zip04 said:

---

On my 3rd play through of BG3. This game is so good. I don't even think I have ever played a game completely through a second time, much less a third time.

---

Hell yeah. You gonna try Honor Mode? I wiped about 5 times but ended up with a winning team. I loaded the game 4 times, made 4 unique NPCs, started a multiplayer game and then closed out the other 3. My team was:

Iceman (draconic ancestry ice sorcerer)
Cable (gloom stalker hunter)
Jean Grey (life cleric)
Colossus (8/4 monk/fighter, tavern brawler and heavy armor)



Got a Switch 2 today, gonna fire up Xenoblade Chronicles X with the new Switch 2 performance patch.

I thought about it, but I think I'm going to go back and play Divinity Original Sin 2 since I haven't ever played that one.

jr15aggie said:

---

I've been playing through Zelda Ocarina of Time on the SteamDeck. I gotta say, a lot of the N64 games don't hold up very well in todays world, but this one just has that Nintendo magic.

The control and camera are not up to todays standards, but the game is still very enjoyable!

---

Have you looked into Ship of Harkinian? It's a recompilation of OOT so you can play it natively. It allows you to use a free camera which is a game changer and makes it feel like a modern game. You can even use high res texture packs with it.

Yeah I've seen it. But I honestly sorta like dealing with the jank. Makes the retro/nostalgia dopamine hit harder.

Haha I get it, I'm good with some old school jank myself.

I'm playing V Uprising on PS5. Kind of reminds me of the old, original Legacy of Kain game, but with current graphics and you get to build your own castle. Pretty cool.

YouBet said:

---

I'm playing V Uprising on PS5. Kind of reminds me of the old, original Legacy of Kain game, but with current graphics and you get to build your own castle. Pretty cool.

---

If you weren't aware, they remastered the first two Legacy of Kain games a year or so back, and they're apparently working on Defiance now.

When you say remasters, do you mean the soul reaver games? I think the original was the Blood Omen Legacy of Kain game for the PS1 which is a 2D isometric game. I'm not aware of a remaster of that one.

I have this on my short list of games to play via emulation. I rented it once back in the day and had a great time with it, just wasn't able to get very far in 1 night. Looking forward to seeing if it holds up well.

I have Demeo Battlemarked in my Meta wishlist. It may be a while before I get around to it, though. I just started Dawn of Jets last week, and I also play Golf+ regularly. Other than the difficulty, what else stood out for you with Demeo?

jr15aggie said:

---

When you say remasters, do you mean the soul reaver games? I think the original was the Blood Omen Legacy of Kain game for the PS1 which is a 2D isometric game. I'm not aware of a remaster of that one.

I have this on my short list of games to play via emulation. I rented it once back in the day and had a great time with it, just wasn't able to get very far in 1 night. Looking forward to seeing if it holds up well.

---

FRT, I was talking about the very original Blood Omen Legacy of Kain game - the 2D one. I would give V Rising a shot.

New POE1 league starting tomorrow, so i'll be jumping into that for the next month or so.

I just played POE for the first time last month and it hooked me pretty quick. I don't know why I'd join the new League, but I'm going to do so while I figure it out.

Also the original Kain game was great. Wildly different vibe than the rest. I guess Silicon Knights lost the rights somehow after a fight with Crystal Dynamics. I'm sure there's a good story there. Never much cared for the CD versions that came out later.

Megabonk

Slay the spire 2 launched today...

Just found out I am 88 hours into KDC2. An absurd number for me. I have a zillion groschen and the best everything so I think I'm going to pause the sidequests and just mow through whoever the bad guys are for a while.

G Martin 87 said:

---

I have Demeo Battlemarked in my Meta wishlist. It may be a while before I get around to it, though. I just started Dawn of Jets last week, and I also play Golf+ regularly. Other than the difficulty, what else stood out for you with Demeo?

---

The campaign is fairly long and interesting. Being able to customize and level up classes. Just a fun chill board game sim.

My first POE league was this past summer, which I finally pushed through to learn, after having played POE2. I also played the Keepers of the Flame league.

Now, I have an issue playing games like D4. They just seem so shallow to me, now. Really looking forward to this league start, today.

Yeah, D4 put me to sleep and I'm not joking. I dismissed PoE as free to play forever. Happy to be quite wrong on it. Best supported game that I can recall.

I did solo self found for my first character with no guide and it wasn't too bad. Made it through the campaign without much effort and ran some early maps. Think I'm going to follow a guide for this upcoming league though just so I don't brick my character late game.

Pokemon Pokopia rules so far. I hadn't really played anything like this but I can see how so many people got sucked into Animal Crossing.

Been playing a ton of Factorio lately and then watched a video about BG3 so I've been sucked back into that the last two days. Maybe I'll eventually finish a playthtough this time lol. I get about halfway through act 3 before I get burnt out. Fourth time's the charm!

Act 3 definitely has some stuff I now find skippable (having beaten the game 3 times). I feel like… wrap up Astarion and Shadowheart's stories, investigate the murders, do the Iron Throne, House of Hope, Steel Watch, Stone Lord and finish the game. I skip the fireworks, mummy lord, hag and other things that aren't directly tired to the main quest or a companion's storyline.

Having typed all that out, that is a lot more on the "do not skip" list than the "skip" list but at least you feel like you're crossing off some big plot points. But ultimately, a lot of the side things are ways to point you to the bigger stuff. I never vist the wave temple or whatever but I think it's just another way to have you investigate the iron throne.

YouBet said:

---

I'm playing V Uprising on PS5. Kind of reminds me of the old, original Legacy of Kain game, but with current graphics and you get to build your own castle. Pretty cool.

---

So all the talk of the original Blood Omen LOK game pushed me over the edge and I finally settled in for a playthrough (emulation via my SteamDeck).

Plenty of old school jank in this one... even the emulation has 2-3 second loading screens everywhere (delays must be baked into the code). It's also one of those old games that took pride in their animations at the expense of delays between hitting the attack button and actually hitting your enemy.

But there is a whole lotta great stuff here too. Have a blast playing it. It really takes me back to that era when my colorful childhood Nintendo games morphed into something dark that I just loved as a teenager/young adult. This game is bloody, brutal, and it's just awesome.

jr15aggie said:

---

YouBet said:

---

I'm playing V Uprising on PS5. Kind of reminds me of the old, original Legacy of Kain game, but with current graphics and you get to build your own castle. Pretty cool.

---

So all the talk of the original Blood Omen LOK game pushed me over the edge and I finally settled in for a playthrough (emulation via my SteamDeck).

Plenty of old school jank in this one... even the emulation has 2-3 second loading screens everywhere (delays must be baked into the code). It's also one of those old games that took pride in their animations at the expense of delays between hitting the attack button and actually hitting your enemy.

But there is a whole lotta great stuff here too. Have a blast playing it. It really takes me back to that era when my colorful childhood Nintendo games morphed into something dark that I just loved as a teenager/young adult. This game is bloody, brutal, and it's just awesome.

---

Yeah, in retrospect I think this is one of my favorite games ever. Probably the first one I played for hours on end as an adult and then the original Baldurs Gate came out and life was over at that point.

Anybody played the new Resident evil yet? Considering that one now that I've finished GOW2018 and Ragnarok.

Yeah it 100% just felt different at the time. It is janky though. Was back then too. But I think that was a transition era which probably contributed to some of the oddities. I remember loading up Ridge Racer in the Playstation and it just felt different.

spieg12 said:

---

Been playing a ton of Factorio lately and then watched a video about BG3 so I've been sucked back into that the last two days. Maybe I'll eventually finish a playthtough this time lol. I get about halfway through act 3 before I get burnt out. Fourth time's the charm!

---

Cracktorio is always such a danger. As one reviewer said years ago," The developers are threatening a DLC".

Regarding going back and playing Kain, I have no plans to do that. Anytime I've tried to go back and play an older game I loved, I'm immediately disappointed. I think I'm just one of those people who simply can't go back to the past. I would rather leave things as I remembered them if I have positive memories of it. And focus on the here and now. I tried this with Baldur's Gate I and II and pretty quickly hung it up. It just wasn't the same.

Movies are an exception but games simply don't hold up to me for the most part.

YouBet said:

---

Regarding going back and playing Kain, I have no plans to do that. Anytime I've tried to go back and play an older game I loved, I'm immediately disappointed. I think I'm just one of those people who simply can't go back to the past. I would rather leave things as I remembered them if I have positive memories of it. And focus on the here and now. I tried this with Baldur's Gate I and II and pretty quickly hung it up. It just wasn't the same.

Movies are an exception but games simply don't hold up to me for the most part.

---

Some just flat out didn't age well. I played Goldeneye 64 last year. It was absolutely horrendous and I stopped after about 15 mins.

I spent untold hours playing it in jr high and thought it was the greatest thing ever invented and so high tech.

Yep, I hear you. 90% of the time I'm a completionist when it comes to games. I like to see the credits roll.

But for retro games, I have to remind myself that it's OK to enjoy a game for a few hours and then just put it down if the nostalgia has worn off. This is especially true for games that I already beat 10-20-30 years ago.

That being said, I still end up completing a lot of my retro games that I go back to.

PeekingDuck said:

---

Yeah, D4 put me to sleep and I'm not joking. I dismissed PoE as free to play forever. Happy to be quite wrong on it. Best supported game that I can recall.

I did solo self found for my first character with no guide and it wasn't too bad. Made it through the campaign without much effort and ran some early maps. Think I'm going to follow a guide for this upcoming league though just so I don't brick my character late game.

---

Oh, the devs for POE1 are supporting the game better than any PAID subscription games I've ever seen. The amount of content they put together to release for a given league is MASSIVELY more than groups like Blizzard or any other AAA studio I've seen.

POE also has an extremely loyal and helpful community. I don't know the actual numbers, but I bet over 80% of their player base has to be over 25yo. A lot of them, including myself, purchase the league supporter packs and other microtransactions. That fairly incredible when you realize none of the microtransactions actually provide you with any character power. They are basically all cosmetic; though I will say it's incredibly hard to play the game if you don't buy the specialized stash tabs. If you are enjoying the game, at all, I suggest investing in the various specialty tabs as well as a couple of quad premium tabs. The great thing is that all microtransactions are available for your account on either POE or POE2.

I'm running the Kinetic Fusillade Ballista Heirophant, this league; it's so freaking powerful. Fortunately, GGG does not nerf builds mid-league, so I get to enjoy this for a long time.

ETA: Also, SSF with no guide for your first play? OUCH! You are a brave one. The asynchronous trading they released about 6 months ago makes trading with other so freaking easy. I can't believe it took them this long to implement it.

Since some of us are talking retro games... something I've enjoyed a couple times on the rare occasion that I get the house to myself for a night or two.

I'll fire up some SNES - PS1 era games on my SteamDeck, I'll throw some 90's flicks on the TV (Jurassic Park, ID4, T2, etc), order a pizza, and I'll just go back to the good ole days for a bit.

Yeah, I need to look at some of the stash stuff. That was obvious once I started running maps because you just pick up all kinds of stuff and I still don't know what I really need to be looking for. I'd also like to pay the developers because this is a ridiculous amount of content for free.

Which is a problem in itself... there's so much going on in the game that I'm sure has been built up over a decade that I'm not sure where to start. I'm running an absolute guardian build in this current league and it's been fairly strong. I heard about the kinetic stuff but I just got off a totem/minion witch build (absolute jank self-created) so wanted to switch it up.

I really only had problems in Act 9 as far as progression and now of course in some of the maps. Once I built up life and resist a bit, didn't have any issues completing the game. Was kind of a personal challenge for me since I had heard the game was difficult.

I was going to buy a Steam deck and then when I looked up they were all sold out. Likely due to the RAM shortage.

I picked up Division 2 with the recent announcements after a little over a year away. Such a fun game. The gameplay, the story, the world are all excellent. COVID ruined its move to the tv screen, but I hope it gets picked back up again.

This is where watching a good intro video would be so helpful for you. If you aren't running a loot filter, then you are not going to truly enjoy the game, especially in late game map juicing. Look up Filterblade. You link your account to that site and can create a loot filter. He has some generic ones that are worth simply turning on with little to no effort. Makes your experience so much better.