Been playing World of Warships a lot... currently there's a limited-time grind to win a free Bismarck, so I've been chasing that. It's free, so why not? Plus I apparently like grinding to a degree. Besides that, some Rimworld, some Don't Starve Together with Shiny, and a bit of Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

I think I'm getting old. I'm not really into games as much any more. Doom was a bit of a slog, and so is Deus Ex. BTW, I'm not a fan of Deus Ex's graphics engine. I set everything to insane-ultra-max and it actually ran really crappy on my machine, which is disappointing. I dialed it back to high and it's fine, but the eye candy isn't enough imo to explain the performance. *shrug*

I know how you feel man. I'm getting a bit disenchanted with games too, and I think the same goes for some others here. It's probably a mix of us getting older and games getting more boring and uniform, I guess?

I used to feel like a kid in a candy store during the sales, now I kinda go like...I got so many good games in my library I have yet to play, might as well save the money for something practical. I think the biggest amount of money I've spent on a game during this year has been a gift to a friend. Kinda says a lot really.

Like you, I end up gravitating towards more 'casual' (not candy crush ) and shorter games that don't necessarily require 'completion'. They just offer the joy of playing and building something rather than having to reach a certain end goal or target. Maybe that's what makes them so attractive now, not entirely sure.

I've been playing Football Manager and then The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth for the most part these last few weeks, especially since I have not been home a lot and didn't want to invest in a longer game. We'll see what I feel like when I get back in 2 weeks and will be home for an extended period of time. I think I just need to take longer breaks from gaming, so that I actually enjoy myself when I do play a game. Too much of anything is bad.

Sounds like we're all getting old. FFS, I don't want to be old. Ah well. I still need to get Witcher 3 at some point. I suspect I'll really get into that one.

Haha, soon we'll be complaining about how everything used to be better when we were young.

Yeah, The Witcher 3 is pretty captivating. It's pretty amazing to witcher (?) around in the world, going at your own pace. As long as you don't waste time on some of the more console-y 'gotta catch em all' quests the level of writing and quest design is top notch. That reminds me, I never started the second expansion (Blood and Wine) because of the busy period ahead. Still have that to look forward to.

Well, I played a bunch of Deus Ex when I was off of work and got into it a lot more. I'm so OCD about exploring everything I think I burn myself out, but it's ok. I can't say I'm all that invested in the story, but I completely wreck folks for the most part, which is always good fun. Some immersion issues... like when I killed one cop and the dialog afterward talked about a massacre. I freaking electrocuted the guy... could've been an accident. The really terrible motion capture still bothers me, as does the look of the protagonist. Sunglasses, spikey hair, stupid trench coat? It's like Watch dogs.

I got Witcher 3 with all the DLCs lately. Good stuff so far, though not very far into the game yet.

Still playing World of Warships, because I apparently like painful grinding games.

Picked up Destiny 2 for PC, which I'm playing with Shiny. It's ok.

Still playing 7 Days to Die with Shiny.

Sheesh, 7 days to die must be the best coop game ever that you're still playing it together. (I can see the steam achievements)

How's progress going in The Witcher 3? Definitely a game I will eventually return to and play in a really advanced mode. I think the combat of Witcher 3 is of the "quick to learn, hard to master" kind. You can still get brutally slaughtered by a bunch of low level drowners or bandits if you faff about and get surrounded on normal, but you got some leeway. On Death March or Blood and Broken Bones difficulty I think you have little to no room for error. As frustrating as it sometimes got, I appreciated the Witcher 3 for not making your character some inhumanely tough tank that can take and shrug off the most lethal hits with ease...you may be a badass witcher, but you are still (kinda) human. You're not a magical creature and have to rely on your swordsmanship, tactics and agility more than on your toughness to win battles. Of course, I mostly focused on light armor and speed (school of the cat) so my view may be a bit warped. I should try heavy armor next time.

I've been burning through my library with some mixed results. You may have seen some Steam reviews for the games I've recently played.

- Broken Sword Remastered : old adventure game, lots of fun and beautiful hand-drawn screens.
- Sattelite Reign : part frustration and clunkiness, part glorious cyberpunk team-based strategy
- Tex Murphy Tesla Effect : old school FMV adventure rebirth. Lots of fun, decent puzzles and some improvements for the modern audience (like a flashlight that makes the pixel hunts less frustrating). Surprised at how well FMV still fit in a 'modern' game.
- Life is Strange : probably the best story-based game I ever played. Never thought I'd get into a story set in a high school so much.

Currently replaying Pillars of Eternity (for the expansions) and actually really enjoying myself. I vaguely recall the basic plot and quests but not to the point where it's become a chore, so that's a nice sort of forgetfulness. Trying out other NPC's than the ones I'm used to as well. I think I went into the game the first time expecting BG3, and that was perhaps a bit unfair on the game. Now I'm enjoying the systems, world and writing a bit more. Helps that I don't need so much exposition because I'm still vaguely familiar with the lore and world. I have to mention that Obsidian has been adding a lot of improvements and tweaks to the base game with the expansions, so that probably adds to my enjoyment.

Also started Broken Sword 2 Remastered and casualyl play some surgeon simulator (I bought the DLC for pennies recently).

Finishing up on Divinity 2 OS. Final battle, last time got my ass handed to me.

Still playing 7 days to die. Started playing on a shared server someone else is hosting, no PvP allowed. It's interesting. Shiny likes it.

Other than that, mostly World of Warships. I like torping mofos. Not a lot of time for the Witcher. It's a fun game and I'm mostly past the point of getting pwnt by drowners, so that's good. Haven't had sex with anyone yet.

Haha @ torpedoing. Wait, those are torpedos launched from a ship right? Or can you play as a submarine? Because that increases coolness factor by a 100.

The Witcher's combat is surprisingly tricky in that if you let get surrounded by even low level enemies (like Drowners, bandits or wolves) you can get in trouble fast yeah. It may seem a bit silly in a fantasy universe full of magic and monsters but I appreciate the fact that you are not superhumanly durable or completely exempt from combat logic. Even in the books the witcher is never portrayed as being superhuman. An extremely agile and skilled fighter, for sure, but not capable of taking an army or a large group of skilled fighters head on. Irl you can even distinguish someone who has actually been a fight vs someone who talks big by asking them what their odds are when fighting 3 opponents at once (let's say in a fistfight). Reality is: even if you are trained in martial arts and/or stronger than them, you will likely get your ass whooped. Someone with some experience will acknowledge that, but not someone who bases himself on movies and video games.

Finished Pillars of Eternity + expansions and it was really good. The game really benefited from the expansions and reworked mechanics and skills. Immediatelly dropped money on the Pillars 2 crowdfunding afterwards. Obsidian has almost never had the chance to make a sequel to one of their own games but it responsible for some of the best sequels in other PRG universes (Fallout, Knights of the Old Republic) so that's a promising idea. That, combined with the way they improved Pillars 1 with the feedback they got, the now established lore/world and the amazing job they did building on that with the expansions for 1 and I'm pretty convinced that Deadfire (Pillars 2) may turn out to be one of the best RPGs in many years.

Played Stasis, an adventure horror game, and liked it (but not much more than that). Wrote a review on Steam. Now I'm getting into Torment: Tides of Numenera. Starting off a bit slow so far but maybe it'll get better soon...

No submarines in World of Warships. Just ship-launched torpedoes and plane-launched torpedoes. Still fun blowing the crap out of someone.

Still on that shared server with Shiny playing 7 days to die. That game will suck you in for hours at a time if you're not careful. It's kind of like Terraria in ways. Beyond that, not all that much. Just working, drinking, playing games. It's the 21st century American dream.

I'll drink to that!

Progressed quite far into Torment : Tides of Numenera and liking it more and more. It's a surpisingly different game from say Wasteland 2 or Pillars of Eternity. It's even less combat-intensive than the old Planescape: Torment, and there is so much dialogue and world building. You really need to be in the mood for reading so I only play it when I'm super relaxed and/or have a drink. Having said that, it does tend to like exposition and fancy pants writing a bit too much sometimes. The world itself is also simultaneously fascinating and exhausting. By that I mean that it is weird and wonderful, but it gets a bit TOO weird and wonderful at times. It's fantasy mixed with scifi mixed with religion mixed with space mixed with interdimensional beings mixed with time travelling...so basically anytyhing is possible at every point. The problem with that is that a) it makes it hard to construct a sort of internal "rule set" for the universe you're in and b) if everything is weird then nothing is weird. Sometimes less is more.

Anyway; just got back home to my PC so time to do my annual Steam shopping while the sale is still on. Set a budget of 50 euro for myself, we'll see if I get there.

I haven't bought anything. Honestly, not particularly incensed. I have so many games to plan and so little time. Makes me feel old saying that.

Haven't played a game on Steam in ages. Maybe it's time to get my kids a gaming pc, so that they can play my games ...

well, when I start feeling old, J comes by and lets me know that as old as I may feel, someone else feels older.