To be fair, that’s not an issue isolated to gacha games. Plenty of modern titles take old style unlocks (skins, bonus characters etc) and turns them into small, often paid, DLC. It sucks but it’s a wider problem within the industry.

Oh, absolutely. I assume people who play exclusively gacha games do so due to the combination of F2P, regular content updates and excitement from pulling for characters/gambling but that’s just a personal guess. I don’t have any hard data to confirm it.

As for folks playing them regardless of genre, that’s not really exclusive to gacha games - there’s plenty of people who play whatever catches their attention, myself included. Strategy, racing, shooters, adventure games… if it clicks with me I’ll play anything (gacha or not). There’s too much fun stuff out there to limit yourself to a single genre, in my opinion.

My main game is the already mentioned Girls’ Frontline (the first one), which is thankfully old enough to come out before the modern monetisation practises and psychological tricks became the norm. There’s no limited pull currency, no need for character dupes (can be replaced by a resource that is so easy to get I can’t even spend it all), no character specific events to push the new and shiny unit etc.
It does have skin gacha for most (but not all) character skins but even then you can use farmable resource for that + getting duplicate costumes turns them into “Black Cards” which can be exchanged for specific outfit. It’s still a bad system and a black mark on an otherwise extremely free-2-play friendly game.

I feel like the most important part of playing gacha games is the ability to just walk away if a title ends up being monetised in a way that affects your enjoyment or well being (for those with lack of self-control). There’s plenty of fun to be had for free, no need to give into FOMO and suffering through predatory balancing decisions when there’s so many options on the market.

So do I, I’m just saying that many wonder “why people play gacha games” without realising (or caring) that there’s actual “game” part outside of the monetisation itself.

I can butt in on this a little bit. The problem with statements like this is that they treat “gacha” (the monetisation and unit recruitment system) as a genre when gacha games are too varied to be locked under this single umbrella (at least for a conversation like this). To name a few, you have games like:

• Arknights (tower defence)
• Azur Lane (bullet-hell kinda sorta)
• Bang Dream (rhythm game)
• Genshin Impact (action-adventure)
• Girls’ Frontline (tactical autobattler)
• Persona 5X (JRPG, just gacha Persona)

All of them play differently, offer different challenges and the impact of their gacha systems can be all over the place. Sometimes there are limited character pulls which have serious effect on gameplay (most of the modern titles), other times characters are super easy to obtain and improve as most of the monetisation comes from character costumes etc (Girls’ Frontline, Azur Lane for example).
Besides that, many of them have engaging stories, which combined with offering lots of content and being able to play them for free makes the whole thing even more appealing.

Not that the aspect of “oh cool, I unlocked new character” doesn’t play any role or that there’s nothing predatory about most of the games using this mechanic, it’s just that “gacha” mechanics aren’t always the sole or main factor keeping people playing.

TL;DR: They are just free games that can, but aren’t always, predatory with a specific gameplay mechanic. Often offer enough value for free players to have fun with them.

Last week I mentioned wanting to play Project Wingman campaigns in VR so I did just that. I started a new campaign on hard, as usual, and with the “Budget Cuts” modifier (less ammo, more damage to everyone and reduced handling) for additional challenge. Difference in ammo counts was a bit shocking at first (I didn’t expect it to go THIS low) but it’s still doable and fun. Each mission requires more precision and patience, other than that, it’s not that different.
I also tried playing one of the missions on the “Mercenary” difficulty (without the modifier) to give it another shot but… yeah, it’s just not for me.

Since I’m in a flying mood I decided to try a little experiment as well. I set up my flight-stick as a controller for PCSX2 and started playing Ace Combat 04 with it. It was alright.
It obviously isn’t as fun as playing a game created with HOTAS support in mind - controls feel a bit stiff and the cockpit view is rather limited but I don’t hate it. That said, I’m not the biggest Ace Combat fan (never grabbed me as much as PW) so I’m sure someone more dedicated could have more fun with this setup.
I only did 2, maybe 3 missions so far so I’ll play a bit more before deciding whether I want to continue or not. At the very least, playing it like this is an interesting experience.

The seasonal event is done so I’m back to playing the Brooklyn expansion for Division 2. I don’t have much to write about it since I only jumped back in last night and spent the session exploring the map. It’s small but pretty cool.
I should be able to finish it this week and then I’ll move on to something else for a bit - I’ve had my fun with TD for now, I think.

Besides that, I’ve been doing some VR flying in Project Wingman, this time using UEVR instead of native implementation. I only did two missions so far (Cold War from the base campaign and Express Lane from the DLC) but boy is flying in VR so much easier. I wish I had even slightly newer hardware to make better use of it but even as is, I can get it to a playable state so fun is still had. Maybe I’ll just do another full playthrough, only in VR this time…

That’s pretty much how I played too so I guess there’s no hidden technique to make it work easily. Guess I’ll have to play around with it some more. Thanks!

How do you feel about the controls on the Deck? I tried playing the classic version last year and had to put it down after a few minutes due to hand strain. One of the very few games it ever happened to me.

I managed to find a workaround for my Easy Anti-Cheat issue so I’m back to The Division 2. Well, kinda.
I once again ended up installing the first game and spent some time alternating between the two to compare them - it’s something I do pretty much every time I’m in the mood for TD.

As much as I like TD2, I refreshed my realisation that in many aspects I still prefer the first game. I actually made a simple list last night of what I like about each game and it turned out way more one sided than I thought it would.

TD1:

• Atmosphere
• Game world
• Enemy factions
• Writing
• Slightly slower pace (movement, combat. looting)
• Cosmetics (UI and items themselves)
• Dark Zone
• Exotic weapons (in regards to looks, TD2 ones are hideous)

TD2:

• Improved cover system
• Armour and weakpoint systems

There are also some things I keep going back and forth on, mainly: gunplay and skills. Which game I prefer for these elements depends on how I feel and what I’m looking for at the time. This week, the first game comes out on top as well but, again, it’s more of a temporary decision compared to everything listed above.

Anyway, this is just a simple comparison without much thought put into it. I’m sure I could get more into details of specific systems and add a ton of conditions on when one is better than the other but it was a fun time waster after finishing a day with both titles.

If only there was a way to play the first game on the updated engine…

Was it a specific mechanic, the whole theme of the expansion or something more specific like how it was utilised with the difficulty you play on? I’m pretty sure I like all of the expansions for that game but I’m also a rather casual player when it comes to 4X games so I’m curious about your experience.

I should really give survival another shot. I played it maybe 3 times so far and while I did like it, it never managed to stick with me beyond that - I’m not sure why. Guess it’s as good of an excuse to reinstall the first game as anything else.

I actually know it exists thanks to a few cross-posts between it and [email protected] but I keep forgetting to check it out. Thanks for the reminder!

I never really got too deep into builds and just threw together whatever looked or sounded cool until recently. I’m finally starting to try come up with things that actually work properly within the intended mechanics though even then, I don’t really care about min-maxing and popular builds and simply tinker on my own. That said, I mostly play solo so it’s not like there are people who could get angry at me for not playing “optimally”.

Do you also alternate between the games or did you found one that stuck with you for good?

I don’t have specific numbers since some of these games were played on various platforms or outside of environment which keeps track of play time. Still, these are the things that come to mind in regards to where I spent most of my game time.

I’m putting each title into a spoiler to avoid a huge wall of text. I tend to get a bit rambly when talking about games, sorry.

There are probably a few more titles with similar play times but I don’t want to make it look like I had no life as a kid (I didn’t). I love games man.

I finished Race Driver: GRID! I got all the cars, won all events and got both myself and my team to the top of the leaderboards. It was fun but I definitely need a break from this title, a LONG one.

I’m still thinking about what to tackle next. I’m leaning towards either Shantae (the original Game Boy Color one) or Shadowrun: Hong Kong but my brain is rather fickle right now so I might end up playing something completely different. So many games to choose from…

I get that, I was just wondering about whether it’s OS related or something like that since I or people I know never had such issues despite all of us playing on high settings. It’s just personal curiosity, don’t worry about it.

Thanks for the recommendations! I’ll keep them in mind if I end up sticking with the game in the future.

Yeah, I tried it vanilla during the weird middle ground where it got some improvements but was still lacking in many aspects - I’m pretty sure it got more updates since then. Do you think the base game is good enough to try on its own or are there any expansions/kits that you’d say are not necessarily required but at least strongly recommended?

Oof, that sounds rough indeed. Can’t say I had to deal with any of these issues myself though my last playthrough was a few years back so perhaps I lucked out. What system are you running it on, if you don’t mind me asking? I’m curious what could be the reason for that.

Are you playing the base game or with expansions? I never really managed to get into TS4 for some reason and I wonder how much it had to do with having only the vanilla version and how much with simply preferring the older titles. I should really give it another shot someday.

I have a few tips for the first Witcher that might help a bit. Its combat is like a (simple) rhythm game, you need to click with specific timing (signalled by the change of mouse cursor) to keep the optimal combo going. Also keep enemy weaknesses, your combat style etc in mind when fighting - not engaging with game mechanics can make things way more difficult then they really are and it’s one of the reasons many people bounce off of the game. Sure, it’s old and somewhat janky but some of the problems can be avoiding by playing properly.

Anyway, that’s just a suggestion. Good luck!

Which Sims are you going with, the original or one of the later ones?

There isn’t any real story beyond “you’re starting a race team, good luck” - it’s completely focused on gameplay. The only “cutscenes” in the game are short videos explaining certain event types but they only show up once or can be skipped (24H Le Mans).

RE6 isn’t really that bad honestly. Sure, it’s not the greatest game in the series but as long as you keep in mind it’s an action game and learn how to play (it has a surprisingly deep combat system which isn’t explained in the game itself) there’s plenty to enjoy. This guide shows a good amount of what’s possible, if you’re curious.

I’m almost done with Race Driver: GRID. I got all the cars, won all but the final 6 races and pretty much got my fill of the game. I soured on it a bit (mostly due to the amount of events I’m not a huge fan of) but I still like it overall. Not enough to grind for the first place on the career leaderboard though.

I won’t be writing a big summary of the experience as I already mentioned everything before (limited number of tracks, aggressive opponents, mostly fun driving model etc). What I can write however is: playing this title gave me a bit of insight into what I’m interested in in a racing game (in term of events). For GRID the end result looks like this:

Everything else is pretty much a toss-up depending on the event or track, varying between “this is great” and “please kill me”. It was fun but I’m kinda glad I’ll be moving to something else soon.

I decided to go for a change of pace last week and jumped into 2 racing games I haven’t touched in a while: Stunt GP and Race Driver: Grid.

Both of these titles feel quite different from my usual picks (Ridger Racer 2 for PSP and Colin McRae Rally 04) so I needed a little bit of time to adjust but after that I was ready to have some fun. Man, I love old racing games.

Finally, I got in the mood for Halo: Reach so I jumped into that for a bit. Probably won’t be playing the whole thing again this time but I’ll at least zoom through a few levels, trying to get some achievements. Oh, I also took the time to customise my spartan beyond gender and colour like before - finally feels more… “mine”.

As the other user said, it was a reboot. One that doubled down on the bad parts of the original and added some new poor ideas on top of it. Stuff like:

• Even worse story - plot of the first game wasn’t a masterpiece but it was serviceable. It also focused on a personal story rather than a huge threat like the sequel.
• More combat encounters - something that could’ve been completely skipped in the original (except for one boss fight, if I recall correctly?) now was forced whether you liked it or not. It also felt worse (to me).
• Locking movement options behind a skill tree - some of the most basic moves from the original game were unavailable for the sake of a worthless progression mechanic.
• Open world didn’t flow as well as the linear levels of the first game, it was also poorly divided into districts connected by a few specific routes you couldn’t avoid, making it feel even worse.

There’s probably more that I forgot at the moment but it was simply a bad sequel which didn’t know what made the first game good (in my opinion).

As for how this one is different? We’ll see when a public version becomes available. One thing that makes me hopeful is the complete lack of talk about combat on their store page. If they can focus on good movement mechanics and the actual delivery gameplay that in itself will be an improvement over Catalyst.

I love how unapologetically Mirror’s Edge it is and really hope it turns out well. I need my ME fix.

I said it before but I man, the duel races in Ridge Racer 2 (PSP) are the most miserable experience I ever had playing a racing game - they are WAY over tuned. I really feel like there’s a middle ground between smoking the competition on lap 1 and spending most of the race watching your opponent at the edge of game’s draw distance due to them using a car which is faster, has better acceleration and starts the race with a boost. I like a good challenge but this ain’t it.

I finished the three duels required to unlock the EX tour series of events and that’s that, I’m not touching the remaining 4. Ever. I don’t need a 100% completion rate, not when some of the remaining content sucks the fun out of the whole experience. I’d rather have fun with the normal races instead and I’m extremely happy the EX series exist - I was actually worried I already cleared (almost) everything with the ending movie and credits unlocking halfway through PRO tour. I’m glad I was wrong.

Still love the game but boy was that rough at times.

I got my fill of Tokkyuu Shirei - Solbrain for now so I’m back to jumping between multiple other titles on my Deck at the moment.

The main focus is the return of my Ridge Racer fixation. I’m back to playing Ridge Racer 2 (PSP one) but I also tried Ridge Racer Type 4 and Ridge Racer 7. RRT4 still holds up rather well, it feels good to play and the presentation is top notch (especially its fantastic intro). Can’t say I like it more than RR2 (PSP) however a big part of that is the fact that the latter is simply a more complete package due to its content.
Can’t say much about RR7 as I only tried 2 races so far to see how it’ll run emulated. It runs but I’ve got some issues with RPCS3 not using all the power on my desktop which affects the performance. I’ll have to play it on my Steam Deck instead, I guess.

The second series I’m playing right now is The Legend of Linkle: Breath of the Wild (BotW, just modded). I played it about a year or so ago but didn’t really feel it at the time and dropped it for other stuff. I now decided to start from scratch and with refreshed attitude instead. I’m having a bit more fun and feel less pressure to progress this time so there’s a chance I’ll be able to finish it - we’ll see how it goes. At the very least, I’d love a proper Zelda game with Linkle as a protagonist. Heck, I’d settle for a decent knockoff honestly.

I’m a bit biased towards Colin McRae Rally 04 but man, 2 still looks and feels pretty great. That era of rally games in general was awesome, I’m glad most of them seem to be working well on linux.

Last week was rather busy so I didn’t have time to play much. I did however found a game I’ve been looking for for years now. A title, I pretty much gave up on ever finding again. This game is Tokkyuu Shirei: Solbrain for NES (some people might be more familiar with the version released in the west called Shatterhand).

So what is it? It’s a 2D action game, part platformer part beat 'em up, set in the future where you run through linear levels and beat bad guys. You can pick up Alpha/Beta icons to get a flying robot buddy whose attack patterns depend on the the combination of icons you got (you need 3 icons to spawn the robot). These buddies serve as your range attacks and allow you to fly up (it’s mostly useful for secrets and easier platforming, I believe).
All in all, gameplay here is kind of like a slower Mega Man focused on fist-fighting.

Simple but fun game with pretty great art and music. I really lost any hope I’d find it again - looks like my good fortune finally decided to show up for once!

Hm, sounds good but not necessarily like a must-have for someone who enjoys the series more casually/from the sidelines rather than being an active part of the fandom. I’ll keep that in mind for the future, thanks.

Are there any projects you could suggest as worth checking out? I love mods but I never really thought about using them with FF7 - it’s just not a game that comes to mind when I think about doing a modded playthrough. Anything transformative enough to make it more than just FF7 but with QoL or nicer graphics?

Hmm, seems like sticking with emulating my copy might be good enough for now. I might jump into the other entries instead since I neither have nor played them. Thanks for the reply!

I have the PS1 version but this does look enticing for convenience’s sake. How does the modern PC release compare to the original one (besides the quality of life additions mentioned on the store page)?

The second half of the game is a bit divisive but if you end up enjoying the game despite that I can wholeheartedly recommend the standalone expansion, Crysis Warhead, as well. It fixed some of the issues from the base game while keeping the tactical options and semi-open world.

Both gameplay and story are a little bit more “action movie”-like, but even then, it doesn’t compromise the original experience. It’s pretty fun.