I picked up “Mafia: Definitive Edition”
cheap the other day (I’ve linked it on Steam as it’s still on sale for the next few days).
I was a fan of Mafia (the original from 2002) and felt it was cheap enough to give it a shot and I’m glad I did: besides the infamous/arduous racing level I found it to be very enjoyable overall.
I was sad to see that there wasn’t any “Freeride Extreme” in the latest version (this was bonus, fun, ludicrous content, available after completing the game) as it would have been a nice addition, the “Freeride” mode is likewise a little lackluster but the actual campaign is great.
What was the last game you finished? Was it any good?
Baldur’s Gate 3. I loved it as a cRPG fan who grew up on them. It’s ambitious, innovative and I’m really happy it’s brought the genre to a whole new audience. I hope we see something of a genre revival. But if you’ve been online at all you’ve seen all the praise I could give it already anyway, so lets talk about the bad.
It’s shockingly buggy and it’s weird that it’s always just a footnote in the discourse. I’m not sure I’ve ever finished a game this broken before. I was constantly encountering issues that would cause me to reload a save. There are plenty of posts about the bugs - pretty much every single quest in the game will have dozens of threads about various issues - but when it comes down to reviews people are really forgiving of it in a way I haven’t really seen before.
It’s also made some fundamentally terrible design decisions that wont be fixed by patches. Long resting to progress the story triggers is particularly awful. It absolute kills the pacing, despite the narrative suggesting a heavy time pressure (that isn’t actually there), and encourages you to just nova everything. I found myself just spamming long rests after every narrative beat until the cutscenes stopped triggering just to make sure which was very tedious.
I just finished Lies of P. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a souls-like game that takes story elements from Pinocchio.
I found it a lot more approachable than other souls-like game. It’s a lot more linear (but I don’t think it suffers from that) and does a better job of introducing you to game mechanics. What also made it more approachable was the parry system felt a little more forgiving and there is always a save point right before a big boss (so even if you’re stuck on one, you can keep jumping right back in).
I really loved the parry mechanic of Sekiro. I know the games were developed by different companies. Are you able to make any comments about how they compare?
I only played a bit of sekiro, so keep that in mind. However, I would say that Lies of P gives a similar level of importance to parrying/perfect guard, but it’s not solely dependent on it. In sekiro you really need to parry, but in Lies of P (in many instances) you can get by with dodging and finding openings. That being said, the rhythm element to parrying is very much there, and most bosses require learning the cadence of attacks so you can parry.
Some added context, in lies of P if you block at the right time it’s a perfect guard which uses no stamina and blocks all damage. It also has the benefit of reducing the stamina of the enemy, which after enough guards or hits will open them for a critical strike (similar to a stance break in souls games). If you’re playing bosses without assistance, this is the key way to win, so feels a bit like sekiro.
If that sounds interesting I would take a look at a gameplay video.
Last game I finished was Days Gone and it was great. Nice open world zombie shooter in the US state of Oregon. Great map, great characters, decent plot, good action. Very cinematic at times. After the 10+ minutes of cinematic closing credits you can actually start roaming again and there is some more story after the credits.
I 100% it just a few days ago. What a fun game. Btw it’s definitely worth it to continue roaming and do all the side missions, There’s a “secret ending” that’s really worth it imo
Alan Wake 2. What a masterpiece, especially THAT sequence. I absolutely loved this game.
The older I get, the more I start to appreciate studios that take risks and believe in their creative identity. Games like Death Stranding and Alan Wake 2 are perfect examples. They’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but that’s what art is. Someone might hate something that you personally find breathtaking. And vice versa.
I’m also playing Spiderman 2 at the moment, and while it’s good and it’s very fun, I will not remember this game 1 day after I finish it. Death stranding I finished 3 months ago and I still think about it. I’m extremely excited for DS2 and hopefully Alan Wake 3.
I also just finished Alan Wake 2. The first game is in my top 3 favorite games of all time, so I was super excited for the sequel. The overall presentation is definitely A++ and so are the graphics. However, there were a couple of really obvious and annoying bugs that should never have made it past QA.
While I really liked the new characters, the overall storyline has become (even by Remedy standards) extremely convoluted and the ending wasn’t very satisfying. I also found the constant references to Finland a bit too much on the nose and they kinda took me out of the game a couple of times.
Of course the game makes it up in other aspects, such as the new gameplay that was clearly inspired by Resident Evil, which I also really like. Alan’s mind place was also fun and I found the ability change the scenes by rewriting them very creative. Saga’s mind place started out great as well, but it started to feel like a chore as the game went on.
Despite the nit-picking, it is pretty good game overall and I’m excited for their future projects in this universe.
I understand where you’re coming from 100%, and I agree with you somewhat. While I personally enjoyed the gameplay in Alan Wake (nothing like landing a perfect headshot for a 1 hit kill with the rifle), I understand why some will be turned off by it.
On the other hand, I think of Control. Very solid gameplay and mechanics, but the story in my opinion was lackluster, and I think it might be because they were scared to go all out on a mind bending storyline. They wanted to sell games, and you sell them with good shooter mechanics to cast a wide net over the audience, at the expense of creative identity.
I feel like for Alan Wake 2 they went all out to make sure they follow Sam Lakes and the team’s creative direction. And that’s why I love it. You can feel the work that went into this to make sure it’s exactly what they wanted to create, instead of what they needed to.
I finished Outer Wilds a few weeks ago. It was, in my opinion, one of the strongest arguments for treating video games as an art form that I’ve ever experienced. It’s not long - I finished it in about 20 hours - but the narrative and story is so well put together and thought out that it felt a lot longer. I thought it was beautiful and thought provoking.
Video games as a whole aren’t for everyone, but if I meet someone and they’re interested in games but hasn’t played them much, Outer Wilds is on the top of my list of recommends. If you play a lot of video games, this one will amaze you. Don’t read anything about it - just grab it when it’s on sale and go in blind. I did and it made a big difference.
Any of the main games by Quantic Dream are of similar artful quality I’d say. Really a playable story with choices impacting the plot and twists and discovery that keeps you hooked. I liked Beyond: Two Souls the best, but Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human aren’t far behind.
In the same boat, it’s such a beautiful game, especially the less you know about it beforehand. It’s been awhile since I’ve played a game like that. I’m just about finishing up the DLC, then going back through the final sequence to see how that affects the ending, I might try to go back and finish out the Steam achievements on it too, just to have them done. If I could have any memories erased in my life, it would be all knowledge of that game, just so I could go back through it one more time with fresh eyes. The ending kind of mirrors the reality of finishing out the game itself, it’s kind of sad and bittersweet, it’s like a book that I never wanted to end.
I finally played Mass Effect 3, I’d played 1 and 2 but after all the stink about 3 and it being on Origin / EA Play for years I never bothered until a recent $1 sale on a month of that EA subscription, which has ME3 on it.
I spent 90%+ of the game going “Wow this isn’t bad at all, I am really impressed! This really is a good game!”
…until I got to the ending sequence, when it felt like the game had taken crazy pills all of a sudden. I understood why everyone was mad about it, and totally agree that it ruined the game. It wasn’t that Shepherd died, it wasn’t the Red/Blue(/Green) choice they gave you, it was a combination of 3 factors though:
Crippling your character and making you limp along, unable to use any of your powers, forced to slog through a bunch of token combat EDITwith only pistol, and all your cosmetic choices were erased as you drag around at half speed through corridors just to get further in the chain of conversations.
Except for the pass/fail check on the conversation with the Illusive Man (which is very easy to miss the requirements for without expecting it), none of what you did before entering that final sequence matters, it really was just press a button to receive ending. On that same note, you can have all 3 endings regardless of what you did, spent the entire trilogy making nothing but Renegade choices? Don’t worry you can still press the Blue button! Hail Mary deathbed confession!
I found the child avatar kind of out of place and a bit weird, yes I know it was a reference to the kid that died, but it was not really immersive and it made this gigantic long conversation that makes up “the last boss” really awkward, especially since half the conversation is just explaining the story for people that weren’t paying attention or missed all the side quests.
Tomb Raider 2013. Love that game. It’s a mystery to me how they were able to croft (allow me this pun!) such a good story for that game but not able to repeat it in the later games. Even though their graphics is undoubtedly better, they feel like blant, nonsensical, un-mysterious clones
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Baldur’s Gate 3. I loved it as a cRPG fan who grew up on them. It’s ambitious, innovative and I’m really happy it’s brought the genre to a whole new audience. I hope we see something of a genre revival. But if you’ve been online at all you’ve seen all the praise I could give it already anyway, so lets talk about the bad.
It’s shockingly buggy and it’s weird that it’s always just a footnote in the discourse. I’m not sure I’ve ever finished a game this broken before. I was constantly encountering issues that would cause me to reload a save. There are plenty of posts about the bugs - pretty much every single quest in the game will have dozens of threads about various issues - but when it comes down to reviews people are really forgiving of it in a way I haven’t really seen before.
It’s also made some fundamentally terrible design decisions that wont be fixed by patches. Long resting to progress the story triggers is particularly awful. It absolute kills the pacing, despite the narrative suggesting a heavy time pressure (that isn’t actually there), and encourages you to just nova everything. I found myself just spamming long rests after every narrative beat until the cutscenes stopped triggering just to make sure which was very tedious.
Yeah it really felt like they wanted you to rest as little as possible, only for me to beat act 1 missing 75% of events!
I guess I’m just lucky that the only bugs I’ve gotten are bad jump pathing
Same! it is like my 7th playthrough already, going for the good dark urged route.
I just finished Lies of P. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a souls-like game that takes story elements from Pinocchio.
I found it a lot more approachable than other souls-like game. It’s a lot more linear (but I don’t think it suffers from that) and does a better job of introducing you to game mechanics. What also made it more approachable was the parry system felt a little more forgiving and there is always a save point right before a big boss (so even if you’re stuck on one, you can keep jumping right back in).
I’d give it a 9/10
I really loved the parry mechanic of Sekiro. I know the games were developed by different companies. Are you able to make any comments about how they compare?
I only played a bit of sekiro, so keep that in mind. However, I would say that Lies of P gives a similar level of importance to parrying/perfect guard, but it’s not solely dependent on it. In sekiro you really need to parry, but in Lies of P (in many instances) you can get by with dodging and finding openings. That being said, the rhythm element to parrying is very much there, and most bosses require learning the cadence of attacks so you can parry.
Some added context, in lies of P if you block at the right time it’s a perfect guard which uses no stamina and blocks all damage. It also has the benefit of reducing the stamina of the enemy, which after enough guards or hits will open them for a critical strike (similar to a stance break in souls games). If you’re playing bosses without assistance, this is the key way to win, so feels a bit like sekiro.
If that sounds interesting I would take a look at a gameplay video.
Thanks, sounds promising
Oh man I know what I’ll be trying after bloodborne then haha. Thanks for the info!
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Last game I finished was Days Gone and it was great. Nice open world zombie shooter in the US state of Oregon. Great map, great characters, decent plot, good action. Very cinematic at times. After the 10+ minutes of cinematic closing credits you can actually start roaming again and there is some more story after the credits.
I 100% it just a few days ago. What a fun game. Btw it’s definitely worth it to continue roaming and do all the side missions, There’s a “secret ending” that’s really worth it imo
Days gone gets a lot of hate but I thought it was a blast and the motorcycle travel was such a great game mechanic.
What did it get hate for?
I just finished Cassette Beasts. Fun pokemon type game with a great soundtrack. Maybe a little short but a fun experience all around.
If it’s short then it’s next on my list!
Alan Wake 2. What a masterpiece, especially THAT sequence. I absolutely loved this game.
The older I get, the more I start to appreciate studios that take risks and believe in their creative identity. Games like Death Stranding and Alan Wake 2 are perfect examples. They’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but that’s what art is. Someone might hate something that you personally find breathtaking. And vice versa.
I’m also playing Spiderman 2 at the moment, and while it’s good and it’s very fun, I will not remember this game 1 day after I finish it. Death stranding I finished 3 months ago and I still think about it. I’m extremely excited for DS2 and hopefully Alan Wake 3.
I also just finished Alan Wake 2. The first game is in my top 3 favorite games of all time, so I was super excited for the sequel. The overall presentation is definitely A++ and so are the graphics. However, there were a couple of really obvious and annoying bugs that should never have made it past QA.
While I really liked the new characters, the overall storyline has become (even by Remedy standards) extremely convoluted and the ending wasn’t very satisfying. I also found the constant references to Finland a bit too much on the nose and they kinda took me out of the game a couple of times.
Of course the game makes it up in other aspects, such as the new gameplay that was clearly inspired by Resident Evil, which I also really like. Alan’s mind place was also fun and I found the ability change the scenes by rewriting them very creative. Saga’s mind place started out great as well, but it started to feel like a chore as the game went on.
Despite the nit-picking, it is pretty good game overall and I’m excited for their future projects in this universe.
deleted by creator
I understand where you’re coming from 100%, and I agree with you somewhat. While I personally enjoyed the gameplay in Alan Wake (nothing like landing a perfect headshot for a 1 hit kill with the rifle), I understand why some will be turned off by it.
On the other hand, I think of Control. Very solid gameplay and mechanics, but the story in my opinion was lackluster, and I think it might be because they were scared to go all out on a mind bending storyline. They wanted to sell games, and you sell them with good shooter mechanics to cast a wide net over the audience, at the expense of creative identity.
I feel like for Alan Wake 2 they went all out to make sure they follow Sam Lakes and the team’s creative direction. And that’s why I love it. You can feel the work that went into this to make sure it’s exactly what they wanted to create, instead of what they needed to.
Show me the champion of LIGHT!
I finished Outer Wilds a few weeks ago. It was, in my opinion, one of the strongest arguments for treating video games as an art form that I’ve ever experienced. It’s not long - I finished it in about 20 hours - but the narrative and story is so well put together and thought out that it felt a lot longer. I thought it was beautiful and thought provoking.
Video games as a whole aren’t for everyone, but if I meet someone and they’re interested in games but hasn’t played them much, Outer Wilds is on the top of my list of recommends. If you play a lot of video games, this one will amaze you. Don’t read anything about it - just grab it when it’s on sale and go in blind. I did and it made a big difference.
Any of the main games by Quantic Dream are of similar artful quality I’d say. Really a playable story with choices impacting the plot and twists and discovery that keeps you hooked. I liked Beyond: Two Souls the best, but Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human aren’t far behind.
Life is Strange is great in that same vein too.
In the same boat, it’s such a beautiful game, especially the less you know about it beforehand. It’s been awhile since I’ve played a game like that. I’m just about finishing up the DLC, then going back through the final sequence to see how that affects the ending, I might try to go back and finish out the Steam achievements on it too, just to have them done. If I could have any memories erased in my life, it would be all knowledge of that game, just so I could go back through it one more time with fresh eyes. The ending kind of mirrors the reality of finishing out the game itself, it’s kind of sad and bittersweet, it’s like a book that I never wanted to end.
Armored Core 6. Loved it to bits, and made me realise how badly I’d need good mecha games… haven’t had one since Battletech.
Chained Echoes, had an absolute blast. I love that health is reset after every fight. The slow lose of life on the way to a boss sucks.
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Power Wash Simulator haha. Twas a silly game.
I got to the last boss in Eldenring and thought wow that’s really shit. To be fair it was a great way to end a very over hyped game.
Heretics Fork, very fun little indie game
I just finished Spider-Man 2. Next, I will finish Spider-Man 2.
I finally played Mass Effect 3, I’d played 1 and 2 but after all the stink about 3 and it being on Origin / EA Play for years I never bothered until a recent $1 sale on a month of that EA subscription, which has ME3 on it.
I spent 90%+ of the game going “Wow this isn’t bad at all, I am really impressed! This really is a good game!”
…until I got to the ending sequence, when it felt like the game had taken crazy pills all of a sudden. I understood why everyone was mad about it, and totally agree that it ruined the game. It wasn’t that Shepherd died, it wasn’t the Red/Blue(/Green) choice they gave you, it was a combination of 3 factors though:
Crippling your character and making you limp along, unable to use any of your powers, forced to slog through a bunch of token combat EDIT with only pistol, and all your cosmetic choices were erased as you drag around at half speed through corridors just to get further in the chain of conversations.
Except for the pass/fail check on the conversation with the Illusive Man (which is very easy to miss the requirements for without expecting it), none of what you did before entering that final sequence matters, it really was just press a button to receive ending. On that same note, you can have all 3 endings regardless of what you did, spent the entire trilogy making nothing but Renegade choices? Don’t worry you can still press the Blue button! Hail Mary deathbed confession!
I found the child avatar kind of out of place and a bit weird, yes I know it was a reference to the kid that died, but it was not really immersive and it made this gigantic long conversation that makes up “the last boss” really awkward, especially since half the conversation is just explaining the story for people that weren’t paying attention or missed all the side quests.
Tomb Raider 2013. Love that game. It’s a mystery to me how they were able to croft (allow me this pun!) such a good story for that game but not able to repeat it in the later games. Even though their graphics is undoubtedly better, they feel like blant, nonsensical, un-mysterious clones
The last game I finished was Stray. ❤️