The Official "What Are You Playing?" Thread (Post Screens)

[madmaltese★ 2,588]

1 minute ago, -GD-X said:

i think i'm the only one who liked the first puzzle lol.

Once I knew what I had to do it was fine, unfortunately I needed to see a video to know what I had to do lol 

[JonDnD 2,644]

I dont like puzzles period so ill probably google the whole game lol

[-GD-X★ 7,760]

Just now, madmaltese said:

Once I knew what I had to do it was fine, unfortunately I needed to see a video to know what I had to do lol 

it was definitely trial and error, which is old school to a fault. it gave me myst vibes.

[-GD-X★ 7,760]

Just now, JonbX said:

I dont like puzzles period so ill probably google the whole game lol

eh you may end up hating it then. the game is all about its twisted world and puzzles. the combat is a puzzle, in itself, since you are trying to avoid it lol.

[Twinblade★ 3,936]

I had no trouble with the first puzzle  But I honestly think that recent games with so much hand holding and dumbed down puzzle design like GoE Ragnarok might actually be making us dumber at games with actual puzzles.

[madmaltese★ 2,588]

6 minutes ago, JonbX said:

I dont like puzzles period so ill probably google the whole game lol

lol yeah prob not gonna be your cup of tea then. Whole game is puzzles and the parts that arent (combat) are the worst part of the game.

[JonDnD 2,644]

Still trying to finish Person 5 too. GODDAMN. Ive played 100+ hour games but this is by far the longest 100+ hour game ive ever played. The palaces just start to become an annoyance. I love this game but i am so ready for it to end. After just crossing 100 hours, i hope that is soon.

[madmaltese★ 2,588]

1 minute ago, Twinblade said:

I had no trouble with the first puzzle  But I honestly think that recent games with so much hand holding and dumbed down puzzle design like GoE Ragnarok might actually be making us dumber at games with actual puzzles.

lmao you somehow even managed to reference GoW in a Scorn convo 

 

The first puzzle in scorn sticks out from also every other puzzle in scorn. The actual puzzle itself isn't even apparent unlike every puzzle after it which are all presented in a proper way to a player. The game opens with no direction which is fine but how is the least direction given at the start of a game, before you know it's mechanics or puzzle logic as opposed to as you progress in the game. It's extremely poor game design. Go check out comments on youtube for the first puzzle, pretty much everyone saying how bad it is. 

I had zero issues with actually solving the puzzle once I knew what the puzzle was.

[-GD-X★ 7,760]

1 minute ago, JonbX said:

Still trying to finish Person 5 too. GODDAMN. Ive played 100+ hour games but this is by far the longest 100+ hour game ive ever played. The palaces just start to become an annoyance. I love this game but i am so ready for it to end. After just crossing 100 hours, i hope that is soon.

gangsta af

[Twinblade★ 3,936]

I need to rant again about The Callisto Protocol. It really is astonishing just how many things it gets wrong from a design perspective.

 

I was actually enjoying my session today. The game showered me with ammo, so much so that I actually had to leave around half of the ammo pick ups I encountered behind because I kept running out of inventory space.

Of course thats not ideal for a horror game. But I actually welcomed that because that means I could focus more on using guns and not have to deal as much with the clunky ass melee combat.

 

Then I got to a part where I completed a story objective, and the game auto saved at that point. There was a path with several rooms off to the side, so I decided to explore that. I took out a few enemies, found some more resources (including stuff I could sell) and also collected one of the audio logs. I then proceeded to a nearby shop, unloaded some stuff, and was able to get a new upgrade for my baton

 

Then I exited that area and ran into one of the OHK robots the game sometimes throws at you. You have to use stealth to avoid it (because of course thats what you want from a Dead Space-like game) and I ended up dying. Ok, no biggie. Ill just try again from the last checkpoint....

 

Then I realized that the game didn't save ANY of the things I did since completing the story objective. It didn't save the resources I picked up, it didn't save the audio log I picked up, it didn't save the stuff I did at the shop, and it didn't even bother saving when I transitioned to the area with the robot. And this isn't the first time this has happened, but its the time I lost the most amount of progress.

 

Then there's the other niggling things that are more minor but can still be annoying

 

- Why is the weapon switching so slow and clumsy?

- Why is it that I can't stack/unstack items in my inventory?

- Why do I have to come to a stop and stay in the inventory to listen to audio logs? And why can't they add a simple 'NEW' label or something to let you know which audio logs you haven't triggered yet?

- Why is there no quick/180 turn in a game that will spawn enemies behind you even when you're already dealing with enemies in front of you? So you have to clumsily turn like a tank while the dodging throws you off and makes it even harder to avoid not becoming a shit sandwich?

- Why do I have to aim my gun to see how much stasis juice I have remaining?

 

 

Games INCLUDING the original Dead Space from 2008 had already figured out these design shortcomings, yet they have the audacity to charge $70 for this when this kind of stuff isn't even present in many budget steam horror games.

 

I really just want to throw in the towel. I just don't have the patience for games like this that manage to get so many of the basics wrong.

 

[Remij 4,688]

Yea, my problems are numerous... however, I gotta admit.. there's something about this game that I really like.

 

I'm like right at the end of the game from what I gather, and just taking a bit of a break right now, but I'll try to post my thoughts on it after.

[Twinblade★ 3,936]

1 hour ago, Remij said:

Yea, my problems are numerous... however, I gotta admit.. there's something about this game that I really like.

 

I'm like right at the end of the game from what I gather, and just taking a bit of a break right now, but I'll try to post my thoughts on it after.

 Yeah I mean I see the potential but for me it  just fails at a lot of what it tries to do. 
 

But despite that I can’t say I regret buying it. Big budget horror games are practically non existent nowadays, so I’m ok with supporting the devs. Maybe one day they’ll be able to make a sequel that manages to deliver.

[Remij 4,688]

Ok, so The Callisto Protocol..

First with some things that I like about the game.  Obviously the visuals are quite good.  Certain aspects of the game's visuals are top tier, really impressive stuff.  I also think I'm in the minority here, but I actually love this game's combat.  I love how visceral it feels with the melee attacks, and how you can combo things up with your GRP ability and interrupt enemies while setting them up for blasting or beatdowns.  The different guns feel alright, but honestly nothing too special.  Getting some of the alternate fire add-ons adds a bit to the variety, but it would have been better if the guns felt more different from each other.  I really liked the combat and the dodge mechanic though.  I agree with what you said about the weapon switching being slow.. that's kinda frustrating.  I'm also not a fan of how they used the d-pad for health and just how long the damn animations take every time.  There are some really dogshit encounters though with a late enemy which border on frustrating.. but I was able to overcome, and I really liked some of the encounters. The cinematics and voice acting are all on point.  Sometimes the game just looks incredible.  The main characters and enemies all have TONS of fantastic detail.

 

The enemy designs are all pretty awesome, but they're not the most different things in the world.  More variety would have been better, but it's pretty good.  DLC could fix that.  There's a boss enemy which kills you in one hit and that was annoying.. and also the last boss sucked pretty bad.  Not really a fan of that boss at all.

When it comes to the gameplay unfortunately there's not much room for exploring around this game's detailed environments, and it kinda detracts from the game.  It's very linear, even for these types of games.  There's WAY too much vent crawling, shimmying through cracks, and slow walking.. it honestly really gets in the way more often than it builds any kind of tension.  Sometimes it's really egregious and you're slogging through vents and shit for like 5 minutes.. and a lot of the areas have the same general feel, despite looking different.

 

The game really has an issue with regards to how it tells a lot of its story.  You go around and find these recordings along the way... but they don't automatically play. I guarantee most people will not listen to them at all.  Why the hell don't they automatically play when you pick them up?  On that note, the inventory system is mostly useless.  Sure you can drop items to make more room, but I didn't have to do it that much.  The biggest sin about it is that you cant continue to move while in the inventory.  It's such a downgrade from Dead Space.. really weird.  The ability to listen to these recordings while moving around and doing other shit would have made a huge difference.  A lot of the story is non-existent if you're not listening to the recordings...until closer to the end.. then you get some story details.. but it's quite thin.  

 

Another issue I have with the game is the save system.  LMAO who the fuck thought that was a good idea?  The game autosaves at certain times, but sometimes there's quite a big gap between where it last saved and where you died.. so you lose all that progress and have to collect the same shit over again.  The game also has a manual saving option... but all it does is make a separate copy of the last checkpoint save... so you're not saving the game right where you are lmfao..  That's really dumb.

 

So there's a lot that I didn't really care for.. but the weird thing is that I still really like this game.  I'm down for linear story driven horror games 100%... I like the combat and the gameplay overall.. but it just needs some tweaking.  I'd like to see just a bit more open areas with a couple of different paths thrown in there every so often to mix it up a bit.  I'll definitely be playing through this game again though.  And speaking of that, the lack of any New Game + mode really sucks.  It would be nice to have all your upgrades and weapons and play with even harder enemies.

I'm looking forward to the DLC and any QoL improvements and balance fixes the bring to the game.  I think there's a solid foundation here to build off of for a potential sequel.

 

7.5/10

 

A few pics: (nothing really too spoilery.. not going to tag em)

 

 

[-GD-X★ 7,760]

I’ll wait for a massive price drop and patches. It sounds rough af. 

[Twinblade★ 3,936]

Good post remij. I think the best part of the game is definitely the visuals and presentations. The quality of the assets in these environments, even just random sci-fi objects and circuitry plastered all over the walls and shit is impressive. 
 

I honestly don’t think I’ll ever finish it and if i were to score It so far I would probably give it a 6 at most. But there’s definitely potential. And the fact they managed to get a new team together who ended up making one of the best looking games this gen already means they definitely have a lot of talented people for future games.

[Remij 4,688]

5 hours ago, -GD-X said:

I’ll wait for a massive price drop and patches. It sounds rough af. 

Yeah that's probably the best idea.  They have some DLC planned for the next 6 months which will include story content, a New Game+ mode, and a couple of other modes and more death animations lol.

 

I think there's a lot they can do to improve this game just with some balancing and QoL improvements.  I'll be keeping an eye on it and will let yall know.

[Remij 4,688]

1 hour ago, Twinblade said:

Good post remij. I think the best part of the game is definitely the visuals and presentations. The quality of the assets in these environments, even just random sci-fi objects and circuitry plastered all over the walls and shit is impressive. 
 

I honestly don’t think I’ll ever finish it and if i were to score It so far I would probably give it a 6 at most. But there’s definitely potential. And the fact they managed to get a new team together who ended up making one of the best looking games this gen already means they definitely have a lot of talented people for future games.

Thanks.  I was quite tired last night when I posted it.  Kinda messy, just tying shit out as it came to my head.. but yea.. I think your assessment of it is perfectly fair.  It attempts to do some things and like you said, doesn't do them particularly well.  I really do think they made a big mistake by not having those audio recordings auto play when you pick them up and allowing you to continue doing things while you listen to them.  Another thing that annoyed me is at the upgrade stations how long you have to wait for all the animations to happen every time... it's like ok I get it.  I wish it would allow me to skip them with the press of a button.  Oh.. and for christ sake, allow me to print out multiple ammo packs at a time...

 

Just things like that which could have been a lot better.

 

Another thing I just remembered... ok I mentioned the game has forced walking sections where you basically move slow as fuck, mostly probably for loading purposes... but some of those thresholds are literally IN THE MIDDEL OF BATTLE AREAS... and I was running from an enemy because I had to regroup and then suddenly my character just starts walking slow as fuck... I was like WTF?!  

 

Again, I'll shit on this game, but for some strange reason I still really like it.  It keeps me wanting to come back and play it.

[Twinblade★ 3,936]

28 minutes ago, Remij said:

Thanks.  I was quite tired last night when I posted it.  Kinda messy, just tying shit out as it came to my head.. but yea.. I think your assessment of it is perfectly fair.  It attempts to do some things and like you said, doesn't do them particularly well.  I really do think they made a big mistake by not having those audio recordings auto play when you pick them up and allowing you to continue doing things while you listen to them.  Another thing that annoyed me is at the upgrade stations how long you have to wait for all the animations to happen every time... it's like ok I get it.  I wish it would allow me to skip them with the press of a button.  Oh.. and for christ sake, allow me to print out multiple ammo packs at a time...

 

Just things like that which could have been a lot better.

 

Another thing I just remembered... ok I mentioned the game has forced walking sections where you basically move slow as fuck, mostly probably for loading purposes... but some of those thresholds are literally IN THE MIDDEL OF BATTLE AREAS... and I was running from an enemy because I had to regroup and then suddenly my character just starts walking slow as fuck... I was like WTF?!  

 

Again, I'll shit on this game, but for some strange reason I still really like it.  It keeps me wanting to come back and play it.

 
the auto saving/checkpointing is the real killer for me right now. I should be able to explore and play at my own pace without having to worry about losing my fucking progress. I imagine that’s something that could be patched at some point though.

[Twinblade★ 3,936]

Tried a few recent gamepass games

 

Warhammer Darktide - I enjoyed the few missions I played but I feel like im getting my fill already. What actually bothers me the most is the mission progression, there's basically a bunch of random missions you can pick from and they cycled out for other missions at different intervals and they all feel detached from one another. There's no linear progression so it feels like you're actually going through a campaign (just like L4D). I actually sat on the mission screen and had to think about whether or not I had already played a mission I was going to select because their environments and objectives really aren't that unique so they blend together which things worse. Im really not sure what they were thinking with this kind of design.

 

Gungrave GORE - This feels like a PS2 game and not even the fun, nostalgic kind. Its just plain bad and dated, im not sure who this game is trying to appeal to but its definitely not me.

 

Chained Echoes - This game has some really neat ideas along with a kick ass soundtrack and presentation, but im just not feeling old school RPGs at the moment (I bought Live a Live earlier this year and barely touched it). Still, people into this genre will definitely like a lot of things about this game.

 

Not sure what to play at the moment, but after playing Burnhouse Lane i've been thinking a lot about The Cat Lady. I think im just gonna replay the game, its been years but I bet it still holds up really well.

 

[TLHBO 2,162]

On 2022-12-06 at 11:39 PM, Twinblade said:

Finished Burnhouse Lane. That was a hell of an emotional ride , definitely my favorite game that the Michalski brothers have put out since Cat Lady. These guys are some of the most talented indie devs in the business, and I think this game has some of the best storytelling this year. I got some real David Lynch/Stephen King type of vibes from a lot of the scenes.

 

I bought it to show support but I havent played shit recently as December always has me working literally every day up until Christmas. This is definitely the first game I'm playing on my week off though. Good to hear its another banger, Cat Lady was definitely my favourite too.