The Miscellaneous PC & vidya Games Thread

[crazy canuck]

Solasta 2 was in the NextFest but I didn't bother with the demo because I've already played Solasta 1.  It's an RPG based on 5th edition dand rules.  Solasta 1 released before BG3 and then kind of faded after BG3 released.  But it was a solid game and the combat was a little better than BG3 in some ways - better tactical use of cover and positioning. 

Same, I just assumed, hopefully correctly, it is up to the same standard as the first game.

[The Minsky Moment]

As for other gaming, the Indiana Jones game is delight.  Anyone designing a game based on a legacy movie IP should be forced to review what that team did.

Avowed so far is a guilty pleasure. Yeah it's Skyrim the Schlocky Edition.  But it looks real good.

Both are gamepass, both first day releases.  Those two right there paid off the value of a year of GP.

[Jacob]

Those two are both first person, right?

[The Minsky Moment]

Those two are both first person, right?

Yep, although Jones has some cut scenes.

[Josquius]

I've been playing against the storm.
Kind of a city builder.. But not. Frospunk vibes of being against a clock and storms regularly coming in but still feels different.
Everything is very temporary and not built to last.
It's... Kind of fun nonetheless. Though I think I might be hitting an upper limit with it. The roguelike elements of starting again with each run and the way building types are given to you is annoying.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

just finished Marvel's Midnight Suns. The ending is clearly setting up a for a sequel, which we're unlikely to ever get since this game didn't really perform.

anyways: had a good amount of fun with it (some 100 hours or so according to steam). The card useage and deckbuilding was a novel way of doing the combat but quite enjoyable (as opposed to the regular skill based system).
Dialog was on occassion a bit weak and the story was your standard end of the world fare but neither were blocking issues given the varied roster of heroes available (Avengers, X-men, Spiderman/Venom/Blade/Deadpool and some of the newer kids on the block (Nico, Magik (sister of Colossus)...). Basically a nice ensemble cast (which is where the friendship simulator between missions comes in)
Visuals are pleasing on the eye and the music fits the game like a glove.

So imho: felt like a nice trip into an MCU like adventure without being too pretentious. And it is a shame that it didn't do well enough to warrant a sequel.
You can find it very cheap nowadays so if you haven't already it's something to try.

[Syt]

I still mean to play it. I think it flew a bit under the radar because a lot of potential players were put off by the "Marvel Dating Sim" aspect of it (which seems to take more inspiration from games like Persona, which also split between story/time management and combat, rather than actual dating sims).

[Grey Fox]

When it launched the characters didn't have MCU costumes. That's a fatal mistake for anything Marvel these days. If the MCU visual isn't present you are signaling that your product is for the comic book nerds.

[celedhring]

I tried it, and while I found the overall concept enjoyable, there was just too much downtime for my liking.

[Syt]

I always think that I want to play a narrative game (like an RPG or a point & click), but whenever I look at them I'm like, "Yeah, that's gonna be 40 hours, that one's 25 hours, that one's 100+" - and usually go back to playing CK3 or Civ or something Which is silly, because those games can take equally as long if not longer at times

But I often feel with narrative games that I feel impatient about the story progressing wheras in Civ it's just one more turn, in CK3 it's just one more month/year etc.

Of course I could start a story game, see how far I get along, but I also know that if I pick it up later I will have forgotten 50+% of the plot. Though I still mean to finish my playthrough of AssCreed: Origins, which I have 30+ hours in and last played 3 or so years ago (and still reasonably remember where I left off).

Anyone else struggling with this?

[Syt]

Unrelated: I picked up Scorchlands for EUR5 and change during the sale. It's a mix of city builder/production management/puzzle game.

You build pylons on worlds. You build stuff within the pylon radius (pay attention to adjacency bonuses!). You try to connect production chains to unlock the next and remove enemies from the map to unlock more land (the enemies are passive, they have strength points and you need to surround them with your units of higher number of strength points to remove them).

On the one hand it's fairly chill. And it's fairly forgiving - you can remove/build/raze buildings and pylons for free. On the other it becomes fairly messy (for me at least) to balance which pylon does what and sends it stuff where to make sure I maintain my stuff (it's not really production chains/storage - overproduction isn't stored, so goal is to balance everything).

Also, that you have your little avatar running around is cute, but also annoying since it doesn't seem to add much to the gameplay but also means you have to physically walk everywhere to e.g. build stuff or remove enemies instead of quickly scrolling over the map. Some techs remove some of the hassle (e.g. a teleport system, faster run speed), but it seems rather unnecessary.

Also took me a while to realize I need to pay attention to mission texts. "Why can't I find any of this resource?" *spends an hour searching the planet* "Oh, I need to progress the mission. My bad."

I guess for 5 and a bit EUR it's totally fine, and I like the concept (placing buildings on hex grids is kinda my jam - maybe why I like Civ7 so much ), but it seems a bit finicky at the moment.

Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1090100/Scorchlands/

[Josquius]

If you're looking at the hours in a narrative game surely that's a sign it's not a very good narrative?
You should be enjoying it and when it finally finishes at 100 hours be like "that's a shame"

[Syt]

Nah, it's more about starting a game in the first place, not about starting a game and realize you don't enjoy it.