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Ok, I'm gonna call it. Titanfall2 was definitely worth the £27. The campaign was short-but-surprisingly-good, and online has definitely grown on me:


^^Have this random dayglo YT grab, because Origin. Meh^^

The parkour stands alone as a very solid addition to both run-and-gun gameplay and 'find a nest' tactical trickery. While the Mechs essentially reduce that freeform silliness down to clumpy-FPS-with-cooldowns, and are less impressive for all that, they do provide that classic vehicular switch-up. Bringing that support pain, leaping in and out tactically (with the added benefit that they'll keep fighting alongside you), clambering over opponent ones to pull bits off, ekeing out just one more thunderous hit... Once you think of them as support vehicles rather than klutzy bullet magnets they definitely do take the game to another level

Add in some satisfying and diverse player archetypes, weapons and unlocks and you get plenty of tickles under the chin to keep you playing. Plus there are layers of co-op incentive in there, which helps. (It's definitely not just a lonewolf lance-fest).

Then add a decent array of maps, some of which are also quite purty, and you've got yourself a pleasant place to blow **** up . PC numbers currently seem healthy, I never have to wait for a game even off peak. One day I may even try one of the gamemodes without bots. (But I need to get some kills gorramit ). [*EDIT* - Further investigation suggests many of the other modes, especially the hardcore ones, are essentially dead though. Not good :/]

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I'm really digging Let it Die.

Think of a free-to-play cyberpunk online Dark Souls with a wicked sense of humour and some amazing character designs. Trailers don't do it justice - When I first saw them all I could think was 'meme city' ... but then I remembered Suda51 was behind it. If nothing else, he's original.



Its FTP status is belied here and there: The UI is mega clunky and the gameplay loop is perhaps too simple for a full price game. load times are also loooooooooooooong.

This is all beside the point however, as it's the best free game I've played in ages. I'll probably throw them some money soon - Microtransactions seem fair to the free player and you look like you get a lot for your money.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

That games looks awesome. Too bad I don't have a next-gen console.

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Just a Titanfall update / warning. I looked further into the PC numbers, and it seems it's pretty close to dead outside the most popular modes. There'll probably a temporary boost from Xmas sales, but long term the prognosis might be similar to the last one :/

I doubt we'll see it anywhere outside of PS4 either. The game seems to have had a troubled development and I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Sony paid the developer a lump sum for exclusivity.

Uncle Death, though. What a guy! He's always so happy.

The accent on Uncle Death reminds me of Grim Fandango.

Meanwhile, in other news, I can tell it's Christmas today because I woke up to half a dozen games on my rather small Steam wishlist being on sale.

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Yeah, I've gotten literally like nine emails in the last week, most of which have half a dozen game sale notifications. But then, I've got like 250 games on my wishlist. Or did, before all this.

Feels weird to buy like 15 games and feel guilty, then realize you've only spent like $38.

My wishlist is only 19 games right now, so seeing 12 of them on sale is a bit on the heavy side. NOT complaining, though. If I bought them all, it'd be under $50. I'll be at least some of them today.

Playing blood Bowl 2 alot. Have a Necromantic team made up of Ghouls (too fragile), Flesh Golems, Werewolves, Wights, and Zombies. A buddy bought the game too so we can play together, he is doing this more for my benefit I think, but he is the one who introduced me to the game.

2 Werewolves - Silver Bullet & The Howling
2 Flesh Golems - Frank & Hodor
2 Ghouls - Renfield & Hannibal
2 Wights - Legend & The Headless Horseman
4 Zombies - Daryl, Carol (my kicker), and 2 players I killed from other teams that are reborn as zombies for me. A nice Necro perk

So glad that you mentioned the Suda game was FTP tatts. I will definitely be trying that. In addition, I got a vanilla card which I will probably just put into my psn account. Most of the year enders say that I need to play Inside.

Same here, but I was never that taken with Limbo and Inside is bigger Limbo (but still just as short) with ... like ... meanings, maaaan.

My Steam winter sale activity began and (probably) ended on Christmas Eve with me buying Watch Dogs 2 and Danganronpa. I shall be an embarrassing SF hacktivist AND an Anime student ... in a cloud of noxious sprout and turkey fumes!

Ahhh Christmas!

EDIT - Apparently the farther you get in Let It Die, the more 'pay some money to ease the difficulty' it becomes, but hey. We're not taken in by such shenanigans, right?

By the time that happens I'll have had my money's worth.

Just a few neat examples of some core pilot skills in Titanfall 2 . Clicky for animated gifs...

Grappling Hook (starter default)



Bonus:

• The Duel that Keeps on Giving
  
• How Not to Use
  
• Synchronised Styling

Phase Shift (dastardly pan-dimensional games):



Bonus:

• Phase Shift vs Phase Shift

Stim Pack (speed & health boost):



Cloak meets Holo-Clone:



---Bonuses---

Ridiculous play using a gravity grenade

Titanfall 2, the game...

Gravity grendade games

Despite being a proto-noob, I decided to go noob-friendly with the Xmas influx on Titanfall and try out a load of unfamiliar kit. Went for a different tanky Titan called Scorch (still can't get my head around zippy titans, just wrong). Much close range use of inflammable gases, but with a one-shot main weapon where you can actually loop shells over buildings too, which is a nice change from the channel-controlling chaingun I'm used to.

Had a load of fun returning to the grappling hook, which is like a bad starter habit in the game (you're supposed to learn to get mobile and aerial without it). Meant I was finally able to resupply friendly Titans with some reliability (carrying a stolen battery marks you out on the map for death normally - the hook moves you pretty slowly but you can still close that gap to your mobile target if you're lucky).

EDIT: Really loving the extraction stage of Attrition mode. If you've lost the round you get a chance to fight your way to a hovering craft and leap to safety. Earns you a welcome chunk of XP if you make it, lets you pick up some bonus kills as you fight a rearguard action, and feels great when you scarper from the safety of your mech and leap through the bay doors with seconds to spare

Also really appreciating the contrasts between foot and mech play. If it was just a quick-TTK consta-motion FPS with novelty parkour, it'd drive me nuts. Moving between that mode to the more considered mech-tanking, and back again, means you welcome both forms though. Tis a great format

Giant Bomb always do some great GOTY lists, collated from the great and the good of the gaming industry ... and (usually) John Carpenter.

Check 'em out - http://www.giantbomb.com/

The general consensus seems to be Doom/Overwatch/Hitman/Inside but I've picked up a fair number of the more esoteric choices thanks to the medium of the Steam winter sale. My 'to play' list now includes:

Dishonored 2 (I'll definitely give this a fair chance now it's been patched but I'm still not feelin' it)
1979 Revolution: Black Friday
Banner Saga 2
Brigador
Danganronpa (finally it's been reduced to a price I consider fair for a bit of Anime fluff)
House of the Dying Sun
Odallus
Oxenfree
Satellite Reign
Watch_Dogs 2

I got Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir for Christmas and that's the one I'll probably tackle first. The original game was one of the final PS2 gems and while Leifthrasir is essentially a remake, enough time has passed that I feel like I'm going in fresh. It also promises to have done away with the performance issues that plagued the original game.

Taccy, Oxenfree is fun and cute, but I'm glad I got it on sale. It wasn't what I expected and is more like an interactive story than a game. Sometimes I like stuff like that, but a little bit less each time I play one.

Yeah, I picked up Oxenfree in (I think) a Humble Bundle and totally forgot about it. It came out around the time of Firewatch and I wasn't really in the mood for two narrative focussed games at the time.

Ah, I missed that you already own it. It's not super-long so it's not a big time-suck. And there's something a little bit elegant about it. The kids are all really well done. I think I just went into it expecting something very different.

I just picked up a 3DS and Pokemon Sun. Anybody else play any of the new Pokemon games yet?

Dark Souls 1 Xbox 360 progress update

Stuck in the decreped Tomb of the giants and it's far more frustrating than Blighttown. I can't stand not having any light vs not having a shield. I'm using a skull lantern. My first attempt was back in 2012, I stopped after defeating the half spider half wet dream down in Blighttown. I thought I was decently into the game at that stage, I was wrong. I referred to a wiki and my jaw dropped when I saw I was about half way. Hardest boss so far...well many would say Orstein and Smoug but I'd have to tie that with Sir Grey Wolf. Took me more attempts trying to defeat him than any other, most likely this was to do with stats and equipment available. I'll keep plodding on. I really want to finish this game, very enjoyable, very frustrating, especially in the dark.

I've been toying with getting a 2DS for weeks, mainly for Pokemon and Yo-kai Watch. Lemme know what you think.