Games you are currently playing - Part 7

[SimGrindcore]

I'm back here after a 5 month pause!

I took a break of my Mafia 3 playthrough to go achievement hunting in several different games:

• Hitman 2
• Superhot: Mind Control Delete
• Battlefield 4
• Call Of Duty: WWII
• The Walking Dead: Season 2
• Fallout 4
• Far Cry 5
• Battlefield 5
• Far Cry 6
• Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

I plan completing (grinding) these games too:

• Fallout 76 (1 achievement left)
• Far Cry: Blood Dragon (1 achievement left)

There is a ton of work to do!

 

[flyersnorth]

Picked up Alan Wake II on a Black Friday sale.

Have not played the first one. I played Control a few years ago and gave up after half a dozen hours - it just didn't click with me.

So far I'm enjoying Alan Wake II. I'm about 5 hours in, and the entire time has been tense, moody, dark. Great production. Gameplay is just ok, but the story is strong enough to keep me going.

It also came with the DLC, so that's nice.

 

[Unholy Diver]

Picked up Alan Wake II on a Black Friday sale.

Have not played the first one. I played Control a few years ago and gave up after half a dozen hours - it just didn't click with me.

So far I'm enjoying Alan Wake II. I'm about 5 hours in, and the entire time has been tense, moody, dark. Great production. Gameplay is just ok, but the story is strong enough to keep me going.

It also came with the DLC, so that's nice.

That would be a fair description of the original too, I gave up midway thru, then went back a decade or so later and replayed it and it was fairly enjoyable

Control didn't really grab me either, probably played a bit longer than you did but threw in the towel before the ending

Where did you find this black friday deal?

 

[flyersnorth]

That would be a fair description of the original too, I gave up midway thru, then went back a decade or so later and replayed it and it was fairly enjoyable

Control didn't really grab me either, probably played a bit longer than you did but threw in the towel before the ending

Where did you find this black friday deal?

It's on Xbox. Only this version (with the included DLC) was on sale.

 

[Unholy Diver]

It's on Xbox. Only this version (with the included DLC) was on sale.

I almost picked it up the other day at Bestbuy, but then I saw the 79.99 price tag, I liked the first one, but not quite that much, even with the DLC

 

[pistolpete11]

Alan Wake 1 was better on the easiest difficulty. The atmosphere, mood, and story were all enjoyable to me, but the gameplay was almost unplayable. I haven't played the second one, but yeah, that description sounds pretty similar to the first one.

I liked Control, though. So maybe they've gotten better in the gameplay department.

 

[flyersnorth]

I almost picked it up the other day at Bestbuy, but then I saw the 79.99 price tag, I liked the first one, but not quite that much, even with the DLC

This is the one I got

Buy Alan Wake 2 Deluxe Edition | Xbox

Unlock exclusive content with the Alan Wake 2 Deluxe Edition. Expansion Pass (Night Springs Expansion and Lake House Expansion), Consumable Lantern Charm, and the Crimson Windbreaker, Celebrity Suit, Parliament Shotgun Skin, and Nordic Shotgun Skin cosmetics

www.xbox.com

 

[flyersnorth]

Alan Wake 1 was better on the easiest difficulty. The atmosphere, mood, and story were all enjoyable to me, but the gameplay was almost unplayable. I haven't played the second one, but yeah, that description sounds pretty similar to the first one.

I liked Control, though. So maybe they've gotten better in the gameplay department.

I'm guessing you'd probably feel the same about the sequel.

Story does seem solid though.

 

[Unholy Diver]

This is the one I got

Buy Alan Wake 2 Deluxe Edition | Xbox

Unlock exclusive content with the Alan Wake 2 Deluxe Edition. Expansion Pass (Night Springs Expansion and Lake House Expansion), Consumable Lantern Charm, and the Crimson Windbreaker, Celebrity Suit, Parliament Shotgun Skin, and Nordic Shotgun Skin cosmetics

www.xbox.com

Half off might be enough to tempt me, I'll have to see if a similar deal is on the US XB store

 

[Mikeaveli]

As a fan of the original Alan Wake I was pretty disappointed by the sequel, the marketing portrayed it as a survival horror game similar to Resident Evil 2 but after 5 hours I felt it was a boring walking simulator and dropped the game. The graphics are outstanding though.

 

[flyersnorth]

As a fan of the original Alan Wake I was pretty disappointed by the sequel, the marketing portrayed it as a survival horror game similar to Resident Evil 2 but after 5 hours I felt it was a boring walking simulator and dropped the game. The graphics are outstanding though.

That's the impression I'm getting too - very much a game on rails.

Those are generally hit or miss with me. I figure I can get through this one.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 on hard is f***ing brutal. I died 5x to a single mutant without being able to kill it. I had to drop it down to normal difficulty after that lol

The game is still pretty hardcore even at normal though. I'm only about an hour in and it's pretty sweet. I heard it was really poorly optimized. I'm playing on a 4090 at max settings and was nervous when the opening cutscene was a steady 50-55 fps but gameplay bumped up to 90-110. It was so weird to see the jump in frame rate when the graphics didn't change and I got more control.

 

[12ozPapa]

Still playing Age of Empires 2 like an OG

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Today's launch of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 seemingly went well...

View attachment 933096

It wouldn’t load in at launch so I backed away until the evening but have had no issues since. Actually really like the career. I remember the 2020 version being a bit wonky at launch. They might have underestimated how many people were interested.

 

[x Tame Impala]

I'm back here after a 5 month pause!

I took a break of my Mafia 3 playthrough to go achievement hunting in several different games:

• Hitman 2
• Superhot: Mind Control Delete
• Battlefield 4
• Call Of Duty: WWII
• The Walking Dead: Season 2
• Fallout 4
• Far Cry 5
• Battlefield 5
• Far Cry 6
• Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

I plan completing (grinding) these games too:

• Fallout 76 (1 achievement left)
• Far Cry: Blood Dragon (1 achievement left)

There is a ton of work to do!

Man I haven’t played Blood Dragon in forever. What a cool ass thing for them to do. I’m surprised nothing more ever came from it

 

[Mikeaveli]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 on hard is f***ing brutal. I died 5x to a single mutant without being able to kill it. I had to drop it down to normal difficulty after that lol

The game is still pretty hardcore even at normal though. I'm only about an hour in and it's pretty sweet. I heard it was really poorly optimized. I'm playing on a 4090 at max settings and was nervous when the opening cutscene was a steady 50-55 fps but gameplay bumped up to 90-110. It was so weird to see the jump in frame rate when the graphics didn't change and I got more control.

I'm about an hour in as well, it's not the smoothest experience but I'm having fun with the game so far.

I noticed when first booting up the game it sets DLSS frame generation to an "auto" setting. The change in frame rate you noticed is probably due to frame gen turning on. I saw a similar difference when toggling frame gen on and off in the starting area.

 

[Osprey]

It wouldn’t load in at launch so I backed away until the evening but have had no issues since. Actually really like the career. I remember the 2020 version being a bit wonky at launch. They might have underestimated how many people were interested.

I read that that's exactly what happened. Microsoft planned for 200,000 players at launch and greatly underestimated. Their database servers couldn't keep up. Most of the negative reviews were from people who couldn't even play the game, and also couldn't refund it because the slow download from Microsoft used up their 2-hour Steam refund window.

Still playing Age of Empires 2 like an OG

I'm planning to jump back in this weekend to play the new ancient Greece DLC that just released. I recently played through Age of Mythology: Retold and enjoyed it, but am looking forward to a more historical take on ancient Greece.

 

[Mikeaveli]

I've had problems with MSFS2024 as well, couldn't load in at all on launch day. Tried again yesterday and I was able to create my character but every time I tried to start career mode the game would crash.

I was not expecting S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 to be the more stable of those two games

 

[Blitzkrug]

I think i'm at the end (or at least close to) Dragon Quest 3 and the only complaint i really have is man does the levelling system suuuuuuuucks.

Right now i have a party of my level 34 Hero, level 32 sage, level 34 warrior and level 33 monster wrangler. Haven't had too much trouble with any of the stuff thrown at me. This dungeon i'm at now though has enemies that hit fairly hard, even with my guys being as geared up as can reasonably be.

So i figure "alright, it's still largely an old school JRPG at its core so a little grinding would fix it." Except the problem is even mobs in this tougher dungeon are only giving me 1k per battle, metal slimes are extremely unreliable as a farm without a monk or thief so f*** me i guess?

Not saying i want to go from 1 to 100 instantly but jeez.

 

[Voodoo Child]

I think i'm at the end (or at least close to) Dragon Quest 3 and the only complaint i really have is man does the levelling system suuuuuuuucks.

Right now i have a party of my level 34 Hero, level 32 sage, level 34 warrior and level 33 monster wrangler. Haven't had too much trouble with any of the stuff thrown at me. This dungeon i'm at now though has enemies that hit fairly hard, even with my guys being as geared up as can reasonably be.

So i figure "alright, it's still largely an old school JRPG at its core so a little grinding would fix it." Except the problem is even mobs in this tougher dungeon are only giving me 1k per battle, metal slimes are extremely unreliable as a farm without a monk or thief so f*** me i guess?

Not saying i want to go from 1 to 100 instantly but jeez.

Not that it'll help much but the best grinding spot I've found so far is Orochi's lair.

Regular encounters 500-700, die in a turn if you have ice magic, but also fairly frequent, as in every 10 battles you'll get at least two, occurrences of plain Jane Metal Slimes who drop 1040 exp each, either 3 tacked onto a group or a line of 7. If you get 7 of them and are set up right you should be able to get 3-4.

Just got the silver orb and the bird, lv 39 hero, lv 39 mage that I'm changing to a Martial Artist for speed after lv 40, lv 33 Warrior from a Monster Tamer and lv 36 Sage.

I assume you're talking about Necogrond and agree that place sucks. Enemies hit like tanks, some can cast Thwack and kill your party, it's huge, Holy Protection doesn't even work and I had like 3 battles where Liquid Metals showed up and they all ran away before I could move. You should be able to grind out a level every 20-30 minutes in Orochi's lair easy.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 definitely needs some optimization fixes but I am loving it so far. Fortunately, the only big frame drops are in the village and not out while exploring or in combat.

It also helps having a top of the line PC...

 

[HabsCowboysOwn]

Just finished The Witcher 3 for the first time a few days ago, started in May. 400+ hours, what a journey. Last time I invested this much time in a game was RDR2 almost 5 years ago.

Easily one of, if not the best game I've ever played and it cost me 15 bucks on sale with both DLCs. One of those rare instances in life where you get so much value out of something it feels like you're cheating the system.

 

[Bocephus86]

Just finished The Witcher 3 for the first time a few days ago, started in May. 400+ hours, what a journey. Last time I invested this much time in a game was RDR2 almost 5 years ago.

Easily one of, if not the best game I've ever played and it cost me 15 bucks on sale with both DLCs. One of those rare instances in life where you get so much value out of something it feels like you're cheating the system.

What ending did you get? I feel the same way about The Witcher 3, it was one of the few games I ever played that I spent so much time on + was left wanting even more after. The story and characters were just so strong.

Shit I was sappy enough to get teared up when they released that short pure fan service video like a year after blood & wine.