The Miscellaneous PC & vidya Games Thread

[Iormlund]

Been playing Vampire Survivors for the past 2 days. Why the fuck didn't I find this gem sooner?

[crazy canuck]

Tried Diablo 4. 

I think they spent their budget on the art rather than the gameplay.

I have tried each class and variants within each class, which is easy to do because you can easily swap around skill points.

There are some odd design choices.  The whole world levels with you.  And so there is no sense of progression.  All battles against mobs and elites feel the same - partly because you see the same mobs over and over again. 

As you skill up the buttons you push don't even change that much, you are always going to be using the same basic and core skill of your build - the whole game.

Once I got to level 50, which is the end of the skill points, the game becomes a pointless grind, unless you really enjoy just grinding for gear.  But if you don't find that enjoyable this game is probably not for you.

The game is also very easy.  I played on hardcore to add a little more challenge, but it's easy to avoid death.  The whole thing just collapses into a repetitive exercise of pushing two buttons.

[Syt]

Yahtzee did a Chrono Trigger retro-Zero Punctuation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5h5gP8xq4g

And his comment that he played the game before way back ... well, the accompanying picture brought back memories, because that's how I played it, too at the time.

[Josquius]

Thats how I played a lot of SNES RPGs. I since bought them of course but still...
Remember the impossible cloudy future where you had to press f5 or something to get through?

[Iormlund]

Tried Diablo 4. 

A comment I saw today put it rather nicely: "Diablo 4 is the best thing to happen to PoE since D3".

The production value is very high, and the overall experience pretty good until you finish the campaign. Then it gets stale fast and you ask yourself: What's next?
And that's PoE.

Pity PoE 2 won't come for another year and change still (with a closed beta on June I figure pre-Xmas release).

[FunkMonk]

Yeah, oddly enough the campaign is the best part of D4. The problem is it's still a slog to get through and no one in their right mind will want to run it more than once.

For all the stick GGG gets for not implementing a skip-campaign option, at least it's relatively quick and easy to run through. It's basically Adventure Mode lite.

[crazy canuck]

Tried Diablo 4. 

A comment I saw today put it rather nicely: "Diablo 4 is the best thing to happen to PoE since D3".

The production value is very high, and the overall experience pretty good until you finish the campaign. Then it gets stale fast and you ask yourself: What's next?
And that's PoE.

Pity PoE 2 won't come for another year and change still (with a closed beta on June I figure pre-Xmas release).

The D4 Campaign was interesting so long as you skip all the side quests which become repetitive.  But if you don't do the side quests you lose a lot of the context of the story they are trying to tell.  Another questionable design decision.

Yeah, oddly enough the campaign is the best part of D4. The problem is it's still a slog to get through and no one in their right mind will want to run it more than once.

For all the stick GGG gets for not implementing a skip-campaign option, at least it's relatively quick and easy to run through. It's basically Adventure Mode lite.

This

[Josquius]

It's a fun game.  But watch it, time can fly by 

Yes. It is that. Though games themselves are quick, just one more turn becomes just one more game.

I think I broadly understand it now. Its an interesting game. Manages something which though very relevant in the real world I've not seen games manage before.
So often just as I'm getting into the swing of things, victory in sight...Some other nation, perhaps on the opposite side of the map, will declare victory.
The strategy is less about guiding your own way to victory and more about balancing your success with ensuring others are not succesful- expand westward then others who border that westward power will be given a free pass.

[crazy canuck]

Yes, that is a big part of the game.  You can also change up the victory conditions if you want a different kind of challenge.  You can also avoid that mechanic entirely by playing in iirc domination mode.

[Josquius]

The other day I became very tempted to buy one of the top of the range refurbed steam decks. I slapped myself on the wrist and said I'd never have time to play it and should finish my switch games first.

Also notice Forza Horizon series is on sale. Thinking to buy the one set in the UK. As much as I'm not a car fan I do like the idea of a local open world.

[Syt]

I spent a lot of time on FH4 (set in UK) and loved it.

I spent significantly less time on FH5 and didn't get sucked in near as much.

[Grey Fox]

I played FH4 extensively. I still play it from time to time with my son. FH5 is simply forgettable.

FH3, set in Australia, is the most fun imo.

[Tamas]

FH5 I enjoyed much more than FH4.

[viper37]

Dungeons 4 out on November 30th. 

While the gameplay is not much to talk about (you build a dungeon, train creatures, unleash them on the forces of good) the acting and the narration are really nice.  It's a really silly game and I loved #2 and #3.  #4 is a direct sequel to #3 with the same actress reprise her role as Queen of Evil Talya.

It shares some similarities with Dungeon Keeper, for those old enough to remember that game.

[Syt]

RPS article about the upcoming Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader RPG currently under development at Owlcat (Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous):

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/warhammer-40000-rogue-trader-is-warhammer-mass-effect-and-you-can-own-planets