Discussion The 2024 Games Thread

[GodisanAtheist]

Not a new game so I'm not adding it to the list, but looks like I'm in for another run through of Dragon Age Inquisition in anticipation of Veilguard.

Won't add it to the list since it's a game I've beaten before.

Beat every other GA game multiple times, could only bring myself to take my main (Quinari Mage) through to the ending of Trespasser once.

Got a host of mods loaded through frosty mod (10x XP, No Fog of War, Instant War Table Missions, Companion banter fix) to help plow through the grindy garbage and get more story out of Inquisition more quickly.

 

[Artorias]

Playing Elden Ring again after a year break.

This game is f**king huge. Jesus. I knew that before, but it just keeps going, and going.

I took a break because it was burning me out with its sheer size just before reaching the capital city. Then you realize there is entire underground network, and catacombs below, its insane, the verticality is nuts around the volcano manor as well.

I think I'm maybe 70-80% through the main game, haven't even got to the infamous hard bosses of the main story, and have not even got to the DLC which from what I am reading is like 50% of the base game.

Game is massive, atmospheric. No other game makes my hand sweat when platforming across narrow beams, at heights, fighting off that one solider trying to poke you off.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

K, modded the balls off Dragon Age Inquisition to get rid of the grindy nonsense. There is a legitimately good game in there once the following QOL mods are applied:

-No Wartable Waiting
-Xp Modifier (I went with 10x, was level 27 before finishing even the main campaign).
-No fog of war
-Better Loot (much higher drop rate on crafting and loot materials).
-More Banter Mod (gets party members to actually talk to each other relatively frequently).

Used Frosty Mod Manager to apply the mods, super easy.

Took me 116 hours to beat my OG save. Took me 30 hours with the mods.

Story was way more coherent and condensed (and good) since you hit the beats way more frequently than if you were out in sprawling map 10 grinding out resources.

Combat was less grindy thanks to aggressive leveling.

And I hope whoever thought waiting for Wartable missions was a good idea is forever cursed with wet socks.

Thinking I'll go back and play Dragon Age 2 now that I have the ultimate edition with DLC from Steam.

 

[Ranulf]

And I hope whoever thought waiting for Wartable missions was a good idea is forever cursed with wet socks.

Gotta pad the game time most likely.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Alright, change in seasons has got me wanting something a bit on the spookier side.

Fired up Aliens vs. Predator (2010) and am going through the Marine campaign. Honestly pretty mediocre so far, definitely does not feel up to par with the legendary Aliens vs Predator 2 game. I recall it was more of a glorified tech demo for DX11 than anything and it's definitely coming off as such.

And then Dead Space 2. I really am craving a thrird person controller game and look, Dead Space 2 was already installed... So here I go. Already in love after the balls to the wall intro section. This gon b gud...

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Alright, change in seasons has got me wanting something a bit on the spookier side.

Fired up Aliens vs. Predator (2010) and am going through the Marine campaign. Honestly pretty mediocre so far, definitely does not feel up to par with the legendary Aliens vs Predator 2 game. I recall it was more of a glorified tech demo for DX11 than anything and it's definitely coming off as such.

And then Dead Space 2. I really am craving a thrird person controller game and look, Dead Space 2 was already installed... So here I go. Already in love after the balls to the wall intro section. This gon b gud...

Just browse this sub for 10 minutes and you should be infected* https://www.reddit.com/r/DaysGone/

Perfect spooky season game. Some creepy atmosphere and sphincter clenching moments. Compelling game play once you unlock enough stuff. Has that first season Walking Dead vibe until then.


*sorry not sorry

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Just browse this sub for 10 minutes and you should be infected* https://www.reddit.com/r/DaysGone/

Perfect spooky season game. Some creepy atmosphere and sphincter clenching moments. Compelling game play once you unlock enough stuff. Has that first season Walking Dead vibe until then.


*sorry not sorry

-Hmm, wishlisted. I've been waffling on Days Gone for a while now, half the people that play it say S1 Walking Dead and im there for that.

The other half say it's a narrative and gameplay mess with magical spawning hordes and such.

But for the right price I'll give it a shot and form my own opinion.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

TitanFall 2 is one of the many free games in my library. Neither this or the first were ever really on my radar. Got around to trying the campaign today. What a great surprise that it's a fun game with old school cool oozing from every pixel. Controls are immediately comfortable, like a favorite hoodie. I'll definitely finish this one. Unlike Far Cry 5, Borderlands the pre-sequel, Horizon Forbidden Dawn, and a half a dozen others that I drifted away from after an hour or so.

 

[igor_kavinski]

TitanFall 2

I tried it a few times on Xbox One but failed to get the hang of the wall running mechanics and gave up. Yes, don't think I made it out of the initial training!

 

[GodisanAtheist]

TitanFall 2 is one of the many free games in my library. Neither this or the first were ever really on my radar. Got around to trying the campaign today. What a great surprise that it's a fun game with old school cool oozing from every pixel. Controls are immediately comfortable, like a favorite hoodie. I'll definitely finish this one. Unlike Far Cry 5, Borderlands the pre-sequel, Horizon Forbidden Dawn, and a half a dozen others that I drifted away from after an hour or so.

-In am normally really into games with a short and sweet campaign, but Titanfall 2 could have used a bit more oomph.

It was fun, it was fast, but everytime a really cool new concept got introduced the game ditched it just as quickly as it came and never let the ideas build on each other.

Of course now Apex Legends happened and we'll never get a Titanfall 3 that really takes the good campaign and makes it excellent.

If you like what Titanfall 2 does with some of its level design you owe it to yourself to play Dishonored 2 at some point. Completely different game, but with some of the best level design of all time.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Ok, completed Dead Space 2.

I'm gonna need to decompress from that, jesus christ. A pure sequel, taking the already excellent building blocks DS put in place and layering additional mechanics while retaining the feel and bringing back the greatest hits.

Honestly one of the best horror shooters of all time. It warrants a patient gamer entry after I collect myself...

 

[igor_kavinski]

It warrants a patient gamer entry after I collect myself...

What exactly did it do? Too many jumpscares? Got your heart pounding more than you were expecting? Or just so good that you can't keep your mind from wandering back to the events in the game?

 

[GodisanAtheist]

What exactly did it do? Too many jumpscares? Got your heart pounding more than you were expecting? Or just so good that you can't keep your mind from wandering back to the events in the game?

-Very well built game, good job ratcheting up the tension and the last two chapters are just balls to the wall in terms of intensity.

DS1 did the unkillable Ubermorph as it's own thing, DS2 works it in as part of the whole ending sequence. Just fantastic.

Final boss was pretty standard in design but really beautifully presented, represented Isaac's grief over his responsibility in getting his lover killed in the first game.

Just a really well made game that built on the first in all the right ways.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Feeling a little shiftless, playing through HorizonZD but kids insist on watching me play so can't power through it.

Aliens VS. Predator is... Not great. Series definitely peaked with Monolith's AVP2. Rebellion's iteration feels a lot like a overstuffed DX11 tech demo.

Sooo... After putting it off for a long time because the whole damn series is just a huge effing downer, I fired up The Banner Saga 3 and it's pulling me in hard. That old Bioware feel is very much there, and that Norse Ragnarok thing is in full effect.

Brilliant, if somewhat morose writing/characters/story.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Surprised we don't have an active Marvel Rivals thread in here. Anyone tried it yet?

 

[Ranulf]

Rivals is a pretty good hero shooter. It runs better now than it did in the beta but some are having issues with it. Balance is a bit crazy but to be expected. It is basically Overwatch 1.0, 6v6 open queue.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Rivals is a pretty good hero shooter. It runs better now than it did in the beta but some are having issues with it. Balance is a bit crazy but to be expected. It is basically Overwatch 1.0, 6v6 open queue.

It crashes so much!

 

[Ranulf]

It crashes so much!

Ouch. I've heard some have had issues. It has been rock solid for me.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Ouch. I've heard some have had issues. It has been rock solid for me.

There's some kind of a memory leak causing gpu driver crashes. I'm having to reboot the entire system after every match, and even then sometimes an enemy Captain America can crash my machine by showing up with the Thor teamwork buff.

 

[igor_kavinski]

There's some kind of a memory leak causing gpu driver crashes.

Still using the Radeon VII?

 

[Ranulf]

There's some kind of a memory leak causing gpu driver crashes. I'm having to reboot the entire system after every match, and even then sometimes an enemy Captain America can crash my machine by showing up with the Thor teamwork buff.

Damn thats crazy. I mean it didn't run great for me during the beta, slow loads and some stutter here and there. 1.0 runs better, seemingly a solid 60 most of the time. I haven't even updated the nvidia drivers for it that came out yesterday or Thursday.

This is on the 4790k with 2060Super too.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Still using the Radeon VII?

Yeah, but 7900XTX users and 3090 users are also getting mad crashes. It's a bigger problem than just people with older cards.

 

[MoragaBlue]

Been replaying Lies of P on my new OLED and in anticipation for their new DLC anticipated for Q1 2025. Really looking forward to continuing the LOP journey, and just freshening up and reacquainting myself with the skills & timing of the game.

It's amazing to me how the parrying is the cheat code to many of these Souls-like games--once mastered, it's like having an in built easy mode to any boss susceptible to the mechanic.

 

[MoragaBlue]

Finally, gotten around to playing Sekiro after picking up the game on a 50% off a couple of years ago. It was highly recommended here when I was posting on the ER thread, but I hadn't realized I would go on to spend 1,000+ hours on ER and its DLC.

Ok, I see why many have tagged Sekiro a masterpiece. The combat is robust, smooth, and, at least my first impressions, appears to have more depth than ER and its Souls-like counterparts. There is definitely a learning curve, especially the parry where unlike LOP, which I had gotten used to since it's the last game I played, you have to start it sooner. So, spent a few hours parrying late and getting smacked with the multiple katana chops.

Now, I can appreciate much more those who were coming off Sekiro's parry timing complaining about LOP, because if one's used to the Sekiro's earlier parrying initiation, LOP will just destroy you until you get used to the later timing window.

Anyway, having a blast with Sekiro and have that unmatched enjoyment & fun of learning a game for the first time. While I don't find the game too hard, I can see where for a gamer with little or no experience with these types of fighting games, the difficulty level would be quite brutal. I can tell right off the bat I'll be playing Sekiro for quite some time and a game I'd like to master (the fighting mechanics), just as the same feeling I had when embarking on ER and LOP.

 

[Fenixgoon]

picked up Marvel's Midnight Suns on super sale. quite an enjoyable game so far and i'm only a couple of hours in.