What are you playing? (2022 Edition)

[henke]

Haven't played or looked at Death Stranding, but I'm under the impression that it too suffers from certain non-subtle symptoms many console games have.

Qooper, I dunno if you know this or not, but every single game you mentioned in your post is a console game. It's not the 90s any more. PC and console games are the SAME GAMES.

[Qooper]

Qooper, I dunno if you know this or not, but every single game you mentioned in your post is a console game. It's not the 90s any more. PC and console games are the SAME GAMES.

Sure, that's not what I meant. By console game I meant a game that's designed around the constraints of a console, or designed to fit into that culture. There's a reason why 3rd person camera or cover systems are favored in games designed for the console.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by them being the same games, but if by that you mean that PC game culture has been dragged closer to console game culture, then I agree yes.

If you mean it in the technical sense, then I mostly agree, although the input systems usually require design and polish for both separately. So as long as a game's design is constrained by these considerations, and perhaps many others console games usually fall under, it will feel and play like a console game no matter the platform you're actually playing it on.

EDIT: I was a bit unclear with my reasoning. What I simply meant was that yes, all those games are console games, but not all of them suffer from the symptoms I described.

[demagogue]

Haven't played or looked at Death Stranding, but I'm under the impression that it too suffers from certain non-subtle symptoms many console games have. Can you describe what in particular about its presentation you didn't like?

Because it's completely bonkers ridiculous! Pick literally any cutscene or storytelling part of the game, and you get the idea within 20 seconds. (Representative cutscene.) It's the least subtle game you could think of, so I shouldn't have listed it.

But still, like I was saying, when the story leaves you alone, you're just hiking through vast stretches of rugged countryside and figuring out how to get around obstacles and dealing with the nature and the threats. That part is really nice. I like it just playing it for those parts.

[Qooper]

Because it's completely bonkers ridiculous! Pick literally any cutscene or storytelling part of the game, and you get the idea within 20 seconds. (Representative cutscene.) It's the least subtle game you could think of, so I shouldn't have listed it.

Yeah ok that's exactly what I thought the game would be Over the top writing, silly constumes, exposition that underlines the double-underlining with underlined underlining line. Not everything has to be plastic Marvel crap.

I have these prejudices against most games I have only seen the marketing material of, and I know that's not the best way to judge what's actually good, but so far my prejudices have proven 99% right.

[Sulphur]

It's not the most subtle thing ever (cyberpunk rarely is), but you might want to give Citizen Sleeper a look if you're still searching for something along the lines of what you outlined.

I'd also say Pentiment and Disco Elysium offer varying amounts of the things you mentioned, and there's great adventure games (sans action though) like Norco and Return of the Obra Dinn and Kentucky Route Zero once you're done with Obduction.

[Tomi]

I've been playing the Blood and Wine DLC for Witcher 3. I gotta say that Toussaint is a very pretty place, and I'm glad that I left this DLC for the last, as it has actually got something new to offer. Not just on the visual side either, the quests also seem to have a little bit more variety in them. The gorgeous fairytale-like visuals kind of lose their effect though when it's splattered all over the place, but it's still a welcome change of scenery after the main game. Still, I can't wait for this game to be over, so that I can move onto something new at last. Has anyone played the new quests yet that came with the next gen update?

[PigLick]

I'm replaying it right now but have yet to come across any of the new quests. I think they are involving a questline that nets you new gear from the series?

[Tomi]

The year has already changed here, so I guess it's time to wrap up this thread and start a new one? I'll let someone else do the honours for 2023!

This is the post number 533 in this thread, so we didn't quite reach the heights of 2020 with its 837 posts. Still, this year we managed to beat the 2021 thread (447 posts) quite comfortably, and the quality of the posts was exceptionally good too! Hopefully 2023 will also be a good gaming year for us all. Happy new year!

[Daljord]

Playing Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hours, Subnautica and Elden Ring

[Tomi]

Nice to know, but you're not allowed to play any games in 2023 until someone starts a new WAYP thread.

[Thirith]

I've just started a new WAYP thread.