Discussion 2022 Backlog Thread

[JujuFish]

We're coming up on the 11th anniversary of a game that released on 11/11/11, so I think it's finally time to play and beat Skyrim.

 

[Fenixgoon]

restarted Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous - as in, continued from my last save. not a full character restart (oof). I turned on auto-campaign, because i got real tired real quick of micro-managing all that stuff. i'm still a little disappointed in my character's build, but oh well

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Oh boy, new PC has me installing and playing little bits and pieces of a bunch of "newer" games, which has stalled out any "progress" in Shadowrun Hong Kong (doesn't help that new PC isn't detecting my cloud saves so I have to finish the game on my laptop):

Batman Arkham Knight
Fallout 4
Titanfall 2
Deus Ex Mankind Divided

I keep nervously clicking on and off of the "install" button for Cyberpunk. I'm not in the mood to have my new PC feel old more or less right away

Also keep wringing my hands for The Witcher 3. The "Enhanced Edition" is still due for the 2022 year so if we get a free upgrade to the GOTY edition with the EE then I don't want to start playing only to have to restart (assuming the DLC cannot be sideloaded into an ongoing playthrough).

 

[Stg-Flame]

Oh boy, new PC has me installing and playing little bits and pieces of a bunch of "newer" games, which has stalled out any "progress"

I'm on the cusp of this problem at the moment. Half of my hardware has arrived while I wait for the other half to be released and ship so now I'm stuck in this conundrum of "should I finally load up something brand new and fancy to see the hardware shine in all its glory or keep on my backlog?".

Still can't decide what I should play first once I get it built and I have a feeling it'll probably still be Binding of Isaac since I'm so close to 100% completion (again). Though I've never experienced 4K gaming, g-sync, raytracing, etc. so I'm tempted to find the newest game in my library and try that first just to see what it's like.

 

[JujuFish]

Oh boy, new PC

Nice! I keep staring at my 1070 and pondering an upgrade.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Ok, just beat Shadowrun: Hong Kong (main campaign, will leave it installed and play through the extended edition DLC later).

Gawd I love Shadowrun. If there were ever a universe that deserved a proper AAA (maybe, preferably, the AA) treatment its this one.

HBS really hit it out of the park for their trilogy. While HK definitely had a bit too much writing, I was willing to forgive just because the universe is just so (and I know this is going to sound weird) welcoming.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Ok, beat Titanfall 2 Campaign. Solid 6 hour campaign, although honestly the first couple hours were pretty meh and the game started getting good when it started getting out of its own way.

Tons of really great gameplay mechanics and the game never puts you in real Doom 2016 esq scenarios where you really have to lean on the mechanics to win, which was a little disappointing.

Solid "man and his partner/buddy/dog" style story and characters.

Would like to spend more time in this universe but I guess Respawn is off to get hollowed out by EA. Might be for the best.

 

[Hotrod2go]

Having a ball now in the 16 yr old Oblivion game - but with the Oblivion game of the year deluxe edition & this great mod
The game now at least in the outdoor areas is starting to look more like Skyrim! & the enemy NPCs are not as stupid either...

 

[Stg-Flame]

Having a ball now in the 16 yr old Oblivion game - but with the Oblivion game of the year deluxe edition & this great mod
The game now at least in the outdoor areas is starting to look more like Skyrim! & the enemy NPCs are not as stupid either...

OOO was discontinued after it was merged with FCOM. I helped test the FCOM mods and added numerous things with the help of CorePC and dev_akm. Sotobrastos kinda disappeared after OOO was completed so it was merged into one massive overhaul mod with MMM (Martigen's Monster Mod), Fransisco's weapon overhaul and Oblivion Convergence. If you were willing to go the lengths for OOO, I HIGHLY recommend you look into upgrading to FCOM. It might look like a complete hot mess (unless they've finally merged everything into one neat installer) but the end product is well worth the effort.

Here's the official trailer that I uploaded to Youtube many many moons ago though the link I had in the description is no longer working. I'm sure you can find the resources by just Googling FCOM Convergence.

 

[JujuFish]

So dang much to do in Skyrim. With 11/11 breathing down my neck, I may have to start focus on just the main quest if I want to beat it on the 11th anniversary.

 

[Hotrod2go]

OOO was discontinued after it was merged with FCOM. I helped test the FCOM mods and added numerous things with the help of CorePC and dev_akm. Sotobrastos kinda disappeared after OOO was completed so it was merged into one massive overhaul mod with MMM (Martigen's Monster Mod), Fransisco's weapon overhaul and Oblivion Convergence. If you were willing to go the lengths for OOO, I HIGHLY recommend you look into upgrading to FCOM. It might look like a complete hot mess (unless they've finally merged everything into one neat installer) but the end product is well worth the effort.

Here's the official trailer that I uploaded to Youtube many many moons ago though the link I had in the description is no longer working. I'm sure you can find the resources by just Googling FCOM Convergence.

Thanks, I'll give that mod a go no doubt. The video is amazing, hope the mod as it currently is over on nexus mods is up to it. But soon find out next playthrough.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Fired up Batman Arkham Knight. Like putting on a well worn shoe, its basically peak Arkham game so far.

While I am enjoying the batmobile it is absurd the lengths Rocksteady went to incorporate it into the challenges and missions. It feels like every dark Batman reboot somehow always recurves back around to the goofiness of Adam West era Batman.

 

[Fenixgoon]

finished pathfinder: wrath of the righteous.
HOLY HELL this game was big. like, goddamn.127hrs. and i skipped a major portion of the game itself (crusade mode)!

what i liked about it:
-great, interesting companions + associated quests
-tons of voice acting
-mythic progression (eventually) feels super cool.
-interesting locations and NPCs to interact with
-devs offer lots of customization of your campaign rules
-one mythic path in particular (aeon) offers some extremely interesting powers and storyline interactions that really make you feel like a mythic being.

what i disliked
-swarm monsters
-tons of difficulty spikes and stat checking, even (and especially) in the beginning when the party size is small. be prepared to press F5 and F8. A LOT. unless you're a god at the game
-the game is fucking huge. crusade mode is a game within a game. i found it way too tedious, and turned it on automatic (plus side of the rules customization)
-ambush fights when traveling can be totally overpowered relative to your party level in the beginning
-completing the mythic progression happens way too late in the game
-for some classes or builds, you need to already know what's in the game (like, do i want to use a particular weapon? some weapons have way more options than others)
resurrection costing resources
-difficulty spikes

what would i rate it? probably an 8.5/10. the gameplay is overall quite fun, the story is interesting and has many different ways of playing out. my biggest complaint is the difficult spiking out of everything. it's so uneven, and it can be extremely frustrating when you feel like you're doing well and then this new boss or monster pops up out of nowhere and utterly wrecks your party. it even happens late in the game, when your character is nearly god-tier status.

if you have the ability to sink 100+ hrs into an RPG, Wrath of the Righteous might just scratch your itch for isometric RPG goodness.\

 

[GodisanAtheist]

finished pathfinder: wrath of the righteous.
HOLY HELL this game was big. like, goddamn.127hrs. and i skipped a major portion of the game itself (crusade mode)!

what i liked about it:
-great, interesting companions + associated quests
-tons of voice acting
-mythic progression (eventually) feels super cool.
-interesting locations and NPCs to interact with
-devs offer lots of customization of your campaign rules
-one mythic path in particular (aeon) offers some extremely interesting powers and storyline interactions that really make you feel like a mythic being.

what i disliked
-swarm monsters
-tons of difficulty spikes and stat checking, even (and especially) in the beginning when the party size is small. be prepared to press F5 and F8. A LOT. unless you're a god at the game
-the game is fucking huge. crusade mode is a game within a game. i found it way too tedious, and turned it on automatic (plus side of the rules customization)
-ambush fights when traveling can be totally overpowered relative to your party level in the beginning
-completing the mythic progression happens way too late in the game
-for some classes or builds, you need to already know what's in the game (like, do i want to use a particular weapon? some weapons have way more options than others)
resurrection costing resources
-difficulty spikes

what would i rate it? probably an 8.5/10. the gameplay is overall quite fun, the story is interesting and has many different ways of playing out. my biggest complaint is the difficult spiking out of everything. it's so uneven, and it can be extremely frustrating when you feel like you're doing well and then this new boss or monster pops up out of nowhere and utterly wrecks your party. it even happens late in the game, when your character is nearly god-tier status.

if you have the ability to sink 100+ hrs into an RPG, Wrath of the Righteous might just scratch your itch for isometric RPG goodness.\

- Everytime I read about The Pathfinder games I get a feeling like I should add them to my wishlist right up to the part where I see the game is 80-120 hours long and I immediately lose all interest. That's just too much goddamn game.

I often find myself starting to wander when a game hits the 40 hour mark (roughly 2 months of exclusively playing one game for me) so trying to imaging staying engaged with game systems for two or three times that amount of time is just too much.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Alright, I'm calling Batman Arkham Knight completed at 96%.

I absolutely cannot be arsed to find the smattering of remaining riddler trophies.

Gating the "knightfall protocol" behind those IMO knocks a full point off this game from an 11/10 to a mere 10/10. From transcendent to merely sublime. Way to go Rocksteady, you went from better than perfect to merely perfect because of that one decision.

You happy now?

Stupid ass riddler trophies, this is literally what Youtube was made for.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Beat The Ascent. Pretty cool cyberpunk twin stick shooter. The ending was a letdown, but it was a pretty fun ride and well worth its price on sale. Also, the game is gorgeous with really brilliant (and eye-searing) environments. I think it would be a fantastic TPS/RPG hybrid game like Mass Effect.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Alright, it wasn't technically on my backlog, but after 71 hours I finally beat Dying Light 2 and holy hell that game is a pile of hot mess.

Story - 4/10 The story itself isn't terrible but when you can accurately guess what's going to happen next at every single junction, it kinda gets annoying and it feels as if the developers at Techland decided to watch nothing but 80s and early 90s action movies and try to copy as many tropes from them as possible.

Graphics - 10/10 Game is absolutely gorgeous and they did a damn good job with making the zombies look beautifully horrifying. I was fully expecting to see yet another dull gray city-scape but I was pleasantly surprised with how they managed to add a ton of color into the game.

Writing - 2/10 Referring back to my 80's/90's movie comment, you can probably guess how well some of the dialogue is written. The main character "Aiden" is your typical "bland, whiny, and gullible" hero who can't see past his own nose. During the times when the game is supposed to be suspenseful, Aiden just comes off as incredibly annoying. The side-quest dialogue can be pretty lengthy and in some cases, I was just smashing the space bar because I honestly didn't care to listen to some guy ramble on for five full minutes about what's going to happen to him if he doesn't get his spoiled sausages out in time.

Audio - 5/10 Game doesn't sound much better than the first in terms of combat and I'm pretty sure most of the zombie sounds are the same files from the first game. I would have scored this much lower but there are a few good songs in the game that add to the ambiance rather well, however, I am scoring it low because the developers went out of their way to make sure every single demographic in the entire world was represented in this game. I'm not even close to joking that before you even leave the first area, you're going to hear every single accent on planet Earth. In the small fictional town of Villedor (which has been completely walled off for years), you'll hear Irish, Scottish, Californian-American, Deep-South-American, Wisconsinites, Mexican, Australian, Canadian, South African, and Rosario Dawson and those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head. It's not that the accents are bad, but it completely breaks any semblance of immersion hearing accents from completely different continents all from inside a small isolated town.

Gameplay - 5/10 I'll start off by saying the game is fun. If it wasn't fun I wouldn't have sunk 71 hours into a single play-through but it's pretty obvious that Techland brought in a new team for the sequel because they took most of what made the first game addicting and threw it out of the window. The devs made parkour combat a lot slower and more risky in lieu of trying to make us parry and block (which I did for about an hour and then completely remapped my block button and never touched it again) and they pretty much removed ranged combat from the game. There is a lore reason as to why you won't find any guns in this game so you're stuck with using a bow (which is decently strong) or a crossbow (insanely overpowered but requires major story decisions to unlock). No, the reason I scored the gameplay so low is simply due to how many bugs are still running rampant in the game. Inputs are constantly getting eaten which result in you falling to your death more times than you'll ever care to remember, your weapons will randomly hit friendlies who are behind you, the accessories will simply disappear from your menu (though I read if you play with a controller this isn't an issue), your consumables will rearrange themselves in your hotbar when you die, and there's a few enemies who are glitched so that you can't dodge their attacks even though the devs have confirmed you should be able to (they're still working on this issue). There is one more thing that the devs consider an issue though I thought it was perfectly fine and that's how quickly you can level up if you don't bee-line the story quests. I hit max level by running around the map, doing side-quests, and finding collectables, then when I'd do a story mission, it was so many levels lower than me I was one-shotting everything in my path. There were sections where the game wanted me to run from a group of infected with everyone screaming at me over the radio to run because they'd kill me, but I was so high level I just turned around and massacred everything because I wanted the materials. Didn't even have to use a heal.

The game has some pretty varied story choices and I really want to bee-line the main story one more time to see the other ending, but I'm finding it difficult to get the motivation to do so. I might put it down for a bit and move onto something else for now and come back later. Fun game, but grab it on sale in a few years when most of the bugs, glitches, and spelling errors have been ironed out.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Ok given the announce of Hades 2, I've decided to fire up Hades.

Core gameplay is very solid, but its actually not grabbing me with the characters and story the way Supergiant's earlier games have.

Then again I'm only a couple hours in, and SG games unfold in their due time so I'll keep plugging away.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Ok given the announce of Hades 2, I've decided to fire up Hades.

Core gameplay is very solid, but its actually not grabbing me with the characters and story the way Supergiant's earlier games have.

Then again I'm only a couple hours in, and SG games unfold in their due time so I'll keep plugging away.

Hades to me, was very similar to how Hollow Knight consumed my life. I also did not hear about a sequel so now I might have to go replay Hades again.

 

[Artorias]

Steam has this new feature called "Replay 2022" which gives you a nice breakdown of the games you've played this year.

In the client on the store click on "News & Noteworthy", then "Steam Replay 2022".

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Steam has this new feature called "Replay 2022" which gives you a nice breakdown of the games you've played this year.

In the client on the store click on "News & Noteworthy", then "Steam Replay 2022".

-Nice, it's actually a really cool feature with some pretty nifty stats.

Arkham Knight/Hollow Knight/Outer Worlds made up 30% of my playtime.

Unlocked 397 achievements this year.

46% of games with KB+M / 54% of games with a controller

Only 5% of games I played we're released this year. 63% we're 1-7 years old and 32% we're older than 8 years old.

Tons of fun stats in there it's great!

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Wow, fun stuff in there. Most gamers are weeeeeak.


Apparently that broken image is Sword of the Stars 2. I'm a sucker for fun old games.

[DHT]Osiris's STEAM YEAR IN REVIEW 2022

Check out my 2022 Steam Replay

store.steampowered.com

 

[Fenixgoon]

Wow, fun stuff in there. Most gamers are weeeeeak.
View attachment 73438
View attachment 73439
Apparently that broken image is Sword of the Stars 2. I'm a sucker for fun old games.

[DHT]Osiris's STEAM YEAR IN REVIEW 2022

Check out my 2022 Steam Replay

store.steampowered.com

damn dude! here's mine:
75 achievements (not that i hunt them)
14 games
7 day streak

Fenixgoon's STEAM YEAR IN REVIEW 2022

Check out my 2022 Steam Replay

s.team

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

damn dude! here's mine:
75 achievements (not that i hunt them)
14 games
7 day streak

Fenixgoon's STEAM YEAR IN REVIEW 2022

Check out my 2022 Steam Replay

s.team

Pity this doesn't include my WoW time. Previous years would be impressive if Dwarf Fortress had been on there. It just came out and it was 4% of my 2022 play time.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I win the achievement trophy here (though I'm not sure how I unlocked so many since I don't hunt them either).




I suppose I did knock off a lot of games on my backlog earlier this year and I am deeply disappointed by my second-most played game being Skyrim... I was sure I had played Risk of Rain 2 way more than Skyrim.