GurtTractor wrote:

tin_robot wrote:

Aloy, the lead, is a slightly weird character, a warrior and tech genius who is simultaneously laser focussed on saving the world and more than happy to piss about doing whatever errand the locals fancy. I think there's supposed to be a character arc in which she learns to work with others rather than act alone, but if that's the intent it never quite lands. Despite the fact that Things Happen throughout the game, she never really seems all that bothered by any of it - though she's clearly going to be incredibly depressed if the world ever stops needing to be saved as that seems to be her only defining characteristic.

I feel like this probably describes the main character and problem with most of the open world RPG type games out there.

Arthur Morgan says howdy.

Maybe your Arthur. Mine never left the tent without a manly 'tash that filtered out any fears.

I feel like a couple of those criticisms stem from it originally being a PS3 game - linear so it could still have pretty graphics despite limited RAM, FMV cutscenes so the next bit could load in the background.

Resident Evil 3 remake [Steam Deck]

Enjoyed this more than I expected, perhaps as a result of the negativity towards it. I found it to be fine and absolutely worth the cut price deal you can get it for, along with 2. It’s the weaker game overall, but it’s a good companion to 2 - as you explore some shared areas and see some overlapping moments. I liked that about it.

Worth playing if you’re a RE head like me.

Syph79 wrote:

Resident Evil 3 remake [Steam Deck] Enjoyed this more than I expected, perhaps as a result of the negativity towards it. I found it to be fine and absolutely worth the cut price deal you can get it for, along with 2. It’s the weaker game overall, but it’s a good companion to 2 - as you explore some shared areas and see some overlapping moments. I liked that about it. Worth playing if you’re a RE head like me.

Have it on the steam deck and started it but got distracted, should plough on.  Was impressed with how well it ran on the deck.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Nintendo Switch) - I finished this with 108 hours on the clock and you might be thinking ‘Oh, you 100%ed it then?’

NO! I have a ton of major-but-not-main-quest-critical content left, I’m not even barrel scrapping yet! A massive game.

This is a difficult one for me. In some respects it’s back to the masterpiece-tier of Xenoblade Chronicles 1. There is none of XC2’s anime tiddyness or awkward gameplay. The world is huge and immersive and the main characters are decent. But the plot is inclusive of people that did not play XC1 and XC2 at its own expense. It’s also designed so that you can blast through to the credits if you want but with core content technically optional but still, like, core. In practice this means a lot of the content is not dependent on other bits of content but the ultimate result of this is a lot of the game is quite bitty and repetitive. The writing is competent but a bit dry. Really good but just lacked a certain je ne sais quoi for me. [8]

On to Future Redeemed!

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Inscryption at last. Was fully into it by the end. Not sure what the consensus is but I thought act II dragged a little. The third was fun though. Odd little game, really good on the whole. It's also odd that I'll play games that usually wouldn't interest me just because they're published by Devolver, but it almost always pays off. Off the top of my head I think Carrion is the worst DevDig game I've played, and even that wasn't completely awful. Edit: Actually I Hate Running Backwards wasn't all that either.

Tried twice with Inscryption, twice got bored in the mid section

Callisto Protocol (PS5)

First full game for a while and... it was pretty meh? Pretty one-track, painfully linear (basically every fork was advertised, mainline one way, treasure or key the other), looked nice but not much scenic variation. AAAA my aaaass. The melee was fun to start with, but didn't really go anywhere, and the enemies were near enough all the same apart from a cookie of late bullet sponge "bosses".

Story arc was also pretty lol.

Like a [6] I guess?

Mansion of Hidden Souls (Mega CD) - released as Yumemi Mystery Mansion in Europe but it’s just a 50Hz version of the US version so I played the US one. This is a somewhat whimsical supernatural FMV mystery game about a haunted house that turns people into butterflies. It sorta reminded me of Hotel Dusk for the Nintendo DS even though it’s quite dissimilar and a much inferior game. I managed to complete the whole game without using a walkthrough but there’s still an obtuse feeling to the puzzles - a lot of the time I felt I was just second guessing the game designers rather than using in-world logic. The game is only a couple of hours long, part of which is an obtuse time-wasting puzzle at the end. It’s very slight - I’m glad I didn’t pay money for it at the time but pirating it in the modern day it’s an interesting and fairly atmospheric demo for the Mega CD’s capabilities. [6]

acemuzzy wrote:

Callisto Protocol (PS5)

First full game for a while and... it was pretty meh? Pretty one-track, painfully linear (basically every fork was advertised, mainline one way, treasure or key the other), looked nice but not much scenic variation. AAAA my aaaass. The melee was fun to start with, but didn't really go anywhere, and the enemies were near enough all the same apart from a cookie of late bullet sponge "bosses".

Story arc was also pretty lol.

Like a [6] I guess?

Advertised in that it tells you whether progression or secrets/collectibles are left or right? I'm fed up with wasting time on trinkets in games like this. They never interest me, so literal signposting sounds good to me. I hate taking the wrong path and ending up next to something I can't be bothered to pick up, then having to retrace my steps and take the proper route.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

acemuzzy wrote:

Callisto Protocol (PS5) First full game for a while and... it was pretty meh? Pretty one-track, painfully linear (basically every fork was advertised, mainline one way, treasure or key the other), looked nice but not much scenic variation. AAAA my aaaass. The melee was fun to start with, but didn't really go anywhere, and the enemies were near enough all the same apart from a cookie of late bullet sponge "bosses". Story arc was also pretty lol. Like a [6] I guess?

Advertised in that it tells you whether progression or secrets/collectibles are left or right? I'm fed up with wasting time on trinkets in games like this. They never interest me, so literal signposting sounds good to me. I hate taking the wrong path and ending up next to something I can't be bothered to pick up, then having to retrace my steps and take the proper route.

I think you'll be ok bud... there are literal arrows pointing the main way (totally unjustified in the game world, AFAICT), and sometimes even graffiti that literally says "go this way", as well as blatant lighting hints.  Not sure why it annoyed me here, when I'm OK with similar in e.g. Uncharted - I think just less convincingly integrated etc.  There are a couple of points where you have to double back to get a keycard or some such, but again, it's rarely confusing where you need to go.  I guess it's not really an adventure game, so I should really blame it!

EvilRedEye wrote:

Blue Swirl wrote:

Is that via the Mega Drive mini 2?

Nah, Mega Sg and Mega SD combo. It is on the Mega Drive Mini 2 I believe.

Ah, neat. Good to see the Sg works with the SD carts.

Bob wrote:

I’ve got a never unboxed mini 2

Nnnnngggg…

I'd like there to be multiple ways to use different things to achieve the same goal, and for the game to not push you in any direction at all

I think there should be fake signposting in games to troll trophy hunters. 'This way for a green gem' written on the floor at a branching path and then 'LOL GUTTED ELF' scrawled on the wall when the player hits a trinketless dead end.