games

Morrowind my beloved. I have to admit that I didn't like Skyrim when I tried it multiple times, but the moment I figured out how morrowind works, it became one of my favorite games ever.

Tamriel Rebuilt is probably the objectively best mod ever made.

Also, Xenogears for the PS1. Fun gameplay, if a bit lacking, but great music and art direction and the narrative is very interesting. I haven't finished it yet.

What game am I anticipating for 2024? None, really. Hopefully a new mainline SMT project will get announced, I guess.

Just finished Baldur's Gate 3 👍

Tagging those that were in the last thread:

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Enjoy! Make sure to read the OP and title.

Ciao.

Last few days mostly been playing Valheim with my partner. Super fun except yesterday she wandered into a late game area, got killed, and rage quit when she couldn’t get her stuff back.

Few days ago I had her play The Stanley Parable since she somehow missed it a decade ago, finished that in an evening.

Before that we played through Prey (2017), since I had never finished it. Great game. 10/10.

Started playing Strange Horticulture. Mechanically it kinda works like Papers Please except there doesn’t seem to be a harsh timer. I’m not very far in though. Love the vibe.

Still need to finish Spider-Man 2. I dropped off after Christmas but I only have a handful of things to finish to 100% it.

There really isn’t much I see that I’m looking forward to this year. Im hoping Cities Skylines 2 will update enough to be good. I’m interested to see if Star Wars Outlaws is any good, it seems likely it’ll suck though. Hades 2 enters early access but I’ll wait till it finishes.

Started Baldur's Gate 3! Normally DnD-type games with turn-based combat aren't my cup of tea, but man is this game awesome. I can tell it was made with love. The characters and the acting is awesome. I made a seldarine drow cleric of Eilistrae (she's a purple girl 🥰 ) and I'm romancing Gale. At first I thought he was a pompous know-it-all but he quickly grew on me as a passionate nerdy lonely boy 🥺. Also Astarion bit me.... lil shit >:(

Also got my Pyromancer in Grim Dawn to lvl 100, but I'm not sure wtf I'm doing with my build lol.

Warframe got a new story quest so I'll be playing that soon.

As for the year? I'm not really sure, haven't been paying attention to what's in development currently. I just hope there's something quality-made by talented individuals that isn't over-hyped and broken like what's been happening lately lol (cough Starfield )

Recently finished:

RDR1 (full playthrough)

FFVII remake (literally had the final boss fight left, the Shinra HQ sequence left me really fatigued because of the high density of boss fights each requiring that I redo my loadout)

Currently playing:

FFVII (psx) - just started this weekend, decided a full playthrough might be fun before the remake part 2 drops

Metal Gear Solid - been meaning to play through the franchise. Hoping a collection with MGS4 drops in the next year or two because emulating it still a pain

LoZ Wind Waker HD - my current commute game on my steam deck

Just bought Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic and going to give it a try, seems like a far more systems complex Cities Skylines. Still playing BG3 and upgrading my rig to actually play Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p now that it's finally in a playable state. Been also buying some indie games to try like Sommerville, Seasons, Chants of Senaar, Trepang2.

Finished Jusant (still haven't 100% the game but overall a 8.5/10 experience) and The Invincible (good adaptation to a Stanislov Lem novel with good additions by the devs such as a clear cold war style conflict with a US style gun crazed space power). Also picked up Darktide again post recent updates and fixes, major improvements overall but still very lacking for a purchased game when it comes to player customization being to close to a F2P game in how you unlock cosmetics.

Still grinding my way towards being the best Jamie player in Street Fighter VI. Its a long road but I do feel like I'm getting stronger.

That aside: OMG y'all! I bought a valve index and its the first thing that's gotten me to take a break a street fighter in a while. Superhot VR is low-key my runner up gaming experience of the last year. I also have been enjoying the hell out of pistol whip. It makes for an insanely great cardio workout during the cold season here when I can't go for my daily run cause its like 11 degrees outside. I have a huge backlog of games to get through now.

Future plans: I am going to try to play the entire Half life series in VR starting with the black mesa remake and culminating in Alyx over the coming weeks/months. My VR legs are starting to get pretty strong so I feel confident I can do it without motion sickness being a huge issue. I've played a segment or two and it definitely makes the experience radically different. In other news: I also have this radical urge to replay Shadow of the collosus with some of the more recent HD texture mods so I might try and fit that one in.

Sidenote: apparently there's a Deus Ex Remaster project that has a VR element as part of its scope and I am gonna lose my noodle if/when that drops.

In terms of what I'm excited for in 2024: man I don't even know. I don't really follow game releases anymore these days. I guess i'm excited for whatever balance patch plans and future DLC Capcom has for SFVI after capcom cup for sure. Otherwise I still have such a huge backlog of games to play right now I can't imagine picking up new ones.

Been on a minor FPS kick with Mothergunship and Doom 2016, and my FF14 group is revving up for our third ultimate. Good stuff all around.

I've been paying almost zero attention to upcoming games for years now so I have no idea what's in 2024 lol

I'm on a 239 day Duolingo streak, if that counts.😅

I recently finish Paranormasight. It's a graphic novel game where you have to deal with and investigate a series of deadly paranormal events. Really strong first half, slightly weaker second half. I enjoyed it overall though.

Currently playing Lies of P. Really liking it so far after feeling unimpressed by the pre-release demo. I'm still in early game so I can't say too much, but so far I feel like the difficulty is pretty good. I've certainly had a better time of it vs. Sekiro, which is one of the Soulbourne games it's similar to. Never played Bloodborne, since Fromsoft has forsaken PC users, but it feels like this is as close as you can get to it.

I have a giant backlog of games. I'm probably going to play either Yakuza 3 or Atomic Heart next.

In so far as what I'm looking forward to for 2024... probably Hades 2 without a doubt. Loved the first game and still want to go back and check out some of the other bits of story I haven't completed aside from the main storyline. Mecha Break is probably the only other game that sticks out in my mind. AC6 has me interested in mecha games again and it'll be interesting to see what other studios bring to the table.

Playing Xenoblade Chronicles, about to drop it because it's a single player MMO. Someone tell me it gets better after Xorn.

Looking forward to the new Yakuza and Unicorn Overlord. Skeptically optimistic about the new FF7, this game will make or break the company for me. It has to be good or I'll never purchase SE ever again.

Picked up an original steam deck for fairly cheap ($300) off facebook marketplace now that the new one has come out. It's still a bit early to say definitively but it's really transformed how I integrate playing games with the rest of my life; the quick suspend/resume reduces a lot of friction compared to rebooting to Windows then starting the game on my PC (especially since I often stream it to my TV in the living room with sunshine/moonlight, adding another step). I'll often be idle or need a break then decide to play a tiny bit of whatever game I have on the go.

Lately I'm alternating between playing Pizza Tower and Dark Souls II: Learner of the Original Wrongdoing. Pizza Tower hasn't totally hooked me yet, but I have a feeling that once I start focusing on perfecting/keeping my momentum/combo going rather than just getting through the level I'll really start to love it, since it has some mechanical similarity to the shinespark puzzles in Metroid Dread that I loved so much. Dark Souls II I'm playing because I've played & greatly enjoyed most of the rest of the series (DS1, DS3, Bloodborne, Sekiro) and even though it has a reputation as a bit of a black sheep enough people say they enjoy it that it seems worthwhile.

Looking back on 2023 I played 16 games, of which two really stood out: Into the Breach and Return of the Obra Dinn. The first one was honestly so stressful that I couldn't keep playing it, but absolutely loved what time I did spend with it. My only critique is that I wish the balancing were such that you don't have to complete the first two islands with absolute perfection in order for a run to go all the way, which contributed a lot to the stress. Return of the Obra Dinn occupied the entirety of a very pleasant Sunday, sitting at a table with a giant ledger notebook and my steam deck, painstakingly pinning down the details of each murder. A very neat analog feel that was unique among other games I've played. Can't recommend it enough if you're more of a low-speed person!

What am I most anticipating for 2024? I think this will probably be the year that I play Elden Ring, maybe in the dog days of summer. I also picked up Alan Wake 2 for anomalously cheap with the recent epic sale so I hope to play that too, if my PC can run it well enough.

Still playing a bit of Against the Storm, which I still like the gameplay loop of but it's a bit of a timethief. I've closed 2 seals, but am realising that you probably need to complete a few cycles of just collecting resources for upgrades, which is just so daunting in terms of a time commitment.

Since then, my friends have wanted to get back into playing some multiplayer games together again, so I've jumped into The Finals, which I think is pretty damn fun for a F2P Nexon game. They've also picked up Lethal Company, but I was away on the weekend so I'll likely boot that up this week for the first time.

Also got even more back on my roguelite bullshit last night as I got into Death Must Die. Definitely enjoying it so far and can see why every review says "it's a mix of Vampire Survivors, Hades and Diablo", but can also see why every review says the character dialogue is a bit cringe.

Lastly, we got the switch plugged back in because we played some Mario Party at Christmas to kill some time in the afternoon and avoid any boring as fuck conversations with the in-laws. Since then, Mario Kart has been in the console and I haven't bothered changing carts, so I've played a bit more to try and get good again after not playing it for 3 years and make sure i've got all the 3-star trophies on 150cc.

Probably only really looking forward to Like a Dragon in the immediate future, but i still have to beat the last mainline one because I dropped off like 2/3 of the way through. And yes, I know Kiryu shows up.

Recent: Atomic Heart. Most of the game feels inspired by Half life, but with elements pulled from stuff like bioshock and dark souls, and is fun to fight and explore through. Then there are the overground segments which just fucking suck and are best handled by madly dashing between objectives while zapping cameras. So mixed feelings overall.

Current: Cyberpunk 2077. Sister got me it for Christmas and I'd heard it's a good game now, so I took it out for a spin.
It isn't a bad game - the gameplay is generally pretty good, especially hacking in combat, and it has a bunch of interesting side stories - it's just calling it outright good requires asterisks and the politics mostly suck.
After some 40 or 50 hours I modded it for a "vanilla plus" experience, solving some bugs, adding some QoL features, adding cut missions back in, making vehicles drive like they weigh more than 6kg, giving gangs distinct combat identities, you know, basic stuff - it's taken eighty three mods to get there. Like a quarter of them are just modding structures for other mods to use. It is a lot better now though.

Future: best friend got me Final Fantasy Origin: Stranger of Paradise for Christmas, so that'll probably be next. Haven't looked at it in detail yet, but it seems to have gotten decent reviews.

Recent games: Against the storm,

Games I'm thinking of going back to or looking forward: Dyson Sphere Program combat update, X4 with all the DLCs at some point(probably never, love the universe and premise, no time), Victoria 3 after more DLC, Factorio expansion

Traditional good game(s) I always play: They are Billions(survival 900%).

Stuff I play daily as daily grind: Genshin, Honkai Star Rail, eventualy Arknights Endfield unless it sucks terribly.

My friend and I are almost done playing the Saturn port of Symphony Of The Night, the Super Mario RPG remake, and Resident Evil 1 remake on GameCube. By myself I'm not playing anything currently. Thinking about what breezy game I should play to get back into things. Maybe Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury or something.

I've been playing randomizers. A little LttP, some FF5, a lot of La-Mulana.

I'm looking forward to Silksong if it actually comes out this year

I promise I will get back to Golden Sun... got to the 3rd town and just haven't had time or energy. I lowkey think if focus on games instead of reading, I won't go back to reading and am in a hella streak right now...

I think my Borderlands 3 obsession is starting to wane a bit so that is cool. I mostly play now for an excuse to hang out with friends.

I'm gonna be crash coursing for a potential CCNA cert so idk how much time I will have for vidja games for the next few months.

Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque

Starting Hi Fi Rush whenever I can tear myself away from anime

Lies of P

Wo Long

Curse of golden idol, lemurian vampire

Ravenswatch

And power washing Sim for podcasts.

Need to get back to zelda tears, and Bayonetta 3.

EDIT: see reply for details, Most anticipated for this year is dragons dogma 2, Im.hoping it's solid, I only got 10 hours into the first one and I'm going to try to play it through but I've got stuff on my plate so we'll see.

Monster hunter wilds is the only thing I'm eager to play but it's still a year off at least unfortunately.

Playing - Asgards Wrath 2 - Fun open world game and great usage of VR.

Alan Wake 2 - Just pure vibes

Final Fantasy 14 - remembering how to play is hard and the quests in between expansions are a drag.

El Paso Elsewhere - Great little shooter

Hype train - LAD infinite wealth. It’s just got vibes and I’ve played/finished every other game in the franchise (aside from the samurai one)

I’m not sure what other games are coming out this year, mostly on purpose as I don’t want to feel hype until the games come out.

To answer your question: my most anticipated is the new yakuza game, we spoke on that befor though. So I’ll be saying the final release of quasimorph. It’s Tarkov meets Xcom in an post alien rapture ancapistan. If that makes any sense you must be one of the writing team, but it has awesome gameplay and a solid atmosphere (oh, a feathered serpent is eating earth, let’s short lunar sticks and send a merc to steal some prototypes before the moon gets too fucked). It’s just space mercs trying to profit of the actual rapture and hilarious in a grimdark way as a result.

Continuing with the single player story content of ESO in chronological order. Finished Summerset and about half way into Murkmire, which is a smaller Argonian themed zone. The writing quality was solid around this time in the game, apparently it took a dip later on. I've made Mirri (one of the companions) into a super-fast ninja by wearing a set on my character that decreases companion skill cooldowns by half and also giving her all quickened type gear to reduce it even further. Missing 4 purple pieces from having the max reduce % possible. I can just sit back and throw psjic heals at Mirri as she deals with the overland enemies, which is a fun gaming loop. Also freezing time (psjic skill) on enemies for a few seconds is fun.

After finishing Murkmire I'm planning to go back to BG3, picking up at the beginning of Act 3. I saw the last big patch added access to companion inventories without asking them to join you so that will be really useful for inventory management. I've been away from the game for long enough that it will feel like coming back to a new expansion.

A few other games I want to play eventually, but I'm not in a hurry: Midnight Suns (stopped around 25% into the story last year, it's all right for a Marvel game, actually has some RPG-like vibes), Stray Gods, System Shock remake, MK 10/11/1 story modes, those Vampire the Masquerade visual novels, and eventually a second BG3 playthrough. Most likely a good tiefling bard for next time with Karlach, Wyll, Gale, current char is a mostly good drow arcane trickster with Shadowheart, Lae'zel, Minthara, and a bit of Astarion mixed in from time to time.

I'm currently playing Atelier Ryza 1. It's a slice of life anime game with an alchemy gathering/crafting system being the draw. I decided to try it out to see if I'd like the other Atelier games/series. It's okay. The story is pretty plain and very slow. So far I've had fun figuring out the alchemy system to synthesize and craft really powerful items and weapons and then steamroll the game.

Since the last thread, I've went on a nostalgia spree lol. One streamer that I watch is doing a huge SNES marathon and is gonna play every SNES game that was released in NA in order. So that inspired me to get into beat em ups and other boomer genres and relive some childhood genres. So I picked up River City Girls and Streets of Rage 4 and Double Dragon. River City Girls was great! Awesome gameplay and some catchy tunes.

I started the Metal Gear Solid collection and beat the MSX/NES games, Metal Gear 1 and 2. Uh, lets just say they were an experience lol. I don't know how you'd figure out some of those puzzles going in blind. Kojima was cooking even back then. I plan on playing Metal Gear Solid 1, 2, and 3 later this year. Hopefully volume 2 of the collection comes out this year and has Metal Gear Solid 4 and Peace Walker.

I'm currently waiting for Like a Dragon 8 later this month. It's gonna consume my life then by the time I finish it Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth should be out and I plan to 100% that too.

I'm looking forward to Unicorn Overlord and, unironically, the Princess Peach game lmao

Sorta slowed down on Outer Worlds, though I'm getting close to the end. I have a crew I'm very happy with.

I also got the RDR re-release since my xbox red-ringed when I had it the first time.

Not sure what I'll be playing next, apart from my flight simulators.

Been playing a lot of Lunacid recently, it's a dungeon crawler heavily inspired by King's Field and its atmosphere is top notch. Besides that I've been replaying Dragon's Dogma to get hyped up for the sequel in March.

Recently picked up Into The Breach, it's been a good replacement for strategy rogue-like time I used to spend with Dungeons of the Endless or Pathway.

I got AC6 and got to the Balteus fight, and I got bored of that fight, so haven't picked it back up in a while.

Rocket League removed competitive and casual Dropshot, so that sucks. I still play a bit of Hoops and 2s occasionally, supposedly Dropshot will back eventually. Haven't really found a MP game that scratches that competitive itch like RL.

Bought FarCry4 on a sale, but haven't had luck getting ubilauncher to play nice with Proton yet.

Been playing the Samurai Jack game, it's a nice nostalgia romp mostly.

Roboquest! It's a roguelite shooter. Fast paced game play, good balance, music is all bangers, and a bright, Borderlands-ish art style. I'm addicted.

I'm really looking forward to Esoteric Ebb. It's billing itself as Disco Elysium in 5e which is very much my shit.

Games recently played:

Finally got 'round to playing Control last month, was a big fan of Alan Wake (less so Alan Wake's American Nightmare) so I don't know how this game escaped my attention for so long.

Replaying Hollow Knight, trying to get the secret ending from beating the boss rush.

Picked up Outer Worlds after having not thought about it at all since, like, the week it launched. It's a lot more lib than I remembered. That said, when I helped some trots fix their newspaper then overthrow a socdem the game didn't treat it like a bad ending, so it can't be that bad.

Games I'm anticipating this year:

Avowed - loved PoE 2, curious to see if Obsidian can keep the magic (pun intended) as a first person action RPG thingy.

I bought terraria when it was early access and haven't really played it since it officially released so I'm just finishing up a playthrough. Just defeated the moon lord on classic going to head to expert now

I'm going to play valheim with my wife soon

Currently playing (the) Gnorp Apologue is an idle game currently on sale on steam for like £5. You play the Gnorps who mine a rock. It's basically an allegory for capitalism or something. Your little Gnorps go ham on that rock practically destroying themselves.

Good game. Enjoying it. Dev seems to have big update plans.

Ended up dropping Naraka since last thread. Too frustrating and instead of giving players queues they resort to massive lobbies full of bots. The bots are genuinely harder than most people and it's just honestly kinda frustrating because of their existence. If it was humans wrecking me I probably would have stayed but ehhhh game after game of dying to cheeseing bots isn't it for me.

Noticed Smite 2 got announced. Will probably be checking that out if/when something actually releases. That could be soon or months though we'll see.

Finished Hi-Fi Rush. Don't get the hype, it's a spectacle fighter without much spectacle. The mid-game really drags by going 5 or so levels without a boss fight. It also teases you about boss fights you don't get to have 3 different times, which isn't great. Imo the worst thing I can say about it is that the music in this game all about fighting along to the beat is utterly forgettable, with the exception of Roquefort's boss theme which is cheating anyway.

On Chapter 8 of Yakuza Like a Dragon. A neat premise/gimmick (the MC is deluded and thinks the world works by Dragon Quest logic), but the filler encounters you fight just walking around the street are frustrating. It's also not clear what any of the stats do, which is annoying. I'd only ever played 0 before this and I'm seeing a lot of similarities (chicken business consultant, yakuza boss who dresses up as a baby for fetish reasons, MC is kicked out of the Yakuza at the start, many minigames are copy-pasted) and it makes me wonder how different the rest of the series actually are from each other given the story isn't especially interesting. I could never really recommend this to anyone but I admit it has its own strange charm.

Rotating through Brotato, Soulstone Survivors, and Holocure when I need a podcast game. It really pains me to say it but Holocure is the best Vampire Survivors-like (excluding VS itself).

Started a coop Elden Ring playthrough with the Seamless Coop mod with a buddy and we're having fun even if it's still a bit buggy.

What are you most anticipating for 2024 in terms of games?

Shadow of the Erdtree.

I've been playing Rimworld. I've been playing nothing but Rimworld for one and a half months, yet burned out on it yesterday when it crashed. I am currently playing nothing at all, nothing that requires time or dedication at least, just a few odds and ends. Planning on either finishing my Paper Mario:TTYD playthrough or actually getting around to playing through Pizza Tower. Guess I am feeling like getting some use out of my Xbox controller again. Also took a look at Dot Age a few days ago, idk how I feel about it, gonna think about it.

And as always, I find paying zero attention to release schedules fills my life with pleasant surprises instead of anxious waiting and agonizing over delays.

Been heavy on Warframe lately-- kicking Destiny and FFXIV out of my life freed up a lot of time, but now here I am aching for something that plays like Diablo without all of the super-minute, 'only one path in this vast web is correct' vibe that Path of Exile has. ~~And always aching for old-school arena shooter pvp.~~

Been playing baldurs gate 3 and ratchet and clank rift apart here recently, and I've been enjoying both. Only in act one of bg3 but I've already clocked ~30hrs in it playing as a halfling bard. Never played dnd before and was expecting it to be more like divinity original sin but it's definitely not; feel like I've only just now gotten the hang of when to rest and use my limited spells. Really my only complaint right now is having the darn pack limit, super annoying. I know there's probably a mod to eliminate it that I might have to check out. Finding food for camp seems to be super easy so I don't really get why you have to have it for long rests, just let me rest man.

Ratchet and Clank is super fun. I haven't played one since the original trilogy, so when this one came to PC I had to check it out. Not too long, smooth gameplay, and it's still fun to 100% planets.

Also, I'm always starting up civilization 6 and crusader kings 3 games. Easy weekend games to pop in and keep going all day while I do other stuff. Might play oblivion after I'm done with bg3 and r&c. Never played all of it and have a bit of a bethesda game itch after bouncing off starfield. Honestly didn't hate starfield, but I really need some quality of life mods so I'll give it a couple of years.