Gaming

I just finished Outcast: A New Beginning yesterday, odd but nice AA exploration RPG-lite game which felt under the radar despite good presentation

I'm doing a 180° from sci-fi TPS with modern graphics and starting Victor Vran to scratch the fantasy/Torchlight itch

Celeste crawling my way through 9D, room by room.

Ghostrunner 1/2 First game done normal+hard and second done normal and currently on hard 11.

Both games are quite enjoyable with only mild annoyances at the speed, fluidity and lack of combat complexity, other than that I highly recommended.

Been playing Avowed, and enjoying it a lot. It's a really good AA rpg in the POE universe, and the worldspace is probably the prettiest I've seen in the past couple years. I think the last time a game really 'wow'ed me with visuals, to the point that sometimes I just stopped to appreciate the view, was TW3.

Also played some Avorion, which scraches my Eve Online itch without having to actually play that, and Mabinogi (Frieren crossover event), which was the first game my partner and I played together 15 years ago. It's gotten so many QoL updates in that time that there's almost no 'grind' anymore, and it's so much more laid back than other MMOs, and has so much content.

Im stuck playing single player tarkov. I want to stop, it has even gotten stale, but I can't.

Started the Stanley parable, haven't gotten far yet, but it's rather interesting.

Farming simulator is life probably until actual farming season comes again...

I'm at the end of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. This game is all quantity over quality in my opinion. I also think, the devs never thought if the gazillion minigames or one-off quest mechanics are fun. Just add more and more, so you can brag about how much there is to do in your game. If players enjoy themselves, it's a nice coincidence, but never a goal. I just want this game to be over at this point. The last couple of hours just completely destroyed any remaining interest I had

Tiny Glade. This game is sooo relaxing and fun. Can not recommend enough if you just wanna play something easy, beautiful, and fun after work.

Dug out my PSVita and found out you can still use it on the Playstation store! Down loading Metal Gear Solid VR Missions right now and I'm gonna get my Stealth on.

I finished Arcanum for the first time. It was... okay, I suppose. It really hasn't aged super well, and has some pretty big flaws. The combat is atrocious, and the followers are extremely bare bones. The setting is really enjoyable though, and the character customization options are broad and fun (although the inventory management required to make a technologist work makes it ill advised in practice sadly). In the end I'm glad to have played it but I can't really recommend it without some huge caveats.

For a change of pace I tackled Weird West, which I picked up for cheap on a GOG sale. I'm almost through with it - it's not that long - and it's been enjoyable. I really like the art style and the setting. It perhaps doesn't clear the lofty bar its Dishonored and Prey pedigree sets for it but it's got some pleasant twin-sticks shooter gameplay and some fun imsim elements and choices-matter type decisions. The stealth is pretty bad though. Not sure I'd want to pay full price for it, but definitely do recommend it if you want a shorter game and can find it on sale.

I just finished FFIX, which I liked a lot. I quite liked that it had themes that are usually more common in scifi than fantasy. I am however a bit disappointed with how some characters feel like the get forgotten after encountering them.

I've also started Trails of Cold Steel 2. I have low expectations, after the disappointment that was CS1, but the start seems OK, although I'm always bothered by how the relationship between Rean and his sister is written.

Path of Exile 2

Maybe I'm just bad but it feels sooo much harder than poe1

Divinity: Original Sin

Also "a bit too long and some noticeable jank" but damn if I don't get really into it sometimes. Had to switch to the easier difficulty after something like 25 hours of playtime because I'm not very experienced in these types of RPGs but it's okay because there's still some challenge there, just not enough to really actually worry.

I haven't been able to play much lately due to work, but I did manage to squeeze in some time to 100% Digseum.

I've loved the little genre of 'dig up buried artifacts ' since it was a mini game back in Pokemon Diamond & Pearl, so it was nice to see again.