Tdx

Finished Watch Dogs Legion. The London they built is modeled spectacularly - so much work went into little environmental details. Unfortunately the game was a complete bore, especially sad since WD 1 and 2 were both great. The main issue is that there is no vibe: music, voice acting, atmosphere, tension, tone - it’s all completely banal and empty. Bloodlines DLC was a bit better but still just OK.

As a Ubisoft fan on Xbox, I’m often choosing between better-game or better-resolution/fps.
WD 1 > WD Legion
Far Cry 4 > Far Cry 6
Etc

Hey while you’re there, do you mind picking me up a Wildlands 60fps patch?

@Romans12 3DO was $699 (30 years ago)

They had a chance to correct the ugliest console design of all time and chose to just add a few extra grooves?

I don't think graphic fidelity is what's holding the industry back right now. But maybe those boring 3rd person cinematic cutscenes will finally make you feel something in 4K/60.

Almost through AC Mirage. Stealth gameplay gets pretty fun once you have all your tools, but the game suffers from so much robotic exposition and boring Witcher-sense quest design.

Like all AC games, the core assassin-y gameplay is fun, everything else is not. Origins is the only one that pulled everything together with satisfying exploration and a balanced, well-paced story without a lot of Animus dreck.

@Lup If I could have the tone from the first hour of FC5, the openness of FCND and the setting of FC6, (and soundtrack of FC4), that’d be one of my top 5 games.

Just finished Sekiro. Pretty fun game and it was a thrill to beat the final boss after several hours of attempts. But the game has a lot of annoyances (camera, awkward story progression, confusing world design, multi-phase boss fights) and it’s not as “pure” as I thought (still tons of items/tools/side quests that I ignored or probably need a wiki to follow). I enjoyed the rhythm gameplay but it’s more good than great for me.

I think it just picked a release window with almost zero competition across all consoles/PC. Esp since the ER DLC appears to be more niche.

Skyrim
Fallout 4
Starfield

I just hope they don’t force multi-month/yearly subs. Or start with GP-only exclusives. I don’t trust they won’t - they are now in the profit-turning phase and there are no bad ideas for them - even if it makes no sense for their most loyal users.

Replaying Celeste. What a joy (despite the B-side hand cramps).

I play much more now. I basically quit video games (except for the odd major release) for a decade while I was focused on my career/dating. No regrets.

Now I’m catching up and have so much more time to enjoy games to their full potential.

I remember rushing Fallout 4 because I took a few days off to play it when it came out. But I recently went back and played through survival mode for 170+ hours and it was 10x more fun.

Were there cutscenes that completely stole player control or are interactions more in-game and organic?

Did you get a sense that the world is more linear and constrained than past Stalkers?

Animal Well. Pretty chill.

They still support single player WRPGs and FPSs so we’re good.

But add gyro aiming to the controller please.

So these demos are not playable on Series X, correct?

Getting nostalgic for the Just Cause 2 demo

Finished replaying Fallout 3. Blew my mind back in 2008 and the exploration, vibe, VATS, freedom all still hold up.

Tried Zelda TotK - seems like a huge hassle without the elegance of BotW.

Animal Well is probably next.

Not a fan of the new cinematic Wolfensteins, but trust Todd.

FIST is great if you like metroidvanias. 2nd best one on GP.

Finished:

Wolfenstein trilogy - so many damn cutscenes. Was expecting all gameplay, but got 60% cinematic dreck. Old Blood was my favorite as it has the least story.

Evil Within 1-2 - first one is pretty intriguing and has a ton of variety. 2nd is a total soulless slog that is barely a horror game.

Playing:

Fallout 3 - one of the greatest games of all time, haven’t replayed it since 2009.

Next:

Debating whether to buy Dark Souls 3 digital. Enjoyed DS1 and most of DS2, but I try to avoid buying games digitally I’ll never replay.

Feels like Dragon Age: Redfall

Finished:
Redfall - not as bad as rumored, but still became a slog. Shooting is pretty good, storytelling is not.
State of Decay 2 - so much potential but isn’t as immersive or varied as it could be due to cardboard NPCs and repetitive goals.
Gears of War 4 - same boring gameplay, with maybe the worst dialogue I’ve ever heard in a game.

Playing:
Wolfenstein TNO - so many micro cutscenes to interrupt you. Too much story, weird tone clash. Gameplay is pretty fun though once they finally let you off the leash.

Surprised they didn't announce Lego Hellblade

Finished Hi-Fi Rush and Diablo 4

Dropped Sea of Stars, Stranded Deep and Everspace 2. Sometimes trying games you're not 100% interested in can burn you out a bit.

Playing Psychonauts 2 next

Finished: Atomic Heart - a game less than the sum of its parts, awkward but visually interesting; Gris - elegant but not particularly novel; Zombie Army 4 - surprisingly lots of fun, no dialogue or puzzles to interrupt you.

Trying to finish Diablo 4 coop and starting Everspace 2.

I had the OG Xbox but the library was mostly weak (Hitman Blood Money and the GTAs were the only all-timers for me). I also had the PSX through PS3. But I’ve gone Xbox since because:

1. Bethesda Game Studios RPGs
2. Sleeker hardware
3. The controller (needs gyro though)
4. Game Pass
5. Western RPGs from first party studios
6. Not a fan of PC twiddling
7. Not a fan of PlayStation cinematic style games or JRPGs
8. Back compat

Finished Dead Island 2 (addictive combat - LA looks great), Chants of Sennaar (original and interesting) and Shadow Warrior 3 (entertains but dumb).

Playing Diablo 4 coop and starting Atomic Heart.

I usually don’t love linear story games but that’s mostly what I’ve played this year due to Game Pass. Long/infinite sandbox games are less appealing when you have a huge catalog of 20 hour games, even though the sandboxes are usually more fun. How do you balance that?

I'm not great at math, but I think if I played 200+ hours at 30fps, I need to play 400+ hours at 60fps.

Braid, Shadow Complex, Super Meat Boy - good stuff

Finished Jedi Survivor (somehow more scripted but also more open than FO, with solidly challenging bosses on Jedi Master) and Tomb Raider (the epitome of a linear cinematic 2010s game, short and focused).

Playing Diablo 4 couch coop with my partner (story has gravitas and character, environmental art is impressive, gameplay is the same as 3).

Playing Dead Island 2 next probably.

I feel like the CoD devotees and the Game Pass crowd are pretty separate groups? Don't punish the GP crowd.

Botany Manor was surprisingly quite good. Challenging to keep multiple puzzles in your head at once, but perfectly logical.

Another Crab’s Treasure had fun combat and bosses but I found the game to be fairly buggy and didn’t like the visual aesthetic.

Finished Another Crab’s Treasure (fun combat but quite buggy/ugly), Fallen Order (combat is much better on hard and in 60fps mode), Eastern Exorcist (not bad despite horrible first impression) and Solar Ash (pretty good but this game needed way less story).

Playing Jedi Survivor next and maybe Diablo 4 with my partner (although I find those games so boring, they love them).

Finished Remnant 2 (OK), Evil West (OK), Escape Academy (Good), Botany Manor (Good), Return to Grace (Didn't Like) recently. Really want to jump into Another Crab's Treasure but chores keep coming up.

Finished Wo Long. Loved this game and didn’t expect to - the most fun hack-slash combat I’ve ever played. Recommend playing in resolution mode with no companions.

Lies of P. Some bosses are genuinely very challenging (no specter, no throwables). The perfect party timing is unforgiving but satisfying to learn. I’m curious how many people cheesed some of these with specter/throwables.

If Fallout 76 requires GP Core to play, but it's also free on GP Core - what's the point of owning it?

SOMA is a must play. One of the most immersive and interesting experiences if you’re willing to fully invest your attention (10 hours).

Finished Boltgun. Fun boomer shooter. Guns feel great. But finding the exit is a pain and the last chapter could’ve been cut.

Only one out of those that’s a 10/10 for me is Hades.

Good. Less talky more trailery.

Hell yes. These have always been at the top of my list but I’ve never had a Windows PC.

Did another full run through of Wildlands - so good, but I’d recommend skipping the DLC missions.

Replayed Ori and the Blind Forest. The second game is so much better in terms of design, pacing and CLARITY of visuals.

Replayed The Swapper - the puzzle game that did Soma before Soma.

The very first Tomb Raider is an atmospheric exploration gem. The grid based tank controls weren’t that bad either.

I just replayed Rise and nearly 100%’d it. But that game kinda sucks. It’s super linear and has none of the puzzles/loneliness/organic discovery of the first game.

I had to drop Spiritfarer. I usually finish games I start, but the overlong dialogue, tedious chores, linear islands and general lack of gameplay made it hard to have any fun. The animation is nice though.

Compulsively need to finish all trophies in Arkham City and get my $2.50 worth.

Finished FC Primal Survivor/Expert. Intense and fun.

One thing I hate about digital games is that you can't really get rid of them. You can uninstall and hide them but they're still there taking up some space in your world.

Anyone who understands gyro knows how sad it is that Xbox doesn’t support it natively.

Pretty sure Skyrim is the best game on the 360, Xbox One and Series X. Fallout 3 is close.

210 hours first playthrough - loved it. Haven't touched any of the faction questlines - looking forward to those on my next characters.