So I've been playing this recently...

[Five_X]

Anybody here playing(suffering) TERRA INVICTA?

[Toranth]

Anybody here playing(suffering) TERRA INVICTA?

It's on my wishlist, but I don't buy Early Access or pre-order stuff - burned too many times.

Sounds like you have it, so: How is it? As painful as most Long War campaigns are?

[Five_X]

The fun thing about Terra Invicta is that at first you have no idea what you're doing, so of course you do terribly and realise it clearly. Then you play some more and get better, and as you get better it becomes increasingly difficult to tell if you're actually doing well or not. I have better research and resources in my current playthrough than the other human factions, but who knows how well I'm gonna do when the big invasion comes. On the bright side, I've finally learned how to best use national investment points to turn relatively shitty countries into powerhouses; I built the Philippines into a bigger economy than South Korea. My main overall advice: colonise Mercury ASAP.

As for early access, for Terra Invicta it feels kind of obligatory. As far as I've experienced in way too many hours of this game it's fully-featured, and I haven't even run into any bugs which makes it more optimal than the usual Paradox game release.

[Deathhappens]

It's on my wishlist, but I don't buy Early Access or pre-order stuff - burned too many times.

Sounds like you have it, so: How is it? As painful as most Long War campaigns are?

Exact same. Not getting it day 1 either.

[Five_X]

Friendship end with Terra Invicta, now Victoria 3 is my best friend

[Deathhappens]

That was fast.

- - - Updated - - -

Tangentially related, but since we were talking about early access recently, turns out M&B Bannerlord is somehow out of EA after something like three years in it... and guess what, everything that was broken about it is still broken. They didn't even release a big patch along with the release to cover it up a bit, as far as I can tell.

[Five_X]

Victoria 3 is insanely good if your idea of a good time is an addictive management game where you get off on seeing numbers go up and your little virtual country visibly change over time. Which is, of course, exactly what critically hits my strike zone. It's kind of bare-bones on historical events and such but the fundamentals are fantastic. In terms of having a reliably fun gameplay loop it's definitely one of the best Paradox releases; it really illuminates how much of a disaster EU4 was for a long long time.

[Mattias]

Final Fantasy 14 has an almost disturbing amount of "Huhuhuhuh, I'll sell you into sexual slavery, girly" quests, and each one has the excuse of "it's all legal so if you attack me, I'll call the guard" to extend the questline. Instead the whole time, I'm thinking about how I just killed two gods in the last five minutes with this sword, so mister lvl 1 NPC probably would die before my first animation finished. I've seen the local guards too, they're a third as strong as the wondering monster I've just spent the last two hours hunting for drops. I could murder this whole city in like 10 minutes max, and given the Potato ratio, people would probably thank me.





I'm still bitter Teledji Adeledji

[eddyak]

That was fast.

- - - Updated - - -

Tangentially related, but since we were talking about early access recently, turns out M&B Bannerlord is somehow out of EA after something like three years in it... and guess what, everything that was broken about it is still broken. They didn't even release a big patch along with the release to cover it up a bit, as far as I can tell.

Yeah, I was planning on checking it out, but it just looks like another Kenshi, a sandbox with nothing more.

[Deathhappens]

Final Fantasy 14 has an almost disturbing amount of "Huhuhuhuh, I'll sell you into sexual slavery, girly" quests, and each one has the excuse of "it's all legal so if you attack me, I'll call the guard" to extend the questline. Instead the whole time, I'm thinking about how I just killed two gods in the last five minutes with this sword, so mister lvl 1 NPC probably would die before my first animation finished. I've seen the local guards too, they're a third as strong as the wondering monster I've just spent the last two hours hunting for drops. I could murder this whole city in like 10 minutes max, and given the Potato ratio, people would probably thank me.





I'm still bitter Teledji Adeledji

Their attempts to make Ul'Dah #problematic but still keep it sympathetic enough to be a part of the Eorzean Alliance are as charmingly amusing as their insistence that Limsa Lominsa is a den of pirates.

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Yeah, I was planning on checking it out, but it just looks like another Kenshi, a sandbox with nothing more.

Eh, the main problem is that you could play one of the old M&B games for as cheap as free and still get most of the same experience besides the better graphics. They DID iterate on a lot of mechanics but it's honestly just not enough.

[Nanaya]

Sonic Frontiers

It's pretty fun

It's a good sonic game. It ran great for me for starters. I've heard some people have pop-in issues but my PC is a monster so it ran perfect. It really did a good job of capturing Sonic's speed as you blitz across the islands. And that's really the most important. The "level design"/paths in the over world are great and very acrobatic. Flying high over huge chasms in winding rail sections was very hype. This leads in to what is probably the games strongest point. The spectacle it provides is very cool. Whether it's chasing a Squid on it's light road as it winds through the sky or facing Giant Titans you really feel like you're seeing something insane. Reminded me a bit of Asura's Wrath at times. The Boss fights were all cool and accompanied by fabulous music which is another strength of the game.

The game has a lot of little mini-challenges and things to do like fishing which keeps you from getting bored. Going from fishing, to one of those ring platforming sections to pinball and SHMUP gameplay was fun. It feels like they threw a little of everything in. The best part were the cyber-space challenges. They are basically old school 2D/3D well-crafted levels that are a lot of fun. Just good old school sonic platforming as you race against the clock and collect rings and Red Star Rings.

The game does fanservice well. You get references to old games and plotlines. I couldn't help but grin when Knuckles flashbacks to S3&K and you see the old pixel art. The character interactions are some of the best in the series with some development I didn't really expect from a series like Sonic. Knuckles and Sonics brotherly rivalry really comes through and it got me hoping for a game with Knux in the future. Maybe uncovering the mystery of the Master Emerald and more exploration of his island before he does some global adventuring of his own since he somewhat envies Sonic's freedom as he's restricted by being the ME's Guardian. Tail's really had some introspective moments about being Sonic's sidekick and having to grow up and go his own way after the game. It was nice to see all the main cast have their own plans going forward. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy were good choices for the cast. Eggman and Sage were also nice. I thought Sage would stay annoying and uninteresting but she grew on me and that end was great.

The overall story was cool. It leaned into the mystery of the emeralds and the Ancients without completely answering everything so fans of the Genesis games and Adventures will surely appreciate it. I didn't expect to see Crimson Moon or whatever The END is as the overarching Sonic series villain though. They could have gone into the development of the antagonist more but you do get some cool dialogue along with a fun SHMUP fight on Hard so you understand it at least. The Evangelion Titan fight prior to it was sick though. I really do dig that they made the final boss a SHMUP encounter.

Annoying things about the game are when you're running in the open world and suddenly find yourself doing sidescrolling platforming by accident and lose the ability to enter into the foreground. Also the upgrades feel mostly useless and just there for the sake of having something to upgrade. And holy hell is it annoying as fuck to upgrade at the Elder Koko. Upgrading one at a time to 99 can suck a dick. Battle mechanics aren't anything to write home about. It's flashy and goes well with the 'spectacle' boosting nature of the game but the combat isn't very deep or engaging.

Fishing is OP as fuck. Big is your homie.

Overall a fun installment and good attempt at something different. Especially if you like the games I mentioned earlier. My favorite Sonic is still Mania and the Genesis titles though. Can't beat the good old gameplay.

[Deathhappens]

Picked up Encased after it'd been on sale for the umpteenth time since I put it on my wishlist. It's fairly good so far, references to Fallout, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Roadside Picnic and other similar post-apocalyptic media all over the place. Still only in Act 1 and I've heard the game breaks pretty hard later, but we'll see.

[Nanaya]

My review if it was a music video.

[ResidentSeagull]

Finished Bayonetta 3. FYI this is my first Bayo game, as well as my first Platinum game, but I have seen playthroughs of the previous games and know the lore.

Overall: absolute blast. Fun all the way through. The iconic Platinum charm is as present as always. The amount of tools this game gives you at a consistent rate is stagerring, even for character action game standards. The combat has a very different focus than the other two games (with the big kaiju fights, of course) and it's definitely not for everyone, but I found it incredibly rewarding and visceral. The game is incredibly polished and controls are as smooth as butter. You can tell why it took so long to come out. A lot of the demons and weapons here are just bonkers, conceptually. Platinum really flexed their creative muscles on several of these. Some sections, like the Ginnungagap side missions, can be quite frustrating, but don't really detract from the overall experience, imo.

Viola, while I didn't really jive with her gameplay, is a welcome addition to the cast and brought a nice contrast to Bayonetta with her personality. Her battle theme also slaps.

On the pacing and story side is where it gets a bit wonky. The story is pretty barebones, like you don't really learn anything about the antagonist, just that they want to destroy the universe and that's about it. It constantly goes full throttle, while at the same time nothing of particular note or specific significance happens for a large portion of the game, and when it does the game doesn't really address or explain it. So when the finale happens, you're like "Wait we're doing this NOW?". I do believe there are a lot collectible mini-stories that flesh out some of its aspects, but the amount shown in the main story is still pretty lackluster. With all that being said though, I can't really dislike it. There's so much classic Platinum humour and charm that the game gets a pass for being a bit weird on its story. It's just that it feels like they really prioritised the gameplay on this one a lot more than in the first two games. I will say though with the ending: I am curious where the series is headed next.

On the performance: yes it's not a stable 60 and sometimes the game chugs a bit more when a huge attack fills the screen, but as someone who cares about the gameplay first imho the game is ok enough where I'm not bothered by it. Also the fact that Platinum managed to optimise the game to the point where the Switch doesn't combust into flames with the amount of bullshit filling the screen is a miracle in and of itself.

I've beaten the game once, but in true character action game fashion, the true game starts now, so I'm positive that I'll be coming back for a while. I can definitely see how the game could be a "2 steps forward, one step back" for a lot of fans of the franchise, but I would still say it is a superb experience.
This game is just a lovely time all around. Highly recommend it to anyone sitting on the fence.

[Mattias]

Is it good enough to make you go back and check out the earlier ones?

[ResidentSeagull]

I mean, I've been wanting to do that anyway. I've had Bayo 1 on Steam for about a year and a half. Wanted to play it before 3 came out, but never got around to it. They were always kind of on my radar.

After playing 3 though, I definitely wanna check them out even more, although I might play The Wonderful 101 first.

[Mattias]

When you do go back to Bayo 1, you're going to want to really watch out for QTEs in cutscenes. Some of them are instant kills if you miss them. It's really frustrating to have a no hit boss run ruined by three deaths because you missed the jump in the cinematic.

[ResidentSeagull]

Oh I am well aware of those, but I appreciate the heads up. You just reminded me how spammy 1 was with the QTEs. They really wanted you to destroy your controller with the first game, huh.

BTW 3 isn't really that bad with it. You have the occasional Gigaton, as well as the Platinum approved out-of-genre minigame to cap off the boss every few chapters.

[Rue]

This video inspired me to finally get back into Pokemon just to make my own nightmarish crimes against nature creatures.

[WorldForgot]

Beat Dark Souls 2 and now I finally got UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH ^_^