What have we all been playing recently?

finished totk finally! am now playing ocarina of time. the camera controls have killed me multiple times.

 

You're on a path in the woods. And at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a princess.

You're here to slay her.
If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

 

Baldur's Gate 3 my beloved! It's kept me good company over the past three weeks I've been sick.

I've typically been REALLY BAD at turn-based tactical games so I was hesitant even though I knew I'd enjoy the other aspects of the game, but it turns out I should have given myself more credit. The initial learning curve was steep for me but being patient with myself (and not getting grumpy at having to reload fights) paid off.

 

I've been playing Psychonauts. I watched a 100% LP years ago, and it's been weird figuring out what I forgot. I remembered the Lungfish's name, but had zero memory of the existence of an entire level (Gloria's Theater).

 

finally finishing pokemon legends arceus
took me long enough lol

 

West of Loathing, because I plan to buy Shadows Over Loathing soon, and I remembered how much I loved the first one.

If I had a computer, I would play their browser game Kingdom of Loathing (it’s free as far as I know?) but I’m working off my phone and no wifi half the time, so I rely a lot on my switch for games as of late.

 

Now that Outer Wilds is out on the Switch, my brother and I have jumped on it. Thoughts from a few hours in:

1. The controls are... A Lot. And awkward. Oh god. Help me.
2. Tuning into your fellow travelers' music from across the solar system with the signalscope is one of the most brilliant concepts and bits of game design I've ever seen.
3. Those who recommended it for fans of Tunic and Heaven's Vault were extremely right.*
4. Those who avoided sharing details and recommended going in blind were extremely right.

Spoiler: Major early-game spoiler

The realization, five runs in, of what was killing us every time was such a phenomenal moment of discovery; I think we spent a full five minutes jabbering breathlessly back and forth about everything it explained, the foreshadowing, etc. I can't wait to explore more.

* ...I should probably clarify that Outer Wilds does not involve any hands-on language deciphering; it's similar in the overall "open-world exploration in search of mysteries and answers" sense.

 

Spoiler

if you don't waste at least one full loops just horking down marshmallows at the spawn point are you even playing the game right?

 

In Stars And Time

aka cute b&w timeloop depression simulator: much longer version than the initial Start Again: A Prologue

 

Started playing Reverse: 1999, really enjoying it so far! Very unique character design, love the APPle. As much as I like Genshin character design, nothing beats women in suits. Also Sonetto is so cute.

 

palworld! I've had it for 2 days and have progressed to the point where managing the different mechanics is becoming overwhelming. it's really fucking fun though. I know it's a blatant pokemon knockoff but as far as I'm concerned that just means pokemon has to stop resting on its laurels and actually put effort into making a high quality, polished game.

I normally don't take the bastard route in games where you can be a bastard but I'm thinking of having a goal to collect one of every type of human npc in a viewing cage lmao

 

My sibling's been playing that! When I came down from my bedroom to get breakfast this morning, they announced, "Want to see my war crimes?" and pulled out a not!Flareon and used it as a flamethrower.

(Meanwhile, I've been playing Ni no Kuni 2 and basically wheezing with laughter nonstop because I went into it having played the first game but 100% blind about this one, and was consequently caught off guard by one of the most bonkers tone-change premises I have ever seen in a sequel, ever. I simultaneously want to liveblog it endlessly because it's hilarious and want to diligently hide the contents of the opening cutscene under spoilers because not knowing it was coming made it much, much funnier.)

 

I've been enjoying Palworld quite a bit too, vaguely bemused by the storm of controversy over it (which seems to be A: Maybe, possibly, AI was used at some point? B: Some of the designs resemble Pokemon C: The company's previous game, Crafttopia, was... not great? Unfinished? Something.) It's pretty decent, though I've run into a bit of a lull where my progress is slowing drastically, around level 11-12 ish? At least I got the sanity situation stabilized, and a slow trickle of basic resources. I assume I have to beat the bosses to gain ancient technology? combat is a little awkward and when paired with being very unforgiving that's a bit... rough.

I will say that it's not really a 'pokemon-like' in terms of genre, you don't have a great deal of fine control over your pals, and while there *is* a type chart... I'm... still figuring it out. Earth-type attacks don't *seem* to do much against the first boss, which was what I tried right away.

Perhaps MONKEY WITH A GUN can help solve my Zoe problems.

 

From what I've seen looking over my sibling's shoulder, I have to kind of agree with this as a criticism. Obviously the whole point is that they're Pokemon, but most of the designs are so blatantly tracing that they look like sprite edits. I've seen Pokemon Fusion fanart that looks more like original Fakemon than most of Palworld's- most canon Pokemon have more distinctive silhouettes and a couple more layers of thought to the design elements. It kinda gave me the vibe that the game was salty that it had to make its own designs at all. While of course they're going to want to pun on the franchise they're parodying, they're leaning on it so hard that I felt like it was getting in the way of the designs having their own identity. Like, did Kingpaca need to be wearing Empoleon's crown? Part of what people enjoy in Pokemon is using your old friends, but another part of the appeal is befriending new little guys, and it seems like they're leaving a lot on the table there.

 

yeah, the designs are definitely ripped off, but to me the gameplay is different enough that it doesn't matter too much. from what I hear the whole game is basically a mashup of bits of other games - Ark and Factorio (or similar) especially - but the mashup is so well done that it's not so much a problem, at least for me. plus it's still early access, so hopefully we might get more original designs later?

fwiw I've heard that the best way to get xp early game is to complete the "catch 10 of everything" objectives! thats what I'm going to be doing with a podcast before work today lol

 

on the other hand, copying Pokemon's homework as blatantly as it is means it's one of shockingly few monster-collector games I've seen whose creature designs are actually working for me in any way

 

Well, sure enough, someone immediately a pokemon mod.
... and got C&D'd within minutes of announcing it.

That helped! Getting the crossbow boosted my damage potential considerably. Also rebinding dodge from control to V. Managed to defeat Zoe, sadly this does not give you the opportunity to capture her, but it did give me a *lot* of ancient tech points.

I've started on building my *second* base. And noted that all the ore deposits are literally a few meters further away than the diameter of a base.

... still wondering where ancient technology pieces are found. I've got a whole bunch of things that need them.

 

ancient technology is a boss drop! every boss, not just the tower bosses. I think you only get points the first time you beat them though.

I made my second base earlier this week in a spot with a really nice view of the mountains and tree, and today I demolished my first starter base to open up an ore mining base instead. apparently pals with mining level 2 can mine ore so I'm just going to stick a bunch of them there with a berry farm for maintenance and come collect the spoils whenever I need ingots lol.

apparently the pokemon mod was a patreon supporter exclusive so really he was asking for it.

 

Oof, yeah, that'll do it.

In the meantime... I've noticed a slight potential problem with my new base...


This game can be really pretty, though. I'm not sure if the entire world map is a commissioned/bought asset, but it's still pretty nice.

 

runescape has me in its clutches once more