What other games are we all playing?

Since Lockdown 2: The Lockdown Strikes Back hit the UK, I've tried wasting time with Skyrim, PES18, and even the freebie Hollow Knight (a class Metroidvania meets goth Ghibli game) but I'm still playing Elite... am I doing something wrong?
 
Can we expect a honest review sometime please Mole :)
I'm absolutely loving it...so might be a tiny bit biased ;)

The launch was faultless as far as I know with no day one dramas...I started playing at 00.05 on release day. They've revamped a fair bit of the mechanics from Odyssey and Origins...quite a bit... and for the good. The story and characters are well rounded and convincing and there's more than enough to do besides follow the main story line.

Weapons, upgrades and availability are well thought out and implemented compared to Odyssey, I stuck to the axe, armour and shield I got in the first 10 minutes of gameplay upgrading them as my character progresses through the story....it's nothing like Odyssey. A blacksmith can raise the quality (Common to Legendary) but outside of that blacksmith only function (there's only one blacksmith, the one at your village), you can incrementally upgrade your gear stats yourself as and when you find resources. It's also not important that you level the weapons up alongside your character, there's none of that. The axe will kill things no matter what level it is. The character skill tree is truly something to behold as well.

The mission structure is the main thing that had a major revamp..I like what they've done with it. It's intuitive along with the varying levels of UI you can have as a player...explorer mode or pathfinder is excellent which limits the amount of visual info the map gives you.

It's certainly the best AC title out there by far. Visually it's breath taking, gameplay is very, very good and it runs smoothly with no issues...they did good :)

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This might be a stupid question but is there sea combat with ships as we've seen in previous games?

Edit...oh and are any annoying sections where you have the futuristic bullsh...climbing into stupid machines and abstergo rubbish?
 
This might be a stupid question but is there sea combat with ships as we've seen in previous games?

Edit...oh and are any annoying sections where you have the futuristic bullsh...climbing into stupid machines and abstergo rubbish?
No ship combat except for firing at random passers by with your own bow from the stern of the longship, practically all of the ship stuff is river bound this time around. I use the longship more than anything else for getting around for chance raid opportunities with the crew...it also has an optional autopilot function (press X to follow river)...which might seem strange but I find it relaxing just cruising along the rivers listening to the crew stories and Norse sea shanties without having to steer the ship all the time.

...And there is the modern day Abstergo claptrap shoehorned in there once again since Valhalla is a traditional AC title with Assassins v Templars added in there... as much as Eifor as a character isn't one nor t'other being a Pagan Viking. I generally skip all of the modern day cutscenes like everyone else does... except for the couple of sequences that appear in game...they're optional since they appear as mystery markers on the map so can't really say they bother me too much, as soon as I discover one I simply ignore it.

One feature that is new for Valhalla is building and improving your settlement in Mercia...find resources via raids, build everyone nice cabins and workshops to grow your settlement and improve your renown etc. I like that bit. The drinking game is hilariously difficult...a bit of flyting (adversarial poetry) is good too...add in some games of dice and missions from the villagers...a good addition for the series.
 
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No ship combat except for firing at random passers by with your own bow from the stern of the longship, practically all of the ship stuff is river bound this time around. I use the longship more than anything else for getting around for chance raid opportunities with the crew...it also has an optional autopilot function (press X to follow river)...which might seem strange but I find it relaxing just cruising along the rivers listening to the crew stories and Norse sea shanties without having to steer the ship all the time.

...And there is the modern day Abstergo claptrap shoehorned in there once again since Valhalla is a traditional AC title with Assassins v Templars added in there... as much as Eivar as a character isn't one nor t'other being a Pagan Viking. I generally skip all of the modern day cutscenes like everyone else does... except for the couple of sequences that appear in game...they're optional since they appear as mystery markers on the map so can't really say they bother me too much, as soon as I discover one I simply ignore it.

One feature that is new for Valhalla is building and improving your settlement in Mercia...find resources via raids, build everyone nice cabins and workshops to grow your settlement and improve your renown etc. I like that bit.

Why do the Assassins fight the Templars?
 
Why do the Assassins fight the Templars?
'Cos religion...always fighting somebody that doesn't believe in what you do ;)

Historically, they didn't of course. The Knights Templar just killed folks as devoutly religious Christian mercenaries, the assassins did exactly the same but as traditional Islamist mercenaries. It goes back to before the Christian crusades to the holy land looking for the grail....since the religious artifacts and centres of worship are revered and contested by both those particular middle eastern religions...as well as others. Jesus is also an important prophet in Islamic writings...and also a Palestinian Jew by birth... which is conveniently forgotten amidst the frequent wars stemming from the common and imaginatively written westernised history of course ;)

I liken it to football. Manchester united and Manchester city both play exactly the same game, come from the same city, both dislike eachother for 'reasons' and both employ foreign mercenaries to try to ensure they win ;)

Anyway...enough of religion. It never leads to a good place for discussion :)
 
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It's a load of rubbish the templar vs assassin storyline. I think initially it had some legs way back but often it was poorly written, acted and like he says shoe horned in using a crowbar.
 
Two games I recently found that peaked my interest. I can get a search result on this forum for Starpoint Gemini 3 but have had no success getting results for The Long Journey Home.
This is the link for the first:

Does anyone have any news on either of these especially TLJH ? (I'm still researching whether I want to buy ME: A which is why these caught my eye)

FWIW
 
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Two games I recently found that peaked my interest. I can get a search result on this forum for Starpoint Gemini 3 but have had no success getting results for The Long Journey Home.
This is the link for the first:

Does anyone have any news on either of these especially TLJH ? (I'm still researching whether I want to buy ME: A which is why these caught my eye)

FWIW
Don't really have any info on Gemini...as for the Mass Effect series, the fact I still have fond memories of playing through the story line over the 3 episodes...it certainly conjures up distinct memories of aspects of it...my love affair with Tali-Zorah starting from ME:2 being one. I was distraught when one of my optional choices in ME:3 resulted in her death...I mean, I had a genuine tear running down my cheek during the cutscene. Visual story telling that good deserves honest praise and I've no doubt I'll play through the series again at some point.

Mass Effect is one of a few titles that deserve their rightful place in computer game history and are a true credit to the story tellers and developers who brought their talents to light.
 
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I put NMS aside, and am spending all of my free time playing Surviving Mars. My wife has lost me to the man cave again.
Spent 2 games messing things up, quit very quickly when I realized the mistakes I was making.
Started a 3rd game, still learning, but not making base-breaking mistakes (mostly).
I think the default music is hypnotic.
 
I put NMS aside, and am spending all of my free time playing Surviving Mars. My wife has lost me to the man cave again.
Spent 2 games messing things up, quit very quickly when I realized the mistakes I was making.
Started a 3rd game, still learning, but not making base-breaking mistakes (mostly).
I think the default music is hypnotic.
Like the swimming planet in front of your swimming eyes... :)
 
I've been eyeballing Surviving Mars for many many moons. I need a distraction game from what I'm playing now almost exclusively (X4:F). When I played ED for all those years I also swapped back and forth with Armored Warfare, World of Warships and some WoTanks. I opened up Ultimate General: Civil War the other day and it was fun for a battle but I was compelled to return to X4F asap. I'm needing variety badly atm; I must be afflicted in some way. I'll get through this.
I know I can.

Thanks for the input Mole; much appreciated.
GL HF Commanders..
 
Going through the latest Yakuza (Y7: Like a Dragon) at the moment, and laughing my t*ts off. I definitely preferred the brawler-style action combat to the JRPG combat, but they made it dynamic/quick enough that it's not the end of the world. It does kill the buzz when invading a clan HQ however, compared to the old Kiryu-vs-the-world, opening doors by throwing mooks into them.

On the other hand, they doubled up on the cutscenes and minigames so it's as hilarious and wacky as ever, just with even more stuff to do, including a ton of old SEGA arcade games, and a Mario Kart clone in the city streets. Haven't found a mahjong parlour yet though. And there's Yokohama to explore in addition to the old familiar Kamurocho, and the new cast is great. So even with the combat "downgrade" (for me), it's absolutely fantastic and I barely scratched the surface at chapter 5. Going to enjoy that one for a good while!
 
Group: Let's play Viticulture!
Ralph: Oh, no....
Group, playing game: Isn't this wonderfully fiddly! We love lecturing people on strategy from our podiums! Enough to miss out that it's our turn!
Ralph: Yes, I noticed.
Group: The game crashed twice for each of us, one of us had to go to bed, because it ran so long, but we loved it!
Ralph: Can I get some sleep, now?
 
Still discovering new maps and mods for Farming Sim 19. The more I play this game the more impressed I`m, the community is pumping amazing content every day, endless fun.

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