Your 2020 Gaming Diary

[bob]

So I've been mostly playing the following games:

Borderlands 3 - My mate and I usually manage to organise an evening each week to have a session on this, and we're plugging away at it. It's pretty much exactly the same as the first three games in my opinion. They've made the grenades a bit more powerful, and therefore actually useful, but otherwise it plays exactly the same as before. Still, it's a fun game to play through with a friend. On the other hand, the online element of it is laggy as fuck for some reason. Not sure if that's the games fault or what, but it does make the co-op element hard.

Animal Crossing - I have run out of steam a bit with this game. I paid off my final loan last week, and since then I haven't had any impetus to play it any more. There are still a couple of fish and bugs I need to catch this month, and i only have one fossil to find to complete the set, but it's hard to see how that's going to keep me going for much longer. 

Civilization 6 - So in my first game, i decided to try for a Science victory as Russia. At one point I wasn't sure I was going to manage it, as i almost ran out of turns and I wouldn't have had enough points to win it that way. Luckily I managed to colonise Mars with a few turns to spare. That sneaky fuck Japan declared war on me just as I invented nuclear warheads, so he was lucky I had the self control not to repeat history. I wasn't sure what the ramifications were for dropping a nuclear weapon on someone, and i didn't want to jeopardise my science victory, so I held off. Turned out it wasn't necessary, as Japan poured over the border with a load of Samurai and people on horseback, and I had miniguns and an attack helicopter, so the war didn't last long or cost me very much.

For my second game, i've decided to try for a Domination victory as Britain. Started off trickily as I've been boxed in by several other countries and already had Gandhi declare war on me. It seems to me that powering through the science tree to get better military hardware seems to be the way to go, so i'm going to try that (I really want to nuke someone).

[drahkon]

Finished a Rogue Aces run.

Man, that game got old very quickly. Gameplay is ok, but after a won run there's nothing really there for me to keep going. Glad I didn't pay full price.

[Aperson]

So it has occurred to me I haven't posted in here since last month...

 

My gaming has relaxed somewhat this month. Partly as a return to some form of normality but also because I've been spending a lot more time on Magic Arena trying to finish some of my decks. There's a new set coming out on Thursday after all.

 

Aside from Magic Arena I decided I would dust off my Youtube channel again and as such here's a Channel Update:

 

 

 

I'm subsequently working on the Bonus Video for Metroid Prime 2 Echoes but that's a slow going process as my capture software has developed a habit of breaking up footage after a few moments of recording which is going to make for an interesting video. Thankfully this video is one that naturally has a lot of jump cuts so it isn't too badly affected.

 

I also started the Pokemon Sword and Shield DLC. I have to say, this explorable area is a lot better than the areas you could explore in the main game which is kind of embarassing for the main game. Hopefully this kind of world design can be used going forward... also I'm massively overlevelled for this and thinking about drafting in the "Children" of my Sun and Moon team to battle alongside Kubfu while training it up.

 

I also have intentions to start the Future Connected campaign for Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition but haven't got around to that yet.

[Dufniall]

8 hours ago, GenericAperson said:

So it has occurred to me I haven't posted in here since last month...

I think I'm even 2 months behind! So time for a bit of catch up.

First I played and reviewed two games for the main site, Snakeybus which is a racing meets Snake highscore game and Infinite - Beyond the Mind which is a action/platform/run and gunner.  Yesterday evening I've finished Bug Fables, but I will save these impressions for another review.

I also started a couple of new games I haven't finished yet. Horizon Chase: Turbo is a game I picked up in the sale, and is great for a couple of races every evening. It has an amazing Outrun vibe, both in graphics and soundtrack. It's nice to play a racing game again.

I found a cheap copy of Stern Pinball Arcade. It's a much more classic pinball experience compared to Pinball FX3, with realistic tables and no skills, quests or leveling up. But it does feature a couple of good tables like AC/DC, Harley Davidson and Last Action Hero. I find pinball games quite relaxing so it's nice to have another one.

I finished another major PC game (more later). So it was time to pick a new main game. I have quite a backlog there with games that take op some time, and I was thinking maybe it was time to start The Witcher III. But the Resident Evil VIII reveal trailer came out and I figured that it is time to continue the Resi series. So I started Resident Evil 6, knowing that it may not be a great experience. I've put about 2 hours in Leon's campaign and the start isn't that bad. There were some tense moments in the opening bit, although the end of Chapter 1 was just one big shoot-out (which I believe is one of the biggest criticisms for this game).

But there are two games I finished and want to talk about a bit more:

Red Alert 3 - Uprising (PC)

I love real-time-strategy, I love Command & Conquer and I especially love Red Alert. The first one was one of the first RTS games I ever played. I played Red Alert 2 a lot during high school. And Red Alert 3 got quite some hours when I was in university; playing it in co-op with a roommate. Uprising is the add-on for the third game and it introduces new missions, units and a Commander's Challenge. This latter I never finished up until now! Well, as you can see in the tweet above I completed all missions but I'm stuck at 59% completion. 100% can be achieved by finishing all missions under par time but for now I'm happy with just finishing it.

Usually in RTS games I like to take my time, build up a base and then expand my army. I don't really have the speed or dexterity for rush tactics (which is the main reason most levels aren't finished under par time). But some missions really required some quick acting so they did prove to be quite a challenge! Luckily the game is such a joy to play that I didn't care about having to restart a mission a dozen times. The soundtrack is out of this world. The units are already over the top in Red Alert 3, but Uprising adds stuff like gigantic floating mech heads and tanks with grinders on them. I can understand that a lot of people don't appreciate the colorful, over-the-top game that Red Alert 3 is but I absolutely adore it. 

One of the great things is that the game still features full motion video cutscenes with tongue-in-cheek acting, something that even in 2008 when the game came out already was outdated. But to me it's a part of what makes the series great. 

Now that the Command & Conquer remake is out and gets pretty good reviews, and now it looks like EA is getting a little bit of their former glory back, I hope they breathe new life in the series. Or at least start working on a Red Alert 2 remake!

Metroid: Samus Returns (Nintendo 3DS)

After playing a couple of MetroidVanias lately I figured I wanted to play more of them. Metroid: Samus Returns was sitting on my shelf unplayed so that was an obvious choice, also because I wanted to play my 3DS some more. 

At the beginning I really had trouble going back to the low-resolution screen, but luckily the stereoscopic 3D in this game is excellent and made the graphics acceptable. It took me a couple of hours to get into the game, and I wasn't really sure if I liked it but after a while I noticed that I couldn't put it down. I kept wanting to see what was in the next area. For a MetroidVania it felt pretty linear, but it does a great job with giving you the feeling of exploration. Some battles are intense and some bosses tough as nails.

It introduces some cool new mechanics such as a parry move, although after a while when you have some more advanced weaponry I hardly used it anymore and just blasted my way through everything. It's another thing this game does so well. You start out relatively weak but in the end you are just this all-powerful killing machine. It's a great remake, and I hope that next to Metroid Prime 4 we will get a new 2D Metroid as well in the near future.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Vileplume2000

[Dcubed]

Yeah, Samus Returns is legit.  It's easily the best thing that Mercurysteam has ever worked on and quite frankly, I'm still shocked that they pulled it off! It absolutely blows away everything else they've made and makes their other games look like amateur hour stuff!

My only real major complaint about Samus Returns is that it isn't very respectful of the source material in the final stages of the game.  What's there is actually pretty great in its own right, but it does betray a lot of the original intention of the original GB game.  That, and I feel that the game is overly reliant on the parry mechanic; a mechanic that does end up outstaying its welcome well before the end of the game's running time (which itself is arguably too long for a 2D Metroid; it's, by far, the longest 2D game in the series).

While it's far from my favourite Metroid game, it's really really solid and absolutely lives up to the rest of the series.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Dcubed

[Ronnie]

Played and finished Ori and the Will of the Wisps over the past week or so, I got as close to 100% as possible (no way am I touching that "finish the game without dying" achievement). Overall really enjoyed it, probably an 8+/10. The game sort of reminds me of Nintendo games in the sense that the devs there tend to focus on making sure the character is fun to control. You can tell they really focused on that in both Ori games because even though the platforming is floaty, the traversal is tons of fun, especially later in the game when you unlock loads of abilities. 

I did think the game was a tad formulaic and predictable, it didn't really do much new, at all. You never really get lost in the game, it's pretty clear exactly where you need to go at all times, so it's more of a watered down Metroidvania compared to something like Hollow Knight. I'm also really not a fan of them removing the checkpoint system from the first game. I thought that was a real shame, yes it makes the game more convenient but it removes all challenge and strategy. Combat was a lot more fun though and obviously the game looks stunning. Loved the ending, didn't see that coming at all.

Overall, great game!

[Glen-i]

On 24/06/2020 at 12:51 PM, Dcubed said:

While it's far from my favourite Metroid game, it's really really solid and absolutely lives up to the rest of the series.

Spoiler

Apart from the fact that Ridley was shoehorned in to the end sequence so hard that he looks less out of place in Smash Bros?

That still annoys me. It makes no bloody sense!

Rest of the game is fine.

 

Edited June 25, 2020 by Glen-i

[S.C.G]

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

  Samus Returns spoilers (Reveal hidden contents)

Apart from the fact that Ridley was shoehorned in to the end sequence so hard that he looks less out of place in Smash Bros?

That still annoys me. It makes no bloody sense!

Rest of the game is fine.

 

Ha, that reminds me of a certain boss battle at the end of Metroid: Other M... except I guess that one at least made a bit more sense, or was more plausible chronologically but it was still one of those "what the heck?!" moments, I thought it made for an interesting boss battle though.

[drahkon]

I bought Risk of Rain 2 for PS4 yesterday and played a little bit earlier this morning.
So far, so good. Roguelite 3rd person shooter. Right up my alley

Also bought Civilization VI again for the Switch. Digital copy for 11 bucks. First game: Going for a Domination Victory. Been trying out slower game speed and it's great. You don't rush through each era and have more time to build an army and actually use it. I've destroyed Norway and Germany already (I actually captured Aachen, the city I live in. Made me giggle ).

[Cube]

Played through the first Watch_Dogs. I quite enjoyed it. Using the profiler and tackling crimes was fun, and all the hacking and using cameras was great. The main campaign was alright, but didn't seem like a lot of variety (especially in terms of the vehicle sections). The chases were a lot of fun but they all felt the same (except at the very end, I loved that car section).

I didn't care much for the main character or his story, but it wasn't awful either.

 

I'd actually love a cop game based on the profiler aspect of Watch_Dogs.

 

 

[Glen-i]

Throwback Thursday #33  

  Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood  

Come with me on a journey of passion, nostalgia, and stock sound effects.

Edited June 25, 2020 by Glen-i

[bob]

Just who the hell is this 'Sid Meier' anyway, and why is he ruining my life?

[drahkon]

Welp, my Civilization VI save file got corrupted so the match that I was playing, that was about 400 turns in, is gone...

In other news: Risk of Rain 2 is awesome. Unlocked two more characters, but haven't made a lot of progress during runs The game's kicking my ass.

[Aperson]

I have a treat for anyone who watched my Prime 2 LP earlier this year... a bonus episode!

 

 

 

Looking at Concept Art and Multiplayer in particular. Also working on another video based on this series.

 

Meanwhile on Magic The Gathering Arena the new set, M21, has been released. This is a set that's designed to be something of a new player friendly set but also has plenty of it's own powerful cards. One of the big things they introduced in this set is Dog Tribal. You can now have an entire deck full of Dogs and play it in the Standard format. So, here is my Dog Deck:

 

 

Actually plays surprisingly well, though I have only played it in play queue and not in ranked so I'm sure there are some problems. A lot of the dogs are quite basic in terms of abilities but Pack Leader is amazing, Bolt Hound is pretty good and Kunoros is a nice boon for the deck. Alpine Houndmaster is also great, it's basically "draw two cards that are dogs".

 

Also updated my Vampire deck with some new cards but still need to change things for when I get the main new Rare Vampire in the set.

 

 

[bob]

So I decided to go for a domination victory as England in Civ 6.

Waited until turn 300 to launch my attack. I figured it would be best to build up my science and technology, then wipe everyone else out with upgraded military. However, after a few turns, I started to wonder if I'd left it too late. It takes a while to get all your units around the map and into position!

By turn 400 I'd conquered 3 out of the 7 nations required, and realised I'd need to step it up. Luckily, by this point I had a shit tonne of money, so started a war on multiple fronts to try and speed things up.

By turn 50, I was closing in on wiping out the 6th civ, and I could see victory in my grasp!

However, after I took over the final city of civ 6, the game ended....

Turns out I'd won a cultural victory!? Apparently by wiping out all the other nations, my tourism points beat their domestic tourism points by default?

Very hollow victory. And I was only a few turns away from getting nukes! Still didn't get to use them!

[Jonnas]

1 hour ago, bob said:

Turns out I'd won a cultural victory!? Apparently by wiping out all the other nations, my tourism points beat their domestic tourism points by default?

Very hollow victory. And I was only a few turns away from getting nukes! Still didn't get to use them!

Oh yeah, that happens in Civ V too. But you should be able to turn off Cultural victory in the settings, if you want to (you could in Civ V, as you set up the game)

[Ronnie]

On 25/06/2020 at 3:14 PM, Cube said:

Played through the first Watch_Dogs. I quite enjoyed it. Using the profiler and tackling crimes was fun, and all the hacking and using cameras was great. The main campaign was alright, but didn't seem like a lot of variety (especially in terms of the vehicle sections). The chases were a lot of fun but they all felt the same (except at the very end, I loved that car section).

I didn't care much for the main character or his story, but it wasn't awful either.

 

I'd actually love a cop game based on the profiler aspect of Watch_Dogs.

 

 

I really enjoyed Watch_Dogs too, much more so than its sequel. Most people prefer 2 but I gave up two hours in and I rarely do that with games, it was a very different game to the first.

[Nicktendo]

I bought The Gardens Between in the Steam sale and managed to beat it in a couple of sittings.

If anyone heard @nekunando talk about it on the podcast, my views are fairly similar.

It's a good game, especially at the price it's on offer at. I enjoyed the vast majority of the puzzles and only really got stumped by a couple of them, though that was irritating. The game executes well on the concept and doesn't outstay its welcome. There are some clever ideas on display and one or two of the levels are really expertly put together. I love the atmosphere of the game, the dream-like visuals and artstyle capture the "nostalgia" vibe really nicely. The story was cute and heartfelt, but not over the top like Celeste was. I feel it says much more than that game by actually saying very little. The final level felt substantial and a good climax to the game and the ending was fun to experience, if not a major surprise story-wise. 

Can certainly recommend it at the sale price, but be warned that you're not getting much game at full price. 

[drahkon]

Risk of Rain 2 is a genuinely good game.

It is still in early access (on consoles, at least. Not sure about PC) but it's already very polished.

Can't stop playing. There's so much potential for some ridiculously powerful runs, but I haven't gotten this far. Need more practice to survive some of the bosses (and some of the later normal enemies which are surprisingly tough).

[Cube]

Played through Sleeping Dogs again. I think its easily the best GTA-style game. The world looks great. the plot keeps exciting throughout it all and there are lots of interesting side missions.

The focus on fighting makes everything feel more personal, lots of moves and combos. Only having one gun at a time (and not being able to keep bigger guns) means that the gun sections stand out so the game doesn't turn into mindless shooting.

It's a shame there were never any more. 

[Aperson]

Put a bit of a blooper video of sorts on my Youtube channel.

 

During my Prime 2 LP, the Nunchuck came loose from the Wii Remote on mulitple occasions, this is a video that basically put every time that happened in one video...

 

Now working on a Prime 3 LP and gathering data for that... it will probably be the game I play next.

[Aperson]

As a follow up to my last post... I have started work on a Prime 3 LP. The first episode is rendering.

 

Will probably hold off on uploading it until I have recorded multiple episodes. I also don't feel that maybe the first episode of the Prime 2 LP gave the best impression to hook people so I'm trying to make the Prime 3 LP's first episode more interesting. In fact, the first episode already contains a bumbling incident as well as a self inserted joke at another Metroid game's expense... and there are already a few Easter Eggs shown in the first episode itself! Reminding myself that the first episode makes a big difference to the whole thing as it's always the episode that gets the most views has encouraged me to try and tweak this one even in light on any potential misstep made in the actual recording itself.

 

I had to re-record many times though because the initial settings for Elgato did not co-operate with the Wii U HDMI cable and the opening cutscene was incredibly glitchy.

 

Meanwhile on Magic Arena I'm still trying to make my Vampire deck work and the Dog deck is starting to show it's flaws somewhat. There's a surprising lack of cards from the new set that I'm interested in crafting save for Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, Glorious Anthem, Rin & Seri and Basri Ket.

Edited July 1, 2020 by GenericAperson

[nekunando]

 

[Londragon]

Been working through Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition with my son in local split screen on the Switch. We decided to Let’s Play it;
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[Will]

Six years and nine months after I first started playing it, I just watched the credits roll on GTA5. I've just been playing a couple of hours each day on a new save, not really worried about getting to the end and just enjoyed whatever I felt like at the time.

Such a good experience, I wasn't a huge fan of 4 and don't think I ever completed it, but this one I felt like it was my expected progress from GTA3 and it's sister titles. Such a rich world with so much to see and do, I could enjoy just being in the world for hours at a time.

It will probably be the last game I get to focus on for a while, now that lockdown are being lifted and life starts to go back to normal. It has made me want to free up a bit more personal time to get back into gaming a little though.