m76

I can barely fall asleep when I want to. It is literally impossible for me to fall asleep in front of a computer no matter how tired I am. I suffer from borderline insomnia. If on any given night I can fall asleep within 90 minutes of going to bed then that's an extremely good day for me. I once went for about two weeks without sleep, be glad you don't know what's that like.

DeusEx - An immersive sim the like I haven't seen before or since. The game's world is so complex and so well designed that there are so many layers to peel back that I'd find major secrets and opportunities even after playing through the game a dozen times. The player is not restricted by the game developers, they just give you options to solve problems, and all of the problems in the game have multiple solutions, depending on your acquired skills or choices. And I don't mean two options, most problems can be solved at least in half a dozen ways. Such a freedom is unheard of in any other game. You think freedom means open world? No, often those are the most restrictive games. Here choices truly matter. Countless NPCs lives depend on your choices. Choices that are not handed to you on a plate like CHOOSE A / B or CHOOSE KILL / NOT KILL. You just seamlessly do something and you might not even realize that you had other options. Mafia the City of Lost Heaven - A testament to good storytelling. That is only reinforced by the abysmal remake released this year. You can tell the same story badly or well. This game immerses you in the world of the Mafia and prohibition in the early nineteenth century. While telling a story of intrigue and respect. A story where every character is complex and not just tokens for some purpose. Mass Effect 2 - Mass Effect 1 was OK, but this is where things get serious. More of a character oriented story which many people dissed the game for, well that's exactly why I liked it. It feels much more human sized, and down to earth. Gritty, yet uplifting at times. Plus this has the best action / combat from all three games. The first is too clunky, too RPG, the third is too looter shooter like. This strikes the perfect balance. Transport Tycoon - I blame this game for many of my bad grades in primary and high school, all the way to college it's so addictive. It's so much fun in freeplay mode, to build complex systems of transportation and see it work efficiently. I'd often just sit there watch my creations for years. I haven't played the game in recent years, but still this is the game I played actively for most years ever. At least 20. XCOM 2 - I've played this game a hundred times, and at some point I thought I'd never get bored of it. I still go back to it from to time. The procedurally generated maps make sure there are no two totally identical missions Even the ones with fixed maps play out very differently each time you try it. The old XCOM elitists often diss the game as being too easy, but I never felt that. Especially for beginners it can be daunting. And on highest difficulty it is absolutely punishing. I don't even like to play on that difficulty despite sinking over 1000 hours in the game. What makes the game fun for me, is that it is like a big game of chess. Trying to find the perfect strategy on each mission that results in no casualties in your side, or even completing missions in the least turns possible, or completing it without the enemy being able to fire off a single shot. I can't with a good conscience leave without making a few honourable mentions: Max Payne - the purest no-nonsense action game The Last of Us Part II - they just hit all the notes I expected, and even the ones I hoped Alien Isolation - the scariest game ever, with the most menacing enemy System Shock II - A precursor to DeusEx, it's similar but you don't have as much freedom. Every bioshock game that you ever liked is a ripoff of this game. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Roam free, explore and mod Test Drive Unlimited - I was always a fan of street racing games, and this is the ultimate street racing game so far. Hopefully only until solar crown comes out. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands - Total immersion as a government gun for hire in south america. Any of these might sneak on my list on another day. About the only game that has an irrevocable space on the list is DeusEx.

Not anymore. When I was fresh out of school and looking for a job, I would've. But I'd have taken any job back then. Game testing is a horrible profession. It's underpaid and holds zero respect among developers. And no it's not about playing games early. Most of the time you have to playtest certain situations over and over again, often without context. Trying to produce or re-produce bugs, or check if certain changes work or not. It's a highly repetitive and boring job, that will probably make you hate games before long if done as a profession. I'd love to play through unreleased but comlpeted games early too, but unfortunately being a game tester is not just about that. By the time you get a finished game in your hands, you are hating every inch of that game.

I feel bad for making the wrong choice all the time. And I loath game designers who trick you into wrong choices by withholding information from you. And laying traps. Like the ominous dialogue choices in Mass Effect, when you don't know what the character will say, and often it ends up the opposite of your intentions. I hate that. I even feel guilt when I run over pedestrians in gta.

You absolutely cannot compare this to films and tv, you have no choice there, you just observe. You can feel bad for characters but why would you feel guilty?

There was about 30 seasons of star trek made, it would be harder to find a company that never employed any star trek actors. Mass Effect has actors from many other scifi shows.

2080ti I might switch to a 3080Ti when that becomes available and scalpers have done wasting our time.

I don't mind busy work if it's fun. Like in AC Odyssey, I methodically cleared and looted almost all camps, because it was fun. It's not repetition of a task that is the problem, it's repetition of a mundane, boring task. On the other hand I find it extremely easy to ignore busywork if the game isn't forcing me. I always ignore collectibles for example, meaning I don't go out of my way to find them, I only pick up the ones that happen to be in my path, while exploring. The last game I did a completionist playthrough of was GTA: Vice City I think. The only game where it was impossible to ignore most collecting tasks was DA:I, because you needed almost everything to progress properly. Fallout 4 is a far different beast than DA:I, and far more enjoyable IMO.

The purity first trailer is still the best cinematic trailer ever made for a videogame.

I think Far Cry 5 was a huge missed opportunity. It could've been gritty and great instead it was as generic as it gets. It didn't need to attack any real world religion. Only the methods of cults. The fundamentalist religios were alienated by it as is, so they could've gone the extra mile without loosing anyone.

If I was ever in the army or any tyrannical organization, I'm sure it would've ended with someone dying and it wouldn't have been the enemy. Injustice, nonsense and me are not compatible. I narrowly avoided being conscripted. I was borderline on the psychological aptitude test. They said I have a hightened sense of justice and unusually high intelligence. Like those are bad things. Well they are for the army. They want obedient little soldiers who don't think about orders just do them. Anyhow, to be on topic. The only game that still can surprise me is DeusEx, even after 20 years, it has secrets and conspiracy theory references I had not uncovered yet.

I only started playing this, but so far I'm liking it much more than expected. Seems strange for ubisotf to release two high profile titles within a few days of each other. I've been spending most of my time on valhalla

I loved odyssey, but unfortunately valhalla seems like two steps backwards in every sense. the fighting is clunky and much less fun, the story and characters are uninteresting, the quests tedious, the scenery dreary, there is no loot. No naval engagements. Open fighting is forced over stealthy gameplay. Enemies spawn out of thin air. Raids are repetitive and boring. The enemy AI is awful, cutscenes and conversations with NPCs seem half complete, placeholder level even. Should I go on?

You are not forced to do any of those things. Settlement building is optional apart from some very minimal tutorial tasks. And you can always ask vendors to repair your stuff for caps. Or simply throw away them and switch to another weapon. That's the best part of RPGs, that you can choose how you approach things.

If you like to explore post apocalyptic ruins then it's worth it. That's my favorite part of these types of games exploring what remains.

Doesn't look like a 200 million game. If they really spent that much on it that is disgusting. They could've made two new tomb raider games of that budget at least.

No, because I'd eat it all in a few days no matter how big it is. I can't eat what I don't have, that's my philosophy.

I prefer plain looking cases, not overdesigned plastic RGB monsters. For me even a simple window is too much. I'd prefer not to have that either. I like experimenting with cases so I've tried quite a few. I currently use a Silverstone FT05, which I quite like and will probably keep for a long time for my primary PC.

I haven't read the books from other authors but a world of warning on the other books: The kharkanas trilogy only has two books completed, the third one is currently in development hell. It is not known if it'll ever be finished. Which is a shame since I enjoyed the first two books, it's more of the same quality as the 10 part main series. That said the Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach are terrible novels imo. I've tried reading more than one of them and it didn't work out. I got through maybe one and didn't like it at all, the rest I couldn't even finish. Currently the author Steven Erikson is working on a new series centered on who is probably my least favourite character of the entire Malazan book of the fallen. Not gonig to name the character as that would be a spoiler.

Just because they made some good games doesn't mean I give them a pass on greed. I'm not biased like that.

The series S is digital only, you can't resell games at all. And it has small storage which coupled with being digital only means lots of uninstalls / reinstalls, directly from the internet, unless you are on an unlimited and fast plan that can be a problem also.

To me it's always Japanese companies who come first in terms of being just utterly despicable. In no particular order: Bandai Namco, Konami, Nintendo, even Sony.

A big chunk of console buyers are parents who know nothing of the systems themselves. This will produce a right mess, and a lot of disappointed children at christmas who get the wrong console / game.

Not being the same developer is actually a good thing here, at least this won't affect the actual game. Of course that has its very own problems, but at least this is not adding to it.