What games are you playing and why?

I am one of those "Steam Only" people, so I've just watched a portion of the LP I linked while falling asleep.

I enjoyed setting up supply chains, managing resources, and optimizing space usage in Anno 2070- this game scratches the same itch in a grittier (yet fresh?) form. If it was on Steam EA, I'd get it.

(Also, who was responsible for the smiley selection? I feel slightly... goofy after using them. Though maybe that was GL's intention. )

 

Still playing Ocarina of Time 3D. Did the Water Temple last night and it was a lot less painless than I ever remember it being - I actually think I had more trouble with the Forest and Fire temples. Now I'm just going to spend some time on optional things before tackling the Shadow and Spirit temples. I won't 100% this run, but I'll do quite a lot. The 100% run will be done another time, I think.

 

No one is posting orgasmically about Transistor yet?

This concerns me. Was going to get it tonight.

 

My game of the week is Risk of Rain, been playing it through with a friend and we're just about ready to do a full artifact run! Game does get pretty broken after 90 minutes of non-random chests though.

 

But you work at a GAME studio. Wouldn't it be research or somesuch?

 

I'd say I'm looking at maybe a 75% run at best. I'm not getting all the Gold Skultullas (above 50 is pointless anyway), I won't get the fourth bottle and chances are I'll not go back to the Gerudo Training Ground, get the second deku nut upgrade nor all the heart pieces (or do the fishing). Just about to start the Spirit Temple, which then leaves me with... not much except Ganon's Castle (IIRC) and the final fight.

 

Haven't bought it.

I did however get Ascendant, which may have been a mistake, as it's frustratingly difficult and unforgiving.

 

What length would you estimate it has?

 

From what I've seen people write about it... 5-7 hours, and the upper end of that with challange mode stuff included.

 

I don't want to speak for Nabday but he quoted about 6hrs to me w/ 75% of the challenges.

 

Been playing some War of the Vikings - Picked up the Blood Eagle edition this morning after I saw an interview earlier in the week and you know how sometimes you just gotta support something? Well, it was like that.

I'm... not regretting my purchase, but I'm half-wishing I'd held out for a sale. It's multiplayer-only, and it's not particularly active. The community I played with was pretty shit (or you'd get those people who seem good but talk a lot of inappropriate nonsense), but after a little bit I got into it. The combat is *extremely* hard, though. As in extremely hard. It's that style Paradox seem to love, where there's a lot of emphasis on direction - you've not got your slash-like-an-idiot Skyrim combat, it's a bit slower and more complex.

 

I picked up transistor, and have played it for all of 30 min- the first zone, basically. The combat has the potential to be interesting, and there are story bits that I would like to know more about, I was surprised how much the lack of hidden loot dimmed my enthusiasm. I like exploring maps and finding bits and bobs (normally low value, but I still FOUND THEM). The maps seem sterile, aside from lore dispensers.

Didn't Bastion have loot you found throughout the map as you explored?

Anyway, mainly playing the Pit. I have a blue room Psion run in Seriously going, and I started writing an amateurish thing on the KP boards to help me finish it. Each floor is taking about an hour now, I think. I am officially farther on Seriously than ever before as of yesterday (floor 28)!

 

I guess I like feeling rewarded, in digital bits and bobs, for poking around the various nooks and crannies. It doesn't matter that the bits are generally crap- I'm apparently okay with that.

I did play a bit more Transistor, and got to the first time trial. The method they have of spooning out lore by trying different combinations of abilities is engaging.

I finished my Pit run, so Day won't have to listen to me randomly talk about it anymore. For at least a month or so. I WAS going to 100% that game, but some of the achievements easily require an individual 40 hour run. And that is crazyness.

Anyway, with the Pit done, I can go back to Desktop Dungeons and Transistor.

 

Today I started and finished A Story About My Uncle - the debut game from Gone North Games (published and dev-assisted by Coffee Stain Studios) - which I bought on release and never got to, which is a shame because it's fun, interesting and only slightly longer than it needed to be. It's kind of like Gone Home and Dear Esther in that the story is narrated to you (though some characters talk to the player, but the player's responses are like "I told him I was looking for my uncle"), but it's much more interactive in terms of the gameplay. There's collectables to find (I found them a bit distracting, actually), some items scattered around for optional (but interesting) narration and a few little other things here and there - quite a bit of content packed into just about two hours of gameplay.

Certainly something to consider as a sort of potential runner for an alternative Game of the Year, though that depends on the player, I guess.