Video Games

Check out Black Mesa, it is HL but "better"

I went back and played HL a few years ago, feels 'dated' but not bad IMO. But then again I do routinely fire up the OG Unreal Tournament so I don't mind late 90's FPS games

I never did finish HL, I remember there being a big monster thing and some big pillars outside maybe, must've been pretty much the last boss fight and I put it down and never went back. Think I did a similar thing to FF7 on PS1, did the pre-boss fight and couldn't bring myself to finish it. Regerts.

Black Mesa remake of HL is fantastic. The Zen portion was completely redesigned from the original.

https://youtu.be/V7vDsarvyoc

Anyone played Elden Ring? Is it literally just a fancy new version of Dark Souls? Could never get into DS, probably a lack of story element.

About 10 hours into CP now, really sucks you into the story, especially if you don't treat it like a GTA style rompathon.

I think HL replays much better if you carry in mind that a lot of the things that feel ‘tropey’ do so because they were genre-defining at the time.

they'd feel a bit anachronistic now

Games are games. Perhaps some mechanics feel clunkier and the path more linear than today's games.

It's simplicity and innovation in terms of how the narrative is told makes for an immersive fun game.

Also the theme of HL2, an Eastern European city overrun by gestapo-like soldiers...

a lack of story element

That is your first mistake.
There is a fair amount of story, but hidden in item descriptions and cut scenes (and open to interpretation... so maybe you are right)

Enjoying Elden Ring so far. 2 hours in and i've mostly been sneaking around picking off wildlife and weak enemies in the area in front of where you first exit into the open world.

I do have a rant about the stupid fucking lose all your grace when you die mechanic locked and loaded but i'm going to bite my tongue for now.

seeing all the bad motherfuckers roaming around though is exciting. but I have a very very steep learning curve before i go near them.

I'm about 2h in too, just got to Margit, the fell omen.
Kicked my arse 3 times and I've decided I am too tired to try again.

You souls/grace are where you died, you can get them back (unless you die on the way back)

which is complete bullshit when they end up in the back of a room that's 50m from a bonfire but the cunt hiding round the corner as you walk in kills you in about 1.5 seconds from one failed dodge.

I actually enjoyed figuring out how to kill him, but the 2700 grace i lost before I could even figure out what was in the room is basically 5 items from the merchant i now have to grind because some dickhead somewhere thinks that was a good idea for something that's meant to provide entertainment to the players.

This to me is the beauty of the souls game, you end up playing in persistent fear that you might be pushing too hard and it normally results in your fear being proved right.
Doesn't even matter if you're revisiting an area whilst overpowered, if you're taking the power for granted you'll get done in.

Not many games have that, you level up and up and most of it, even the end game becomes completely trivial as a result.

4 hrs in and it feels like this game is going to be providing for me for months. I always get drawn in to seeking the platinum trophy for souls games and if this has the same ng+2 requirements of the others it's going to be a delightful pain in the ass.

Enjoying elden ring but from wandering around an encountering some big bosses I have zero idea how I'll ever be able to defeat those.

git gud

I do have a rant about the stupid fucking lose all your grace when you die mechanic locked and loaded but i'm going to bite my tongue for now

Haha yeah welcome to Dark Souls. Level up whenever you have enough so you're not carrying around an amount you don't want to lose.

I've played maybe 10 hours and done nothing on the story line as I've been exploring. A trap in a chest transported me to some crystal cave while I was level 1 with no armour and everything there 1 shot killed me. Hadn't even unlocked fast travelling so had to run around trying to find another save point. Took ages.

Lol

Have never played a souls type game, but i think this is going to be the first!

settling into it now.

spent hour clearing an area only to use my last flask by mistake with full health going into second to last fight and then end up with about 10% health on the final enemy. walked up to him and he turned at the exact time I tried to backstab which then missed and he hit me while I was still stuck in the attack animation and good night me. I'd purposely approached him so I was on the edge of the camp if (when) I died so I could go grab my shit when he was at other end of his patrol path and no other enemies were in that area.

finding it a little baffling how some of the core game mechanics are being drip-fed considering its an open world game. if you don't do one specific thing or go to a specific site of grace you might play for hours without unlocking a really important mechanic. I finally found the place that lets me spend runes to level up, got my ghost horse and a few other things after at least 3-4 hours of tooling around doing mostly nothing. did a bit of exploring and found a ton of areas i have no intention going near for about another 10 hours of play.

also horse combat is impossible. i struggle hitting the skulls with items in stationary on the ground. trying to kill a soldier on horseback got my head caved in even faster than normal. nice to be able to move around quickly though.

Enjoying it then? Maybe I'll give it a go. It has been a long time since Dark Souls...

so far I am but I really haven't shoved my face in the meat grinder yet. the ability to ease myself in was the bit that sold me on even trying and so far it's letting me learn as i go instead of plonking me in front of a stupid hard encounter that i need to get past to progress like in previous games.

I came here to ask about Elden Ring, it looks good so I'm wondering whether to buy a copy and it looks like the consensus is already yes.

Sure is.
Though as Hatbeard has alluded to, you need to have a Souls game mentality, htfu and no bedwetting about having the learn, fail, and learn cycle

Good things come...

Souls game mentality, htfu and no bedwetting about having the learn, fail, and learn cycle

I still feel all that toxic masculinity shit about it being super tough is born out of lazy design choices rather than any inspired game development beliefs as nothing about any of these style games should require such reliance on gimmicks to increase the difficulty artificially.

Elden Ring feels like they've finally made a game with enough wiggle room to find enjoyment in the gaps around all the git gud bullshit.

7 hours in, I'm still fighting scrub enemies and avoiding anything tough looking but i'm exploring all the non-dungeon areas, levelling up and gaining power and most importantly having a chance to learn how to play the game at my own pace without having to grind it out through frustration and anger, I've probably only died 10-15 times now and my combat ability is reaching a point where things slow down enough in the heat of the fight I can think clearly and make conscious decisions about what I need to do rather than just mash dodge and spend the whole time with the enemy off camera chasing me, which was something I would have had to die 200 times (in a row) to get to in the previous games

Having always dodged souls games for the same reason as what I reckon 90% of the gaming public have up to now, the comments above are making me feel like I might actually take a chance this time. Not having to go through a boss immediately and levelling up slowly, even if it does mean hiding in a bush and stabbing minions in the back for a while, seems like a reasonable accommodation to mere metals like me.