What Are You Playing? - The Official Thread

[Master_Craig]

So with my new PC, I'm playing two games at the moment. Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition, and Warhammer: Vermintide II.

With Fallout, I'm playing with mods and cheats, just for a bit of fun, especially with the mechanics of base/settlement building. As for Warhammer, my brother got me into it, it's pretty much a melee-based Left 4 Dead but with some RPG elements, like levelling up, new equipment etc. It's pretty fun!

I also downloaded the demo of Final Fantasy XV: Windows Edition, just to test it on my PC. Bloody hell... just seeing the title screen and hearing that title theme music play just really makes me want to play the game again.

 

[Paradox]

Other than a couple side things to finish up, I’m mostly done with Spider-Man. Man that was an amazing game. I’ll be killing time with Mario Kart 8 off and on until Borderlands 3 drops.

 

[Master_Craig]

I downloaded Star Wars: The Old Republic for PC, as it's free to play. I have noticed though that if you do pay, you get a lot more benefits and whatnot.

It's... okay. The graphics honestly remind me of The Sims 4 (same engine, perhaps?) and it plays similar to a typical MMO.

Maybe it might be fun to play with friends, I'm not sure if I could do it solo, but I have heard that the game has a good solo story.

 

[Master_Craig]

Still playing The Old Republic on PC, the free version anyway. I got to level 11, finally have an actual lightsaber and I'm now onto the next planet, which is the city world of Coruscant.

The story is okay, it's a very typical "chosen one" kind of plot, which is what a lot of MMOs seem to do when they want to focus on a solo narrative. I'm kinda playing by myself anyway.

The game seems to give a lot of powers and skills, it's difficult knowing which ones to use in combat, and which ones I should just forget about.

 

[Paradox]

I’m still playing Mario Kart 8 off and on, but I started playing The Last of Us last night. Cool and interesting so far, but I’m not typically a fan of escort mission games. I’ve already had two instances where enemy interactions went south due to my companion getting caught and killed before I could even find where she was. I’m hoping that doesn’t become a constant issue but other than that it’s a cool game.

 

[Master_Craig]

The Last of Us was a great game. Mechanics wise, it wasn't perfect, but it had a reliable control scheme and good ideas, combined with a well told story, excellent performances from the actors and fantastic, engaging visuals.

I never found my allies in-game to be cumbersome. Sure, their presence would sometimes break the immersion (e.g. I'm hiding in stealth, Ellie is still running around but not being detected by enemies, despite walking in front of them) but I understand why such a mechanic exists.

Keep it up! The Last of Us is an awesome title. I can't wait for the sequel, which I think is due out next year.

 

[Paradox]

Yeah I’ll definitely stay on it. I too thought it odd that my companion would be running around enemies without detection but I’m cool with it lol

The acting and visuals are definitely top notch.

 

[Paradox]

I found out yesterday morning that SNES games finally dropped on the Switch. I put all other gaming on hold to tackle some classics. I’ve already finished Super Metroid and started on A Link to the Past (still my favorite Zelda game). I see F-Zero, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario World (1 & 2), and Star Fox in my future too. I’ve never played Breath of Fire, but always loved SNES RPG’s. Here’s hoping Final Fantasy 3(6), Chrono Trigger, Secret of Evermore, Secret of Mana, and Super Mario RPG make their way at some point.

 

[Master_Craig]

Started playing Borderlands 3 for PC, despite the Epic Games Store controversies.

It feels like most Borderlands games, except with a few new mechanics (such as being able to climb on and over obstacles quickly, crouch sliding after a sprint etc.) and the new characters do offer new abilities. It's a pretty game, though.

If you play by yourself, it might be a little boring, but if you play with friends, especially with voice chat, it's a lot of fun.

I'm pretty happy with how my PC handles it. I'm running it on ultra settings, at 1080p resolution and hitting an average of 70 FPS. I dig it. I haven't tried DirectX 12 as I've heard there's a lot of issues with it.

 

[Paradox]

Who are you playing as? I decided to play as Moze. In the description she reminded me of Gaige from BL2 who I really enjoyed.

I too am balls deep in Borderlands 3 on my Xbox. I’m at level 12 and on the second planet. I’ve really been getting a kick out of it so far. I’m playing by myself cause that’s just how I tend to do, but I think my game is open if some rando wants to jump in. That’s how I ran successive play throughs of BL2.

I’m still trying to find the right build that suits me best for Moze and will probably be respecing soon. I purposely got all my errands and the such out of the way already so tomorrow I can do exactly nothing except play the game and drink beer all day.

 

[Master_Craig]

Who are you playing as?

I decided to roll with Zane.

Zane's an interesting character because he seems quite boring at first, but as you get further into the game, opening up more of his skills and learning the character, he becomes quite fun to play.

Zane can use his digi-clone to project an image of himself that can shoot enemies (unfortunately, the clone is stationary and can't move), but what is kind of cool is if you press the same button, you can kind of teleport and swap places with your clone. When your clone swaps, it generates a shock wave explosion that hurts nearby enemies.

Zane can also throw down a device to the ground and summon a cool, flat force field to protect himself and his allies. Unlike all other characters, Zane can equip two action skills at once, albeit if he does, then he can't use grenades. I prefer using the action skills, because the more action skills Zane is using at once, then the more buffs he can potentially receive (damage increase, movement speed, shields etc).

I usually play with a mate of mine, or I play with my brother and his partner. We're up to the third planet now.

 

[Paradox]

Sounds cool. Zane and his clones reminded of the Jack playable character from the last game. I too am on the third planet now. I’ve settled into a decent build for Moze so far. I like the insane damage her Iron Bear mech can do and it’s saved my ass countless times when I was almost out of health.

 

[COMaestro]

I have been playing the Castlevania Collection which I picked up on my PS4. Revisiting the old NES era games has been fun, though I am kinda dreading when I get to the Game Boy games. I have memories of playing the first one, which my friend owned, and never doing very well.

 

[Master_Craig]

Been playing a few things recently.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (remake for Nintendo Switch) - I bought this last Friday and finished it yesterday. It's not the longest of games, it'll probably take you 8 - 12 hours to finish, but for the most part, it was an absolute joy to play, especially considering I played the original so much when I was a kid. More thoughts about the game here on the completed games thread.

Modern Warfare Beta (PC) - I tried out the Beta for the Modern Warfare remake this weekend. I had no idea the game was on the Blizzard game launcher, but the launcher sucks. The download speed is atrocious, so it took me an entire day to download the damn beta. I tested Steam and the Epic Store launchers and those download speeds were great.

As for Modern Warfare itself... well, it feels okay. It kinda plays just like normal Call of Duty, albeit with a few new mechanics, like being able to 'mount' your gun on terrain or corners (to peek/lean). There's a new, wide-scale 32 v 32 battle mode, which has vehicles and stuff, so honestly, it feels like they're just trying to rip off the Battlefield games.

Admittingly, it can be fun, but it can also be super frustrating. I found I'd join a game and either our team would dominate, or the opposing team would dominate. Despite being a beta, there were heaps of players running around at high levels.

Like all multiplayer games, I imagine if you had dedicated friends to play with, this could be a lot of fun.

Boderlands 3 (PC) - Took a bit of a break from Borderlands 3 as I played Link's Awakening, but now I'm back to the wastelands of Pandora and beyond.

Like I've mentioned before, Borderlands 3 is, in my opinion, kind of boring if you play by yourself (and at times quite challenging), but if you have friends to play with, it's a bloody good time.

Batman: Arkham Knight (PC) - Just a heads up. If you have a PC and the Epic Store, the Batman: Arkham trilogy (Asylum, City and Knight) are all available for free, until Thursday 26 September. This is all three Game of the Year editions as well, so they all come with all DLC.

 

[Master_Craig]

I picked up Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast on the Nintendo Switch, as it was only about $13 AUD (under $9 USD). So... it's obvious to state, but Jedi Outcast hasn't aged terribly well.

Jedi Outcast came out in 2002. I love Star Wars and I loved Jedi Outcast when it first came out. Back in the day, I was fortunate to play it on a good PC (my oldest brother's PC), so it ran quite well. For its time, it looked great, it sounded awesome, there were no bugs to be found, it had multiplayer and overall, it played really well. The game is very much suited for a keyboard and mouse control scheme.

The Switch port... well. Yes, it's a port of a game that's about 17 years old (Goddamn), but:

• The controls don't feel good on joy sticks. It can be difficult to aim and it's easy to be overwhelmed by enemies, especially in the starting levels when Kyle doesn't have his lightsaber or Force powers.
  
  
• The frame rate usually runs at a smooth 60 FPS, but has a tendency to drop when there's multiple enemies on screen and a lot going on at once.
  
  
• Due to lack of keyboard controls, it can be annoying to want to switch Force powers, weapons or items to use immediately. It's so much easier on the fly with PC, especially when you're spoiled with the option to hotkey buttons on the keyboard to do certain things, like using Force powers immediately without having to equip them. This can be frustrating when in situations where there are a lot of enemies present, attacking you at once.
  
  
• The Switch port crashes, a lot. I've had the game for about two days and I have, no exaggeration, experienced over a dozen in-game crashes, forcing me back to the Switch home screen. Jedi Outcast has also been ported to the PS4, so I am unsure if these crashes exist there too.

It's a nice, nostalgia trip for a reasonable price on-the-go, but as a port, it's pretty flawed.

 

[Master_Craig]

I really want to play a table top RPG, being Star Wars: Edge of the Empire.

I bought the beginner's pack at PAX AUS 2017 and have only just started reading it. I've watched videos online and I've devised myself my own reference guides (cheat sheets) to better understand the rules and learn how to play. Now I really want to GM a game.

 

[COMaestro]

I picked up Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast on the Nintendo Switch...

I saw this for PS4 this weekend and I am sorely tempted. At the same time, I still have my PC copy, and might have it on GOG, so why should I spend another $10 getting it again? Especially when PC is far superior when it comes to the user interface in this instance, as you noted.

If it ever drops to $5, I might snatch it up then. Achievements do add a fun little element to games, which my PC copies don't have, and it would give me incentive to play it again. In the meantime, I've got a bunch of other games to play, and not enough time to do it in.

 

[Master_Craig]

I saw this for PS4 this weekend and I am sorely tempted. At the same time, I still have my PC copy, and might have it on GOG, so why should I spend another $10 getting it again? Especially when PC is far superior when it comes to the user interface in this instance, as you noted.

If it ever drops to $5, I might snatch it up then. Achievements do add a fun little element to games, which my PC copies don't have, and it would give me incentive to play it again. In the meantime, I've got a bunch of other games to play, and not enough time to do it in.

Far out, I'm starting to really hate GameRevolution. To reply to this thread alone, I had to get through the intrusively, obnoxious auto-video ad three times.

Anyway.

Yes, completely agree. The PC version of Jedi Outcast is the best. The PC control scheme is unrivalled, especially with the ability to hotkey Force powers and use any/all Force powers on the fly, your computer's hardware will most likely be more powerful than a PS4 or/and Switch (meaning smooth frame rates, no frame rate drops and faster loading times), you can make use of the game's console command for cheats and stuff, which adds so much replay value to the game (npc spawn stormtrooper).

And of course, mods. The modding community for both Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy is surprisingly big and active. There's a lot out there.

I think having Jedi Outcast on the Switch is a fun novelty, especially when travelling, but for typical play, I reckon go PC for this one.

 

[Paradox]

I’m done with Borderlands 3 for now, most likely. I have both Moze and FL4K to level 48 now and will let it rest until the Halloween event in a couple weeks. I settled into good builds with both of them and pretty much melt any enemy I come across with endless stacks of critical hits. I say I’m done for now, but I may get the itch again and start a third play through with Zane.

In the meantime, I didn’t learn until last week that Final Fantasys 7, 8, and 9 were downloadable titles in the Xbox store, so today I downloaded Final Fantasy VII to revisit the classic before the remake drops next year. I spent so much time with this game 20 years ago and a few times since. It’s a definite nostalgia trip.

 

[Master_Craig]

I'm still playing Jedi Outcast for the Switch. Yet to finish it, but if I were to score it now like I do in the Completed Games thread, I'd give it an honest 4 or 5 out of 10.

I know it's an old game (released in 2002) but for the Switch... It's a terrible port.

On PC, Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast is great. For its time, it looked amazing, the keyboard and mouse control scheme worked well and so did lightsaber combat, as well as using Force powers. Force powers were so much easier to use as you could hotkey them to specific keys on your keyboard, and lightsaber specific moves, like the light-style uppercut or the heavy-style 'death from above' were quite easy to achieve.

On a controller, or the Switch itself, the control scheme is quite difficult. To select Force powers, you need to cycle through them via a forward function only. Lightsaber techniques are difficult to pull off and combat on console feels quite clumsy. The game feels very difficult, as I got killed so many times when battling one of the bosses (Tavion).

The Switch port also has other issues, including:

• Frequent crashes;
• Long loading times;
• Inconsistent frame rates (runs at mostly 60 FPS, drops often to stutter);
• Some saved files somehow become corrupt and when you try to load them, the game crashes (this has happened to me on a number of occasions) - there's no way to tell if the file is corrupt unless you try to load the game later;
• Decreased graphics - poor lighting effects, poor special effects (blaster fire, explosions, lightsabers etc.) - while the game was released in 2002, surely the Switch's hardware would be capable to run Jedi Outcast as a 2002 PC could?

It's a fun novelty to try and play this game on the Switch, especially as it was quite cheap, but as for an actual port? It's technically not great, at all.