He’s the kid who told the teacher she forgot to assign homework.
2 Likes
I have managed to get myself embroiled in a forum game of Empires in Arms (look at the playing time!) over at Quarter to Three. I am not sure what I’ve gotten myself into. Never have I been as overwhelmed by or as exhilarated at the possibilities of a game, and we haven’t even started playing yet! I will do what I can to win, surely, but my goal right now is simply to learn enough to make sure I provide a good experience for the others. I have not seen a wargame with such role-playing potential before. I will certainly be keeping a journal of this one.
Are there any games like Subnautica for iOS (or Switch, I suppose)? I have Don’t Starve but I like that Subnautica doesn’t beat you over the head with the imminent threat of death and focuses more on exploration and discovery.
WARNING - This post contains information about a “Gacha” game, with timers, VIP advantages, a dozen currencies and lots of “free” to play stuff that drives some of you batty. Continue reading with caution.
So some of you know I like FTP gacha style games. I love collecting things. I try a lot of them too.
I really like Epic Seven right now.
First, I really am getting into the story. It’s not “good”, but it’s entertaining, and while I should not care where the story is going, I am keep playing it for the story mode.
Second, they have a unique thing where instead of making you re-roll for a good starting character (which you can do anyway), once you finish chapter 1-10 you get a “Select” roll where you get 30 chances to re-roll 10 pulls. I was about 20 rolls in when I landed one of the top 3 characters in the game.
Third, the top characters are 5*, and you are going to have a lot of 3* mostly, but what is cool is that most of the 3* are perfectly usable. The difference appears to be that most 3* characters tend to be best in specific areas, so you just kind of need to nurture more.
Lastly, the skills are fun, and there is a lot of diversity in the skillsets you can bring into adventure areas. It’s fun turn-based combat in a JRPG style.
2 Likes
Has anyone played The Escapists that would care to comment? I’ll admit that I own it, but have only given is a precursory look and the controls were such that I didn’t put any time into it at all. On paper, the premise it intriguing and seems to fit the craft/survive genre with an actual end goal. I don’t know if it is worth putting the time in to or not, though. My interest was renewed because the sequel is coming to iOS in a couple weeks.
I got sucked into SteamWorld Dig on my new Switch. 
I’ve had it on Steam for years, picked up during one of the sales, but despite finding it enjoyable I never got far into it on the PC, if I’m seated at the PC for gaming usually it’s for something more “substantial”. On Switch, it’s a totally different story for me, in portable mode I’m finding it hard to put down, expecting to finish it this weekend. 
Is it 1 or 2? I’ve heard good things about 2 and want to pick it up at some point. Maybe after I’ve put some time into the new Diablo season.
1 Like
I’m on the first one, but given the enjoyment factor, I’ll definitely be getting 2 for the Switch! I had heard that the second one is such a better sequel, that to play 2 then 1 will result in some disappointment, so I’m following the recommended progression of 1 to 2, for maximum enjoyment. 
I fired up Tank Warfare: Tunisia again last night and tackled the smallest-looking operation, the adorably-named Chewy Gooey Pass. You are never gonna get a Bulge game out of the Graviteam guys; without fail their choice of battles to recreate has me going, “where?” This particular op was the start of the Run for Tunis, according to my Wikipediaing.
Having never commanded anything in battle, from everything I have read this may be the most authentic mid-level command simulator I have yet encountered. Despite a camera that can go anywhere, I found myself without much of a clue most of the time who my troops were engaging, where they were going, or why they were doing what they were doing. I gave two orders during the battle, before the clock started, and it’s not clear to me that either of them were followed for more than 5 minutes of game time before the field deteriorated into a morass of gun and mortar fire. Tunisia has an iron food chain: infantry serve as bullet chow for halftracks, who in turn feed the voracious guns of the tanks. The sole definitive outcome of my movement orders was that one Panzer III got stuck in a ditch.
For some reason, even though we appear to have cleaned their clocks, the battle ended as a draw. Why? Where were we suppose to go, and what were we supposed to do when we got there? I don’t know.
A+
3 Likes
Not that I’m swimming in free time, but I’ve mostly been catching up with things seen recommended by people here: Into the Breach on desktop and Stardew Valley on mobile.
For those singing these games’ praises, you do not disappoint.
Those and my BG1 campaign that I swear I’m finally going to get through.
1 Like
Ah, I remember Beyblades well. Our youngest (18 now, 6ish then) and all of his friends were completely smitten with the damn things. There are much worse vices for young boys, so I count us fortunate. He’s moved on to collecting and reselling “kicks” these days. 
Turn 2 of Operation Chewy Gooey Pass saw not one but TWO actions: in the first, I, the hapless Hauptmann, sent a few tanks cautiously forward across the broken terrain, blowing up another halftrack and eking out a marginal victory. In the second, I discovered that “no heavy weapons” is not a great thing to see on your infantry platoons when they are being assaulted by five M3 tanks. I didn’t see any other units than those tanks, but then I didn’t need to. Total Defeat, and my forces now appear to be encircled by enemy-held terrain. What will Turn 3 hold??? Probably nothing good.
Resident Evil 2. It surprises me that in the intervening decades, no one thought to change Leon’s character so he’s not a tool.
Spoiler alert: I shit myself.
1 Like
Wow, that dialogue sure is, uhhh
Trying out Langrisser…
I did finish SteamWorld Dig on the Switch this past weekend, then started Season 16 (which went live last Friday) of Diablo III, also on the Switch so it’s a brand new Diablo III account.
So far in Diablo III I’ve completed my goals for the annual “Darkening of Tristram” event that ends next week, killed the bosses and got the Butcher pet on my Switch account. I’ve now moved on to the actual Seasonal goals and continued character progression, I’ve completed Chapter 1 and am now working on Chapter 2.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 came out today on Steam, I finished the Prologue Campaign, took me about an hour and a half. Absolutely beautiful graphics, great cut scenes and voice acting, tremendous atmosphere just dripping with Warhammer 40,000 theme and lore. I was really sucked into the Prologue, what a great start, I’m enthused about continuing on this weekend with the Imperium Campaign!
While bunkered in with the cold weather I’ll be spending my Windows PC gaming time purging and cleansing xenos and heretics, and then relaxing in the La-Z-Boy recliner with the Switch slaying demons.
Was home sick with the flu this past week, so got to play a ton of Diablo III on the Switch, which imho, is the perfect platform for the game. The ability to pause whenever without being disconnected is a godsend. Rolled a barbarian this time around and have him fully kitted out in the Immortal King seasonal set, spec’d as a Hammer of the Ancients build. Some ancient legendary pieces and working on upgrading the rest - running Torment 13 and the best GR I’ve accomplished so far was a 77 in 8:45 with a few deaths, mostly from standing in the suck.
Also fired up Gris on the Switch; first impression is that it’s… interesting. There’s no tutorial or instructions; you’re kind of dropped into a world and I found myself randomly pushing buttons to see if anything did anything (spoiler: B jumps). The beginning is very cutscene / procedural and doesn’t allow a lot of freedom of action, which is frustrating because the character moves soooo slooowwwlllyyy. It’s beautifully presented, with great sound, and obviously took a lot of influence from that iOS game Monument Valley. My one gripe about the game so far would be that it self zooms out at points, making it very hard to play in docked mode as the character and world become very small (and I have old eyes). For the $15 it’s not bad so far.
3 Likes
Most of my time has gone to OOTP Baseball 19 lately, with occasional forays into Slay the Spire again.
Also …
Take that, fubes. (Ugh.)
7 Likes
My high score is 768,000.
I’m a terrible human being.
1 Like
Don’t feel bad, I struggled to get past 4096 this morning…
1 Like