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Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #79 Sponsored by Mercantilism :marseysailor: Edition

What are you playing currently?

!g*mers

Previous Iterations:

2024

I'm aware the dates aren't exactly right but I like to keep things refered to their planned date. They are still weekly after all.

#1 --- 043 - [07 Jan 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #43 -- mayflyalt :marseyblowkiss:

#2 --- 044 - [14 Jan 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #44 -- lc

#3 --- 045 - [21 Jan 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #45 -- lc

#4 --- 046 - [28 Jan 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #46 -- lc

#5 --- 047 - [04 Feb 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #47 -- lc

#6 --- 048 - [11 Feb 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #48 -- lc

#7 --- 049 - [18 Feb 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #49 -- lc

#8 --- 050 - [25 Feb 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #50 -- lc

#9 --- 051 - [03 Mar 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #51 -- lc

#10 --- 052 - [10 Mar 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #52 -- lc

#11 --- 053 - [17 Mar 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #53 -- Ninjjer :marseyloveyou:

#12 --- 054 - [25 Mar 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #54 -- lc

#13 --- 055 - [7 Apr 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #55 -- Ninjjer

#14 --- 056 - [14 Apr 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #56 -- Ninjjer

#15 --- 057 - [21 Apr 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #57 -- Ninjjer

#16 --- 058 - [28 Apr 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #58 -- Ninjjer

#17 --- 059 - [5 May 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #59 -- RWBY

#18 --- 060 - [12 May 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #60 -- Ninjjer

#19 --- 061 - [12 May 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #61 -- Ninjjer

#20 --- 062 - [26 May 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #62 -- Ninjjer

#21 --- 063 - [2 June 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #63 -- RWBY

#22 --- 064 - [9 June 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #64 -- RWBY

#23 --- 065 - [16 June 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #65 -- Ninjjer

#24 --- 066 - [23 June 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #66 -- Ninjjer

#25 --- 067 - [30 June 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #67 -- Ninjjer

#26 --- 068 - [7 July 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #68 -- Ninjjer

#27 --- 069 - [14 July 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #69 -- Ninjjer

#28 --- 070 - [21 July 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #70 -- Ninjjer

#29 --- 071 - [28 July 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #71 -- Ninjjer

#30 --- 072 - [4 Aug 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #72 -- Ninjjer

#31 --- 073 - [11 Aug 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #73 -- Ninjjer

#32 --- 074 - [18 Aug 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #74 -- Ninjjer

#33 --- 075 - [25 Aug 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #75 -- Ninjjer

#34 --- 076 - [1 Sept 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #76 -- Ninjjer

#35 --- 077 - [8 Sept 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #77 -- Ninjjer

#35 --- 077 - [15 Sept 2024] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #78 -- Ninjjer

2023

I'm aware there are previous weekly or so megathreads and I'll eventually add them ( green = official, red = fake, yellow = misc, blue = losercel)

#0 - [22 Jan 2023] - some1 should make weekly vidya threads marseytf2spy

#1 - [28 Jan 2023] - Weekly "Whatcha Been Playing" Thread #1

#2 - [4 Feb 2023] - Weekly "Whatcha Been Playing" thread #2

#3 - [11 Feb 2023] - Weekly Gaming Thread #3

#3.5 - [13 Feb 2023] - [Weekly Gaming Thread 2] You will own no NFTs of video game microtransactions and you will be happy edition-- dramamine

#4 - [18 Feb 2023] - Weekly 'What're You Playing?' thread #4

#4.5 - [20 Feb 2023] - Welcome to the new weekly vidya thread! Week 1 - 2/20/23 -- robotron2084

#5 - [25 Feb 2023] - Weekly "What're You Playing" Community Thread #5

#5.5 - [2 Mar 2023] - So, what do you dipshits play all day? -- horned waifu shill

#6 - [4 Mar 2023] - Weekly 'What're You Playing' Thread #6

#7 - [11 Mar 2023] - Weekly 'What're you playing?' thread #7

#8 - [18 Mar 2023] - Weekly 'What're you playing?' Thread #8

#9 - [25 Mar 2023] - Weekly 'What're You Playing?' thread #9

#10 - [1 Apr 2023] - Weekly 'What are you playing?' Thread: #10: Whooaaaa Those are some HILARIOUS patch notes edition

#11 - [8 Apr 2023] - Weekly 'What are you playing' Thread #11

#12 - [15 Apr 2023] - Weekly 'What are you playing' thread #12

#13 - [23 Apr 2023] - What're you playing thread #idk

#14 - [29 Apr 2023] - Weekly 'What Are You Playing' thread #14

#15(1) - [6 May 2023] - Weekly 'What're you playing?' thread #15

#15(1).5 - [10 May 2023] - marseyg*mer Gaming Thread - What are you playing this week? -- cynic

#15(2) - [13 May 2023] - Weekend 'What've you been playing?' Thread #15 -- he fricked up the ordering here I'll just go with it

#16 - [20 May 2023] - Weekly "What Are You Playing?" Thread #16

#16.5 - [28 May 2023] - Weekly "What are you playing" thread -- carp

#17 - [3 Jun 2023] - Weekly "What have you been playing?" Thread #new one

#18 - [10 Jun 2023] - Weekly "What are you playing" thread #18

#19 - [17 Jun 2023] - Weekly 'What're You Playing' thread #19!

#20(1) - [24 Jun 2023] - Weekly 'What Games Are you Playing?' Thread #20: Modern Warfare III

#20(2) - [1 Jul 2023] - Weekly 'What're you playing?' Thread #20: Summer Salestice -- same reason as above

#21 - [10 Jul 2023] - Weekly 'What're you playing?' Thread #21: loli_esports forgot got chudded edition -- basad

#23 - [15 Jul 2023] - Weekly 'What Games Are You Playing?' thread #I think it's actually 23 -- should be 22 but I'll go with his ordering

#24 - [22 Jul 2023] - Weekly 'What Games Are You Playing?' thread #24: Lot of stuff coming out all of a sudden, feels like

#25 - [29 Jul 2023] - Weekly 'What games have you been playing' thread #25

#26 - [5 Aug 2023] - Weekly 'What Games Are You Playing' thread #26

#27 - [12 Aug 2023] - Weekly 'What Games Are You Playing' thread #27

#28 - [19 Aug 2023] - Weekly 'What Games Are You Playing' thread #28

#29 - [26 Aug 2023] - Weekly 'What Games Are You Playing' thread #29

#30 - [2 Sep 2023] - Weekly 'What Games Are You Playing' thread #30

#31 - [9 Sep 2023] - Weekly 'What Games Are You Playing' thread #31

#32 - [16 Sep 2023] - Weekly 'What Games Are You Playing' thread #32

#33 - [23 Sep 2023] - Weekly 'What Games Are You Playing' thread #33

#34 - [30 Sep 2023] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread # 34

#35 - [7 Oct 2023] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #35

#36 - [27 Oct 2023] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #36 -- tulpa

#37 - [26 Nov 2023] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #37 -- losercel

#38 - [03 Dec 2023] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #38 -- losercel

#39 - [10 Dec 2023] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #39 -- losercel

#40 - [17 Dec 2023] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #40 -- losercel

#41 - [24 Dec 2023] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #41 -- losercel

#42 - [31 Dec 2023] - Weekly "What games are you playing" thread #42 -- losercel


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Last week's game: The Witcher

Final Score: (10*9+9*5+8*18+7*8+6*4+5*2+4*2+3*2+2*1+1*5)/(9+5+18+8+4+2+2+2+1+5) = 7.5

All Previous Games:



Game to Discuss?

This week, let's discuss the Anno series. I had initially planned to limit the scope of this discussion to just Anno 1800, but as far as I can tell, there's barely anything to distinguish the various games from eachother, so instead, we'll be discussing all the Anno games. What is there to say about Anno? It's a fairly mature series, maybe the only AAA game which hasn't devolved into a FPS/Cinematic experience/Dodge spamming simulator. In it, you develop the economy of your corporation, by expanding out across the various archipelagos the particular game offers, and developing your workforce though access to new and exciting goods, which invariably require you to expand beyond the starting island/area. See the pinned comment below to vote on the series.

  • Future game discussions:

September 29: Huniepop :marseycoomer2:

October 6: Katamari Damacy :marseyvibing:

October 13: Factorio :marseydramautist:

October 20: Townscaper


carp, capy, geto, donger pin please :marseybegging:

43
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Finally got less of a workload so I have more time for vidya (and posting here!)

As I was too busy for any extended playthroughs, I had to be satisfied with smaller experiences and was combing through Gamepass for them. As Dusk Falls was my pick and I somewhat enjoyed it.

Created by former Quantic Dreams devs (David Cage's studio behind Fahrenheit and Heavy Rain), it has decent writing and atmosphere. The art style, or rather the animation style, is the only big filter I can think of. Akin to a comic book or a visual novel (in the non-weeb sense), each frame of animation is separated by a few seconds of real time, forcing you to fill in the blanks of how exactly those motions would look like. I had no issues with it, but apparently plenty of people actually did.

The choices you make matter enough to feel more liberating than a TellTale experience, although that isn't a particularly high bar to reach. At the end of each chapter you get a scene tree showing how your decisions impacted the story, which presentation-wise is lifted directly from Detroit: Become Human. The devs left Quantic Dream before the release of that game, but surely it was it was far enough in its development for them to know about that feature and get "inspired". I was surprised of learning of the developers' origins, as surely creating product this similar to your former employer's is considered to be in poor taste.

After seeing the new Alien film a month ago, I got the craving to revisit Alien: Isolation once again, just to experience a real labour of love, which become increasingly rare in the industry these days. Despite this being my fourth playthrough, I am still amazed by the magnificent use of shadows and lighting, which make this 10 year old game still look incredibly good. After learning that Creative Assembly got access to the original sound banks and concept art of the first Alien film, I understood why it always felt so faithful and in tune with the film. Got the achievement for completing the game with no deaths (with minor reload abuse), so I will probably not return to the game for a long while. I've gotten so used to the xenomorph's behaviour patterns, that I treated it more like a nuisance than a threat during this playthrough, which is not a good sign and is the opposite of how you should feel in an Alien game.

After one space game I have now switched to another and currently doing my second playthrough of Starfield since I finished it roughly a year ago. Hearing about the DLC coming out at the end of the month, I've started a new character as far opposed to my original one as possible. That is how I treated all Bethesda DLCs since Dawnguard - made new characters just so I can experience the new content more cohesively, instead of reloading an old save where I can't even recall my motivations or surroundings. I don't have any hopes on the DLC fixing any issues with the base game, nor do I trust Emil to make House Va'ruun an interesting faction with some form of twisted logic behind its core beliefs. I am just enjoying the ride and hoping that the few good things that Starfield does are carried over to TES VI.

After finishing Starfield's DLC I will probably go over the Dishonored games yet again, as they somehow always invoke autumn vibes for me. I am aware of the meme that Arcanum is apparently the "fall game" for many people, but for me it was always more summer-coded. Probably because my first time playing it was during one of the hottest Junes of my childhood, as exploring the streets of Ashbury with a glass of homemade ice tea in hand is the "thumbnail" memory I have of the game.

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:#didntreadlol:

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:marseywave3: welcome back king, I've missed your comments. Still haven't gotten Starfield myself, it sounds like it exaggerates all the worst qualities of Bethesda's games.

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I would say there is less exaggeration but rather less distraction from the core gameplay loop and how awkward and banal it is. Bethesda used their handcrafted open worlds as a sort of a fig leaf to cover up the ugly quest design they had since Morrowind. Mostly fetch quests with other NPCs being static figures glued to their house/workplace and having no impact outside of giving you quest markers and rewards. It felt a bit more cohesive when the player could get lost in the detailed worlds and discover some interesting locations along the way to their boring fetch quest and ignore its lack of essence. Starfield rips the fig leaf off and leaves the player with nothing but loading screens in between each step of their fetch quests. All that quiet waiting time used to be spent exploring the open worlds, gathering items or just fooling around with the physics - without it all the quests themselves and the dungeon crawls cannot support the game on its own, just like how the previous 5 titles Bethesda made would probably fail too if not for their open worlds to tie everything together. I am amazed they didn't anticipate this earlier in development and still chose to push the current formula.

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Yeah. I guess the main thing I get out of Bethesda's games is a sense of serendipity. Their continued belief that they make traditional RPGs is something which I actually think has probably hurt every game they've made since skyrim, at least.

Not sure how related this is, but I hate the settlement building feature in Fallout 4. Instead of going to the trouble of making a bunch of honestly interesting locations, there's a ton of places where the only "content" is that you can build a new settlement out of the same building blocks, with the same anonymous cast of "settlers." On top of this, it's not like the settlement building actually poses any challenges to the gameplay - it's strangely disconnected from the broader world. In almost every RPG made, cities and other settlements are incredibly dense in terms of activities. Fallout 4's settlements, on the other hand, have almost no content, aside from pressing Q or whatever to enter build mode.

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https://i.rdrama.net/images/17194996128531878.webp

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>hoping that the few good things that Starfield does are carried over to TES VI

Any examples?

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The ailments system is a definite improvement from their previous entires. Instead of having cure-all potions or stimpaks, each type of disease, infection or injury has its own aid item required to heal yourself. Ignoring your afflictions instead of immediately patching yourself up can lead to a worsening condition. If you keep limping about with a broken leg, it will take longer to heal and might even get damaged some more. This along with the environmental hazards mechanic can create challenging scenarios during exploration. Not sure where they plan to stage TES VI, but Blackmarash would be a great setting for all kinds of air- and water-borne diseases that you would have to manoeuvre around. Morrowind, while already done, would also benefit from such a mechanic. The blight and ash storms can become real hazards forcing you to seek shelter or be ready to take some debuffs.

The environment artists did a great job on the handcrafted locations and the prefabs that you encounter many times during your travels. While not necessarily a new thing, it is good to know that the company isn't forgetting one of its strongest suits. The dungeons are bigger than in their previous games and have plenty of clutter and details thrown about, although I figure it is somewhat easier to do with a sci-fi setting. They are not as large and labyrithian as Daggerfalls dungeons (thankfully) while feeling more rewarding and expansive than your average ruins and caves from Skyrim.

While most don't think of this as a good thing, but I see some potential in the proc gen terrain systems Bethesda employed with Starfield. Sure, it is wasted on thousands of barren planets, but could be quite useful for a limited section of the game world. If TES VI takes place in Hammerfall, for example, the Alik'r desert could be procedurally generated with each new playthrough with the locals only being able to give vague directions instead of dropping a perfect pin on your map. The sandstorms move and shape the desert around, making it a challenge each time you have to traverse it. No need to proc gen the rest of the map, but just one sizeable area. I guess the Glowing Sea from Fallout 4 would be another place where this mechanic could be useful, making navigation as much of a challenge for the player as avoiding the radiation and surviving the local wildlife already are. That is if Starfield's poor reception doesn't scare them away from using proc gen at all.

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Mommy is soooo proud of you, sweaty. Let's put this sperg out up on the fridge with all your other failures.

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