From looking at the GOG store it doesn’t seem to be bundled with any patch, which is actually unusual for GOG. If you’re interested I heartily recommend Restoration Project, Updated or RPU for short. It’s a combined unofficial patch/cut content restoration that’s very vanilla friendly and tidies up a lot of stuff left unfixed in the last official patch.

Yeah those Wanamingos are scary in the early game, definitely a place to come back to later. Armour can be tough to get as it doesn’t typically drop as random loot. There are two leather armours for sale in Klamath I think if you’ve gotten a bit of money now.

I’m glad you’re enjoying Fallout 2, it’s probably my all time favourite Fallout! Are you playing with the Restoration Project?

I know exactly what you mean by that early game bottleneck. FO2 can be rough in the early stages between lack of equipment and the comically unbalanced random encounters. It usually swings the other way once you can survive big encounters and sell the looted weapons after.

How far have you gotten?

Instead of jumping on the Elden Ring DLC I’ve continued to be addicted to Esports Godfather to an almost worrying degree.

It’s the clear standout surprise hit of the year for me so far, coming out of absolutely nowhere and ending up being my favourite game in quite a while. It’s a MOBA-themed deckbuilder/autobattler/team management game, and while that sounds like a hot mess it actually plays really well - at least once you get past the initial information overload.

There are lots of fun interactions between cards, items, hero abilities and player abilities which in itself creates great replayability, and constantly changing rulesets keeps things fresh even during a run. The Backpack Battles esque training minigame itself is super fun to optimise when you start getting deep into a run and have more complex blocks to play with.

I heartily recommend it if you like deckbuilders (some passing knowledge of MOBAs might help). It’s only €16 on Steam, and there is a free demo that covers the first couple of hours of a run. I recommend playing with AI difficulty on maximum for both card playing and ban/pick for the best experience (the game is a little too easy by default).

That was in my OP though, that most games can be thought of as puzzle games with extra steps.

I just don’t get where you’re getting “most games” from. If you would have phrased it like “many games can be viewed as puzzle games if you really think about it” you would have maybe had more people agree with you.

I understand your reductive approach - it’s just that there are so many games it doesn’t apply to that I can never agree with “most games”.

If you have 2 minutes to solve a puzzle, is it no longer a puzzle game?

Yes, clearly. It still behaves the way a puzzle - or puzzle game - would: knowledge of the solution trivialises the content. It’s just a puzzle game with a timer.

If moving certain colored pieces requires a button combo or sequence, instead of a simple action, is this no longer a puzzle game?

Depends on how the combo works. Is there an element of skill involved? If it’s like a rhythm game I would just call it a puzzle/rhythm game. Otherwise it’s just a puzzle game with extra steps.

For me, if the main challenge of the game is figuring out the puzzle, then it’s mainly a puzzle game. If a measure of skill is required in the actual execution of beating the game it is no longer a pure puzzle game - but it can still contain puzzle elements of course.

EDIT: I would agree that Tetris is not a puzzle game.

Knowing the optimal thing to do can be seen as but a higher order puzzle.

But knowing the right strategy and item build in DotA or LoL means fuck all if you can’t mechanically execute your hero properly, which - in my opinion - disqualifies them as “puzzle games”.

I’ve been mainlining Esports Godfather, which is the surprise hit of the year for me so far. The title is nonsensical and on the surface it looks like it can’t be good, but it’s been so much fun.

It’s a MOBA-themed sort of deckbuilder/autobattler/management game - which sounds like a hot mess but plays so much better than you’d think. At least after you get over the initial information overload.

I wish the AI was a little smarter, but even with the game being a touch too easy it’s incredible how much fun it is. Loads of cards and heroes to build synergies with and rotating version rulesets keeping things fresh even within a single run.

At just €16 on Steam I’d easily recommend it to anyone with an interest in the genre, and there is even a free demo that covers the first couple hours of a run.

Vanilla Elden Ring felt pretty good in that regard (granted it’s been a while since I played it). As I recall between weapons, spells, Ashes of War and Spirit Ashes you had a lot of tool choices and were free to sort of make the game as difficult or easy for yourself as you liked.

Sounds like they lost that aspect in the DLC, which is a shame.

I think your definition of puzzle games is pretty flawed, to be honest. A puzzle does not provide additional difficulty once you’ve identified how the pieces go together, consequently a game should behave similarly to qualify as a puzzle game. The dichotomy is between conceptualisation versus execution.

Puzzle games can be solved or “won” by identifying the solution. Not-puzzle games require execution.

Guitar Hero and OSU! are not puzzle games. Games like RTSes and MOBAs can be argued to have puzzle elements in terms of strategy and meta, but knowing the optimal thing to do will still not give you victory which imo disqualifies them as outright puzzle games.

I still feel like a bit of an imposter when seeking help, as I am very high functioning, and can pass as quite intelligent in most settings, and working at a job where I often encounter low functioning and even non verbal poung people, its hard to feel like I deserve to ask for help in the first place.

I feel this. I was also diagnosed as an adult and I also pass well. The first time telling my friends about my then-new diagnosis was met with the reaction “what, no you’re not!” and I’m still mentally affected by that conversation. Dealing with guilt and imposter syndrome type feelings is tough. I don’t really have any advice but I know how you feel, at least.

I agree with you about BG3, but not about games in general. I think romance stories are valid narratives and can add to the experience if executed well.

The presence of sex also depends on the scope and intent of the game. Ultimately, love and sex are integral parts of the human experience. And some settings - like Cyberpunk - would be strictly weird and implausible without stuff like oversexualised ads and street hookers.

The even worse feeling is when there is a reply below with “<message deleted>” and a reply below that with “thank you so much, that fixed it!”

I suspect uncapping FPS would break physics and damage calculations. FromSoft are fond of tying those to FPS.

I’m not surprised about the rest either, though they really should start getting criticized for it in my opinion. No DLSS in 2024 is especially hard to excuse.

I have a deep love for Greedfall. I think it’s sadly pretty underrated. It’s very janky, and time and again it’s non-AAA nature rears its head, but it has such heart behind it. The good parts are worth powering through its flaws in my opinion, and it’s not like they were asking for €60 anyway.

Like you say, the lore and world building is really quite interesting and I loved what they did with the language. Managing to create and enforce consistent accents for all the natives goes such a long way towards maintaining immersion.

I’m very curious how the sequel will turn out. Teer Fradee was the best part of the game for me, so knowing that it’s a prequel taking place on the mainland makes me a little hesitant.

For sheer versatility you can’t beat PC, so that is going to have to be my choice. Having flexibility between KB+M and controller, having access to mods and tweaks and (typically) having a wider array of graphics/performance options to tailor to your preferences makes for an unbeatable package.

That being said (and it pains me to say this given my distaste for Nintendo), I absolutely loved the 3DS. The dual screens were cool, it had good ergonomics for me and a nice weight in your hands and there was something very satisfying in the mechanics of flipping it open or listening to the click as you slam it shut. It’s just a really nice device to use.

Can we not go after one of the few good guys in gaming? Please? If you want to hound someone Nintendo is right over there.

This is why the game lost me to be completely honest. I felt like the type of storytelling changed into more of a Sunday morning cartoon type vibe where the gang always wins and nobody ever dies.

There was a point during the story (probably Post-ARR through the beginning of post-Stormblood patch quests?) where it felt like there were actual stakes and risks of consequences and the lives of beloved characters were actually in danger and I loved that.

But instead more people seemed to come back from the dead than actually die.

For sure. Will probably be even more likely if the Elden Ring DLC does really well and further propels FromSoft into a true mainstream household name.

I’m not fussed about the minimap, I play with it off anyway. I might turn off the compass too if given the option, I like checking the PDA for directions.

The ammo though is a travesty to me. Maybe I’m overly sensitive but for me it’s such an immersion break, and these games thrive off of immersion. That’s the whole dang point! Interchangable ammo is such a “video gamey” thing that every time I loot a container and see “assault rifle ammo” I’m going to be pulled out of the zone mentally.

Tuulik was a real one and I would have been very interested in his spinoff. He was really the last bastion of the old ZA/UM as one of the co-creators of the setting (having been part of the original Elysium tabletop game sessions with Kurvitz et al). Him getting fired a couple of months ago was pretty much the final nail for ZA/UM.

But hey, at least the Disco Elysium mobile game with 0 original creator participation is still under development!

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Play as the drunk detective Tequila Sunset - or roll for more champions in our exciting gacha system, each with unique gameplay! Having trouble dodging? Our first featured character "Mega-Rich Light-Bending Guy’ can turn invisible thanks to his net worth! Check him out before the banner ends!

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They shouldn’t have to compromise on the unique experience and simplify it for everyone and ruin what makes them good.

When was this ever about compromising the vision or changing the games? I thought this was about the use of guides while playing.

I’m perfectly happy for all the players who spend thousands of hours scrounging every surface, making conspiracy-boards out of item descriptions and feverishly figuring out every hidden secret in these games by themselves.

It’s still completely valid to enjoy all the rest the games have to offer and look at the wiki for how you access the secret area with the hidden boss.