What are you playing?

[Ap2000]

I backed my first game today, Wasteland 3 for just 20$:
https://www.fig.co/campaigns/wasteland-3

[neshcom]

Got Grow Home on sale the other night and it's really nice. I generally don't like Ubisoft games with lots of open-world exploration in lieu of meaty content, but Grow Home is on the other side of the line. The repetition and freedom of exploration is relaxing. I had a really great time with Infamous/2/SS just flying around the cities and getting those power shards.
 
And to further the bastardize myself to the Ubisoft-hate, Watch Dogs 2 looks stupid in a way that WD1 needed, but I'm also really aware of how shaped all the press coverage on it has been so far. Seems like there's a lot of ways of handling missions that aren't just gunfights, but we just don't know if the loadouts in these demos will match what players actually have at those points. The story might be a step in the right direction from the first, if only because it doesn't seem to have any actual motivation for the main character (vs the really bad "whoops, I definitely got my own niece killed, but I need someone else to blame). 

[Ap2000]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="neshcom" data-cid="201133" data-time="1475887863">Got Grow Home on sale the other night and it's really nice. I generally don't like Ubisoft games with lots of open-world exploration in lieu of meaty content, but Grow Home is on the other side of the line. The repetition and freedom of exploration is relaxing.</blockquote>
Grow Home was my favourite game last year!
Grow Up is ok too, though obviously not as unique as the first one and just more of the same, with a bigger and more diverse world.

[neshcom]

lol I got all the MOM pieces in Grow Up today. Total game time: 3 hours. Oofadoofa. Didn't do any challenges and stuff, but I might spend some time getting crystals and all. Hmmm...

[JoshuaJSlone]

Nintendo NX revealed as Nintendo Switch. It's pretty much what the solid rumors of the last few months have been saying. A machine designed for play at home or on the go, with detachable controller parts that can either be used separately like wiimote/nunchuk or placed in another shell to be used like oldschool gamepad.

[Elpis]

It looks pretty cool and from what I've seen, people are having positive reactions to it. Although it's annoying that now that I have a 3ds, it goes and gets replaced almost immediately but then again the 3ds has been out a while, I just got it later than most people.

[JoshuaJSlone]

March launch is reconfirmed, but no word yet on price.

Seems like there'll still be a lot of new 3DS content for at least another year. It hasn't been the sales turd the Wii U has been, so it gets a slower phaseout. This is why I've been getting to a lot of 3DS games lately, though, as I'm sure come March I'll be wanting to bring this thing around.

[arcobaleno]

This will sound so country bumpkin of me, but wow technology nowadays really continues to amaze me. The times we live in are pretty cool.

[al kusanagi]

Can't wait to see how many games 3rd party companies won't be making for it!

[Elpis]

There seems to be a lot of third party support already, but I suppose we'll see if that support stays after the release.

[Anderei]

[quote="Al Kusanagi"]
Can't wait to see how many games 3rd party companies won't be making for it!
[/quote]
 
This was exactly my first thought. Unless Nintendo has taken steps to making it easier to develop for, most of the 3rd parties are gonna stay away. This could end up being WiiU 2.0 and be absolutely useless to anyone who isn't interested in the major Nintendo games like Mario and Pokemon.
 
Edit: A list of people on board from their twitter:

 
 

[Ap2000]

My first though was "luckily it's not called Swiitch!".
 
I think it has potential. Especially if it seems to be able to play Wii U software.

[neshcom]

I'll believe 3rd party support when I see it. I got burned on the Wii U and I'm not liable to plunk down even more money on Nintendo saying one thing and then doing nothing. It's good to see the hardware side err on the side of normalcy.  I wonder if devs will have a weird time with making carts instead of discs. 
 
Oh yeah, and Nintendo going 100% mum on details the rest of the year is a really bad look. That's a bad look, homey.

[Ap2000]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="neshcom" data-cid="201477" data-time="1477031405">
Oh yeah, and Nintendo going 100% mum on details the rest of the year is a really bad look. That's a bad look, homey.
</blockquote>

I read yesterday that the hardware is ARM-based, which is a stupid idea for a home console and will make porting games from other platforms harder. The other consoles and PCs are x86/x64 based.

[JoshuaJSlone]

A year or two back I played Nehrim a freely available total conversion mod for Oblivion. Entirely new world and some changed rules like no enemy scaling. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though being an English translation of a German mod there was occasionally a bit of untranslated stuff one would run into. When I finished I saw they were working on a sequel mod for Skyrim, but it was some ways off.

Checking recently, it came out a few months back. Enderal. Same kind of concept. An entirely new world in the Skyrim engine with other mechanics changed too. Leveling is more like Fallout, where you get a few skill and craft points per level which you can then distribute as you please. I've barely started, so I'm still at the point where even weak stuff like rats and wolves are a bit of a hassle--I do enjoy the lack of enemy scaling, but it does make things harsher at the beginning. While still a German mod with an English translation, this time the English seems a bigger deal. Nehrim had full German voice acting, but Enderal also has full English voice acting. They make using Enderal pretty friendly, too. It has its own launcher which will back up your existing Skyrim files, and can even check for and install new updates.

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Ap2000" data-cid="201479" data-time="1477042172">I read yesterday that the hardware is ARM-based, which is a stupid idea for a home console and will make porting games from other platforms harder. The other consoles and PCs are x86/x64 based.</blockquote>It's as much portable as home, and it's the only realistic choice for having something decently powerful while sucking as little battery as possible. It's a better situation than the last few Nintendo home consoles, though, which neither had x86/x64 processors, nor as much support for common middleware engines like UE4.

[JoshuaJSlone]

Finished Bravely Second and my new 3DS game is Fantasy Life. Based on what I'd seen of it before it seemed like something between Animal Crossing and an MMO with lots of crafting/gathering jobs, and so far that is pretty much what it seems like. Each job has a series of challenges you can do to increase your rank within it, with limits as to how much you can actually do depending on how far you've progressed the main storyline. Like, I just got access to a second town, so now I can buy new types of items with which to produce new kinds of clothing/food/potions. This seems like a game that could eat up a ton of time if it appeals to you.

[showraniy]

FINAL FANTASY XV IS RELEASED TODAAAAY!!!


I'm not playing it yet because 1. finals week is next week, and 2. I don't have a PS4 or XBone yet. I'm pretty sure I'll buy a PS4 for Christmas season, but fiancé wants an XBone to play Call of Loser with his friends, so we'll see who buys faster. >:c Then I'll probably get FFXV and Last Guardian at the same time for maximum hermit status.

[Ap2000]

I'm not playing it either because the combat system looks like complete and utter fucking garbage.
I hate Square-Enix so fucking much for what they did to FF after 10.

[al kusanagi]

[quote="Ap2000"]
I'm not playing it either because the combat system looks like complete and utter fucking garbage.

I hate Square-Enix so fucking much for what they did to FF after 6.
[/quote]
 

Fixed it for you.

[showraniy]

Pshaw, this looks to be the best attempt to fix the franchise since 10 for me. (I never got into 6, Al. Before my time, and then by the time I got to it, it was just too old for me to enjoy.)
 
It will be the most emo slash material since Naruto, but it stands a chance of being a really awesome game, and I miss really awesome games.
 
Besides, if it sucks, FUCK IT I'VE GOT LAST GUARDIAN!

[WonderBuono]

I wasn't crazy about the demo but I will support Final Fantasy till I die so I still want it lol. The only ones I won't play are the MMOs.

[Elpis]

I've never really played a final fantasy game. And I don't have a PS4 so I can't play 15. I did get a used copy of twelve several years ago but the game itself is broken since I couldn't scroll up at all. I couldn't attack and I couldn't even save so I kind of gave up on it.

[Ap2000]

[quote="Mizura"]
I've never really played a final fantasy game. And I don't have a PS4 so I can't play 15. I did get a used copy of twelve several years ago but the game itself is broken since I couldn't scroll up at all. I couldn't attack and I couldn't even save so I kind of gave up on it.
[/quote]
 
The PC versions of FF 7, 8 and 10(-2) are pretty good and the version to play, if you want to.

[aine]

Neverwinter Nights Diamond Edition for free on GOG for the next 32 hours.

And speaking of FFXV, I can't believe this video hasn't been posted yet.

[WonderBuono]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="aine" data-cid="202804" data-time="1480647497">
And speaking of FFXV, I can't believe this video hasn't been posted yet.
</blockquote>

That was hilarious, but someone in the audience had a really obnoxious laugh ugh.

[showraniy]

Hahahaha, I've seen that clip and found it hilarious! Conan is amazing.

[JoshuaJSlone]

I've been into Final Fantasy since VI, but being burned by XIII and the many dumb spinoffs and freemium games released in recent years my hopes for forever-in-development XV have been pretty low. I still haven't played it (No PS4/Xbone, probably get inevitable PC version), but I've heard surprisingly good things about it. Not like "Best game ever!", but people who have been critical about it for years going "...maybe this isn't so bad after all."

[DonJuan]

And here I am, never having played any Final Fantasy game.
 
Currently I'm playing Pokemon Moon though.

[JoshuaJSlone]

The Oculus Touch controllers came out. Not perfect, but a pretty neat compromise between standard game controllers (analog, face buttons, trigger and grip buttons on each side), complex motion controls, and slight finger tracking.

Most of my time with it so far has been in little demo programs. Probably my favorite stuff so far is where it's necessary to use both hands together for more complex tasks. For instance: hold a firecracker in one hand, pick up a lighter with the other, open the lighter with a flick of the wrist, ignite the firecracker with the lighter. Or hold a slingshot with one hand while pulling back and releasing with the other hand.

One of the other pieces of software included with it is Medium, a 3D art program. You choose options like shape, size, color and other settings and form shapes with motion in 3D space. Additional controls let you whittle it down, paint it, etc. You can also use included stock shapes, which include things like letters and body parts. Impressive people make impressive things. Me,

[Ap2000]

Watching the guys from Giantbomb.com play Google Earth VR was the most interesting thing I've seen with VR yet.