Old_Man_Harper

I’m on to the second game of my Christmas leave (Indy was the first) - Stalker 2. I found the prologue was a bit ‘in at the deep end’ - I had to adjust the brightness because it is very dark - but I’m finding my feet now and enjoying it. I haven’t seen any bugs or glitches, so I guess the numerous patches have tidied it up.

I voted for Hellblade 2, but I hadn’t played Indy at the time as I was saving it for my Christmas leave. I just finished it today and had a thoroughly good time! I’m now heading into the zone for some Stalker 2, another game I saved for Christmas.

Just finishing up with Rise of the Golden Idol - a really great game, very cleverly plotted, after which as I’m now on my Christmas leave, I’ll make a start on Indy which I’ve been saving for this.

All he needs to do is fork his beard and he’ll look like Admiral Tirpitz.

Rise of the Golden Idol on Series X. ‘Case’ on Game Pass was one of my GOTYs - this is more of the same with a 1970s setting, which is fine by me!

Finished Life is Strange Double Exposure last weekend and thought it was way better than a lot of the reviews it got. After next Friday, it’s my Christmas holidays and I’m saving Indy/Stalker until then.

@GeraltWhiteWolf Oh definitely! I’ve got 2 weeks leave booked over Christmas and I’m saving Indy and Stalker 2 until then.

I haven’t tried Stalker 2 or Indy yet, so couldn’t fairly include either, so 1. Hellblade 2, 2 DA Veilguard, 3 LiS Double Exposure.

Next, if they’d been listed would have been Case of the Golden Idol and 7 Days to Die.

I’m shocked that the performance award went to the right person! I was expecting another travesty, like when Manon Gage didn’t win for Immortality, or Erika Mori ended up empty handed for LiS True Colors.

I was amused that they announced a sequel to The Long Dark when they still haven’t released the last chapter of the story mode for the first game yet, seven years after it was released!

That’s pretty cool. I never had the RROD but I did have the less common but equally fatal graphic error thing. I remember thinking that they must have launched the cheap ‘Arcade’ version of the 360 purely so that people could buy one to have something to play on while their regular 360 was getting fixed.

I’m playing Life is Strange: Double Exposure on Series X. You play Max from the first game again, now older and an artist-in-residence at a posh New England college. After her best friend is found dead, she finds she can go into another world where her friend isn’t dead. You have to flick between the ‘live’ and ‘dead’ worlds to pull together clues about what happened. It gets weirder. It’s enjoyable, I’ve liked all the LiS games and it’s a nice change of pace from Veilguard, which I finished last weekend.

Indy, along with Stalker 2 are my Christmas leave activities.

It describes me as ‘turn-based tactician’ which delights me.

My most played games were 7 Days to Die, Fallout 4 (I must have put more hours into the updated version than I remember!) and Baldur’s Gate 3.

I played for 1,006 hours, all on Series X. I’m in the top 3% for time played and the top 1% for gamerscore and achievements. I earned 66,474 reward points and spent 59,800 of them..

I just saw an advert for it! On the side of a bus! It looks like actual marketing for once!

Geometry Wars Retro/Evolved. Still satisfying, I would love a remaster as long as it just upgraded it technically, no need for any gameplay changes.

More Veilguard. I’ve reached the bit where it tells me the next story mission is the endgame, so I’m hoovering up the remaining companion quests and increasing faction strength in preparation for starting it.

If I finish it this weekend, I have Stalker 2 and Death Stranding installed as well as Life is Strange DE and Rise of the Golden Idol. I reckon I’ll go for one of the latter two - something a bit shorter between epics. And I’ve got Monday off. 😄

All games last longer for me. I’m the guy who obeys the traffic laws in GTA V and walks around Thedas rather than running. My Rook has far too much dignity to be seen running.

If its an handheld that can play already existing games then it has a chance. Otherwise, they are entering the Nintendo Death Zone! Remember the Sony PSP? At the time, everyone said it was going to crush the Nintendo DS. Then it didn’t.

I really would like to get started on Stalker 2 - it’s all installed and ready to go - but I am deep into Veilguard now and am going to finish that before I play anything else, so I’ll probably wait for my Christmas fortnight before I head into the zone. I have to say, I’ve enjoyed Veilguard as much as I have any DA game.

I’m looking forward to this more each time I see it. But isn’t Indiana Jones the “next big Game Pass release”?

@OldGamer999 Hurrah for some positivity!

I expect the player count will be even higher once people have finished downloading the flipping thing, it’s enormous!

After wasting my money on the emperor’s-new-clothes experience that was Elden Ring, FromSoftware are never seeing another damn penny of mine, whoever owns them!

Still on with Veilguard on Series X. I’m a bit of an early bird, so I often do a side quest or two before I go to work, but I’ve saved the story quests and the companion quests for the weekend. I’m still pretty early into Act 2. Having a lot of fun, it was nice to bump into my old DA2 flame Isabela!

That’s good, I’m quite intrigued about this one and hadn’t realised it was a Game Pass game.

@Misternobody Oh, he’s far from alone. Personally I rather enjoy playing games on my Xbox, which is why I post on here, but for some people it appears to be a completely miserable chore (and boy, will they tell us about it)!

Makes sense, there’s a lot coming out at this time and there are or were big releases on Game Pass in October (CoD), November (Flight Sim, Stalker 2) and December (Indiana Jones) already. We’re getting a bit spoiled at the moment!

Oh I spend forever on them. I’ve spent more time with the magic mirror in Veilguard than is healthy! The first game I can remember with a detailed character creator was Mass Effect. I spent ages making a character that looked just like me. Then I realised I look more like a man who who would run a varren kebab van on Omega than the first human Spectre.

More Veilguard on Series X, still very much enjoying it. I’d guess I’m about halfway through. I don’t think I’m likely to play anything else until I finish it.

That is a surprise. There was no indication that was in the pipeline!

I’d like a remaster of DA2, but I’m delighted with Veilguard and would prefer them to focus on newer things.

I’ll try all three and I’m probably looking forward to Stalker 2 the most of those, but the game I’m most looking forward to in November is Rise of the Golden Idol.

£750+ to play a marginally improved version of a game that’s on Game Pass? Hmm.

Don’t you mean ‘PC’s long-running strategy series’? I’m not sure many people think ‘Xbox game’ when they hear the name…

Nobody seems to have complained about Baldur’s Gate 3, where your entire team, whatever gender or species, will make a pass at you at some point. In fact, as far as I’m aware, the ‘polyamory’ mod, which allows you to, er, ‘romance’ them all without consequence is one of the most popular!

About 20 hours in and really enjoying it - BioWare are back! It looks great and the combat is really good. It was definitely the right idea to switch to Mass Effect-style controls for the fights, you can set up some really spectacular and pyrotechnic combos. 👍🏻

So much stuff coming down the line now! I’m very much looking forward to Rise of the Golden Idol, I loved the first game. I may well end up saving Stalker 2 for my Christmas leave.

Also juggling games on Series X! Started Veilguard, very nice so far, although I’m at an early stage and clearly there are systems and mechanics I’ve yet to unlock.

I also intend to do more of the CoD6 campaign and maybe more of my BG3 Dark Urge run. I’m into Act 3 now and apparently this is where the Durge plotline really opens up.

I also bought Life is Strange Double Exposure although I think with all that on the go, it may have to wait! Plus I’ve got Monday off. 🙂

For years I would have died on a hill for ME2, but playing the legendary edition of ME3 with the DLC integrated - especially Citadel, which is just glorious - I have to go with that.

Good stuff! Pleased by this.

You can tell that’s a screenshot from the ultimate edition. They really went to town with the blue lens flares!

It’ll be good to see ‘Max, never Maxine’ again (did anyone notice that Stranger Things used the exact same line with their own Max?) but I wouldn’t have minded another game with Alex and/or Steph.

They tend to review more ‘middling’, I suppose for some reviewers they are more story than game, but I’ve enjoyed all of them so far (even LiS2 which doesn’t get much love), so I’m in.

Released on my payday, so I’ll be there day 1. It’s been a wait! I played the last one on 360.

I’m still on with my Durge run in BG3, big battles in Moonrise Towers to come.

I am downloading Black Ops 6, though, and I was pleased to see that the campaign and multiplayer are separate downloads, as I only really want to play the campaign.

It has always had something about it that makes it one of the best zombie games, despite the bugs. Doing a ‘Marvin Dorfler’ on zombies with a vehicle door is always enjoyable.

Continuing to resist the Dark Urge in BG3 on Series X. Might give Mechwarrior 5 a go later.

It does sound decent, but I’m rather put off by my experience with Persona 5, which turned from being great into a seemingly endless slog that I gave up on!

I think they have proved themselves to be good developers and I’m interested to see what they come up with.

I’m continuing my Dark Urge play through of BG3 on Series X. Just about to defend the grove against the goblin warband. I appreciate it’s a battle that needn’t be fought, depending on how you play, but it’s such an entertaining fight that I didn’t want to miss it!

Possibly unwise to get back into such a huge game with Life is Strange Double Exposure due on the 29th, DA Veilguard on the 31st, Rise of the Golden Idol on 12/11, Flight Sim 24 on 19/11, Stalker 2 on 20/11 and Indiana Jones on 6/12, all of which I intend to play, but we’ll see how I go!

@ironcrow86 BG3 gets easier once you have levelled up a bit - once you reach level 4 you can pick a ‘feat’ that gives you unbeatable initiative. If you pick it for all your party, you get first go in any fight and usually take out a couple of enemies before they can even move.

It’ll be out on my payday, which is good as I’ll also be buying the new Life is Strange game which is released that week.