Still playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but I’m starting to slow down a bit. Replaying them, I think I prefer the first game, as I’m finding 2 a bit lacking.

I also restarted Tales of Arise (not on Switch tho as I already had it on PC) and I’m enjoying it quite bit. I remember trying it a couple of years ago and hating it, but returning to it now I’m realising I was completely misunderstanding how combat is supposed to work.

FYI if it’s just the notification you want to disable, you can do it from the Steam settings (at least in desktop mode). I despise notifications, so I have them completely disabled, but you should be able to remove just the achievement ones.

I wouldn’t say I hate achievements, but I can’t understand what’s appealing about them.

Halfway through replaying Xenoblade Chronicles 2 with the Switch 2 Edition.
I’m mostly happy with the upgrade, but the Merc Missions are a bit disappointing and I wish they did something to improve the gacha mechanics. The resolution upgrade tho is very noticeable, even when comparing against the old boosted mode, and the new costumes are pretty, so it’s overall a good upgrade.

Ah good, when I saw the voxel terrain I was worried it was procedurally generated like NMS and similar games.

I was actually playing Endfield regularly from release up to around Tangtang’s banner. The factory building was decent but a bit too simplistic, and I was a bit annoyed at how little it ends up interacting with combat (the items have really boring effects). The story was also pretty bad, and I can’t stand the ways these games try to get you to log in every day, so at some point I stopped playing. (I also find the progression systems in gachas to be really dull and unsatisfying).

I might check out FO4 sometimes, although I tend to dislike Bethesda games.

I’m not really into survival (or otherwise “sandboxy”) games, although I was looking a bit into Astroneer recently because of the coop, but I was worried about there being too much procgen. Is there enough handcrafted stuff?

I’m a bit burnt out on Monster Hunter, but yea the newer ones in particular have interesting customization options with how skills work from World. Xenoblade 1 and X too have a similar system (although only focused on raw stats) which I find fun.

I’m not sure EO is what I’m looking for. I’ve played most of EO1 (I’m currently stuck on the 4th stratum) and the crafting seems to be more a way to progress the shop than an actual crafting system.

Disgaea might be what I’m looking for, I think I already have the first game so I might try it later.

I’m not familiar with ARPGs, I’ve only played a bit of PSO, but I thought they were more focused on random loot?

I’ve leveled a few crafters and yea it’s pretty close to what I mean. I like the crafting/gathering itself, but what kinda ruins it for me is that unless you’re crafting the latest set, gear is kinda meaningless in the game.

I’m not against the series itself, I just find a lack of motivation with how they are structured. Since Mana Khemia looks to be structured more like a traditional JRPG I might find it more interesting.

Haven’t played much this month, as I was focused on other things, but I finally played Unbeatable’s story. I think it was a bit messy, but I still liked it.

I’ve also started playing Absolum with a friend and we found it pretty fun. Meanwhile I’ve also been playing Blazblue Entropy Effect which IMO plays better but lacks the “style” of Absolum.

I’ve also started Potionomics this weekend, it’s surprisingly stressful and probably a bit too hard for me. I’ve also just started La-Mulana 2.

I was just using it as an example for what happens, because it’s the only times something like this has happened. Still, according to their user agreement, they sell you a license through them (so the publisher licenses the license to GOG and they then issue a license to you to access the game), which means that on account termination you lose it and any right you had.

To be clear, I don’t think “ownership” matters that much usually, since data is not a finite resource, but there’s a few cases in which it does, for example: you can’t sell or lend the games or you can’t legally host a tournament or other public events unless you get another license that allows you to do so.

Anyways, my point is that the GOG’s DRM free policy is good, but to me feels meaningless and more like a marketing gimmick and the laws on these things are unfairly against the user. What is meaningful for preservation tho is their “Preservation Program” through which they maintain older games to keep them working on modern systems (which includes fixing legal issues that prevent them from being sold)

Yea you just lose the ability to download it again. AFAIK that’s what happened with The Witcher 3’s DLCs brought through some gray market sites.
You obviously lose access to cloud saves, multiplayer and any other feature from the client l. Playing the game after that is no different than playing a pirated copy (practically and legally, if you care about that).

What I mean is that you don’t own the copy any differently than you do on other platforms.

I don’t really see it much differently than Steam, as if a game is on GOG it’s going to be either DRM-free or at worst use the weak built in DRM (which can be bypassed easily).

That’s not to say I dislike GOG, I think the real value of it is the support and patches for older games. They also have a more generous refund policy (30 days, no time limit).

Edit: to be clear this is an issue with capitalism the sale of fully digital media, not with GOG and no, I’m not advocating for NFTs.

I don’t really know how to play or make music, but I’ve messed around with a few tools: there’s rackarrack which is a virtual fx rack for guitar, there’s DAW Ardour, if you are interested in synths and similar there are things like VCV rack and Cardinal, which are modular synth racks, there’s trackers like OpenMPT and Impulse Tracker and Hydrogen, which is a drum machine/sequencer.

If you are on Linux there’s jackd which is an audio system that allows you to route sound through applications with a virtual patchbay.

If you’re on Windows though, you should definitely always prefer GOG over Steam because it’s DRM-free (you buy it, you own it)

I’m not really disagreeing with you, as with GOG you are guaranteed to get a DRM free game (and an installer which is better than Steam’s backup, as it’s guaranteed to work offline), but they still sell you just a revocable license.

I’ve been playing Unbeatable quite a bit, although only the arcade mode, as I initially found the story mode to be a bit buggy and should now restart it.

I’ve also played a bit of Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin and Risk of Rain 2. Having fun with both.

Finally I’ve just started Knights in the Nightmare on PSP. I’m enjoying it, it takes a bit of getting used to, but the gameplay is really unique. I also quite like the aesthetic.

This week I started Witch Spring R and I’m really liking it.

I’ve also finally gave up and bought Monster Hunter Wilds. This one I’m kinda disappointed by. The combat feels really good, ignoring the new additions, but everything else feels off. The new quest-less system for hunts feels terrible to me, for example. I do prefer it to Rise, but it has the same flaws as World plus new ones.

I just tried Torna and it looks great. Even just the removal (o reduction) of the sharpness filter makes the image so much better.

Replayed halfway through Resident Evil Requiem, this time without using the blood collector (for the challenge/achievement). I think it’s more fun without being able to craft ammo or ribbons whenever you want, but it also doesn’t seem like it makes the game any harder. I did end up pausing the playthrough after reaching the more open area with Leon as I couldn’t get a stable framerate on the pc I was playing on and I was kinda bored of playing him.

I played through AI: Somnium Files - The Nirvana Initiative. I thought it was fine, I liked the original more. The “twist” was honestly really dumb and I don’t think it works, and in general the story felt weaker than the first. I appreciate that there were more real puzzles, but I still prefer 999 and VLR (I still have to play ZTD).

Excel does it for its formulas. It ends up being just a pain in the ass when you are looking online for info (which means it ends up increasing the barrier of entry, as most stuff online is in English).