Sacked That Off Mate

[spatular]

I think the thing with roguelikes for me is that if a game is a roguelike it instantly puts me off, which was the same for into the breach. But I still will play some roguelikes if I like the gameplay enough to overcome the roguelike stuff. What I like about into the breach it’s all about the combat, I’m rubbish at turn based combat normally, but into the breach is pretty different in how it’s shows you what will happen next, and it’s more like a block puzzle game, like how can I get that bug to fall down a hole or attack another bug instead of a building. The combat really clicked with me and I prefer it to any other turn based combat game. But If you don’t like the gameplay then you won’t like the game and that’s cool. Similar for returnal the main gameplay stuff is great, and I’m not keen on nearly everything else about the game including the roguelike stuff.

[Nag]

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl... 

 

Probably one of my quickest sacking offs ever... booted the game, got to where I took control and it's basically pitch black even with the torch on and then a load of HUD icons appear and I realise I just can't be bothered with the game full stop... delete.

[radiofloyd]

Iconoclasts - might be the first time I’ve posted in this thread but yeah, the frustration to fun ratio just swung too much the wrong way for this one.

[Maryokutai]

Not actively, but passively stopped playing XEL because it kept crashing on me during what I presume is its finale. I was playing the infamous Switch version as the result of what can only be some masochistic tendency and was really willing to see it through despite the 20fps, the streaming issues, low resolution, bugs and glitches but now the game is just telling me to get lost. After all that 'work' I'm actually a bit pissed about it, because under all the technical issues the game itself isn't actually bad either.

[Maryokutai]

I think I'm done with Kingdome Come: Deliverance (1). Played for about 3 to 4 hours but there's so much friction for everything you do, and even when you pull it off it's not particularly rewarding. The setting is actually rather interesting and while it might seem boring on surface-level to run around in a 'nerfed by reality' version of most fantasy RPGs, it does have something to it. But playing it feels like work. One of its worst decisions IMO is that saving is limited to a very expensive resource – I get the idea behind it but instead of forcing me to live with the consequences it just means I'm going to play it in the safest and most boring way possible.

 

I'm not ruling out that I might revisit it at some point, because I now know what I'd be getting into, but for the time being this is considered shelved. 

[Sly Reflex]

Does it use something akin to the ink ribbons in the old Resi games or something? I thought you could just save as and when you wanted.

[Maryokutai]

Yeah, it's a bit like the ink ribbon situation, but it doesn't have save points. So you can save wherever, whenever from the menu but it will consume one item, and they are both rare and expensive, at least in the early game.

 

It also does create temporary save states when you go back to the title screen though, so you don't need to give up your real life to play it at least.

[one-armed dwarf]

My feeling with this game is that at somepoint something will eventually click and it will become my next hyperfixation like Morrowind/gothic/pathologic, cause I like these types of RPGs with crunchy systems and friction. But I did also find the type of friction in KCD to be utterly uninteresting as it was mostly in the way the character animates. Its focus is on the utterly mundane, which again is a thing I think could be really interesting but the onramp to getting hooked on what it's trying to do seems a hell of a lot steeper than these other games listed.

 

I do like the idea of the whole ink ribbon save system thing tho. I don't know how onerous it gets but I like the idea of it making you sit with the consequences of bad decisions and not to save scum. I think that's something Disco Elysium should have implemented, altho I'm happy to accept the bad outcomes in that cause the game writing is on another level and makes everything just work super well.

 

I got as far as just past the prologue, I saw the title drop. So maybe when I'm in a gaming mood again that'll be the one I try. I guess then I should say that I'm dropping Arkham Asylum. It's just boring, overly basic and with really really annoying characters. Mark Hamill sucks as Joker, well in this game anyway

[Maryokutai]

Not to turn this into a KCD topic, but I don't think the game is overall mechanically polished enough to warrant the save system. I usually don't save scum bad dialogue choices either (though I also feel this should be a player and not a design choice), but looking at the lockpicking for example, which is both badly explained and questionably executed. With free saves I would have just dumped all my money on lockpicks and brute forced through a couple of easy locks to get a grasp on the system but its situations like these where the limited resource simply resulted in me not engaging with the feature at all instead. It's likely these are all just early-game issues and when you get into the groove everything clicks into place, but I'm not in the right mindset for that kind of game at the moment.

[Nag]

I think it's time to admit to myself that I've officially binned off...

 

Okami HD (Series X) and Baldur's Gate 3 (PS5)

 

As much as I hate not finishing games I've not played either of these in probably around 5 months and I've completely forgotten what I was doing on both of them... what with upcoming releases and backlogs on both machines unfortunately I can't see myself returning to either of them.

[DANGERMAN]

I think I'm joining you in posting on here but for Look Outside. I don't think I can be arsed with its bullshit and kind of regret the time I spent on it, given it was the last 2 days of my week off. Really wish I liked it more, and there's a good game there, but I didn't seem to experience it