I haven’t played it (yet, it’s in my extensive backlog) and I don’t think it’s exactly the same, but have you checked out Slay the Princess?

I’ve never actually played through AW1 on Nightmare as I was afraid the challenge would be unfun, but maybe I will in the future based on your testimony. Though I find it increasingly hard to go back and replay games these days with the size of my backlog…

How much of AW2 do you remember? I strongly suggest starting over so you have everything fresh in your forebrain - it’s a game that wants you to pay attention to detail. Same reason I advocated for playing only it in the other thread and not both in parallel. Though you seem to have an impressive capacity for keeping track of multiple story-games at once (something I can’t even begin to relate to) so your mileage may vary.

Lots of big changes, very interested to see how it shakes out. Rejuvenator even more important than ever, now.

Hoping the nerfs to Haze are enough, she was clearly out of hand. The Unstoppable nerf will force her to commit, but it looks like some other item interactions might work now which could end up being a buff?

Both Torment Pulse and Escalating Exposure buffed, love that as I am basically a one-trick with those builds.

Fixed players being able to exploit soul sharing across multiple lanes to earn more souls than intended.

I haven’t personally been a victim to this, but I think it’s good for the health of the game overall. Curious to hear what aspiring pros/high rank players think of it. It certainly created a unique meta and required some skilled execution to pull off, but it also would lead to insanely snowbally games with the proficient team sometimes tripling the other team in net worth.

I know exactly how you feel. Both the indecision, confusion even, over simple choices and the sense of sinking in quicksand - or better yet, as you say it, grasping for sand. I feel that often, both in terms of smaller moments and bigger-picture life direction stuff. And I also hate attention, so I hate birthdays.

I wish I had good advice, or could tell you that it will get better, but at least know that I know how you feel. I know it’s not worth much, but you’re not alone.

Civ VI instead of Civ V? List automatically invalid.

Jokes aside it’s an interesting list and I like the idea of ranking based on “what’s best to play right now” instead of by historical significance or some futile attempt at objective apples-to-apples quantification - even though at the end of the day I think I neither agree with the selection nor the ranking. But there are plenty of good games on there with solid reasons of why to play them in their descriptions, so it’s a good read nonetheless.

Been playing a lot ofDeadlock still, finally getting a grasp of how to play it feels like. Took a while to understand priorities and what to focus on and how to execute builds. Still held back a bit by my aim, but found enough ability-based heroes to still be able to perform. It’s a very fun game! I can’t play too many games in a row because it gets intense and stressful, but I’m really enjoying it.

I’ve also been playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution for the first time as something more relaxing and story based. It’s been alright so far. Don’t think it’s been hitting the heights of the original Deus Ex so far, but it’s enjoyable enough.

Does it have enough games yet?

As few? Don’t you mean “as many as”?

I’ll have to look into this, Greedfall was a very charming (if janky) AA game that I liked a lot and I’ve been looking forward to the sequel.

Yes. I hate birthdays, mine and others’. I hate receiving gifts and I hate being in the spotlight, and having to act differently towards others for one particular day of the year for no reason trips me up. If I appreciate another person I will show it consistently, not just on one token day of the year. The whole thing feels awkward and makes me act awkward.

Alan Wake 2 was by far my standout choice for GOTY last year. I’m still bummed it didn’t win more awards, particularly narrative ones as I think it handily beats BG3 in that department. I love Remedy and Sam Lake, and I love them pushing the envelope of AAA games. It’s one to add to the example list of “video games as art” in my opinion.

I’m glad the DLC was great, I’ve been trying to hold off until I can play both at once but maybe I’ll need to cave soon…

Yes, it’s very very silly and is basically the complete opposite of what it should be. It should be the Olympics for Esports, not a bunch of mobile games tangentially related to existing olympic sports.

Not that I would expect better from the IOC.

That question was settled in the 90s.

Tell that to the IOC who refused to feature any shooters at the Esports Olympics because they’re “too violent” - they even forced Fortnite to make a target shooting mode for its entry!

Would be a great feature, trying to follow ongoing discussion in a thread you’ve already visited is annoying currently.

The lack of a modern port makes availability an issue, so it’s definitely more in cult classic territory, but it is definitely a critics’ darling and is often thrown around among the group of best games of all time. It’s not uncommon for it to rank nr. 1 on “Best Final Fantasy Games” lists either.

Weird? Isn’t FFT widely considered one of the best games of all time?

Great video. I hope more stealth games learn from Freelancer and create gameplay where making small mistakes don’t induce complete fail states. I like stealth games for the moment-to-moment gameplay and for the puzzle of figuring out how to navigate a level unseen for that 100% rating, but I also hate stealth games for the constant reloading.

Ever since playing Disco Elysium I’ve started thinking more and more about the fail-forward design philosophy and the general desirability of making failure interesting instead of inciting save scumming. It’s a problem in a lot of games, but none more than stealth games, I think.

It’s been Deadlock the last couple of days since I got the invite. Not sure if I’ll stick with it. The game has potential but I think I might be too bad at it to ever have fun playing it. Farming is insanely important and between lacking precision aim for last hits and not understanding neutral camp flash farming strats I guess I’m just always behind on economy.

I do alright in fights themselves and feel like I can theoretically perform with a couple of heroes at least, but that doesn’t really matter once you get out statted.

Maybe I’m just getting too old for fast paced shooters, it’s been a while since I played one.