Skald

I think I managed to add everyone on the list, which was a fairly involved process.

Anyway, you can get me at 5433366986

Factorio. I have heard it's very smart and addictive... once you get the feel for it, anyway. As it stands, I just find myself playing RimWorld instead, because I fundamentally "get" that game.

There's an outside chance I'll get to some real oldies as well: Neverwinter Nights 2, Majora's Mask, Chrono Cross.

This system is insane. On one hand, everything I've wanted since the Game Boy lineup became obsolete, but everything they kept me away from the DS, too.

The hardware looks terrific. The screen, the controllers, the potential extensibility... ruined by another terrible online service and odd compromises.

I was so sure I was going to preorder one before the announcement, and now I'm firmly in the wait-and-see camp. After all, I think Nintendo will bring more to the table when it fails to meet initial expectations.

Classically, Fallout: New Vegas. Graphically, it's unimpressive, and the beginning is kind of slow, but underneath all of its flaws is probably the most thematically consistent modern RPG I've had the opportunity to play. The music, the clothes, the characters, the lore... they all come together to make something bigger than the sum of the individual parts. Kind of like Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, a bit more derivative I suppose, but unsurprisingly, way the hell less buggy.

Right now it's RimWorld. I was going back and forth on whether or not to give it a shot because, on one hand, it's very replayable, but at the same time, if it's anything like Dwarf Fortress, I knew I was going to bounce hard. So I splurged, and, what do you know, playing god is as addictive as Luciferium. Just today, I had tell my last sane colonist to take out their former friends because they presented an existential threat to the colony, and because really, the colony was kind of sustained by cannibalism.

But I like to focus on the good times, like when my other colony was wiped out by a mad ibex during an unforeseen electrical fire.

Recently, I'd have to say Trails of Cold Steel. I thought it looked like a modern Persona game, but set during a magical industrial revolution. But it... wasn't.

The characters were all very one-note, and combat felt pretty conservative for a JRPG. If I had less going on at the time, I might have been able to play through the entire thing, but it would have been the strength of translation and setting that would have done it for me.

Sometime soon I'm going to have to revisit Trails in the Sky. Maybe that one will stick.

No.

While it's theoretically the best option for getting pure 4K content, I just can't see myself collecting discs anymore.

@mirado:I just lost my first colony, and so far, I wholeheartedly agree with your endorsement. Holy shit.

So, RimWorld:
I had an air conditioner fire destroy half of the compound, including a bunch of batteries and all of the medicine and food. Without proper medical care, or, you know, even four walls to protect them, a mad ibex killed off all but one of my colonists. The losses drove her into a fury, and she began to randomly knife the nearby cattle, until one hit back so hard they finally went into shock and died.

This started out as a really cool idea, but it's become muddled and uninteresting. Sure, it's given the community something to do between seasons, but it feels like it's been going on forever, and we've learned precious little so far. The community hath spoken.

This isn't new. I remember when I was a teenager, it was Fable (and the Infinium Phantom) that were promising the moon. Pre-ordering was dumb in 2004 and, as it turns out, it's still dumb today.

But that's not saying that the people who pre-order are foolish, just optimistic. And sometimes that optimism is rewarded, and sometimes, it's punished. Caveat emptor.

I generally liked what I saw, with a few reservations.

First, the positives. I enjoyed some genuinely badass moments while I was playing. From opening up with the laser core, to grappling hook combos, to stealing batteries in order to repair allied Titans in the middle of a fight. I also like the ability/ability/ultimate structure, it works in Destiny and Overwatch, and it works here too. And I like the mobility. In theory, it turns out, more than practice.

The other side of the coin is, well, it could be better. I think the full-auto weapons are too dominant right now, time-to-kill is too low, and the maps don't appear to be made with mobility in mind. I think all of these things add to the narrative that this game has an severe case of Call of Duty envy, even though I disagree.

But my biggest issue with the game so far, is the rodeo. Considering how potent it is, it's very easy to do, and it ruins the Titan part of the game when it can be destroyed by one or two highly mobile pilots with grappling hooks. More than anything, I think this turns what should've been a highlight of the game into something unnecessarily frustrating.