Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of April 13th : gaming

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'm also starting to lose myself in Blue prince. I was a bit hesitant in the starting hours, feeling like progress was limited, the puzzle element rather basic and the whole game too RNG based.

But now that I'm further in, I'm really starting to unravel the hidden depth of a lot of its mechanics and secrets. I'm keeping notes on my netbook and it's starting to become more of a wiki. I'm currently unlocking and discovering new stuff at a very satisfying pace, and my opinion of the game is growing immensely.

If I remember correctly you were also a huge fan of Outer Wilds. While I do understand the comparisons, this does feel like a whole other thing to me. More mysterious and strange, but also a bit more sterile. Outer Wilds is just so filled with love and beauty on top of its mystery, that I cannot fathom any game ever pushing it from the top spot in my favorite games of all time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Yeah I agree there so far. I'll have to see once I beat it and peel back some of the layers. But yeah while it is scratching that same discovery itch for me, outer wilds is an unmatched experience. I will say though, while the rng is definitely different, there is a similar feeling to starting a new loop in OW and starting a new day in BP

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

True, that same "I wonder what I'm going to discover today?" feeling. Just had an insane run in BP with lots of new stuff an an absolute abondance of all resources. Sadly no antechamber, but I'm getting closer. Also starting to unravel the story, this too seems way more interesting than at first glance.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Started Blue Prince, but to be honest I haven't gotten past the initial "RNG wall" and I'm sorta over it. I'm 5 hours in and continue to get the same rooms I've documented in detail in my notes with little new to show for it, and while I have some leads and puzzle pieces, nothing fits. Not particularly excited about a lot of the small repeat puzzles anymore either. I get the impression that I just need one or two pieces of knowledge that the game is refusing to provide to me. Kinda hoping that the good old trick of complaining on the internet will make things work out.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I too had this at the start. My hint is to indeed make sure you visit all rooms at least once, even if they are bad for your layout for that specific day. Make sure you read the notes you find and make us of the items too. Some items have a clear purpose for the basic runs (just helping out with money or steps) but some seen less useful. It is these items that actually often help you unlock new things though, just think logically where you would be able to make use of them.

Also, there is actually quite a bit of permanent progression / unlocks. This only started happening for me after that long initial phase of just mocking about, but once it starts happening you are better equiped for further discoveries.

My final tip is to actually not see it as a roguelite. You don't need to just have luck / better insight for a winning run, every run is a new moment to investigate new stuff and attempt new things, not to get better at doing the same stuff like other roguelikes. I hope I've explained this well.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

That's what I've been trying, yesterday ended up being a little more fruitful (internet complaining trick worked!) and luckily gave me more interesting rooms, though I'm not convinced it was any action on my part that did it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

You kind of have to just bumble around for a bit and take notes on everything and hope it starts making sense later. I've been playing it like "take notes and screenshots first, ask questions later". The roguelite part and the puzzle/mystery part sort of play out in parallel.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

My final tip is to actually not see it as a roguelite. You don't need to just have luck / better insight for a winning run, every run is a new moment to investigate new stuff and attempt new things, not to get better at doing the same stuff like other roguelikes. I hope I've explained this well.

Exactly this. You start out thinking "oh okay, its a roguelite and I need to get to rooom 46". But that's not actually the point and once you realize there is more depth to it you start seeing value in every run, even those that never get close to rank 9.

At least that's been my experience so far, and I've yet to even enter the antechamber myself.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

I totally agree and am currently in the same spot as you, less and less interested in the antechamber and more in the puzzle as a whole!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

Yeah I kinda get that. I've had a couple of those walls. But I think if you purposely try to pick rooms that you've not had, even if it seems bad or not useful things might start to piece together more. A lot of things can be useful in ways you might not expect. I think I've maybe had 1 or 2 runs where I truly learned nothing. Every other run has had some sort of knowledge or permanent progress. Also some rooms only appear on certain edges of the house. I've found some of the important profession related ones that way.

But yeah it's a game you gotta treat as much as a roguelite as you do a puzzle game. And it unfortunately isn't for everyone

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

HOLE: A simple extraction shooter-roguelite where you shoot masked d00ds in liminal spaces. Each run is a quick bite and the game can be completed sub 10 hours. Perfect grownup roguelite.

vintage story: windows has minecraft, linux has vintage story.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

For the Frog, the Bell Tolls

An adventure puzzle/platformer for the Game Boy. The mechanics are fun, and has you transforming between a human, frog, and snake to get through various areas. I'm about an hour in and the puzzles are fairly simple, but the charming writing and art design carry the game for me. I'd recommend it if you're looking for something somewhat casual. I have laughed out loud a few times while playing it.

If you want to check it out, you'll need to run it on an emulator.

The game is a Japan-only release, but there's an English fan patch you can find on here
You'll need the base ROM for the game, which you can find here
Once you download both of those, use this to mash them together and you're good to go.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

Avowed and X4 depending on the mood. X4 started slow but I think I've started the process of getting the hang of the basics after 30 hours.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

Im almost 200h in my divide and conquer campaign for medieval 2 total war. Playing dorwinion and fighting endless hordes of mordors orc.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

A Mind Forever Voyaging, by Infocom.

It's an old text adventure from the 80's with a particularly cool and oddly relevant concept: You take the role of an AI that's been meticulously raised in a simulation to truly become a general intelligence. The reason this project was undertaken was to eventually send you, the AI, into other simulations based in the near future to test the outcomes of various political policies of the new republican government, record your interactions, and report back to the engineers who created you.

The game's designer said that he created the game in response to the despair he felt from Ronald Reagan being elected.

I haven't gotten super far in it, but it has an incredibly well written short story in the manual that details all the events leading up to the start of the game, and so far the game itself is unlike anything else I've ever played.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

Still trying Baldur's Gate 3 solo Honor Mode. I've died a lot, to all kind of different enemies. Currently, I got a good run going, made it to level 6, still Act 1, but almost done. Hopefully I don't turn off my brain again in a crucial moment and just eat dirt.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Blue Prince is monopolising a majority of my mental bandwidth currently as I'm growing increasingly obsessed with it. I've spent about 11 hours on it so far and have taken probably a dozen pages of notes in my little notebook next the to the PC.

I think this game could go down as a modern classic, and if it sticks the landing it will likely be my GOTY. It's cheap too, and even 10% off right now as a release week sale.

I can't really say anything more because, much like Outer Wilds, the less you know about it going in the better. If you even remotely enjoy mysteries and puzzles do yourself a favour and go play it like... right now.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

Same.

I'm now 15 hours in, my runs look nothing at all like my first ones, and are rapidly changing each new run but also still haven't "beaten" it once.

Feels like I built a skyscraper and yet still have to get across the grand canyon to actually win and it has nothing to do with the skyscraper.

Except now I have foundation.