Let's Talk About Games

Like a photograph issued from Buckingham Palace, the weekend is gone, and it's time to regale us with tales of what you've been playing over the last few days. And more importantly, do you think it's any good?

Okay so work with me a little here. You've just been tasked with recommending a game to someone who's got very little experience with gaming.

Maybe they're a kid who's just starting out, or maybe they've just never had much interest in videogames.

What one game are you giving to them to show what videogames can be

Morrowind is an Open-World Fantasy RPG, the third entry in the mainline Elder Scrolls series. Popular and well received on release, going on to sell more than 4 million copies. Nowadays it is often seen as clunky and difficult to get into, but those who put in the work are rewarded with one of the best games of all time.

I love this game, but I didn't always. Skyrim has been my favorite game since I first played it a decade ago, so of course I wanted to play the previous games in the series. But everything in Morrowind went against my natural instincts. Quests felt confusing, fog is everywhere, and despite being open world you are usually pushed to travel through narrow trenches. There are guards in the main city, who once offended, will NEVER forgive you. What ended up working for me was a full focus on the main quest. Once I'd defeated the evil powers of Dagoth I felt like Vvardenfell was truly mine.

I wouldn't feel right making a post about TES 3 without mentioning the alienness of everything. Most other Elder Scrolls games are pretty close to the standard fantasy setting. Morrowind is not. Everything is bug or crab like, the palletes are dismal, and the people are strange and just as hostile as the environment. You really feel like you exploring a foreign land. Its something I hope they recapture in the next TES game (if it ever comes out)

What I love about Bethesda RPGs is that they are first person, and focused on completing well written quests. We are starting to see this genre take off, and some good prospects are releasing soon. But the selection is still limited. If you enjoy this style of gameplay its worth learning the jank to experience the wonder.

Howdy all! Just finished another shift diggin' for gold, and me beard is itchin' for a new vein to explore. What ~~mines~~ games have you been ~~spelunkin~~ playin' this week? Found any diamonds in the rough? Let's swap some nuggets of wisdom in the comments below!

As their name suggests, forever (or evergreen) games are games that don’t have a finale or culmination, as in “The End”. These games have a very high replayability factor (meaning we enjoy playing them over and over again).

Forever games are also timeless. We can pick up these games anytime , be it the day they were released, or a few years later, and play them for months or years. We can even stop playing for a while, pick them up again years later, and they’d still be fun and relevant.

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Yay!

Just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for joining this lil' community to talk about video games. I'm surprised by how well it's going so far and I've enjoyed having, and reading some really good conversations about games.

So yeah. Thank you for posting, commenting and just being here, and here's to the next 200.

The latest reports are that Sony is getting ready to launch a pro version of the PS5 in the coming year or so. With the PS4 Pro i felt like the extra power made sense; The 4 was a relatively underpowered console when it launched, and the extra juice made sense for players who wanted more bang for their buck.

A potential PS5 Pro doesn't seem to have the same 'value-add'. For many the console has only just become readily available, and with the long-tail the PS4 has had, some would argue we've still not seen the best of what the base model can do.

Thoughts? Are sony overestimating the market for a PS5 2.0? Am I wrong for thinking this is a simple cash-grab? Would you buy an upgraded PS5?

Growing up in the nineties, I rented (or my parents did) a lot of videogames. Namely for the PS1 and the Nintendo 64.

The village rental store would also be the place I effectively traded in games I didn't want anymore (they also let you buy their older games).

What games did you used to rent when you were younger, and did you have any go-to games that you remember fondly?

Monday. Bit rubbish isn't it? Oh well, at least the sun's out.

What games have you been playing over the last seven days?

Aside from a better name that SwitchU?

I loaded up on my Switch for the first time in what feels like a year, and as much as I loved it, it feels as old as it is. What do you want to see from Nintendo with regards to their next console? What launch lineup would you like to see? And do you think we'll see them reinvent the wheel with regards to the hybrid console, or will we just get a more powerful console?

A few years ago I messed up my shoulder pretty bad from work. I had to see a few different doctors and go to physical therapy. The situation made me feel very depressed and low energy. I spent a lot of time just sitting on the couch and feeling sorry for myself.

While browsing Reddit I came across a game called "Brawl Quest" (not to be confused with "Brawl Stars"). It was an easy to play beat'em up and I could play it one handed. I ended up putting a ton of time into it and learned a lot about Filipino culture (country of the devs.) Just having something I could do and be good at while only having to use my uninjured arm really lifted my spirits and helped motivate me to get up and do things. I put a ton of hours into the game over the course of a few weeks, maxing out several characters and beating all of the content the game had to offer. I really think it helped me get healthy faster, both physically and mentally.

Just curious to hear if anyone here has similar stories.

I've been using GGapp to track my game playing for the last few years. Anyone else track their games, and if so, what service do you use?

A new week doth commence, and with it, the chronicle of our digital exploits! Upon the illuminated screen, I have ventured into fantastical realms and embarked upon valiant quests. Though I cannot boast of jousting tournaments or fire-breathing dragons, mine adversaries have been no less formidable - cunning puzzles and pixelated foes.

What manner of digital tapestry have you woven, I ask?!

What have you been playing over the last seven days?

I've got a few so I'll kick us off.

Outer Wilds

I listen to this one an awful lot, and from start to finish, which is pretty rare for me when it comes to soundtracks. The song '14.3 Billion Years' still gets me even today and the games main theme is one or the more memorable bits of gaming music I've ever encountered.

Return of the Obra Dinn

Atmosphere. The music goes an awful long way to setting a games atmosphere and this soundtrack is no different. I can't necessarily listen to this on repeat like Outer Wilds, but when I do listen to it I'm immediately catapulted back to being on that damn ship.

Tearaway

This one is just disgustingly charming in a way that only a game for a Media Molecule game could be.

We've all got them, gaming pet-peeves. Maybe it's the unskippable cutscene, or the poorly placed checkpoint that means you've got to sit through the aforementioned cutscene once again. Maybe it's the end-game boss with a surprise second health-bar, or the random difficulty spike that doesn't feel fair.

What's on your videogame sh*t list?

It's Monday morning, and that can only mean one thing. Yup, time to ~~work on that get-rich-quick scheme you've been cooking up~~ talk about the games you've been playing over the last seven days.

I'll kick us off with...Hollow Knight

Yeah, this is literally the only game I've played all week. It's absolutely dominating my free time in a way that very few games do and every single time I think about taking an evening off it draws me back in. I'm absolutely loving it.

That said, I'm starting to wonder if I have the sheer ability to get through the game. I'm not all that good at the combat, and unlike games like Elden Ring or Sekiro there's only so much I can do to mitigate my own failings by increasing my health gauge or improving at one specific part of combat. In short, I've got to git gud.

I'll kick us off with a game I genuinely love, Virginia.

Virginia has this insanely smooth art and presentation style that I just can't get enough of. Each scene oozes style, and each filmic cut makes me think I'm playing through some stylish detective film.

The game has zero dialogue, so the entire plot hinges on the games ability to tell it's story through relatively limited animation and a brilliant use of both music and direction.

It bounced off for a lot of people, but for me it's one of my favourite entries in the 'walking sim' genre.

What about you, what games do you think deserve more love than they originally got?

So I'm currently playing through Hollow Knight, and two months ago I played through (and loved) Ori and the Blind Forest.

Two Metroidvanias inside two months. Okay I hear you ask, what of it?

Well, those are the first Metroidvanias (or 'Search Action games, for those in the know) that I've ever really played for longer than ten minutes. To say I bounce off those sorts of games would be an understatement.

So, as you've gotten older, have you noticed that your tastes in games has evolved in any meaningful way?

Not necessarily true to the rest of the video, but the fast travel in Spider-Man 2 is worthy of a video all its own.

A follow up to a previous post:

Eeek. Writer and narrative designer Rhianna Pratchett has kindled a little frail hope that we might one day play another brand new Discworld videogame, while responding to earlier comments from Perfect Entertainment co-founder Gregg Barnett about who exactly owns the intellectual property rights to Perfect's old Discworld adventure titles from the 90s.

Barnett made these comments during a lengthy interview with Time Extension about the creation of the 90s games. In between the anecdotes about collaborating with Terry Pratchett and getting cussed out by John Cleese, he dangled the carrot of a potential re-release, explaining that the key problem is that half the intellectual property rights for the games have now reverted to the British monarchy under UK law. To quote Night Watch, "two types of people laugh at the law: those that break it and those that make it."

...

"Whenever something closes in the UK, intellectual property rights revert 50% to the original creator and 50% to the crown, which is King Charles. So that's the two owners of the games. So yes, there have been discussions and something may be happening down the track - a rerelease or a remaster. But it's obviously a complicated process when you're dealing with the crown."

...

"We only have rights to the characters, not the games themselves," Pratchett told PCGamer following Barnett's statements. "If we did have the rights, then this would be a whole lot easier. We're genuinely not sure who does own the rights because studios have been bought and sold over the years, along with IP.

"Last time we investigated this, they were thought to be with Sony, but that's never been fully confirmed," she continued. "We'd certainly love to see the old games rereleased. It's news to us if His Majesty owns 50% of the Discworld games. Who knows what might happen if that's really the case. Maybe he's a fan!"

In the same interview with Time Extension, Barnett broached the ambition of making a brand new Discworld game, but suggested that this would be impossible, again due to legal obstacles. "Unfortunately, before Terry passed away, him or his agent or somebody had signed off every property to either ITV or Prime or the BBC literally across the board," he said.

Pratchett says this is incorrect, however. "No one has signed off everything to anybody," she told PCG. "We still own the IP rights... The reason why Gregg got the rights to do the games was that he came with solid ideas which fitted the nature of Discworld. The simple reason that there's never been a fully fledged Discworld game since then is no one has come to us with the right ideas and the resources to actually make it happen."

I find many Japanese game titles (in English) cringy. Especially the excessive use of certain words like "re", "code" and "zero". This seems to have gotten worse in recent years.

I guess it is supposed to be cool or edgy for some people.

It's Monday morning, and that can only mean one thing. Yup, it's time to think on those troublesome life choices that ultimately led to your current life situation. Oh and I guess it's also time to tell us what you've been playing over the last seven days.

So to quote the merchant from Resident Evil 4...

What're ya ~~buyin~~' playing?

Two initially jump to mind for me.

Outer Wilds took me three attempts to get into, but when it did...wow. Its a game that I is definitely more than the sum of it's parts, and one that I'd argue is genuinely beautiful in it's story and how it tells that story.

That said, once you've worked out the games mystery; it's story, it's tricks, timing and logistics, I wonder how more pull the game would have.

Return of the Obra Dinn is a game that I spend a lot of my time thinking about. The music, the atmosphere and of course, the games moment to moment gameplay.

Those puzzles will likely (hopefully) melt from my mind at some point, but even then I fear that initial sense of excitement and intrigue will be lost.

As much as I plan on going back to it at some point, I'm not sure a game of it's nature is all that well suited to additional playthroughs unfortunately.

Despite everything you might read from gaming journos about corporate greed destroying the gaming industry I still think it's an amazing time to be into video games. I'm absolutely spoiled for choice with games to play and I think it's just down to not caring about online multiplayer or getting caught up in marketing hype.

You don't have to pay through the nose to buy a fancy machine to play half-finished blockbusters, there are decades of classics that you can still play. Borrow a friend's old console and play some old games-of-the-year, find some random classics on Humble Bundle or GOG, see what random freebies I've posted in [email protected], stick an emulator on your phone or find one that runs in a web browser.

Example: I played Metroid Prime after seeing a Lemmy post talking about. I could either:

• Dig out a GameCube or buy a Wii on eBay for £5 and find a copy of the game at CEX if I fancy the retro experience
• Buy the remastered Switch version if I fancied splashing out
• Just pirate a ROM if I feel rebellious
• Dump my own ROM and play it on PrimeHack if I feel like tinkering

This is just one example of a great game that passed me by, there are thousands of others out there. We have a crazy amount of choice not only of what to play but how we choose to play it. The bittersweet part is that this could all change so enjoy it while you can!

I'm replaying SUPERHOT (again) and it's got such a great core mechanic that I can't believe we've not seen more developers use it, or build around it.

What game mechanics seemed like they'd be the next big thing but ....didn't?