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

[-GD-X★ 7,729]

11 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

 

The whole structure is a lot to take in. I wonder if its possible to kill all the visionaries early on and basically finish the game without even acquiring most of the powers/weapons, or infusing anything? Or do they deliberately gate you from doing that until you've gone through a bunch of loops?

You have to kill all of them in the span of 24 hours. So, you’ll have to create scenarios where they will be in groups. It’s actually way easier than it sounds. The night portion is challenging, during the final run, because it’s packed with enemies and you’ll have 3 visionaries there. However, with shift and nexus maxed , it’s easy (as long as you don’t rush it). There’s no escaping the fact you’ll be killing the visionaries numerous times. You’ll need to infuse their powers and upgrades. However, they get easier the more powerful you become. 

[Twinblade★ 3,892]

12 hours ago, -GD-X said:

You have to kill all of them in the span of 24 hours. So, you’ll have to create scenarios where they will be in groups. It’s actually way easier than it sounds. The night portion is challenging, during the final run, because it’s packed with enemies and you’ll have 3 visionaries there. However, with shift and nexus maxed , it’s easy (as long as you don’t rush it). There’s no escaping the fact you’ll be killing the visionaries numerous times. You’ll need to infuse their powers and upgrades. However, they get easier the more powerful you become. 

 

I just got shift after killing Charlie, and I think at this point I fully understand the loop of the game (no pun intended). That area was pretty cool but the lack of guidance can be a bit annoying. For example Im pretty sure I fully powered up the rocket engine but couldn't figure out how to trigger it to kill everyone in that area. Maybe theres some kind of lead I missed that would have pointed me to the place to trigger it.

[-GD-X★ 7,729]

6 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

 

I just got shift after killing Charlie, and I think at this point I fully understand the loop of the game (no pun intended). That area was pretty cool but the lack of guidance can be a bit annoying. For example Im pretty sure I fully powered up the rocket engine but couldn't figure out how to trigger it to kill everyone in that area. Maybe theres some kind of lead I missed that would have pointed me to the place to trigger it.

Did you talk to 2bit to trigger it? 

[Twinblade★ 3,892]

1 minute ago, -GD-X said:

Did you talk to 2bit to trigger it? 

 
No, I must have missed it.

[-GD-X★ 7,729]

31 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

 
No, I must have missed it.

The path will be way clearer, once you start doing the visionary arcs. By completing them, you set up a chain of events that enable you to kill all of them in a 24 hour loop.

[-GD-X★ 7,729]

Guardians of the Galaxy is the biggest surprise of 2021.  It makes me want more focused, linear titles with 0 filler. I dare say the writing/VO rapes the movies. As for gameplay, it has fun action-adventure mechanics (shooting/platforming/exploration) and missions. Lots of diversity with its environments too. Some are downright jaw-dropping. 

[madmaltese★ 2,550]

Finished Halo Infinite campaign. Still semi stunned that that was it....

I have got to be playing a different game than any of the reviews I read because outside of the aesthetic return to classic Halo that was incredibly average. How do you go through an entire Halo campaign without even a single truly epic set piece? Without a single flying esque main mission. Without some epic chase or escaping mission. Without any epic feeling level. 95% of the levels are inside a facility, in the same single environment going from one terminal to another. Was a massive let down imo, especially cause the gunplay is pretty damn good and I enjoyed some of the new weapons but they really didn't get close to maximising what they could've done with it. 

 

On top of the lackluster main missions, the open world is an archiac open world formula in a relatively tiny map for modern standards. Something I would like but it is a tiny map with just the same repeat 3/4 things to do. Capture a FOB (literal ubisoft outpost that populates map when done), save a team of soldiers, kill a mini boss or open some form of chest. Got bland fast. The additional abilities are nearly all useless cause they are tied to the same slot and none even come close to the grappling hook so never really any point to change. 

Overall, with the SP and MP I'd say it's a 7.5. Core gameplay is good but everything that surrounds it is just one big disappointment in both the campaign and MP. 

[Twinblade★ 3,892]

5 hours ago, -GD-X said:

The path will be way clearer, once you start doing the visionary arcs. By completing them, you set up a chain of events that enable you to kill all of them in a 24 hour loop.

I think the game is starting to click for me. The way the time progression affects the events that can play out in the levels seems pretty damn cool. I had picked up a lead after killing Charlie in the morning about how he would meet another visionary chick (forgot her name) for a booty call in the afternoon in a different level. However when I went to that level she wasn't anywhere to be found. Then I realized that because I killed Charlie earlier in the day, she had no reason to show up because presumably she knew he was dead. I think stuff like this is going to elevate the game above the typical roguelike for me.

[madmaltese★ 2,550]

2 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

I think the game is starting to click for me. The way the time progression affects the events that can play out in the levels seems pretty damn cool. I had picked up a lead after killing Charlie in the morning about how he would meet another visionary chick (forgot her name) for a booty call in the afternoon in a different level. However when I went to that level she wasn't anywhere to be found. Then I realized that because I killed Charlie earlier in the day, she had no reason to show up because presumably she knew he was dead. I think stuff like this is going to elevate the game above the typical roguelike for me.

Deathloop's godliness begins here 

now you start playing and upgrading the different visionary abilities and it all comes together. 

[Hot Sauce 2,727]

3 hours ago, madmaltese said:

95% of the levels are inside a facility, in the same single environment going from one terminal to another.

 

I don't understand where you guys are coming from with this. The tower, the excavation site, the spire, destroying the AA guns, gathering the sequence data, the road to the Banished boss guy's hideout are all outside. The majority of the game's campaign happens in the world. I was completing later missions in a banshee.

 

[madmaltese★ 2,550]

3 minutes ago, Hot Sauce said:

 

I don't understand where you guys are coming from with this. The tower, the excavation site, the spire, destroying the AA guns, gathering the sequence data, the road to the Banished boss guy's hideout are all outside. The majority of the game's campaign happens in the world. I was completing later missions in a banshee.

 

The road to the Banished boss guy is the only one that stuck out for me as being part of a main mission structure, the rest were outside in the open world but a lot of them were part of mini objectives that give access to the main level (which is not based in the open world and closed off). So what I mean is that i'm talking about missions that once they began you couldn't do an open world task, not like the AA guns and stuff which is just a yellow objective as opposed to the FOB or rescuing teams. Every time you do those things you gain access to an indoor building that then initiates a mission that blocks the open world off till completion. Nearly all those were in a similar environment and it's those type of missions that I expect to have some level of grandness about them like we got in every other Halo game. Instead they were all, go to a terminal and every now and again beat a mini boss. 

[-GD-X★ 7,729]

1 hour ago, Twinblade said:

I think the game is starting to click for me. The way the time progression affects the events that can play out in the levels seems pretty damn cool. I had picked up a lead after killing Charlie in the morning about how he would meet another visionary chick (forgot her name) for a booty call in the afternoon in a different level. However when I went to that level she wasn't anywhere to be found. Then I realized that because I killed Charlie earlier in the day, she had no reason to show up because presumably she knew he was dead. I think stuff like this is going to elevate the game above the typical roguelike for me.

Yassss! You are at the “a ha” moment, where it all clicks. I loved shit like that, and it’s crucial for breaking the final loop. 

[Twinblade★ 3,892]

1 hour ago, -GD-X said:

Yassss! You are at the “a ha” moment, where it all clicks. I loved shit like that, and it’s crucial for breaking the final loop. 

 
I just encountered something really annoying though. I got the 3rd slab but since you can only equip 2, I swapped it with one that I already infused before leaving the level. However that one I left behind appears to be gone for good? So it seems that I should pretty much only bring 1 Slab into a level until I collect them all.

[-GD-X★ 7,729]

14 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

 
I just encountered something really annoying though. I got the 3rd slab but since you can only equip 2, I swapped it with one that I already infused before leaving the level. However that one I left behind appears to be gone for good? So it seems that I should pretty much only bring 1 Slab into a level until I collect them all.

Ohhhhh no. Let’s say you have shift and aether in a cycle. If you acquire havoc, you’ll lose whichever slab you dropped ONLY in that daily cycle. Once a slab is infused, you can NEVER LOSE it in-game. The same goes for guns and trinkets. So, at the start of your next cycle, the slab you dropped will return. The only way you can lose any of your infusions is if you sell them in the infusion menu. The only ones you’ll never lose are the 2 lives, double jump and your shitty stock gun. 

[Twinblade★ 3,892]

10 minutes ago, -GD-X said:

Ohhhhh no. Let’s say you have shift and aether in a cycle. If you acquire havoc, you’ll lose whichever slab you dropped ONLY in that daily cycle. Once a slab is infused, you can NEVER LOSE it in-game. The same goes for guns and trinkets. So, at the start of your next cycle, the slab you dropped will return. The only way you can lose any of your infusions is if you sell them in the infusion menu. The only ones you’ll never lose are the 2 lives, double jump and your shitty stock gun. 

 
yeah I just got destroyed by a really good Juliana player and when I restarted the loop I noticed that the Slab was in my inventory.

[-GD-X★ 7,729]

25 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

 
yeah I just got destroyed by a really good Juliana player and when I restarted the loop I noticed that the Slab was in my inventory.

Yeah, the infusing is a godsend. 

[Hot Sauce 2,727]

17 hours ago, madmaltese said:

The road to the Banished boss guy is the only one that stuck out for me as being part of a main mission structure, the rest were outside in the open world but a lot of them were part of mini objectives that give access to the main level (which is not based in the open world and closed off). So what I mean is that i'm talking about missions that once they began you couldn't do an open world task, not like the AA guns and stuff which is just a yellow objective as opposed to the FOB or rescuing teams. Every time you do those things you gain access to an indoor building that then initiates a mission that blocks the open world off till completion. Nearly all those were in a similar environment and it's those type of missions that I expect to have some level of grandness about them like we got in every other Halo game. Instead they were all, go to a terminal and every now and again beat a mini boss. 

 

Eh, I think main missions that don't force you into being closed off from the open world is a feather in the game's cap. Halo has always had big sandbox areas that act as a bridge to the linear levels being where most of the "main" levels are, this game just does them better.

[Twinblade★ 3,892]

18 minutes ago, Hot Sauce said:

 

Eh, I think main missions that don't force you into being closed off from the open world is a feather in the game's cap. Halo has always had big sandbox areas that act as a bridge to the linear levels being where most of the "main" levels are, this game just does them better.

 

Nah, the sandbox areas in previous games are way better. They still give you a lot of freedom but have more exciting battles and set pieces mixed in. The scarab battles from Halo 3 alone are better than anything in Infinite.

[Hot Sauce 2,727]

6 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

 

Nah, the sandbox areas in previous games are way better. They still give you a lot of freedom but have more exciting battles and set pieces mixed in. The scarab battles from Halo 3 alone are better than anything in Infinite.

 

Scarab battles are few and far between. Bungie games are great because they have the tight, linear levels that work as combat puzzles (on higher difficulties), sandbox levels with vehicles that provide some freedom in tackling a handful of objects, and big epic set pieces that happen a couple times per game. Infinite lacks those set pieces, but the average sandbox level that pushes you toward your next objective are the best the series has seen in Infinite.

 

This idea that Halo is massive set piece after massive set piece is just weird.

[Twinblade★ 3,892]

I’m think I’m gonna go offline in Deathloop. The Julianna invasions aren’t fun and just feel like interruptions to my progress in the game. Doesn’t help that I’m on PC using a controller, while other PC gamers are likely using KBM so there’s no way I can outgun them.