More detailed plays
Horizon - I've gone back to the first which I never fully finished and I've been enjoying it a bit more than the second. Everything is less busy and more simplified. Maybe I'm getting old, but picking robosaurs out of foliage so detailed it looks like it has more pixels than real life is quite fatiguing. I've also found it works passably well over PS5 remote play so I can mindlessly collect herbs in bed.
Uncharted collection - surprisingly dated in many ways (visually and control wise) but I'm still enjoying it. Murdering endless people and quipping about it never gets old.
Cyberpunk - after the 1.5 update I've returned to just wander around the gameworld shooting people. I've maxxed street rank yet have done about 3 sidequests. I'm on the final straight, and I think about a mission or two from the end, so I need to knuckle down and get it done. But it's great. Flawed yes, but amazing in many ways.
Deathloop - picked this up as I was curious. It's batshit crazy. A mad smashing together of art styles, game styles and game types. The overriding impression is how confident it is. Deathloop gives not two shits if you're along for the ride, the ride is departing anyway. I think it might be a bit much for me (there's a shit ton of STUFF to process) but I could see anyone on the Soc into Arkane's tone absolutely loving it. WhEn It CoMeS tO GamEpAss of course.
Apex - Season 12 has been brutal so far. But there is a new temporary game mode, called Control, which plays out like a 3 zone control shooter, rather than BR or Arena shooter mode. If this becomes popular and they make it permanent I could see it bringing a new crowd to Apex. Come for the movement and stay for something that currently plays better than Battlefield 2042 or Halo Infinite.
Want
Steam Deck. So much want.
Total Warhammer 3 to finish downloading - 112Gb? WTF.
Bin
The ususal
Ozark - I can't be the only person who is watching this with their partner. She loves it. I can't get over the fact not a single character changes. There is absolutely no progression. People do not learn. People do not adapt. People do not change. This is what made Breaking Bad so powerful. The "I am the one who knocks" moment, for example. Ozark is so static. And then they either have to bring in Poochie characters to try to mix it up or just randomly shoot people to try to keep you interested (works in Cyberpunk, not here). It's just bad. I think it's almost finished, thank god.
Lost Ark is going in the Bin after less than 8 hours. Fun combat doesn't save it from having what I feel is a really dire levelling experience. That and the endgame game sounds horrific. It was the dungeons that did it for me, when I did a few dungeons in a party and saw how completely superfluous I was I instantly missed FFXI/XIV's way of doing things.
Ozark - I can't be the only person who is watching this with their partner. She loves it. I can't get over the fact not a single character changes. There is absolutely no progression. People do not learn. People do not adapt. People do not change. This is what made Breaking Bad so powerful. The "I am the one who knocks" moment, for example. Ozark is so static. And then they either have to bring in Poochie characters to try to mix it up or just randomly shoot people to try to keep you interested (works in Cyberpunk, not here). It's just bad. I think it's almost finished, thank god.
Ozark! Yes, I'm also watching this with my other half and yes, she likes it much more than I do. I mean it's OK I guess but it's relentlessly fucking bleak and as you say it seems to mostly revolve around randomly killing major players off without warning - which is probably a fair reflection of this kind of life but doesn't work so well in terms of actual character development.
It means the core family have ludicrous plot armour and everyone else has… whatever the opposite of that is. Plot tissue paper? And they did an incredibly stupid flash-forward at the start of the last series showing all the main characters in a car crash scene which they still haven't got to yet so until the show actually gets to that point you know that they're all going to be OK and any point where they appear to be in danger is just a bluff and it's all going to work out just fine. Grrr.
I enjoyed Jason Bateman basically playing the same expressions and tone after he was tortured by a Mexican drug lord as he does when his children do something a bit naughty.
I think they're trying to turn the lead woman character into a Breaking Bad style villain, but it's not very convincing. The only thing that held it together is the acting of the woman with the blonde curly hair, but even she has nothing to work with now.
The brother arriving last season was absolutely a maximum Mr Poopy Butthole/Poochie moment.
The sudden arrival of hitherto-unmentioned family members is always, always a sign that a show has run out of ideas. The final season of Star Trek: TNG is full of that shit.
Agreed that Ruth is the only reason to keep watching, I've not seen the actor in anything else but she steals every scene she's in.
The sudden arrival of hitherto-unmentioned family members is always, always a sign that a show has run out of ideas. The final season of Star Trek: TNG is full of that shit.
I still have nightmares about Daphne's family in Frasier.
Jack Black in Community is the best example of how shows should handle sudden, random new characters.
I'm refusing to buy into the Elden Ring hype. It's fucking Dark Souls V2.0. Someone let me know when there are some realistic reviews out there that aren't just all the major sites playing a round of Soggy Biscuit.
It definitely feels like we'll get a better impression of what it's actually like in a couple of weeks.
Out of all these games, I've only played the original PS3 Demon's Souls and Bloodborne, and in both cases I absolutely loved the exploration and world-building and absolutely despised the ridiculously difficult bosses and the way you had to trudge back from a save point every time you wanted another go at them. I don't think Elden Ring is for me but I'm keeping half an eye on it just in case.
I’ve still only ever really gotten into Bloodborne, for various reasons, though that is possibly my favourite ever game. I have really liked what I’ve played of the others (and Nioh, etc), and I do intend to play them all if and when I get chance. In fact, I have Elden Ring preloaded, and the next four working days booked off…
That’s just coincidence though. I’m actually not even going to be in the country.
I've played:
- the OG demon's souls, which I liked the idea of but never really got the hang of
- DS2 which I found unfair and unlikeable
- Bloodborne, which was impressive but far too aggressive for me, I need a shield to cower behind dammit!
- DS3, which I really liked and had just started to really get into when the twins arrived and I had zero chance of the sustained focus needed to progress.
Anyway, I'm interested in ER in an oblique, maybe-when-the-kids-are-older type of way. Might actually be able to get a PSfive to play it on by then too…
I daren't google mart's soggy biscuit.
It definitely looks like a game for fans of the series, people who hate Dark Souls will probably hate it. I love Dark Souls so I think it's a safe bet that I will love this. I thought it was a PS5 exclusive for a while so I haven't followed it much but it does seem like you're going to die a lot again, this time while riding a horse sometimes. I dunno' what seasoning they've added to this version of DS1 but I can sorta' see the hype for it.
When they've stopped pissing around with sequels to Dark Souls and made an original game, they've all been great.
I bought Demons (Demon's? Demons'?) Souls on PS3 when it first came out in the US because I happened to be there at the time, way before anyone knew what it was or cared about the franchise. Never played it.
I bought Dark Souls and played as far as Blighttown - opened the doors, looked inside, went 'Nope' and never played again. Fuck those poison frogs in the sewer.
Never cared about DS2 or 3, felt like Bandai Namco was pushing the series too hard and trying to ride the lightning as much as possible, as is always their way.
I have Bloodborne and always wanted to get into it because, unlike Al, the overly aggressive style appeals greatly compared to the slowly slowly catchy Black Knight approach. Never started it because it came at a bad time in my life and then I just stopped playing these massively sprawling adventure games altogether.
I don't think I'd like Elden Ring. I might be wrong. But my lifestyle now just isn't built for games like that, I need more bite-sized experiences that can be easily picked up and put down. If it's ever on Game Pass, sure. But not now.
I like these games in theory, but in practice I generally don't find them enjoyable. When I play games I'm often tired, and I'm not looking for some kind of challenge, or for a game to punish me. These games have so much interesting stuff in them, but in order to get at it, you have to be a certain kind of person, and have a certain abundance of time to dedicate to them. The last time I tried to play Dark Souls, I realised that my routine, the only possible games-playing routine I could have, of 30 minutes right at the end of the day when I'm knackered, was just leading to me spending that entire time going through the same section again another couple of times with no progress against the boss, as I wasn't able to put the required practice in to improve the way the game wanted me to.
I kind of hate games that require practice. I don't see gaming as a skill I want to hone. I don't want the emotions my precious time I put aside for entertainment elicit to be frustration and anger. I've seen Elden Ring described as Dark Souls meets Breath of the Wild, but in that case why wouldn't you just play Breath of the Wild, which is endlessly delightful? Elden Ring still intrigues me, oddly, as the idea of being the person who has the free time and lack of responsibilities to be able to dig into it appeals. I'd quite like to have that life, in a way. But my life isn't like that, so the game is shut off to me.
I found Bloodborne a fascinating game to watch other people play – livestreams and YouTubelol compilations and the like – but my own attempts at it were… let's just say "disappointing" and not interrogate the extent of my failure.
Elden does sound a bit like the sort of game it'll be less effort to watch someone with skills play on Twitch, for sure.
I was thinking the PC version might be a good bet, as surely sooner or later someone will come up with an easy mode hack.
Edit: I think anyone having thoughts about giving it a shot, even with misgivings, should read the PC Gamer review. That made me come to my senses and realise it wasn't for me.
But my lifestyle now just isn't built for games like that, I need more bite-sized experiences that can be easily picked up and put down. If it's ever on Game Pass, sure. But not now.
mart and his crazy lifestyle choices.
But my lifestyle now just isn't built for games like that, I need more bite-sized experiences that can be easily picked up and put down. If it's ever on Game Pass, sure. But not now.
mart and his crazy lifestyle choices.
I would guess that administrating the concept of Martonomics for the whole western world is a full time job and doesn't leave much room for big difficult games.
As an illustration of how my own lack of free time precludes any possibility of being able to enjoy a game like Elden Ring, I still haven't finished the prelude in Total War Warhammer 3, and have spent the last four days worth of gaming time getting slightly further and further through a single side-mission on Mass Effect.
Late additional Play with a wish:
Can we get a freaking mouse+keyboard control mode for Katamari Damacy Reroll on PC? There's a god-awful keyboard only mode, and the standard controller tank controls which I can put up with because the game is so goddamn charming and the original (this is a, well, reroll) was one of (hell, the) only game on PS2 along with We Love Katamari I really cared about. But really, it can just be so awkward and a pain sometimes. There was a Katamari-like game released on PC called The Wonderful End of the World that used a mouse+keyboard control and it was great (the game didn't quite have the charm of KD but it was pretty good).
Reroll is pretty damn good on its own and I can accept the tank gamepad controls for the most part, but what a wonderful thing it would be to use a mouse and keyboard.
Aren't the awkward controls the point though? Put anything else in there and the game becomes too easy, the veneer of this big open world rubbed off by making traversal less clunky. The wonky controls match the equally wonky premise and wonderfully wonky protagonists. Leave the Prince be!
On Dark Souls I have played at least two, never completed them but don't actually find them that* hard, I quite enjoyed the methodical nature of them and pattern learning but like others found them a tad too long and not always that fun to play after a while.
The only reason Dark Souls got that reputation was marketing imo.
Aren't the awkward controls the point though? Put anything else in there and the game becomes too easy, the veneer of this big open world rubbed off by making traversal less clunky. The wonky controls match the equally wonky premise and wonderfully wonky protagonists. Leave the Prince be!
I mean, you're not wrong, really, which is why I still like the original and like this one. The option to have keyboard and mouse would help me when I want to throw the gamepad across the room because of the freaking imprecise analog sticks, though, because I'd have something to play it with until I buy a new gamepad…
Also: this post may be the first time in Society history that I have said one of you aren't wrong. So pin this up and immortalize it. History has been made.
I'm welling up here. I'd like to thank the Academy…
Some vague things:
Elden Ring is still nagging in the back of my mind, but I don't think I'll get it until it's either really cheap or even ever. Think I'll start watching people play it on Twitch instead and save myself the experience.
Considered a Steam Deck for all of five minutes, but I honestly reckon I'd find it massively uncomfortable and never use it. I have a Switch that I love, and I have Xbox on my phone which works incredibly well with my Razer add-on pad I got… I think that'll do. Plus, having had experience before with Valve's efforts to foist Steam OS on everyone about 8 years ago in Steam machines, I can appreciate the reviews saying the thing just isn't there yet. Maybe one day.
Binned off Puzzle and Dragons on Switch really quickly because it's just so dull. Was only £3 and I figured I should like it given it's Match-3, but no. Deleted, moving on.
Considered a Steam Deck for all of five minutes, but I honestly reckon I'd find it massively uncomfortable and never use it. I have a Switch that I love, and I have Xbox on my phone which works incredibly well with my Razer add-on pad I got… I think that'll do. Plus, having had experience before with Valve's efforts to foist Steam OS on everyone about 8 years ago in Steam machines, I can appreciate the reviews saying the thing just isn't there yet. Maybe one day.
You may not recognise it, but this is what peak mart looks like.
Your obsession with trying to put me down is becoming unnerving. Just so you know.
Elden Ring is still nagging in the back of my mind, but I don't think I'll get it until it's either really cheap or even ever. Think I'll start watching people play it on Twitch instead and save myself the experience.
Well, that resolve lasted all of ten minutes. Too many people with opinions I trust saying it's worth getting, so it's been, er, got. At least I only paid half price for it, so that's something.
What can I say, I'm easily swayed by public opinion (when it's from people I respect or trust). Donlan on Eurogamer was the clincher, so what the hell, why not.
Thanks to whoever it was here that pointed me at eneba.com though, that saved me €40 on the price.
