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I'm only about 30-40% through Shadow of the Tomb Raider and I totally agree. I couldn't put Rise down but Shadow feels flat, exactly like you said. I feel like I'm forcing myself to play it, rather than actually wanting to. I don't know why, there's nothing particularly wrong with the gameplay or the story. Actually, one of the missions I just completed was pretty good...

...crawling through some dark and spooky caves I thought to myself "This is a bit like The Descent. Good thing there aren't any monsters in this game". Then a bunch of them turned up and they look exactly like the creatures from that film. Must admit the fear factor wore off a bit after I'd mowed down a whole army of them.

Anyway, I'll see it through though I probably won't go for 100%. Then I can start the Castlevania retro collection.
 
I'm only about 30-40% through Shadow of the Tomb Raider and I totally agree. I couldn't put Rise down but Shadow feels flat, exactly like you said. I feel like I'm forcing myself to play it, rather than actually wanting to. I don't know why, there's nothing particularly wrong with the gameplay or the story. Actually, one of the missions I just completed was pretty good...

...crawling through some dark and spooky caves I thought to myself "This is a bit like The Descent. Good thing there aren't any monsters in this game". Then a bunch of them turned up and they look exactly like the creatures from that film. Must admit the fear factor wore off a bit after I'd mowed down a whole army of them.

Anyway, I'll see it through though I probably won't go for 100%. Then I can start the Castlevania retro collection.

I remember that, with the jars containing green, explosive gas, right? The main missions are great, the side missions are a pain. One of my favorites was the Tree of Life. Giant underground tree and a bottomless pit crawling with creatures that want to kill me? SWEET!

speaking of retro Castlevania, I should go back to Bloodcurse, or is it Bloodmoon? or Bloodvania, curse of the moon? Ah, no matter, I need to get back to that.
 
I remember that, with the jars containing green, explosive gas, right?

That's the one, kinda like the Greek fire from the last game now I think about it.

I should go back to Bloodcurse, or is it Bloodmoon? or Bloodvania, curse of the moon? Ah, no matter, I need to get back to that.

Bloodstained? :lol: I should get back to that too, not sure I finished the mode where you play as the red guy but steal all your allies' abilities.
 
I’m still working on my first playthrough of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Very close to the end of the game, I think, but I keep getting raped by a very hard late-game boss. One of these days...

My backlog is also getting stupidly deep. Still only a fraction into Red Dead Redemption II, I’ve got Nioh sitting on my coffee table unstarted, I have Horizon: Zero Dawn waiting for my attention, I’d like to do some alternate playthroughs of Detroit: Become Human, I’ve got a bunch of free stuff like Steep waiting around, I still haven’t finished Tempest 4000, and now I’m seeing stuff like God Of War, Spider-Man, Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance on sale for $20 or less, which is tempting.

I feel like I need to retire just so I can catch up on gaming... :cool:
 
I finally got my power back last night (after a whole week) and my brother also gave me back my 360, because he only used it to play NHL15. I GLADLY took it back along with the few games I still have for it. OMG, how I missed this console. As soon as I could fire it up and updated I was reviewing what games I had on the hard drive and was pleasantly surprised as I had forgotten about a couple of them.

Going through it just restoked my annoyance with XBOX One. For example, the customized background and Avatar, both missing from One. Not needing to INSTALL games to play them! Not having to download ANYTHING outside of apps for web browsing and streaming. on the One I had to download an app for EVERYTHING. Oh you want to play DVDs? Download an app. Oh, you want to play a CD? Download an app. Oh, want to play MP3s from an external hard drive? You guessed it asshole, download an app. On this last point specifically it was VERY annoying. It would play a few songs, bump into a corrupt file and stop playing only to display the message: "Unable to Play File." I have 9000 songs on that drive, WHAT file couldn't you play? On the 360, if it can't play a file it beeps and keeps on truckin'.

I'm also happy to see that it will be fairly cheap to repurchase some favorites I've traded or given away. Like the Bioshock trilogy can be downloaded for US$23. I spent US$60 for the Xbox One Collection which included all DLC. The remaster wasn't life changing so I can go back to the original 360 games with no problem. I might use my 360 more than my One at this point, except to replay One exclusives. But now I can go back to Borderlands the Pre-Sequel, Destiny (which completely forgot I had) and the Tomb Raider reboot. Definitely want to retread that gem.
 
I didn't finish Tomb Raider before I bought the Castlevania collection. I will one day, I just couldn't bring myself to do it right now. Currently making my way through Castlevania IV, played it a few years ago and didn't really get into it but now I'm really enjoying it. Though, like with the MegaMan collection, I've had to use some cheeky save points to get through some particularly difficult sections. For shame.
 
While I was gone I managed to finish the first reboot Tomb Raider and the main story of Witcher 3 - now I'm in the Hearts of Stone add-on. Witcher was the best, the Tomb Raider was pretty enjoyable, but my biggest complaint would be... it's way too fucking easy. The game keeps telling you what to do, you don't even really need to find out the correct route... Let me tell you, back in the day I played both the original 3 and 4 (well, I believe I played 1 as well, but I don't remember it that well) and those were pretty hardcore in terms of difficulty and demands on the player. This here was more like an interactive movie. Still enjoyable, but I maybe expected a bit more. This Lara is waaaaay hotter, but that was never my main attraction in this series.

Also finished Outlast - for such an "indie-feel" game it was pretty solid. The final level was kinda disappointing, but I think it's worth a try. Looking forward to trying the second installment.

Also finished Silent Hill 2 (which was awesome) and now I'm playing Silent Hill 3 (which is good, but definitely inferior to 2).

Oh, also finished Alien: Isolation. Which was also amazing. In fact, it was possibly the best investment this side of Witcher 3. Totally retro, completely putting you into the atmosphere of the first (or maybe even third) movie. If you're at least a bit interested in survival horror and/or the film series and/or space horror go for it. I believe you won't regret it. Also, the Working Joes were absolutely memetastic

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Started Resident Evil 7 - it's good (reminds me a lot of the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre - in a good way!) but compared to the other games I played lately it maybe leaves something to be desired. Still, a very atmospheric game that will keep you pulled in.

Still progressing veeeeery slowly through Red Dead Redemption 2. Put Kingdom Come: Deliverance and GTA V on hold indefinitely.

Since autumn is finally here I might replay Layers of Fear and The Black Mirror again (though I've already finished the latter about ten times, so I don't know about that yet... but me fingers are itching.)
 
Started Resident Evil 7 - it's good (reminds me a lot of the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre - in a good way!) but compared to the other games I played lately it maybe leaves something to be desired.
Are you playing in VR? The game really stands out in that format. Absolutely essential VR title, in fact.
Still progressing veeeeery slowly through Red Dead Redemption 2. Put Kingdom Come: Deliverance and GTA V on hold indefinitely.
I got RDR2 when it came out, played for a number of hours, and then got derailed by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which I finally finished my first run through a few weeks back. Then I got distracted by Kingdom Come: Deliverance, which I temporarily shelved to play through The Fall Part 2: Unbound and Danger Zone 2, which were both on deep discount. And I played Steep for a while because it was a free PS Plus game that was a nice palate cleanser. And I got The Exorcist: Legion VR on deep discount, but only played through the first case. So I have a lot of clean-up left on some of those titles, plus I still have major stuff like Horizon: Zero Dawn and Nioh lying around waiting to be played. So I really need to retire so I can finally get caught up...!
 
the Tomb Raider was pretty enjoyable, but my biggest complaint would be... it's way too fucking easy. The game keeps telling you what to do, you don't even really need to find out the correct route... Let me tell you, back in the day I played both the original 3 and 4 (well, I believe I played 1 as well, but I don't remember it that well) and those were pretty hardcore in terms of difficulty and demands on the player. This here was more like an interactive movie. Still enjoyable, but I maybe expected a bit more. This Lara is waaaaay hotter, but that was never my main attraction in this series.
This made me laugh, because it reminded me of this:

As a casual gamer I don't mind "easy" games that take you "on a tour." I remember being like 13-14 years old and playing Tomb Raider II on PC and absolutely hating it. The first level was relatively easy, but as soon as I got to Venice.... completely lost. Just ran around having no clue where to go. This was pre internet walkthrough days too, so... just gave up. That's not fun. Same with the original zelda. These weren't games like Mario 3 where a save function would have been great. Just... ZERO direction. So the reboot, loved it. Just finished replaying it and enjoyed it as much if not more than the first time. Might play Rise later, though debating whether to trudge through Darksiders III again to get all the collectibles. I was playing Borderlands the Pre-sequel, but I'm stuck fighting Zarpadon or whatever her name is. Keep dying, again, not fun, so I gave it a rest.
 
I get what you mean and I agree that for example Tomb Raider 3 is brutal and I don't necessarily champion for that kind of hardness. But in my book I like my games to be at least a bit of a challenge, so that I don't feel as if I almost couldn't fail, even if I tried.

This was one of the few flaws of Layers of Fear - it had a great atmosphere, some really cool visual ideas, good tempo, lotsa creepiness, interesting story/backstory with multiple endings... but felt mostly like a movie. Like, a monkey could finish it. I still love the game, because it's precisely the type of horror adventure I would like to see more often (it hit the right spots with me), but I wish it was at least a little harder.

Off the top of my head, the only games that made me break my sweat lately was the fourth Doom on the harder difficulties and Alien: Isolation (on hard). Actually, Outlast was also somewhat tough on the harder difficulty.
(oh, and fan-made wads for the old Doom - Memento Mori 1 + 2, Alien Vendetta, Hell Revealed etc - but those are pretty old as well and I only return to them sporadically lately).
 
Walking simulators are sometimes interesting, but most of the time they are really overrated.
 
It's taking every ounce of my available willpower not to buy Borderlands 3 before my mid-semester exams are wrapped up

of the few games I'm looking forward to. No idea when I'll be able to purchase it, but looking forward to it. I like the convenience of buying the digital copies, but paranoid person that I am I rather have a physical copy... always, music, games, books, etc.

I'm really enjoying the presequel. I decided I'll hunt for the vault symbols and try to explore all the named locations in order to get those achievements and hopefully level up and find better weapons or some for the grinder to be able to defeat Zarpadon.

I'm also on chapter 3 of Condemned: criminal origins. It's OK. A while back a friend lent me some games he fealt were must plays. This one feels VERY outdated and while maybe great upon release at this point some of the mechanics and story now seem cliche and other games have done better.

Powered through Plants vs. Zombies. Surprisingly engaging game lol. Very fun, no different from a tower defense game, but still has its challenges.

Took a break from my AC Revelations playthrough, but will get back to that later.

I get what you mean and I agree that for example Tomb Raider 3 is brutal and I don't necessarily champion for that kind of hardness. But in my book I like my games to be at least a bit of a challenge, so that I don't feel as if I almost couldn't fail, even if I tried.

Oh for sure. I agree. which is why I like that many games now, most actually, have several difficulty modes. The standards seem to be easy, normal, hard and nightmare or some variation of that nomenclature. I've played most on normal. Only NHL 07 have I played on every single difficulty and completely dominated it at every level. All others I just want a bit of a challenge, but I'd like to finish it. I guess I'm scarred from when I was a kid playing on the NES and all those games left unfinished either because they were too challenging or because they had no direction. Now that I watch a bunch of video game youtubers like the Gaming Historian or the AVGN is it finally clear that most of those games had walkthroughs or at least hints in Nintendo Power. A magazine I NEVER bought or even heard of growing up. Just wasn't a thing here in Mexico. At least not with my circle of friends.
 
I'm really enjoying the presequel. I decided I'll hunt for the vault symbols and try to explore all the named locations in order to get those achievements and hopefully level up and find better weapons or some for the grinder to be able to defeat Zarpadon.

Who are you playing as?
 
Who are you playing as?

Wilhelm. I'm liking wolf and Saint. Specially against the guys with jet packs. I have collected all the vault symbols up to the lunar launching station, hit a snag trying to get one that requires fairly tricky jumps. I leveled up enough to take on Zarpadon, but I got lucky anyway. I ran around charging the bombs that rise from the ground. She stepped near one I shot it and it nearly killed her. She killed me with one of her sonic explosions and somehow, through the haze of the dying sequence, with a laser gun with attrocious accuracy I was able to kill her and get my second wind before respawning. Glad that's over.

What isn't over is the game, good God, forgot how massive these games are.
 
Wilhelm. I'm liking wolf and Saint. Specially against the guys with jet packs. I have collected all the vault symbols up to the lunar launching station, hit a snag trying to get one that requires fairly tricky jumps. I leveled up enough to take on Zarpadon, but I got lucky anyway. I ran around charging the bombs that rise from the ground. She stepped near one I shot it and it nearly killed her. She killed me with one of her sonic explosions and somehow, through the haze of the dying sequence, with a laser gun with attrocious accuracy I was able to kill her and get my second wind before respawning. Glad that's over.

Idk if this is indicative of anything but I had a tough time trying to play through as Wilhelm. After I got fed up and switched to Athena everything seemed easier (though the health regenerating melee attacks might've helped). You may want to invest in some elemental resistance for the final boss btw

What isn't over is the game, good God, forgot how massive these games are.

No complaints here, I like to get my $80 worth
 
Idk if this is indicative of anything but I had a tough time trying to play through as Wilhelm. After I got fed up and switched to Athena everything seemed easier (though the health regenerating melee attacks might've helped). You may want to invest in some elemental resistance for the final boss btw



No complaints here, I like to get my $80 worth


Oh for sure! I don't mind the length either. As much as I hated the story in AC3, I liked all the side quests and challenges to keep one busy. Same here. I do all the side missions first and then continue on the main story. Fighting with Wilhelm isn't hard, and as I up his skill tree and trade badass tokens it gets easier. I'll keep in mind the elemental resistance. I've been actually debating what weapons, shields, oz kits and the like to keep, grind or sell. I'll keep an eye out for elemental resistant equipment.
 
Haven't played any new games, only new to me and some retreads. I finished the Ezio Collection of Assanssin's Creed for Xbox One and just finished Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag for a second time. I'm debating whether or not to do the same with Rogue. After playing AC 1 through Rogue I have to say AC 4 is my favorite. For one, it's not really an AC game, it's a pirate game in an AC skin. The historical fiction is one of the most entertaining and well crafted of the series and the gameplay is on the easy side of the spectrum, but not without its challenges. I lost interest in AC in general after 3. What a disappointing pile of crap that game was overall. I spent more time doing challenges and hunting than bothering to progress the story which was half-assed and reaked of untapped potential. And the ending, good lord. Why build up Desmond for 5 games only to kill him? I guess they had no idea how to bring the game to the present and they just wanted to keep exploring fantastical pasts. I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I guess that's where the two new games differ, Origins and Odyssey. You are ACTUALLY in the past. Like I said, stopped playing after Rogue and by most accounts I'm not missing out on much. I'm going to get the DLC for AC 4 just to continue pirating haha.

Downloaded Tembo the Badass Elephant while it was free for Gold. What an incredibly entertaining game. pretty simple and straightfoward gameplay and mechanics and it goes from piece of cake to OMG what did I just get myself into, really quick. OK, not impossibly hard, but it does spike up. I'm on the last level and just can't break through , glad I got it, I give that last level the ocassional try so, one day.

Progressed a little further in Borderlands the Pre-Sequel. Had gotten stuck on Tycho's Ribs, but finally made it to the elevator to the vault. Problem is I have no money and I still feel my weapons and gear are way underpowered to take on the challenge ahead. Might go grind out some money and gear before moving on.

A friend of mine gave me some of his old 360 games long ago saying they were "must plays." Some may have been upon release like Condemned: Criminal Origins. This game blows. I'll probably finish it only because I already started it and played through the first two missions. He also gave me Fallout 3. I knew this game was a big deal, because during my gaming hybernation of 10 years and when I picked up my 360 I heard a lot about it a long with Half-Life, Metal Gear Solid and other titles thrown around by gamers and the industry alike, but I didn't know EXACTLY what it was about or why all the hype. Recently a friend of mine simply told me to play it and said it was very well worth it. I guess he also played New Vegas, not sure.

At any rate three days ago I started playing it. Oh man, The graphics are crap, even for the time, they all look like lifeless maniquins with dead eyes. The buildings' exterior looks like it was drawn onto the walls, like Wile E. Coyete's tunnels. The interiors are recycled to the nth degree and the "open world" generates like the Matrix as traverse it with trees, rocks and horizons just appearing suddently. The dialogue! Good grief! It's never ending!

That being said... I haven't slept in three days. It's so engrossing! I love the precarious balance between leveling up, but never being invincible. Now, I'm only level 8, but I have to manage my ammo carefully, repair my gear often if I want to keep repair costs low, stow away random crap in case I need it for a mission or to build costum weapons, sell the rest. So I like that I'm powerful enough to hold my own, but I'm always on edge since I have to manage my resources well. This is Red Dead Redemption, before Red Dead. Being free to choose between goody two-shoes and a fucking asshole is fun. I'm a goody two-shoes, makes the game easier and seeing as it is hard as it is, don't see why I would make it harder on myself. It's one and done decision is cool and it is WAY more forgiving than say Skyrim, but your still stuck with whatever you chose for better or worse. For example, what I've chosen as my main hub, the town of Megaton, has a live bomb in the middle of town. The sheriff will give me 100 disarm it, but some shady dude at the bar will give me 500 to blow it up. So what do I do? I rat him out to the sheriff who says, "Come with me, I'll show you some real justice." Or some shit like that. I go along, because I'm not missing this. The sheriff arrests him, but as soon as he turns around this dude pulls out a gun! I take mine out too to stop him, but I'm too late. He killed the sheriff, before I killed him. Now there is NO ONE to give me a reward for either action and the mission is still active HAHAHA.

Once I got tired of the dialog I decided it was faster to just read the text boxes, so I put Iron Maiden on the system music player and it made the game even MORE epic. I swear I had a religious experience as Bruce sang:

Then the spell starts to break
The albatross falls from his neck
Sinks down like lead into the sea
Then down in falls comes the rain!

Just as this ghoul, who looks like Eddie, charges me and I punch him in the face with a mechanized glove HAHAHAHA. Fucking awesome. Technically I've only done 2 main story missions, but I've callected enough side quests to keep me busy. Not to mention exploring is actually a lot of fun. I'm walking towards a marker on my map and just off to the side on the horizon I see something that catches my eye. A factory, a silo, a house or church and I'm like, "Hmm, what's that? let's go check it out," and then die because some band of raiders, mutants or robots did me in LOL.

So that's where I'm at, Tembo, Borderlands and Fallout. For Christmas to me from myself I'm getting the AC 4 DLC, the Rise of the Tomb Raider DLC and The Bioshock trilogy for the 360. All that is slightly less than a new release. I've never played the DLCs and I can finally afford them, as for Bioshock, it's one of my favorite franchises and just when i say, well already played it I'm done, then I play it again, then give it away as a gift and now I want to play it again... it's just a fun series.
 
Damn @Onhell , you're reminding me of all the fun I had in Fallout 3 8 or 9 years ago. It really is a blast, I wish I could go back and play it again for the first time.
 
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