What are you playing? (Redux)

[Josquius]

I'm on a JRPG lark and after finally playing Chrono Trigger (lovely game), now I've moved to Nier: Automata, which has all the weird fetishisms and overall insanity + interesting gameplay ideas that I expect from a JPRG.

I might give the new Final Fantasy a spin, it's been decades since I last played a FF game.

I guess you have played the suikoden series?
That is the best thing ever (tm)
Remastered version on steam came out recently too

Is nier automata ok without playing the first one?
I hear much of automata but never touched the series before.

[mongers]

Decided to take American Truck Sim for a bit of a spin while catching up on podcasts. Random impressions from Northern Texas between Dalhart and Amarillo.



The last one IRL:

 

I wonder if the cracks in the car park are accurate to real life?

[celedhring]

I'm on a JRPG lark and after finally playing Chrono Trigger (lovely game), now I've moved to Nier: Automata, which has all the weird fetishisms and overall insanity + interesting gameplay ideas that I expect from a JPRG.

I might give the new Final Fantasy a spin, it's been decades since I last played a FF game.

I guess you have played the suikoden series?
That is the best thing ever (tm)
Remastered version on steam came out recently too

Is nier automata ok without playing the first one?
I hear much of automata but never touched the series before.

I haven't. I'll check them out - was planning to do the Persona series after Nier. I hear they are well regarded.

Haven't finished Nier Automata yet, been very busy but wanted to finish it during the holidays - alas, my gaming laptop broke down and don't think I'll get it back until after Christmas.

I don't think you need to play the first Nier to play Automata. I'm sure there are references that I'm missing but the story is self-contained so far (even if super-weird and freaky, but that's part of the charm).

I do admit gameplay-wise it's growing a bit thin, though. It's an action RPG with soulslike elements (you leave your body after dying with all your stuff in it, and the action is built around learning the enemies' tells and setpiece boss battles), but the game is pretty easy enough, but cutting down stuff feels a bit like a chore outside of the boss battles. But the story and the series conceit (essentially when you do a NewGame+, you do it from the PoV of another character, and more layers of the story are revealed) are pretty cool.

[Syt]

I picked up early access title Approaching Infinity a few years ago when it was cheaper than now (currently 17.49) and I had a hankering for sci-fi roguelikes.

I bounced off it back then but checked it out now that it's nearing full release and had a UI overhaul. Developer seems to really care about their game and see it through to the finish line.

I like it. You start with a ship and explore sectors and land on planets or board derelict ships. It's very much a classic roguelike but with graphics. Well, icons, really. Think Space Empires IV, I guess.

Premise is to progress as far as you can (I think sectors scale theoretically endless?), though there's some story quests/endings you can pursue. There's the usual fare - getting better gear, a bit of crafting/modding gear and consumables. Also, you can gain skills based on your profession, and hire more officers who add more skills as they progress. There's also a couple of factions who you can be friends with or fight against.

It's not as laden with content as Star Traders: Frontiers (which has seen literally hundreds of content updates), but also easier to pick up once you understand the UI and some of the gameplay.

Definitely has the "just one more planet" or "just one more sector" thing going for me.

On medium, the difficulty feels less punishing than last time I tried, though I had a few close calls with hostiles on some planets (like getting blinded by bees and trying to get back t the ship ... ). Though at current price a bit hard to recommend for what you get, maybe.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/551620/Approaching_Infinity/

[The Minsky Moment]

Apparently I played 37 demos this year on Steam.

[Syt]

I played ... 1.

My most played games this year (out of 160 total):

[Syt]

Balatro is "only" 2% of my playtime, but I have almost 50 hours in it. 

[garbon]

I had only...9 games.

[Josquius]

I'm on a JRPG lark and after finally playing Chrono Trigger (lovely game), now I've moved to Nier: Automata, which has all the weird fetishisms and overall insanity + interesting gameplay ideas that I expect from a JPRG.

I might give the new Final Fantasy a spin, it's been decades since I last played a FF game.

I guess you have played the suikoden series?
That is the best thing ever (tm)
Remastered version on steam came out recently too

Is nier automata ok without playing the first one?
I hear much of automata but never touched the series before.

I haven't. I'll check them out - was planning to do the Persona series after Nier. I hear they are well regarded.

Persona is very good.
I played 3+4 many years ago on the PS2 and despite buying it for the PS3 some time ago only finally got around the P5 on the Switch lately- loved it.
I plan to play P3 Reloaded and maybe P4 Golden at some point in the future.

[Tamas]

My child's impact on my Steam stats is most visible on number of achievements which plummeted from almost 200 in 2023 to less than 40 in 2024.

[Barrister]

My child's impact on my Steam stats is most visible on number of achievements which plummeted from almost 200 in 2023 to less than 40 in 2024.

It doesn't get better.

I'm a non-gamer these days.  I used to play once the kids were in bed, but now that they're older and go to bed at almost the same time as me there's just no time in the day.

[Grey Fox]

My son is responsible for more achievements on my Xbox account than I am nowadays.