Video games...what ya playing? And what are you looking forward to?

[ProstheticRGK 4,126]

8 hours ago, need2know said:

You guys aren't lying.  Ghost of tsushima is amazing.   Why did I wait to play this?   About 2/3 of the way through.   Gonna play it again on hardest after this run

This is my next purchase. I really want to play this game.

Just 100%ed the PS4 Spiderman game, and still have The Last of Us 2 that I got myself for Christmas for really cheap. I am sorely tempted to jump Ghost to the front of the queue and start it before TLOU2. 

[DJackson10 3,353]

42 minutes ago, Insein said:

Game series is still my favorite of all time and I own all the originals and DLC. I'm just not buying this legendary edition unless I get it years from now for like $10.

Yeah I was just saying theres people who ruin these games that don't even play them or complain about stuff they don't even watch or do. All because they "have to do what's morally right" or Virtue signaling. Unfortunately it ruins it for the actual fans of these things but companies take PR serious. 

[Scoresman 6,638]

Is Tsushima better/on par with other open world games like RDR2, Horizon, GTAV, and the recent assassin creed games? If so, what makes it better? 

[belljr 11,471]

I'd put it above rdr2 and hzd slightly. Just my opinion

Edited February 13 by belljr

[IvanKaramazov 23,536]

12 hours ago, Scoresman said:

Is Tsushima better/on par with other open world games like RDR2, Horizon, GTAV, and the recent assassin creed games? If so, what makes it better? 

I platinumed this game when it came out.  It was good, but I didn't love it the way that a lot of other people apparently did.  IMO, it was basically "Assassins Creed, only in feudal Japan, only prettier."  That's a good game, but it's still the same tired, paint-by-numbers experience that Assassins Creed serves up every single year.  

For me personally, RDR2, GTAV, and H:ZD are all clearly better games on at least dimension and generally multiple dimensions.  

I really wish the Ubisoft game design model would be put out to pasture.  

[jobarules 903]

13 hours ago, Scoresman said:

Is Tsushima better/on par with other open world games like RDR2, Horizon, GTAV, and the recent assassin creed games? If so, what makes it better? 

The combat in Ghost was WAY too repetitive. Beautiful game and I enjoyed it but I'd put all of those ahead of it and on par with the recent AC games.

Edited February 13 by jobarules

[Tony Jabroni 788]

Any idea on the price for Cold War season 2? Getting conflicting reports.

[need2know 6,525]

On 2/13/2021 at 9:57 AM, jobarules said:

The combat in Ghost was WAY too repetitive. Beautiful game and I enjoyed it but I'd put all of those ahead of it and on par with the recent AC games.

Man I respectfully disagree 

[IvanKaramazov 23,536]

I played XCOM 2 when it first came out, but went back to it a few weeks ago.  This is such a solid, well-designed and well-balanced game.  I just finished my second run through the vanilla game, and I'll probably start War of the Chosen tonight or tomorrow -- never tried that one before, so while it's not new, it's new to me. 

One thing I had forgotten is just how high-variance this game is.  I actually failed the final mission on "hard" (whatever it's called -- difficulty level 3 out of 4) on my first try last night.  Basically you have to kill three mini-bosses in a row while dealing with mobs of various enemies that are being thrown at you at the same time.  I killed the first two no problem, but then get myself into a position where I had no means of damaging the remaining boss -- he teleported into a spot on the map that I couldn't reach -- and there were way too many enemies left for me to survive them getting a turn.  It was hopeless.

But fortunately I have no moral objection to save scumming.  I reloaded a save, and literally changed one move.  Instead of attacking that last boss with Soldier A, I hit him with Soldier B instead.  For some reason, this time the RNG gods teleported him right by the rest of my squad, and I was able to finish him off with no drama with a bunch of moves to spare.  One single move coupled with a favorable roll (or, more accurately, a not-ludicrously-unlucky roll) swung the outcome from game-ending-squad-wipe to easy victory.  

I have no idea how people do Ironman on the higher difficulty levels.  There's just no margin for error and often no margin for misfortune.  

[DallasDMac 2,963]

13 hours ago, IvanKaramazov said:

I have no idea how people do Ironman on the higher difficulty levels.  There's just no margin for error and often no margin for misfortune.  

I loved ironman because I'm basically to lazy to save and reloads take forever on the PS4.

[jm192 2,251]

Assassin's Creed Valhalla was painfully slow earlier on and I was honestly disappointed.  

As I've gotten deeper into it, I really enjoy it.  

[GroveDiesel 9,475]

Think I finally managed to grab a PS5. Just waiting for the confirmation email to come through from GameStop. Hoping it actually went through because I don’t think my OG PS4 is long for this world.

[Riddick02 177]

15 hours ago, IvanKaramazov said:

I played XCOM 2 when it first came out, but went back to it a few weeks ago.  This is such a solid, well-designed and well-balanced game.  I just finished my second run through the vanilla game, and I'll probably start War of the Chosen tonight or tomorrow -- never tried that one before, so while it's not new, it's new to me. 

One thing I had forgotten is just how high-variance this game is.  I actually failed the final mission on "hard" (whatever it's called -- difficulty level 3 out of 4) on my first try last night.  Basically you have to kill three mini-bosses in a row while dealing with mobs of various enemies that are being thrown at you at the same time.  I killed the first two no problem, but then get myself into a position where I had no means of damaging the remaining boss -- he teleported into a spot on the map that I couldn't reach -- and there were way too many enemies left for me to survive them getting a turn.  It was hopeless.

But fortunately I have no moral objection to save scumming.  I reloaded a save, and literally changed one move.  Instead of attacking that last boss with Soldier A, I hit him with Soldier B instead.  For some reason, this time the RNG gods teleported him right by the rest of my squad, and I was able to finish him off with no drama with a bunch of moves to spare.  One single move coupled with a favorable roll (or, more accurately, a not-ludicrously-unlucky roll) swung the outcome from game-ending-squad-wipe to easy victory.  

I have no idea how people do Ironman on the higher difficulty levels.  There's just no margin for error and often no margin for misfortune.  

Chosen expansion adds some complexity to the campaign, specially with Ironman on.  I like it more then just the original base game.  Personally the covert ops missions aspect and some of the other things it brought for squad building like teammate bonds were good additions.  Honestly wasn't to impressed with 2 of the 3 new classes though and thus rarely used them.  Once you run into a Chosen/Ruler, there's a chance they will pop in on future missions which shakes up the standard run/gun/escort type things going on.  If you are familiar with the Rulers from the original's dlc, just a note they are a little more toned down and you luckily won't face a Chosen and a Ruler at the same time.      

 

[Todd from Utah 152]

23 minutes ago, Riddick02 said:

Chosen expansion adds some complexity to the campaign, specially with Ironman on.  I like it more then just the original base game.  Personally the covert ops missions aspect and some of the other things it brought for squad building like teammate bonds were good additions.  Honestly wasn't to impressed with 2 of the 3 new classes though and thus rarely used them.  Once you run into a Chosen/Ruler, there's a chance they will pop in on future missions which shakes up the standard run/gun/escort type things going on.  If you are familiar with the Rulers from the original's dlc, just a note they are a little more toned down and you luckily won't face a Chosen and a Ruler at the same time.      

 

 

IMO, Ironman is the only way to play the game. Without soldier permadeath, what's the point?

Once you have the basic strategy down, the main game (without the chosen expansion) becomes pretty formulaic. (on commander difficulty on down) Barring some really crazy #### happening, the only real obstacle is the mission timers.

The Chosen definitely add some major randomness and at times....are kind of unfair. The Assasin's ability to be invisble and basically one shot one of the your soldiers at the start of every mission (where they show up) is just BRUTAL in the early game when you only have 4 (or 5) guys in the field.

Never used a Templar on field missions in any of my playthroughs (they're good for Covert missions if you get ambushed). The Skirmishers are kinda fun (and useful for being able to grapple up and shoot twice) but their upper-level skills are kinda meh IMO.  Reapers are completely overpowered in certain mission types and situations. Remote-start is the most absurd Corporal-level skill in the game and basically allows them to win a mission by themselves if you're on a city map with lots of stuff to blow up. And the Banish-Repeater-extended mag combo basically lets you one-shot one enemy every mission. (awesome for killing the ruler aliens to build their armor)

Even on like my 15th full play through (God knows how many times I played the first mission, which is 99% luck and just really stupid) I really enjoy the game. I use a mod that randomizes soldier stats, which keeps things fresh.   I finally decided to take on Legendary Ironman about a year ago. It took a LONG time and MANY tries to beat it. I finally came to the realization that I couldn't do it without using mimic beacons. (I'm sure many have.....I just can't)  They're the ultimate equalizer in the early game and once you have like 3 of them, they basically give you a free pass if you make a big mistake (triggering a pod you didn't know was there) or just get flat out screwed by RNG.

Awesome game. Easily my favorite strategy game ever and maybe my favorite game ever period.  I have an absolutely embarrassing amount of hours put into it

[IvanKaramazov 23,536]

8 hours ago, Todd from Utah said:

I finally came to the realization that I couldn't do it without using mimic beacons. (I'm sure many have.....I just can't)  They're the ultimate equalizer in the early game and once you have like 3 of them, they basically give you a free pass if you make a big mistake (triggering a pod you didn't know was there) or just get flat out screwed by RNG.

Yeah, mimic beacons are the ultimate "break glass in case of emergency" item.  I find that I frequently end missions with two of them sitting there unused in my inventory, but when you need one, you really need it.

[STEADYMOBBIN 22 4,493]

Downloaded Valheim on Steam last night. Survival city builder with co-op and PVP. So far so good. 

[Insein 11,094]

A surprise to no one, Anthem is officially Dead.

Bioware (or probably more likely EA) has called it. What a gosh darn waste of time and resources.

 

Edited February 24 by Insein
Lol gosh darn. Ok

[thecatch 2,288]

Somebody needs to make a version of Crusader Kings 3 that is 33% less complicated.  I love the concept and idea, but the learning curve is insane (at least for someone with limited gaming time).

[STEADYMOBBIN 22 4,493]

5 hours ago, thecatch said:

Somebody needs to make a version of Crusader Kings 3 that is 33% less complicated.  I love the concept and idea, but the learning curve is insane (at least for someone with limited gaming time).

It would also help if I could get the dude from the demo to narrate my games. 
 

Seriously though, agreed. Great game if I knew how to play it. Too many moving parts. 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22 4,493]

On 2/24/2021 at 8:09 AM, STEADYMOBBIN 22 said:

Downloaded Valheim on Steam last night. Survival city builder with co-op and PVP. So far so good. 

If you value your marriage, job and kids, don’t download this. I can’t put it down. 

Edited February 28 by STEADYMOBBIN 22

[IvanKaramazov 23,536]

Started War of the Chosen last week, and I think this may have to go down in my own personal ledger as the greatest DLC of all time.  At first I didn't care too much for it.  XCOM has a strongly inverted difficulty curve to begin with, and this expansion throws a ton of new stuff at you right off the bat, which made the early stages of the game disorienting and possibly a little too hard.  Now that I've finally got a decent number of halfway-ranked-up soldiers, magnetic weapons all around, a six-man squad, and so on, it's settling into something close to the optimal difficulty level.  (As usual, I expect to be steamrolling everything the game throws at me not too long after I unlock plasma weapons, but we'll see I guess).  

The new enemies are great, the three boss enemies are much better than the bosses they tried to implement into the vanilla game, and I love the way the game forces you to carefully tend to your entire roster of soldiers instead of just riding your A-team through the entire game.  I also like the fact that they slowed down the whole meta-game.  I'm several months into the campaign, haven't even touched any black sites yet, and the Advent meter is still only about halfway full.  Dealing with the bosses and building faction loyalty is a much better way to build a sense of urgency than the little end-of-the-world meter. 

A lot of the missions have pacing problems that I could do without.  It seems like I'm hardly ever given a chance to reload and reorient my soldiers before the next pod comes crashing in out of nowhere (this almost never happened in the base game), but it's just mildly annoying that I'm used to it.  Everything else seems really good so far.

[belljr 11,471]

I probably didnt need to do this but I did.   I got an external SSD for my PS5 for my current installed PS4 games and tbh I don't notice a difference playing on the external vs internal for them.

I know this summer you might be able to upgrade the internal storage and hopefully at some point the external somehow (doubtful) for the PS5.

I just didnt want to delete all my ps4 stuff when i get a new game yet.   Was worth the $100 

[Poke_4_Life 2,444]

1 hour ago, belljr said:

I probably didnt need to do this but I did.   I got an external SSD for my PS5 for my current installed PS4 games and tbh I don't notice a difference playing on the external vs internal for them.

I know this summer you might be able to upgrade the internal storage and hopefully at some point the external somehow (doubtful) for the PS5.

I just didnt want to delete all my ps4 stuff when i get a new game yet.   Was worth the $100 

Been debating on doing this, but once I paired down my PS4 installs to things I may actually play I have space in my PS5 still.  

Mind linking the SSD you went with?  I've already preordered MLBTS and need to check the my hard drive space available before release date in mid April.  

[belljr 11,471]

1 hour ago, Poke_4_Life said:

Been debating on doing this, but once I paired down my PS4 installs to things I may actually play I have space in my PS5 still.  

Mind linking the SSD you went with?  I've already preordered MLBTS and need to check the my hard drive space available before release date in mid April.  

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YFFX5MD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_5966XK25AG00FSN90Y7E?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

And enclosure

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NPFV21K/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_VKVKWP2TY12TG382FQ8K?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[DallasDMac 2,963]

Does any external drive work with the PS4? I have a 1.5TB drive in an external case, USB. Can I hook that up to it? I bought it for a PC that is long gone.

[jobarules 903]

37 minutes ago, DallasDMac said:

Does any external drive work with the PS4? I have a 1.5TB drive in an external case, USB. Can I hook that up to it? I bought it for a PC that is long gone.

Of course 

[DMXATF23 102]

Recently become addicted to watching Twitch Streams of people RPing GTA in the nopixel server, it’s better than TV

Edited March 4 by DMXATF23

[belljr 11,471]

2 hours ago, DallasDMac said:

Does any external drive work with the PS4? I have a 1.5TB drive in an external case, USB. Can I hook that up to it? I bought it for a PC that is long gone.

Ps4 or ps5?  I am talking ps5 but as long as it has usb 3.0 it should work on a ps4

[need2know 6,525]

Hell yeah just picked up a ps5 off wal mart.   It's funny my wife also got one not knowing I was looking today.

Nice surprise

[jobarules 903]

50 minutes ago, need2know said:

Hell yeah just picked up a ps5 off wal mart.   It's funny my wife also got one not knowing I was looking today.

Nice surprise

Sell me one at cost

[need2know 6,525]

1 hour ago, jobarules said:

Sell me one at cost

Sorry I hooked up my buddy who's been looking for one.   Keep your head up you will find one soon.

[GroveDiesel 9,475]

4 hours ago, need2know said:

Hell yeah just picked up a ps5 off wal mart.   It's funny my wife also got one not knowing I was looking today.

Nice surprise

Funny. I got mine from GameStop a week ago. A buddy that I routinely game with has struck out so far. I managed to actually snag a PS5 on Walmart for him this afternoon and had it one click away from confirming when I checked in with him and he decided to pass because the delivery date from Walmart isn’t until April 13th. We’ll see if that proves to be folly. Kinda crazy though to have a delivery date that far out though.

[need2know 6,525]

31 minutes ago, GroveDiesel said:

Funny. I got mine from GameStop a week ago. A buddy that I routinely game with has struck out so far. I managed to actually snag a PS5 on Walmart for him this afternoon and had it one click away from confirming when I checked in with him and he decided to pass because the delivery date from Walmart isn’t until April 13th. We’ll see if that proves to be folly. Kinda crazy though to have a delivery date that far out though.

Yeah i don't believe it will take that long.  And if it does oh well.   I wasn't really thinking I would get one until later in the year anyways

[bigmarc27 4,246]

Beat Sekiro, no desire to play games at the moment. 
 

I may replay GTA5 single players.  It’s been like 6 years and I remember really enjoying it. 

[IvanKaramazov 23,536]

5 minutes ago, bigmarc27 said:

Beat Sekiro, no desire to play games at the moment. 
 

I may replay GTA5 single players.  It’s been like 6 years and I remember really enjoying it. 

I went back to GTA5 for quite a while last year for lack of anything better to do, and it holds up pretty well today IMO.  Los Santos is still a fantastic game world.  

[Gianni Verscotchie 535]

What's the best way to procure a new Xbox at this point?

[STEADYMOBBIN 22 4,493]

3 hours ago, Gianni Verscotchie said:

What's the best way to procure a new Xbox at this point?

Walmart is where a few of my friends have gotten lucky. 

[belljr 11,471]

Just now, STEADYMOBBIN 22 said:

Walmart is where a few of my friends have gotten lucky. 

And they got an Xbox also!!!

[IvanKaramazov 23,536]

I like how XCOM goes from "One wrong move could be the first step down the path to a squad wipe at any moment" to "LOL ROFLSTOMP TEHM ALIENZ" in like five minutes.  When I get bored watching my snipers mow down entire pods while everyone else just stands around watching, I can mix things up by letting my ranger stand out in the open with no cover to carve up every chryssalid and zombie on the map. 

[NorvilleBarnes 4,445]

Does anyone know anything about Elder Scrolls VI? I keep seeing it trending but no actual news.

[Punxsutawney Phil 927]

On 3/5/2021 at 2:17 PM, Gianni Verscotchie said:

What's the best way to procure a new Xbox at this point?

Follow wario64 on twitter  and turn your alerts on.  I got one at BB back in Feb.

[jobarules 903]

Think I FINALLY got a PS5! Comes as bundle through Gamestop ships March 23. Question, can I return the bundled games to Gamestop?

[McBokonon 4,246]

1 hour ago, NorvilleBarnes said:

Does anyone know anything about Elder Scrolls VI? I keep seeing it trending but no actual news.

Not really. Could be trending because Microsoft completed their purchase of Bethesda.

[phandango 892]

I've been playing Immortals Fenyx Rising on PS5. I'm about 10 hours into it. The gameplay seems to be clearly inspired by Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but with a Greek mythology theme. I'm enjoying it. There's a roughly two-hour prologue that introduces the game mechanics, and then it lets you roam. The map is huge. It's one of those games that doesn't nag you about completing the next objective in the story, so I tend to just wander around checking out cool areas and dungeons. A nice feature is that I got to the boss of one of the large dungeons, but he kept killing me pretty easily, and I found out the game lets you leave the dungeon, and if you return, you immediately go back to the boss fight without having to go through the dungeon again. A gripe I have with the game is it seems to be light on explaining some of the mechanics, so I've had to use google to figure some of the stuff out. It's not Zelda-level by any means, but it's pretty fun.

[Todd from Utah 152]

13 hours ago, IvanKaramazov said:

I like how XCOM goes from "One wrong move could be the first step down the path to a squad wipe at any moment" to "LOL ROFLSTOMP TEHM ALIENZ" in like five minutes.  When I get bored watching my snipers mow down entire pods while everyone else just stands around watching, I can mix things up by letting my ranger stand out in the open with no cover to carve up every chryssalid and zombie on the map. 

Yeah, once you have a maxed out psyonic soldier and a few key skills and pieces of gear,  the end game is mostly a victory lap if you know what you're doing. 

The sniper rifle you get from killing the chosen hunter makes most missions a joke. 

Still fun though 

[formerfourdigit 76]

Finally done with Witcher 3.  The DLCs were amazing especially Blood and Wine.  So much love put into that game.  I've left a bunch of "?" unexplored but I'm level 52 and all the main quests and witcher contracts are done so probably won't go back unless it's for a brief stopover.  

Got a PS5 from BB and have been playing Division 2 with my brothers.  We are still early in main game (level 17) but it's pretty fun.  Another huge world with tons of detail and good combat.  Played on both PS4 Pro and PS5 and PS5 load times and performance are just miles better.

[formerfourdigit 76]

Probably going to check out Days Gone or maybe Death Stranding for my single player fix.

[formerfourdigit 76]

On 3/9/2021 at 10:20 AM, IvanKaramazov said:

I like how XCOM goes from "One wrong move could be the first step down the path to a squad wipe at any moment" to "LOL ROFLSTOMP TEHM ALIENZ" in like five minutes.  When I get bored watching my snipers mow down entire pods while everyone else just stands around watching, I can mix things up by letting my ranger stand out in the open with no cover to carve up every chryssalid and zombie on the map. 

I beat XCOM and played XCOM2 for a good while, got to the point where there is a big jump in the difficulty and it scared me off.  I don't need that frustration in my life.

[GroveDiesel 9,475]

I know most of you aren’t first person shooter types, but the new COD zombies is actually quite fun. I quit playing COD a few years ago because the multiplayer became awful and the zombies mode was just impossible for a casual like me. 

Friend convinced me to get the new COD saying the new zombies is a lot of fun and way more accessible for people like me. Played the one zombies mode last night and had fun with it. No more getting ravaged by huge waves of zombies that you can’t avoid, no more having to create “crawlers” so you can actually explore and get things done, no more of the stupid “training” zombies.

Haven’t played the Easter egg mode yet which is more like the original zombies mode, but reportedly the main Easter egg is a whole lot easier to figure out and complete. The steps are supposedly more straight forward and obvious. Apparently there are other side Easter eggs that are much more difficult and cater to the folks who could actually complete the other zombies games. But I guess they finally figured out that having a game mode where only 2% of people could ever complete it wasn’t very smart. Most people don’t want to run around in circles “training” zombies over and over again so that they can figure out the one brick in the wall they need to knife and then the correct order to shoot 4 random obscure lightbulbs so that they can advance the game.

I guarantee that out of the 2% that ever completed the zombies Easter eggs, 99% of them only did it after watching videos of how to do it. And for those that did it without that, I have strong beliefs that they either decompile the code and find stuff in there or straight up are given the info by the developer.

[Buckna 1,610]

On 3/9/2021 at 1:03 PM, McBokonon said:

Not really. Could be trending because Microsoft completed their purchase of Bethesda.

Speaking of, I just got an email with the “Bethesda Collection” added to Game Pass. A lot of the big names were already there like the Fallout’s so I’m not sure what’s new vs what was already available.