Coelacanth

I actually often say - only somewhat facetiously - that Disco Elysium is barely a game. In many ways it’s more of a visual novel, but one that uses game mechanics as narrative devices.

Still, it’s story wouldn’t be told more effectively and its moments wouldn’t be as impactful if it was using any other medium, I think. So I guess that qualifies it as a game? I still feel weird calling it that since approaching it as a game is more likely to hurt your experience of it than help it.

The implosion of ZA/UM is a travesty, but apart from Kurvitz losing the rights to the IP I think for me Kurvitz and Tuulik falling out is the real tragedy. Knowing what they created together from teenage years to now it makes me sad to think they won’t collaborate anymore. We have a bunch of splinter studios now, but I’m not sure any of them will recapture the lightning in a bottle that was DE.

P.S. I could not find a way to save/follow your profile here. So, I did the next best thing, and tagged you and saved your comments.

Yeah unfortunately Lemmy doesn’t let you follow individual people. But I post about whatever I’m playing pretty much weekly both here on !patientgamers@sh.itjust.works and on !gaming@beehaw.org in the weekly threads. And I don’t know that I’m all that worth following beyond that, anyway.

Absolute insanity what even is this shit.

EDIT: What it was was “clickbait”, it turns out.

Also some of the “non-lethal” fates you subject people to are way worse than just killing them.

Hope you’re all well, and enjoying gaming lately. Again, all apologies for my absence from Lemmy lately :)

I do miss you and your content dearly but please don’t apologise for looking after your health!

That… makes a lot of sense.

Great read. Curious that he didn’t bring up Alan Wake 2, I felt like that was an absolutely amazing looking game. Though I’m no HDR expert so maybe I’m not seeing something.

No problem, I love to espouse my opinions as I’m sure you can tell and I love talking about games in general. I especially love getting to recommend great games to other people, I get such second hand enjoyment from it every time.

To circle back to the very start of this conversation: I did eventually cave today and started NG+ of Mandragora. It’s so much more enjoyable than grinding out the last couple of areas of Blasphemous. Though now I worry my lack of discipline will lead to me never coming back and finishing it.

Very curious to hear your thoughts on Clair Obscur, for me it was one of the best gaming experiences I’ve had the past decade or so. It won’t beat Disco Elysium as my favourite game of all time, but it might well make a strong case for the number two spot.

Clair Obscur has active combat elements injected into turn based combat. Attacks require QTEs to pull off successfully and most importantly - enemy attacks can be dodged or parried in real time. It feels much more like playing Dark Souls than a traditional turn based game. The gameplay designer uses to be a Sekiro speedrunner, and it shows. I will again almost insist on you giving it a chance, it’s very rare for games to come around that are works of art in this manner.

For what it’s worth: I don’t think BG3 is as good or as important to play. I think BG3 has a lot of flaws and doesn’t deserve the hype of “best game of all time”. It’s a fun game to play, but that’s it. It’s writing is “okay for a videogame” territory, but nothing more. It also falls apart in the third act in several ways.

Clair Obscur does imo deserve the hype. It is gaming as an artform in a manner that’s rare to see in a AA+ budget format. It also has a very strong prologue, which should fairly easily fit under Steam’s refund window. I suggest giving it a shot.

Any time!

I think - beside the DLC - the two things that are most hidden and most likely to be missed by a natural first playthrough are The Great Hollow and the Painted World of Ariamis, so feel free to look those up if you haven’t found them after you’re satisfied poking around on your own. But yeah as you’ve noticed the game is absolutely chock full of secrets.

Do make sure you get to the DLC too, it’s got some great content, as well as the most fun bosses in DS1 - with one of them being an absolute icon. Still won’t be very challenging compared to Elden Ring, but a step up from the base game.

For another indie game you might not have heard about Skald: Against the Black Priory was a surprise hit with me when I played it earlier this year. Cool story and world building, very concise and conscious of its budget limits so smaller in scope, probably a 16-20h game with no filler and no grinding. I liked it a lot, and it should play great on the Steam Deck too. Sort of a tribute to retro CRPGs but without the clunk of those old games. Combat was simple but fun, not overly complex. Beautiful pixel art, especially the splash screens.

I am way less high on Ghost of Tsushima than most people. I would never even consider a second playthrough. The game is way too long for what it is, which is essentially just a more polished garden variety Ubisoft open world game. There is not enough variety in it to sustain a what - 60h playthrough? The quest design isn’t interesting or varied enough and most importantly: the writing isn’t varied enough. You can’t have 60 hours of dialogue delivered in only a stoic, dour monotone. 15 minutes of Kenji spread over a handful of moments isn’t enough to break it up. Anyway, rant over.

Okay what else… Well, Blue Prince came out this year and is a contender for Indie of the Year - maybe even a potential Game of the Year nomination. I liked it a lot, a puzzle roguelite is an interesting concept and if you like note taking and screenshotting and escape room type puzzles you’ll have a good time with I think.

Otherwise I won’t be the first you see of this if you’ve been scouring these threads, but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is almost a shoe-in for game of the year and the hype is most certainly deserved. Any gamer should do themselves a favour and experience it, not least to be able to participate in the zeitgeist.

I’m glad you’re having a blast with it, DS1 might still be my favourite From game even though I realise nostalgia plays a huge part of course.

Just a warning for when you get closer to the end: Dark Souls 1 has a ton of hidden content that you’re extremely unlikely to find on your own. You might want to look some of it up, because it does in fact include the DLC. Yes that’s right, From sold you a paid DLC and hid the entry to it in a way most people would never stumble upon on their own.

Oh, I haven’t played PoE in about that long too, I think. I used to play the temporary Hardcore leagues back when it was new, but eventually the feature creep started to get to me. Which also meant that getting back into it later felt like such a daunting task I never did. And then by the time PoE2 came out last year I was kind of over the Diablo-style ARPGs

I gave up on the game after a few days since without a proper story, the grind got boring very quickly.

Yeah, I couldn’t tell you what the story was either beyond being exiled on an island. I also have felt that in my older age I’m gravitating more towards medium-length games with a proper story that you can finish and put away, as opposed to the endless MMOs and grindy ARPGs I enjoyed in my youth.

It really felt like they were pressured into making it open world or something. I’ve said before that it’s a really good, cinematic action game that is stapled to an average open world backdrop, and the two halves work more against eachother than they work together.

If you can stomach the ludonarrative dissonance and maintain your suspension of disbelief though it’s a really good game at this point.

Few things are as satisfying as unlocking shortcuts during your first blind playthrough of Dark Souls. Kicking that ladder the first time, all those moments of “…wait this goes there?”, climbing back up into Firelink from the depths of Blighttown, having your buddy tell you about The Great Hollow and having your mind blown… It’s just a magical experience.

I get why people start with Elden Ring, but I wish more would just do DS1 first. If this is your first soulslike even the bosses will feel epic, but they really aren’t much compared to what the later games offer. Even the DLC bosses aren’t too bad, though one of them is truly iconic.

I played F.E.A.R. just a few months ago and it’s so good man. Holds up so well. Still looks great too. Are you using the EchoPatch? I found it to be just a super solid timeless FPS that can stand on its own purely based on gameplay. Apart from the bizarrely anemic assault rifle all the weapons are so satisfying to use, and the AI still feels surprisingly good even in 2025.

Also, make sure you play the first expansion Extraction Point, it’s imo even better than the base game. Don’t play the second expansion though.

Yeah I got it on the summer sale because it was 90% off and I was on a Metroidvania/Soulslike-kick after Mandragora. Honestly, had I known how much platforming it had I wouldn’t have bought it even for a dollar. I’m not really a platformer guy, I’ve avoided Hollow Knight for a reason (also I’m not a god gamer and from what I understand HK is impossibly difficult).

Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree on the other hand I had an absolute blast with. I love character progression and customisation and creating a build from the PoE-esque skill tree tickled my brain just right. I’m honestly torn between NG+ and doing a second playthrough with a different playstyle/build.

It also had a better balance of gameplay for my tastes than Blasphemous: the bosses were more fun and the platforming was much less frustrating. Being able to teleport to any “bonfire” from anywhere through the map was also so nice. I like when a game isn’t deliberately wasting your time.

Dark Souls 1 still holds a special place in my heart, but be warned that the bosses are going to feel very underwhelming after Elden Ring. It’s a weird thing where the areas themselves are still fairly challenging even compared to ER - maybe even harder - but the bosses are much easier.

The level design of the first 2/3rds of DS1 is to this day the best level design From ever did, I think.

Is it your first soulslike? The first blind playthrough of Darks Souls 1 was a magical experience for me.

If you thought the first hour of Blasphemous had too much platforming then hoo boy. Just wait until you see the endgame areas. I agree about the combat completely, and also the character customization and progression is very lacking which also reduces my enjoyment. Most of the character upgrades are completely useless - wow, an uppercut as a 4th attack in your attack string? You barely have enough time between dodges for two attacks, let alone 4. A charged attack that takes three years to channel? When are we supposed to have time to use this?

I’ll look into F.I.S.T., looks kinda cool. Will keep an eye on any sales. The Lost Crown is on my radar too, I recall it got rave reviews.

I really do want to recommend Mandragora though. It is more heavy on the Soulslike and ARPG than platforming, which I personally really liked. Heavy emphasis on character progression, upgrades and skill builds. Still plenty of fun Metroidvania elements with secrets and ability gated sections of earlier areas and so on. Heavily recommended!