I came back to Cyberpunk 2077 recently. First time touching the game since the 2.0 update and I have to say I’m a bit mixed on the changes (I actually reinstalled the legacy version to make sure I’m not just misremembering things).

I’ll probably post a longer write up once I’m done with my playthrough (or at least do more testing and comparison between both version) but for now my main takeaway is this: I like the new content and all the technical improvements, gameplay, while better from a design and balance perspective, lost some of the fun for me in the process. It’s still a great title and I enjoy it quite a bit but yeah… I miss some of the old unbalanced jank of a game we had before.

I’m sticking to slowly clearing my backlog for now but thanks for the recommendation! So much to play, so little time…

Oh, I didn’t try to imply you did. It’s just I’ve seen a lot of talk about this route being more… rough (on a story rather than quality level), so to speak? If that’s the case I’m just not in a headspace for something like that and would rather play it when I’m in a position to better appreciate what’s there. Maybe I just misunderstood people’s thoughts about it, that’s also a possibility.

Either way I do want to go back to it eventually, if only to spend some more time with both characters (I do find them fun whenever they show up in other routes).

A lot of comments I’ve seen about Shizune’s route suggested it probably wouldn’t be something I’ll enjoy, that’s why I decided to skip it for now. I might give it a shot some day but for now I’m just happy with all the other great stuff in the VN.

Katawa Shoujo is great!

I played it years ago and decided to replay it again a few months back. My initial playthrough was limited to Hanako’s route (got a bad ending which I’m kind of baffled by after the replay) so this time I wanted to try out the other ones as well. Rin’s story ended up being a surprise highlight of the whole process in a way I wasn’t really prepared for (had some very familiar thoughts showing up there). Her whole story just clicked with me and wouldn’t let go until some time after finishing it.

All the other routes were great as well (haven’t touched Shizune/Misha one) and I’m glad I decided to give it another shot for an expanded experience. It was worth it and made me wish for more games with disabled protagonist/characters (without using it as their main characteristic obviously).

I tried playing Bahamut Lagoon, a Japan only SNES TRPG, but had to stop due to some technical issues with the unofficial translation. The little bit I did manage to play (prologue and the first scene after that) was interesting enough so I’ll definitely try again, I just need to get back to my PC so I can research what’s wrong with it.

To keep with the theme I started Jeanne d’Arc, the PSP TRPG, instead. I like the art style, animated cutscenes and gameplay. Not a huge fan of the fantastical elements but they’re not a dealbreaker either. I’m not sure what to think about the story just yet - I like it for the most part but there are some things that make me a bit wary since they might potentially turn into tropes I’m not going to be happy with. It’s a “wait and see” for now since I’m still pretty early on. It’s good so far.

It’s a decent piece of hardware designed for ease of use similar to consoles while also allowing people as much control as a normal PC. How well it works depends completely on what kind of games one wants to play.

I tend to play mostly indie and older titles, both PC and console ones, and Deck works great for that. The few AAA games I tried worked without issues but your experience might vary based on when they were released, whether they use third party launchers, DRM etc.

Deck was a bit of an impulse buy for me but I can’t say I regret it. It’s a neat device and a great way to get into PC gaming, well worth the asking price in my opinion.

I realize that but even those daily updates don’t seem to catch everything. When I tried to bring some life to a community I was interested in it took a few weeks of activity before it showed up on the list. It’s a great tool but it’s not perfect.

Nice, didn’t know about this one.

Yeah, it can take a while before new communities show up. Not much can be done about it I’m afraid.

Are you looking specifically for a community for communities? If not there’s also Lemmy Explorer.

Did you know Need For Speed: World is alive and kicking? Not officially, obviously, but through the power of fan servers and the wonderful project that is Soapbox Race World. It’s not the best NFS in the series and can be pretty tough if you play it without power ups but it’s fun.

For those who never heard of NFS:W - it’s a live service, online only entry in the series. It consists of maps from Most Wanted and Carbon combined into one and brings some additional gameplay changes specific for the live service model (power ups, performance parts with incremental stats upgrades etc). It also has a pretty good visual editor - can be a bit cumbersome at times but you can do some great stuff with it.

Fan servers are surprisingly active and provide A LOT of new cars, parts etc do play with. They also have different rules so if you want a place where getting everything you want is easy, you can do that as well.

My second game is Wagahime or Waga Himegimi ni Eikan o, a comedy visual novel by Minato Soft. Unlike their other work (that I read anyway) it’s set in a medieval fantasy world with magic, beast races and all the usual stuff. It has three main routes, each expanding the world and providing details for the other ones, and each filled with fun characters and events.

I won’t be spending much time on it since all that’s left is finishing the final route but it’s a great read and I really wanted to mention it. Minato Soft seriously reignited my love for VNs lately.

Last but not least, Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery - a sci-fi strategy RPG. It came out this year so I’m not going to go too much into it but it’s a great and at times challenging title. Worth looking into if you’re interested in this genre.

Finally came back to Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery - a sci-fi tactical RPG. Really fun, with interesting story so far. Can be pretty challenging at times (especially on higher difficulties when trying to complete all optional goals on your first try) but that’s kind of what you’d want from a title like this, isn’t it?

It plays great on both desktop, with mouse and keyboard, as well as on the Deck so I tend to jump between the two depending on the situation. Thankfully game has no problem with that.

That’s good to know, thanks!

Much obliged for that! I often think about writing on what I’m playing but end up forgetting due to time constraints - threads like this one definitely help with that.

I get that, it’s just if there’s no mod to post it I think it’s better to have a topic rather than not, especially since it can be pinned afterwards if any mod stumbles into the community again.

We could also bully them into setting up a bot that would post those automatically but this might have its own issues since some people disable bot submissions.

That sounds encouraging. I’ve been meaning to give it a shot but the backlog is a fickle beast and lives by its own rules.

How’re the Kb/M controls?

Majikoi! Love Me Seriously! S - it’s a wacky visual novel about a group of high-schoolers in a world where melee combat is pretty much commonplace and all the girl MCs are action manga level of strong. Series is hilarious and I can’t stop playing it after getting swept of my feet by Momo in the first game (ended up blazing through it in two days which doesn’t happen often these days). This one is a sequel with the same (though epanded) crew and I really can’t wait to jump back in.

As for the monthly thread, I feel like if it doesn’t happen “officially” the first person to have something to write should just post one themselves instead of waiting. Not like there’s a lot of activity here so it should remain visible long enough to gain traction.

Ahhh, gotcha. I checked the links in OP this time and honestly the NFSU version sounds like many radio edits I heard before so I’m not sure what to tell you. Couldn’t find an official radio version to compare but I don’t really hear anything strange there.

Is it a ham-fisted way to do it? Sure. Personally I chuck it up to the fact not every label bothers with a less noticeable edit for their songs.

A lot of explicit music has (or used to have) a “radio version” which silenced or changed the offensive language so they could be used in places and products aimed at a younger audience. That’s what this is.

Music isn’t the only thing with censored cuts. Have you ever seen old TV versions of mature rated movies? Die Hard, Scarface and many others had swearing redubbed in corny and unfitting ways just so they could be played on the small screen.

It’s just another way of “protecting” kids from one thing while completely disregarding other, more screwed up elements still present in the same media.