What are you playing right now?

[LordNu]

Been playing Chrono Cross on Switch due to travel. Not sure what I think, as it is no Chrono Trigger.

The music is pretty great!

That it is!! Its the one best thing going for it actually.

[salamander]

Dead Island 2 drops tomorrow!

Early reviews sound good.

Holy crap, really? Liked the first one but I didn't think they'd do another.

[Mandatory]

Dead Island 2 drops tomorrow!

Early reviews sound good.

Holy crap, really? Liked the first one but I didn't think they'd do another.

It’s really pretty great. Thoroughly enjoyed so far.

[YBBR]

Dead Island 2 drops tomorrow!

Early reviews sound good.

Holy crap, really? Liked the first one but I didn't think they'd do another.

The Techland? developer moved on to do the Dying Light games, so this isn't the same developer. Also this game changed hands like 3 different times through different studios. They announced this like 10 years ago apparently and it's finally coming out. Kind of a miracle it's even seeing the light of day.

[Mandatory]

Dead Island 2 drops tomorrow!

Early reviews sound good.

Holy crap, really? Liked the first one but I didn't think they'd do another.

The Techland? developer moved on to do the Dying Light games, so this isn't the same developer. Also this game changed hands like 3 different times through different studios. They announced this like 10 years ago apparently and it's finally coming out. Kind of a miracle it's even seeing the light of day.

Most recent developer has had it for I believe about 4 years. They completely started over. It does have some Dying Light vibes but it’s it’s own distinct flavor.

[Mandatory]

Couple comments on Dead Island 2..

It's pretty difficult at times, but in a good way.
No character creator, you pick from a handful of characters with different stats/skills.
The game is gory but overall pretty light in mood/atmosphere.
There's definitely some ground breaking mechanics with the zombie "destruction" system, IMO. Everything looks amazing.
Not open world, but instead a number of smaller super detailed "areas" that represent different locations in LA.. Bel Air, Venice Beach, etc.

[Abe Froman]

Couple comments on Dead Island 2..

It's pretty difficult at times, but in a good way.
No character creator, you pick from a handful of characters with different stats/skills.
The game is gory but overall pretty light in mood/atmosphere.
There's definitely some ground breaking mechanics with the zombie "destruction" system, IMO. Everything looks amazing.
Not open world, but instead a number of smaller super detailed "areas" that represent different locations in LA.. Bel Air, Venice Beach, etc.

Bought it for $40 on steam with dead island 1 definitive edition included. Might try it a little today during the draft.

[salamander]

I just found out No Man's Sky has VR compatibility. Heard it's actually a pretty great game now too.
How is the VR for this one?

[YBBR]

I've been playing Hardspace Shipbreaker. It's pretty cool.

[YBBR]

I've been in the lab with Street Fighter 6.

[Abe Froman]

Ghosts of Tsushima and Zelda: TotK.

[YBBR]

Having a lot of fun with Street Fighter 6. A really great game.

[jffl_commish]

nothing, really. waiting for starfield

[YBBR]

I finished off Rogue Legacy 2 from last year recently. It's great. They do an awesome job of building off the original. If you're a roguelite fan, it delivers the action goodness.

8.5/10

[Mandatory]

Anyone playing Baldur's Gate? I've never played this before, or Diablo which looks similar. I'm thinking about picking it up as it looks good.

[Tommy_Hawk]

Anyone playing Baldur's Gate? I've never played this before, or Diablo which looks similar. I'm thinking about picking it up as it looks good.

Not BG III. However, you can pick up BG I&II for console now on Xbox and try them out. It's called Baldurs Gate Enhanced Edition and they're together in a package. Used to be one my favorite games as a kid and it was only on PC.

It's not really like Diablo. It's D&D turn based (in a good way) and character creation is better, picking your party is better, it's just super fun. Lots of different ways to play it.


Im considering buying a PC so I can get this, Starfield and the new NCAA game without having to compromise and buy two different consoles since BGIII is coming to PS5 Console and not Xbox yet. The excitement and antcipation is THAT good for me to finally upgrade.

Get the Enhanced Editions and play it. Games are fucking tremendous.

[YBBR]

Baldur's Gate III will come to Xbox eventually. They're figuring out how to get multi-player parity on the Series S since that is a selling point of those games. You can play with 3 other people over the whole world at once and have adventures, but the ram on the series S is having problems running that. They have it ready to go on the Series X the company has said. They'll figure out something. They have Xbox engineers and Larian Studios working on it.

I played Larian's Divinity: Original Sin games, and they were fantastic. Which was their own take on a D&D rule set. So yeah, it's much more of a classic CRPG than something like Diablo. I've heard great things and have it on my to play list when they port it over to Xbox.

[Mandatory]

Thanks for the feedback both of you. I guess I use Diablo as a reference due to a similar look, but it's the turn based combat/D&D mechanics that has me interested in Baldur's Gate. I already went ahead and purchased/downloaded it last night so I'm definitely in. I've watched some videos online and read some tips articles, trying to go into it with a little bit of an idea of what's going on. I think this one is going to be a winner for me.

[Tommy_Hawk]

Thanks for the feedback both of you. I guess I use Diablo as a reference due to a similar look, but it's the turn based combat/D&D mechanics that has me interested in Baldur's Gate. I already went ahead and purchased/downloaded it last night so I'm definitely in. I've watched some videos online and read some tips articles, trying to go into it with a little bit of an idea of what's going on. I think this one is going to be a winner for me.

Yeah, so think of it as a dice, but instead of a six-sided, it's whatever your weapon/attack is: 1-8 (eight sided) or 2-6+2 (five-sided with the lowest number being a two and highest six but you get an extra two HP damage because the weapon is a +2). You're smart you'll figure it out.

The turn base is interesting too because when you engage the enemy, you can hit Spacebar, pause it, then set up your formation and attack then unpause it and watch things unfold, then repause it and adjust accordingly. It's a fuckin sweet game. There's a reason the hype is so big–its been almost 25 years since BGII game out.

[YBBR]

I loaded up Sea of Stars on gamepass which just launched. This is from the developer that did The Messenger a few years ago. It's a throwback pixel art turn-based RPG. Lots of inspiration from SNES RPGs like Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Mario RPG with the battle timing mechanic.

It's pretty good. I think the combat is pretty solid and they got some intriguing ideas there. The sprites look very nice. Excellent looking game in that aesthetic. Dialogue is pretty basic, but it's not a huge distraction.

[Mandatory]

Pretty much just playing Starfield but AC Mirage comes out this week.

[YBBR]

I just got to the turn in Sea Of Stars where they kind of blow that game open towards the end. I went from enjoying it like a 7 or 7.5 to really digging what they're doing here with this game. Getting better as it goes.

[YBBR]

Finished up Sea Of Stars. If you have any reverence for Chrono Trigger or the SNES turn based RPGs, this is a love letter to that style of game, but with more modern design. Great art. Music is pretty killer. Yasunori Mitsuda even composed some songs for this. Story is actually pretty cool and has a bit of those Chrono Triggeresque twists and turns.

The dialog being weak and combat that doesn't switch up enough drag it down a little bit. Still very good overall.

8/10

[Tommy_Hawk]

Finished up Sea Of Stars. If you have any reverence for Chrono Trigger or the SNES turn based RPGs, this is a love letter to that style of game, but with more modern design. Great art. Music is pretty killer. Yasunori Mitsuda even composed some songs for this. Story is actually pretty cool and has a bit of those Chrono Triggeresque twists and turns.

The dialog being weak and combat that doesn't switch up enough drag it down a little bit. Still very good overall.

8/10

I played the demo on your recommendation a month ago or so. I liked what I played. Is the full game available on console yet?

[YBBR]

Finished up Sea Of Stars. If you have any reverence for Chrono Trigger or the SNES turn based RPGs, this is a love letter to that style of game, but with more modern design. Great art. Music is pretty killer. Yasunori Mitsuda even composed some songs for this. Story is actually pretty cool and has a bit of those Chrono Triggeresque twists and turns.

The dialog being weak and combat that doesn't switch up enough drag it down a little bit. Still very good overall.

8/10

I played the demo on your recommendation a month ago or so. I liked what I played. Is the full game available on console yet?

Yep. I'm pretty sure this on everything. Switch, PC, Playstation, Xbox. A little pricey at $35 for an indie game, but it took me about 30 hours to beat. Maybe about 35-40 hours to do everything. A good length, but manageable. So it's not like these JRPGs these days where you have to put 80-100 hours into it to see credits.

[YBBR]

I've been playing the new Forza Motorsport and The Lamplighter's League on gamepass.

Forza is pretty quality if you're a simulation racing fan. It's a bit dry for me. The presentation is a touch bland. I prefer the Horizon blueprint for these Forza games. Racing feels damn solid, though.

7/10

The Lamplighter's League is a tactical turn based strategy game set in an alternate 1932. This game needs more polish and patches because it keeps crashing. Paradox sacked a bunch of employees for Harebrained Schemes before the game came out and felt like they pushed this out the door. Which sucks because there's a lot of good stuff here. It just needs more polish. Harebrained Schemes made Battletech which a lot of people swear by as well.

Final Fantasy Tactics was my first strategy game and after playing the XCOMs and and some other strategy games. It's a genre I really enjoy now.

[Unbiased Observer]

Pretty much just playing Starfield but AC Mirage comes out this week.

Did you go very far with BG3?

I am debating if I should buy a PS5 or a new gaming computer to play it. I am leaning PS5 because I don't want to spend any more time sitting in a computer chair than I already do, compared to kicked back playing on a console. But I worry that the overall experience will be poorer on a console than on a computer.

I will probably end up doing neither. I hate "upgrading" computers or consoles, I like to use everything I own until it is physically dead. Wish they were doing BG3 for the PS4.

[Tommy_Hawk]

Pretty much just playing Starfield but AC Mirage comes out this week.

Did you go very far with BG3?

I am debating if I should buy a PS5 or a new gaming computer to play it. I am leaning PS5 because I don't want to spend any more time sitting in a computer chair than I already do, compared to kicked back playing on a console. But I worry that the overall experience will be poorer on a console than on a computer.

I will probably end up doing neither. I hate "upgrading" computers or consoles, I like to use everything I own until it is physically dead. Wish they were doing BG3 for the PS4.

I got a Steamdeck to play it, and an adapter to hook to my TV so I can kick back and play it. Ot's fun, but unlike BG1&2. It's tactics-based so that battle system isn't what I love the best, but oh well.

I've been at work and couldn't wait to get home and play it before. Time dissolves when you play, if you're looking for a time waster this winter. I don't know if it's worth it just to upgrade but you may as well if you're going to eventually.

[YBBR]

I beat Cocoon the other day. This game was damn cool. So this was designed by the lead designer (Jeppe Carlsen) from Play Dead (Limbo, Inside) that left and started a new thing called Geometric Interactive. So another puzzler, but isometric camera instead of a sidescroller. You're a little bug guy and it's a one button game. No dialogue, no text. Just awesome art design and environmental puzzles that have a really creative hook. Impressive little thing.

8.5/10

[Mandatory]

Tried to load up Cyberpunk with Phantom Liberty and I keep getting some "not installed properly" message. Never seen it before and two lengthy uninstall/reinstall cycles have done nothing.

This fucking sucks.