Gaming The RedCafe General/Random Gaming Chat Thread

amolbhatia50k said:
Tunic - It’s a superbly made video game that masquerades as a cutsie chill time but is actually quite difficult and unforgiving. What struck me throughout was how well designed a game it was. The combat though fairly basic is satisfying, the visual and audio design is strong, but the highly is definitely the sense of discovery largely aided by its lack of hand holding and novel “game manual” system.

The only thing it lacked for me was a strong final act - where it could have ascended into greatness I thought the last few hours dragged and hence didn’t have any emotional impact on me. For example, i just played Inscryption before his and its last few hours made me think about the game and yearn for more after completing it.

8.6/10

Far Cry 6 - I have to admit, I like the Far Cry series. While I find Assassins Creed a fundamentally and actively unfun video game that exasperates the problem by also being absurdly bloats thus demanding to wallow in its unfun-ness, Far Cry is dumb fun but fun regardless. I enjoyed 5 and I once again enjoyed 6. It’s true that they’ve basically been making Far Cry 3 repeatedly for over a decade but I personally still find it to be a good time. The shooting is enjoyable, the dual sense support was good and I think the fully voiced protagonist added a lot to the expeience. It’s not a great game by any means but I liked most of it.

8.3/10

Bugsnax - this was surprisingly good. I didn’t think a bug catching Pokémon esque game would interest me but the writing and characters genuinely caught me off guard. All of them are endearing and well voiced (aside from the annoying shaman lady) and the visual / audio design is also solid.

8.2/10
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Fair reviews. Far cry is always an odd one, as I adored the First (still my favourite one), and Third and since then have just been rehashes. But they are enjoyable rehashes with solid gunplay and at least you know what you are getting. Probably wouldn't have 6 quite so high, but I did enjoy it enough.

Tunic should have ended better, and as Spanner said had some enemy design issues, but still great.

I need to go back to Bugsnax, but I liked what I have played so far.

amolbhatia50k said:
On another note, Stalker 2 is getting strong previews which I didn’t expect. Hope it’s good and comes to PS5 eventually.
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Why didn't you expect that? Has it had dev issues? I've not been following development, it's one of those that I really am looking forward to so tried to forget about it until it launches so I don't ruin anything.

I love the S.t.a.l.k.e.r games warts and all. Something about that world and feel, as long as they capture that they can keep all the core mechanics mostly the same and still have a winner.
 
Redlambs said:
Fair reviews. Far cry is always an odd one, as I adored the First (still my favourite one), and Third and since then have just been rehashes. But they are enjoyable rehashes with solid gunplay and at least you know what you are getting. Probably wouldn't have 6 quite so high, but I did enjoy it enough.

Tunic should have ended better, and as Spanner said had some enemy design issues, but still great.

I need to go back to Bugsnax, but I liked what I have played so far.


Why didn't you expect that? Has it had dev issues? I've not been following development, it's one of those that I really am looking forward to so tried to forget about it until it launches so I don't ruin anything.

I love the S.t.a.l.k.e.r games warts and all. Something about that world and feel, as long as they capture that they can keep all the core mechanics mostly the same and still have a winner.
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That would be an understatement, although not the usual dev issues. Their studio used to be in Kyiv and was heavily impacted by the ongoing war. They've tried to keep working on the game amidst employees having to flee their homes or joining the Ukranian army. At some point they moved the entire team to Prague.

The fact they're going to release it at all should be considered a minor miracle.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Tunic - It’s a superbly made video game that masquerades as a cutsie chill time but is actually quite difficult and unforgiving. What struck me throughout was how well designed a game it was. The combat though fairly basic is satisfying, the visual and audio design is strong, but the highly is definitely the sense of discovery largely aided by its lack of hand holding and novel “game manual” system.

The only thing it lacked for me was a strong final act - where it could have ascended into greatness I thought the last few hours dragged and hence didn’t have any emotional impact on me. For example, i just played Inscryption before his and its last few hours made me think about the game and yearn for more after completing it.

8.6/10

Far Cry 6 - I have to admit, I like the Far Cry series. While I find Assassins Creed a fundamentally and actively unfun video game that exasperates the problem by also being absurdly bloats thus demanding to wallow in its unfun-ness, Far Cry is dumb fun but fun regardless. I enjoyed 5 and I once again enjoyed 6. It’s true that they’ve basically been making Far Cry 3 repeatedly for over a decade but I personally still find it to be a good time. The shooting is enjoyable, the dual sense support was good and I think the fully voiced protagonist added a lot to the expeience. It’s not a great game by any means but I liked most of it.

8.3/10

Bugsnax - this was surprisingly good. I didn’t think a bug catching Pokémon esque game would interest me but the writing and characters genuinely caught me off guard. All of them are endearing and well voiced (aside from the annoying shaman lady) and the visual / audio design is also solid.

8.2/10
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Agreed about Tunic. A couple of hours in, I thought Tunic could be a GOAT contender I was that impressed. But it frontloaded all its best ideas into the first few areas and had little new to offer in the second half of the game. Still well worth a play, but also a missed opportunity.
 
Redlambs said:
Why didn't you expect that? Has it had dev issues? I've not been following development, it's one of those that I really am looking forward to so tried to forget about it until it launches so I don't ruin anything.

I love the S.t.a.l.k.e.r games warts and all. Something about that world and feel, as long as they capture that they can keep all the core mechanics mostly the same and still have a winner.
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It was a very surface level impression but it just looked a less interesting version of Metro Exodus (which I really like) but I guess I was being harsh. I missed the boat with the original so I don’t really have any connection to the series.
 
I grabbed an Arcade 1up during Prime Day the other week and am really pleased with it. Always wanted an arcade machine since I was a kid.

It was the Street Fighter 2 Legacy Yoga Flame Edition and came with "STREET FIGHTER II TURBO: HYPER FIGHTING; SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBO; STREET FIGHTER II: CHAMPION EDITION; KING OF DRAGONS; STRIDER; PROGEAR; BATTLE CIRCUIT; SUPER PUZZLE FIGHTER; SATURDAY NIGHT SLAM MASTERS; CAPCOM SPORTS CLUB; FINAL FIGHT; GIGA WING; CAPTAIN COMMANDO; ARMORED WARRIORS" so a good mix of games.

10319_4ftCab_SF2THyperFighting_Render_Riser_B2copy.jpg


Giga Wing and ProGear are particularly good fun if you like shmups.

Read that this one is easy to soft mod as well so plenty of scope to add games to it if/when I get board with the 14 on there although I often think that more choice leads to more apathy. Wouldn't say no to some Virtua Tennis on there, Track & Field/Hyper Sports and Kung Fu Master though.
 
Finished a couple of days ago Impostor Factory, in the same series as To The Moon. Great music, great touching story, basically it is a very nice movie that pretends to be a game.

It doesn't reach the heights of To The Moon, and maybe not even that of Finding Paradise, but still a very nice experience.
 
For anybody who has tried any of them out, what do you think about these games?

Wasteland 3
Guacamelee 2
Risk of Rain 2
Steam world dig 2

I just picked up Elden Ring, GT7 and Wasteland 3 for my birthday. I thought the latter might be a decent entry into the CRPG genre as it’s never been my thing and I want to play Divinity 2 and eventually BG3.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
For anybody who has tried any of them out, what do you think about these games?

Wasteland 3
Guacamelee 2
Risk of Rain 2
Steam world dig 2

I just picked up Elden Ring, GT7 and Wasteland 3 for my birthday. I thought the latter might be a decent entry into the CRPG genre as it’s never been my thing and I want to play Divinity 2 and eventually BG3.
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Guacamelee 2 is simply more Guacamelee. Doesn't really bring anything new to the table but is still just as well designed and fun to control as the first one. I'd have both around the top 10-15 metroidvanias I've played.

SteamWorld Dig 2 is pretty good. The first game never clicked with me but the second is a significant improvement, despite having the same gameplay loop. Everything just feels better in this one. It's still not among my favourite metroidvania-adjacent titles, because the level design isn't all that interesting (you're essentially digging down, that's it), but the core loop of mining and upgrading is satisfying and it's got plenty of secret challenge rooms to mix it up.

I've got Risk of Rain 2 in my library but haven't touched it yet.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
For anybody who has tried any of them out, what do you think about these games?

Wasteland 3
Guacamelee 2
Risk of Rain 2
Steam world dig 2

I just picked up Elden Ring, GT7 and Wasteland 3 for my birthday. I thought the latter might be a decent entry into the CRPG genre as it’s never been my thing and I want to play Divinity 2 and eventually BG3.
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I own Wasteland 3 but haven't played it yet, but i've heard good things.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
For anybody who has tried any of them out, what do you think about these games?

Wasteland 3
Guacamelee 2
Risk of Rain 2
Steam world dig 2

I just picked up Elden Ring, GT7 and Wasteland 3 for my birthday. I thought the latter might be a decent entry into the CRPG genre as it’s never been my thing and I want to play Divinity 2 and eventually BG3.
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All very good, I've not played much of WL3 admittedly, but what I have it felt decent and worthy of the name.

Risk of Rain 2 is super addictive if you get into it. I'd not read up anything about it or any metas and just figure it out yourself though, as the balancing can be quite off if you want it to be. I played it so much (solo and co-op) that I've had to take a long break and haven't even looked at the last few updates :lol:
 
Ainu said:
Guacamelee 2 is simply more Guacamelee. Doesn't really bring anything new to the table but is still just as well designed and fun to control as the first one. I'd have both around the top 10-15 metroidvanias I've played.

SteamWorld Dig 2 is pretty good. The first game never clicked with me but the second is a significant improvement, despite having the same gameplay loop. Everything just feels better in this one. It's still not among my favourite metroidvania-adjacent titles, because the level design isn't all that interesting (you're essentially digging down, that's it), but the core loop of mining and upgrading is satisfying and it's got plenty of secret challenge rooms to mix it up.

I've got Risk of Rain 2 in my library but haven't touched it yet.
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Yeah agreed with the first 2. Though with Dig2, the grind is something that captures some more than level design and on that front it can elevate the game far higher.

RoR2 is super addictive if/when it clicks with you, get round to it with you have a solid bit of time.
 
Redlambs said:
Yeah agreed with the first 2. Though with Dig2, the grind is something that captures some more than level design and on that front it can elevate the game far higher.

RoR2 is super addictive if/when it clicks with you, get round to it with you have a solid bit of time.
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This is my biggest problem. I don't know how long I can keep postponing Elden Ring. :lol:
 
Redlambs said:
All very good, I've not played much of WL3 admittedly, but what I have it felt decent and worthy of the name.

Risk of Rain 2 is super addictive if you get into it. I'd not read up anything about it or any metas and just figure it out yourself though, as the balancing can be quite off if you want it to be. I played it so much (solo and co-op) that I've had to take a long break and haven't even looked at the last few updates :lol:
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Is it absurdly hard? How would you compare it to Hades or Returnal in that sense? Those two are the best I’ve played in the genre (Returnal is just different class for me personally) and I felt they got the difficulty right. I died a lot more in Hades and was unsettled / immersed a lot more in Returnal but always felt a sense of progression through unlocks. Obviously Returnal is a not a full on rogue like as it’s broken into chapters.
 
I'm playing Balatro at work.

I'm playing Balatro on the shitter at work.

I'm playing Balatro at home.

I'm playing Balatro on the shitter at home.

Can't stop Balatro-ing.
 
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