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PC Gaming ERA | December 2019 - A Monument To All Your Sins
- Thread starter Uzzy
- Start date
- Status
Whenever it does it's fine.
Two games of some of my favourite franchises releasing in the next year or two; Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord and S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2
Shit is crazy. Been waiting for a long time. All I need is a new Mass Effect and I can die happy
My Steam controller should be delivered today. Looking forward to trying it out on a few buildery games like Planet Zoo.
I picked up RDR2 on Rockstar GL on the recent sale. Just playing story mode. Very grand but a bit hard to get started with. Often have to search the internet for various "Howto"s.
What improvements?
SEGA is going to use the PC port and call it a day.
There is text chat, but I feel it can be pretty tough for coordination if you are playing w/o voice. May not need everyone to have a mic, but at least one or two people may make it manageable.
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i'd imagine p2p is probably preferable for co-op? should be playable after the servers are long gone.
Played Reach yesterday night and i loved it, so i'm getting it on Steam. Gotta give it some gyro love <3
On the other hand I play with people from Europe and lag is pretty bad
Default firmware supports only OpenVPN server, not client afaik. You need a custom WRT if you want a client. Check under your router settings page and under advanced options for VPN options.
That's correct.
Pathologic HD could be interesting to return to after you complete P2, but as more of a curiosity than anything else.
Playing P1 first will absolutely spoil story and mechanics of P2.
The netcode for it sucks though since it synchronous with a slight input-lag for clients. Kinda like playing with Parsec or whatever but worse tbh.
So, Life is Strange 2.
With all the episodes now available, and having competed it this week, I figure I'd put down some thoughts about the game now.
Life is Strange 2 was always going to have a tough time of it. The original, flawed as it was, was a real smash hit with a big cult following to this day, and DONTNOD's decision to go for a new setting and characters would prove controversial, especially after Deck Nine so impressed with Before the Storm, which expanded on the original's story in a very compelling way. Further, the episodic nature of the game would inevitably weaken people's interest in the series. Life is Strange 1 took just under 9 months to release to completion, but Life is Strange 2 took just over a year and 5 months to complete (assuming you count The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, which they very clearly do given it was a part of the 'global replay' last month.) Which is a very long time indeed.
I want to talk briefly about the graphics, which are much improved. Not that I minded the original, with it's aesthetic carrying it quite a bit, but this game is genuinely beautiful in some scenes. Musically there were a few tracks that stood out, both original and licensed, with Milk and Bone - Natalie (don't read the comments unless you like being really spoiled) being especially well placed, but overall I wasn't as impressed as I was with the the original game's soundtrack. Though both pale in comparison to Before the Storm with Daughter's exceptional work there.
The relationship between the two brothers, Sean and Daniel Diaz, is one of the real hearts of the game, and they both feel like actual people. Daniel's an annoying 10 year old brat at times, and Sean's struggles to cope with the awful situation he's been put in are really well shown. Gonzalo Martin's voice work as Sean Diaz is really exceptional. The lessons you teach Daniel are important throughout the game, and what you teach him directly and indirectly through your own actions feeds into a lot of the major plot points. While it can feel a bit like a black box at times, with your choices clearly having some impact, but being unable to tell exactly what impact, it's very well done overall. It's also notable that the devs took the criticism of Life is Strange 1's polarizing ending to heart, with those lessons feeding into which one of 7 endings you get.
The setting is likewise one of the key parts of the game, and it's not afraid to be clearly political, clearly set in the US of now, with police violence against minorities going unpunished, fear of the authorities, Trump, racism and conversion therapy all playing a part. Sure, it's not an especially deep examination of those issues, and maybe this game isn't the place for that, but it never lets you look away from the awfulness of the world. Other publishers have issues with even saying that their game about war crimes and imperialism are political, but here it's in the core of the game. Sean Diaz telling some racist thugs that 'This is my country' is one of the best moments in the game. Arcadia Bay could feel a bit idealised, but this is the world as it is, in all it's glory and ugliness.
The road trip nature of the game is the third big thing I want to talk about, and it's here that the game is at it's weakest. It allows you to see a variety of different environments, which is great, and a lot of different people, but as you're always moving on, you never really get a chance to get to know the supporting characters. This is especially notable when you look at the game's antagonists, who barely get a few lines between them and never get to rise above being broad stereotypes. At least the rest of the supporting cast get a few moments to shine: Finn, Cassidy, Karen and Chris are all wonderful, and seeing these marginalised communities in a game is certainly notable. Just wish there was more to them.
With all the episodes now available, and having competed it this week, I figure I'd put down some thoughts about the game now.
Life is Strange 2 was always going to have a tough time of it. The original, flawed as it was, was a real smash hit with a big cult following to this day, and DONTNOD's decision to go for a new setting and characters would prove controversial, especially after Deck Nine so impressed with Before the Storm, which expanded on the original's story in a very compelling way. Further, the episodic nature of the game would inevitably weaken people's interest in the series. Life is Strange 1 took just under 9 months to release to completion, but Life is Strange 2 took just over a year and 5 months to complete (assuming you count The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, which they very clearly do given it was a part of the 'global replay' last month.) Which is a very long time indeed.
I want to talk briefly about the graphics, which are much improved. Not that I minded the original, with it's aesthetic carrying it quite a bit, but this game is genuinely beautiful in some scenes. Musically there were a few tracks that stood out, both original and licensed, with Milk and Bone - Natalie (don't read the comments unless you like being really spoiled) being especially well placed, but overall I wasn't as impressed as I was with the the original game's soundtrack. Though both pale in comparison to Before the Storm with Daughter's exceptional work there.
The relationship between the two brothers, Sean and Daniel Diaz, is one of the real hearts of the game, and they both feel like actual people. Daniel's an annoying 10 year old brat at times, and Sean's struggles to cope with the awful situation he's been put in are really well shown. Gonzalo Martin's voice work as Sean Diaz is really exceptional. The lessons you teach Daniel are important throughout the game, and what you teach him directly and indirectly through your own actions feeds into a lot of the major plot points. While it can feel a bit like a black box at times, with your choices clearly having some impact, but being unable to tell exactly what impact, it's very well done overall. It's also notable that the devs took the criticism of Life is Strange 1's polarizing ending to heart, with those lessons feeding into which one of 7 endings you get.
The setting is likewise one of the key parts of the game, and it's not afraid to be clearly political, clearly set in the US of now, with police violence against minorities going unpunished, fear of the authorities, Trump, racism and conversion therapy all playing a part. Sure, it's not an especially deep examination of those issues, and maybe this game isn't the place for that, but it never lets you look away from the awfulness of the world. Other publishers have issues with even saying that their game about war crimes and imperialism are political, but here it's in the core of the game. Sean Diaz telling some racist thugs that 'This is my country' is one of the best moments in the game. Arcadia Bay could feel a bit idealised, but this is the world as it is, in all it's glory and ugliness.
The road trip nature of the game is the third big thing I want to talk about, and it's here that the game is at it's weakest. It allows you to see a variety of different environments, which is great, and a lot of different people, but as you're always moving on, you never really get a chance to get to know the supporting characters. This is especially notable when you look at the game's antagonists, who barely get a few lines between them and never get to rise above being broad stereotypes. At least the rest of the supporting cast get a few moments to shine: Finn, Cassidy, Karen and Chris are all wonderful, and seeing these marginalised communities in a game is certainly notable. Just wish there was more to them.
Good that you mentioned this. Been hearing a lot about Pathologic 2 recently, so I can cross the need to play 1 when I eventually try 2.
Looks like Raft just got a huge content update, The First Chapter, along with a historical low discount.
Been on my radar for a bit, so no seem like a great time to dive in.
I never thought I'd see the day where I could listen to the main theme of Halo and play the game again, let alone the entire franchise. And on Steam too! (though I'm playing it on GamePass, but I'll buy them on Steam in the near future).
It's a great time to be a PC gamer.
It's a great time to be a PC gamer.
Went to bed around 2 AM last night, because I was driving back Lord Bane's undead across Etheria from GOG's re-release of Warlords III.
That game is like a simplified version of HOMM, but precisely due to the streamlining of the production chains and combat, it just makes it so much more addictive. AND it makes me want to go back to HOMM3 and then Heroes Chronicles octology
That game is like a simplified version of HOMM, but precisely due to the streamlining of the production chains and combat, it just makes it so much more addictive. AND it makes me want to go back to HOMM3 and then Heroes Chronicles octology
Doesn't P1 have like 3 characters/alternate stories and P2 only has one of those though? Obviously that doesn't mean 1/3 of the content but I'm curious how much is left out in P2.
It's a very different game, and still worth playing. Just not as good as the original.
I do find the "% of achievements complete" sort filter really useful in the new Steam library. Initially, I believe it marked games without achievements with 0% but some time ago they fixed it. Now I've gone through my games trying to figure out why I dropped some games and finishing them. It's interesting to see a few games I've idled for cards but still played a bit (also others that I only idled in) and games that I played strictly for the time Steam had sale-related achievements.
Downside is I suddenly really care about achievements again.
Downside is I suddenly really care about achievements again.
Wish we could reset the displayed play time (and still have the "true" play time listed in some other menu). I have so many games with 3-6 hours in them that I just idled :')
No matter what I do its not working. Steam cant recognize the files.
That's correct.
In P1 you can play as Bachelor, Haruspex, and Devotress. But the story remains the same between all of them, you're just seeing it from different angles. So it's more of a replay value thing.
P2 only has you playing as Haruspex, but as I said above it follows the same story beats as P1.
Pathologic HD is an interesting beast. Before Pathologic 2 I would recommend it to the curious but patient gamer. But P2 has since made P1 HD largely superfluous. P1 is tough to get into. It's pretty janky and ugly-looking by modern standards. The survival elements and player direction far more punishing than P2. It's still a landmark title in it's unique nature, but today I'd only reccomend it to uber-fans totally in love with P2 who are interested in experiencing the game's roots.
I did limit my idling for that very reason, I hate seeing odd play times.
On that note, whenever I compared achievements to whoever I have on my friends list, it was always sad to see games with over half the people that actually had play time didn't really play at all.
Uhhh... I'm not sure if I like her starting point in Southlands :|
And I thought having Norsca as my neighbor is bad.
I remapped a few things myself. Item use I put on square (X on Xbox) instead of d-pad up (just like in Souls games), interact on triangle (Y), and change tool on d-pad up. Wayyy better than having to heal using d-pad up in the middle of the the action, IMO.
Deflecting on face buttons seem soooo wrong to me lol.
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