Definitely get the 3DS version. Playing a game in the proper format has a charm and smoothness emulators rarely capture, and Zelda is all about the charm of the experience. Not to mention you'll be able to play it at a computer desk, chilling on a sofa, laid back in bed at night, on a long train journey, between a pair of legs at the titty bar, and such like.

 

http://www.marclaidlaw.com/epistle-3/
https://pastebin.com/q9DMFa7c
Apparently Half Life 3's dead.

 

At this point I don't think anyone reasonably expected it to ever happen...

Which might be for the best, I'd rather Half-Life end where it stands than cap it off with Gordon Freemans Magical Hat Collecting Casino Adventure taking a metaphorical dump on the franchise.

 

Just finished Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. It's got everything you might expect from the franchise - gorgeous scenery, sarcastic banter, ridiculous setpieces, satisfying puzzles and massive locations to climb around. The only significant changes to the formula are, of course, the switch from Nathan to Chloe (and putting Nadine Ross in as your sidekick), and the fact that a decent chunk of the game is effectively open world. Both are done very well. It is pretty short, about eight hours depending on skill and how much exploring you do, but it's a proper Uncharted experience right from the start.

 

You forgot to mention the positives of staring at Chloe's bumbum for 8 hours. 5 stars.

 

An early access horror game Darkwood was recently released, and the developers have decided to release a torrent of it so people can try it out and buy it if they like it.

It's a nice top down twin stick horror game, which is suitably creepy and has some really cool stuff, with the intention of no jump scares. There's a few scares so far, but always with a lead up so you have some warning and time to imagine what it could be and make it worse in your head.

The info about it being released by the developers is here: http://imgur.com/gallery/xVhDz just so you know I'm not just linking to pirated games.

 

Kingdom Come

Is looking to be shaping up well

 

I've had my eye on that one for a while. Definitely looking forward to it.

 

Oh fucking wow. I had totally forgotten I had the deluxe edition Uncharted 4. Lost Legacy was free for me...

 

Darkwood creators upload the full game to The Pirate Bay so everyone can play it

 

Started playing Diablo 2 again. I usually pick it up once a year or so. I was watching some speedruns and decided I wanted to play it once more. Though this time, I wanted to play a mod. I ended up choosing Median XL, since it seems to be a pretty popular one. I'm only level 20 or so, so far, and it's pretty good. Not as good as the Hell Unleashed mod, but still pretty good.

As a conversion mod, it comes with the standard fare of things to expect. Some new skills, new items, new monsters, new zones.

Runes: They're a lot more plentiful (it seems). I was getting runes in the first zone pretty much, despite them being 10 levels higher. The runewords are weird. Almost all of them are just a single rune, and every piece of armor can get sockets. So, putting a single El rune in boots is a runeword. And if you get an armor with two sockets, you can put a jewel in first, and then the rune, and it still works and you get the jewel bonus as well. This still only works in normal quality items. I like this system, and also dislike it. The power level is kind of all over the place, as some of them give +skills, and some of them don't. Also, you'll have a runeword that is only an El, but the next level takes a Lum or something like that, which is 25 levels higher. It creates quite a gap. Also, a single rune runeword doesn't really feel like a runeword, because it's not really a word. Not sure if you can put two runes in 1 item though and get a double runeword.

Sets: There's 35 sets, and they're all max level. Kind of lame.

Uniques. They're all new, as far as I can tell. Instead of the normal/exceptional/whatever item tiers, each item comes in 7 flavors. So instead of quilted/ghost/dusk armor, it's quilted armor T1, T2, T3, T4, etc. This applies to uniques as well, so you can get the same unique in seven different flavors. Plus there's an endgame tier called sacred uniques. So far, I've found 4 uniques, and I can't use any of them. The issue is that every class has a bunch of class-specific items. So I've found a paladin-only helm, and a sorceress-only body armor. That's kind of lame, and it seems like half the loot table is items I can't actually equip.

Skills. These are all over the place, and so far, I'm not a fan. I'm playing an assassin, and there's 7 skill trees. The issue is that there's still only 3 tabs. One tab is dedicated to only end game skills, and all have a level 90 requirement. The other 6 trees are stuffed into the other two tabs, and each actual tree only has 4-5 skills in it, and most of them have nothing to do with the other. So, Assassin has a two-handed weapon tree, a psychic tree, a bomb tree, a claw tree, and another I'm forgetting about. It seems kind of random, and there's a limit to how many points you can put in each skill and it's different than the normal level-based formula. I actually have skill points left over right now, simply because I don't want to put any points into two-handed weapons. Seems like a design flaw.

Oh, and there's the whole thing where the other classes have arbitrary skill trees. Assassins have two-handed sword spec. Necromancers have a crossbow spec. Sorceress's have a melee spec. Fun, I guess, but weird? I guess it's taking some of the weirdo D2 builds and making actual specs out of them.

Monsters. This is kind of weird. There doesn't seem to by and rhyme or reason behind some of the monster selection. Like, in act 1, area 1, I got some of those bats that hide on the ceiling, except there is no ceiling there so it looks really weird. All of the monsters have new abilities and tactics as well, which is interesting, though annoying at times. I enocunted two different enemies that both used this ricocheting arrow thing that made it seem like there were extra enemies on the map, but it was actually just the same arrow bouncing around. And the range is massive. Fallen Shamans were ressurecting from like 5 screens away. That wasn't a huge problem since default run speed is waaaaaay to high. Like, you zip across the screen as fast as the paladin charge it seems like.

Item value: Items aren't worth shit to vendors. Like, everything sells for 5 gold or less, many selling for just 1. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to this, as even things like staves and wands with skills on them were selling for nothing. But, for whatever reason, amulets and rings sell for tons, despite not being any rarer. Like, a rare sets of boots sells for 12 gold, but this amulet that gives +1 str sells for 1500. Really weird. Once you unlock Deckard Cain it's not too bad.

Lastly, the zones. This part I don't like. Throughout the game, there are various "uberzones". The problem is, you come across them pretty early, and there's no actual barrier to enter. For example, in the Underground Passage in act 1, instead of there being a level 2, there is this uberzone instead, which is designed for like level 80 players or something like that. I walked in and got 1 hit without knowing what was going on.

Overall, it's fun, but it really does seem like a lot of the changes are done for the sake of being a change, rather than for any actual reason.

 

Think I might be done with gaming soon in my life. Got a nice PC to dabble in machine learning for funsies and there's very few games that interest me in the least that were released in the last few years. I've had a lot of fun with Doom but it's not that long, spent a lot of time on Witcher 3, played some EU4 but I get addicted to it and play day in day out so I deleted it after about a week, played very heavily modded Skyrim for at least 100 hours (Wheels of Lull is the tits), quit Fallout 4 after maybe 2 days in disgust and got bored of Subnautica fairly quickly. I've also had a brief fling with PoE, but except Durance hardly anything was actually interesting in this game.
Oh, and GTA V SP was fun.

And... that's all there is in several years? Not even a few generic FPS games that while hardly innovative are still fun? No new deep RPGs that will bury you with interesting lore or just some DA:O clones that are simply fun to play? The hell?

Mixed feelings. On one hand I wasted a lot of time on this bullshit when I was young so at least that won't be happening, but on the other hand... I dunno man, PC gaming was fun. The age of microtransactions and whale hunting isn't a place for old-school fan, it seems. Or maybe I'm just searching wrong.

 

I've been really enjoying Stardew Valley recently, and it's a nice change of place. Apparently incredibly similar to Animal Crossing and the like, you play a guy who inherits his grandfather's old farm in the country. Quite a relaxing game. About £11 now, and maybe worth a punt. There's a modding community, but I'm playing pure for at least my first run through, and trying to do it with minimal wikiwalking too.

Sunless Sea was quite good. Both me and my brother picked it up, played about 30 hours each. But we both basically lost interest in it, as one of the major bonuses was scrambling around the house going "you'll never fucking believe what I just found!". Gameplay is very repetitive, but the story is a major bonus.

I absolutely loved Elite: Dangerous, too, and I know there's a few other players here. I really liked the trading, more than other things, and compiling my own spreadsheets and trading routes to figure out how to maximise profit. I thought this was great... And then I found an online tool that can just tell you the best routes, which basically killed the game for me. If I was putting in all the effort, but wasn't getting anywhere near top profit, it felt like it wasn't worth picking back up.

Failing that, if you have some disposable income, the Humble Monthly packages are quite good. About $130 for a years set, you'll get a "lootcrate" of games every month, normally between five and ten included.
This month - Killing Floor 2, Banner Saga 2, Momodora: Reverie, Worms WMD, Stories Untold, HackyZAck, Eterium
Last month - pillars of eternity, NBA2k17, One Piece Burning Blood, Offworld Trading Company, War for the Overworld, Overcooked, Wuppo, Nongunz

Even if you only get an hour or two out of most of the games, there's gonna be gems in there now and then, and a lot of the games are... Less major successes, so possibly ones unfamiliar to yourself. Also, you can pretend to be really generous and give out ones you don't care about to any friends who like having stupid-big libraries.

 

To be honest I bought the humble bundle monthly just so that when Xmas time rolls around i'll have goodies to share ( a few AAA titles and some indy ones) with the secret santa. A little bit every month doesn't kill me.

 

Ran through Pyre this weekend as my last bit of fun before the semester takes over my life. Supergiant Games fails to disappoint for the third time running. Really wish I had the time to replay and try out all the different paths, but that'll have to wait till Winter Break at the earliest...

Gameplay is relatively simplistic, but still very fun and challenging on the hardest settings (both in the menu and all Titans active). As with Bastion and Transistor though, the story is what takes the cake. Probably more than in those two. Gameplay wise I think the other two are more fun, but this one beats them in terms of characters and storytelling imo. Very eager for the semester's end so I can play it over and over and over. Gonna stay away from spoilers on all the other paths, I want to give it a go at seeing them all firsthand.

 

Finished playing Pyre last night.

It was everything I enjoyed about video games. Oh my god, it was just.. amazing. Fun, emotional, entertaining. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed playing a game this much.

The story was fantastic. I don't know if I have the time in my life to run through it multiple times, but I want to.

I'm wondering what your end choices were.

Spoiler: Final decision

Who did end with in the Downside? Did you let Oralech pass through?

Sandra?

 

Glad to find another fan! As to my end choices:

Spoiler

In order of liberation:

Spoiler

• Rukey Greentail - Out of the three that were available for it, he was the only one I felt I could do without, not sure I'd liberate him on a second run
• Jodariel - Somehow still hadn't sunken in that I needed to plan ahead, so it was between her, Ti'zo, or Rhae, and I depended on the other two more
• Hedwyn - Seemed fitting to let him go at this point, and he seemed like a really good figure to have working on the outside (tbh though, seemed wrong to keep him here with the other two gone)
• Sir Gilman - Got through his full arc, and he seemed ready to do his part
• Pamitha - This one I struggled with, wasn't quite sure what would happen when I let her go and kept her sister trapped, but she seemed like she could help make sure a war didn't break out with the Harps
• Volfred - This one was also tough, and I'm not sure how I feel about letting him out instead of Ti'zo or Rhae, but in the end I didn't want either of those two to stay by themselves (Bertrude doesn't really count for company). I hoped that he would help keep things peaceful when it all went down
• Oralech - He nearly gave me a heart attack. I managed to beat him, but felt like scum so I restarted the rite and let him win. Then when we got to the point where you can try to influence him I chose the option to just contact him (forget the wording), and had a heart attack when he chose to send me on instead. Thankfully the game gave me the option to refuse and send him on, because I would've felt miserable if I'd accidentally stolen his freedom, even if he didn't see it that way.
• Sandra - This one felt like a very easy choice, and I wish that it hadn't. Maybe if you don't take it something else happens that would make you think twice, but it feels like the kindest choice all around to take her with you.

Would 100% agree that it's everything you want in a game and more.

 

Spoiler

Huh, neat.

I ended with - Hedwyn: Even though he had a love in the Commonwealth, he always seemed to care for all of us, and I figured if given a choice, he'd be okay staying..

Gray - She seemed to be fine Down Below.

Volfred - Who I tried to release to the Commonwealth in the end to see the plan through, but.. Oralech.

Oralech - I treated nicely the entire way through. Beat him in the rites every time, though. I was given the choice between Volfred, myself, and Oralech, and chose Oralech to ascend.

Sandra - Like there's any choice other than hanging out with her forever.

 

Spoiler

Oooooh, that sounds like it would've been one hell of a scene. You beat him a final time, and have to choose between him, the friend who he thinks betrayed him, and yourself. Little jealous, not gonna lie.

Out of curiosity, how did your rebellion go? Mine was a bloodless coup, but given the buildup I'm not sure if I got lucky.

 

Spoiler

Bloodless revolution for myself, as I liberated a Nightwing every time.

Spoilers from the game dev on the conditions for the endings -

Spoiler

Consider that the Plan is something Volfred Sandalwood has been formulating for a long time. As with any good plan, Volfred's Plan has certain contingencies. But, he chooses to remain optimistic with the Nightwings (for the most part), and speaks of what he would consider to be 'Plan A'.

It turns out Plan A requires at least 6 of the Nightwings to be liberated. While ideally all of them would have been liberated, this many proves to be enough, given other factors.

Note: We considered basing this more strictly off of the Plan Success % value, though since that is stated to be just an estimate, influenced by the number of Nightwings who get liberated, it felt more honest to use the number of liberated exiles as the real determining factor. Also, since the game ultimately tells a story, we didn't think having randomness would be appropriate in determining the outcome, at the very end. You've already made all your decisions at that point, and there are enough possible outcomes to where randomness needn't be a factor (i.e., if the Plan Success was 90%, we didn't think a 10% chance of a 'bad' ending would have been appropriate; again, it's just an estimate).

Plan B occurs if fewer than 6 but greater than 2 Nightwings are liberated, or in the unlikely event that only Volfred himself is liberated.

Plan C occurs otherwise.

The Reader does not count toward these totals -- the Reader's own ability to return to the Commonwealth is not expected and so not accounted for as part of the Plan.

Oralech also is not counted as one of the Nightwings, in this context.

The Plan outcome affects the epilogues of certain characters, in addition to other factors such as whether they returned to the Commonwealth or remained in the Downside, and whether other characters close to them them did the same.

I think it's pretty rare that players complete the game letting, for example, Lendel of the Accusers return to the Commonwealth. But he's an example of a character whose epilogue is quite different IF he returns, and depending also on the Plan outcome.