Currently playing...

[VNVObit]

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

played just under 20 hours and plenty of fun to be had (if you like Lego games). dreadful puns, lots of building, simple dog fights (including attacks on capital ships!). playing it mainly on my steam deck and only gripe is time to get started otherwise have a smile on my face.

Also restarted Grim Dawn (waiting for Diablo IV) to scratch my ARPG itch. The loot is a little overwhelming even at early stages but enjoying it none the less, just wish it had a controller option

[WiteWulf]

Hehe, I've noticed you online with Lego recently

It's a fun game that plays well on the Deck with some tweaking.

I finished Life Is Strange recently and dived straight into Before The Storm afterwards. BtS really isn't of the same standard as LiS, but still a very interesting game to play (fun really isn't the right word, they can both be pretty grim in places).

Oh, and I finished The Last of Us Pt 2 last week, too. Now that is *such* a grim game! It really leans heavily into the whole "the humans are the real monsters" aspect of it, especially towards the end. Trying not to spoil it too much, though, for those that have still to play it: it's one of the best, if not the only, portrayals of PTSD I've seen in a video game. A good response to the many critics of games like Uncharted and Tomb Raider with phenomenal body counts.

[MattyP]

Hehe, I've noticed you online with Lego recently

It's a fun game that plays well on the Deck with some tweaking.

I finished Life Is Strange recently and dived straight into Before The Storm afterwards. BtS really isn't of the same standard as LiS, but still a very interesting game to play (fun really isn't the right word, they can both be pretty grim in places).

Oh, and I finished The Last of Us Pt 2 last week, too. Now that is *such* a grim game! It really leans heavily into the whole "the humans are the real monsters" aspect of it, especially towards the end. Trying not to spoil it too much, though, for those that have still to play it: it's one of the best, if not the only, portrayals of PTSD I've seen in a video game. A good response to the many critics of games like Uncharted and Tomb Raider with phenomenal body counts.

Tried to play through TLoU2 shortly after it was released. Got around 20 or so hours in and just found the whole thing a bit depressing. It was probably the revenge based story and it was overly gritty IMHO in places. Finally I think it was bit too long... think I was just over half way through at 20 hours from what I could work out. Just stopped playing and never went back to it again. Amazing visuals and sound though. Work of art. Just the story that didn't grab me. Odd as I really enjoyed the first one and indeed played through it again when it was released on the PC.

[Jonesey]

Open Beta for Diablo 4 now closed. Fun while it lasted, managed to do a fair amount of the side quests and 2 of the strongholds (out of a possible 3) with the Necromancer which is a bit overpowered even at Tier 2

There's a Diablo 4 Server Slam Friday12th to Sunday 14th.

[WiteWulf]

Tried to play through TLoU2 shortly after it was released. Got around 20 or so hours in and just found the whole thing a bit depressing. It was probably the revenge based story and it was overly gritty IMHO in places. Finally I think it was bit too long... think I was just over half way through at 20 hours from what I could work out. Just stopped playing and never went back to it again. Amazing visuals and sound though. Work of art. Just the story that didn't grab me. Odd as I really enjoyed the first one and indeed played through it again when it was released on the PC.

Did you get to the mid-way point where

Spoiler: show

it switches characters and you get to play as Abby again

? I love how

Spoiler: show

you get to know all the characters Ellie kills in the first half of the game

, it's grim but clever. The second half of the game was more enjoyable to me, as there was a lot less of the revenge element. The final act, though, was rough. Poor Ellie is one messed up little puppy

[Rhythm]

Been playing Dying Light with my partner. It's a game I've dropped off of before but having a cheerleader of sorts helps motivate me to keep going :-)

Also been playing Per Aspera. A Mars colonisation game that feels a little like a modern version of stuff like Majesty. You're not controlling people directly, instead you're planting down buildings and facilities and then trying to nurture the pathfinding to make sure your workers attend to all their tasks. Had fun with this one, it's a supremely chill little game, but started running into some issues where worker populations are declining and I can't figure out why. Still totally decent though

[MattyP]

Tried to play through TLoU2 shortly after it was released. Got around 20 or so hours in and just found the whole thing a bit depressing. It was probably the revenge based story and it was overly gritty IMHO in places. Finally I think it was bit too long... think I was just over half way through at 20 hours from what I could work out. Just stopped playing and never went back to it again. Amazing visuals and sound though. Work of art. Just the story that didn't grab me. Odd as I really enjoyed the first one and indeed played through it again when it was released on the PC.

Did you get to the mid-way point where

Spoiler: show

it switches characters and you get to play as Abby again

? I love how

Spoiler: show

you get to know all the characters Ellie kills in the first half of the game

, it's grim but clever. The second half of the game was more enjoyable to me, as there was a lot less of the revenge element. The final act, though, was rough. Poor Ellie is one messed up little puppy

Think so it's been a while... Might have another try of it at some point... I expect when it makes its debut on the PC.

[VNVObit]

Open Beta for Diablo 4 now closed. Fun while it lasted, managed to do a fair amount of the side quests and 2 of the strongholds (out of a possible 3) with the Necromancer which is a bit overpowered even at Tier 2

There's a Diablo 4 Server Slam Friday12th to Sunday 14th.

have downloaded it but not sure I will put much time into it. Does boast some playing tweaks (e.g. Necromancer less powerful and Barbarian has greater damage resistance) so may dabble but it's still chapter 1 that's available but may have a go at the world boss this time (didn't last 2 times). The fact that all the effort evaporates and you need to start from scratch when it is finally released is a bit of a pain

[NorthWay]

So I mostly gave up on Ascension WoW after they went Blizz style on talent restrictions and I lost interest.

And then I discovered Epoch WoW now. Sadly. I don't need another time sink. Hoping to keep it limited or find something I disagree with...

[MattyP]

Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. For the foreseeable.

Oh and splashed with a bit of that Atari 50 cart for some light relief from the above!

[Foozwah]

Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. For the foreseeable.

Same. Playing anything else would just take away from my limited TOTK time at the moment.

Though weirdly if I did play anything else, it would probably be Skyward Sword, as I realised I'd never finished it previously, and about two weeks before TOTK released I decided to delete my SS save from several years ago and play it through from the start.

So I didn't finish but got to the Lanaryu Sand Sea section, so I might have to set aside an hour every few days to just chip away at the rest of the game, otherwise by the time I'm fully done with TOTK in six months or a year I'll have forgotten everything in SS again...

[MattyP]

Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. For the foreseeable.

Same. Playing anything else would just take away from my limited TOTK time at the moment.

Though weirdly if I did play anything else, it would probably be Skyward Sword, as I realised I'd never finished it previously, and about two weeks before TOTK released I decided to delete my SS save from several years ago and play it through from the start.

So I didn't finish but got to the Lanaryu Sand Sea section, so I might have to set aside an hour every few days to just chip away at the rest of the game, otherwise by the time I'm fully done with TOTK in six months or a year I'll have forgotten everything in SS again...

I guess you are playing SS on the Switch? How the controls on it? Specifically the flying bits? My only gripe with the Wii version were the flying controls with the Wii controller were not great (or my mastery of the controller!).

Saying that I nearly finished it think I was on the last bunch of things to collect before the final battle. Ended up selling my Wii in a retro collection clear out which I kind of regret a bit now.

[Foozwah]

I guess you are playing SS on the Switch? How the controls on it? Specifically the flying bits? My only gripe with the Wii version were the flying controls with the Wii controller were not great (or my mastery of the controller!).

Saying that I nearly finished it think I was on the last bunch of things to collect before the final battle. Ended up selling my Wii in a retro collection clear out which I kind of regret a bit now.

Yep, the Switch HD rejig. That's a great question too, as the reason for my aforementioned not finishing of Skyward Sword was 100% down to the controls...

My prob first time was being determined to use the joy-con motion controls, to have as close to the original "Wii experience" as possible, since I felt I'd missed out somewhat in that respect, as my Nintendo ownership was NES-SNES-GB-N64-GBC-GC-GBA-DS-3DS-Switch - I totally skipped over both the Wii and Wii U generations in favour of handheld Ninty for quite a few years, in an otherwise unbroken lineage. (Honestly I just loved the DS and 3DS so much that I wasn't fussed with anything else, though I had a Dreamcast and several PlayStations in that period too. A big part of it was also having very young kids at that period, so gaming became something portable to be squeezed in on commutes and odd moments.)

So yeah, I wanted the Wii vibe with Switch SS, and for combat motion control was totally fine, but like you it seems, I absolutely struggled with the motion-based flying controls. Incredibly frustrating and I could never gain height with any confidence, and the general motion felt too sketchy and inaccurate. (So it sounds like the port may have done too good a job emulating the original experience in that respect, haha...!)

The flight controls annoyed me so much I was constantly switching control methods in-game - to and from stick/buttons for flying, and somewhere along the way it all became too much hassle and I just never went back, til the aforementioned couple of weeks ago when I started over from scratch.

The difference this time was I stuck with 100% stick controls, and after a brief adjustment period with combat I've been really happy with it, to the point where it all became totally intuitive, and SS moved up several games in my personal Zelda game rating scale.

(As an aside, I adjusted to SS controls possibly too well - for the first couple of days on TOTK I kept holding down L1 along with using the right stick to move the camera around (a'la SS controls) which of course on TOTK opened my special abilities menu and chose a random option - doh! Had to really force myself to just use right-stick only...)

Anyway that was a lot of words (sorry!) to basically say, "Yes playing on Switch and sticking with non-motion controls is great." Basically SS on Switch feels as enjoyable for me now as playing say Ocarina or Wind Waker. Can def recommend revisiting post-TOTK, if you stay away from motion controls!

[MattyP]

I guess you are playing SS on the Switch? How the controls on it? Specifically the flying bits? My only gripe with the Wii version were the flying controls with the Wii controller were not great (or my mastery of the controller!).

Saying that I nearly finished it think I was on the last bunch of things to collect before the final battle. Ended up selling my Wii in a retro collection clear out which I kind of regret a bit now.

Yep, the Switch HD rejig. That's a great question too, as the reason for my aforementioned not finishing of Skyward Sword was 100% down to the controls...

My prob first time was being determined to use the joy-con motion controls, to have as close to the original "Wii experience" as possible, since I felt I'd missed out somewhat in that respect, as my Nintendo ownership was NES-SNES-GB-N64-GBC-GC-GBA-DS-3DS-Switch - I totally skipped over both the Wii and Wii U generations in favour of handheld Ninty for quite a few years, in an otherwise unbroken lineage. (Honestly I just loved the DS and 3DS so much that I wasn't fussed with anything else, though I had a Dreamcast and several PlayStations in that period too. A big part of it was also having very young kids at that period, so gaming became something portable to be squeezed in on commutes and odd moments.)

So yeah, I wanted the Wii vibe with Switch SS, and for combat motion control was totally fine, but like you it seems, I absolutely struggled with the motion-based flying controls. Incredibly frustrating and I could never gain height with any confidence, and the general motion felt too sketchy and inaccurate. (So it sounds like the port may have done too good a job emulating the original experience in that respect, haha...!)

The flight controls annoyed me so much I was constantly switching control methods in-game - to and from stick/buttons for flying, and somewhere along the way it all became too much hassle and I just never went back, til the aforementioned couple of weeks ago when I started over from scratch.

The difference this time was I stuck with 100% stick controls, and after a brief adjustment period with combat I've been really happy with it, to the point where it all became totally intuitive, and SS moved up several games in my personal Zelda game rating scale.

(As an aside, I adjusted to SS controls possibly too well - for the first couple of days on TOTK I kept holding down L1 along with using the right stick to move the camera around (a'la SS controls) which of course on TOTK opened my special abilities menu and chose a random option - doh! Had to really force myself to just use right-stick only...)

Anyway that was a lot of words (sorry!) to basically say, "Yes playing on Switch and sticking with non-motion controls is great." Basically SS on Switch feels as enjoyable for me now as playing say Ocarina or Wind Waker. Can def recommend revisiting post-TOTK, if you stay away from motion controls!

Great! Thanks for the update appreciated!

[Foozwah]

Great! Thanks for the update appreciated!

No worries! And apologies again for rambling a bit!