What are you playing right now?

[Minty]

I've been playing Breath of the Wild for "over 85 hours", and am about to finish it off (heading to Hyrule castle to kill Ganon after work tomorrow).

It's a very good game (I don't often play anything for longer than 30 hours without getting bored), but it's not perfect. Stamina is an annoying mechanic that just serves to slow you down for no reason. Breakable weapons are annoying, not because you lose good weapons (I never had problems finding more weapons as good as the ones I lost), but because you constantly have to pause, go into the inventory, and select a new weapon. I've heard people say constantly changing weapons encourages variety, but it doesn't really, because I managed to go through the entire game using nothing but single handed clubs/swords and arrows. In fact, mostly arrows. Having to cook things is annoying, just because I find crafting boring in all games, and in this one it's pretty much mandatory if you want any kind of healing items. The difficulty curve is odd, because it starts off difficult and gets easier and easier, until by the end you're running around like a god hacking guardians and lynels to bits with ease. Also, it rains too much.

These are all minor criticisms, though, and I'd still give it 9/10 for the overall experience. There was a lot to like in the game, but it annoys me that everything has to be open world these days. I don't really see the appeal - the "freedom" is an illusion, because both open world and linear games have a finite amount of content, and it really doesn't matter what order you do it in. Open world just gives you the "freedom" to wander around pointlessly and miss half the good stuff. Side quests and collect-a-thons are completely unrewarding filler unless you're an OCD completionist. All the best parts of the game save for one or two (the dragon on Mt Lanaryu, Eventide island) were the main quest.

[Knaight]

I was looking at Slay The Spire and it looks fun-ish, but the art style and complete (almost) lack of animation has turned me off a bit.
Any other creative card games out there (I have played Hearthstone).

I'd recommend trying it anyways - the animations actually flow pretty well in practice (assuming that you haven't deliberately turned them off to speed the game up), and it's much more animated than Hearthstone. It's also a serious candidate for the best roguelike I've ever played, so there's that.

[tonberrian]

I was looking at Slay The Spire and it looks fun-ish, but the art style and complete (almost) lack of animation has turned me off a bit.
Any other creative card games out there (I have played Hearthstone).

Mmm. Elder Scrolls Legends is basically Hearthstone but Better, but I wouldn't necessarily call it creative, just very solid. Though splitting up the field into two parts with different effects is pretty ingenious.

[oxybe]

So I got a notification today on my phone.

"A Steam game on your wishlist is on sale".

Oh boy, I said... I have some disposable income.

Civ V. Civ V is on sale. All of it. For under $14CAN.

WHELP. THERE GOES THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.

[Yora]

I started playing Settlers II again. Kind of funny going back to it after 12 years, but I think I'm probably not going to play it for very long. Having played the first level and being much older now, I get the very strong feeling that there isn't really much actual depth to it.
Still, I think I'm going to play another two levels or so, even if it's just for the old charm.

[Kato]

I've been playing Breath of the Wild for "over 85 hours", and am about to finish it off (heading to Hyrule castle to kill Ganon after work tomorrow).

Oh man... I spent all last summer playing this and then I played it again at the end of the year. I can't say why but it was crazy fun.

I don't really mind the stamina mechanics.. Yeah, it's inconvenient but it's fine for a game to not make everything easy on the player. I guess the most important thing is to stop you from climbing everything early on.
And yeah, the difficulty kind of spikes early and decreases as you get more armor /weapons / abilities. I have to admit I still have some trouble with the Lynel even at my peak strength. I can usually beat one but it's not guaranteed if I do screw up one too many dodges.

Also, I'm usually not into open world games but here it felt like it really made a difference. You really can go wherever you want and while the enemies in some places might be harder it's doable. And you find shrines everywhere along the way so it rarely seems like you're going nowhere.

Civ V. Civ V is on sale. All of it. For under $14CAN.

WHELP. THERE GOES THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.

Bye, bye. Tell you're loved ones you will be fine but to check on you once every two days or so

I started playing Settlers II again. Kind of funny going back to it after 12 years, but I think I'm probably not going to play it for very long. Having played the first level and being much older now, I get the very strong feeling that there isn't really much actual depth to it.
Still, I think I'm going to play another two levels or so, even if it's just for the old charm.

No, there really isn't. But last time I played it I still got sucked in fast. It's quite simple but it has a lot of charm for its age. Or it's just my nostalgia speaking.

[Cespenar]

I was looking at Slay The Spire and it looks fun-ish, but the art style and complete (almost) lack of animation has turned me off a bit.
Any other creative card games out there (I have played Hearthstone).

Card City Nights has pretty interesting mechanics, I daresay even more so than most of the genre right now, but the art style and lack of animation is likely to score very low for you as well.

Faeria was a bit interesting in which it gives you a hex-based tactical map on top of the classic Magic-like mechanics, so that might be worth a look.

Slay the Spire honestly looks extremely mediocre both from a roguelike point of view and a card game point of view. I remember playing better Flash games on Newgrounds every day and forgetting about it the day after. Back when Flash was a thing.

[Minty]

I don't really mind the stamina mechanics.. Yeah, it's inconvenient but it's fine for a game to not make everything easy on the player. I guess the most important thing is to stop you from climbing everything early on.

The thing is, stamina doesn't add difficulty to the game. It's just a pointless nuisance. In a game supposedly about freedom to explore, I don't see why the player needs to be stopped from climbing everything early on. If you're going to take away all structure from the game in the name of freedom, these kind of limitations are pointless. The game only gets fun after 10-15 hours when you have enough stamina to go wherever you want. If we're going to have limitations on progress, then I'd rather stay with the old metroidvania style progress where you needed to get a cool item to access new areas, rather than grinding for an extra stamina wheel just to climb a mountain with one korok seed on it.

[DigoDragon]

I thought about suggesting this too. With biters turned off it's non-violent and it's very much a builder game. Plus it's not only very fun, it also has that, "hey, why's it getting light outside?" ability to make 8 hours flash by in an instant.

This reminds me, my daughter has taught me how to play Minecraft. It too is pretty addicting. Plus my newfound hatred of creepers helped me crack open some old guides to learn how to program in the game.

Stupid creepers.

[D20ragon]

Card City Nights has pretty interesting mechanics, I daresay even more so than most of the genre right now, but the art style and lack of animation is likely to score very low for you as well.

Faeria was a bit interesting in which it gives you a hex-based tactical map on top of the classic Magic-like mechanics, so that might be worth a look.

Slay the Spire honestly looks extremely mediocre both from a roguelike point of view and a card game point of view. I remember playing better Flash games on Newgrounds every day and forgetting about it the day after. Back when Flash was a thing.

I don't know, I find the degree to which Slay the Spire allows you to break the game as well as scaling to some truly unfair difficulties through Ascension mode to be extremely engaging. It's one of those "one more run" games that I find myself getting sucked into now and then, with the last one being Devil Daggers.

[Bohandas]

Slay the Spire honestly looks extremely mediocre both from a roguelike point of view and a card game point of view. I remember playing better Flash games on Newgrounds every day and forgetting about it the day after. Back when Flash was a thing.

It really is a shame that places like newgrounds are doing so poorly these days. I blame a combination of Steam Greenlight snapping everythib up by appealing to people's greed, and the fact that a lot of smartphone web browsers won't run or install flash for some inexplicable reason

[Minty]

I blame a combination of Steam Greenlight snapping everythib up by appealing to people's greed, and the fact that a lot of smartphone web browsers won't run or install flash for some inexplicable reason

I think it's because it's a resource hog that drains batteries, while also having security and stability issues, and generally being rubbish for web design. Basically, it's a 90s relic that needs to just go away now.

[Avilan the Grey]

I think i settled on one I have had my eye on on and off already: hand of fate 2.

[Bohandas]

I think it's because it's a resource hog that drains batteries, while also having security and stability issues, and generally being rubbish for web design. Basically, it's a 90s relic that needs to just go away now.

It never caused any serious performance problems for me. Not even on my old computer I had back when Newgrounds was still relevant

[enderlord99]

I think i settled on one I have had my eye on on and off already: hand of fate 2.

That game is amazing. I especially like the requirements for getting gold on The Devil.

[oxybe]

It never caused any serious performance problems for me. Not even on my old computer I had back when Newgrounds was still relevant

I think it's more like java, it's nice in small doses, but it's old and not really optimized for extended use, so it uses resources in a weird way.

[Yora]

No, there really isn't. But last time I played it I still got sucked in fast. It's quite simple but it has a lot of charm for its age. Or it's just my nostalgia speaking.

Well, it was super fun back in the 90s. As I remember it, Settlers II was the hottest game around for us 12-year olds. Seemingly everyone played it, and a lot.

Until Anno came around. A game I have absolutely no desire to ever get back to.

(I think I have to try another shot at Albion. Late 90s German games were awesome.)

[Silfir]

Try early 90s. Remember ROBOT? The German take on Legend of Zelda? ROBOT III is legit one of the best games that've ever come out of Germany. (And, ironically, the only one of the series that didn't have any robots in it.)

Though, not to mince words, Settlers II was damn good. It held up very well last time I played it; the sprites have quite possibly aged much better than those of the anniversary edition.

[Knaight]

Faeria was a bit interesting in which it gives you a hex-based tactical map on top of the classic Magic-like mechanics, so that might be worth a look.

Slay the Spire honestly looks extremely mediocre both from a roguelike point of view and a card game point of view. I remember playing better Flash games on Newgrounds every day and forgetting about it the day after. Back when Flash was a thing.

I'll vouch for Faeria. The reintroduction of actual spacing, plus the dynamics that come from players placing their land on the actual board and the restrictions on that placement (next to existing land or next to a creature) adds a lot of variety compared to games like Hearthstone. I'd even call it a better game.

As for Slay the Spire, having actually played it I can say it's really good as both a roguelike and a card game.

[Velaryon]

Yesterday I started the remake of Secret of Mana. Being a latecomer to the SNES, I was never able to get my hands on a copy of the game back then and had to settle for renting it from Blockbuster a couple times. As a result, I was never able to finish the game and have been looking forward to this release immensely.

Oh lordy, what have they done to this game?

The first thing I noticed is that they've added voice acting, and it's really bad. Like, early PS2 game bad.

The visuals are okay for the most part, but sometimes the character models are pretty cartoony. I'm reminded of Dragon Quest 8, where some of the traits of early sprite (large heads, exaggerated anime features, etc. look pretty cartoony in 3D. It's not that big a deal, but it's jarring to me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the experience so far. But a few odd choices on Square's part make this feel like a remake that was done 10 years ago, rather than one that just came out a couple weeks ago.

[SmallAnt]

Rocket League

If you like the combination of football, destruction derby and the purest form of esport - I highly recommend it.
Some people do not like it, you can buy crates and items for real money in Rocket League, but it is worth noting that these are ONLY cosmetic items.

In my opinion, the best game of this type in the world, is very addictive

you must do so to buy crates and be a respected and respected player in the Rocket League. Then there is a greater chance that you will be able to buy Triumph Crates :-), unless this is the case, buy these crates as soon as possible and immediately when they will be available.
I know that it will be possible on Odealo.com, because it is the best Rocket League Shop from RL Trade :-)
So, ladies! Let's do it! Let's buy crates and celebrate our triumph! You can buy Triumph crates at this store https://odealo.com/games/rocket-league

[The Glyphstone]

Playing through the remakes of the retro-RPG series Avernum right now. Much as I remembered; not as good as the original Exile games (though prettier), but better than the first edition of the Avernum series through QOL improvements.

[Jama7301]

Rocket League

If you like the combination of football, destruction derby and the purest form of esport - I highly recommend it.
Some people do not like it, you can buy crates and items for real money in Rocket League, but it is worth noting that these are ONLY cosmetic items.

In my opinion, the best game of this type in the world, is very addictive

Rocket League has been my go to "I don't know what I want to do" game for awhile. I'll fire it up, play a match or two of Rampage against the AI, and then reassess after the 10-15 minutes have passed.

[SmallAnt]

Rocket League has been my go to "I don't know what I want to do" game for awhile. I'll fire it up, play a match or two of Rampage against the AI, and then reassess after the 10-15 minutes have passed.

Rocket league it's not vs A.I game. Play against people, preferably with friends.
As far as I know, RL was chosen the game of 2015 by Polygon, in my opinion rightly so.
I think that Rocket League is the best multiplayer game on PS4, and one of the best on PC, try play with live players

[Jama7301]

Rocket league it's not vs A.I game. Play against people, preferably with friends.
As far as I know, RL was chosen the game of 2015 by Polygon, in my opinion rightly so.
I think that Rocket League is the best multiplayer game on PS4, and one of the best on PC, try play with live players

I have played with real people. I just don't always like playing online multiplayer, and my friends aren't always available to play.

[PopeLinus1]

I’ve started playing Skyrim again. Again. I do this every couple of months. Darn it Bethesda! When I’m not stuck on your most famous title, I’m slaving away to fallout. When will it end.

[Chen]

As for Slay the Spire, having actually played it I can say it's really good as both a roguelike and a card game.

I agree with this. Been playing it lately (at Ascension 9 on Ironclad and Ascension 10 on Silent) and it's pretty addictive. Building a degenerate deck that cycles or makes you invincible or just blows the enemies away with a huge whirlwind is just satisfying. And at the higher ascensions you really need that kind of deck or you get wrecked by elites or bosses. The daily challenge is also a lot of fun. Yesterday's was you start off with all the curse relics, get a curse after each boss and normal enemies drop relics instead of cards. When you have like 40 relics at the end of the game things go wonky quickly.

[IthilanorStPete]

Currently playing Into the Breach and Opus Magnum, enjoying both. I might make a thread for Opus Magnum for people to share cool machines and hints. (I'm having issues with water purification)

[NRSASD]

I’ve started playing Skyrim again. Again. I do this every couple of months. Darn it Bethesda! When I’m not stuck on your most famous title, I’m slaving away to fallout. When will it end.

I feel your pain. At the risk of trapping you even further, have you tried Enderal? It's a total conversion mod for Skyrim. Has a very dark but very satisfying storyline, plus an entire new continent to explore!

[Drasius]

I thought PoE would suck me in for another month or two, but instead I've been spending all my time on Vermintide 2. Really enjoying it, even more than the first one. Can't decide if Sienna or Salty is my fav, even if neither of them are top tier (though Pyro Sienna at >20 is pretty good hoarde clear).