CharlesReed

CharlesReed, 5 days ago

Sims 3 has the most hours played in my steam library, but I haven't played it recently. I seem to go in cycles where it's all I'll play for a few weeks, and then I won't touch it for several months, and then I'll come back to it again. It's a great game to have mindless fun in, and last I checked, the mod community was still going strong.

CharlesReed, 7 days ago

I finished Arthur's act for We Happy Few, and now I kind of remember why I stopped playing the first time. Just finishing the first act feels like a complete game in itself, and it definitely takes up enough time to be a complete game, especially with how large the map is and with as many side quests as there are. It feels rather daunting to start all over again from scratch as Sally. I thought about playing another game before starting Sally's story, but I'm afraid that I'll do the same thing I did last time and end up not finishing it again.

CharlesReed, 8 days ago

People have always blamed video games for violence, even all the way back to Columbine. This isn't a new argument.

CharlesReed, 8 days ago

Every time I think we've moved passed this as an argument, it pops back up. They'll blame anything but those they should be holding accountable.

CharlesReed, 8 days ago

Oh, I'm not disagreeing at all. Even with all the evidence that video games aren't the problem, it's a convenient scapegoat to point a finger at while ignoring those who actually need to be held accountable.

CharlesReed, 8 days ago

It's still not a convincing one though. If it wasn't this weapon used, it would have been another, regardless of where the perp first saw it. I'm not a fan of Activision, but this isn't on them.

CharlesReed, 9 days ago

Me over here still messing around in Sims 3

CharlesReed, 8 days ago

Sims 3, with all its faults, is the golden age. Long live the mods.

CharlesReed, 8 days ago

I did the same thing. It may have been because there weren't as many dlcs and expansions, but it just felt really dull. Plus it didn't have the completely open world like 3 did. Sitting through all those loading screens every time you wanted to go somewhere was a pain.

CharlesReed, 14 days ago

I made it about 3/4ths of the way through my second play of Lies of P before I decided I had to take a mental sanity break. I don't think I've ever played a game that has made me so angry and frustrated because I can't change the core trajectory of the story.
::: spoiler .
After learning the lore in the first run and actually hearing the King of Puppet's dialogue during his boss fight this time, I feel extra bad that I complained so much about it in my first playthrough. Geppetto can go fuck himself. I am begging this game to let me side with Romeo.
:::

To fill the Lies of P void, I decided to take another go at We Happy Few. I started a playthrough a few years ago and finished the first act, Arthur's story, but never got around to the rest of the game. I don't feel like I got to fully immerse myself in the world last time, so I'm going to take my time this round.

Diablo 4: Season 4 started this week, and I'm going with a fire/ice based sorcerer build. I'm liking the changes that they made to crafting and modifying weapons, and I've already made it to the paragon boards. I also got one of my friends playing with me this season with a similar build, so it'll be extra fun.

CharlesReed, 13 days ago (edited 13 days ago)

Previously I saved my good rolled aspects “for later”… and later was usually beyond my playtime for a season :-)

Oh yeah, this 100%. I did the same thing, where I'd save aspects for when I'd get a "better" piece of armor/weapon. I'm enjoying a much cleaner stash.

(edit: spelling)

CharlesReed, 13 days ago

They made a lot of changes this season to weapon crafting and modifying that's made it much easier than previous seasons. There's also a couple things that they made available across all difficulty tiers instead of the two higher ones. I haven't looked into specific specs, but I believe they've also buffed a bunch of the skills.
I don't know about mtx, but the paid battle pass is really only cosmetic stuff and doesn't affect core gameplay, if that's what you're worried about. There are things called "smoldering ashes" which serve as season permanent buffs, but they are available on the free battle pass, so everyone gets those.

CharlesReed, 16 days ago

This is why I like GamePass. There's a bunch of games on there that I probably wouldn't play otherwise. And yeah, they're not all great, but I've found some that I really enjoy.

CharlesReed, 21 days ago

After 3.5 weeks and 140 hours, I finally finished Lies of P. The optional final boss was giving me so much trouble that it took me three days to get to a place where I was lucky enough to beat it. I told myself I wasn't going to play new game+ anytime soon, but towards the end of the week I ended up starting another round, so I guess I'm technically still working on this game.

Since I finally finished Lies of P (for the first time), I did a little cathartic rip and tearing with Doom '16. After all the trouble I had, it was very nice annihilating enemies with one BFG shot.

I've played Close to the Sun before on PC and liked it a lot, and it was on GamePass so I decided to play again. But it either wasn't as good as I remember or is just a bad console port. I'm leaning towards just being a bad port, because I like the story, and I like the characters (even though I have my very strong stance that an only child wrote this), but there was a lot of jankiness and jerkiness that was not present on the PC. Still finished it though, since it's not a very long game.

CharlesReed, 23 days ago

The IP reason is such a stupid argument in my opinion, because most of the time the company either ends up doing fuck all with it, or teases with a possible return only to say "lol jk nevermind".

CharlesReed, 26 days ago

Same here, I finished Ghostwire: Tokyo for the first time a few weeks ago and have always been a fan of The Evil Within. This sucks.

CharlesReed, 28 days ago

I'm still working on Lies of P. I'm starting to feel like Jack Torrance in The Shining, but I am just half a chapter away from the end. Currently working on getting past the mid-chapter boss.

CharlesReed, 28 days ago

Yep, her second phase is giving me a lot of trouble.

CharlesReed, 28 days ago

I assume you use block/perfect block to reflect? I've been using the Aegis legion arm to "block", so I guess I better brush up on actual blocking.

CharlesReed, 28 days ago

Nice! Thanks for the tip.

CharlesReed, 1 month ago

I'm convinced they would have done so much better if it hadn't been Epic exclusive. I know more than one person who won't play it on PC because of this.
It's a great game otherwise.

CharlesReed, 1 month ago

I'm glad you enjoyed Alan Wake 2! It is definitely a great game.

Still working on Lies of P. This game is taking me way too long to finish. I am still making progress, and I'm still having a good time, but I think I'm going to find a shooter style game to add to the mix so I don't get too burnt out or too bored with the combat style.

CharlesReed, 1 month ago

Finally finished out Diablo 4: Season 3, again after finding a group to tag along with to fight Duriel. I am very glad Diablo 4 doesn't make you complete every objective to get rewards and move on to the next chapter like 3 does, otherwise I'd have to deal with FOMO. Speaking of Diablo 3...

Diablo 3: Season 31 started last week, so I've shifted my Diablo focus to that. I'm going with a witch doctor build this round, and have already made my way through chapter 3.

Still working on Lies of P. I've been replaying earlier sections in order to level up some more, because fuck the King of Puppets and it being a two part fight. I just got into the weapon assembly aspect, so I've been playing around with different builds to see what works for me. And I think this game is teaching me button control and strategy? I'm used to panicky button mashing, but I've quickly learned I cannot do that here. Still, I'm happy with what little progress I've made this week.

CharlesReed, 1 month ago

Managed to get all the campaign achievements for Ghostwire: Tokyo, including a really, really stupid RNG one. There's an extra mode called The Spider's Thread, but I don't think I'm going to focus on that anytime soon. I need a break from Tokyo lol.

I wanted something that wasn't very combat heavy next and picked Kona. For the most part it felt like Kholat meets The Painscreek Killings - a fun little detective walking sim that just lets you loose without really telling you where to go or what to do, all while taking place during a blizzard. I liked wandering around and trying to figure things out myself, and the narrator didn't seem too overbearing. I had a good time, up until the ending. It felt rushed and just kind of... happened. Like one moment you're going along in the forest looking for stuff, and then all of the sudden, here's an explaination for everything in a short scene! Now literally run to the end! Bye! I was hoping for something a little more drawn out.

I'm not really into soulslike games, but since Lies of P was on GamePass, I thought I might as well try it out. I'm actually having a good time playing it. I'm usually not great at soulslike since they can be frustrating, and I'm not a fan of "die in order to learn", but I'm making progress and the story is kind of interesting. I really like the atmosphere, very steampunk vibes. Some of the characters could have had a little more effort put into them, but that's a minor complaint overall.

CharlesReed, 1 month ago

Absolutely, that's one of the reasons I try to mix up my gaming between longer games that I know will take me a while and short games I get through in a night. I knew Ghostwire would take me longer because it's open world (the main story itself is kind of short, but I'm a completionist who has to get everything collectible), and I figure Lies of P will take me a while just from dying and restarting a bunch.

CharlesReed, 1 month ago

Are you referring to the statis? All of the Dead Space game have that feature, even the first one.

CharlesReed, 1 month ago

Still working on clearing the map in Ghostwire: Tokyo. There is just so, so much. But even as I'm going through and tying up lose ends, I am loving all the little easter eggs. There's references to previous Tango games, Resident Evil, horror movies, Wizard of Oz of all things... Also, this game has a serious thing for aliens and UFOs? I'm not sure why though. Still fun, even though some tasks have been a little time consuming.

CharlesReed, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago)

I'm a bit if the opposite, I seem to thrive on games that have a lot of collectibles and side missions/tasks because it turns into mindless fun between emails.
But I get where you're coming from, and I think that one of the game's pitfalls is the collectibles/side missions to main story ratio. Like finding the stickers/graffiti has been the most difficult for me, so I probably could have done without that one. The relics are really cool, and I love reading about them, but they kind of have a weird spread over the map.
I think the devs could have either made the map smaller (not that it's that large to begin with) with less "stuff", since you don't unlock at least half the map anyway if you just stick the main storyline, or they could have padded out or lengthened the main story so you do unlock all the map before you get to the point where you move "off map". (Edit to add) It seems like the devs got so caught up in creating a realistic version of Shibuya that it kinda got away from the main point and plot of the game.

CharlesReed, 1 month ago

This game gets a lot of (rather justified) flak, but I'll be honest, the first time I played this, it scared the bejeesus out of me. So much so that whenever I would play other games and the lights would start to flicker, my first thought would be "Fuck, the manpigs are coming."

CharlesReed, 1 month ago

After weeks of playing Diablo 4: Season 3 off and on, I've finally hit level 100 (yes, I know, I'm incredibly slow at leveling). I've got one objective left to complete the season, but right now I'm focusing on continuing to level up my glyphs before I go showdown with Duriel or Uber Lilith.

I've been really interested in Ghostwire: Tokyo for a while now, especially since it's made by the same developer at The Evil Within. Even though the game needs a little polishing (it took me way too long to get the controller settings adjusted to something I could comfortably use; idk what they were thinking with the defaults), I am having so much fun with it. But I kinda had to stop reading all the animals' minds for a little bit because it was making me sad. Hearing how some of them are confused and missing their owners was hitting me right in the feels. I've also been playing it with Japanese audio, which is really great and immersive, except for in the boss fights when they're just casually dropping lore but I'm too busy trying to stay alive to read the subtitles. Right now, I've finished up the main story line and am now just mopping up the rest of the map. But there's a lot, so I might be floating around Tokyo for a while.

CharlesReed, 2 months ago

I feel you. Whenever I mentioned where I'm from it's always either "Oh, y'all so crazy and stupid 🤪" or "If you don't like it, just move🙄". Like how narrow minded and naive can you be? It's almost as if others like to downplay and ignore the work you put in to fighting for basic human rights.

CharlesReed, 2 months ago

I have various lists here and there, like one for everything I have on Steam, one for Epic, one for GOG, another for games I'm playing through GamePass.
Don't even get me started with the physical binders I have dedicated to achievement hunting, maps, and notes. So, I get it.

CharlesReed, 2 months ago

I've been meaning to play Amnesia: The Bunker for a while now, since I love the series. You're in a tighter space than the previous installments, and it doesn't go as quite deep into the lore as Rebirth does, but it felt so much more like an Amnesia game then Rebirth did, since you're learning the story through the notes and whatnot, and there's not really any other characters to interact with for the most part. My first playthrough was super stressful because of the fuel and shitty flashlight situation, and there were a couple of times I didn't think I would actually end up finishing the game. But through the power of crawling around in the dark Alien Isolation style, I did! After finishing, I was going to set this aside until I saw all the features I could change and switch up on a ng+ customized difficulty, which I thought was really cool, so I ended up playing another round for some mild achievement hunting.

During a monthly get together with a few of my friends, we played Worms W.M.D. as a filler between conversation. I had never played any of the Worms games before, but this one was so much fun. I'm sure part of it had to do with us not really knowing the game and just fucking up trying to learn it, but it was still a good time all around.

CharlesReed, 2 months ago

Village was already kind of an open world (albeit was a small one), so I think they could pull it off.

CharlesReed, 2 months ago

One of the reasons I replayed Dead Space (2023) was to get the ng+ ending. Did I get all the Marker collectables that I was supposed to gather? Yes. Did I know I had to put them in a special place before leaving the Ishimura? No. No, I did not. So guess who's playing Dead Space again? (Yes, I know I could just YouTube it, but that's not the point.) Anyway, still having fun with this game.

I had an itch to replay Resident Evil 5, so I did. I had no idea that there was an update that made all the QTEs optional (except for some of the bosses). But apparently there was. I'm surprised that almost 15 years later they made a change to it. But thank the elder gods they did, because the QTEs during the cutscenes always made me anxious, especially towards the end.

Played a demo for a game called Haunted House Renovator. It was actually kind of lengthy for a demo and pretty fun. It will be interesting seeing the full product when it comes out.

CharlesReed, 2 months ago

Totally agree! I love how faithful the devs were to the original, and all the enhancements they made, story or otherwise, only add to it imo. Although I think my favorite thing is that they gave Isaac is his voice, and with the original voice actor from 2 & 3 at that.

CharlesReed, 2 months ago

Alan Wake is actually back on Steam! Remedy was able to work something out with the music rights (the reason why it was delisted) that put it back on virtual storefronts.

CharlesReed, 2 months ago

I'm despising the growing trend of devs/publishers not offering a physical option for consoles (looking at you, Alan Wake 2). I like having the disc on my shelf, especially if it's a series.

CharlesReed, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago)

I've been replaying Dead Space (2023) on ng+. This game is my life now.

I found a fun little walking mystery sim on GamePass called Return to Grace. It had a pretty neat little story for it being only a couple hours long. The ending (or at least the one I got) was a bit obvious, but I had a good time, and there were some nice screenshots I got out of it.

Also of course have been playing Diablo 4: Season 3, but nothing notable is going on there.

CharlesReed, 3 months ago

I have one season objective left for Diablo 3: Season 30, and it's to complete another conquest. All three that I have left are driving me nuts because I just am not fast enough and/or get bad layouts. But I still have another month or so left before the end of the season, so I might be ok.

I finished my first run of Dead Space (2023), and it is absolutely amazing. I could rant on and on about it, but for the sake of sanity I'll just say, this is probably one of the best and most faithful remakes of a game I have ever played. They lift so much from the original, and every change in the story only adds to it, or makes it better. Plus, while I understand that the original never intended Isaac to talk, I love that they gave him his voice (with the same VA from 2&3, I might add, which makes it even better imo). It makes him seem more like a part of the Kellion crew rather than just some dude running around being told what to do. It's all just chef's kiss.

For this next week, I think I might find a quick one/two night game before I go into ng+ for Dead Space '23. I need a breather before I reboard the Ishimura.

CharlesReed, 3 months ago

I always say that the Mad Max video game is my comfort game, and it's very much true. For me there's just something so relaxing and enjoyable about just driving across the wasteland, going from site to site gathering scrap and taking down camps. It always puts me in a better mood.

CharlesReed, 3 months ago

Alan Wake 2 is an amazing game, I'm glad you're enjoying it. There's nothing that I've played from Remedy that hasn't been great.

I finally finished Vampyr, and I actually managed to get an ending that I hadn't before, so that was pretty nice.

Diablo 4: Season 3 - Nightmare dungeons/vaults for days. But I'm on the verge of getting sick of it, so I'm going to take a little step back and switch my focus back to D3 (which I've been neglecting) for a few days.

My next game outside of Diablo is going to be the Dead Space remake. I've put it off long enough, and I'm ready to visit the Ishimura again.

CharlesReed, 3 months ago

I've been with a company that when things were down, they didn't layoff anyone but just stopped hiring and higher management took pay cuts. I've also been with a company that would do a round of layoffs almost every time they were in the red. Guess which company I enjoyed working for more and had more positive morale overall.

CharlesReed, 3 months ago

Diablo 3: Season 30 - Gave up on the new Monk build since it had very precise stats that I'm currently too lazy to works towards. I'm still progressing with my current build, so I'll keep it for now.

Diablo 4: Season 3 - Played around with the Lunar event that started this week. It was surprisingly easy, and I got through all the rewards in a couple nights.

Vampyr - I forgot how long this game is.

CharlesReed, 3 months ago

Oregon Trail on Apple IIGS.
We also had Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, but I wasn't as interested in that as much.

CharlesReed, 3 months ago

Diablo 3: Season 30 - Still working on the Destroyer chapter. Thinking about trying out a different build for my Monk, so I'm farming Nephalem Rifts and gambling blood shards at Kadala for specific legendary items.

Alan Wake 2 - Finally finished The Final Draft aka new game plus. Very happy that I replayed it immediately, because the ending made it worth it. Even with all the problems this game has, I'm eager to see what comes next. There's been a patch that just came out that apparently fixes a lot of bugs, but I finished the game too soon to see any of it.

Diablo 4: Season 3 - Working on Chapter 4 of the season journey and my endgame Barbarian build. Finally moved myself to World Tier 3 because things were getting too easy. I did have a little trouble until I got better gear, and now things are back to being easy again lol. If I get too comfortable, I might have to attempt the capstone dungeon for World Tier 4 to humble myself. Either that or face one of the endgame bosses on my own.

Vampyr - Been having a shit couple days and decided the best way to combat it was by being a moody vampire doctor running around London.