Video Games

Gwent is a reimplementation of my favourite boardgame ever: Condottiere. I thoroughly recommend picking up a copy if you wanted to play it irl

Gwent is a reimplementation of my favourite boardgame ever: Condottiere

Major source they drew from, for sure, alongside Netrunner. Result was one of the best minigames ever. Sadly, the versions they've done as stand-alone games are pretty boring - added a lot of traditional CCG elements that make it over complicated and boring.

I think what made it so great in TW3 was the drip-drop introduction of cards that slowly built up the engines in the decks through the gameplay missions and exploration.

Finished Dark Souls Remastered last night - turns out this game that spawned an entire subgenre is actually pretty damn good. I did get frustrated fighting Gwyn that I still took damage when parrying. Hit a chain of parries on him and died on the last one, but I guess it makes sense that no one tactic should be too strong.

Didn't actually find any of the boss runs too bad, which was the main thing I was concerned about. Tried to look up minimal stuff (I only looked up how to take a weapon from +9 to +10, and what the boss souls could make really, to decide whether I wanted to pop them or not). Reckon it's a break from souls games next but I'm hype for DS3 and bloodborne, and a fresh run of Elden Ring with no spirit ash summons.

Don't think you should be taking damage from a clean parry? Are you sure you weren't blocking some of his attacks.

Also have you done the dlc? If not, you should. Fromsoft's dlc's are always great

Ahhh I never looked it up but it makes sense - partial parries give you super armour and reduce damage taken but no riposte, full parries you take no damage and can riposte. I think I was thinking of it like ER where there's a poise meter and parrying adds to their poise damage, but no, I was just parrying wrong.

I will do the DLC at some point, but I felt ready to be done with the game. Since so much of these games is exploration / working things out I am sure doing a run where I just try to get to the DLC shouldn't be too bad.

Anyone got anything on the radar they're excited about? Feels a real drought at the moment, and for the rest of the year!

Sniper elite 5...

It’s so good. The Mount Saint Michel level is amazing.

Free on game pass too.

Yes going to start Monday. I've enjoyed all the previous ones too. Replaying levels with differing weapons tactics and ammo as well as difficulty is pretty good...

I need to play the new Horizon, ghostwire Tokyo, finish cyberpunk, finish my second play through of elden ring, probably pick up Stranger of Paradise then coming up ff16 just had a demo, as did callisto protocol and I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting. I spend 90% of my gaming time these days just on Apex Legends so there's a lot to catch up on

Stealth in this one is great. Love sneaking around and popping heads.

Dusted of Switch and would like to try Metroid Dread, Pikmin 4 or new Kirby I missed on.

Would anyone in London have a copy I could borrow for my holiday upcoming Tuesday?

Could lend a game in return.

I never played any of the Bioshocks back in the day so picked the 3 remastered versions up on the xbox marketplace for £8 recently and have started on them. I'm enjoying it but I'm also dieing a lot so far.

Playing Citizen Sleeper alongside it as well and it's great so far. Gone into it with no idea about it and the narative is unfolding quite nicely.

I never played any of the Bioshocks back in the day so picked the 3 remastered versions up on the xbox marketplace for £8 recently and have started on them. I'm enjoying it but I'm also dieing a lot so far.

This is me. I've also done the same. Remastered for cheap. Also enjoying it except for the dying part. A lot.

Funnily enough I'm only just playing Bioshock 2 for the first time; have always been put off by the idea of playing a Big Daddy, but finally got stuck in. Still as fun as I always remember it being, but so far the drill has proven pointless when a lot of the time close combat hasn't really been a thing...

I'm looking forward to that cat one coming out in July.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgPRPi--F5E

Started Witcher 3 the other day, overall it's pretty cool. Some aspects of it I'm not wild about and the combat feels a bit lackluster after Elden Ring and Dark Souls (in a way that I can't really articulate? one thing that is tangible is fighting multiple enemies and managing the camera while the attack buttons are on the face instead of bumpers is a bit of a nightmare). I'm invested in the story cause I read all (bar season of storms) the books and want to know what happens, but do feel a bit disappointed in the gameplay.

I think part of knack to the fighting is using the skills to counteract those shortfallings.

attacking, deflecting, repositioning, stunning enemies at the right times help to stop yourself getting cornered or stuck in a camera deadspot become a bit of a dance. if you squint a little it can feel almost thematic once you get into the flow of it but it doesn't chain as well as games like say spiderman where you just transition around the fight much more seamlessly

Citizen Sleeper

I've been a bit too busy to game the last few weeks but have been dipping in and out of this and liking it as an evening chill game.

the combat feels a bit lackluster after Elden Ring and Dark Souls (in a way that I can't really articulate

Playing on any difficulty lower than Death March just makes the game too easy. Even on Death March it isn't Dark Souls difficult, but it at least gives you a real incentive to put together a coherent combination of abilities, gear and play style (and makes resource management a lot tougher). Of course, if you're a Dark Souls fan you probably went straight in on Death March.

one thing that is tangible is fighting multiple enemies and managing the camera while the attack buttons are on the face instead of bumpers is a bit of a nightmare).

Making it a game where claw grip really makes a difference. This was the game that convinced me to learn it. Depending on the game, claw can work better on a symmetrical controller (PS, Stadia) than an asymmetric one (XBox, Switch) but for W3 it's the right hand side that you really care about, so it's all equal.

but do feel a bit disappointed in the gameplay.

You might want to explore a build/style that's more signs or alchemy focused - more complicated.

I went with blood and broken bones, but maybe Death March is the solution.

Yeah you're right, maybe this is the game where I learn claw, or use xpadder to remap some buttons.

I always find it hard in video games to go with something more complex / harder for the sake of it when the game doesn't incentivise it, and I feel like thematically to me Geralt is mostly a swordsman, but maybe Death March will force me to diversify my playstyle a bit.

Stick with it. It's one of those games that is so much more than the sum of its parts imo - a bit like cyberpunk and control. It kinds of seeps into you if you play it for long enough.

few short hours on sniper elite 5 (xbox) - not sure i like the few tweeks made to the controls and UI , plus more buttons doing dual actions to remember, but other than that i think the AI for the soldiers / vision/ detection is pretty good - and i feel it needs more thought and planning than some of the ones before it....

Yeah I find it quite hypnotic, the music and atmoshpere are great and the way the gameplay works it's dangerously 'one more turn' for me.