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The Foxhole Gaming News Discussions / Re: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

« Last post by Doc_Brown on September 22, 2022, 01:32:32 AM »

Recently PCGamer was going into ecstasies over something similar to Cyberpunk, but it was a kind of isometric thing...

Probably The Ascent.  It's certainly visually stunning, but from what I've seen and read neither the gameplay nor story is anything to write home about.  I actually just gave something similar a whirl: Satellite Reign.  It's pitched like the old Syndicate games, but open-world and with more of an emphasis on stealth, so it sounded right up my alley.  Unfortunately, the stealth system seems a bit too unforgiving to me, and when you're forced into combat your squad's AI leaves something to be desired.  That, and the mission design is overly reductive, reusing locations for separate missions (if you look into the details you can multitask, but I spent way too much time sneaking back into the same places two, sometimes three times).

At this point, I'm waiting on Replaced.  While it's inspired by The Last Night and a bit more post-apocalypse than cyberpunk, at least it isn't vaporware like its inspiration turned out to be.  Then again, it did inspire others (like Final Run, a student project), so I suppose it's not completely without worth.

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FPS Games / A note on Near Death...

« Last post by Doc_Brown on September 11, 2022, 01:44:55 AM »

So there's this game on Steam, Near Death, that I've been aware of for quite some time.  In it, you're stranded at an abandoned research base in the Antarctic and have to survive the cold while you put together an escape plan.  I finally got around to trying it out, and I've got to say it does a really good job executing on its theme.   I appreciate the immediacy of the situation, as opposed to games like The Long Dark, and I'm chagrined to admit I even got turned around at one point (it's dark and there's a storm brewing) while moving between locations and literally wound up right back where I started. 

But.

And this is a huge but.

The game makes me sick.  As in, literally sick.  I've been playing games for a couple of decades now, and I've never suffered from motion sickness before, but Near Death is my kryptonite.  Even after turning the head bob all the way down, I can't play for any extended period of time without getting nauseous.  The snow blowing in your face, the wind pushing your character around, I just can't stomach it.  So, much as I'm ashamed to admit it, I'm throwing in the towel.  I'm quitting before completing it (it's not a long game, only a couple of hours), nor do I have any intention of ever playing it again. 

I didn't think it would be fair of me to write a Quickview for it, but I felt it was my duty to at least warn others.  Play at your own risk.

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The Foxhole Gaming News Discussions / Re: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

« Last post by Doc_Brown on September 10, 2022, 12:26:23 AM »

I still want a Witcher game where you play as Letho in Zerrikania, living up to his Kingslayer moniker.  Something like an open-ended Assassin's Creed, where there's a couple of kingdoms and you're tasked with taking out any number of said rulers but it's up to the player to figure out how to pull it off.  And your actions have consequences, like taking them all out leads to anarchy, but leaving these two alive leads to a war between them, etc.

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The Haunt Of Hilarity 2 / Re: Gloomwood

« Last post by Doc_Brown on September 10, 2022, 12:20:01 AM »

I went ahead and picked it up...judging by how long it takes me to get around to actually playing what I've bought, it'll probably be completely finished by then.

Sounds like PCGamer agrees with you: Gloomwood is too good to play unfinished.

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The Foxhole Gaming News Discussions / Re: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

« Last post by Silver Sorrow on September 09, 2022, 11:23:37 AM »

Oh, and by the way...Phantom Liberty is what CDPR calls their only planned DLC.

That's right, that's all we get out of this buggy boondoggle.

Next up: The Witcher 4. After its release, count on a lot of blank looks from the devs whenever someone brings up Cyberpunk. "Cyberwhat?" they'll ask, mystified. "Never heard of it."

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The Haunt Of Hilarity 2 / Re: Gloomwood

« Last post by Silver Sorrow on September 07, 2022, 10:30:25 AM »

I went ahead and picked it up...judging by how long it takes me to get around to actually playing what I've bought, it'll probably be completely finished by then.

I also bought Stray at the same time, which probably says a lot about my state of mind right now.

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The Foxhole Gaming News Discussions / Re: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

« Last post by Silver Sorrow on September 07, 2022, 03:57:48 AM »

It's like Everest: because it's there. 

Really, I just like the combination: cyber stuff (cyberninja killing foes with her mind!), cars, and shooting things. Not to mention a pretty good facegen. While I'm not a big fan of the genre itself, I can see the appeal. Call it a casual interest, I guess.

My biggest problem with the game is the nutcase sartorial style. I had to do a lot of mod-digging to find clothes that complement a stealthy ninja-type...sneaking and retina-searing neon pink hot pants don't exactly go together. Otherwise, I simply like the game. It could have more depth of chargen, and the Johnny Shoehorn parts really drag it all to a slow crawl, but oh well.

Example:

Nothing you see on her is actually obtainable without mods. Not joking.

However: once something better comes along (think: Starfall), I'll move on. Until then, there's nothing really all that interesting to me right now. I've exhausted all interest in Skyrim and Fallout, so...this is what I have left. I was just thinking of what I might do when I'm sick of it, and maybe Red Dead Redemption will do the trick. Or I could try GTA V again. Or maybe something older. Who knows? I really just play games between epic naps to keep from being completely bored. 

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The Foxhole Gaming News Discussions / Re: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

« Last post by Doc_Brown on September 06, 2022, 09:26:42 PM »

The whole cyberpunk genre is somewhat out of my interest range (to put it mildly)

Really?  Then why the interest in Cyberpunk 2077?

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The Foxhole Gaming News Discussions / Re: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

« Last post by Silver Sorrow on September 06, 2022, 07:53:27 PM »

The whole cyberpunk genre is somewhat out of my interest range (to put it mildly), so I'm afraid I can't really recommend anything of that nature with authority. I'm dimly aware of a couple of titles that may be cyberpunk, but I'm not really sure. One was the Shadowrun game with Asian elves, or something. I don't know. Recently PCGamer was going into ecstasies over something similar to Cyberpunk, but it was a kind of isometric thing...something I'm not fond of anyway.

In short: sorry. I am filled with shame.

Still waiting on that Steampunk 1877 game, though. More my speed. Oh, and Plainpunk 1977? Where you spend half the game trying to get your 8-tracks working in time to blow past your ex-girlfriend Debbie's house at 3am blasting the Sex Pistols? Okay, not my thing either.

Btw, here's the list of major 1.6 changes, for all the good it will do the world.

Btw Pt. II: A bunch of new hairs were added to the game. They pretty much suck. That is all for now.

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The Foxhole Gaming News Discussions / Re: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

« Last post by Doc_Brown on September 06, 2022, 05:44:30 PM »

Yet another entry in the "Who Gives A Damn?" category. But...oh, well.

Well, here's a related question for you, then, Silver: what other cyberpunk games would you recommend?  I've been perusing lists lately, and it's surprising how many older titles come up.  Not in the sense that they're classics, necessarily, but just that there don't seem to be as many noteworthy cyberpunk games out there as you'd think.