What VIDEO GAME(s) have you been playing?

Ah_Pook wrote: Returnal is the first game that's actually made me want a ps5. Not enough to buy a ps5, but still.

This. I wish I could get it on Xbox, but that will never happen. Maybe PC one day.

Season 9 of Apex Legends is out, and brings a new "Arena" mode, which is essentially Apex meets Counter-Strike. 3 on 3 Team DM, you buy your loadouts, and get to it. Super fun!

Michael Barnes wrote: It’s a really unusual thing- it plays like an indie rogue like, the kind we’ve seen a billion of over the past five or six years, but it has sky high production values and somehow manages to feel something like a Platinum game without the arcadey combos. It’s like a 3rd person bullet hell game, which is pretty wild. The monster attacks are all danmaku style patterns of bullets and lasers. There’s more than a little Metroid Prime in it, and the environment could be a Metroid planet for sure.

I'm so proud of myself for understanding about half of the lingo in this paragraph.

How long is an average run in this game? Having no way to save during a run seems a questionable design issue if the runs are long. It's part of the reason I don't play much in MGS. I can't save at will if real life intrudes.

I’ve heard 2-3 hours. Which is beyond reasonable for most adults. Or people that have one PS5 that more than one person uses.

The fact that you can’t just save anywhere during a run is baffling. It’s a plain idiotic decision apparently made by people who have a gaming-first lifestyle and no respect for players who can’t do runs that long because of families, work, real life, etc. Housemarque’s smug “it’s designed to be challenging” is outright hostility to the customer.

They’ll patch it in....

www.ign.com/articles/opinion-returnal-is...rd-its-just-too-long

Kat Bailey ruminates on this issue.

I'll probably buy it if it gets to pc and is under 50 dollars.

Gary Sax wrote: www.ign.com/articles/opinion-returnal-is...rd-its-just-too-long

Kat Bailey ruminates on this issue.

Solid article.

"It's scary and intense in the moment, but when a lengthy run ends in failure, the momentum dissipates" - this mirrors my experience. I love it while I'm playing but can't play for long, multiple run sessions.

In that regard I've found myself treating it more like an arcade game that I play for short frantic bursts before moving on.

Also, I read somewhere that a save patch was indeed coming. Thankfully.

People I am here to tell you that RE8 is the best RE since 4. And possibly in range of being at least as good as it.

I’ve shelved Returnal. I -love- it, but it has no respect for my time. I’m nowhere near where I even need to worry about booking time to do a 4 hour run, but I’m already chafing that I can’t just save progress. It’s always hanging over your head.

So I picked up RE8 and 3+ hours in saving as a I please, it’s EXCELLENT. It feels a lot like 4, and it has some absolutely terrifying bits in it so far. One scene remainded me of the house siege in RE4 but you have less to fight with...and they aren’t zombies or ganados. Another bit where you are walking in talk wheat and hear the monsters nearby is just chilling. Cellars with waist high blood is also a highlight. It’s UBER gothic, which I love.

There has been plenty of WTF RE weirdness. When you meet all of the (I guess) bosses, I was just in awe. Crazy stuff. There’s a hilarious thing where Ethan’s hand gets severed and he puts it back on, dousing it with chem fluid.

As for Lady D...instant icon. Her stuff is absolute top tier RE. She’s an amazing character. You walk into a room and she comes in through another door, stooping low to fit, and it’s surreal and eerie. I love this one subtle moment where you find a dress form with her dress in it and a hat. It really shows you how BIG she is compared to you. I’ve heard she’s not in it much, but rest assured she will be one of the classic characters of this gaming generation.

All the RE bullshit is here...the silly puzzles and just as preposterous as ever...who locks a door with an eyeball hidden in a ring that’s in a statue behind a secret door in the basement? Buying/selling/looting is back and there a new buyer/seller ant that is probably as good as the RE4 Merchant. He’s a HUGE man, like bizarrely oversized. I really love that the game is leaning into this kind of surrealism.

Late to the party as usual, but I went and checked out DEAD CELLS. It’s a “roguevania,” roguelike + Castlevania. I like the former, am lukewarm on the latter, but this manages to be compelling and fun. It has actual good controls on the iPad; normally I hate the touchscreen joystick thing but somehow it’s way more responsive than other iterations I’ve tried.

Good art, good levels, exploring and unlocking things. Good times.

I'm kind of shocked it works well on the ipad. It demands some serious precision from what I've seen.

Dead Cells is great, but I've only played on Switch. Can't imagine using touch controls.

I have been playing Outriders on Xbox. It is Gears of War meets Destiny. Great gameplay, STUPID story, bad acting. Dumb fun. The perfect Gamepass game.

Stardew Valley has its hooks deep in me now. This is a game that I had no interest in playing at first. My wife wanted me to try it out so she could watch me play and 5 hours later I was hooked. I haven't played a game got 5-6 hours straight and felt entertained in a very long time. We started on the Xbox and now I picked it up for the PS4 so we can play co-op without going split screen.

I'm going to try out My Time at Portia next.

the_jake_1973 wrote: Stardew Valley has its hooks deep in me now. This is a game that I had no interest in playing at first. My wife wanted me to try it out so she could watch me play and 5 hours later I was hooked. I haven't played a game got 5-6 hours straight and felt entertained in a very long time. We started on the Xbox and now I picked it up for the PS4 so we can play co-op without going split screen.

Wait hang on, STARDEW VALLEY HAS CO-OP???? I played it on the switch a few years back, is thus a new feature? How does it work? As a continuation of the game where you have settled down with one of the ladies of the valley or just 2 folks running a farm?

I'm deep (literally) in Subnautica. I'm resorting to help guide though because finding where to go and even what is possible in the game is too obtuse at this point. All the discovery was great for the first 10 hours but now I wanna dig into the plot.

And if I ever run into the person who placed those cameras on the cyclops in the LEAST HELPFUL places I'm gonna have words.....

The co-op supports up to 4 farmers and you can set it up to adjust the profit margin on the farm to account for the extra hands (75, 50, 25%). The cabins can be next to each other or separate on the land. Money can be pooled or separate. There are also some farm types that may be new to you as well.

I person can host a farm and determine the options and starting seed. Then you can invite a friend in to join you. The community bundles and mine rewards have an option to be remixed as well for variety.

My wife and I are just each finishing Year 1 of our respective farms and will probably start a co-op one. I set up farms on each of the land types so we can choose. If you have an existing farm, you can setup a cabin for a friend to squat in to make the existing farm a co-op one. Apparently, you can also marry the person you are co-op with on the farm.

My sons and I tried some co-op Stardew once, and if I recall, one of the annoying things was that upgrades were per person. So even though we pooled our money, if someone got a backpack upgrade, only THEY got it. Kind of sucked.

That makes sense though. Yes, it is the farm's money, but only one backpack upgrade. Paying 5K for up to 4 backpack upgrades would be rough on that in game economy. Of course, you can just keep the profit margin at 100%. I would guess that balances it out a bit.