keep it as immersive as possible. Again, it might not make for the most easy and fast experience with this, but it does contribute to building a consistent and authentic feeling to everything.

Graphically it is easily the most impressive game I've ever seen, especially when it comes to landscapes and map design. It is a game where scale also feels authentic. And mountains are more mountains than just big hills. Just the landscape alone is gorgeous, and even screenshots do not do it justice. It is really appreciated that they put in serious work into making the PC version of this as impressive as they did, and not just handed in a crappy port. It is truly impressive in what it pulls off, and all with just the initial load. It does have some serious hardware requirements, especially at more exotic resolutions and full settings enabled, but it is all worth it. It is and will be a performance benchmark alongside being one of the most gorgeous games I've ever seen.

I guess that's about it. 9.5/10 from me.

 

[JFarrell71]

Did you play the last 10+ hours of the game? It feels like maybe you didn't? I can be explicit about what I'm talking about, but trying to avoid spoilers.

Btw, one thing you didn't mention in your review that I thought was outstanding was the music (and sound design in general). A huge, varied, and beautiful score, plus a bunch of songs (including several hilarious ones you hear mostly at camp).

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Did you play the last 10+ hours of the game? It feels like maybe you didn't? I can be explicit about what I'm talking about, but trying to avoid spoilers.

Btw, one thing you didn't mention in your review that I thought was outstanding was the music (and sound design in general). A huge, varied, and beautiful score, plus a bunch of songs (including several hilarious ones you hear mostly at camp).

Yeah, I finished both parts of the epilogue. And got to where the open world is available again for random non-mission exploration. Which part gave you that feeling?

I wanted to mention something about the music, and some other small bits, but I had reached the maximum allowed characters on Steam.

I now have left quite a bit more to explore, in New Austin especially. And have some challenges and I think 1 bounty left? Plus some legendary fish and animals to hunt. I’ll have to see if I will play anymore, or just stop since I’m feeling a bit burned out.

 

[JFarrell71]

The part that gave me that feeling is the part that doesn't exist. In other words, I was surprised you didn't mention it in any way in your review.

Personally, though a lot of that epilogue content was fun and all, I thought it was extremely anticlimactic and it made me feel slightly more negative about the experience as a whole. Except for the house building part. That was awesome.

Reading your experiences with the game has made me think about playing it again. It was a singular experience. I wonder if they'll ever make current gen versions (I don't have a PC that could run it)

 

[danutz_plusplus]

The part that gave me that feeling is the part that doesn't exist. In other words, I was surprised you didn't mention it in any way in your review.

Personally, though a lot of that epilogue content was fun and all, I thought it was extremely anticlimactic and it made me feel slightly more negative about the experience as a whole. Except for the house building part. That was awesome.

Reading your experiences with the game has made me think about playing it again. It was a singular experience. I wonder if they'll ever make current gen versions (I don't have a PC that could run it)

It’s hard to mention the epilogue without risking hinting at the end and spoiling it. I think that’s why I avoided pointing it out.

I also liked the epilogue, and all the little changes you find in the world years later. Plus meeting a lot of the main and secondary characters hidden throught the world.

Another thing I disliked, which I didn't manage to mention in the review, and it's with regards to the music. RDR2 also does the same technique which kind of annoyed me in Days Gone. It used songs with lyrics in certain emotional moments to try and, I guess, underline the message and the emotional state of the moment? I kind of dislike that, using songs with actual lyrics, since it puts real words behind the moment, instead of just letting me sit with the feeling and thinking about it, it explicitly "says" how I should feel and what they're meaning. Just using a song (without lyrics) can also have that effect, since it feels like I'm being manipulated. But if done right, I notice that a whole lot less than using a song with actual lyrics. Hearing actual words just pulls me right out of the moment. At least, that's my experience.

 

[JFarrell71]

I know you haven't played RDR1 so I won't give specifics, but there is a particular moment, a particular song, that sticks with me to this day, and I know it's the same for many (most?) people who have played RDR1. Used sparingly, I think songs with lyrics in a game can be very powerful. Another exmple is their use in Supergiant Games. The first time "Build That Wall" kicks in is an all time memorable moment.

Nothing in RDR2 reached that level for me, but I still like the technique.

 

[Carnifex]

Planet Stronghold Two. Firstly, I should mention that I never played the first game in the series, though I'm likely to change that after the positive experience I had with the second game.

The game starts off easily enough, you're tasked with basically clearing sectors on a planet and reclaiming necessary resources along the way. You've a stable of eight characters to choose from, four of which you can field at once and your bench folk get half experience. It's a fair balance, as it keeps them prepared enough to take the field if required, and at some point it likely will be. While the game starts off easy enough, I found the difficulty revved up rather quickly.

Things to keep in mind: crafting is pretty damn important. I didn't realize this at first, then when I fiddled around with it for an hour or so, I saw what amazing products could be put out. Unless you have extremely great luck, you'll likely need many crafted items during the course of your journey. Another potentially great way to earn experience/gear is doing quests along the way, some of which are timed so you'll need to be aware of that. The quest rewards can be serious upgrades, and should be a priority when you have the chance.

Even equal level opponents can be a challenge. Each battle must be taken seriously, as the opposition can crit or mass swarm one of your team in an instant. If the opponent is higher level, well, I hope you've great gear on hand, as you'll be in for a serious fight. Healing isn't difficult, you've two psi talents that can do that for you while in combat, and you can also return to base to rest, though that advances time and can cost you a few quests. The skills characters can acquire are very extensive, some of them are obvious must-haves, and others extremely situational. I do enjoy a game that makes me think along the way, and there are serious choices and consequences to be had.

Once I realized how important both the quests and crafting were, I truly started making progress. Up to that point I was running back to the base far too often, though I think over the course of the entire game I only failed one or two quests due to that mechanic.

I'm not sure what other games I'd compare this to, as it almost seems in a genre unto itself. Some parts remind me of Valkyria Chronicles, though the maps are not as robust, just very similar in how your troops function. Other features call to mind turn based goodness. There are also factions to deal with along the way, and while doing that you'll also have to maintain relations with your mates. You can romance characters as well, yet I didn't delve into that very much. All in all, for the price you'll get a solid game to play, and will likely take quite a while to complete. My advice would be to immediately study the crafting aspect, as getting that down-pat will make your journey much more enjoyable.

 

[Deleted member 18181]

Assassins Creed Odyssey - done after about 90h, maybe with some 10% sidequests left. You know what is hillarious? Not once in those 90h i heard anything about assasins or templars . Overall it was enjoyable, they clearly copied many things from Witcher 3 and did it ok in most part. I went with a poison dagger assassin build but the combat was pretty easy even with scaling on heavy and hard difficulty, too many overpowered skills. The big plus was the world and voice acting, the cities were really marvelous, had a great design; as for the voices, they nailed it with the accent. As for the story, it was so-so,some parts were really over the top but all went downhill with the crap boring good family ending.

 

[lackblogger]

Solasta: The Lost Valley (2022)

It's good to be back. I managed to squeeze about 60 hours of content out of this expansion, so I would call it a whole new game rather than a DLC. It certainly has a lot more content than most new games I've played.

It's good to be back because it's a game based on D&D mechanics, and an actually good one, which is always a delightful rarity to behold. A bit like how Civilisation games have the motto "Just one more turn", Solasta kept me at my PC well after I'd planned to play, always wanting to go on for "Just one more quest".

I'd even go so far as to say that this game is even an improvement over it's own predecessor as it has fleshed out the faction dynamics and also provided lots of options for you to recruit NPCs to make your party expand well beyond just a 4 player party. I had a 7 person party at one point. For example, I groaned when it suggested I was doing an escort mission, only for that to turn into a wry smile once I realised I could keep them as a party member just as long as I didn't hand in the quest.

The factions really did react, and quite severely, to any actions I took that were contrary to their wishes. Of the 5 factions that play a part in the saga, it's likely impossible to remain friendly with all of them. I finished the game with 2 very friendly and 3 in various states of extremely hostile.

There's plenty of side missions as well and never once did I feel I was being in any way railroaded by anything. Well, anything other than the inevitable conceit required to get the story going in the first place, of course.

There are a few nitpicks, inevitably, but most of those are to do with D&D 5ed rather than the game still, such as the still irritating issue regarding Attunement and only being allowed 3 attunements for a dozen equipment slots. When then also started asking for attunemtns for wands and weapons and even main armour, well, that's all a bit much really. Or a bit too little, lol.

In terms of the game though, it's mostly little things, such as me needing a Giant Ape Pelt for most of the game but every time I killed a giant ape, all I got was a giant ape head, because one of the quests at one point was a head-hunter quest. So by the end of the game I think I had 3 giant ape heads and no giant ape pelts!

I also had one quest that seemed to bug out in some way, as it failed to clear from my journal even though I had completed it. Later on I saw a secret door which didn't materialise during the quest and I suspect the journal failing to update was because it didn't get the secret door trigger. And yet I'd managed to complete the quest without using the secret door. So something wonky went on there.

There were also instances of the game starting to lag in some places, which might have been down to playing the game for too long or something maybe. Closing the game down and restarting it usually did the trick here anyway. After all is said and done though I came across zero game breaking bugs and used my save 1 from beginning to end (with an occasional save 2 for lock-ins).

The game is not extremely hard on default proper D&D settings, but it will run you ragged every now and then. I only reloaded a couple of times all game, but I was using every trick in the book and I do have a lot of experience with the mechanics. I suspect it would provide a very good challenge to many.

This is the DLC which introduced Barbarians, Druids and maybe Sorcerers, or maybe Sorcerers came later, whatever, so I went with a Barbarian, Druid, Sorcerer, Fighter, and chose some other features that were new to the DLC, such as The Wanderer background & etc & was delighted with how they all played.

The Barbarian was super OP, loved playing that character. Druid was ok, their pet was a bit meh & there's some suckage regarding their weapon choices, but overall I had fun with it, though I can't see me ever picking one again. The Sorcerer was as you'd expect. Fireballs and missiles and stuff.

The Fighter was great, except mine was prone to appalling luck. Even though they were wearing the lucky amulet. Excited to get 3 attacks per round, I quickly lost excitement when 2/3 tended to fail anyway. Wow, am I rolling a d6 or a d20 here? Lol:

13, 4, 3, 6, 5, 15, 4, 8, 4, 15, 6, 18, 16, 13 (where rolling a 7 hits).
7, 5, 2, 15, 13, 7, 17, 10, 7, 4, 2, 15, 14, 4, 4, 3, 12 (where rolling a 9 hits).
14, 9, 9, 19, 17, 6, 1, 4, 5, 3, 2, 18 (when you just want that last hit).

Then suddenly at the end game point it stops and they're hitting everything for fun. So lots of middle fingers were shown to my laptop throughout the game in this regard. Drama dice, gotta love it.

Lots more to say and remember, but that's that for now.

Really hits the spot! Critically! 9/10.

 

[purpleblob]

Just finished WotR DLC#2, Through the ashes. It was a rather short DLC but pretty neat if you like the low level D&D combat. Not that I ever played PnP but this felt more PnP than any other cRPGs I played. It was a good fun but I didn't like how it ended (you get a cliffhanger to be continued ending). I probably won't replay it until season pass 2 is release where we get the second part of this DLC.