I’ve been playing The Sims 2. The “Legacy Collection” was on sale the other day and I installed it on my Stream Deck. My feelings of nostalgia got the better of me and I’ve been playing it a lot. It’s just so nice to relax with a fun game that I already know and that isn’t demanding.
It runs well on the Steam Deck by the way, I haven’t had any crashes yet. It was a bit tricky to get the console cheats working, but you can set up a button for that. Next thing I’ll try is add some mods.
How do you feel about the controls on the Deck? I tried playing the classic version last year and had to put it down after a few minutes due to hand strain. One of the very few games it ever happened to me.
That sucks, but I can see that happening. The first time I played my thumb got a bit stained, but after adjusting my grip it’s been fine. Everybody’s hands are different of course, so I don’t know what would work for you.
The controls are okay, but it’s very obviously a game designed for mouse and keyboard. I use the right track pad to control the pointer, and one thing I’ve found that makes it easier in building mode, is just moving the camera with the left stick instead of trying to move the pointer to draw a long wall for example.
Some things just remain annoying though, like scrolling through the endless list of wallpapers. There’s just no way around moving the pointer all the way to the arrow to click to the next page and back again to select something. It is what it is. I just accept that it’s a slower experience.
That’s pretty much how I played too so I guess there’s no hidden technique to make it work easily. Guess I’ll have to play around with it some more. Thanks!
Still working on maxing the holo league stuff for the new pet battles in No Man’s Sky. I think I have 4 more days of the Daily battle with Iteration Oceanus, but I also need ~30 holo battles as well.
I looked through my backlog and finally decided to play Heat Signature. It’s pretty fun, my only qualm is the lack of armor-piercing weapons and the abundance of armored guards.
This game is such a hidden gem.
I managed to find a workaround for my Easy Anti-Cheat issue so I’m back to The Division 2. Well, kinda.
I once again ended up installing the first game and spent some time alternating between the two to compare them - it’s something I do pretty much every time I’m in the mood for TD.As much as I like TD2, I refreshed my realisation that in many aspects I still prefer the first game. I actually made a simple list last night of what I like about each game and it turned out way more one sided than I thought it would.
TD1:
- Atmosphere
- Game world
- Enemy factions
- Writing
- Slightly slower pace (movement, combat. looting)
- Cosmetics (UI and items themselves)
- Dark Zone
- Exotic weapons (in regards to looks, TD2 ones are hideous)
TD2:
- Improved cover system
- Armour and weakpoint systems
There are also some things I keep going back and forth on, mainly: gunplay and skills. Which game I prefer for these elements depends on how I feel and what I’m looking for at the time. This week, the first game comes out on top as well but, again, it’s more of a temporary decision compared to everything listed above.
Anyway, this is just a simple comparison without much thought put into it. I’m sure I could get more into details of specific systems and add a ton of conditions on when one is better than the other but it was a fun time waster after finishing a day with both titles.
If only there was a way to play the first game on the updated engine…
Definitely working on 100%-ing Doom 2016
Either that or TF2 and Journey to the Savage Planet.I’ve been playing some TF2 classified, which is mod that makes it like original TF2 back in the day. No lootboxes and such.
sick dude
I’ve been mostly playing microsoft flight simulator 2020 in VR and a patreon work in progress build of a game called grimorium. It’s extremely bare bones still but it’s nice to see what the dev is working on and adding on a weekly basis updated build. I like how i just asked if it would be hard to add a 3D mode for me to play on a 3D VR flat screen and they just went ahead and added a stereoscopic mode that i can use for that. So i’ve been testing and exploring the world in 3D this week :)
VR made me queasy in MSFS. Is that an issue for you?
Eye tracking ended up working way better for me.
Look, I may have spent the past several weeks playing Path of Exile non-stop. But I’m back on SOMA now. Back to slowly walking on the ocean floor and being interrupted by monsters while I read lore notes.
It’s also time to start up TF2 again, since a new community MvM event has started on potato.tf.
Persona 5 (Non Royal) edition. As part of a 3R/4G/5 replay. I prefer it to Royal tbh, I feel it didnt need the additional content or grappling hook.
Assassins Creed 1
Recently got gifted xbox360 Slim. Hacked it and made it run downloaded games. I always had PC and no consoles, so I am catching up with games. Finished Asura’s Wrath, Juiced 2, Dante’s Inferno and now for the first time in my life playing Assassins Creed. Cant wait to play though 2nd and Black Flag. Heard so much great stuff about these both games.
I genuinely wonder how well AC2 holds up. I remember it extremely fondly, but then again back then I didn’t have several decades of the same formula being used as a frame of reference. So I wonder how it stands on its own merits, were I to play it now.
But yeah, the whole Ezio saga was amazing at the time, and I can’t imagine they have aged too poorly.
I finished Outer Wilds a couple days ago, I really liked it a lot. I had heard everyone say to go in completely blind and I had the impression that there was going to be a major twist or change in gameplay, but the reason that’s good advice is the magic in the game is in the exploration and discovery. There are some moments that just made me feel awe and wonder. Progress is entirely in the form of understanding, so starting the game for the first time after reading up a lot about it could be like introducing yourself to mario on world 4.
The first few hours I wasn’t fully into it, but there was just so much to explore. By the time I actually needed to take a couple hours on something and smash my head against the wall, I was already hooked and was willing to take that time to make progress on my own.
Did you also play the expansion echoes of the eye?
I’m doing that right now, didn’t find any difference yet, but I’m replaying through the game for the first time since a few years.I did, but I completed it before the main story and actually had no idea it was the expansion. In retrospect I knew an expansion was installed and that could have crossed my mind at some point.
Brilliant game, absolutely my favourite in terms of design. It’s incredible how many realisations you make along the way. No other game has made me sit up in bed after going to sleep and tell my partner that I think I know what to do next.
The start is wonky, though. I’ve had a few friends bounce off it because of that. And also because they didn’t feel like you were given a clear goal or motivation. Which is really interesting, to me just going to space a exploring was motivation enough, but fair that it’s not the same for everyone.
Borderlands 2. I forgot I had it in my Steam library
Nethack 5.0.0 that has been released this week.
Graphics are great, the sound is amazing, but it’s all about the story really.
Obsessed with Pacific Drive these days. The gameplay loop of exploring and gathering resources to go back and work on your car to go out and gather more resources is really well balanced.
Really liking the transition from the start where everything is scary and dangerous to later where you understand how to interact with the anomalies, and get a feel for how dangerous they are under which circumstances.
It’s aesthetically pleasing, that game. Loved watching people play it.
I bounced off from it when trying it on release. For some reason I had a lot of stuttering and it made the game feel nauseating, but I liked the gameplay. Not sure if that was a problem at release or my hardware has some issues. Other games seems to be ok, and my gpu is definitely not that bad.
The performance seems to be a bit weird. It’s a pretty game, but not insanely so, yet the Steam Deck reportedly can’t run it properly, and my own new pc works hard when the shadows are at the highest setting.
I started replaying Klonoa: Moonlight Museum, this time with its fan translation so I get the story and RetroAchievements I missed before. The developers dealt with the WonderSwan’s terrible display by turning Klonoa into a chill little puzzle platformer, a design they repeated twice on the GBA.
I recently completed Mega Bomberman’s RetroAchievement set, then poked at its superior PC Engine version, Bomberman '94. It’s good classic Bomberman. I want to start playing the fantastic fan game Power Bomberman once my new MacBook Pro Linux Mint setup is more stable.
I’ve been playing a lot of Slay this week.
It’s my favorite ‘conquest’ type of game. Been playing it off and on for many years. I would call it ‘simple but deep’ in the same sort of way chess is. I dare even call it elegant. I like how it forces you to take calculated risks, lest you be overrun by the enemy. But there’s still a time and place to turtle up.
There’s an excellent free, online clone called Konkr. I highly recommend checking it out of this interests you.
Damn, that first zombie map on Old World was tough on hard. I almost gave up. Great game
Thank you for sharing. I just looked at the clock and it’s been three hours…
