Hm, maybe it’s time to get back into Duskers! I feel like a sequel is a bit unnecessary as the original is so tight and intentional that a follow-up can only dilute what’s there? But I’m ready to be surprised!
I’ve been playing Titanium Court which is a roguelike with a really strong aesthetic and fun writing. Does some weird meta things with the narrative that have been really engaging but the core gameplay isn’t super exciting. There’s a lot to do and find, with lots of strange mysteries to be “solved”.
In other news I have a spare Steam key for Control: Ultimate Edition if anyone wants it!
I have been replaying MechWarrior Mercenaries 5, which I never finished, in the wake of a bunch of expansion content releasing for it that HOPEFULLY fixes the “Infinite spawning enemies behind you” problem the game initially had.
It’s been fun, mostly. A little clunky compared to how elegant and sleek MechWarrior 5: Clans is, but that’s actually quite thematic. We will see if I can stick with it this time… there are a few rough edges, but the big hurdle is getting out of Lights (which are exceptionally fragile) and into Mediums.
I also restarted Final Fantasy 12: Zodiac Age which I don’t think I finished? I know I came close… anyway, the early game is pretty okay.
AND I picked up Hi Fi Rush, which is delightful. It’s not Rez, but it’s pretty good. Remembering to Dodge is tricky.
So I finished MechWarrior 5: Clans last month and found it okay but it doesn’t give me the MechWarrior 4 feeling I just miss.
I couldn’t really lose myself in the immersion because there were too many fights in every mission. I killed a lance and they landed another one, after that another one and at some point you think why don’t they wait a bit to time the reinforcements and land all 5 (or more) lances at once to crush me?
I would have preferred fewer fights but harder ones. That the wins feel more deserved. I remember in the MW4 addon the arena offered free for all fights and they made you work for it.
Oh and the level design was extremely gating. Making most levels just one long way to follow or threatening me with losing the mission when I step out of bounds did not help with the immersion of being a MechWarrior.
I felt that Mechwarrior 4 did that way better but tbf I haven’t played it in one or two decades.
So MW5 Clans is a 7/10 game for me. I just wanted more. At least it didn’t teleport enemies in.
Yeah, 7/10 feels right. Mercs 5 feels a bit grittier, but in both the good and bad ways.
And the teleporting baddies is super annoying.
I also found M5:Clans to be brutally difficult. Even on Story mode, that last mission I only won by cheezing the HELL outta it (basically hiding behind a gate that was tall enough the dropship’s guns would hit the gate, butI could shoot its landing struts safely).
I found the Ghost Bears missions were better overall, and the Wolf ones were my favourites but, again, a bit too hard, and that final boss fight was ridiculous. Five attempts on the easiest difficulty before I stumbled into a win.
Oh, and I dislike how the only viable option is to take the heaviest metal you can. I love a Kodiak as much as the next guy but the game should allow me to take a Mad Dog or Timber Wolf and still do okay.
So yeah this last mission was ridiculous because it was the only mission in the whole campaign without an ammo crate. I ran dry and had to send my team mates ahead and they are kinda bad at getting shit done, so it was weird hiding while watching them being bad.
I also played mostly on story mode because I felt all the work needed to be done by me. My star was relatively useless and hiding behind them was sucky too.
And then the huge amount of enemies you have to take down is really grinding you down and at some point you die.
It felt to me like the only viable weapon were lasers, but yeah you needed as much metal and armor as possible because they kept coming and coming. I would love to know how many lances / stars my little star killed in the whole campaign
I played it “free” on game pass, so I didn’t have the DLCs.
2 Pair Decks are pretty okay.
But the really insane ones are High-Cards.
I once had a deck optimized to include almost only Aces. That was a fun one. But the insane scores were mostly High Card or pair with some wird joker ping-pongs.
It rarely happens though. I now only play the occasional game.
My favorite base decks are either the one with only 2 suits or the one with no face cards. Those come with some obvious “best hands” …
Getting back on paradox map-painting games. I stopped after getting into board gaming and now I’m easing back to it. It’s a new gen of titles so I’m getting used to the new ones.
Like, I skipped from Hearts of Iron 2 to Hearts of Iron 4.
