What games are you playing atm? V2

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Jampula
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I always read your reviews just don't comment too often.
What you said is true. But compare Grim Dawn to somenthig like PoE which is even more complex?
It is just a matter of perceptive... there was a time when I couldn't figure Median out. Or Torchflight or Sacred even. You just adapt eventually.
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iwansquall
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Flawed Masterpiece

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Title : Kingdom Come Deliverance

Lets just say that i heard several stuff before starting this game, specifically that this game is kinda hardcore RPG with tricky combat and realistic simulation of medieval era. I really scare because I never had fun with hardcore old classic RPG like back in 90s. Turned out it wasnt hard at all. If you have the game (it was free on epic store), I would recommend people to go play the prologue because it is one of the best prologue i ever played in my entire live.

To explain more details, the game idea was for player to experience being alive in medieval with their lord / king as well as the peasant who live in the rural town. The game portrayed very realistic the daily life especially with its night / day cycle. One of the strongest part of this game would be its RPG quests. Although you are not playing a blank slate character (that you can customize), you will be charmed with protagonist of the games. He struggled so much in the beginning that he have to to go several training to improve his skill before he able to use certain skill effectively. Combat, Alchemy, Basic Stats, Horse Riding, Archery, Stealth, Lock picking and even READING!

Another strength of this games would be cut scenes which include the main quest and some of the important side quest. You can use your persuasion skill (speech, reputation, ... and last one i forgot, something like overwhelming with force) which will required in order for you to able to talk certain NPC properly. As for the combat, the melee part is a blessing and a curse at the same. The game play was design so well for 1 vs 1 encounter with skill like parry, blocking, aiming your sword, combo and so on. However because of semi terrible AI, weird path finding and animation locked, it is kinda unpleasant to fight with multiple enemies unless you know how to cheese it.

Lastly the best part of the game definitely the world itself, definitely one of the best world to ride a horse around. If you want to experience a very unique RPG and living in realistic medieval life (no magic or dragon), then i highly recommend you to play this. If you heard about how hardcore the game or how buggy it was during launch, i will say that it really worth your time now.


Alternative : Witcher 3 no brainer suggestion here. Another one definitely those Elder Scroll series (although it is more fantasy). My life at Portia also loosely related to this game. And last suggestion is Assassin Creed, specifically the Origins.
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Frytas
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iwansquall wrote:Title : Death's Gambit

Funny, I finished this one at about the same time as you have, just haven't checked this thread for a while. I actually convinced a friend to buy it too(since it was less than $2; I got it for 5pln, he got it for 7,50, feel free to check how much that is in your own currency, but probably as much as 2 bottles of Pepsi or something :D )

On the subject of dodging big ass swords, you can change direction mid-roll, it's incredibly helpful against those aoe attacks that hit in front of and behind the enemy.

As for my opinion, I liked it quite a bit, finished as both Acolyte of Death and Wizard.

The good:
+not perfect, but very damn solid combat,
+loved the artstyle, animations and overall asset quality, despite not being into indie/8-bit stuff all that much,
+cool bosses with multiple phases,
+decent amount of normal enemy types, enough to not get bored,
+nice variety in environments,
+satisfying parries,
+nice weapons and skills...

The meh:
=...although there's not a whole lot of them; even 2 of each type(besides bows, there's enough of those) would have been enough, given...
=...the length of the game - pretty short, I guess they expected players would jump into NG+ instantly, which isn't for me tbh,
=the platforming - it's like Dyatlov said, not great, not terrible.

The bad:
-while I enjoyed the variety in levels, Garde Tum just didn't fit the setting, and some parts of Immortal Citadel were about as much fun as going through Sen's Fortress blindfolded with a catcus up your ass,
-I think that if you forego ranged weapons and use 2 melee, you should be able to have 2 ability sets(2x3slots), with shared cooldowns; right now there's no point to do that, even on a str build where books and bows are useless, cause you're stuck with 3 slots no matter what,
-the skill tree - nothing besides the mid-air dash and some combo power-ups is good; it's all either boring or useless, and the tree is too small. Since you can't fully upgrade your gear in one go, it is even more evidence that the developers wanted people to go through NG+ at least once if not more, but just after NG your tree is more than 50% upgraded.

Overall though, I had fun and I'll go back to it at some point for sure. 7.5/10

As for other games, I'm kinda overwhelmed right now. I have Dead Cells and Prey, both of which are great, but I haven't put too many hours into them, like 5h each; then I have Ori and the blind forest/the will of the wisps & Metro Exodus from xbox game pass on PC, and The last of us remastered on ps4, while also playing Median and League regularly...just too much shit to do, I swear :D
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iwansquall
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If you cant finish this game, you are a ROBOT!

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Title : Turing Test

In era of many modern pc puzzle games, the game really need to stand out in specific part to make them memorable and enjoyable. Some puzzle games tried to add more narrative into it, so it tried to give the player a purpose for solving the puzzle. If you doing it well, with awesome gameplay, you can become masterpiece. But if you do it poorly, then you get something like this game.

As a first person puzzle games, this game barely introduce any interesting mechanic nor have challenging puzzle. Despite having like 70 puzzles, it feel worthless because majority of it of are simply too short. Not to mention that each level are barely introduce complexity, made it such a snoozefest for people who have played many puzzles. Most of the puzzle are simple sequence puzzle that doesnt test much your other ability like timing or dexterity of your aiming despite behind first person.

I think the game tried to be deep with its narrative, basically the player have to go a series of test to show that you are really a human. While you completing the puzzle, you will learn more about what happened to the space station where the test are being conduct. It tried to question about humanity but i think the biggest issue is with pacing. Because there isnt much downtime inbetween level, you arent given enough time to understand the world, other than going level by level, solving problems.

This game is disappointment IMO. Achievement thankfully are easy to 100%, but no where in 4 hours gameplay i mentally felt challenged. It tried to introduce maybe one unique mechanic, but other than that, there is nothing much else to offer.

Alternative : No doubt Portal, Antichamber and The Talos Principle are the masterpiece in this kind of games. Qube series is another similar games, although just slightly more in mediocre category. My personal recommendation for this of first person platformer puzzler is definitely Qbeh 1 - Atlas Cube (one of the first game i bought on steam)
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Anonymous:
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Finished lvling char to 85 in Grim dawn - my first and only one. Warden solo tank - great thick boy with 1h and shield, can take on anything, but damage is so poor that i am stuck in act 2 end boss in last difficulty. I am making witchblade at the moment to see if this one will be better for progression.
Thinking heavily about buying Torchlight II from steam since sale is on.
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iwansquall
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Get both expansion, i believe it is the best grim dawn experience despite being much more pricey.
Generally Malmouth n FG alone is enough, but sometimes you can farm decent stuff with crucible.
It is quite hard to play solo i admit, and the fun happen when you can craft / get full set.
But i be honest and say that it took like 200 hours (once i have full set) to finally enjoy grim dawn, tackling all hard content.

Torchlight 2 is too vanilla for my taste already at this point (like what i feel with base grim dawn in normal) but i think overhaul mods like Synergies mod is a blast to play. Mostly i have issue with its boring skill progression (item progression is awesome though)
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iwansquall
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Revisiting a beginning of the trilogy

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Title : Tomb Raider (2013)

Kinda weird to review this way as I recently bought Square Enix bundle which include Rise of the Tomb Raider, the second game which i havent play. So as I just completed 3rd entry recently, so i think it is good time to back to the reboot games which receive high praise for changing the original formula of tomb raider.

This time around, I will review mostly the good part of the games. Generally speaking, the games is pretty much arcade-ish combat with some setpieces and heavy dialogue narrative. It introduce us the transformation of Lara Croft from adventure / historical seeker toward becoming more badass character that we all known. Sure, it doesnt make sense from logic perspective where she was so afraid in the beginning then suddenly became monster killing who can kill hundreds of enemies. Actually that the part I enjoyed most in this games, there are plenty of combat. Although not perfect (enemy will know where you are once alerted) but it make full use of all arsenal you are giving.

Another part of the games that was fun probably the progression of character, especially the gadget part. Just like metrodvania formula, once you unlock specific gears, you can travel back to earlier part to explore new unlocked area. Sometimes there will be set pieces that permanent transformed the area made it that you need to fully use the gear you get to progress. Additionally the level design while sometimes feel annoying, but I think it is awesome especially the verticality of the open area that made full use of gears and climbing capability.

The games is still perfect to this day. While the crafting / skill system arent that deep, the sheer amount of small progression made you wanted to play more and move forward. I completed all collectibles although i didnt bother with achievement since there are some multiplayer-only achievement.

Alternative : Since i already given other similar suggestion for Shadow of the Tomb Raider, this time around i give suggestion for similar narrative experience. Prince of Persia old trilogy is quite similar, Just Cause series for high use of gadget, Spec Ops the Line & Binary Domain for similar 3rd person shooter with narrative heavy (yes, this tomb raider is shooting heavy)
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Anonymous:
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Started TL 2. So far so good. Combat system a bit clunky after PoE and GD, but it's a fresh start and it will probably change as i adapt.

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iwansquall
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Best of the series.

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Title : Rise of the Tomb Raider.

Now finally, after long time of waiting for correct circumstances, I finally bought and play this game and complete collectible to 100% as usual. So as you all know, I played 3rd games, then replayed first game just to prepare myself for this game. If you wanted to know if the game is any good? I would say that it is the best in the series and I love so much the single player gameplay of it.

As Lara Croft trying to follow his father foot steps in order to find hidden treasure, she find herself in dangerous siberian region following several clues she found in other tombs. She followed by evil organization called Trinity which try to obtain this powerful treasure which can grant immortality to the first person who found it. With some help of local people, she tried to fight both the organization as well as wilderness of jungle. World consisted of glacier mountains, cave, old hidden city, ancient ruins and new addition to the game, several underwater section.

Just like other games in the series, it separated by combat, exploration, puzzle, activity like questing, crafting and challenges. For combat, i love the improved stealth system where it feel nice that you able to snipe all enemy downs without their noticing. Furthermore you can play around with throwable like molotov, grenade, booby trap. My favourite definitely the progression of gears in the game, it gave you more gadget at decent pace. 2 open area are fun to fully explore once you have those gears. As for exploration & puzzle, it feel rewarding as it gave new gears, weapon or skills.

The best word to explain is BALANCE amount of content (unlike the other two). There are tons of content that I ignore like replaying missions with different settings, as well as dedicated VR content (which i will just google it later).

Alternative : Nothing for now, im tried rushing in the last 12 hours in a day( total time is 24 hours gameplay).
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iwansquall
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Terrible gameplay execution.

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Title : Manual Samuel.

This will be short review that you shouldnt take note much aside from im just rambling around. What made video game interesting as a medium? Interactivity? Storytelling? Experience? What happened if you add so much interactivity to a point that is unnecessary and tedious to a point you made you want to rage even when the said game gotten for free (giveaway during lockdown).

Basically our protagonist is assholes that died prematurely because of an accident. After a deal with death, he got a deal where he can be in mortal realm again, but he will lose control of his body. So you as a player have control the character MANUALLY. There is dedicated button for left foot, right foot, left hand, right hand, eyes, mouth. To make it worse, you have to control from walking, breathing, closing your eyes and everything must be done periodically. It doesnt help that if you somehow messed up the combination, you will have some setback.

Story & presentation wise is cool, but i dont think you should torture yourself to play this games. Despite short length (2 and half hour length), i even struggle to finish each of short chapters. Characters are quite lively, although it is kinda like annoying most of the the time. I think art style probably fine as weekend cartoon. Too bad that it tied to terrible games.

If you like quirky & weird games, probably this is an ok games for you. I found it is really tedious and unfun and one of worse games i played for last couple of months. My suggestion is to watch any random youtuber struggle finishing this game, at least their commentary / reaction can be entertaining than this games.

Alternative : Seriously you expect me to suggest hard / tedious games? Fine, QWOP flash game, Getting Over it, and thats all. Now i need some palette cleansing games to clear my sour mouth.