Games with Gold...

Septembers games with gold....

Gods will Fall - A new enough game (released last year); By all accounts a 'meh' game when compared to the likes of Torchlight. Similar in both looks/style and combat. But the RnG nature of the game is apparently overboard to a frustrating point. A niche game it seems, one I'll claim and probably skip playing.

Double Kick Heroes - Another new enough game(2020). A shoot'em'up side scrolling rhythm game that looks interesting but just not a game for me. Proof may be in the pudding but .... I'm 'meh' about it. I find some, if not nearly all rhythm games frustrating(Beat Saber is an exception but then again it's on a more physical interactive platform).  A claim and skip I think for this one.

Thrillville - Another theme park management game from classic Xbox. Thrillville Off The Rails was only just given away. Both the same yet very different in aspects of style and park management never mind their 'mini-games'. I took a quick look at Off the Rails; I can see where the fun in both games management and mini 'games' is. For me in the here and now they just didn't do it for me. So again with Thrillcville not a game for me. If Planet Coaster(blogged here) was too detailed I'd say Off the Rails and Thrillville are on the other end of the scale. Another claim and skip for me.

The big ticket item of the months games, Portal 2 - A game a friend has tried to get me to play for a while. Given the meme's around the first game the second very much lived up to the first. Both classic game and both with dedicated fans one over the other as well as both. At the very least I can claim and give it a go.

Battlestar Galactica Deadlock....

BSG Deadlock has and is an all consuming game for me. Maybe moreso since the last post. I've found myself almost nightly in "one more turn" situations. The epitome of the meme, never 'just' one more turn. Always one more thing to fix or fidget with and then another few turns to see how decisions enacted all play out and another few to set more in motion. Or after 5 more turns a fleet gets to an enemy fleet and a battle starts that I'm not happy with so 'need' to replay it again.... again... 

I like that the game is so appeasing to how intricate you want to be with it. I've been in fairly even, fair, fights; But because I lost a ship or two, knew I could do better, reloaded and then tried it again.... And again. 

Last week I had to stop myself from the ongoing loop of prolonging the campaign. Huge amounts of fleets(one on each of the 12 colonies, plus 4 on the middle planets and another 6 more as 'frontline' main fleets; With more stray ships being gathered by another planet. More Tylium than I could ever need. My persnicketyness and the games lack of a scrap option all mean that older less effective ships all still exist... So they became the ad-hoc fleets to plug gaps. Expendables I can't just let go of, even in battle. As much a me thing as a game mechanic. Besides I'm a gamer that's all in on the underdog side so that was all extra challenge(and for some reason I couldn't shake the song Roads from Portishead while in game last week). Having only 7 ships per fleet is restrictive enough. Officers pretty much all up to level 10 as well. I was beyond happy with the setup. Happy with the way things were. I could have happily sat and played the game and battled away as was for a long long time and not progressed the story to the last mission.  

The main campaign 'war time' fleets were built on 2 Artemis's's's's(Artemiiiii?), 2 Rangers and three Adamant's and a support. All with level 8 to 10 officers. Towards the end I toyed with the idea of replacing the 2 Rangers for 2 Janus but that would leave me with a lot of Rangers floating in space; So replace Rangers with Janus on their loss was a better idea..... Then I didn't loose any.

But I needed to push on with the main story. There was DLC to see. So I did. And it was good. Getting the Galactica and a level 10 officer for a new fleet is no bad thing. That said it's a campaign that ends it's cut-scene and leaves you back to the main menu. That was a little jarring. Also in messing about with having the Galactica it seemed that any fleet it was with had to be manually used in fights. Even if projected losses are 0%(which is a bit annoying, no auto-win option) but I 'get it'. Special ship is special.

I'd heard that there was a carry over for saves into the DLC content so I started the Sin and Sacrifice DLC. It's a more involved storyline that continues on from the main campaign. It takes a save game of your choice to play from. That's a godsend. All carried over except for the end game Galactica and the fleet you have it with plus the officer as well as the end game system. Seeing that I reloaded that end game save normally, moved the Galactica fleet restarted the DLC and saw it was 'removed' from the game (not just due to the end system removal). Reloaded again I moved the fleet out of the end game system and detached the Galactica. Sorted. Importing that new save I got to keep the fleet less the Galactica and even kept the level 10 officer. Sweet. 

Lucky

The DLC does not pull any punches. The opening turns add more enemy fleets than at any time during the main campaign(that I've seen). They hacked, boarded and pressed harder then before.

All in all it felt like the older ships, the bulk of my fleets, were being shown up. Fights were a lot harder and only the newest ships were the ones surviving. Maybe I was too comfortable in my cosy Campaign pocket for too long.

The cylon fleets all had a feeling like I was playing a human player. Always targeting the weakest link and/or the support ship(more than before). Enemy fleets were also (like the campaign end)larger and using better tactics. Not just a difficulty thing but they seemed smarter. It was noticeable; But I've been surviving via more aggression(and maybe its after watching The Sandman that another track is in my head while gaming).

A Casual Carebear Gamer

For the bulk of my fleets after the main campaign and in my current S&S DLC time I'm changing out an Artemis for a full on Jupiter to try and compensate; With the Ranger for Janus swap looking like a logistic nightmare I may have to do. Time and more gameplay will tell.

The Planet Crafter....

Yet more changing, tweaking and gathering of stuffs. As I've said before, it's 'just that type' of game that's fun to be in. So needless to say I've been lost in it's minutia again. More-so in a second 'fresh' game save over the last weekend.

The game is early access but there are some small differences when a patch hits that don't fully translate to older saves. I'm glad to have save continuity and I can live with the disparity. The new areas from the last patch(butterflies and waterfalls) are fine across saves(for me) but the previous 'new' area in the crater is different. My old save has never seen it as the new save has. Early game it's enveloped in sand clouds. Getting into the crater there is a massive asteroid. An Iridium asteroid with lots of Iridium ore and rods. Iridium heaven. The older save 'just' has a small dimple in the center of the crater and a bunch of super alloy spread around. The differences are glaring.

I've no issue with the differences between saves. Early access is early access. I have faith that there will be further changes for all saves for the better. Future technical possibilities aside a second save is worth it. Like seeing a new and improved crater with asteroid.

Again early access is early access.

Checking out the discussions there was a lot of internet chat about a rare larva, lots of comments and complaints at how rare it is....

It didn't take long for me to find them once I knew the spot where they spawn(other dudes crash site). That said I think it was easier for me due to the level of terraforming.  

Besides its far more easy (at least for me) to find the superior 800% larva.

Yea the pink at 700% is the second best stat wise I've seen; But I can get a whole lot more, more quickly. I'll stick with the pink glowing ones. Gathering all larva in a small area seems to give an equal chance of a 'special' larva spawn. So time, gathering and chance..... The better the terraforming % = the better that chance.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

Mini Metro....

A game I've not played in a while(posting last October and again last Feb). Not that I've abandoned the game but Mini Motorways being the newer had taken more of a priority; That's not to say the game has been ignored by the devs either. They've updated a lot both in UI and background tweaks as well as adding new maps and challenges. Mini Motorways in many ways has been a good thing for crossover development and improvements. It's really nice to see such actions as a gamer.

It's the latest patch notes that popped up for Mini Metro that caught my attention. 

Getting back to the game was easy from a gameplay mechanic perspective. One of the new maps needed an increase to the passenger numbers in a previous map to unlock it so I set about the task.

A quick fail state later and I was back in the full swing of it and unlocked on the second attempt.

It doesn't seem so long since I was last in the game but time flies. I'm no master Mini Metro player. No min maxing of routes for perfection. Some maps hold my interest more than others, it can be fun to 'optimize' tactics for gamplay on those for the sake of playing rather than 'beating' the map. Overall it's fun to be back at it.

A game where you can go into maps thinking your gonna do things a certain way only to be left 30 seconds later with a map that looks like you just threw a plate of spaghetti bolognese at a wall. 

There's both little time to react, yet infinite time to ponder. The joy of compounded actions and a pause button.

Each map is so deceptively simple at the start. But the decisions to run one line or two, two locomotives or three or to have a bridge here and a bridge there; Or to hold back a line and a locomotive all does have impact early as well as late. Then there's some random station popup that just screws with you.

Some things work out and others not so much. The games music and sounds as much a helping indicator as a pulsing pressure. What a great game. I must make more time for it.

With a long stint away from the game there are lots of newer maps to work on.

Sniper Elite 5....

Third time lucky. Kind of. I still agree with what I've said about Elite 5(here and here); And to be true I've not got more to add about it. But the game had remained on my mind. In talking to a friend about it I think I softened my view of it. Two thirds of the game or thereabouts remained that I'd not seen. Story and narrative of a character I've brought through the franchises last two iterations. So I got back and played some more. Embracing the 'quirks' and mechanics(intentional or not) as much as I could. Yes I was annoyed at those quirks and I did curse them at times. Why have a shine high wall I can't hop over..... Why have invisible items block a way in an open area. Odd animations etc etc. As the game went on they were not so in my face. Thankfully.

Some more quality assurance and testing with dev action on those would have been nice and gone a long way. But it is what it is. It's new and it's more Sniper Elite content. Again It's not like I was paying for the game; Access to it via Xbox Ultimate(on PC). I may as well get more value from that.

So I pushed on. Completed the campaign, saw the cut-scenes. SE 5 still strikes me as a disappointing game overall. Maps as big(or bigger then 4 but with the design and shape of 3's in ways. Hard to explain how that effects things. Large maps but less of an open world feel. That said there are some great maps; Two early on that stand out are War Factory and Spy Academy. Both are large detailed and allow for a lot of leeway in tactics.

 

Would I recommend 5 above Elite 3 and/or 4. No; But if you've gone through those two games, if you've joined the journey then you may as well play out 5. Obviously it's more easy for me to say that given I have access to it for 'free'. You need to be 'into' the franchise to get the most form 5. 

Am I glad to have seen the end of the game.... Yea. I guess. The story plays out and I can say I've seen and done it. I'm not sure I can say I've enjoyed it but on the flip side I can't say it has a horrendous experience. There's too much 'meh' to be excited but enough of the 'same'ol, same'ol' to ....... like.

SE3, 4 and 5 all have memorable moments. Interesting screenshot content and set pieces I'm glad to have experienced/played out. SE 5 it's not a game I'd go back and play again but then again I've never really played 3 or 4 again either.

SE 5 has mechanics and improvements that I wish were better or reverted(brain squish back to being squishier etc).

I got used to the perk system pretty easily but again it's a system that could have been better if it wasn't for the PvP influences(like not being included at all). It does give an added investment in abilities from a progression perspective....... But makes me think the game wasn't balanced properly re difficulty settings in the first place. It doesn't feel to me like it enhances play-style, it's progression fluff for the sake of it. Too many cooks spoiling the broth.

Ending maps and leveling up, getting popups, unlocks and achievements is all good and fulfilling. Can't complain there. 

The very last mission is 'A' sniper shot. One shot, one kill(achievement trick shots aside) in a lot of ways felt anticlimactic. Given mission 8 and how it played out it should have 'felt' good to get that shot.

Stats on the (xbox/pc ultimate)achi's are telling.

Less than 5% of the playerbase did the last (post campaign) end of the game. Less than 1% did so with the long sniper kill. That's 1% ending the game with a 'real' sniper kill.... One of the few times I'm part of anything that's (top)1%. 

7.69% completed the campaign. Which makes me wonder why 2.69% didn't just go on and do the end boss kill!

7.93% completed mission 8 but 7.69% completed the campaign which is odd as mission 8 is the end of the campaign.... Who( 0.24%). completes mission 8 but not get credit for the campaign? 

Less than 10% of the playebase used sound masking to stealth and kill. I got that one and didn't do it on purpose!

Less than 8% killed 350 enemies with a rifle(and this is a sniper game eh!)

My snobby sniper stat analysis aside mission completion %

Mission 1 - 33.57%

Mission 2 - 24.62%

Mission 3 - 14.24% (did some players skip this?)

Mission 4 - 15.71%

Mission 5 - 13.23%

Mission 6 - 11.23%

Mission 7 - 9.38%

Mission 8 - 7.93%

That's a lot of falloff from start to finish, but that over 66% of players didn't finish mission 1 says a lot about the game and about it's first impressions. 

Battlefield 1....

Sometimes it's fun to just mess about with footage. This time messing about was brought on by coming across the right music track which lead to chopping and changing what was already done.

A Casual Carebear Gamer

The Planet Crafter....

As with many other games of the same 'type' Planet Crafter is one you can spend a lot of time in 'just doing stuff'. From gathering, crafting, rearranging and increasing the transforming numbers to faffing about for the sake of faffing about. All interesting in their own right given the gameplay mood.

My main save is one that's got a lot of everything. Completed and gathered to an extreme extent. The newest content has been well scoured for loot and resources. 

The new 'best' glowing larva are well stocked; So much so that I can have them as decoration and leave a few in the incubator as a form of display. 

The best corner in the shroom river is still the best spawn rate location to gather them.

In looking for more to do I've also done some decentralization of buildings to enhance my 'world' building. Places now 'feel' better, more lived in. More a personal preference than any practical gameplay reason. 

I could have stuffed one location with as many buildings as possible. Or developed a more vertical skyscraper stacking methodology. As I've said before the playerbase sharing their builds shows really interesting innovative 'takes' on things.

With so much done in game I found myself starting again on a new save. To see the game from start again. What a difference a playthough makes. My perceptions of survival in the new save seems a lot less of a problem. Granted the game has had many updates, balance tweaks and changes since I first started; but still it seemed a lot 'easier' now. I'd not to run back to the pod to get air as often, upgrades seemed to 'pop' and unlock quicker. I've a memory of clearing a lot of resources from the start area before even having a lot to show for it. The new save feels like I've barley gathered much; Then again gathering loot from crates and knowing where specific resources are located is always going to make it feel that way. I guess I just 'miss' the 'real' unknown; No wonder new content is lapped up when it hits the game. That said it's been noticeably easier to terraform the planet, blue sky and rain in a few hours with only a 'few' items placed as opposed to days of old save gameplay. I can't help but feel that that lessens the meaningfulness of survival. But I've ploughed on... So much so I'm comfortable and have no need to really push on any further.. That it makes more sense to go back to my main save. Fun enough to restart but no real reason to maintain it further..... Maybe a change is as good as a rest, in short bursts.