Comment on Weekly Recommendations Thread: What are you playing this week?
Coelacanth@feddit.nu 3 days agoOh, I haven’t played PoE in about that long too, I think. I used to play the temporary Hardcore leagues back when it was new, but eventually the feature creep started to get to me. Which also meant that getting back into it later felt like such a daunting task I never did. And then by the time PoE2 came out last year I was kind of over the Diablo-style ARPGs
I gave up on the game after a few days since without a proper story, the grind got boring very quickly.
Yeah, I couldn’t tell you what the story was either beyond being exiled on an island. I also have felt that in my older age I’m gravitating more towards medium-length games with a proper story that you can finish and put away, as opposed to the endless MMOs and grindy ARPGs I enjoyed in my youth.
AusatKeyboardPremi@lemmy.world 3 days ago
You could not have captured it better.
I am glad we had this conversation. Please do recommend me some more games. if you do not mind.
I was on a long break from gaming (almost a year) due to life, and plan to resume weekend gaming soon. For the same reason, I have been scouting these communities and threads for recommendations.
As of now, I zeroed down on the Mass Effect trilogy on the Steam Deck but I am also considering a second play through of Ghosts of Tsushima. I would prefer a light(er) game which is easy to get into and allow me to take breaks as I don’t think I will be able to pull off hour long sessions initially.
Coelacanth@feddit.nu 3 days ago
For another indie game you might not have heard about Skald: Against the Black Priory was a surprise hit with me when I played it earlier this year. Cool story and world building, very concise and conscious of its budget limits so smaller in scope, probably a 16-20h game with no filler and no grinding. I liked it a lot, and it should play great on the Steam Deck too. Sort of a tribute to retro CRPGs but without the clunk of those old games. Combat was simple but fun, not overly complex. Beautiful pixel art, especially the splash screens.
I am way less high on Ghost of Tsushima than most people. I would never even consider a second playthrough. The game is way too long for what it is, which is essentially just a more polished garden variety Ubisoft open world game. There is not enough variety in it to sustain a what - 60h playthrough? The quest design isn’t interesting or varied enough and most importantly: the writing isn’t varied enough. You can’t have 60 hours of dialogue delivered in only a stoic, dour monotone. 15 minutes of Kenji spread over a handful of moments isn’t enough to break it up. Anyway, rant over.
Okay what else… Well, Blue Prince came out this year and is a contender for Indie of the Year - maybe even a potential Game of the Year nomination. I liked it a lot, a puzzle roguelite is an interesting concept and if you like note taking and screenshotting and escape room type puzzles you’ll have a good time with I think.
Otherwise I won’t be the first you see of this if you’ve been scouring these threads, but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is almost a shoe-in for game of the year and the hype is most certainly deserved. Any gamer should do themselves a favour and experience it, not least to be able to participate in the zeitgeist.
AusatKeyboardPremi@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Thanks again for the recommendations. Blue Prince looks refreshingly good and different. I did hear quite a bit about Clair Obscur, but turn based gameplay never appealed to me. I did not play Baldur’s Gate 3 for the same reasons, in spite of it being so well received.
I agree with your criticisms about Ghosts of Tsushima, and have made similar observations as well. However, Ghost of Tsushima and Spider-Man are my comfort games where I just soak in their music and atmosphere while I do something else like talk with someone.
Coelacanth@feddit.nu 1 day ago
Clair Obscur has active combat elements injected into turn based combat. Attacks require QTEs to pull off successfully and most importantly - enemy attacks can be dodged or parried in real time. It feels much more like playing Dark Souls than a traditional turn based game. The gameplay designer uses to be a Sekiro speedrunner, and it shows. I will again almost insist on you giving it a chance, it’s very rare for games to come around that are works of art in this manner.
For what it’s worth: I don’t think BG3 is as good or as important to play. I think BG3 has a lot of flaws and doesn’t deserve the hype of “best game of all time”. It’s a fun game to play, but that’s it. It’s writing is “okay for a videogame” territory, but nothing more. It also falls apart in the third act in several ways.
Clair Obscur does imo deserve the hype. It is gaming as an artform in a manner that’s rare to see in a AA+ budget format. It also has a very strong prologue, which should fairly easily fit under Steam’s refund window. I suggest giving it a shot.