No I've come across those, but as far as I can tell they generally only affect one card at a time? So you might play a whole ante plus boss, and as a reward you delete the 7 of Diamonds. The pace just seems glacial.
I guess it depends on your drop rate for Arcane Packs, and other factors. The bigger one, you can pick two cards, not just one. There's a token you can buy which adds Tarot to the shop area more regularly. Suit-changing Tarot affect up to three cards, not just one. You can also get rarer Spectral card packs that can affect things more drastically, like changing all the displayed cards into one random suit (lower odds of getting what you want than being able to choose the suit, but more cards affected). It's about spending cash on what you want to do… as long as you can earn the money, you can do it. You can also skip blinds to get tags, which can help too.
Thing is, it's a circle… you have to play to unlock more options, but you can't have more options if you don't play with the limited ones first. Gotta suffer pain to get the pleasure. 
So I heard you guys like skill trees 
That's not a skill tree, that's a skill forest.
What in the unholy hell is that.
That's not a skill tree, that's a skill forest.
Perfect
EDIT - Path of Exile 2, Mart :D
Level ups are so exciting in BG3 man, you get some real game changing spells and just really fun toys. I level up in the Underdark and get Gaseous Form which instantly lets me fly over the gate I couldn't pick next to me and 'pocket' a chest before floating back and opening it for a rare helm. Also the shit I had to do to get to the Hag boss fight, and the fight itself was like, fuck yeah we're thinking out of the box now. I don't play DnD but this game is slowly opening a third eye on my forehead.
Kinda wish I played Divinity 2: Original Sin now, I hope going back to it isn't too limiting. then again, I'm still in Act 1 of BG3 and have like four playthroughs in my head lined up, amazing game.
They recently fixed the GTA PS2 Trilogy, and it's 20 quid on PS5 at the moment, so I've been playing through those.
The driving is absolutely perfect, I forgot just how much it nails the joy of police chases, zipping through traffic in a fragile sports car that's liable to explode any second. And of course, then you get a joyful chain reaction with every car in the area. The on-foot stuff is noticeably worse, in fact it's downright terrible. But at least in GTA 3 they seem to know this, and keep you in your car 90 percent of the time.
I've just finished 3 (or rather, given up on the final island, the lack of checkpoints and PS2 difficulty are brutal) and moved on to Vice City. There's a noticeable jump in quality, with a more cohesive story and of course that soundtrack. It's incredible that we got all 3 of these games in the space of 3 or 4 years. It's been 10 years since GTA 5.
I 100% used save states to beat GTA3 a few months ago, that last mission would have been infuriating otherwise. The jump in mission design quality from 3 to VC is practically astronomical too.
It's not that bad. Full clip on the AK and full armour and you be fine. I think I finished the last few bad guys with molotovs.
It's possible that they made it easier on the mobile though.
Am I a bad person for still using that hacked, reverse-engineered version of GTA3/VC (re3/reVC) from some years ago that Rockstar took down because I want to play them natively on Linux (using legally obtained data files that I still have on Steam because I bought them both before Rockstar decided to push their new, "improved" version)? Well, I don't care, I'm doing it anyway.
And gonna be honest, I didn't care much for San Andreas compared to 3 and VC. I don't know why.
I’m with you on that one; it’s the only 3D GTA I’ve never finished, whereas all the others I’ve actually probably finished multiple times.
I can remember bits of the maps of all them like they were places I lived, again with the exception of San Andreas, though I’m not sure if it’s a cause or symptom. I actually bought the Trilogy partly to try and give it another go.
I think on a pure gameplay basis San Andreas probably had the most fun and chaos potential, but I really think people fell in love with Vice City's vibe and specific choices of gangster films it was taking from, maybe. That said, I dunno' which I like better, I'll get back to you…
San Andreas, I barely scratched the surface of because I got into a vicious loop of 'go to gym, get lean > deliver drugs on a bike > eat fast food, get fat > sleep' and never went anywhere. I've got the trilogy on Switch, maybe I'll give it another try.
Had a lot of fun with the gang wars mechanic tbh
Soul Calibur 3 is kind of rough to emulate, at least not on a big mega PC. Seems to be one of those things that are annoying no matter what though, basically some stages like in SC2 will lag for some technical reason and no one seems to have a solution for it proper, just mitigation and brute force. It's one of the things where of all the games that can be emulated perfectly in 2024 you happen to pick the one that has issues. That and good lord this AI in Arcade Mode is not fun at all, I hope the Strategy RPG mode where you can make your own character and play a cross between Soul Calibur and a Tactics game isn't this frustrating…
All that aside, everything here is good. They took Arcade mode from SC2 and made it a slightly narrative based 'choose your own adventure' with a very brief sprinkle of QTE in there, so it feels like quite a special mode when it's literally just arcade mode. And I know I'm upscaling it but this looks rather nice, noticable step up from SC2.
I have been informed that Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution had a very good single player experiencei n the Quest Mode to that game, I love VF so I'll be dipping into that at some point too. Considering I shit on the idea that Fighting Games need decent single player content quite heavily in the past I am finding myself seeking these experiences out more and more lately. (Can you tell my wifi is bad??? :clown: )
San Andreas, I barely scratched the surface of because I got into a vicious loop of 'go to gym, get lean > deliver drugs on a bike > eat fast food, get fat > sleep' and never went anywhere.
I can see why you didn't have time to play games.
Update: Siegfried destroyed Arcade mode. I miss Soul Calibur 4. :(
EDIT - ha ha remember when Yoda and Darth Vader were guest characters
Timesplitters 3 on PS5 - N G L the aiming isn't quite as pitch perfect on a non emulated console and official sticks as I remember but it's more than fine overall.
I remembered I own Soul Calibur 6 so I redownloaded that on the PS5, I barely did any single player stuff as I just played online against randos, so that's more SC content lined up. There's a lot of DLC stuff I haven't got yet and probably won't so I guess I'm not going all in…but hey, Geralt is there!
EDIT - Steam sales, someone tell me RIGHT NOW why it's a bad idea to put all my crpg eggs in one basket and get Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, both Pillar of Eternity games and the first two Baldur Gate games. I know some of you play Pathfinder, tell me why people find WOTR so obtuse and unintuitive D:
EDIT 2 - omg the PSP Soul Calibur was ported to PS4 :o
Unlikely, but does anyone have a set of Rock Band drum cymbals (not the drum kit) that they no longer use and would want to part with? I fancy getting them - used to have them, but now I don't - but eBay wants stupid money and while I don't mind paying for them, I'm not that desperate. Thought I'd ask, just in case.
Unlikely, but does anyone have a set of Rock Band drum cymbals (not the drum kit) that they no longer use and would want to part with? I fancy getting them - used to have them, but now I don't - but eBay wants stupid money and while I don't mind paying for them, I'm not that desperate. Thought I'd ask, just in case.
I can't help you, sadly, but watch out because the cymbals for the Rock Band 2 drum kit are different to the cymbals for the Rock Band 4 drum kit. Make sure you get the right ones.
Noted. I have an RB3 drum kit, I believe, working with RB4 on my Series X through the wireless adapter that was far too expensive to pick up. I'll have to investigate what I need then.
A random WANT addition. But I recently spotted that CEX take certain board games as trade in. So currently knee deep in the 'sell to' basket with loads of stuff we haven't even opened, as spotted they have the Cyberpunk Xbox One X in on of the Sheffield stores, and I've wanted that for ages.
Part of it is I have reached that explosion of too much stuff again, so trading vast swathes of it that isn't being used, in for something I want and will use is actually cutting through my hoarder brain.
BIN - Good grief, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is slow and not fun. Really don't see what everyone is raving about, it's just wandering around a world you can't interact with unless something's specifically marked with an icon, being given prompts that aren't helpful (Captains being able to see through your disguise would matter if it actually told you which ones were captains in the first place) and fumbling with a crappy combat system that hasn't worked since it was in that weird first-person action game on 360 (can't remember the name for the life of me though). I gave it more than an hour to click and it didn't, so in the bin it goes.
I am thinking about the OG Xbox again, kinda' want one. I had the crystal one which looked fucking awesome 👌
Yeah, I'm with Mart – Indy just isn't doing it for me. I'm struggling with the glacial pacing, awful combat and emphasis on stealth (at least as far as I've gotten, up to the tomb in the Vatican), and the Indy wrapper is pulling me out more than it's helping my immersion.
We watched Raiders of the Lost Arc in the last couple weeks, and I don't feel like this is capturing the atmosphere or character at all.
a crappy combat system that hasn't worked since it was in that weird first-person action game on 360 (can't remember the name for the life of me though).
BREAKDOWN. It was called Breakdown. Not Condemned, because that was actually quite good.
I'm struggling with the glacial pacing, awful combat and emphasis on stealth (at least as far as I've gotten, up to the tomb in the Vatican)
I got just past that, where you're wandering around Vatican City doing… stuff. I met some old professor complaining about his dig being ruined, and then realised I was just playing because I felt obliged to after others said it was good. Quit, delete and now I'm drinking prosecco because why not.
I'm still loving Indy, getting near the end now though I keep slowing my progress down by going back to earlier areas to mop up collectibles. One of my favourite games of the year for sure. I can't change your minds I guess but just on this specific point:
Captains being able to see through your disguise would matter if it actually told you which ones were captains in the first place
They dress differently, they act differently, and any time any of them gets sight of you they get a VERY slow-building awareness circle over their heads (together with an audio cue) that gives you plenty of time to move or hide or do whatever. Unless you're sprinting around all the time and literally running into them, I can't believe you're having trouble working out who they are.
I can guess who they are, based on them being dressed a bit differently but, honestly, that's the kind of immersion I don't want from a game. Give me a small dot over their heads, ala Hitman, or something that shows me there's a threat present before I get close enough to cause problems. I get there are accessibility options, but those coloured tints are absolutely atrocious and totally the opposite of subtle (useful for people with visual impairments though).
I also realised, I hate the uncanny valley stuff. Some of the models are solid, but then the facial and body animation kicks in and ruins everything. Case in point: most of the characters except Indy.
Play
I'm really enjoying Road 96. You can often see the joins and tonally it's sometimes all over the place, but it's so confident in what it's trying to do that it really has swept me up. I hope it nails the landing as it's really been one of the best games I've played in recent memory. Hits especially deep at the moment too.
A heads-up - this is coming to Game Pass on 7 January. I think it's been on there before but I missed it so I will definitely be checking it out this time around on cav's recommendation.
