Currently playing...

[Rhythm]

Baldur's Gate 3. Holy cow it's awesome.

Last night I was exploring a village, wandered into a barn and found an ogre on all fours being fucked by a bugbear. They were not impressed at my orgasm-ruining shenanigans and reacted accordingly.

I wasn’t expecting that either 8O. enjoying the game (a bit more than their non D&D ones). Worth every penny of the full price (IMHO). Do like seeing the saving/test rolls. Have +9 on traps thanks to about 4 different bonuses. Never played 5E pen and paper game (it was AD&D and then mainly dragon lance campaign which is many many moons ago) so not familiar with to some of the bonus mechanics

Great systems, fantastic writing (and voice acting) and the environments are flipping amazing. I'm loving it. It's a perfect "dad" game all round

[gilesgoat]

It was on sale, I gave it a go, just finished ( some hours ago ) "Spirit of the North" ( PS5 version ).

It's NOT a difficult game, however it does have some frustrating parts mostly due to "weird collision detection" and I dare to say a bit "unintuitive physics" I mean you have to do a bit of "counter intuitive moves" when doing certain jumps.

The game also seems to love "invisible walls" all over the places.

It's one of those games that gives the ILLUSION that "is so open world" when in reality is VERY linear, however I appreciate the fact that they made some way "you can never get stuck" because it seems there are no "restart points" so if you'd get stuck somewhere you'd have to re-do the whole level.

Well never get stuck in the sense it seems ( to me ) you can't put yourself in a situation you can't get out from BUT there are "a few points" where you'll get stuck as in "now what the heck I am supposed to do" ?

About that the game ranges from "absolutely obvious" to "fuck me give me a clue about !" I have to say practically all the puzzles involving symbols "I had not a clue about what kind of reasoning I was supposed to make" but I solved them all by "brute force or luck", I still am not sure what the logic was supposed to be.

Anyway must be said I been FAR from 100% completion ( i.e. recover all the lost souls ) they must be really WELL hidden because I found maybe 25% of them or even less.

There is some mechanics that change a bit in the other levels but yeah .. let's say "they could have added a few more levels to add a bit more" I mean the first levels are almost "a non-game" so simple they are and by the time you start to have some interesting variation you get the end of the game.

I read "most reviews" seems to say "the controls are atrocious" .. well .. yes and no, certainly the controls are "weird" and there are sections where you will think "I am doing something WRONG, there must be SOMETHING ELSE to be done because it's IMPOSSIBLE to do this jump/move/etc." and it's like "no no .. it IS but the way you do it will be after 50 tries or so when by pure luck you'll find out how to do it".

Sometime the fox seems to move "not exactly following the input but by its own accord", sometime it feels like "this this is SO ON RAILS/fixed paths" you can't even move as you like.

Overall .. it's pretty .. nice music .. interesting story .. really nice ending .. interesting level design .. let's say "something to pass 3 days on the couch swearing a bit and scratching your head a bit and swearing A LOT in those sections where 'I see what I should do but I can't do it !' ".

Ah the last level ( the last REAL level you play, the last one is basically just the ending ) .. there you'll feel a bit lost "suddenly there's NOTHING giving you a hint about what to do" ..

Unless you really have a mind "to instantly get the clue" to me took about 40 mins of wandering around thinking "WHAT THE HECK NOW ??!"

Don't know the original price, not sure what price should be "ok", probably around $10 .. I mean certainly they put quite some work in it for all the graphics and such ( which to be said the truth is very well done but also a bit repetitive, you can see they cleverly constructed the levels using some not huge set of assets ) but game itself if you really are "an hardcore gamer" you'll finish it in a go.

It's not super difficult but an nice pastime.

[venusian]

I was put off Spirit of the North by the reviews which said the controls were bad. Nothing's going to spoil a relaxed light-puzzler like frustrating controls. Might give it a go if it's not _that_ bad.

Anyway...

I've played and finished Dordogne on Gamepass. It's very pretty and the water-colour style graphics are very nicely done. The story is potentially quite complex, but the telling of it is very simple with the complexity instead put into "found" letters and text messages. It's odd because some trivial things, like opening a letterbox, are made into gameplay, whilst turning points in the story pass in a moment of exposition. Still, I finished it in two long sittings and enjoyed it. It carries a good deal of emotional heft and tension lightly in a way that many "interactive novels" completely fail to do as they mistake drama for depth. Perhaps the watercolour aesthetic is more the skin deep here?

On the subject of dramatic graphic novels, I also played through Stray Gods. Imagine if somebody at a game jam decided to make a basic graphic novel with surface level choices, but gave one of the character the ability to make other characters sing their inner thoughts. Then, for a laugh, this developer got it funded and spent several years hiring performance talent and actually following through to a complete product. I don't think this is what actually happened, but it might as well have: it feels 100% indie but with money spent.

It's billed as a musical theatre RPG, but it's not an RPG. It's also not a musical in that it's completely lacking songs. Sure it has music and singing, but there are no hooks, no refrains, no motifs: it's just talking in tune. The story is okay (but linear), the voice acting superb, the art variable, but it complete misses the mark on the One Thing it had to do. Not recommended, and definitely not at £25.

[gilesgoat]

I was put off Spirit of the North by the reviews which said the controls were bad. Nothing's going to spoil a relaxed light-puzzler like frustrating controls. Might give it a go if it's not _that_ bad.

If *I* managed to complete it without getting TOO mad you can

Just beware there are a few levels where you'll be like "what the heck I am supposed to do ?" .. then you'll find out that "thanks to some camera angles/design" maybe there's a passage/cave/corner you missed having 'that element' you needed.

Got caught in a few levels where I spent quite some time going all around still not being able to see what I was supposed to see.

As I said the symbols puzzles "I could not figure out the logic", took me faster to just brute-force them.

But yeah I have NOT found ALL the souls and that I think must be a quite tough challenge ! Probably making the game 5X time longer if you want to find them all.

Ah there was actually ONE soul, that I am NOT sure if it was a bug or not but "looked like it" where I was there, I had all needed, I could not "free" it .. NO IDEA WHY !

Some level are "timed" ( NASTY ! ) you have to do some things within a certain time and some of them are a bit FRUSTRATING as the controls are really "a bit crap" so you may
have to do some stuff over and over and over until you get it .. some stuff "seems impossible" but it IS NOT, some other "seems impossible" and it really is you need to find a bit of a different way.

Overall "the game tends to bring you where you should be" so if you get in a place where "looks like you should do something" it probably is.

Quite a few levels are nice but designed to be a bit confusing ( and/or it's a limitation they used not many assets ? ) I mean you may end up going a bit in circles cause "looks the same" but in reality in basically "all the game" there's only ONE "right path" to follow.

The last level will properly confuse you as it's "quite open" in the sense you can almost go anywhere and you really have no clue ( until you find a subtle one ) about what do to.

I am tempted to give you a suggestion, cause there's a "game mechanic that is a bit weird" about "jumping with sprint" but I'll let you find it out by your own ( or I'd spoil the swearwords fun ), it's a bit IMHO "counter intuitive" what you have to do and I am also convinced that "in some places works in a way, in some in another" at times the fox seems just to move "whatever the fuck it wants" especially when you'll find *******.

Ah I tell you this, there are some levels where you'll have to do things that seem like "you don't have any control in what in the actual fuck what is going on", I am still NOT sure if "it all depends on the angle you enter in" and/or "it's just a matter of timing when you press the jump button" or "just a timing issue" .. I only tell you that there are a few levels when "unless you have some strange skill" you'll be trying to do "something" 40 times or so until you'll get it right and you won't understand really what different you have done

There's one specific level where you have to activate a thing and you have really little time to do something that seems "I can't control what's going on" .. and another one designed to confuse you quite a bit where it's another of those situations "designed almost for you to fail" with a little "twist" that is timed and had quite some vaffanculo as "you don't have much time near the end to see what you are supposed to do", but if you manage to see correctly you'll see that at the "last moment" they are deceiving you leading to a "path" that is NOT the right one but almost ( i.e. really impossible jump ).

But yeah it's nice overall .. SOME swearwords WILL come out

[rowan]

I stumbled across Bomb Rush Cyberfunk yesterday.

It's near-enough a Jet Set Radio sequel but by indie developer Team Reptile.

If you liked JSR, you should definitely check it out.

[Marius]

First I played Metroid remake. Then the new Zelda. Baldur’s Gate was just released. And now, in about a week, I’ll have Starfield. Holy crap, one of the best gaming years in memory

[Rhythm]

And now, in about a week, I’ll have Starfield.

Curious about this one but I'm not really sure why. I quite liked Oblivion but bounced off Fallout 3, hated Skyrim, tried (and didn't enjoy) Fallout 4. Something about Howard's studio really doesn't gel with me but I find myself stuck in the marketing headlights every bloody time.

[rowan]

Fantastic mystery/adventure game I just stumbled across: The Case of the Golden Idol which came out last year.

You click around finding clues in each scenario such as names, objects etc. then piece them together on a "thinking screen".
Strong Obra Dinn vibes, if you liked that then I'd guess you'll likely enjoy this.

There's a demo on steam so you can try it out.
It looks to be a few hours in total but is oh so satisfying.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677 ... lden_Idol/

[Rhythm]

Fantastic mystery/adventure game I just stumbled across: The Case of the Golden Idol which came out last year.

You click around finding clues in each scenario such as names, objects etc. then piece them together on a "thinking screen".
Strong Obra Dinn vibes, if you liked that then I'd guess you'll likely enjoy this.

There's a demo on steam so you can try it out.
It looks to be a few hours in total but is oh so satisfying.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677 ... lden_Idol/

Agreed, it's a superb little game, played through when it came out. Not amazingly long but entertained GF and me for a few nights

Haven't gone back in for the DLC yet but will do at some point

[TFO]

Baldur's Gate 3. Holy cow it's awesome.

Last night I was exploring a village, wandered into a barn and found an ogre on all fours being fucked by a bugbear. They were not impressed at my orgasm-ruining shenanigans and reacted accordingly.

I wasn’t expecting that either . enjoying the game (a bit more than their non D&D ones). Worth every penny of the full price (IMHO). Do like seeing the saving/test rolls. Have +9 on traps thanks to about 4 different bonuses. Never played 5E pen and paper game (it was AD&D and then mainly dragon lance campaign which is many many moons ago) so not familiar with to some of the bonus mechanics

Great systems, fantastic writing (and voice acting) and the environments are flipping amazing. I'm loving it. It's a perfect "dad" game all round

Just love that there are numerous ways of approaching everything. Lost count of the number of times I end up grinning stupidly at some often unconventional solutions

[Rhythm]

Just love that there are numerous ways of approaching everything. Lost count of the number of times I end up grinning stupidly at some often unconventional solutions

20 hours in so far. It took me forever to get through the goblin camp as that seemed to be the first test of systems. I'd fucked things up and was finding it really difficult to talk myself through any situation. Got some (what feel like) big decisions ahead of me now though

Spoiler: show

Underdark or Mountain Pass?

It really is cool though. I've died in some spectacularly dumb and impressive ways :-D

[Mat]

Underdark before Mountain Pass. The Underdark is still technically Act 1, while Mountain Pass is Act 2 and will trigger various "Point of no return" story progression beats.

This is pretty much all I've played since it was released (apart from my daily dose of Streets of Rogue while commuting on Steam Deck).

I've completed the game once, got halfway through a Dark Urge playthrough before deciding it wasn't for me, and am now a good way through Act 1 again as a thick, ugly half-elf monk with a haircut like the British Gas logo.

He's called Thwaco.

I have numerous criticisms (especially with the endings), but that's because I love it so damn much.
It's genuinely the best game I've played in years.

[Rhythm]

Underdark before Mountain Pass. The Underdark is still technically Act 1, while Mountain Pass is Act 2 and will trigger various "Point of no return" story progression beats.

Fair enough :-) I was wondering because whilst it's offered me the routes I can't actually get past the opening gate of the Underdark. The guard sentinels killed a minotaur for me but apparently think I'm an enemy also. Possibly because I have an "enemy of justice" status that I can't shake, but more likely because I only had a little poke around the area :-)

[Mat]

Take a look at the statue, where the light converges

You could also climb out the window to the left.

I mean, this is assuming you're entering the Underdark via the Outpost of Selune under the goblin camp.
Otherwise, there's other entrances to the Underdark

Spoiler: show

at the Zhentarim hideout, at the Teahouse and via the blacksmith's in the ruined village

.

[Rhythm]

Take a look at the statue, where the light converges ;)

I figured that might be the case but got nervous and thought the Mountain Pass sounded more appealing. I'll head back down there and take a nosey around. :-)

Loving the writing and voice acting. The characters are interesting, well-fleshed out and extremely well portrayed. I know everyone has their fave but Karlach has been amazing in my playthough