Patient Gamers

I finished the main Crown of the Magister campaign and wanted to check out some of the custom ones while I ponder whether to create a new party for Palace of Ice or not.

They just released the sequel, (sadly not up to its predecessor from what I gathered), and it’s Halloween, so what better time to talk about this special vampire game?

Just to make one thing clear from the start: this game is many things, but it is certainly not a Metroidvania in the tradition of the Castlevania series. The only nod in that direction is that in most levels there are some small hidden areas with collectables that you can only reach with later abilities. But that means you need to replay an otherwise fully linear level just to reach that small thing in the middle. That is a pretty bad design choice.

OneShot is similar to Undertale, in that the story is the most important part, while gameplay is just to give the player something to do, here even more so then in Undertale. In OneShot the player is however acknowledged from the first moment as somebody different from the protagonist. That would be Niko (who is most definitely not a cat!) but is referred by most in the game world as the messiah, because they carry the sun of this world and is supposed to bring light back to their world.

Ever wondered who premiered the “hiding in shadows”, “taking down enemies silently from behind"and " making noses to distract enemies”, that is so prevalent nowadays in many F/TPS?

Cyberpunk stories are often action filled and you as player are directly in the middle, deciding the fate of mega corporations and technological progress of humanity. But in this game? Here you prepare drinks and hear stories about the world outside the bar doors. What crazy stuff goes on, what happened to some celebrity and when the next riot is supposedly happening. It is a Deus Ex story, but you don’t play JC Denton, you play a barkeeper and try to make ends meet, so you don’t get evicted from your apartment at months end.

Aby game that you heard about and thought “meh it’s just another xyz style game. How good can it be?” But you gave it a go anyway and it turned out the game was really good.

Yes it hurt looking up how old this game is already.

Feel free to replace “friends” with “anyone you know in real life” or even online groups you trust or are close with.

Always wanted to laugh maniacally while sending out minions to ravage the country side? Then play Overlord and harass the poor peasants as you wish!

Umurangi Generation plays In the near future, and you are a photographer earning money by selling pictures of interesting motives. In order to do that you are put into levels of various size which you explore in order to find the asked for motives. After reaching an earnings threshold you can advance the plot and leave for the next level. You obtain multiple lenses in order to fulfill requests or just take some artistically interesting shots.

This game is one I sadly never finished, because somehow it doesn’t like my PC and crashes a bit too often, losing the save game in the process (so warning there), but what I played fascinated me.

Stolen from myself 6 months ago at https://lemmyverse.link/lemmy.zip/post/35616522

Lots of people have thrown the term ludonarrative dissonance at certain games, meaning that the story it tries to tell doesn’t fit to it’s gameplay. Often given example is the Tomb Raider reboot from 2013, which tells the story of a young Lara Croft, scared out of her mind in cutscenes because she is trapped on an island with a bunch of bad guys. Which you as player mow down by the dozen in order to reach the next check point without losing a single thought about them. That destroys the story the developers tried to tell and takes the player out of the immersion.

I noticed that pretty much all games I played in my life have been released after 1990. So now I’m asking those with earlier experience here: Which games can you recommend from before that time?

The Last Remnant was originally released on the Xbox 360 in 2008 and half a year later they released it on PC, but in an upgraded version. I highly recommend playing the PC version, because it has some positive gameplay adjustments and also you can choose between English or Japanese voice acting.

I played the first Ni no Kuni game on PS3, not the DS version (the PS version has a bit more content and a little different story from what I understood). I originally got interested in it because Studio Ghibli was involved in the graphical & music design of the game and it is obvious: the artwork in general is very beautiful and has a lot of details, as is usual in Studio Ghiblis aesthetics. The creature designs are very varied, as is fitting for a monster collector game. The soundtrack is made by Joe Hisashi, which also is again on an expert level. The few cutscenes are also wonderfully animated. Especially the design of the titular White Witch and her zodiac council was great. I am a sucker for that moving space effect of her cloak.

Just picked these up, an hour or so in and I see why they are highly acclaimed. 80% off on Steam (came to less than CAD$5 for both).

A lot of games I’ve had on my wishlist are at all time low price now, so I wanted to share (I have not played these games):

In Snake Pass you play, who would have guessed, a snake. But the uniqueness lies especially in the control scheme, as you direct the head in 3D space and then contract and release the body in order to slither forward or climb up some scaffolding or reach over empty space. And the snake is so goofy looking, you just have to love it! Here is a video showing it in action.

My first post about video game music here did really well (most commented post in community history), so I figured I might make it a series of sorts. If this post does well too I might make more video game music posts in the future.

Rime is a very melancholic game by the sadly now defunct Tequila Works. You play a child that is stranded alone on an island but soon gets support by a fox spirit. Together you must solve the puzzles of the island and reach and climb the only landmark of this place, the huge central tower. The puzzles are not overly complicated or hard, but there was enough variety in them to entertain me over the whole play time of roughly 7 hours without feeling bored or it being repetitive. The levels are each unique in setting, theme and atmosphere to each other, highlighting the developers craft. Each level is a big open world, where you need to explore in order to find new ways to progress.

If you like taking artistic screenshots in games, then Eastshade is exactly the game for you.

My relationship with P&C adventures is... strained. I often like the stories they tell, but their moon logic is too often too strong for my poor brain & patience, so I start using a walk through. With this game it was the same, but it was better than many other offenders, as i only used it a few times, so I consider it one of the better designed P&C games.

The first Psychonauts is a true Tim Schafer game: unconventional and a bit absurd, but funny and entertaining nonetheless. And make no mistake, this game is old, as is obvious by the graphics and certain game designs. And while the art style is unique, is grotesqueness is also not for everybody, sure. But I first played it a few years ago and so can say: even without nostalgia googles, it is a fun collectathon in today's age, if you can forgive some old school jank.

The first Evoland was mostly just a one-joke game that was funny for half an hour. Not so it's successor, Evoland 2. That one is a full game in it's own right telling an overarching story and integrating it's greatest selling point, the constant change of gameplay mechanics, into that story.

Good Day good people.

Ran across this in a discussion about Nintendo's Virtual Game Cards and Key Cards.

Give me your favourite OSTs, individual tracks, whatever.

The game is quite long for how limited the game is. Combat had an interesting rhythm gimmick but it should have been a 5-6 hour, tight experience, not 10-12. It really outstayed its welcome for me given that the game is just combat arenas and cutscenes.

Years ago I've completed Dark Souls 2 using only magic (sorcery + pyromancy) - so no weapons at all. It went surprisingly smooth although I ended up not going to DLCs.

I can only afford the time to play one of them, which one should I play?

I always loved retro-style games, long before I learned that they're considered retro. I'm not sure what makes them so fun but they completely dominate my gaming nowadays.

About a year ago, I heard someone mention that Outer Wilds had a VR mod. I do have a VR setup and am an experienced VR player, so I really could experience this game for the first time in VR.