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[Stench Guzman]

I finished playing through Doom 64.  It has a different feel to it than Doom 1 and 2.  A lot of it is the music; it's mostly ambient noises, like Quake.

On to Clive Barker's Undying.

[nenjin]

I finished playing through Doom 64.  It has a different feel to it than Doom 1 and 2.  A lot of it is the music; it's mostly ambient noises, like Quake.

On to Clive Barker's Undying.

Enjoy, it's a trip. Just be prepared to walk all over the first part of the game multiple times.

[Robsoie]

Deep Sky Derelicts
Got to some point after completing the data fetching of several space hulks (reached level 7 for my scavengers) in which the game finally starts to feel too repetitive and out of some random new traps, things feel the same, encounters can be very hard or very easy depending on luck more than strategy (as it depends on which order your cards will come to your hand from your decks) but up to then it was fun.

But that's another game with technical problems : the first time i launch it after starting my PC, the game will not load.
Then the 2nd time it will load without problems.
Googling around that bizarre bug, it seems it happens to a several other people and the devs never fixed that, so in case you can't launch the game, try a 2nd time.

If i play fullscreen all the pictures of your attacks are pre-loaded and there's no interruption.
If i play windowed (as it prevents the "crash on 1st load" bug) on your first character attack there will be a long pause/freeze before the attack picture comes up (i guess it was just not preloaded correctly). Fortunately for the rest of the game there will be no more of those freeze.

Odd to see loading time of so many seconds when getting back to your home station, it's only a few 2D pictures and there are only very few procedural items generated at the trader. But that's an Unity game after all

[delphonso]

I haven't booted it up yet but as you were describing the technical problems, I was thinking 'Oh, it must be a Unity game.'

[Il Palazzo]

It's interesting from the game design perspective how inferior DSD feels to the on-paper very similar Star Crawlers. They're pretty much the same game, but the abstract presentation of exploration in DSD vs having to look for loot and switches in first person makes all the difference.

[Robsoie]

They could have gone the "Etrian Odyssey"-way for the presentation as both games basically play on a board in which your crew moves one square at a time. But Etrian Odyssey gives it a Dungeon Master-like perspective along the map that makes it more pleasing to the eyes and gives some visual interest. 

While in Deep Sky Derelicts, you have an artist that drew a bunch of rooms, but you'll never really see them (because there's no point as you would need to click on each square you're in to see them but without being able to do anything out of going back to the map to actually move) unless you're on an encounter or special square (that force you to see that room just to press a "Talk", "Search" or "Interact" button or just have the fight happening). 

I'm sure the exploration would have been more engaging with a EO-like visual system, both the view and the map available at the same time.

[nenjin]

Been playing DREDGE.

It's basically Sunless Sea-lite, with a greater emphasis on fishing.

Unlike Sunless Sea, there's no crippling economic component you need to strategize around. You just motor around fishing, making money, upgrading your ship and following the main and side stories. Also unlike Sunless Sea, you can really push the boundaries of safe travel, steaming along at night.

It's not balanced to be difficult, but rather a fairly chillaxing fishing experience with a side of Mythos. I think I'm about 20 hours in and probably 3/4 through the game already.

It's a good game but I sort of regret not waiting for a sale; I don't think it has much replayability. If you really love fishing games managed by QTEs, and hunting down each species of fish to complete your catalog, the game has your back. There's not much else to it though. A nice single playthrough game.

[Kagus]

It's a good game, but yeah... Longevity is a bit limited. I've 100%ed it in just over 21 hours and I thought I was taking my time with things (even avoiding usage of a couple of the abilities given to you, as the text surrounding them implies lasting penalties if used regularly... Which, spoilers, don't exist. Use 'em as you like).

Also, the first portion of the game is definitely the strongest. The first bits of tooling around Marrow and being afraid of the dark are very well done and really pull you into the world and feel... Which is probably why it was such a great demo when that's all there was available. The later stages seem a teensy bit rushed.


I'd still recommend it all in all; it gets a very particular vibe very right in the early game, and it's worth it for that experience alone I feel. Also, fish tetris.

Note: There are a couple timed quests in the game which can permanently lock you out of their rewards (for that playthrough) if you don't handle them on time, and there's no warning given of this being the case. They're kinda out of the way side quests though, and there are only four of them in the entire game. If a hooded figure asks you for fish, understand that they're not gonna sit and wait weeks for you to get around to it.

[Frumple]

Y'know, I had wondered about those when watching some gameplay vids. It looked to me like you needed to come back while nuts or something after they stopped moving instead of it just being timed, and if it really is just timed that's totally a missed opportunity. That's 100% a questline that could stand to, at minimum, branch, with time giving one reward and dealing with the unrestful dead a second, if it didn't just require you to go the humming stone route entirely.

[nenjin]

Turns out I'm just at 10 hours and halfway through the 3rd island. :\

Learned the hard way about the Hooded Figure. I don't know if it's based on days or how much time has elapsed since you first talked to them.

I agree the beginning is the best part because the economics / balance sorta matter. But as soon as you get:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Good headlamps and the go-fast power, balance goes out the window. You can out run the spookies easily. Although in truth, how balanced can the game be when you can sit outside any port and just fish until you're flush with cash.

Maybe Sunless Sea just dictated the amount of thinking I expect to do in these games, or maybe it's just a game they really want you to never struggle in. But it really did kind of detract from the setting for me. And combined with the visuals, almost leans the game into cute territory for me. To each their own, I just would have preferred a slightly more demanding challenge because I think it would have left the game feeling a bit edgier and more dangerous.

Also one part that kind of miffed me was:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Realizing the books just flat out make the game easier instead of more interesting. They could have had all sorts of neat things happen there, instead it's "get more fish" or "engines are even faster." Good lord I don't even have a full set of end game engines and my boat is already so fast it's ramming me into shorelines trying to turn. I'm overflowing with fish, I don't need more. Panic reduction is making a trivial mechanic laughable. There's no unique equipment that I can see either. No "Mythos Headlamp" and such.

Little things like that and a better eye for balance would have elevated the game another notch for me. As it is, it's just "relaxing and somewhat cute." It's an experience. A $25 experience? For the vibe they crafted and the game on its artistic merits? Grudgingly I'll say yes. As a game? Mmmmmmmm.....maybe not. But I admit, I'm biased, I don't place a super high premium just on a vibe and/or experience.

[Caz]

Been playing Noita recently, which is probably one of the most unforgiving games I've played... doesn't help that I am terribad at action games. Everything is now fire. Everything is now acid. You are now dead. (x343)

[Kagus]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

There's no unique equipment that I can see either. No "Mythos Headlamp" and such.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

There is, actually. There are I believe 6 unique items you can acquire as rewards for solving hidden puzzles. However, they don't really have any unique effects as such... They're still mainly just sidegrades of standard equipment, with a couple notable exceptions. A couple which are technically still sidegrades but boast focused benefits that make them incredibly powerful, and one that's available relatively early on which is just straight up the best item of its class.

[nenjin]

I suspect I know which things I didn't do:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Those coastal golem things or those things you need to slot in fish into.

[Kagus]

I suspect I know which things I didn't do:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Those coastal golem things or those things you need to slot in fish into.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's the fish shrines, plus one other little scavenger hunt lategame. The hermit crabs are just there to troll you

[Iduno]

Bloons Tower Defense 6 has daily challenges: one easy and one advanced. The easy one today is an easy map, but is so limiting on money that you can't start with a tower. You just have to lose health (very slowly, because it's a long map) until you've earned enough to start actually playing.

The advanced map is annoying because you are limited to one tower, but then it's just knowing which towers you have to choose from can beat the challenge, and trying them out until you do enough damage to solo the level. So it's annoying, but playable.

First time I've seen more winners in advanced. Just nobody is willing to put up with having to wait until they can do *anything at all*. There's actually about twice as many attempts as people who have lost (about 50% more have attempted than have won and lost combined), so it's not just me unwilling to put up with that.