Patient Gamers

Heia all! Do you have some recommendations on any strategy roguelites where you get bonuses that you keep between games?

I used to be a PC-only gamer but the older I get the more I gravitate toward very 'simple' platforms.

Because my gaming time slots can be unpredictable and sometimes short I can't take too much time setting things up.

I was surprised to find that I use the Nintendo Switch a lot because the games are on cartridges (usually few to no downloading needed) and I can continue playing the game when I am away from home. Really surprising, considering I bought it out of curiosity in 2017 and that it is in some ways underpowered compared to my other devices- I never had a Nintendo 'home' console before that.

I thought of adding the PS4 to this mention however recently I've been avoiding playing it due to the constant updates. The worst example was when my SO bought me Red Dead Redemption 2. I sat down, excited to play it, when suddenly it pormpted me to download a HUGE update . It really kind of ruined my first session.

What are your experiences and your preferred devices?

So, I'm a big JPRG fan and just playing through Mother 3. I love Mother 2 (aka Earthbound) as well. I love the music, quirkiness, style, pacing, simple yet rewarding tactics in boss battles.

So, I would appreciate any game recommendations you have for a similar game or game series.

If it helps, my other favorite JRPGs are: Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6, 9, and 10.

Hello everyone,

Just have been in an Italian/Renaissance mood lately, and thought it would be nice to give a shot (I never really played the series).

How good is it by today standards? I know that the late episodes of the series have been criticized for being quite repetitive and just filled with low-value artefact gathering, is it the case for this one to?

I've been trying to finish this write-up for a while now but due to the combination of limited time and constantly changing thoughts about the game it was a rather difficult process. It should be good enough to communicate my feelings about D3 but get ready for a wall of text, lots of rambling and rough edges - sorry about that.

Post doesn't contain any spoilers.

Intro

Drakengard is a difficult series to write about. None of the entries is objectively good as actual game and yet they can provide a type of experience that's still rare to this day.

I finished replaying Drakengard 3 some time ago, years after I engaged with it in any form beyond listening to the OST. It has been long enough I managed to forget A LOT (pretty much all of routes B & C as well as some other parts of the game). To some extent this playthrough felt like I was going through this story for the first time and that was probably the best case scenario I could think of before doing it.

I decided to play the game on my Steam Deck - both to see how well it would run and because it was an a great way to put in a session right before sleep. The good news is, game runs surprisingly well. Outside a few specific situations game held pretty stable 30FPS and felt better than the OG experience. Another benefit came from the small screen as it helped mask some of the less impressive visuals - hell, I was surprised how pretty the game could look in motion at times.

One caveat however was the batter life - 2-2.5 hours depending on the load. It's understandable and worked out pretty well for me (again, I was doing these sessions right before sleep) but seeing such results is never particularly fun on a portable device.

Gameplay

Let's get the easy part out of the way - mediocre gameplay. It's neither revolutionary nor complete trash and works well enough for what it is. The biggest issue I had with it stems from the amount of worthless combat encounters used as pure padding.

I'm not sure how much of said padding and reuse of assets comes down to the budget or the studio itself but I feel like game would improve a lot just by making a proper balance pass to cut down on some of the tedium. It wouldn't be a masterpiece but it would make the grind less of an issue.

I initially wrote a paragraph about a limited enemy variety but after going over them again it's not actually that bad. The problem with that however lays with the fact that despite a decent number of enemy types, good chunk of them feels pretty similar during gameplay. It's kind of impressive.

If you heard about this game before you probably know about the final boss. It's infamous for being unfair and kind of disrespectful towards the player (it's an 8 minute sequence with disorienting camera, 1HP and no checkpoints) but I ended up loving it. Mostly anyway.

I appreciate the general concept of the fight as well as the gameplay change (it's pretty simple and fun if you know how to deal with purposefully confusing elements) - at the same time, I think the parts specifically intended to make you fail (especially at the very end of the fight) are bullshit and should never make it into the final product.

It could've been a special moment to wrap up the game but ended up feeling mean spirited towards everyone who dared to stick with it until the finale.

Story

Drakengard 3 turned out to be both worse and just as good as expected. While the main story is solid, most of it is dumped right at the end of the game with rest of the playtime focused on side branches that don't really do much beyond showing "well, this timeline is screwed in a new way, oh well". This is a pretty big issue with writing as over all, not much happens in this story compared to other titles.

There are some pretty neat nods and setups to other games - not important to this game's story but I found them to be interesting additions nonetheless.

The finale and some of the major moments can hit pretty hard is you're invested however that doesn't excuse the amount of inconsequential stuff happening along the way.

Another problem lays with humor - it's juvenile and rather one note. If you like or at least can tolerate it that's fine but this will be a big turn off to a lot of people. Even ones interested in Taro's other works. It's not all bad and there are some genuinely funny moments but these were a minority for me.

Characters

Main characters, Zero and her sisters, are interesting. They all start pretty archetypal but they do have their own stuff going on beyond this initial impression. Unfortunately, some of that info is locked behind DLC and outside media (which varies in quality apparently).

Additionally, there's the issue of localization. It's not terrible but it does change some of the characters in pretty significant ways - the most glaring example being Zero, our MC. Her JP persona is more mature and calm with a sense of guilt, EN version on the other hand feels more like an angry asshole (though she does have her moments).

I also really love Maaya Uchida as Zero - she did a great job with her role and might be one of my favorite performances in Taro-verse. EN voices in general didn't fully hit the mark for me to be honest. Some of that comes down to the script and some to VA direction - not great, not terrible, just like the rest of the game.

Side characters, the disciples, are pretty one note - mostly focused on a single trait, related to horny stuff. There is some character development along the way but most of it is relegated to later parts of the game and gets partially reset with each branch.

Mikhail, our dragon, can be hit or miss for people. I get why he is how he is and liked him from the beginning but I can see why others would be annoyed with him. He's a good baby.

Music

Not much to say about this, it's good. Good enough that I keep listening to it whenever my mind gets stuck thinking about the series.

Boss themes are fast and energetic, calm and somber songs carry their atmosphere perfectly and generic combat music is memorable enough I ended up humming alongside it during stages. Some of the songs could easily fit on Nier soundtrack (either game).

There's also an amazingly haunting version of an ending theme from the original game - now even better than before!

Summary

All in all I'm a bit on the fence about Drakengard 3. It has really strong concepts as well as fun and enjoyable moments. It also has a lot of problems with writing, gameplay and technical execution. It can be janky. It can be frustrating. It can be straight up embarrassing at times.

It can be a real gem if you're able to get over its issues. It can be an frustrating mess if you can't.

This game is trash and yet, for some reason, I still love it.

So I figured it's about time I gave this game a shot.

I'm familiar with the series, but never really loved it, have played all previous titles but most of my time is on F3 and FNV.

I think the reason why I didn't pick this up earlier was because I didn't feel like going further into the Fallout universe, it felt like Bethesda were milking the golden cow.

Of course I'm trying it now as I picked it up cheap and the TV series has come along, of which in almost at the end of. It very much feels like the TV show is Fallout 4 on TV, but then I've never played F76.

The game is nice, very familiar to what I remember of F3 and FNV, I wonder how open it is with the perks system, or will I have to put levels into gunplay at some point?

I'm trying to stick to the main quest to start with, I've helped out the Minutemen, and then made a b-line to Diamond City before setting off to find the private detective so still pretty early on. Dogmeat is a fine companion for the road.

Any tips or suggesting for a good start, and play through?

There is a patch landing at the end of the month, so I haven't experimented with any mods just yet.

So I finally got around to trying out Deliver Us Mars, having never played the predecessor but having a fair few friends rave about it (the previous game) being this rough but amazing gem.

With the successor... I made it to just after landing on Mars before I had to drop it. Ugh.

It's not a bad game, not at all. I found two really big positive things about it:

• The vistas on Mars are truly breathtaking with everything cranked up to max. They did phenomenal work here, it really feels like you're alone on this giant red planet that is utterly alien to you.
• The sequence before that, in zero gravity, was amazing in how it felt moving around in a cramped space. Especially in first-person view.

But throughout the entire 3 hours up to that point, the actual atmosphere struggled hard against the facial and character models. And since the game is talk-heavy in the early parts, the camera constantly shows faces. Which look incredibly bad. Really amazing, as if someone intentionally tried to do that.
And this would be alright - after all it's a small-budget game - but it contrasts really hard against the amazing scenery and space graphics.

It was this weird contrast that kept pulling me out of the story, ruining the immersion. Then came the first bigger climbing areas, and budget Lara Croft was okay, but ultimately the straw that broke the camel's back.

So, for me at least, set to "Abandoned" as completion state and uninstalled. A shame, there's a lot of really good pieces in here, they just never come together IMO.

For those of you who played it, what was your experience?

It has been a while since the last one. So...

Tell us what game you are currently, or recently played, greater than 6+ months old.

If the game happens to be on sale, a link would be a plus.

Other than a slew of Nintendo titles that maybe hopefully will come down in price (the patient gamers' bane), I have my eye on the next time Divinity: Original Sin 2 goes on sale. A friend who never plays anything other than WoW loved playing Larian's newest with me and I'm trying to get her to pick this up. Pretty sure she'd like it.

I was also watching Star Trek: Infinite's progress. I was quite interested in that one at launch but firmly decided to be patient. Naturally, it was discontinued last week. Oof.

Are there any games you're currently price watching? Or hoping for bug fixes/more content?

I played a fair bit of GTA Vice City back in the day round friends' houses, but never played all the way through. Mostly just ran people over, got as many stars as possible and died. Don't get me wrong... I had a blast... but recently thought I'd play through the whole thing.

The game itself holds up amazingly well I think! I am loving cruising around the city, collecting income from businesses, buying new businesses, swapping clothes, spraying cars... committing a lot of grand theft auto. I was pleasantly shocked at how compelling it is to play. I'm playing on my phone with a Razer Kishi too, so I can get my fix anywhere!

I'm not sure if this counts as a "patient gamer" because I played them to death years ago...but I've been playing both again recently and they're just perfect little games with a ton of replayability. They're not retro (FTL 2012, ITB 2018) but they're old enough to regularly go on sale which is great!

Highly recommended if you like roguelite strategy games.

If you have any similar games to suggest, please leave a comment. I'm sure there's tons of great strategy games I've missed over the years

So I finally started it.

It's a fine game.

I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

I'm old. I'm patient.

Please, please don't mention spoilers if possible. I love to crack nuts the old fashioned way. 🙂

What's the best game deal you ever got?

For me it was the original Subnautica. Was a free give away before it got popular and I had no expectations when I played it. Really enjoyed the exploration and the pacing.

Second was Axiom Verge - I got it for free before it became popular but I don't remember how. I bought it when it went to Steam because I wanted to support the creator.

Both are fun exploration sorts of games if you haven't played them. Axiom Verge is a metroidvania. Kinda a weird game, but in a good way.

I love the original patientgamers subreddit so I was stoked to find this community. And because lemmy seems to have a more knowledgeable crowd any topic I posted here had great engagement and discussions, despite the small community. I am too busy to be a mod but maybe I can help by sparking this discussion: what would be needed to keep this sub going?

Alas, the live service, bane of the patient gamer.

I picked up the original Super Mario Maker on WiiU for cheap a few years ago but haven't really played it much (who knew that professional level designers are better at designing fun levels than internet randos?), but apparently its servers are being shut down on 8th April. (This has apparently been announced for a while but I only discovered it from recent articles about players trying to beat every level!)

Does anyone know if there's any way to mass-download levels before the servers go offline? Is it just a case of manually downloading all the top levels one by one? Should I just play it intensely for two weeks assuming it'll then be reduced to the default levels regardless? Are there third-party tools to download levels on Cemu instead?

I picked up a Vita recently. So far, Gravity Rush is the only game that I definitely want to play. Any other recommendations? I’m pretty open with genres, as long as it’s something with a story.

Mirror's Edge - This is a game I've been meaning to play for some time. A few years back I played the first couple of levels on a friend's PS3 and recalled it being a fun experience. So when it went on sale for under £2 on Steam I couldn't say no. It holds up exceptionally well for a game from 2008! The stylised graphics look beautiful to this day, and the gameplay manages to feel fresh and unique. Parkouring around the landscape soon becomes second nature - you feel like such a badass by the end of the game.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy - Sadly I missed out on the original games, but this trilogy does a perfect job of remastering them for the modern era. The animations and art style are incredible; It really feels like a lot of love has gone into this remaster. All three games are a joy to play. The first one is a classic - basic but fun, the second tries out some new ideas, and the third one perfects them. Each instalment is fairly short, so packaging them in a trilogy was a great idea.

RealMyst - Myst is regarded as one of the original, archetypal PC puzzle games and was very clearly ahead of its time. I think it's the sort of game I would've appreciated a lot more if I'd played it 20 years ago (although there's no way I could've beat it back then). Some of the logic jumps in the puzzles felt tenuous at best, though others were very cleverly designed. This was a frustrating game at times and I was pleased to get it over with, but I did enjoy the interesting world-building and innovation for its time.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - Symphony of the Night is the only Castlevania game I've completed*, partially because it's a bit easier than the others and partially because the music and graphics are so great that I wanted to see it through. Bloodstained continues this legacy and does an amazing job of it. Although graphically it's no where near as nice as the pixel art of SotN, I still found the graphics to be quite charming. The soundtrack is amazing, gameplay is smooth (with a lot of customisation in terms of equipment and spells) and exploring the castle is a treat. As with SotN, in order to beat the true final boss you have to find some items that would be near impossible to locate without a guide. Despite that, this is well worth playing.

*Mostly completed

Skyward Sword - Although I owed a Wii, I never picked up Skyward Sword. I think you had to buy an attachment for the Wiimote, and either way I wasn't a massive Zelda fan at the time. Since then I've played nearly every Zelda game and loved them all. So it was about time I got round to playing SS. Luckily a few years back they announced a Switch remaster which removed a lot of the clunky features from the original. Woo! I picked up a cheap copy and played though it late last year - And wow, this game exceeded my expectations. The dungeons in particular are some of the best I've played in a Zelda game (the time manipulation ones in particular stand out). Slashing around in specific directions is a neat mechanic, with the added benefit of now being able to do so by flicking a joystick. Surprisingly lengthy with a lot of great ideas! Give this one a go.

Spiderman (2018) - Not sure how I missed this one when it came out! I guess I've never really got into the Spiderman series. After watching the Spider-verse films though I decided to give this a try. And now I can't wait to play the sequels! Insomniac did a incredible job making web swinging around the city feel fun. There's plenty of side content littered over the map, which often side-tracked me on my way to a mission. The combat feels very similar to the Batman Arkham games, with lots of moves and tools to unlock. Whilst the story isn't anything special, it kept me entertained and I was particular impressed by the facial capture and voice acting. All in all, this was a incredible experience throughout.

Would be interested to hear what everyone else thought of these games! I've still got quite a large backlog so I'll continue onto the next ones :)

So two-part question here:

If you've played Watch Dogs: Legion, did you like it?

And especially, did you like it for the story?

This makes me think the game is not primarily about the story: https://opencritic.com/game/7405/watch-dogs-legion

I played WD2 and enjoyed that quite a bit though never finished it.

I want the next game I play on my PC (via Steam, etc...) to have a great story. Recommendations greatly appreciated.

Other games I've played with what I thought were great stories: Psychnoauts 2, Portal 2, Soma (though I'm not really into scary games), Firewatch, Metro all, The Talos Principle

Cheers,

TL;DR This game is still really funny with crude humor that mostly holds up and gameplay that doesn't disappoint. Its showing some age but not enough to get in the way of the fun. If you're a fan of movies from around the year 2001, this is a must play.

Introduction

An alchoholic squirrel platformer, an absurd scenario adventure, an excessive amount of swear words, a surprising amount of poop, more movie references than you can shake a stick at, and World War 2 are all shoved into a single N64 cartridge. What could go wrong?

This is a departure for Rare into a game targeted at adult audiences after producing family friedly platformers for years. Don't let the cute and cartoonish exterior of this game fool you, you're in for a ride from the moment the game boots up.

The Necessary Background

I think my enjoyment and perspective is relevant to my thoughts about this game so let me explain my biases here. As in previous reviews, this is not an attempt to talk about the game as it was 23 years ago. I'm placing this game in a modern context, especially since I never owned an N64 and wasn't apart of that era. This game is almost as old as I am, so keep that in mind.

The other disclaimer here is that I am not big on movies and tv or pop culture from this era. I'll explain more later about references, but a lot of them flew over my head. It isn't a large problem but again keep this in mind. With that out of the way...

Does the Game Play Itself?

No it doesn't. The gameplay here is fairly minimal coming off of the backs of the two Banjo-Kazooie games. No need to memorize complicated control layouts to progress. The controls here remain nearly the same throughout and lead to a pretty enjoyable, but simple, platforming experience. Most levels are fairly linear but aren't straightforward and require knowing your environment and exploring.

That isn't saying the gameplay doesn't evolve. Most of the moves you have access to come from a pad you stand on to activate. These usually change your interactions with the environment in some way. They give you a slingshot or missile launcher or maybe a bottle of booze for a scarecrow. It takes a lot of the thinking out of the game and lets you sit back and enjoy the adventure.

Previous games from the people at Rare had this feeling of a toolkit platformer where more tools were given to you but the tools you had stayed with you throughout the game. This led to complex controls and more often just meant that moves went underutilized or were shoehorned into levels. I appreciated the restraint shown here and to make use of the tools within each level only when needed.

A Squirrel and the Princess

In regards to the story, there isn't much here beyond a vague scenario given to the player. The characters and levels do a great job of telling a narrative but the core idea of the game is that many different scenarios are stiched together. It leads to a lot of varience in the atmosphere of the game.

Further backing that up is the soundtrack which, as usual, is something Rare did an amazing job with. When you enter an area made of entirely poop in the game, the main thing selling you on the disgust of it is the farts and burps in the music. And yes, I did just say that they are IN the music. I'll let you decide how to feel about that.

Conker's Great Stand Up Routine

This is the part of the discussion that makes or breaks this game for me. Is this game funny? And if so, in what way is it funny?

To answer the first question, it will be pretty subjective to you. I'll characterize the comedy by saying that it is crude and unsophisticated humor for the most part. Most of it holds up well considering comedy from the era and theres only a few things I'd say might cross the line with modern audiences. I thought most of the game was humorous, even if it didn't leave me on the floor crying from laughing.

The absurd scenarios and chracters are refreshing compared to a lot of games that play it more safely nowadays. That said, the references for movies will play into how much you enjoy your time here. For myself, I'd say that I understood a small portion of the references though even reading about them didn't make me think I'd view them the same way today.

For instance, there are short scenes where a movie scene is recreated and similar or exact lines are repeated as a reference. I found these amusing, but not funny per se. It ages similar to parody of anything else though. To give an analogy, it'd be like looking back on an SNL skit making fun of US president George Bush. You'd crack a smile, maybe laugh once or twice, but not like you would have while he was president. That being said, if Terminator, The Matrix, and Starwars are still fresh in your head you'll find this very amusing.

Wrapping Up the Red Squirrel

There isn't too much else to say about this game. Its humorous in a simple way, it looks great and sounds great, and the gameplay is varied and interesting. The game is on the shorter side so its easy to recommend this one. For those who worry about the humor side of it, play the first hour of this one and you'll know quickly if it clicks with you or not.

As a final wrap up, let me thank everyone who has been recommending me this game because I had a good time playing it. Let me know what your experience with this game was if you played it!

Feel free to check out my previous posts for write ups on other Rare games!

Banjo Kazooie Review

Banjo Tooie Review

This game is about to be 4 years old but i finally got around to playing it. I am floored by this game, i couldn't put it down. I love the new combat style, the cut scenes are great how they just roll straight from the gameplay and back. The music, holy shit, the music. Every track is a banger and makes the fights and story even more amazing. Also ran flawlessly on my steamdeck. I can't praise this game enough, my nostalgia is gunna be sore for days.

A friend of mine was a gamer many years ago but hasn't been gaming in a while. They run a Mac and I run a PC. What are some good patient games we can play together?

I've missed this series for a long time, and I'll never forgive Epic for dropping it like a baby giraffe.

It plays pretty well on my gaming rig, but I'd love to hear about how it plays on lower-end systems. Maybe I'll install it on my 2-in-1 so I can use the touch screen.