I prefer not doing so either, but with each party member having multiple skills, it's best way to use them all to best effect and to set up combos and synergies. With that much available, I tend to micromanage and pause very frequently.
I respect that. I'm 100% into party micromanagement too, but for me its mostly outside of battle. I love to methodically progress through each skill tree, moulding each one in the exact way that I want them to develop. Give them the gear I want, weapons, bonuses, etc. And then in battle I love the gambit system that DAI, Final Fantasy 12, and to a lesser degree the Dragon's Dogma games use, because then I can have them behave the way that I want them to, but only control the one at a time and have fun with action combat. Honestly in a lot of ways, I play a party-based RPG in a similar way that I do to Madden with the players on the team. Its just that with football, its a much bigger team and each guy has a smaller skill tree, but its the same basic process and enjoyment.
Yeah, the AI behavior customization was great, especially for its time. I almost forgot how robust it is.
At this point, I've gone beyond disappointed into depressed that no other games have picked up on the formula and gone with it for party based RPGs. A title that won game of the year and sold six million copies, and not a single other studio seemed to think that making their own similar game was a good idea over an entire decade? The video game industry has gotten so weird, and I'm getting old waiting for more games that give me what I want.
I'm finishing up my 2nd run of Elden Ring (at the last dungeon) ahead of the DLC releasing next Friday, which I took off work for. I don't usually take off for release dates but I've found myself with more PTO than I thought I would have, and I'm at risk of losing the hours, so I said, "Why not?" I'll have two built characters to choose from and not sure which one to use. Games in my backlog include Helldivers 2, Lies of P, and Tears of the Kingdom. Games I'm most looking forward to playing/trying out are Path of Exile 2 and No Rest for the Wicked. I've also been pretty hype for the new Monster Hunter game, Wilds. I'm excited for them to show off a vertical slice of the game because it looks like they're doing a lot of new stuff compared to World and Rise (I actually preferred the snappier Rise to World when comparing the two of this current generation).
I've never played a Monster Hunter game because it seems to go opposite of my style, but Rise is going to be part of PS+ this month, so I thought I'd add it to my collection and eventually check it out when I didn't have anything else I was playing. I'm someone who likes tons of easy to medium difficulty against endlessly respawning enemies and the occasional bossfight every once in a while, and I get the impression that the series focuses on the boss fights.
It's all boss fights, lol. The combat is methodical and nuanced but oh-so-rewarding when it begins to click. I've played every game in the series so some of the series stalwarts I know like the back of my hand. Monsters are always challenging at first but then the ability to get helpful resources opens up horizontally, you'll get better gear, more knowledge and you'll feel like you're fighting better. My suggestion for a newcomer is to play with a weapon that is faster and doesn't require too much upkeep. Dual blades and longsword are great beginner options. The latter is easy to learn, hard to master. I'm a greatsword user and don't suggest it. It is cumbersome compared to most of the other weapons and built on opportunities and monster tells. Don't be discouraged starting out, watch a few guides on YouTube and play with others online. It's a lot more fun that way until the very very endgame.
Yea, I was one of the people who thought DA2 sucked. Felt so confining and the upgrade system was awful. I did like DAI. I thought that was almost a perfect blending of the two.
I have always been an outcast in the Dragon Age community due to my lack of obsession for Origins, but its a PC heavy community, I'm a Playstation gamer, and it was my first Western RPG after switching from JRPGs. But I also have absolutely zero desire to literally role play, or pretend that the character is me, or I am it.
My wife surprised me with Final Fantasy 7 rebirth for Father's Day, so I'm going to jump into that one for a while. Fingers crossed its more enjoyable than the first part of the remake.
I quite at Iceborne. That damn gorilla and Tigrex cheese put me off. F'n frustrating. Was 10/10 until then. Never went back. Oh, and that double Legiana fight in Iceborne was annoying too. They always stay in the air and they nerfed the whatever it was, flash or whatever, to bring them to ground level. Easy 25 minute fight EVERY time, just because you couldn't get them. F you and your shrieking voices. Nergigante is my favourite boss man! Super fun fight every time. Loved helping newer players with him. Switch Axe main btw. I can't use the greatsword because I am terrible at noticing and recording patterns in my mind, so I can't do those perfect hits at the right time like Team Darksiders (youtube) do. I probably need to die more than average before learning bosses in any game.
Ugh... the double Legiana fight was the same experience for me. I stopped playing at MR Brachydios. MH World was a big big step for the franchise but tenderizing was a poor design choice. I actually put a lot more hours into Rise and felt that its fast-paced style jived a lot more with my lifestyle. I got to the endgame at Sunbreak but took a break before the grind, now I'm playing other games. Like tenderizing in World, collecting spiribirds at the beginning of each hunt was too big of a monotonous break in combat for it to be worth it as a mechanic.
I'm currently playing World of Warcraft, and I'm really enjoying it! I can't wait for the new expansion War Within to be released. It's going to add so much new content and adventures to explore. By the way, if you're looking to buy wow boost or in-game items, you should check out Gamer Choice. What about you? What are you playing these days?
I was looking forward to buying NCAA football after it took a decade hiatus, but there are far too many problems with the dynasty mode, and as an offline single player guy, that's all I do. So I'm waiting to see if they fix it before jumping in.
The world of gaming has evolved from pixelated screens and simple mechanics into a multibillion-dollar industry with an immersive experience that captures the imagination of millions. In recent years, gaming has become more than just a pastime; it’s a social and cultural phenomenon. With advancements in technology, deep storytelling, and the rise of gaming communities, the industry is constantly growing and innovating.
I've been playing COPIOUS amounts of Space Marine 2. I'm going to play Path of Exile 2 next, and Monster Hunter Wilds in February.
As we're now in December, I can say with absolute certainty that 2024 has been my best year in gaming in quite a while. At least since 2018. Heck, I might have liked more new and new-to-me games this year alone than from 2020-2023 combined. Currently playing Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, which is also my top game of the year, even though I'm not done with it. It gives me so much of what I'm looking for in the experience. Before that, I played Dragon Age Veilguard, which I'd eagerly waited a decade for after it went though numerous stages of development hell. I enjoyed it, and it's probably the most well made third party game I've played on the PS5, however although its a sequel to the prior three DA games and features a few of the same characters, it takes place a decade later in that universe as well and in many ways feels like more of a soft reboot of the series. Mixed emotions. I started playing Star Wars Outlaws and put quite a bit of time into it, but felt that it was really rough around the edges, and when I learned that Ubisoft was working on a few big patches to fix things, I put it down and picked up the other games instead. I'll jump back into it when I'm done with Yakuza. And before that, I played Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which I felt did a magnificent job of telling the story and getting the world, the characters and the vibe all spot on, but unfortunately lacked in being an actual game that was enjoyable to play. Both the battle system and the character skill grid are a lot less user friendly than they should be, and I found the process to often be boring and difficult at the same time. Very little about the entire thing really flows well, or gave me the feeling like I was in control of the process, which is at the very top of my list of important features.
I bought Lies of P and Astrobot for Xmas. When I'm sick of the bleakness and challenge of Lies of P I switch to Astrobot. Both are well-made games and I'm enjoying both. The amount of detail in Astrobot is pretty incredible, as is the level design. They really mix it up every level to keep you surprised and on your toes. 1 month until Monster Hunter Wilds.. I'll be jumping back in to the 2nd beta test the beginning of February to make my character for the official launch.
Astrobot is extremely well done, both in a technical sense and the vibe of the whole experience. I just wish it wasn't so short. Not even 20 hours of playtime for me. In the end, I feel like its almost intended as an inspiration for third party studios to see "look! This is what you can do with the PS5! Make more games that do these things!" I'm playing Rise of Ronin right now, and there's a lot of good but a lot of meh as well. Its a fairly big, mostly open world game, and does that all pretty well. It throws a ton of characters at the wall with a story that mostly makes sense, but it ends up being a lot of exposition and monologue, and not really back and forth conversations, and because of that a lot of it just becomes forgettable unfortunately. Its unfortunately a weakness that some Japanese games have, and maybe that comes from a loss in translation and culture. The combat is also frustrating because its really inconsistent, and I just often feel like I don't have the control over my character that I should have. The timing often either doesn't make sense or feels random. Blocking enemy attacks is either ineffective or a swing and miss deal, while attacks often kind of keep going after I've stopped pressing buttons, and hit boxes aren't where they should be. I want to like this game, because the setup is what I keep asking for more of, but the execution just isn't there. After 100 hours, I just started the third act, and its kind of a C+ game.
I played Wo Long by that same developer. It's weird - I played that one and beat it, but could never jive with Nioh 2, another game by them, even though it's lauded. I typically am okay with a little challenge but I got my *** whooped in that game.
I fully intended to play Ronin on normal/default difficulty, but was forced to almost immediately dumb it down to easy, and now that I'm in the third act, even that is brutally difficult and I'm dying all the time even though I'm 15 levels ahead of what's recommended for the missions and have top gear.
