What other games are we all playing?

[RooksBailey]

Have so many games in my steam and epic library but can't motivate myself to play anything at the moment. Think I have a bad dose of gamers fatigue.
Currently re-reading Ready Player One and my heart says this is the gaming experience I would love to have, and my head says grow up, your 57 and smell of wee

May have to book myself into a gamers rehab and hug a tree or something.

Ready Player One was a book I enjoyed, too. And I have to say the movie was good as well. Not as good as the book, of course, but if Hollywood had to do what they always do to sci-fi these days - reduce a somewhat dark tale down to something suitable for an after-school cartoon - they did it in the most adroit way possible. Besides that, it was refreshing to see a movie (and book) extoll the pleasures to be had in '80s culture. After sitting through an (ongoing) onslaught of films that genuflect at the altar of '60s culture, I respect RPO for putting the boomers in their nursing home and finally giving Gen X something to reminisce about.

As for what I am playing, I am in a weird place in that I have returned to...board games! I've been having a good time with Battletech, and now I am looking to try some other sci-fi wargames out. Maybe I am suddenly into such games because it is nice to get away from the PC during these warm summer days. Or maybe I am just getting jaded by video games and their attendant nonsense of overpromising and underdelivering. Who knows?

Having said that, at night, when I am too tired to number crunch combat results in my head and roll dice by hand, I have been playing a bit of War Thunder and a bit more of Eve Online. 2020 is the year I subbed Eve more than I have since 2008 or so. CCP continues to do good work with the game, shaking up the meta here, polishing the core gameplay there. If they would just get around to revamping the ancient (and far too repetitive!) NPC mission-giver system, I would be a happy man. (I am glad to hear they are planning on doing just that, but no ETA yet.) Still, I enjoy Eve's vast sandbox even if I just peddle a few products and kill a few NPCs now and then.

 

[Old Duck]

I've never been able to figure out what it is about No Man's Sky's game play that is unappealing to me either. Sometimes, you just don't like something.

Thing is that I WANT to like EGS. It has a lot going for it. I think Space Engineers has spoiled me (the graphics and engineering part). Something similar has happened in flight sims - I can't even look at FSX and X-Plane anymore having been exposed to FS2020 footage.

I still hold out hope that Duel Universe or Starbase might fill the empty void currently in Space Engineers. Either that or Keen will finally add NPCs and other "good stuff" from EGS to SE, or EGS will get a buff in graphics to look just a little more modern.. There doesn't happen to be realistic lighting mods for EGS like there are for Minecraft by any chance?

 

[Darkfyre99]

Thing is that I WANT to like EGS. It has a lot going for it.

I know the feeling. I wanted to enjoy NMS as well, to the tune of 32 hours worth of play time. Not even VR made that game enjoyable for me. Normally, I can identify what I don't like about a game. Yes, the space flight mechancis are rubbish, but that is a minor part of the game. Yes, there's also the mandatory tutorial portion of each game, but that just makes replaying the game unappealing. There's just something about the basic survival game loop that is off putting to me, and I like survival games.

I think Space Engineers has spoiled me (the graphics and engineering part). Something similar has happened in flight sims - I can't even look at FSX and X-Plane anymore having been exposed to FS2020 footage.

I can understand about the engineering part. There's been times when I've been playing EGS, and I really wished I could use some of the stuff from SE. The thing is, I really don't see why people complain so much about the graphics of EGS. I think they look fine. In fact, I think it looks a lot better than Space Engineers... and I'm glad I waited until I got home before posting.

I'd realized that the reason why I think SE looks so much worse than EGS is because my system chokes on SE when the graphics are set to high. SE looks a lot better that way. Annoying to play due to low frame rates on rig that can handle ED in VR set to VR high, but a lot better. I think EGS has the edge when it comes to variety of life on planets, and of course proper water, but YMMV.

I still hold out hope that Duel Universe or Starbase might fill the empty void currently in Space Engineers.

I've been following both Duel Universe and Starbase, and I still haven't seen anything that would make either game appealing for me. I know from experience while I enjoy MMOs, and I enjoy survival/building games, I can't stand the two combined. Here's hoping that if they can make it work, it'll be fun for you.

Either that or Keen will finally add NPCs and other "good stuff" from EGS to SE, or EGS will get a buff in graphics to look just a little more modern.. There doesn't happen to be realistic lighting mods for EGS like there are for Minecraft by any chance?

I'm not holding up much hope for the former. That doesn't seem to be the direction Keen is taking the game. The latter, on the other hand, I think is very much possible. As I've repeatedly said in regards to another space game's development... gameplay should be developed first, you can polish the graphics once the game play is firmly in place. Even if it doesn't, I've always felt game play trumps fancy graphics. It's why I tend to play indi-games, and not AAA ones.

 

[Old Duck]

The thing is, I really don't see why people complain so much about the graphics of EGS. I think they look fine. In fact, I think it looks a lot better than Space Engineers... and I'm glad I waited until I got home before posting.

I'd realized that the reason why I think SE looks so much worse than EGS is because my system chokes on SE when the graphics are set to high. SE looks a lot better that way. Annoying to play due to low frame rates on rig that can handle ED in VR set to VR high, but a lot better. I think EGS has the edge when it comes to variety of life on planets, and of course proper water, but YMMV.

My SE graphics are at max settings, and the stuff I build looks pretty amazing. It comes down to textures and lighting. Now I've seen some very creative people build some very nice looking ships in EGS by using cleverly placed lighting and colored blocks, but even then the inside of those ships often look "meh" to me. And then there are times when the graphics devolve to Quake 1 / Doom quality, at least based on videos I've seen on Youtube. On the other hand, I think the worlds in EGS are far superior to what's offered in SE, and life and the amazing planet mapping system and solar systems and galaxy....

Which brings me back to Minecraft, which is pure 8 bit silliness, yet I could lose myself for days in that game.. Perhaps if I rethink EGS as an exploration game rather than an engineering game, I could get into it. I own it, so someday I'll try again and see if I can push past my issues with the graphics. All I really need is better textures and lighting, so maybe there's a mod out there or I could mod it myself.

ps - I take it you haven't grown tired with EGS yet?

 

[Darkfyre99]

My SE graphics are at max settings, and the stuff I build looks pretty amazing. It comes down to textures and lighting. Now I've seen some very creative people build some very nice looking ships in EGS by using cleverly placed lighting and colored blocks, but even then the inside of those ships often look "meh" to me. And then there are times when the graphics devolve to Quake 1 / Doom quality, at least based on videos I've seen on Youtube. On the other hand, I think the worlds in EGS are far superior to what's offered in SE, and life and the amazing planet mapping system and solar systems and galaxy....

Which brings me back to Minecraft, which is pure 8 bit silliness, yet I could lose myself for days in that game.. Perhaps if I rethink EGS as an exploration game rather than an engineering game, I could get into it. I own it, so someday I'll try again and see if I can push past my issues with the graphics. All I really need is better textures and lighting, so maybe there's a mod out there or I could mod it myself.

ps - I take it you haven't grown tired with EGS yet?

Nope.

Not playing as much as I was when I was waiting for the Fleet Carrier update to release, so I could do some deep-space tritium prospecting for the DSSA, but right now my current game's in one of those "I need to find the stuff I need to find the stuff I need to advance" phases of survival games. The current mission I'm running has hit a bit of a snag. It requires me to operate in space, but to do that I need the appropriate armor mods... which can't be crafted at this time. So I've been doing a lot of exploring and excavating of wrecks. I remember them being easy to find in my last game, but either the RNG gods are conspiring against me, or the higher difficulty setting is making certain things more rare.

Plus I keep tearing down and rebuilding my base's hanger. I did not plan my base with future expansions in mind.

I'm also planning on starting a back-to-back comparison game with SE. I'm going to call it "EGS vs SE - the Sidewinder edition." Which requires a bit of planning and preparation beforehand. I'd prefer to build a Cobra III in both games, now that SE has doors for small ships, but I decided to go with something a little less ambitious.

My current game lineup is:

Attention Demanding Game: Elite: Dangerous
Pauseable Game: Emyprion: Galactic Survival
"Idle" Game: Surviving Mars

Real life golf with my dad is on the table today as well. It'll be my first time this year going out, and while the courses are open (as long as we social distance) the driving ranges are still closed. It's going to be... interesting.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Only 156 hours and 15 minutes of solid playtime separate me and my carrier. Twenty eight-hour days. Tritium running at 1,000% profit.

Until, they change the economics again, so that medium pad ships are required. Then, it's double that.

One wonders what I could achieve, in the same time, in another game...

 

[Space Menace]

Only 156 hours and 15 minutes of solid playtime separate me and my carrier. Twenty eight-hour days. Tritium running at 1,000% profit.

Until, they change the economics again, so that medium pad ships are required. Then, it's double that.

One wonders what I could achieve, in the same time, in another game...

In Space Engineers you could build a carrier in creative and then set out in survival with your new carrier and permadeath enabled to see how long you'd last. Much more rewarding for me that is. Might need to take some drones along for protection.
Have economy, weather, cargo ships, encounters etc enabled. It's lonely but the nearest I've found to a space sim is Space Engineers.
Got to love space and solitude though.

I got/copied a ship from Tri/merc's collection, modified it for my own needs plus added quite a lot. Just over a quarter of a km long, so not vast by Space Engineers standards, but big enough to survive and thrive.

 

[Hank]

I'm going to have to try Space Engineers soon.
I've been engrossed in X4:F the past several weeks and haven't played anything else but around 1 hour of ED. I am slow when learning a game (because its fun) so I'm not nearly as far along in developing my empire as most others after 300 hours of play but, I have two space stations built, a carrier and two destroyers and oodles of M and S ships. I also have several mining ships that keep me in the credits for further expansion of my fleet and stations. Its a vastly different game from ED or SE (I think). I tend to think X4:F is a mix of Sins of a Solar Empire and Evochron (based on the size of the X universe). It can get tedious with the management of resources and crew but I like it. GL HF

 

[askavir]

I've started a new playthrough of Dragon Age 2, using mods to improve textures and another that basically turns it into "story mode". It basically turns the (unbearably many) combat scenes into almost a gimmick, as in this particular franchise I really don't care much about buffs/debuffs/critical hits/modifiers/spell combos etc and just want an interactive fantasy world story.

I'm actually pleasantly surprised, it feels a much better game now than when I played it when it released. Even though it sometimes abuses a bit of location reuse (especially outskirt areas, and a mansion that is the place for almost half a dozen unrelated quests), in terms of story progress and especially how player actions/choices impact the events, it's probably the best of the series. It may not have the epicness of the first, nor is it nearly as pretty as the third, but it's actually much better than what I remembered.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

I'm not sure what is happening, but at the moment there is a huge flood of interesting games and hardware coming out all of a sudden.

First, Star Wards Squadrons - preordered.
Then HP Reverb G2 - preordered that one too.
Now MS Flight Sim pretty soon in August - I will play that day one too.
And finally the very attractive silly game, Fall Guys: The Ultimate Knockout is also coming early August.

The first and last preorder I made was Elite Horizons, otherwise the last game I bought day one was GTA V on PS+, back in 2013 - so by my standards all this sort of excitement is pretty extraordinary. What a time to be gamer!

 

[Mole HD]

I'm not sure what is happening, but at the moment there is a huge flood of interesting games and hardware coming out all of a sudden.

First, Star Wards Squadrons - preordered.
Then HP Reverb G2 - preordered that one too.
Now MS Flight Sim pretty soon in August - I will play that day one too.
And finally the very attractive silly game, Fall Guys: The Ultimate Knockout is also coming early August.

The first and last preorder I made was Elite Horizons, otherwise the last game I bought day one was GTA V on PS+, back in 2013 - so by my standards all this sort of excitement is pretty extraordinary. What a time to be gamer!

For the rest of this year I'll be pretty sound on the games front. August MSFS 20 assuming I get it free with Gamepass Ultimate, if not I'll give it a miss...plus there's something else I can't remember...September I've got the Mafia definitive version and AC Valahalla. Mafia came with the £50 Trilogy definitive editions bundle I bought on Steam, Valahalla I get for free with UPlay+...November is CP2077 of course... which will take up 90% of my gaming time from then on I suspect.

...and Star Wars Squadrons I'll get with Origin Access premier for free when that appears...no idea when that's due out.

 

[Chris Simon]

.plus there's something else I can't remember

Horizon Zero Dawn's PC release?

There is also the Baldur's Gate 3 (although it's just early access so I'm probably gonna wait) and Kingdoms of Amalur remake (I'm rather excited about this as it is one of my top RPGs of all time and it got kind of forgotten)

 

[Mole HD]

Horizon Zero Dawn's PC release?

There is also the Baldur's Gate 3 (although it's just early access so I'm probably gonna wait) and Kingdoms of Amalur remake (I'm rather excited about this as it is one of my top RPGs of all time and it got kind of forgotten)

HZD..that was the one. I'm quite looking forward to that too although I've not pre-ordered it or anything.

 

[GreySix]

Only other game I'm on with any regularity is Star Citizen, usually either to test builds or join my organization for weekly events.

From time to time, still dabble in Fallout 4, Skyrim or StarCraft 2. May delve again into X4 Foundations.

 

[Chris Simon]

HZD..that was the one. I'm quite looking forward to that too although I've not pre-ordered it or anything.

Me neither. But I wishlisted it so I don't forget. I definitely plan on spending a considerable amount of time on that one.

 

[Fishy]

So, people who know about HZD, what is the deal with it? I really like how it looks, but from the small bits I've watched, it looks like generic 3rd person game 101, like it could as well be Tomb Raider 2400 or Assassin Creed: Post Apo. Is the story something special? Or is the combat particularly good?

 

[Mole HD]

So, people who know about HZD, what is the deal with it? I really like how it looks, but from the small bits I've watched, it looks like generic 3rd person game 101, like it could as well be Tomb Raider 2400 or Assassin Creed: Post Apo. Is the story something special? Or is the combat particularly good?

I've only ever watched YouTube vids on HZD gameplay and story line...back when it was a PS exclusive around 3 years or so ago now. I remember I wished it was available for the Xbox...

 

[Old Duck]

So, people who know about HZD, what is the deal with it? I really like how it looks, but from the small bits I've watched, it looks like generic 3rd person game 101, like it could as well be Tomb Raider 2400 or Assassin Creed: Post Apo. Is the story something special? Or is the combat particularly good?

I definitely think the story is better than the average TR story, but on the other hand, Lara Croft is more "my type" than Aloy is. Regardless, it's a good game IMO.

 

[Chris Simon]

So, people who know about HZD, what is the deal with it? I really like how it looks, but from the small bits I've watched, it looks like generic 3rd person game 101, like it could as well be Tomb Raider 2400 or Assassin Creed: Post Apo. Is the story something special? Or is the combat particularly good?

It's open world Tomb Raider with robot dinosaurs. Could anything be more awesome than that?

 

[Pixelated Sparkster]

So, people who know about HZD, what is the deal with it? I really like how it looks, but from the small bits I've watched, it looks like generic 3rd person game 101, like it could as well be Tomb Raider 2400 or Assassin Creed: Post Apo. Is the story something special? Or is the combat particularly good?

I played the game! It is a great take on the post apocalyptic setting where man and machine that were once connected now try to live together in a balance akin to nature. I like the game for the world building it does as it does leave a great impact on those who like to pay attention to story. The combat is really fun as you could try out multiple weapons made from nature/robots that you buy from merchants/rewards from missions, and you would find new machines that require you to figure out how to defeat them, which has a great "I did it!" feeling once you have figured it out. It is especially enjoyable if you have an interest in nature and anthropology, it has a bit of a slowish start, but it gets faster and better as you go on. I recommend it!

But I recommend going in blindly, do not look at trailers and stuff as it does destroy that feeling of discovery.