I don’t play/watch horror games, but I like watching ChristopherOdd, and he seems to have a LP series for RE9. He does some commentary on the gameplay but without talking over cut-scenes and such. His LPs are typically not completionist by any means, but he takes an appropriate amount of time exploring and pursuing the story.

Edit: You can find him on YT. Most of his LPs are live commentary with minimal editing rather than recorded live streams, which I typically prefer (ymmv).

Civ 6 was the one that finally got me, and I actually found that easier to get into than 1 and 2, which I had tried before. I did go back from 6 to play earlier titles and also liked 2, 4, and 5, but I keep coming back to 6. Unfortunately, I could not get into 7. I really tried, but I just wasn’t having fun somehow.

Edit: If you like the older titles better, maybe try FreeCiv, which is similar to 2, or UnCiv, which is similar to 5.

Happy Birthday to this wonderful game and what is just a perfect example of the labor of love that some Indie games are. And thanks to Eric for all his hard work and dedication to his community. I probably bought the game about a dozen times now for different people and platforms, and I always felt that this was money well spent.

TF you mean it’s gonna be March in two weeks???

Not sure if this qualifies, but I found the (past) relationship between Kratos and Faye in the new God of War games really touching.

Other examples I can think of: Ellie and Dina (TLOU2), Tidus and Yuna (FFX), Geralt and Yennefer depending on how you play (TW3).

Combat in Morrowind: *whoop* *whoop* *whoop* *whoop* AH!!! *whoop* AH!!! *whoop* *whoop* *whoop*

Fucking love this game. 10/10

I think we can all agree that the best option for this story-wise is a rom-com centered around Karlach in an alternate reality where her infernal engine makes her get into all kinds of shenanigans while on a quest for true love (spoiler: there was love in Avernus all along!).

Intel until they realized that other companies made CPUs, too

The Assassin’s Creed franchise nowadays seems more like one of those slushy machines at the mall that perpetually move the same ingredients around in a neverending cycle of despair and stagnation.

Don’t remember that dialogue, but the OP made me think of the Jamrock Shuffle (constantly running around town like a crazy person).

As someone whose first TES was Morrowind, it set the bar so high in terms of worldbuilding, I was honestly a bit disappointed with the later entries into the series. Oblivion (more generic fantasy setting) and Skyrim (nordic with dragons) definitely played better, but the worlds were much less unique and memorable.

Mass Effect completely blew me away when it came out. Loved the overall lore about the Reaper threat and how the different species were connected to each other.

Horizon: Zero Dawn was also great in that regard, and the world felt really well put together, even though the lore wasn’t quite as deep.

Had the same experience with Songs of Conquest. Beautiful game, but something felt off that I can’t put my finger on. The game felt really snowball-y, where your chances to win depend strongly on what resources you control early on, and the magic system (while interesting) felt really imbalanced. Nothing really managed to recreate the HoMM feeling for me.

My girlfriend and I play (mostly local) co-op sometimes. Some games that we enjoyed so far were (local unless otherwise indicated):

• Divinity: Original Sin 2
• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Portal 2
• Diablo 3
• It Takes Two
• A Way Out
• Minecraft (online)
• Stardew Valley (online, may also work locally now)

I recently replayed FFX and couldn’t agree more. Loved every second of it, and it’s still my favorite FF of all time.

Don’t forget Ennio Morricone’s musical genius. Many of the most iconic scores in Western films are his compositions.

Damn, I remember asking you whether you’d play it like 2-3 weeks ago, and here you go. I look forward to your updates as you go through this game!

Imma upvote this so hard, it’ll turn your opinion popular.

What are you talking about? There’s a new remake or remaster every other day!

I have not played 2 yet but plan to when I can catch a decent sale. From what I read, the writing is better and there also seem to be some QoL features might help with the pacing of the dialogue and cutscenes.

No, I feel you. I did finish the game and enjoyed it overall, but the dialogue and writing was jarring. I’m not sure what exactly it was, but I was particularly annoyed by the characters being such clichés and the dialogue in the cutscenes being soooo slow (overused animations, dramatic pauses in every sentence, …).

Yeah, the vibe is different, but both are excellent in their own way. Part 2 is a more complex piece of story telling. It does some things that I had not expected from a game and that make it more (emotionally) challenging but also unique in terms of the experience. I personally found it really impressive.

Your journey through Part 1 was really fun to read along. Do you plan on playing Part 2?

God of War has two big strengths that make it a great game in my opinion. The first is the story with its great characters, presentation, and voice acting. The second is the overall “feel” of the game, which can be a bit “game-y” at times but is really tight overall with only a handful of core mechanics that are exceptionally well implemented.

Assuming that “masterpiece” refers to the quality and impact the games had in their time (not how well they aged) some of my picks would be:

• Baldur’s Gate 2 + ToB
• Star Wars: KotoR
• Morrowind
• Read Dead Redemption 2
• The Witcher 3
• The Last of Us 1+2
• God of War
• Shadow of the Colossus
• The Legend of Zelda: BOTW
• Mass Effect 1+2
• Disco Elysium
• Half Life 2
• BioShock 1
• Diablo 2
• Fallout 2

I don’t know how objective this list is. Some picks are definitely subjective and fit more in a “flawed masterpiece” category of games that had a large impact on how I perceived games but that may not be so widely acclaimed as some others on this list.

Never said it was undeserved. The devs did a lot of things right, and they deserve all the positive feedback they get. It just didn’t click with me personally in a way that I felt like I needed to add to the hype.

It’s pretty good, although I think the hype is a bit over the top. The game is well done, enjoyable, and plays a lot like a modern JRPG (think Persona 5 and others).

Come on, it’s gotta be at least 10^-7%.

What do you think about the game overall so far? My girlfriend loves AC, especially Origins and Odyssey, but was pretty disappointed in Valhalla and kind of meh about Mirage.

“I used to be a wizardry student like you. But then I took an arrow in the knee”

Slightly OT, but how did you like the game?

Civ games at launch are often a bit of a mixed bag, and the games improve over time with patches and expansions. That being said, the game isn’t even fully out yet, and early Steam reviews are notoriously unreliable and undifferentiated. For your first civ game, maybe look at earlier titles like Civ 5 or 6. They have aged very well, I still play 6 all the time.

True, but digital ownership is a fickle thing that depends in large part on how much I trust the seller. Between a >50% discount on Steam and a free game on Epic, I would still choose Steam every time, because I would feel like I “own” that game more than I would on Epic (where I would still hesitate to buy anything more than the 2-3 free games that would interest me there).

Aight, I’ll not do a whole new one for this…

There’s nothing more awe-inspiring than the online equivalent of a few hundred toddlers screaming for attention.

For me, it feels like a mix between Rimworld (colonists with schedules, traits, and skills) and Factorio (complex production chains, finite resources). Add to that a unique physics system, where everything has a weight, a melting point, a conductivity and so on, and you’ve got ONI.

Fate of Atlantis? Kid me loved that one, but it’s been ages since I played it.

Maybe the Metro or BioShock series? They play quite a bit differently, but they scratch the same itch for me, and I see them on sale quite a bit (especially Metro).