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On 10/1/2024 5:27 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
What Have You Been Playing... IN SEPTEMBER 2024?
Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Which I just finished (in October). Finally.
It's playtime was creeping up on my logged playtime for Civilization 5,
and though I know that one is missing a sizeable part due to Steam
library shenanigans, that still is a rather long time I spent with one
game.
Well, when I say finished, I managed to get the Atlantis questline done.
I also managed to get the best possible result with the family
questline, reuniting the whole family with nobody dying at all (allowing
me to use all four as special lieutenants on the Adrestia).
Only after finishing it I realized that this is not necessarily
something everybody manages.
It was a pretty good game, even if a bit uneven in some parts. I noticed design and detailing of different areas seem to have been done by
different people, as the quality of voice acting and look of some
locations changed drastically between places.
September always feels like such a short month. There's just so much
going on that the days just whiz by. Maybe it's just me. Anyway, at
least it was long enough for me to get some gaming in.
Case in point:
Whereupon I list the games
---------------------------------------
* Still Wakes The Deep
* The Last of Us Part 1
* American Truck Simulator: Arkansas
Whereupon I discuss in length (and length and length and length) ---------------------------------------
* Still Wakes The Deep
Forty-five minutes into my adventure and deep in the bowels of a
collapsing oil derrick, I heard the monster moan, "Don't look at
me!", and all I could do is sigh to myself and say, "Oh, it's one of
_those_ games."
Not that it really was that much of a surprise to me. By "those games"
I meant "Still Wakes" to be an example of what I've taken to call the
'don't look' genre of survival horror. You know the type; you're stuck
in a dark place and there's a horrendous, invulnerable monster
stalking you; a monster so fearsome that merely looking at you will
drive you mad. Technically, "Still Wakes" doesn't hew that closely to
that genre's rules --gaze upon the monstrosities all you like; there's
no sanity meter-- but it doesn't stray too far either. You can't kill
the beasts; all you can do is hide from them.
But my tired comment was more a sigh of disappointment because I'd
been hoping that "Still Wakes" might be more than that. That it might
offer something new and unique to the genre. It was developed by "The
Chinese Room" after all; the same guys who had also created "Dear
Esther" and "Everybody's Gone to the Rapture" and were known for their detailed worlds and ambiguous stories. There was such potential for
"Still Wakes" to be more than it was.
To be fair, the levels are gorgeous and intricately designed. The oil
rig where the action takes place all looks incredibly... well, maybe
not realistic per se, but believable, in a sci-fi Hollywood sort of
way. There's an incredible tactility to the world. Too, aspects of the
plot are as enigmatic as in any of Chinese Room's other games; is the
entity behind it all hostile? Where did it come from? <ROT13 spoiler protection> Vf gur cebgntbavfg qrnq ng gur raq? </ROT13> There's a lot
of questions left unanswered by the end of the game, and the story is
the better for it.
It's just a shame the gameplay can't live up to the rest. Because
"Still Wakes" is completely unoriginal and unsurprising in that
regard. Once the adventure kicks off, you can pretty much predict
what's going to happen; the tactics you're going to have to take, the
scares the game is going to throw at you. This lack of originality
isn't necessarily damning... IF the rest of the game can offer
anything else. If it's gameplay is better than its competitors, or its
story is stronger or its visuals head-and-shoulders above its
contemporaries.
But "Still Wakes" isn't particularly memorable in any of these areas;
it's a dead-average game at best. Actually, some parts are fairly
tedious, and there's a number of areas where a lack of clear direction
make the game frustrating, albeit not challenging (the game is only a
couple steps above a walking sim in its lack of difficulty). There's
nothing about "Still Wakes" that makes it stand out; its gameplay
isn't exciting, its locale or monsters aren't unique, and its story
doesn't give you anything to think about. If you like games of this
sort, there are so many better ones to try (the original "Amnesia",
for being one of the first-of-its-kind, or maybe "SOMA" for its thought-provoking story).
But what's truly disappointing is how much talent was put into this
game; that so much artistry and love was put into a product that,
ultimately, was a generic survival/horror clone. It feels such a waste
and more than anything, it's what made me dislike this game. All that
skill and _this_ is what you decided to make?
* The Last of Us Part 1
I bought the game on sale and regretted it almost immediately.
Not because "The Last of Us" is a bad game; it's not. Quite the
opposite, I rank it as one of the _best_ games in my collection. It's
got pretty much everything going for it; good story, strong
characters, excellent level design, well-developed game mechanics, an excellent difficulty curve, very good voice-acting and music, and
gorgeous graphics. It's a highly regarded game for a lot of reasons,
and I agree with the critics: "The Last of Us" is a game worth
playing.
The problem I have with it is... I've already played it. And even on
sale, I just don't think that it justifies paying twice for it. It's a terrific game, I tell myself... but if I'd wanted to play it again,
couldn't I have just played it on my Playstation?
To be fair, this is an enhanced version of the Playstation 3 game I
already own. It's got improved graphics (albeit the original was so
pretty, I really have to squint to see the difference). It includes
the "Left Behind" DLC. I can play the game (quite well, actually)
using my preferred keyboard and mouse. All good things, to be sure.
I'm just not entirely convinced it's worth the price of admission.
The game is proving to be a good burn-in test for my PC though. I
don't think _any_ game I've played has pushed my CPU quite as hard as
"The Last of Us". It's hard to see why it needs all that horsepower,
though; its beauty is due more to its artistry than its graphical
flourishes. I've seen better games that didn't peg the CPU quite as
high. Fortunately, I have CPU cycles to spare, and even on "ultra"
settings, the framerate was silky smooth... but I'm not really
convinced of developer Naughty Dog's PC coding skills. It seems like
they could have done more without torturing my CPU like that.
I played the game. I enjoyed the game. It's great. If you've never
played the game (and have a computer that can handle it) this version
is probably the one for you. But I can't help but feel that maybe I
should have waited for a steeper discount before buying.
* American Truck Simulator: Arkansas
Yeah, we're back with more Truck Simulator. There's a new map
expansion DLC released; what do you expect, that I _not_ play it? This
time around we get to explore Arkansas, a state about which I know particularly little (it was home to a US President and borders the Mississippi River; that's about it). So I wasn't sure what to expect
from this outing.
I certainly didn't expect that I'd enjoy it as much as I did.
Mostly, it was the visuals. Now that American Truck Simulator is
finally leaving the American West, we're starting to get into greener
and lusher climes. After 8 years of meandering through desert and
scrub-land, we're finally coming into forests and farms; it's so
welcome to be in a territory where the primary colours aren't grey and
tan. The developers apparently also loosened the purse strings enough
to purchase some new vegetation assets. It was a joy seeing trees
other than the scraggly pines or palms; never was the sight of a thick-waisted oak so welcome.
But more than the change in environment, some credit needs be given to
the map designers too. Despite actually being one of the smallest map
DLCs released, ATS: Arkansas felt a lot wider and open than a lot of
the previous expansions. The roads were broader, the sight-lines
better arranged. The lay of the terrain felt a lot more natural too;
many of the earlier DLCs felt unduly flat, as if hills and gullies
were afterthoughts placed onto an unnaturally flat plain. The
topography in Arkansas felt a lot more natural. Well, most of the
time; there were areas that still seemed to use the old paradigm. But
when it worked, it worked great; it added a lot of verisimilitude to
the world.
Similarly, the layout of the towns and roads felt a lot more
realistic. I wouldn't call any of the towns of Arkansas -at least not
as portrayed in the game- picturesque, but the improved design made
them feel less like cardboard stand-ins of cities for me to drive
through, and more like places people might actually live. The addition
of so many highway billboards was exceptionally welcome; now it
_really_ felt like I was driving down an American highway!
Also, props to the developer who designed the completely superfluous
park in the city of Hot Springs. Completely useless for hauling cargo
- the road is far too narrow and twisty- it's an absolutely gorgeous
drive.
The driving in general was incredibly pleasant. The roads were, as
mentioned, wide and well laid out; there was a minimum of extraneous
turns, sudden speed limit changes, and annoying curves. In too many
previous DLC, navigating the road network was just... aggravating. I
never got that feeling in this expansion. If I've any real complaints,
it was the overuse of 'security checkpoints' outside large industrial
parks. While arguably realistic, waiting for the game to recognize my
truck is there and then slowly open the gate was a tedium I didn't
enjoy. In fact, it was such an annoyance, I think I'll find a mod that
just keeps them open all the time (I'm sure one must exist).
Overall, the Arkansas DLC was incredibly well done. The state might
not have any real jaw-dropping set-pieces, but overall it was very
good looking; enough so I often wished I could have gotten out of my
truck and just wandered down some of those inaccessible roads and
paths to see more. It actually made me consider maybe visiting the
_real_ Arkansas at some point, which I can't say has happened with any
of the other DLC in this game. It's almost certainly catapulted itself
to the top of my list of favorite ATS expansions (sorry Montana;
you're a very pretty state in real life but your DLC wasn't as good).
Rarely have I been as happy to have paid day-one prices for a new
expansion as this. Good job, SCS Software!
---------------------------------------
Not a lot of games, but -like I said- it was a short month. It's
better than the no-games I played last month, anyway. Anyway, I'm
satisfied. But what about you?
What Have You Been Playing... IN SEPTEMBER 2024?
What Have You Been Playing... IN SEPTEMBER 2024?
On Tue, 01 Oct 2024 17:50:31 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
October already? Way too busy! DuoLingo, Propel, and Voro in my iPhone
when I can. I wanted to play a free Steam weekend game over the weekend, >but got slammed by my colony. I still haven't resumed my Star Wars: The
Old Republic's tutorial. I regretted downloading and starting to play
since it was a huge 56.2 GB game and no free time. :(
Heh. That reminds me of my almost-never touched Microsoft Flight
Simulator install. I keep it around largely because I simply can't
face downloading it a second time; it currently weighs in at 400GB!
And Microsoft's servers aren't the fastest either...
So it earns itself a permanent spot on the hard-drive even though it
really isn't all that much fun to play. Every now and then I fire it
up to justify its existence (and even then, I usually have to wait an
hour just to PLAY it because it needs to download another 20GB of
updates).
But what's the alternative: uninstall the game and then wait two weeks
to redownload everything should I want to revisit the game in 2027?
Oh well, at least it's on my spinning-rust HDD.
What Have You Been Playing... IN SEPTEMBER 2024?
candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:
Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote at 18:57 this Friday (GMT):
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
...
'Cause it's PRETTY! And it's fun to show off to others. "Hey, you
wanna fly over your home-town?"
Can you really see your own home though? I tried to do that on the
airplane with the map showing where the plane is. Haha.
Actually, yes. In fact, I can see my _car_.
I think it's probably the first thing everybody does in games like
this; they fire it up and bumble around their old neighborhoods,
trying to spot the places they lived and worked.
It's really not much different in that regard from GoogleEarth, except
it's visuals are a bit more interactive and the framerate is better.
;-)
Which is one reason I keep it on disk; people LIKE to see their homes
in a video game (I'm guilty of this too). I fire up the game and say,
"So you live on Nowhere Lane in Podinkumborough? Let's go there!"
followed shortly thereafter by their proudly exclaiming, "Oh hey,
that's my house! That's my grocery! That's my petrol station!" As if
our lives are only notable if they're mentioned in fiction ;-)
Hey, that's my nest! ;)
Nest?
Where I live!
On Thu, 03 Oct 2024 00:37:10 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
On Tue, 01 Oct 2024 17:50:31 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
October already? Way too busy! DuoLingo, Propel, and Voro in my iPhone >>>> when I can. I wanted to play a free Steam weekend game over the weekend, >>>> but got slammed by my colony. I still haven't resumed my Star Wars: The >>>> Old Republic's tutorial. I regretted downloading and starting to play
since it was a huge 56.2 GB game and no free time. :(
Heh. That reminds me of my almost-never touched Microsoft Flight
Simulator install. I keep it around largely because I simply can't
face downloading it a second time; it currently weighs in at 400GB!
And Microsoft's servers aren't the fastest either...
So it earns itself a permanent spot on the hard-drive even though it
really isn't all that much fun to play. Every now and then I fire it
up to justify its existence (and even then, I usually have to wait an
hour just to PLAY it because it needs to download another 20GB of
updates).
But what's the alternative: uninstall the game and then wait two weeks
to redownload everything should I want to revisit the game in 2027?
Oh well, at least it's on my spinning-rust HDD.
If it is not fun to play, then why bother keeping it? :P
'Cause it's PRETTY! And it's fun to show off to others. "Hey, you
wanna fly over your home-town?"
But that doesn't work if I then follow up with a, "Just give me 36
hours first to download and install the damn thing." ;-)
And now comes... the small stuff. I have awful memory for these ones.
- Earthbound Beginnings / Mother
The rpg that was never published despite being 100% translated and we
had to wait 25 years to play it officially (or just 10 if you played the leaked rom the early 2000s). Ahead of its time, broke many of the
conventions set by Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, but at the same time
it's also a nightmare of no difficulty balancing, negative QoL features
and one of the worst encounter rates ever.
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
On Tue, 01 Oct 2024 17:50:31 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
October already? Way too busy! DuoLingo, Propel, and Voro in my iPhone
when I can. I wanted to play a free Steam weekend game over the weekend,
but got slammed by my colony. I still haven't resumed my Star Wars: The
Old Republic's tutorial. I regretted downloading and starting to play
since it was a huge 56.2 GB game and no free time. :(
Heh. That reminds me of my almost-never touched Microsoft Flight
Simulator install. I keep it around largely because I simply can't
face downloading it a second time; it currently weighs in at 400GB!
And Microsoft's servers aren't the fastest either...
So it earns itself a permanent spot on the hard-drive even though it
really isn't all that much fun to play. Every now and then I fire it
up to justify its existence (and even then, I usually have to wait an
hour just to PLAY it because it needs to download another 20GB of
updates).
But what's the alternative: uninstall the game and then wait two weeks
to redownload everything should I want to revisit the game in 2027?
Oh well, at least it's on my spinning-rust HDD.
If it is not fun to play, then why bother keeping it? :P
On Thu, 03 Oct 2024 00:37:10 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
On Tue, 01 Oct 2024 17:50:31 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
October already? Way too busy! DuoLingo, Propel, and Voro in my iPhone
when I can. I wanted to play a free Steam weekend game over the weekend, >> >but got slammed by my colony. I still haven't resumed my Star Wars: The >> >Old Republic's tutorial. I regretted downloading and starting to play
since it was a huge 56.2 GB game and no free time. :(
Heh. That reminds me of my almost-never touched Microsoft Flight
Simulator install. I keep it around largely because I simply can't
face downloading it a second time; it currently weighs in at 400GB!
And Microsoft's servers aren't the fastest either...
So it earns itself a permanent spot on the hard-drive even though it
really isn't all that much fun to play. Every now and then I fire it
up to justify its existence (and even then, I usually have to wait an
hour just to PLAY it because it needs to download another 20GB of
updates).
But what's the alternative: uninstall the game and then wait two weeks
to redownload everything should I want to revisit the game in 2027?
Oh well, at least it's on my spinning-rust HDD.
If it is not fun to play, then why bother keeping it? :P
'Cause it's PRETTY! And it's fun to show off to others. "Hey, you
wanna fly over your home-town?"
'Cause it's PRETTY! And it's fun to show off to others. "Hey, you
wanna fly over your home-town?"
Can you really see your own home though? I tried to do that on the
airplane with the map showing where the plane is. Haha.
Actually, yes. In fact, I can see my _car_.
I think it's probably the first thing everybody does in games like
this; they fire it up and bumble around their old neighborhoods,
trying to spot the places they lived and worked.
It's really not much different in that regard from GoogleEarth, except
it's visuals are a bit more interactive and the framerate is better.
;-)
Which is one reason I keep it on disk; people LIKE to see their homes
in a video game (I'm guilty of this too). I fire up the game and say,
"So you live on Nowhere Lane in Podinkumborough? Let's go there!"
followed shortly thereafter by their proudly exclaiming, "Oh hey,
that's my house! That's my grocery! That's my petrol station!" As if
our lives are only notable if they're mentioned in fiction ;-)
Sid Meier's Civilization V. Thing's getting pretty hot. Seems like
there is reason to go back to Civ IV even though 2K didn't prepare >achievements for it. Gonna have a few games of Civ IV and see what's >necessary to keep it running smoothly. For reference, this is the last >Civilization that used squares. Civ V and VI both used hexagons for >position. I think Civ IV also allows stacked military units.