What games are you currently playing?

[Kuru20]

Currently playing Runescape with Nr0r and getting ridiculously addicted to it. it's quite fun, for those who have never played, it's an mmorpg similar to World of Warcraft and Mabinogi. Great fun and highly addictive

[Droolie]

So I guess I finished Undertale. My niece comes by once in a while to play games together, and since she liked Undertale a lot she wanted me to experience it too.

It wasn't a bad game, but it's very "noisy" both in dialogue, sound/music, difficulty... and pacing. By that I mean that it's like eating lots of sugary food all at once: the game doesn't really try to evoke any other atmosphere or emotions than "funny" or "scary" until you reach the ending. It's all very tiring, making you wish for some downtime but the most you can get is one or two screens of it. Sugar is nice but the aftertaste when you eat lots of it is terrible. It's good that Undertale is relatively short because it was really dragging even by the middle.
Some of the humor was really annoying, too. And that's a very bad thing when nearly all of the dialogue is jokes instead of actually progressing the plot...
With all these problems I even got mad at one point because I didn't feel that the game deserved to make fun of an actual masterpiece like FF6.

The little story that the game had to tell did nothing for me and even the music is overrated. What do people like so much about this game? :/

[Dart]

I thought it was a fun little game, there was a charm to me in (most) characters and tracks that has become sorely lacking to me in most AAA games. I totally agree that the game itself gets pretty irritating with it's overly repetitive humor and poor pacing issues though, I did 2 1/2 playthroughs of the game (which isn't but about 10-12 hours if I recall) and often found myself skipping any old dialogues I encountered and sorely wanting a run button.

As to the critical claim of Undertale I think it's not particularly different to the phenomena that came from other online indie titles like The Stanley Parable or the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise where the internet fandom of teens and preteens saw their favorite youtuber play the game and then got over hyped and indulgent to the point of frenzy.

[Adsolution]

So I guess I finished Undertale. My niece comes by once in a while to play games together, and since she liked Undertale a lot she wanted me to experience it too.

It wasn't a bad game, but it's very "noisy" both in dialogue, sound/music, difficulty... and pacing. By that I mean that it's like eating lots of sugary food all at once: the game doesn't really try to evoke any other atmosphere or emotions than "funny" or "scary" until you reach the ending. It's all very tiring, making you wish for some downtime but the most you can get is one or two screens of it. Sugar is nice but the aftertaste when you eat lots of it is terrible. It's good that Undertale is relatively short because it was really dragging even by the middle.
Some of the humor was really annoying, too. And that's a very bad thing when nearly all of the dialogue is jokes instead of actually progressing the plot...
With all these problems I even got mad at one point because I didn't feel that the game deserved to make fun of an actual masterpiece like FF6.

The little story that the game had to tell did nothing for me and even the music is overrated. What do people like so much about this game? :/

I agree with you on everything, but to a significantly lesser degree. I really did like the game - though, while I have played a few RPGs, I'm not a connoisseur like you are (that wasn't sarcasm. I admire your unbelievable dedication to the genre).

The reason people like this game so much is because, not only do the drastically stripped-down RPG elements appeal to more casual players, its message, commentary, and the way its presented, though simple and arguably trivial, are very relevant to the here-and-now for a lot of people. I think it's certainly more relatable (at least at face value) than an epic saga like Final Fantasy, especially given the way it portrays its enemies and its approach to violence, which is why it elicits such an emotional reaction from a lot of people. Though it's not something I haven't seen done before, I can easily see why people love the game to death, and I think it's an absolutely excellent game for kids to play for a number of reasons. Though I don't necessarily fit into the Tumblrtale fandom, I empathise very strongly with them in general and their love for daydreaming about the kind of world the game creates for them.

My biggest issue with the game is the fucking atrocious mess that is the volcano world (which I don't have anything against in concept, but is extremely out of place and destroys the pacing somewhat) and the almost total lack of exploration. Every time I entered a new world I got excited to explore this very well-presented environment, only to be disappointed after being funneled through 4-5 rooms and out the other side... into the next world.

Regarding the soundtrack, I think it's undeniable that tracks like this (one of my favourite in the game) are pretty excellent. I find that the ambient world tracks (especially this one) are inspired by a variety of some of the best RPGs/adventures around, while still remaining pretty consistent, especially with its pretty clever usage of recurring themes (something very common obviously, but almost universally indicative of a high level of care). That being said, I actually hate Megalovania, the track everyone adores that plays when you fight Sans on the genocide route. It has a hummable motif, but it's a really, really generic one we've heard in literally hundreds of things before, and it's one I was never particularly fond of to begin with.

It's not perfect, nor is it one of my favourite games of all time. However, I think you'd have to be willfully oblivious (bordering on pretentious) to not understand why people like it so much.

[Adsolution]

Some stuff I've played/am playing (half of it is Half-Life gushing):


Half-Life (completed)

I won't repeat what I said before already, but it was a great experience. The final boss on Hard is total bullshit, but I love bullshit, so I had a great time and was unbelievably satisfied after I won (it took like two hours).


Half-Life: Opposing Force

What an absolutely fantastic experience. This expansion is certainly more action-oriented than the original game was, and it feels significantly more ahead of its time. The combat and level design in this game, despite being made in 1999, are stuff you could've easily seen coming out of the mid-2000's. The graphics are mindblowing too, and boy are the weapons outstanding. It isn't as memorable as the first game and the final boss was definitely worse, and it is quite short, but over-all, I think it provides a more consistently excellent, juicy experience. If it weren't for the fact it was only an expansion and therefore suffered from being a little short and not having as developed a story, this would be a 10. It's like an... approaching 10.


Half-Life: Blue Shift

Wow, this one was kinda horribly mediocre. There were about one or two neat puzzles and some of the best interior lighting the series had to offer yet, but it's basically a bizarrely short, frustratingly bad version of the original game. The worst part of it for me was the combat: there were some pretty elaborate setpieces, but holy shit are the enemy placements bad. Like with the previous two games, I was playing on hard mode, and I can't count the sheer number of times I finally managed to take out a room of marines and then try and hide behind a train car or something to quicksave, only to have ten vortigaunts spawn around me in a circle and take me out with one hit right before I'm able to (and thank god I didn't, really). This was a recurring theme, and man was it frustrating. On a positive note though, I really appreciated how they expanded upon what life is like at the Black Mesa facility, with virtually every single NPC doing their own thing, having their own little personality. It made me legitimately care for them, and it made me sad when I saw them die. It reminded me of the police in the original Die-Hard: though a lot of them were killed off and they weren't even given that much focus, through very subtle means (facial expressions, brief dialogue and body language), you immediately establish a connection with them and want to see them succeed.


Black Mesa

I can't describe how outstanding this remake is, it's actually retarded. Graphically it's easily the best thing I've ever seen come out of the Source engine. Design-wise, it does feel just slightly different from the original, but that's mostly due to the fact that you can't really replicate the exact feel of a game from like 20 years ago when you improve the graphics past a certain point. It does what Blue Shift did for world-building, but 20x more. The added character interactions and all the extra rooms are all completely in the style of the original, but better. The gameplay - the combat especially - is so much more solid and refined (I really like that you can pick stuff up now), and the additional music is brilliant. Seeing scientists falling, getting electrocuted and crushed, now re-staged with years of technical improvement, went from a semi-goofy gore-fest to something legitimately terrifying.

I also love that they created dedicated Kleiner and Eli characters, which definitely helps to tie the lore together. Unfortunately, their voice actors really do sound like bootlegs (kind of unavoidable when they have such recognisable, iconic voices), which is annoying since I'm pretty sure they could've easily gotten a hold of the original actors given how high-profile this remake is. Maybe they tried to do that and weren't able to for some reason, or maybe they just had too much pride.

I'm about half way through the game, and I'll report back again later.


Half-Life 2: Cinematic Mod

I used to like this thing a lot, but after having just replayed a bit of it, I really don't anymore. Some of the additions were neat and FakeFactory clearly put a ridiculous amount of time and effort into it, but the entire thing is just so mislead and somewhat uncanny on an aesthetic level; a lot of the things it tries to do are the exact opposite of much what made Half-Life 2 so iconic in the first place, and yet it's still technically Half-Life 2, kind of. A lot of the re-worked environments are legitimately beautiful on their own merit, but it just feels like a mess. As much as I tried, I really did not have fun playing it. It felt like something was constantly in the way, inhibiting the raw fun of the game. It felt incredibly fake. It's akin to walking outside and not being able to hold your head up straight with desaturated vision, and suddenly Batman music starts playing, and there's dickbutt graffiti on your forehead. Hangover simulator, maybe?

For note, I haven't bothered to go into detail on the character models and shit, since they're all optional, and I think the 9730 Alyx models kind of have it speaking for itself.

I got part-way through the second chapter and decided to call it quits, and instead tried out:


Half-Life 2: Update

This is the definitive way to play Half-Life 2. Whereas cinematic mod really tore apart Valve's carefully-sculpted world and replaced it with something infinitely less coherent, the guys who made this mod understood HL2 to its core. I initially thought Half-Life 2 was a beautiful-looking game, but couldn't help but notice it did look a little shoddy, graphically, compared to every installment and Source game after it, and this mod essentially enhances it on a technical level to look even better than Episode 2. The added environmental details here and there (primarily in the backgrounds) are all 100% in the style of the original and only make the game look that much more immersive and beautiful.

Here are some screenshots I took that show off the enhanced lighting, HDR and stuff:









One funny thing about this game is that I've never actually beaten it, and I've never played Episode 1 or 2. I've gotten to Nova Prospekt twice years back (once in 2007 and again in 2009 or 2010) and both times stopped playing for some reason. I'm at Nova Prospekt again right now, and will be playing again more tomorrow (with Keane, Rayfist and nr0r watching).

Also, weird thing to mention given the current state of affairs, but I'm actually weirdly impressed with how the game portrays its female characters, which I didn't take note of until just recently. Ideally, it's not something I should have to take note of, but I do think it's genuinely uncommon to see them show up right alongside the men without makeup or anything, contributing to the resistance. I'm not saying there aren't realistic female characters in games, but seeing them portrayed like this so casually and with little to no objection from anyone is a rare thing indeed.

On that note actually, I think it's funny how feminists like Brianna Wu and Dina Abou Karam have somehow managed to create some of the blandest, most offensively basic female characters in recent memory.


Crash Bandicoot

This game is pretty solid, and an impressive first take on 3D platforming. A lot of it is really fun and quite challenging. My problems with it are pretty much the same as anyone's: it had far too many crate bridges given how slippery the mechanics are, and 100%'ing levels is incredibly tedious and unfair at times. The design and difficulty are also all over the map, with a totally inconsistent use of environments, with the difficulty of any given level able to be assessed by which environment it takes place in. One of the hardest levels in the game is like the 9th level, and the final island alternates between having difficult and incredibly easy levels. It felt like they just sort of threw a bunch of concepts together and made it up as they went along, but still came out with a surprisingly fun and memorable end product.

Strange how a lot of games still chose to use MIDI for some reason, even though they literally didn't have to.


Crash 2

A huge improvement in every way. There's a very noticeable, meticulously-crafted difficulty curve (as opposed to the totally inconsistent difficulty of the first game), and Crash feels way better to control. The cutscenes and voice acting are all phenomenal too.

The only problems I have with it are that I don't find the environments themselves quite as memorable as those in the first game (I loved the underground temples), and that the physics are still a little bit strange at times. Literally 3/4 of my deaths are caused by a very obvious oversight in the mechanics where, if you build up velocity in-air and let go, you stop instantly (good), but if you then press the opposite direction in-air, rather than accelerating from zero, it restores your previous velocity and forces you to decelerate in said direction before you actually start moving in the other. It's incredibly annoying, arguably even moreso than Crash 1's slipperiness.


Conker's Bad Fur Day

technology4617 and Rayfist got this for me as a Christmas gift (yeeeaaaaaaah!), and yeah, it's great. I've never seen a game openly embrace British-style obscene humour so lovingly, and it's freaking hilarious. I'm closing in on the end of the game, and this half is where the game really shines - from Uga Buga onward, it's pretty close to perfect (more on Uga Buga later, actually). Spooky and It's War are beyond outstanding: They seamlessly combine a number of genres together without ever feeling contrived or slipping up even once. Every single new mechanic or gimmick that's introduced is executed flawlessly, and they're both the funnest and funniest levels in the entire game so far.

The first few levels, while being good, I think suffer a bit from a lack of direction, particularly Bats Tower. Their environments I didn't find all that memorable (aside from the poo tower/cave specifically), and the boss fights weren't very remarkable, especially the boiler and the brief segment leading up to it, which I thought was surprisingly shitty. As funny and memorable as the Great Mighty Poo is, it's basically a cutscene, and the actual fighting part is boring and mindlessly easy.

- Uga Buga, being in the latter half, I thought was one of the outstanding levels. There was one part of it though that I couldn't glance over: the nightclub. When I first walked in, my mind was blown to shreds by the music and graphical effects. I'd never seen anything like that on the N64 before, it was incredible. However - and this is something probably rather subjective - the puzzle in this room was too cryptic (at least it was for me), and even once you figure it out, it's obnoxiously fucking annoying to execute. The timing and precision required is absolutely retarded (aiming the piss stream so that he's hit at the right angle, and with the right amount of range, to roll into the holes), and every time you screw up is a massive, agonising test of patience (losing health and spending like 30 seconds drunk-walking to the sober station, and then having to go over to the drunk station, watch the getting-drunk cutscene, and then waddle slowly back into position and try again, only to fuck up like 10 more times.

The game is really, really great though. To me, it's a very satisfying 9/10. I don't think it's perfect over all, but there are significant portions of it that pretty much are.


Jak and Daxter

I actually played through these like 8 months ago, but never posted my thoughts for some reason:

Awesome, awesome game. The environments and music are all wonderful, and the character animations, especially on the faces, were extremely impressive. Funny story actually: Because the memory card I was using was funky, I ended up having to replay the entire first half of the game three times in a row. The first time I got to the lost precursor city (after 2-3 play sessions), my save file got corrupted. The second time I spent a few hours getting to that part in one setting, beating the city, and then shut it off, only to find out that it never even created a save file. So on my third playthrough, I finally got through there and beat the game.

Interestingly, I think my favourite level is actually the Precursor Basin. The driving mechanics are really fun, I loved the environment, and the challenges are all addictive.


Jak II

Okay, I've got to say, they completely botched the first game's cliff-hanger. Pretending the first game didn't exist for a second though, this one has an awesome introduction. Hearing Jak talk for the first time and escaping the jail was, well, really hype. The entire game is super stylish, and every single character is memorable. The story was thrilling too - the build-up to fighting Praxis was genuinely epic and satisfying (I wanted to kick the shit out of his asshole) and the plot twists were interesting. The gunplay felt solid and the platforming was arguably even more fun than in the first game. The only real problem with it is that some of the missions could be very frustrating at times, even though usually ended up enjoying the challenge in the end.


Jak 3

I'm a little split on this one. On one hand the mechanics feel a lot more refined than Jak II's and the settings offer a lot more variety, but on the other hand, it feels really drawn-out without a lot of direction. The first couple hours are great as you're being introduced to everything, but after that it starts to feel like people are just telling you to go do random things in the desert without much purpose. Jak trying to regain his Haven City citizenship isn't exactly as enthralling a concept as bringing down the sly, deceptive, corrupt leader of a government who injected you with dark eco, unknowingly drawing power from an ancient precursor force. I haven't beaten the game yet though, so I'll se what the rest of it is like.


Silent Hill

I also played this like a year ago but never talked about it. It's probably the best horror game I've ever played (if you can even call it that). It's probably the best example I can think of a game that utilised the PS1's hardware limitations to its advantage. The low resolution gave this sort of faux effect of nonclarity, the integer geometry jitter gave it a bizarre sort of dreamy vibe (as if reality could crumble at any moment), the low-quality sound effects were looped to create a totally unique, almost horrifying atmosphere (the boiler room), the low view distance fog was used in context correctly, and the tank controls made you feel vulnerable.

The puzzles/riddles are very smart and challenging, but never overly-cryptic. I never found myself getting stuck for too long, and always felt both satisfied and impressed when I solved one. The combat is also very balanced, challenging and rarely annoying, and the weapons all serve their individual uses, with the rifle being a very controversial choice: on one hand you could use it on this enemy in front of you and get away unharmed, but on the other hand, you don't know if you'll ever find another ammo pack for it (literally), and it might come in handy later. You never really need to use it, but it's there for you to always question whether you made the right decision or not.



I know a lot of these sounded really positive, but, I mean, if you're going back to experience the classics, there's a reason they're classics.

[Droolie]

The reason people like this game so much is because, not only do the drastically stripped-down RPG elements appeal to more casual players, its message, commentary, and the way its presented, though simple and arguably trivial, are very relevant to the here-and-now for a lot of people. I think it's certainly more relatable (at least at face value) than an epic saga like Final Fantasy, especially given the way it portrays its enemies and its approach to violence, which is why it elicits such an emotional reaction from a lot of people. Though it's not something I haven't seen done before, I can easily see why people love the game to death, and I think it's an absolutely excellent game for kids to play for a number of reasons. Though I don't necessarily fit into the Tumblrtale fandom, I empathise very strongly with them in general and their love for daydreaming about the kind of world the game creates for them.

My biggest issue with the game is the fucking atrocious mess that is the volcano world (which I don't have anything against in concept, but is extremely out of place and destroys the pacing somewhat) and the almost total lack of exploration. Every time I entered a new world I got excited to explore this very well-presented environment, only to be disappointed after being funneled through 4-5 rooms and out the other side... into the next world.

Regarding the soundtrack, I think it's undeniable that tracks like this (one of my favourite in the game) are pretty excellent. I find that the ambient world tracks (especially this one) are inspired by a variety of some of the best RPGs/adventures around, while still remaining pretty consistent, especially with its pretty clever usage of recurring themes (something very common obviously, but almost universally indicative of a high level of care). That being said, I actually hate Megalovania, the track everyone adores that plays when you fight Sans on the genocide route. It has a hummable motif, but it's a really, really generic one we've heard in literally hundreds of things before, and it's one I was never particularly fond of to begin with.

It's not perfect, nor is it one of my favourite games of all time. However, I think you'd have to be willfully oblivious (bordering on pretentious) to not understand why people like it so much.

I do understand why people like it - I don't find it too bad myself. I just don't understand why the fandom is so huge compared to other games that are just as good or better. I agree that it's probably a fun adventure for kids, especially because of its message and its length, but is its popularity solely based on that? I mean, Megalovania has >25 MILLION views on YouTube. Somehow, it has more views than any other RPG song I could think of. Hell, even more than Dragonborn (though that seems to have just a little more likes?), which was everywhere when Skyrim was released. And Megalovania isn't even a very good song. How is that even possible? And you see those skeletons everywhere, even today. Is that the effect of being a fun game for kids? Dart's explanation sounds about right: a ridiculous amount of hype from watching YouTubers play the game, similar to the Five Nights at Freddy's fandom.

Also, Spider Dance was the one track that sometimes got stuck in my head even without having played Undertale before, and surely it will keep doing so, but now that I've played it, redoing that boss (and many others) over and over again made me not like it as much anymore.
I also did like the Waterfall region (song was good enough, won't get stuck in my head though) as that was the one that provided the most downtime from the "funny" atmosphere. There were some pretty cool parts in it that I really liked, like the use of shadows or the umbrella part. I guess the lava world was the other extreme and the other areas didn't really do much for me.

Conker's Bad Fur Day

Man, I liked that game a lot while I was playing it, but the last two chapters and the rather violent humor sometimes really weren't for me. I played the Xbox remake of it and it really is a beautiful and well-made version of that game (besides some extra censoring), but I think the extra detail just made it even more disgusting sometimes...

[Reese Riverson]

Currently I've been playing Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Prior to that, it was Dragonball Xenoverse 2.

[buildersith]

Got my Switch on Monday, got Zelda and Blaster Master 0 with it, also bought the new Shovel Knight DLC and fast RMX yesterday, mostly stuck to Zelda though, its really fun, I'm loving it. At my second main dungeon currently.

[Harpic fraîcheur]

I have bought For Honor and I'll give it a try tomorrow! I heard the game is pretty good, I wish I will like it.

[Ambidextroid]

Silent Hill

I also played this like a year ago but never talked about it. It's probably the best horror game I've ever played (if you can even call it that). It's probably the best example I can think of a game that utilised the PS1's hardware limitations to its advantage. The low resolution gave this sort of faux effect of nonclarity, the integer geometry jitter gave it a bizarre sort of dreamy vibe (as if reality could crumble at any moment), the low-quality sound effects were looped to create a totally unique, almost horrifying atmosphere (the boiler room), the low view distance fog was used in context correctly, and the tank controls made you feel vulnerable.

The puzzles/riddles are very smart and challenging, but never overly-cryptic. I never found myself getting stuck for too long, and always felt both satisfied and impressed when I solved one. The combat is also very balanced, challenging and rarely annoying, and the weapons all serve their individual uses, with the rifle being a very controversial choice: on one hand you could use it on this enemy in front of you and get away unharmed, but on the other hand, you don't know if you'll ever find another ammo pack for it (literally), and it might come in handy later. You never really need to use it, but it's there for you to always question whether you made the right decision or not.

Hmm, this has been sitting on my PSP for a while now and I haven't gotten around to playing it but after reading this I think I'll give it a go. I'm not sure if playing it on a portable will enhance the experience or make it worse, but at least this way I can play it in the dark late at night.

Been playing some World of Tanks which I pretty much forgot about until recently, I'm still not that good but it's just as fun as I remember

[Dart]

I recently bought Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, and while I don't really feel like saying too much until I've finished it, I will say I've been loving the hell out of it so far!

Some stuff I've played/am playing (half of it is Half-Life gushing):

Jak and Daxter

Jak II

Jak 3

These and the Half Life DLC were a blast to be apart of, I just wish I wasn't working the next mornings you and Keane usually stream so I could be apart of them more frequently

[Rayfist]

Don't know if I wrote this anywhere before, but I finally got around to continuing Yakuza Zero, I'm pretty damn close to finishing the story and I've finished nearly all the side quests so I may as well write up my small impressions.

If you have a PS4, seriously get this game. It never ceases to amaze me how much love and passion the people have for their country in these games. I of course, have not lived in Japan, but I understand why the series is such a big deal. Unlike most Japanese IP's which seem to be very cartoony, Yakuza sets out to create something more reflective of Japanese life style, it truly does feel like you're playing the real deal, which makes the game all the more intense. I don't want to spoil any of the story- but it's fucking good. It details a lot about the criminal underworld in Japan and creates a type of really dramatic story involving clans competing for the typical money, power, etc. This game specifically focuses on a piece of empty land that many of the clans are fighting over, with the protagonist being falsely accused of a murder that took place on that same piece of land that many of the Yakuza are waging war to obtain. It also focuses on another protagonist that has been a huge part of the series (sort of playing the role as anti-hero?) and how he sort of became a bat shit crazy dude.

The gameplay feels incredibly varied, it's sort of a brawler mixed with open world mixed with RPG. Rather than being a mess, the gameplay styles all blend beautifully. The only really small critique I've had for majority of the games is I always felt like combat sort of got on the repetitive side with hardly different combos, but Zero does a far better job at making this less of an issue by introducing three fighting styles. I see many comparisons to GTA, but I honestly do not believe it is comparable to GTA at all. I believe the reason why people make this comparison is due to the fact that Yakuza sets out for heavy realism (especially in the upcoming sixth title) and has a lot of random open world fuckery stuff to waste your time on (minigames.) However despite those, Yakuza is a vastly different game in how it handles those compared to GTA.

I guess perhaps what I enjoy about Zero so much (and the whole franchise) is I feel like I'm learning about a new cultural experience. The games are totally worth trying out if you want to be entertained but also slightly enlightened in that way (of course that isn't to say its 100% accurate, there's some crazy shit there a lot of the time.) It was very daunting to me at first, I knew what the 'Yakuza' were, but I had no idea of the particular ranks and how they go about things. Yakuza Zero is a prequel, so it does a great job at slowly easing you into the characters and universe, and you won't need to worry about having not played the past titles to fully enjoy this one, aside from few references here and there. Definitely a must buy for all PS4 owners.

[Haruka]

@Drolpiraat I liked Undertale but I also think the fandom makes it elevate to a masterpiece state that I do think it is overrated. I do not think in replaying it anytime soon or in middle term anyway so I don't know how there are people who already played it more than once in such a short space of time. I think there are better things to play, in my opinion.

[incognito]

Stalker, Shadow of Chernobyl, after fallout, Metro 2033, Metro Last Light, RAGE, I had to come to it, and I have done so, the gameplay's a little harsh, but you get used to it, it seems to be a mix of Rage, Fallout and Sacred for the character management and the inventory, you can't Rambo at this level, at the opposite of RAGE, you always have to move carefully, watch your environment, and stay alert, blindly running will most likely cause you to die shredded by radiations or by the the bullet of an unexpected bandit, you have to manage hunger, blood level, fatigue, wounds, it's all very realistic, still less than Fallout or Operation Flashpoint though, I would've liked a game as realistic but I don't think I would've had the patience to beat it with such nasty survival mechanics, it doesn't seems possible.
I still recognize some of Metro's elements, and I really like the open world, which is a feature I've missed in the Metro serie, although I still don't like it as much as I liked Metro, I've shared a lot more characteristics with Artyom, the protagonist of the serie, which gave me the envy to drive him all across that hostile universe, albeit being amnesic I'm not really fond of Stalker's hero, probably because he is unmasked

[Master]

Some stuff I've played/am playing (half of it is Half-Life gushing):

Jak and Daxter

Jak II

Jak 3

Ahh, the Jak and Daxter series, it's been a year or so since I've last played them. I'm half tempted to try and emulate those, but given how my laptop struggled with the likes of Twinsanity, I wonder if it'd be able to emulate those successfully.

Now that Crash's back, Jak 4 plox?

[PluMGMK]

For God's sake inco, "serie" isn't a word!

[Adsolution]

And even if it were, it would be spelled "sery" or something.

I'm half tempted to try and emulate those, but given how my laptop struggled with the likes of Twinsanity, I wonder if it'd be able to emulate those successfully.

The game has a number of graphical issues when emulated, such as one of Jak's eyes not rendering properly (which might have something to do with mirrored normals), and I think the shadows are weird. It runs fine otherwise though, I think.

[Dart]

Now that Crash's back, Jak 4 plox?[/size]

That most likely wont ever happen with Naughty Dog at the helm. And also I'm more in favor of pressuring Sanzaru Games into making that damn 5th Sly Cooper game!

[Keane]

Hey I wanna talk about my video games too! I hope you like gushing because we got, got some really good ones of that here come check it out.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
I've only gotten through about 20% of the game so far (It's admittedly on pause till I finish Breath of the Wild) but I love the direction this game took the series, it differentiates itself surprisingly well from Ocarina and completely lived up to it without repeating a formula. I love how the game handles its "darker" approach, a lot of it feels very subtle and the game doesn't acknowledge what it's doing, instead letting you draw your own conclusion that something feels off about the atmosphere. I'm genuinely interested to learn what/where Termina is, why all the people from Ocarina inhabit it (though maybe that was just time constraints), or who the Happy Masks Salesman is, which is a refreshing change from the more standard "hero comes again to fight Ganon and there's a princess" plot.

Clock Town is a great area and looks gorgeous, getting to explore and familiarise yourself with all the streets and shops is a very unconventional but welcome change from trying to immediately introduce the player to the things they're going to face outside of the town. I especially liked the whole segment with the creepy tunnel leading to the big staircase that ascends into the observatory, and then spotting the Skull Kid and moon's tear. That whole part had almost sort of a dreamlike tone to it and felt extremely memorable for being a relatively short segment without any major occurrences.

And just like Ocarina it's a really exciting moment to finally get access to the big overworld and get to battle enemies, find caves, etc. It feels like a moment where the title of a movie would show on the screen after an introduction scene, even though the introduction already leaves so many impressions. One nitpick I do have is the high number of enemies at night and the constant battle music is kind of distracting from the atmosphere, and I also feel like keeping track of and needing specific times/days to complete all the Clock Town sidequests might end up pretty tedious for some of them.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
There's not a lot I can add about this game that's not already been mentioned, but I'm extremely impressed by it. Mostly by just the nature of it, everything feels carefully designed to always be rewarding for exploration and have something useful or interesting everywhere. There's been a couple times where I'm off exploring somewhere and then spot something in the distance, zoom in on it, and there's just this giant thing I've never seen before and there's nothing restricting me from checking it out. I also love when you're down in some hills covering kind of generic territory, but then you get up on a higher ledge and suddenly spot a whole new place you couldn't see before. There's not a lot I can talk about without spoilers, but holy facking balls does this game succeed at being tense or atmospheric when it needs to.

The only nitpickerino I have with it is some of the voice acting is a little...average. Not as bad as some people are making it out to be, but some of them definitely lack emotion in their line delivery. Particularly one of them came across really flat, and the dialogue was borderline cringeworthy. [ The flashback scene with Mipha. ] Luckily that was just one minor downturn though, I've generally found the dialogue really enjoyable and it's one of the like one games where I actually like having long cutscenes.

Minecraft
I poured like a billion hours into this game back in 2012 and can't really stand it anymore, but a couple weeks back a friend and I revisited it and I do actually appreciate some of the things it did and the ambition behind the concept. Being dropped at a random spot with no objective and barely a hint on how to do anything is something I've never seen another game attempt. Minecraft is entirely learned through playing the game rather than through tutorial, and you mostly figure out what to do by simply getting the idea to try it out. Having not touched the game for a while, I really like that they're still making new content updates that get even experienced players to continue having to think in that mindset. It's a very unconventional game (when it came out, at least) that rewards experimenting and any progress you make feels like something you personally achieved, and I think a lot of that plays into why it became so successful.

I also love the soundtrack, it holds a similar understated tone as Breath of the Wild and makes single-player feel like a very lonely, peaceful experience. A sad little piano tune coming in as the sun goes down or as you're traveling down an infinitely stretching region is such a nice touch to the game.

Things I like less about the game includes that once you do learn what it's scope and limitations are it loses some of its magic, and explorations feels like a slightly unrewarded element. There's a ton of pretty environments to see, stuff to collect, etc, but there's not really anything unexpected to come across or something unique to find. No matter if you travel for hours, you're still going to be seeing and doing the same things in that new location, and once you've build up enough wealth in resources there's not much need to keep hunting for more. Combat also isn't very fun, and often comes down to just mashing a button - the only enemies I really like fighting are Endermen and the newly added skeleton horses. Building a giant castle you're really proud of is great, but without anyone to share it with the single-player game pales in comparison to multiplayer. Overall great game though, it really should be talked about more in this fashion rather than dismissed as like a kid's e-Lego's, something it clearly wasn't developed as.

Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
I loved this game back when it came out and hailed it as one of my favourite DS games but, replaying it was kind of boring? A lot of the gameplay feels pretty lackluster here, the puzzles aren't that much fun and some of them even get recycled. I also didn't find battling to be that great even if the dodging is a fun mechanic, most enemies are easily taken out by applying the right item and you're rarely short on anything. It's not as engaging as a game like Paper Mario TTYD where you always have to think about your FP, save items for the right fights, consider if your HP'll make it through a segment, etc, but in Partners in Time I never felt like a game over or shortage of powerful items would even be close to happening. Navigating Peach's Castle is also really annoying, and the overalls feature isn't as fun as Paper Mario's badges.

I did like a lot of the environments though, each world is pretty distinct and usually has a major change in appearance and music halfway through to keep it fresh. The enemy designs are all creative and the shroobs are funny, original villains. But overall Bowser's Inside Story is the much better game of the two.

Also, weird thing to mention given the current state of affairs, but I'm actually weirdly impressed with how the game portrays its female characters, which I didn't take note of until just recently. Ideally, it's not something I should have to take note of, but I do think it's genuinely uncommon to see them show up right alongside the men without makeup or anything, contributing to the resistance. I'm not saying there aren't realistic female characters in games, but seeing them portrayed like this so casually and with little to no objection from anyone is a rare thing indeed.

I think the first game did it better.

It's akin to walking outside and not being able to hold your head up straight with desaturated vision, and suddenly Batman music starts playing, and there's dickbutt graffiti on your forehead [..] I think the 9730 Alyx models kind of have it speaking for itself.

How the fuck do you play through Half-Life 2, like it enough to bother reworking the entire game but then completely misunderstand everything that makes it good? The guy behind it is in like his 40s too, which makes the edgy graffiti and prostitute alyx even worse.

[Master]

Now that Crash's back, Jak 4 plox?

That most likely wont ever happen with Naughty Dog at the helm. And also I'm more in favor of pressuring Sanzaru Games into making that damn 5th Sly Cooper game!

I know, and sadly, it doesn't seem like there's a Vicarious Visions for Jak who could be passed the torch to.