Messages

1

General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: June 27, 2025, 02:52:33 am »

Right into it with Death Stranding 2, been waiting for this and have enjoyed my time so far.  It's very much more of the first game, absolutely expected, so if you weren't into the gameplay loop of the first game, nothing here will change ones mind.  There are a few QoL improvements here and there, some new things to unlock, new things to do, new enemies, it's a solid sequel a good 4 or 5 hours into it.  Some neat new environmental things like rivers that surge when it rains, or flood waters cause what looked like dry riverbeds to become active rivers, appearing and disappearing as you look at them, along with things like sandstorms.  Curious if there's anything special like that in the second area of the game I got to.

2

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: June 24, 2025, 10:09:44 pm »

14 - Grounded (PC 2022) - BEAT - This continues to be one of the best all around survival crafting games I think.  It has a good story and setting, good variety of gameplay and creatures, lots of stuff to build, gear to make, it has a lot of great stuff going on.  No real negatives, mostly just nitpicks, it has me really excited for Grounded 2, though I'm not likely to get into the early access that I think starts next month, I try not to do that with games anymore and I'm just gonna hope it'll be out within the next year or so.

3

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: June 20, 2025, 03:43:22 am »

13 - Deltarune: Chapter 1 to 4 (PC 2025) - BEAT - Been waiting way too damn long for the next chapters in this game, almost 4 years since Chapter 2 came out, and it's been 7 years in total since Deltarune came out.  I really wish they had worked abit quicker to get this out, but I did enjoy myself with these last two, they were big steps up in like gameplay variety, particularly Chapter 3, which had some fun minigames throughout.  I did do a full replay of the game as it had been years since I played the first two, and it was nice to go back through those chapters again. 

I always have a great time with this series, it's enjoyable because they aren't real "RPG's", like technically they are, but you play them by not fighting, not leveling, it's like some sort of interactive visual novel or something, so a lot of the time it's quite chill, though certain fights could be a real kick in the teeth.  The secret boss of Chapter 4 proved to be real problematic as it focused on focused on interaction that required expert directional aiming and it was abit wonky.  Made it the hardest fight I've experienced yet as it felt like I was really fighting my controls through it.

I will say, even after all this time, I'm not sure if I like Deltarune music as much as Undertale.  There's some cool songs, but so many songs have stuck with me from Undertale more than Deltarune has and I'm not sure why.   It's not a dig on Deltarune music, just something I've noticed, like songs throughout, I'm hearing them and hearing callbacks to Undertale songs in them and that makes them more recognizable lol

I do love this weird little series, kinda the only turn based stuff I play these days lol  Might go back and do a violence run, not sure exactly, but we'll see.  With 4 chapters, it's a decent chunk of playtime now as it took me over 16 hours to do a full run, though I didn't do everything single thing.

Thankfully Chapter 5 is confirmed for next year, so no more giant waits hopefully.

4

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: June 19, 2025, 05:40:49 pm »

12 - Snacko (PC 2025) - BEAT - Think I forgot to do something for this when I beat it, but this was an enjoyable little game, fun art style, basically Stardew Valley crossed with abit of Animal crossing. It was a little buggy and lacking in some areas, probably shouldn't have released when it did, but they are super active with patching.  I'll probably come back to this like next year to see the improvements and additions for another run.

5

General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: June 09, 2025, 05:17:27 pm »

With the announcement of Grounded 2, it immediately made me want to replay the first game, so it seems to be a yearly thing now that I might be just do a new run of the game until the sequel releases.  Which I'm hoping won't be too long, it took them 2 years to get through early access before, but now it's less about building a game from scratch and more expanding what they did before, so maybe it'll get fully released next year. 

This is such a good game, if you like survival crafting games, I think this one is up there as one of the best.

6

Modern Video Games / Re: Summer Game Fest 2025

« on: June 08, 2025, 10:40:20 pm »

Somehow I completely missed that Beast of Reincarnation was a Game Freak game and I now know that they aren't actually owned by Nintendo, I just always assumed they were since 90% of their output since inception has been Pokemon games lol

It's a weird situation where I'm curious to see what they can do going all out with something, but then their Pokemon output has been so bad during the Switch era, it also makes me very unexcited because I'm primed to expect a half-assed game lol Hopefully it's good though, always like to see a company try and break out to do something different.

7

Modern Video Games / Re: Summer Game Fest 2025

« on: June 08, 2025, 04:31:43 pm »

I just saw Keeper also, missed it before, but it's very weird in that very interesting way with its character, and some real nice visuals, so might have to check it out.

8

Modern Video Games / Re: Summer Game Fest 2025

« on: June 08, 2025, 02:23:38 pm »

Only thing at the Xbox show for me, kinda just skimmed it as I missed most of it, was Grounded 2, I loved the first game, it's a fantastic survival crafting game, so I'm very excited to get that game once it gets through early access.

9

Modern Video Games / Summer Game Fest 2025

« on: June 06, 2025, 01:29:57 pm »

We can just use this as a general catch all for anything happening this weekend, but SGF proper is in a few hours and I'll post anything that's new and notable that shows up.

Was gonna live post some of the reveals, but it's a two hour show and I kinda realized I'd rather not.

Not a ton of stuff blew me away personally, but it did end on one of my big wants, which is Resident Evil 9 or Resident Evil: Requiem. Damn excited for that and it's got a Feb 27, 2026 release date with gameplay being shown off at Gamescom. Looks like it'll involve the bombed out ruins of Raccoon City.  You play as I think a reporter, to investigate a mysterious death, in a place where her mother was killed, her name being Grace Ashcroft.  That name probably means she's the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft who was an investigative reporter that was from RE: Outbreak. Very excited for this.

For some other neat showings...

Mortal Shell 2 - I didn't play the first one, I heard it was just alright, but more of a proof of concept than a full game, but this looked great.

Sonic Racing: Crossworlds - Initially I was bummed that it was Sonic only, because of how much I liked Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed, but they are adding guest levels and characters.  Yakuza guy, Hatsune Miku, Joker from Persona 5, and Minecraft Steve, probably more also.  Hopefully this is decent.

Atomic Heart 2  - Was one of those games that had good ideas, but poor execution, and with this insane trailer, I'm hoping they can kinda properly nail it now.  There's also a multiplayer game set in the universe called The CUBE, though not 100% sure what type of game it was.

Lies of P: Overture - Surprise shadow drop of the DLC for today, looking forward to it down the road, I played it on Game Pass, so I need to actually buy the game before I can do the DLC now lol

10

Modern Video Games / Re: Nintendo Switch 2

« on: June 06, 2025, 12:16:03 pm »

I mostly just saw accessories when I went to the store yesterday, curious to see what was left, alongside games still available.  I felt like there was a number of those awful web cameras there, because those seem so immensely useless lol

One game I was surprised to see such immediate improvement from the system was the previous Hyrule Warriors game, Age of Calamity, as that ran terrible originally on Switch, I think to the point that I didn't play it a ton, maybe just run through the story, not as much as the original Hyrule Warriors, but that game just immediately runs better, no patch, so that'll be one to look forward to replaying when I get a Switch 2.

11

Modern Video Games / Re: Nintendo Switch 2

« on: June 05, 2025, 01:40:30 pm »

While I do need a Switch 2 just because I don't have a Switch anymore, I'm kinda glad to wait for the system, not just because of the price issues, but I need more games to hype me up.  Donkey Kong isn't out till July and there's nothing else this year that's really exciting to me.  I was initially more hyped on Mario Kart World because of the free roam, but it sounds like they kinda half-assed it abit, where this stuff to do, but not enough to justify it, but we'll see, it's Mario Kart, it's still gonna be good, it's just always been a multiplayer game more than anything, and I'm not big on doing online Mario Kart too much.

12

Modern Video Games / Playstation: State of Play 6-4-2025

« on: June 04, 2025, 05:40:01 pm »

Mostly just gonna point out what is actually new and looks cool.

Final Fantasy Tactics getting a remaster is cool.  It's getting voice acting and a new visual look, though you can play it the right away, with classic sprite art and such.  Out in September.

A Mortal Kombat collection is happening, out this year and looks like it has a tons of games and different versions, apparently at least 20 different versions, from MK1 to MK4.

Nioh 3, early 2026. Demo out today.

Sea of Remnants...I have no clue what this game actually is and I feel like nothing they showed was real gameplay despite trying to act like it was lol I only know of this because of the music video trailer they did before that I dig.  Slightly interested in due to the art style and if it's maybe going to be a an open world pirate game, I guess.  Out in 2026.

Sword of the Sea, August 19th, same folks as Journey and Abzu.

James Bond Jr. is finally getting its game adaptation after all these years lol Third person action game about Bond's early days by the Hitman devs.  First Light: 007, 2026.

Arcs System making a Marvel fighting game is crazy lol 4 v4 tag fighter. Man, with this and Marvel Rivals, we have some of the best looking Marvel games ever.  Out in 2026.

There wasn't much at this show for me specifically in terms of new games, Arc Systems Marvel fighting game being the standout just from being really visually awesome, but I'll probably not end up playing it most likely as I'm not a big fighting game player, even if it looks sick.

13

Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

« on: May 28, 2025, 12:00:40 am »

Sunshine (2007) - A random watch I decided to check out after I saw a clip as it's a space flick I never saw as far as I can tell, which is kinda surprising as I thought I had had watched most of the big ones really, I've always really liked stuff like this, from the more realistic "The Martian" type stuff to more out there ones like Event Horizon.  This one? Honestly feel like it sorta fits inbetween those as I felt like it was tonally two different types of films.  I won't say too much, but I think overall it's decent.  It's one of those movies you go back to and you notice it's pretty packed cast wise with people going on to do big things like Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Hiroyuji Sanada, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, and even some other recognizable faces. I'm really surprised I haven't seen this as it's directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland and this was a few years after 28 Days Later, another movie they did together. 

It's a good watch if you like the "Space mission gone wrong" genre of movies.

14

General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: May 23, 2025, 04:09:55 pm »

As I am want to do at least 2 or 3 times a year, I'm back to playing Star Wars Battlefront 2 lol I had seen people trying to push for "Battlefront 3" in like TikTok comments and stuff, but apparently after Andor recently, it's had an uptick in popularity.  It's always nice to go back to the game because it's such a good game.  Its still such a shame they didn't keep adding content, because they turned the game around from a kind of dismal state, added decent content, got it to a great place and then dropped support. There could've been more maps, more heroes/villains like Mando, Cad Bane, Moff Gideon, and new modes and I think some improvement to certain modes like I would have loved more ground to ship action variety with more objectives beyond just capturing the beginning doors and then guarding the engines.

The game also still looks stunning, it came out in 2017, but it looks better than a lot of games coming out today.  It's a game I'd still recommend for anyone, because even at it's full price, it's only 40 bucks and the game is still active even outside of these popularity spikes that show up.

15

General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2025!!!

« on: May 20, 2025, 07:55:51 pm »

11 - V Rising (PC 2024) - BEAT - Take a slightly slower version of the gameplay from Hades and combine it with a less open sandbox version of Valheim, and you get the vampire sim game, V Rising.  Been wanting to play this for abit and had a good time.  I realized it's not often I get to play the bad guy in games, like an outright villain, and that's a fun change of pace.  I think the overall experience is solid, decent action, the crafting offers up a lot of decoration as you progress through the game to give you the chance to build a neat castle and there's a solid amount of content here as I put 60 hours into it and that was entirely solo PVE.

That's where the cons are, as the game to me feels like it leans more PVP or Co-Op than PVE, perhaps 60/40.  You can do everything solo just fine, but just how things are executed, how things feel, I think if the game was built with PVE in mind, it would've been better, but that's just because I'm not gonna play this outside of a solo private game.  I do appreciate that since you run the private game as a server, you can customize so many options of the game itself.  I highly recommend turning off teleporting limitations if you play solo, it's a mechanic that only makes sense in a server where you have to worry about getting ganked by other players and it makes the game way more enjoyable.  Or you can just jack up the difficulty and challenge all you want. 

Good game, had a solid time with it, definite recommend.