I’m in Lemoyne, so the third(ish) act, after the mountains and Valentine.
Honestly, the thing that’s screwing with how I engage with the narrative is the mechanics that surround it. The honor system was a misstep and isn’t consistent. I rob a bank in a mission, no honor lost, but steal a horse (that I admittedly thought belonged to a dead guy) 25% drop in honor. Funnily enough, I actually gained honor in the bank heist mission because I decided to crack the safes instead of blowing them open.
I just watched this this morning, lol. I wanted to remind myself how exactly this argument applied to Redemption 2—it’s the same argument I would make against Grand Theft Auto V and Redemption 1, but imo those games are different enough that the same criticism doesn’t map onto RDR2 in precisely the same way. The video makes the case that RDR2 suffers from dividing its priorities between open world design (or immersive sim design) and “Naughty Dog–style” linear action game design. There might be something to that but I don’t particularly like Breath of the Wild or Uncharted and I do like RDR2 for all that it is as a video game (not just as a photography sandbox); in my opinion RDR2 succeeds in becoming its own game.
The honor system is goofy and doesn’t work right; when I compared it to Death Stranding upthread I meant to say, besides similarity in movement, that in both Death Stranding and RDR2 I ignore a lot of the numbers, gauges, UI, and so on, and in my experience it’s to each game’s benefit. Death Stranding has a lot of numbers going up, item degredation, weapons/tools, etc. etc., but it’s all more or less noise and one need not pay attention to them to enjoy the game (perhaps not as flawed as RDR2’s systems, should you choose to engage with them). RDR2 has honor and bounties and camp wellness metrics, but as is pointed out in that video basically none of that stuff matters. In any case it’s fair to be annoyed that all these flashing indicators and numbers and instructions do not ultimately serve the game.
If RDR2 were like Hitman or New Vegas it would certainly be fun, and one might argue essential. To that point, it’s a shame the norms of expensive game design and games publishing mean games which are this size and look and sound this way are made to be played so single-mindedly, setting strict limits on the imagination of designers and players. On the other hand, that the player is confined to being one kind of way speaks to the character of Arthur, a guy whose main problem in life is being unable to figure out how to be any way but the way he is. Brushing up against the ultimate lack of choice and freedom everywhere feels pointed more than contrived, I think
we love a yuri VN
honestly y3 is one of my top favs of the whole series, and i started with 0, then the kiwamis
Well said.
Honestly, considering how much of my thoughts have been wrapped up in this game lately, I would say that it might be required reading. RDR2 is a game that is endlessly fascinating in its flaws, and when it hits right, it really hits. The game isn’t always “fun” but I find myself engaging with it differently than I typically would a game of its ilk.
Plus you can have a big bushy mustache and a silly hat.
Jesus Christ, Peglin is hard
I had to detox with Metal Black comfort food. I realize that if I could own a garage in the country, have a 32" Sony Trinitron in that garage with vintage freestanding floor speakers and throw the garage door open during a thunderstorm, the game I would play there would be Metal Black
I grabbed Peglin on my switch, it’s fun!
I’ve had a few successes, but I have no idea how I am going to meet the requirements to unlock any of the extra classes. I guess I haven’t really tried to focus on it, but winning a fight with 400 ballwark remaining seems like such a huge number that I must be missing something.
i picked up the castlevania ds collection on the switch, having only briefly played dawn of sorrow back in the day. i started with order of ecclesia and am enjoying it. the music is amazing! however, it’s also really hard and were it not for the rewind option i would be having a much worse time lol
I could theoretically try this.
Be sure to try the Haunted Castle remake that is an extra. It is a great old-school Castlevania.
played that a bit last night and got my tuchus handed back to me!
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow…the reason why I spent a decade of my life thinking that Castlevania was Anime
was it a good decade?
I got really into Peglin a little while back. I tapped out when I got all the characters to cruciball 8. An amazing junk food, play while there’s something on in the background kind of game.
Well I can’t really say things have gotten BETTER since 2015
I started a second attempt at Octopath Traveler II. A friend of mine mentioned that she is going to start a new save too since she hasn’t played in such a long time that she doesn’t remember at all were she was at. I felt that was a good enough reason to give the game another try especially after having thought and talked about it a couple of times since first playing it.
I’m enjoying it quite a bit. The combat system is just plain fun. I’ve once again started with Ochette (best girl™), because I enjoy her playstyle and character. I’ve so far picked up Castti and Throné for my party and will complete it with Partitio (best boy™). Last time I dropped the game at level 20, so I’ll see if I get over that bump this time around. Not playing it alone, even if it’s just shooting messages back and forth, as well as being mentally more prepared for the grindy parts might give me the right mindset to enjoy the game more.
The story chapters have been fun to play through and I’m generally enjoying the graphics even though this time around I noticed quite a few more spots that made me feel like they would’ve benefitted from reducing bloom effects by about 80%. But I’m still not ready to join the anti HD-2D chorus. Overdoing it with bloom and blur effects doesn’t invalidate the general art style for me.
Another small thing that just feels a bit cheap is how they place merchants right before the first chapter bosses. I understand why they put them there for gameplay reasons but it just kind of throws me off a little. Like you run through this mansion of a rich dude in which a lot of people have been assassinated and right there before the boss fight stands a merchant unceremoniously selling weapons armor and healing items. At least give him some silly dialogue that gives the tiniest bit of justification for him being there. It’s not ruining the experience but I feel like it could’ve been handled better with relatively little effort and that irks me.
But overall I enjoyed the first 5 hours of this second attempt! More about it, as the story develops.
Making a large house in The Sims 4 is an exercise in stretching beyond what I would ever do for myself.
I was never happier with a living space than in college when I had one room to be responsible for. If anything broke, I could ask someone to fix it. Otherwise, I could live sparsely: a computer, a TV, a game console, a shelf of books, bedding, clothes, toiletries, and a few other items were all I needed. Posters were adequate decoration. For stimulation, I had the world: the library, museums, cafes, bars, gaming groups. If I weren’t in a relationship, if I didn’t crave to love others, if I didn’t love someone who wanted at least some measure of house, I might happily live in a studio apartment in a city.
It’s not to say that I don’t appreciate a well-furnished home. I have a home, and I try to be engaged in the decorating of it. I have discovered I have some taste. But I would have taken a lot of learning to become an architect; by default, I would design a square house. In The Sims 4, I am stretching my aesthetic limits by smooshing two rectangles together. I made the interior slightly asymmetrical. I could design a better romanesque church than a mansion.
To fill this blocky mansion, I came up with a color palette for each room. I selected items one at a time: beds for each room, then carpets, then lighting, and so on. At a certain point, somewhere between end tables and knick-knacks, I let it be. The bedrooms looked like nothing I’ve ever slept in. Not enough laundry hampers. Not enough places to cram books.
I’ll share photos next time I’m at that computer. It is, for me, a good mansion. It also gives the sims in my family (four now) a degree of freedom they haven’t had before. I can’t keep the whole house in sight at once. There are two stories and a basement. If I am dutifully making sure Belle is practicing mixing drinks, Ambrose or Teresa can end up doing what they want. Usually that is playing video games. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
I did a little looking because I was struggling and finally started having success by just focusing on a limited number of balls and putting most of my money into upgrades – bombs and the balls that power up pegs seem to be a good ticket, was starting to rack up crazy damage numbers with those. for the class unlock, it really does seem like it’d be extremely hard to clear a run just focusing that much on ballwark, but maybe I’ll try it on a whim and see how close I can get to that goal without worrying about anything else
Saw Astrobot got a lot of 10/10 scores, curious to hear more takes on it.
