Video Game Thread v. Series Xbox One X Series Switch S 5

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

Haha to "grok" something means to understand it on a fundamental level. It's the feeling when someone is teaching you a board game and it finally "clicks" and you begin to quickly understand it and can devise strategies.

It's a term that I think is mostly used in my field (technology/software development) but I have heard it used in other contexts before so I assumed it was a more widely used word, but I guess not!

[Chino]

It's a term that I think is mostly used in my field (technology/software development) but I have heard it used in other contexts before so I assumed it was a more widely used word, but I guess not!

I don't think I've ever seen or heard that word used outside of the book Stranger In a Strange Land. 

Great book, btw.   

Edit: I'll be damned. I just looked up the word's origin..

Grok: The informal verb grok was an invention of the science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein, whose 1961 novel Stranger in a Strange Land placed great importance on the concept of grokking. In the book, to grok is to empathize so deeply with others that you merge or blend with them. The simplest way to think of grok is as truly, deeply understanding someone or something. With any luck, you now grok the word grok. 

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/grok#:~:text=The%20informal%20verb%20grok%20was,merge%20or%20blend%20with%20them.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

i've never read it!

[Skeever]

I've read that book but I forgot about the word. It's interesting how many concepts stem from science fiction!

[nobloodyname]

Quite nice to know I don't know this particular word simply because I'm old

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

that's funny, i didn't even know the origin myself, but i hear the word semi-often in a few contexts. TIL

[OpenYourEyes311]

i love roguelike deckbuilders and this one feels special because it's so unique. there's no concept of "block cards", there's no map you traverse, etc. totally novel take on the genre, and it's really accessible. within 30 minutes i had totally groked it and was ready for long runs

I like roguelike deckbuilders, too! Slay the Spire, for example, took hours of my bloody life. I dunno, Balatro feels TOO random to me on top of the my feeling of a lack of progression.

If you guys like the RLDB genre, I highly recommend Roguebook. Slay the Spire is my most played game since 2020 (platinum trophy, 100% unlockables, A20 wins with every character), and this game gives me that same feeling. The cards, artwork, mapping, characters... all great and unique. There's a difficulty tower as well, like the Ascensions in StS, but I find it a much easier game that StS. It's every-so-slightly janky in places, but it's not too distracting and mostly charming. The only downside (for me) is one of the trophies is bugged and doesn't pop anymore, so the platinum is impossible to get. But that's definitely not a reason to skip this one.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

i love roguelike deckbuilders and this one feels special because it's so unique. there's no concept of "block cards", there's no map you traverse, etc. totally novel take on the genre, and it's really accessible. within 30 minutes i had totally groked it and was ready for long runs

I like roguelike deckbuilders, too! Slay the Spire, for example, took hours of my bloody life. I dunno, Balatro feels TOO random to me on top of the my feeling of a lack of progression.

If you guys like the RLDB genre, I highly recommend Roguebook. Slay the Spire is my most played game since 2020 (platinum trophy, 100% unlockables, A20 wins with every character), and this game gives me that same feeling. The cards, artwork, mapping, characters... all great and unique. There's a difficulty tower as well, like the Ascensions in StS, but I find it a much easier game that StS. It's every-so-slightly janky in places, but it's not too distracting and mostly charming. The only downside (for me) is one of the trophies is bugged and doesn't pop anymore, so the platinum is impossible to get. But that's definitely not a reason to skip this one.

I have played that one! Definitely one of my preferred ones. That's the one where you use the paint brushes to reveal the map right? And you use two characters at once in a tag-team fashion


STS aside, my favorite of the genre, personally, is probably Griftlands. a nice sci-fi RPG story, you build 2 decks (combat and persuasion), and it turns the "map" concept from STS into a fun "choose your own adventure" kinda vibe

[OpenYourEyes311]

I have played that one! Definitely one of my preferred ones. That's the one where you use the paint brushes to reveal the map right? And you use two characters at once in a tag-team fashion


STS aside, my favorite of the genre, personally, is probably Griftlands. a nice sci-fi RPG story, you build 2 decks (combat and persuasion), and it turns the "map" concept from STS into a fun "choose your own adventure" kinda vibe

Yes! the tag-team/double-deck build is one of my favorite parts of it. I have not played many others yet, but I'll take a look at Griftlands!

[nobloodyname]

I played Griftlands back in early access (and on release) but it ended up boring me, alas.

Just checked out Roguebook, it's only £6 in the current Steam sale so I might give it a whirl... 'cos, ya know, 1612 games in my library ain't enough, right?

[soupytwist]

I've played a few of these, mostly on the Xbox - I personally prefer Monster Train over both Slay the Spire and Roguebook.  But I'm not an expert or anything I'm only put hours into these games not days!!

[cramx3]

Fired up my Xbox One for the first time in at least 5 years today.  Did a bunch of updates all morning and now its doing a big update to Halo Masterchief Collection.  I'm going to try to do a co op playthrough starting with halo 1 with my gf.  I bought a HDMI capture USB card to stream it to my laptop to record.  My plan is to record our entire gameplay, with a camera on it, and chop it up to make youtube/tiktok content potentially.  My gf never played and will likely be bad so there's some good opportunity for funny clips, but also the nostalgia of the original games.  We'll see if I can actually get it all to work though 

Haha! That sounds like a lot of fun!  Let us know if you publish anything...

I made a youtube short of some clips playing the first level of Halo CE (the first one).  It was a lot of fun! Although we clearly struggled with just learning how to play and the gameplay isn't "good" but I think the highlight reel is mostly meant to be funny than "good gaming" although honestly it is really mostly an experiment for me to see if I can not only enjoy a playthrough of an older game, but actually capture it and edit it in a way to make it interesting.  We played through the first 4 levels last weekend, I recorded all the gameplay but so far only made this video.  My gf said she didn't enjoy playing it initially but by the end of the 4th level she was starting to get into it so I think there's hope that we will continue playing. 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/u0vIxYIuPKA

[TheOutlawXanadu]

Started FF7 Rebirth last night. A few hours in, and I'm absolutely loving it, although that's to be expected since it's still so fresh. Wondering if the open world stuff will remain compelling the deeper I go. I've made the controversial decision to ignore the Queen's Blood card game because A) I really want to see how the story plays out, and don't want to delay my progress there, and B) Because after 85 hours of Baldur's Gate 3, I don't think I have another 80+ hour experience left in me, and cutting that out will probably reduce my play time a tad.

[nobloodyname]

I played the original FF7 on PC back on release. Who knows when that was? Anyway, it was quite novel at the time. Not much like it on the PC back then. Fast forward many years and I tried the first part of the remake when it released on the PS4. I found the combat super disappointing (the original's combat was SO much more interesting), the gameplay incredibly slow (FF, I know, I know), and the cutscenes utterly interminable. I gave up after about 15 hours. Thought the original was much better. Is Rebirth any better?

[TheOutlawXanadu]

I played the original FF7 on PC back on release. Who knows when that was? Anyway, it was quite novel at the time. Not much like it on the PC back then. Fast forward many years and I tried the first part of the remake when it released on the PS4. I found the combat super disappointing (the original's combat was SO much more interesting), the gameplay incredibly slow (FF, I know, I know), and the cutscenes utterly interminable. I gave up after about 15 hours. Thought the original was much better. Is Rebirth any better?

I think Rebirth is pretty similar to Remake, with the major exception being the open world zones. If you thought Remake was trash, I don't think Rebirth will completely change your mind. I'm surprised you didn't like the cutscenes in Remake... Most of them pretty much blew my mind.

[cramx3]

This is crazy

https://www.ign.com/articles/first-human-patient-to-receive-a-neuralink-brain-implant-used-it-to-stay-up-all-night-playing-civilization-6

[ErHaO]

This is crazy

https://www.ign.com/articles/first-human-patient-to-receive-a-neuralink-brain-implant-used-it-to-stay-up-all-night-playing-civilization-6

That is insane indeed. A bit scary as well tbh, but for this application in particular it is fantastic (letting paralysed people interface with devices like this).

[cramx3]

That is insane indeed. A bit scary as well tbh, but for this application in particular it is fantastic (letting paralysed people interface with devices like this).

Yeah, it seems like incredible tech for someone paralyzed.  It also seems incredibly scary in terms of capability.  I'm also shocked that it so far kind of... works.  BUt the best part of it all, and why I shared it here, is that what did the guy do with this incredible tech?  He GAMED 

[Herrick]

I think Rebirth is pretty similar to Remake, with the major exception being the open world zones. If you thought Remake was trash, I don't think Rebirth will completely change your mind. I'm surprised you didn't like the cutscenes in Remake... Most of them pretty much blew my mind.

I never played much of the original game but I'd like to play it before the remakes. I'm kind of used to never-ending story scenes after finishing Persona 5 Royal. How long are the longest cutscenes in the remake?

I forgot which Metal Gear Solid game it was, but there was one cutscene/story dialogue thing that went on for over 30 minutes I think. I ended up pausing the cutscene, & just leaving my Playstation 3 on and going to work. That must've been MGS 4.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

That's wild! Didn't realize any game had a cutscene that long. Thus far in Rebirth, the longest cutscene I've encountered has been maybe five minutes +/-.

[chknptpie]

There are some seriously long cut scenes in some of the latest mortal combat games. Almost like you're watching a movie and then get to fight for the action scenes.

[Stadler]

There are some seriously long cut scenes in some of the latest mortal combat games. Almost like you're watching a movie and then get to fight for the action scenes.

Injustice 2 is like that (and it's awesome; it's the reason I play that game, since I'm not huge on the fighting games).

[axeman90210]

I started Diablo 4 since it hit Xbox Gamepass, definitely getting a little bit addicted.

[ReaperKK]

I started Diablo 4 since it hit Xbox Gamepass, definitely getting a little bit addicted.

I need to finish it, I got distracted by BG3. The cinematics in D4 are wild.

[axeman90210]

I'm still early in the campaign because I keep getting distracted by side quests Very cool cinematics though. This is my first time playing any of the Diablo games.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I'm still early in the campaign because I keep getting distracted by side quests Very cool cinematics though. This is my first time playing any of the Diablo games.

Oooh, you should definitely go back and play at least 2 and 3.

[Metro]

I love GeoGuessr

[ErHaO]

I started FFVII Remake for real this time. Because later this year I am going to the FFVII Rebirth Orchestra concert, of which there is an upcoming Distant Worlds tour.

My first main negative that thankfully could be solved: The EN dub is dreadful. I have no clue why googling around I see people praising this aspect. It reminds older low budget JRPGs that were voiced. As soon as Sephiroth talked I quit, set the language to JP and actually replayed the start, it is sooo much better. And this way the cutscenes and dialouge come of as much better to me. For the record, I prefer playing EN and this is a first time for an FF game for me. FFXV and FFXVI dubs were excellent, for example. FFVII Remake dub sounds like amateur hour to me. Especially the comedic timing is off, with super load grunting/sighs, it drove me nuts.

Anyways, I am liking the game thus far. I came mentally prepared that there is a lot of weird added stuff and that it is very linear. But the atmosphere and music are fantastic in my opinion. And the visuals are also amazing. The HDR also really pops beautifully on my tv (LG C3). It feels like a high quality polished game thus far.

Offcourse my overall expectations are low, which helps, but Rebirth looks so good that I decided to hop on board of the remake train (and offcourse the FFVII Rebirth Distant Worlds concert, which should be an amazing time).

That's wild! Didn't realize any game had a cutscene that long. Thus far in Rebirth, the longest cutscene I've encountered has been maybe five minutes +/-.

MGS and Yakuza are kings in this aspect. As these are favourite series of mine, it obviously is something I don't mind. I like watching series and like video games, I don't mind a weird Japanese merger between them. But I can see why it annoys people. I think MGS4 and Yakuza 5 are probably the ones with the longest stretches of cutscenes, but I could be wrong.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

In case anyone is interested in Space Exploration type games, heavily in the vein of Star Trek, Starship Simulator has their Kickstarter campaign up. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fleetyard/starship-simulator/description

I'm super excited for this and have been following it for about a year now. There's also a free demo you can try on Steam.

[Sacul]

Yesterday I finally managed to finish Disco Elysium, what a fantastic game.

[orcus116]

Yeah that was a special one and I'm due for a replay. A friend was trying for awhile to play and when I finally got into it I understood why. While I'm tempted to do a more chaotic run I know I'll always fall back into making choices how I would.

[Cool Chris]

I remember reading some things about that game a while back that made me think I would enjoy it. It's on sale on the Switch till Monday night. But I checked the Time to Beat website, and it lists this game at 23+hours! At my rate of gameplay that would take me months!

[Evermind]

Yesterday I finally managed to finish Disco Elysium, what a fantastic game.

At this point I think it's one of the best games I've ever played.

I remember reading some things about that game a while back that made me think I would enjoy it. It's on sale on the Switch till Monday night. But I checked the Time to Beat website, and it lists this game at 23+hours! At my rate of gameplay that would take me months!

Took me about half a year to finish it. I played maybe once or twice a month. It's a fantastic experience.

[XJDenton]

Yesterday I finally managed to finish Disco Elysium, what a fantastic game.

It's goddamn phenomenal.

[El Barto]

Anybody looking forward to the Fallout series coming up next week? I suspect they'll do a pretty good job making it look great, but I have doubts as to if it'll be something I find entertaining. I can't shake the feeling that most of the charm and lightheartedness will be replaced by grit and intensity. Such is the way of things nowadays.