The Sword and Laser discussion
TV, Movies and Games
>
What are you playing?

I have a mac so don't play too many computer games but I play a lot of Switch. I do Mario Kart nights but if not playing that, it's probably Animal Crossing (still; trying to get all the achievements) and Pokemon Shield.

Though "playing" is more generic so could go for board games too (which I'm also playing a few).


I sometimes play Everquest 2, emulator Warhammer Online (Return of Reckoning), Torchlight, Torchlight 2, Diablo, Diablo 3, and Guild Wars 2.
On my phone I play Pokemon Go nearly every day. I used to play Ingress, but I hate the new interface, so I deleted the app.
I own a million Steam games and have played maybe five of them. Bejeweled is my most played. I like it for the mindlessness when I'm really stressed/overthinking things. I know I said mindlessness, but some of the games within the game can get kinda strat/thinky, so it works to either put me into zen/meditative state or make me focus enough to forget what's stressing me the F out (I'm looking at you, Pandemic + 2016-early 2021).

In multiplayer-land, I'm still running through the Bayous in Hunt: Showdown and play the occasional round of Gwent.

It's all Mega Sloths, all the way down.


Yes! That's also on my list. Really excited to see how Psychonauts 2 turns out after all this time.


Earth Voices (an excerpt)
"I Heard the spring wind whisper
Above the brushwood fire,
The world is made forever
Of transport and desire.
"I am the breath of being,
The primal urge of things;
I am the whirl of star dust,
I am the lift of wings.
"I am the splendid impulse
That comes before the thought,
The joy and exaltation
Wherein the life is caught.
"Across the sleeping furrows
I call the buried seed,
And blade and bud and blossom
Awaken at my need.
"Within the dying ashes
I blow the sacred spark,
And make the hearts of lovers
To leap against the dark."
-- Bliss Carman
…so I made my 107th new character in City of Heroes, this one based on controlling plants. (Actual number, that 107. I made a spreadsheet.)
Here are some of the others I’ve made, which gives you an idea why the Character Creator is so addictive:
















I used to play Guild Wars 2 - they have a new expansion coming out next year that looks really great that might draw me back in.

How a Board Game About Birds Became a Surprise Blockbuster
https://slate.com/culture/2021/08/win...


Awesome game, and does a really good job of emulating the myriad options of Pathfinder 1E. Even though I do not have the time to delve into the nitty gritty anymore, they also took a great campagin from the PnP and IMO improved upon it. Which admittedly is easier on railroads, but the early involvement of the Big Bad was masterfully done.
As I am currently DM'ing Wrath of the Righteous IRL (as soon as Corona lets us meet again), I do hope to steal loads of inspiration from the new game.

That said, I'm now tempted to crack out the old Spectrum games to commemorate the passing of the great Sir Clive Sinclair.

Sometimes it’s aggravating, but just as often I LOL at the hilarious hijinks. The other night I accidentally launched a Warthog (the game’s version of a Hummer) halfway across the map, only to land on an enemy soldier, who looked up at the last second to see a truck falling from the sky on him. I keep imagining the guy’s “What the f-” reaction in that moment and start laughing all over again.
Then there’s the time I successfully defended our flag from three attackers with perfect shooting and was rewarded with the game saying, “You’re unstoppable!” just as I stepped backwards off a cliff and plummeted to my death. 🤣

https://store.steampowered.com/app/88...


Is it just me or is XCOM 2 incredibly difficult? I’m having a hard time keeping an entire squad alive throughout an encounter.

Is it just me or is XCOM 2 incredibly difficult? I’m having..."
Well, I'm only a few days in, but yeah, you aren't wrong. I think I'll push as far as I can on my current roster (which is pretty depleted) and then start a new playthrough and see if it makes a difference.

That’s been getting lots of praise."
I had a lot of fun with it. It was way better than their Avengers game. Now I've moved on to finally playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla, though I'm not happy they won't let me use the classic controls and have forced me into a horrid arrangement. I've almost died a hundred times because I'm pressing an old attack or dodge button that my mind won't let go.

There was another roguelike recently that folks were raving about. Something with vampires…
Ah, here, Vampire Survivors.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/17...

That’s been getting lots of praise."
I had a lot of fun with it. It was way better than their Avengers game. Now I've moved on to finally playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla, though I'm not happy they won't let me use the classic controls and have forced me into a horrid arrangement. I've almost died a hundred times because I'm pressing an old attack or dodge button that my mind won't let go..."
That’s weird. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a game that won’t let you configure your controls, including using “classic layout”.

There was another roguelike recently that folks were raving about. Something with vampires…
Ah, here, Vampi..."
That's what I would call a roguelite (not turn based).

Good point. More bullet hell in the old Berzerk fashion.





https://www.cbr.com/best-sci-fi-board...
10 Short Board Games You Can Play In 15 Minutes Or Less
https://www.cbr.com/short-board-games...

https://wikitrivia.tomjwatson.com/
My current streak is 11.

https://youtu.be/dX7T9SBCetA

I've been playing Lost Ark (albeit very slowly). It's free to play but I haven't gotten to the tedious endgame grind yet, so it's been a fun diversion.

I didn’t realize it was FTP. Is it sort of Diablo-ish?
Yeah. There are some similarities to Diablo. It's kind of part action rpg and part mmo, but ive been playing the game entirely single player thus far.



With out knowing anything about the game, that sure is in an interesting mash up of a title. Makes me think that the Australian store "Supercheap Auto" is expanding into pet stores. ;-)
I’ve been playing City of Heroes — well, mostly making characters in the character creator — but I’ve been out of the loop for a few years. What’s good?
(I do PC games. I can’t use controllers.)