The Video Game Thread v3

[Huntingwhale]

Going to finally splurge for the XSeriesX and a 4K TV in a few weeks. But having a heck of a time finding a reliable supplier for the console. I am also a bit wary of ordering online and having it damaged on the way.

Have seen supplies come and go from the usual places like BestBuy and Gamestop. What is the best source these days to pick one up? Looks like it is still $630 with tax

[btimbit]

What are your guys' go toos when it comes to just chill relaxing games? You know, the kind of thing you can play on one monitor and just watch netflix or youtube or something on another.

Getting bored of my usual ones like Rimworld and Hardspace: Shipbreaker, and trying to avoid Cities Skylines right now so I don't burn out on it before the sequel comes out later this year.

Thinking of trying Going Medieval, anyone play that yet?

[bdubbs]

Valheim is my go to chill game. Can just log in and chop wood or build something stupid and then log off with no stress.

[btimbit]

Actually couldn't get into Valheim, but I did run a server for a friend group to all play on

[Blaster86]

Valheim is fun, but I had a hard time getting into it long term too.

[bax]

Originally Posted by photon

Been playing around with Hogwarts Legacy and it's.. ok. It starts out feeling very Hogwarts-y. Great atmosphere, things look cool, lots of details in places..

But once you get into it it really starts to fall off in terms of diversity. Stuff all just feels the same. Not that many different kinds of spells, or different kinds of ingredients, or kinds of potions, etc. Shallow maybe?

The combat is pretty cool, some complain that it's too simple but it's probably just right for me with the different protection types you have to break through. Of course you can cheese things pretty hard so you could say it's too easy. I mean just picking up a big thing with a spell and dropping it on someone while invisible is pretty big damage.

It is subject to similar open world repeatability issues common to those kinds of games.

Overall I'd say playwise it compares a lot to a LEGO game. A few major skills used in different ways to unlock puzzles, tons of collectables, go back to areas when you unlock something to get more collectables...

That said I loved the LEGO games and I'm still enjoying this, but I don't feel a lot of motivation to get better gear or work on better casting combinations.

EDIT: One big thing that I forgot to mention is that there's ZERO morality system in the game. The game actually encourages you to just break into people's homes to get collectables to upgrade your spells to break into more homes. Steal their money, open their chests. Cast all the unforgivable curses you like and no one cares.

Hogwarts Legacy has been an interesting game. I’m about 30 hours into it with 55% of the quests complete, but I keep finding myself coming back. There are a lot of issues. The gear system could use some variety, the side quests could be more interesting, the open world elements could be a bit less repetitive, but for all of that it’s still one of my favorite games I’ve played recently.

The atmosphere and map are top notch (especially hogwarts). It’s really fun to explore and just exist in this world and it helps that I find the combat and the flying really fun. It reminds me of Spider-Man a bit in the sense that I don’t mind flying around and grabbing collectables because they are typically interesting and it’s fun to go from point A to point B.

I’m not the biggest Harry Potter fan, but I have watched the movies. If you like that world then I’m sure this game would be a dream come true for you. You can tell there was a lot of love put into it.

If you like an open world check box type of game then this one will also tickle your fancy.

[TorqueDog]

Chill game? Descenders. Superb soundtrack, and the game is designed to be freestyle so you don't have to treat it like a race.

[photon]

Originally Posted by bax

The atmosphere and map are top notch (especially hogwarts). It’s really fun to explore and just exist in this world and it helps that I find the combat and the flying really fun.

Yeah it feels like if they'd had more time and resources to add more stuff it could have been even better, the core of the game is pretty darn good. The flying is surprisingly well done, it could have been poor. My only complaint about it is the controls on PC, cmon just let me point up and down in addition to left and right...

Despite any complaints I have I still look forward to playing it when I have time.

[Sr. Mints]

Originally Posted by btimbit

What are your guys' go toos when it comes to just chill relaxing games? You know, the kind of thing you can play on one monitor and just watch netflix or youtube or something on another.

Getting bored of my usual ones like Rimworld and Hardspace: Shipbreaker, and trying to avoid Cities Skylines right now so I don't burn out on it before the sequel comes out later this year.

Thinking of trying Going Medieval, anyone play that yet?

Gonna get toasted for this, Subnautica. While everyone was making bread during Pandemic Year One, I built a bitchin' sea base and watched the entire Netflix catalog.

[Wood]

Subnautica is incredible, I go back to it fairly often

Minecraft, Subnautica and No Man's Sky are all great to scratch the chill/creative itch

I think Pokemon is perfect for relaxing gaming. Easy to hop into and stop any time, and there are lots of different options over different generations

I haven't gotten into the new switch games as much, but theres a fan-made Pokemon game called Pokemon Infinite Fusion that is genuinely incredible. You can fuse any 2 pokemon together to make a new fusion pokemon, and the results are sometimes amazing. It's a remake of the first 2 generations in Johto/Kanto with a ton of randomizer options

There's a calculator to check out possible fusions, a lot are generated but there's thousands of fan made sprites

https://aegide.github.io/

It's given me the same feeling of discovery the OG Pokemon Red/Blue Silver/Gold gave me as a kid, I highly recommend playing around with it

[OutOfTheCube]

Rocket League is my chill game. No dialogue, no cut scenes, fast loading, fast games, fun, infinitely replayable.

[DownInFlames]

Stardew Valley is chill as ####. I’ve put a million hours into it but I haven’t played since they added the new island so I’m giving that a try.

[cKy]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Going to finally splurge for the XSeriesX and a 4K TV in a few weeks. But having a heck of a time finding a reliable supplier for the console. I am also a bit wary of ordering online and having it damaged on the way.

Have seen supplies come and go from the usual places like BestBuy and Gamestop. What is the best source these days to pick one up? Looks like it is still $630 with tax

Shoppers with Optimum points. If you can get a 20x coupon when you purchase, you can basically buy yourself another controller with points.

https://stocktrack.ca/?s=sdm&upc=889842640724 unfortunately shows all outta stock. Could always call a few around you and see if/when they get more in stock.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by btimbit

What are your guys' go toos when it comes to just chill relaxing games? You know, the kind of thing you can play on one monitor and just watch netflix or youtube or something on another.

Getting bored of my usual ones like Rimworld and Hardspace: Shipbreaker, and trying to avoid Cities Skylines right now so I don't burn out on it before the sequel comes out later this year.

Thinking of trying Going Medieval, anyone play that yet?

Journey? It's a little more involved late game, but for most of the game you can just casually mess around.

Death stranding felt like that for me while playing it. Easy to get lost building roads or messing around with new gear. It's a game that literally seems to give you a thousand options to try and beat the game. Easy to pause or just stand around staring at the environment. I haven't returned to it yet, although I have directors cut in my to play list because ps plus.

I'm assuming you don't mean visual novel type games and more games you're relatively actively doing stuff but can easily look away relatively regularly?

[Cain]

For Chill games I'd recommend:

- Slay the Spire (turn based card/deck building roguelike, super fun)
- Vampire Hunters/Brotato (kind of a bullet hell with auto aim roguelike)
- Europa Universalis (grand strategy, pausable, easy to play casually)
- Astronarch (interesting take on auto battles, make a party, get items)

Rimworld is great in this category too, but was already mentioned. Lots of other good ones but these are the ones that come to mind at the moment.

[bdubbs]

Originally Posted by Cain

For Chill games I'd recommend:

- Slay the Spire (turn based card/deck building roguelike, super fun)
- Vampire Hunters/Brotato (kind of a bullet hell with auto aim roguelike)
- Europa Universalis (grand strategy, pausable, easy to play casually)
- Astronarch (interesting take on auto battles, make a party, get items)

Rimworld is great in this category too, but was already mentioned. Lots of other good ones but these are the ones that come to mind at the moment.

I think you mean Vampire Survivors, but yeah I love that game as a fun little game, though it's harder to watch videos on the side with it since it's bullet hell and you do need to focus to dodge stuff until your build is optimized.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

Rocket League is my chill game. No dialogue, no cut scenes, fast loading, fast games, fun, infinitely replayable.

I'm with you. Unsure how "chill" it is technically, but when I need something and I've only got 15 minutes, that's where I go.

[OutOfTheCube]

Originally Posted by Russic

I'm with you. Unsure how "chill" it is technically, but when I need something and I've only got 15 minutes, that's where I go.

Yeah, I mean it's definitely not a game you play as you listen to a podcast or audio book or whatever, since it does require quite a bit of attention, but I'm not one of those people anyways. I can only pay attention to one type of media at a time, I've never understood how people do it.

[btimbit]

Yeah I do love me some rocket league but specifically looking for recommendations of something to play that only requires at most 60% of my attention


Could just go on another Crusader Kings binge

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Yeah I do love me some rocket league but specifically looking for recommendations of something to play that only requires at most 60% of my attention


Could just go on another Crusader Kings binge

I really want to get into CKIII, but the learning curve with most Paradox games is just so steep that it takes a huge investment to really get going. Never truly figured out CKII and ended up giving up. Hoping the tutorial in CKIII is a bit more in-depth.