Eh. .Probably a game I know is garbage but enjoy playing anyway. It's a very, very minor guilt only because it can come across as hypocritical when I bury other games for terrible gameplay.

Very critical towards games that don't meet a certain standard, yet that doesn't mean I can't find any joy with bad gameplay games, so long as they're appealing to me in some way. So long as I admit they're still bad it's all fair-game in my eyes.

Splatterhouse is the one. All accounts it's a terrible game franchise, horrid controls, textbook for how not to do pacing, with flat/basic & downright rubbish level design, and yet I've had fun with every entry (even the reboot) I'm nostalgic towards the series and anything horror themed to begin with is easy to win me over, the first 'adult' video game franchise I played was Splatterhouse as well. Even if my introduction was Wanpaku Graffiti.

Another one would be Drag-On Dragoon, and I think at least the third game would be swell to get that NieR Remake treatment. Enjoy its take on just making the player uncomfortable, distancing itself from usual cliche & 'safe' storytelling.

Yeah exactly, just support Monster Hunter: Wilds instead.

wut

I've avoided Souls Clones for the longest time because honestly just playing From Software's batch get's old-hat rather quickly. Not going to trash Elden Ring, I really liked it & got 100% achievements for it. But I've semi been fed up with Souls games for a while now. Not even sure if I'll go for the expansion either, Armored Core VI was more what I was looking for, and thankfully they delivered. Hopefully From is considered a sequel to Metal Wolf too.

@davillain: Likewise, didn't want to support Acitivision. However my friend bought me a copy because he really wanted someone to play with. It's what we do fairly often in our player-group (play games with each other and give every game a fair chance). So I gave it a chance and yeah, boring. No offense to people who grew up on Diablo, perhaps D4 just doesn't hit it like it use to because in fairness this was my first Diablo game. Have played Diablo clones in the past but seems I don't like the 'real deal'.

BG3 is built on the core of its D:OSII engine and plays very similarly in many ways just with a lot of Dungeons and Dragon's flavor. I think in some regards it did things really well, with its focus on dice rolls & in-conversation decisions. The graphics improvements and focus on facial expressions really got this game going to a more broad audience.

However I do think the combat encounters are way more linear in BG3 over D:OSII. D:OSII could drastically change a fight mid battle and BG3 never does anything like this, heck in D:OSII one of the players can become the final boss.

I thought you skipped Baldur's Gate III?

Well now that you've played it, what's your thoughts on a Larian RPG.

Played it with a friend and found it very boring and mind-numbing. The constant cosmetics throw at you from the store as you sign-in every time is very annoying and stupid too. Not going to say it's a bad game, performed well and I suppose captures Diablo vibes well. It's just a boring to play game with no skill required.

You have two kinds of people who make money off playing games. Those that go to ESports, EVO, etc, competing at extreme levels of skill requiring unhealthy hours of playing games. Usually burning out and not being worth it. Making very little money long-term.

Then you see a lot of other people make money playing video games that can't compete on the highest levels, they're refereed to as "Influencers" which I guess means being a mix between an entertainer on camera and an understanding of the current trends in gaming.

I imagine the skills you need for that is less related to gaming and more research, professional voice and speech training, & acting classes. Along with common health and beauty arrangements too if looking good on camera is a focus, all depending on your audience.

Wouldn't consider any of the following myself.

Because gaming for me is relaxing entertainment after a hard day at work, or better yet binge a good game on some holidays. What I'm getting at is I never considered gaming a job for me. Always the player never the one looking to profit. Turning gaming into a stressful workload that for majority isn't financially beneficial just seems impractical. For every millionaire you read to name that is an 'Influencer', at least one thousand more are scraping by barely paying rent in a cubicle. Never leave your dreams behind I guess, but lucky for me playing video games for money was never mine. If one really is serious about it though, best of luck to you, however I wouldn't say throw all your chips in that one basket, perhaps just try it out as a hobby for a while and see if you're finding an audience at all.

Regardless my current dream in gaming is for Capcom showing the new Flagship for Monster Hunter 6 sooner rather than later_

@tpz4sheezy: Honestly my favorite form of progression is learning the mechanics and getting better at playing the game. But I don't think leveling up in games is a negative either, varies on the game. I don't for example think a leveling system really works in a Super Mario platformer. But in a Role Playing Game in-which you build your own class and set-up? absolutely.

@tpz4sheezy: Elden Ring is in fact as hard as any From Souls games, the difference is it's not quite as linear. If you are struggling with a boss at a dungeon? chances are you can tackle dozens other areas and return at a much higher level, because the big difference is ER is openworld. And while DkS games have different paths they're usually as difficult as each other if not far more difficult that the one you seemed to struggle with.

Elden Ring just offers more exploration with more secrets to find. But ultimately it's not an easier game, just more accessible overall.