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I think I'm most of the way through Partisans 1941 now - I've obtained the last member of the team. Pretty good so far! I'm liking how it's not just a series of escalating missions the whole time - there are also some easier, small missions interspersed among the main missions too, which us nice. Provides good opportunities to try out new tactics and abilities, without it being in high-stakes situations. Also, I've been smashing through Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts this long weekend. It's been very fun - more so than I was expecting! It's been great, for a $10AUD purchase the other day. I like how much flexibility it offers, in how you can tackle situations. I was expecting it to be more linear than what it is
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Oct 4, 2021 08:09
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Stealth Docs did a review of Filcher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRxtvuC1d0E I was kind of interested until I heard about the lack of saves. Like, at all - not even checkpoint saves. So if you fail in the last 5 minutes you have to start the mission over from scratch.
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Oct 4, 2021 16:02
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felcher
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Oct 4, 2021 16:39
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I hardly knew 'er!
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Oct 4, 2021 16:50
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Some stealth games on sale at GoG: https://www.gog.com/promo/20211006_midweek_sale
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Oct 9, 2021 02:00
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Hell yeah dude, classic simming ftw
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Oct 9, 2021 03:36
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Deathloop was on sale for 45% off so I picked it up and am a little disappointed so far. The powers are basically copied from Dishonored but weaker and you can only equip two at a time and as far as I can tell there's only one enemy in the game (two if you separate out person with gun, person with knife). Its not really the open world murder playground it presents itself as, it's more like a big Hitman level spread over four smallish zones, and literally everyone is hostile. Also there's only one correct way to win the Hitman level, it's not organic, you just follow 8 separate trails of clues until you find the literal one method of beating the game and killing all the baddies in one loop. So there's no real experimentation to it, it's the opposite of an immersive sim. The much praised dialogue and writing doesn't work for me 90%, it's very MCU. When you get your first decent gun the main character monologues to himself for a good three minutes about what to name the gun, suggesting names like Colt Jr and Mr Blammo, before deciding he's being too zany and reigning it in. He finds a hacking tool and gets excited but doesn't know what to call it or how it works so he names it the Hackamajig and that's its official name now. Dreadful. I did stumble across a plot twist earlier than i think I was "meant" to which is always fun but it's a bit gross (Julianna is Colt's daughter and played along with his flirting etc to freak him out). I feel like multiple games this year have had this kind of plot twist. Stepsister porn has cast a very dark shadow on the brains of the most cumbrained writers among us One of the worst things is that I don't think it ever really justifies the central loop conceit in gameplay terms. It just leads to loads of mandatory repetition. I uncovered a secret power bunker which lets me reroute power all over the island when I power it up. Cool! I've now had to do that sequence three times in a row because you can only power up one or two areas per loop. It's a long and boring sequence. You didn't have to do this. Majora's Mask figured this out like 20 years ago. I don't think I'll ever replay this game between the limited power set and the fact that by the time I finish it I'll probably have played all the main gameplay sections five times. I'm still having fun, it's an Arkane game after all, but I have no idea where all the rave reviews came from and it's very clear that it's a game that suffered from cuts and stuff during lockdown - every NPC on the island being hostile in particular is so weirdly un-Arkane and makes absolutely no sense for this setting in particular (most of the NPCs are just there for a big party). Even Prey had a few neutral people. I don't regret paying £27 for it but honestly I'd wait until it's on Game Pass or an even deeper discount. Lunchmeat Larry fucked around with this message at 10:32 on Nov 2, 2021 |
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Nov 2, 2021 10:18
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:Deathloop was on sale for 45% off so I picked it up and am a little disappointed so far. The powers are basically copied from Dishonored but weaker and you can only equip two at a time and as far as I can tell there's only one enemy in the game (two if you separate out person with gun, person with knife). death poop
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Nov 2, 2021 16:46
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Calling the writing MCU is honestly overselling it, I started it last night and am not far enough in to have much of an opinion on gameplay but the writing struck me as more Gearbox. Like a slightly-toned down Borderlands. Whoever wrote it really thought that someone saying “gently caress” in a wacky tone of voice is the funniest thing imaginable
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Nov 2, 2021 18:04
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Chuck Buried Treasure posted:Calling the writing MCU is honestly overselling it, I started it last night and am not far enough in to have much of an opinion on gameplay but the writing struck me as more Gearbox. Like a slightly-toned down Borderlands. Whoever wrote it really thought that someone saying “gently caress” in a wacky tone of voice is the funniest thing imaginable 
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Nov 3, 2021 14:46
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:
Do a lot of people miss all the generators? There's enough generators for everything in a single run, only two are booby trapped and can die which could force the need to go to this location multiple times.
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Nov 3, 2021 15:11
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I'm enjoying Deathloop more for what it is now but it's still the weakest Arkane game imo. It feels like it was intended to be much bigger in scope than it ended up, I wonder if COVID messed with development or something. There are loads of points where there's a lead or piece of info that's just completely worthless, like in Updam in the morning you can see two enemies digging a tunnel and if you leave them alive and come back letter, the tunnel is complete but it doesn't go anywhere useful that you can't just access by walking around the wall and past a single enemy. There's another point where you can go into an underground area and an enemy is behind bulletproof glass and floods the room with poison gas which you can turn off by solving a simple lever puzzle, and then... the guy calls you a dick and you just have to leave, you don't get to kill him and there's no reward or anything.
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Nov 6, 2021 15:04
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:There's another point where you can go into an underground area and an enemy is behind bulletproof glass and floods the room with poison gas which you can turn off by solving a simple lever puzzle, and then... the guy calls you a dick and you just have to leave, you don't get to kill him and there's no reward or anything. lol
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Nov 6, 2021 17:56
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You ruined MattTheMan's interactive experiential let's play and you expect a reward?
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Nov 6, 2021 17:59
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Arrhythmia posted:You ruined MattTheMan's interactive experiential let's play and you expect a reward? lol
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Nov 6, 2021 18:02
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Arrhythmia posted:You ruined MattTheMan's interactive experiential let's play and you expect a reward? lol
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Nov 6, 2021 18:06
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Arrhythmia posted:You ruined MattTheMan's interactive experiential let's play and you expect a reward? Lol
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Nov 6, 2021 18:26
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Arrhythmia posted:You ruined MattTheMan's interactive experiential let's play and you expect a reward?
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Nov 6, 2021 18:58
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Arrhythmia posted:You ruined MattTheMan's interactive experiential let's play and you expect a reward? lol
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Nov 6, 2021 23:38
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Aragami 2          I have not played the co-op, this review is from a single-player perspective In Aragami 2, you play a shadowy ninja who skulks about in the shadows using shadowy magic to incapacitate enemies using shadowy techniques. Shadow. After the opening tutorial, you are brought to a town of fellow aragami and this serves as a hub area where you presumably chill out and have shadowy beers with your ninja friends. The story revolves around the aragami curse, which leaves humans without their souls, and the following attempt to alleviate it. Once you're given your directives, you head to a mission board in town and embark on your quest(s). The missions themselves are pretty straightforward and only sometimes involve multiple objectives. What I really want to talk about is the gameplay, because honestly the rest is just fluff. Although the conceits of shadow ninja magic are still present, this is a fairly different game than its predecessor. The watercolor-esque visuals are gone in favor of a more grounded unreal engine-type of esthetic. The "shadow teleport" has been likewise updated - instead of having to find a dark area and moving your cursor to teleport to it, you now simply have predefined ledges and overhangs that you teleport to when the cursor lights up. In the first game this could be cheesed such that you could whistle to enemies and then teleport behind them when they drew near. In 2, you have to put a bit more thought into your distractions. You have a number of shadow powers at your disposal to help you dispatch your enemies. One of them will summon a great shadow beast from the ground, which will eliminate your foe (and their corpse) and anyone nearby is stunned. Another one will teleport the enemy to you for an instant knockout and yet another will summon a concealing fog around you while you skewer your opponent. Some of them (like the shadow beast) are very OP but usually have a very generous cooldown to make up for it. Despite the teleport being rather finicky, mobility in 2 is greatly improved. You not only have the teleport at your disposal but you can also double-jump and dash in midair. There's one really great map where you go to the enemy's capital city and you can leap and swoosh amongst the rooftops like Batman. It was very cool! What's far less cool, however, is the lack of saves. I get that this was designed with co-op in mind, but even so, having some checkpoints throughout would have made a big difference. The lack of saves within the missions has the adverse affect of punishing risk - if you're at the tail end of a mission, you're probably just going to clear with the safest methods possible, since failing means you have to start over again. Granted, you get two chances at a mission before you have to abandon it and start again. And if you're not a stealth purist, Aragami 2 has made combat a much more viable alternative if you get caught. However, there's a few missions that have to be ghosted and getting caught or killing anyone results in an insta-fail. The maps are really great, but they will repeat quite a bit. They shake this up a bit by gradually opening up more of the map the more you come back to it, so it's still possible to see new sights. If you're very meticulous and insist on killing or knocking out everyone on the map, however, you might be there for a while. A typical map will have anywhere from 20 - 70 dudes in it so you'll definitely get a lot of gameplay for your money. In some ways, the enemy AI is good - good in the sense that if an enemy spots you, they will call their nearest allies and converge on your last seen location. They will also search high and low for you, even in the bushes where you might've hidden several bodies. On the other hand, the AI is bad in the same way as many stealth games - you know, the whole "when I last turned my back, my buddy was standing next to that statue but now there's nothing there but a giant pool of blood. Oh well" kind of thing. Overall I liked it and would recommend it, but the lack of a manual (or even checkpoint) save makes that one tricky. If you enjoy that kind of challenge, then you will likely enjoy Aragami 2. If not, you might want to wait for a sale. If you have a friend to co-op with, I imagine that the experience is much more rewarding.
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Nov 29, 2021 19:11
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the shadow tactics expansion thing came out yesterday or today has anyone tried it yet? https://store.steampowered.com/app/1579380/Shadow_Tactics_Blades_of_the_Shogun__Aikos_Choice/ its not dlc so you can buy it if you haven't picked up the original for 2 dollars on steam and/or gog and possibly consoles idk desperados was on ps4 and xbox. shadow tactics and desperados 3 were 2 of my favortie games from the past few years so this is probalby good i haven't bought it yet.
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Dec 6, 2021 19:02
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mysterious loyall X posted:the shadow tactics expansion thing came out yesterday or today has anyone tried it yet? Yeah I'm getting this, great games
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Dec 6, 2021 19:54
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shadow tactics is also 3.99 on steam and gog atm if anyone is looking to pick it up 
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Dec 6, 2021 19:55
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Hey, has anyone played Intravenous, by any chance? I noticed it on Steam just then and it looks like it could be cool - never heard anything about it prior to now though, which is odd given it's apparently been on Steam for a year. Hopefully it's good - might need to get it, if so
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Sep 5, 2022 13:29
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is it true that introverts are good at stealth games
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Sep 6, 2022 01:48
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mysterious loyall X posted:shadow tactics is also 3.99 on steam and gog atm if anyone is looking to pick it up 
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Sep 6, 2022 01:48
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Major Isoor posted:Hey, has anyone played Intravenous, by any chance? I noticed it on Steam just then and it looks like it could be cool - never heard anything about it prior to now though, which is odd given it's apparently been on Steam for a year. Hopefully it's good - might need to get it, if so It's alright. It feels like doing badly at a hotline miami level
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Sep 6, 2022 02:17
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Seventh Arrow posted:Aragami 2
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Sep 6, 2022 02:25
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Lol having a reason to click on these threads is sick.
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Sep 6, 2022 02:25
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some plague rats posted:It's alright. It feels like doing badly at a hotline miami level Ah drat, that's a shame.  I might keep an eye on it just in case it gets a sale discount to a single-digit price tag I guess, but that's unfortunate to hear
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Sep 6, 2022 02:31
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Major Isoor posted:Ah drat, that's a shame. It's worth grabbing on sale, the stealth is actually pretty fun and feels good but as soon as the guns come out it just doesn't quite flow like you want it to, you end up just running back and forward through doorways chipping away at guys and it's all just a bit unsatisfying
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Sep 6, 2022 02:52
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some plague rats posted:It's worth grabbing on sale, the stealth is actually pretty fun and feels good but as soon as the guns come out it just doesn't quite flow like you want it to, you end up just running back and forward through doorways chipping away at guys and it's all just a bit unsatisfying Ohhh, right OK. Well, that's not so bad then. I guess I'm used to that, since it seems like it can be a fairly common issue with stealth shooters.  (I mean hell, even Hitman can devolve into that kind of thing)Thanks for that! I'll keep an eye out then, to pick it up on sale. From the sounds of it it might not be replayable enough for its RRP, but from the sounds of it I'll have to pick it up in the next sale
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Sep 6, 2022 03:38
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Gloomwood is good except it's barely an improvement on Thief 1's game play. Also it's 3 hours long* and doesn't include the level from the demo which I enjoyed more than the game in its current state. *Early access.
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Sep 11, 2022 01:32
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Winter Ember         So I recently played a stealth game where you play as a cloaked, hooded figure with a fake eye and an emotionless, dispassionate voice. He has to sneak around the outposts of a fanatical, zealous cult in a quasi-Victorian setting while avoiding the occasional zombie and using fire, water, and rope arrows to get around various obstacles. "Zounds!" you say, your monocle popping off your face, "you're playing a Thief game!" Although that could certainly be true from the description, I was actually playing Winter Ember. WE distinguishes itself from Thief mostly by being top-down instead of first-person. Although this is a neat twist, it does hamper visibility somewhat. This is the first game from Sky Machine Studios and I want to be a bit lenient because of it, but the game is a bit of a mixed bag. Your Garret-a-like, Arthur, has a lot of tools to get around - lockpicks, daggers, and various utility arrows - fire, water, rope, poison, explosive. These could be handy, but I felt like I was often hampered by developer-enforced circumstances. There are sometimes more than one way around an obstacle, but this often seems to be at the developer's discretion. If there's a shiny goody behind a weak wall, then often you'll only be able to get to it with a blunt-headed arrow. Don't have one? Maybe next time! There's a crafting system that lets you make your own arrows, but getting the materials can be hit and miss. Another thing to note is that there are situations where combat is either inevitable or highly likely. Arthur is more combat-capable than Garrett (there's an entire talent tree devoted to combat), so that might be a dealbreaker for some. On the other hand, some people might like that getting caught means you can fight it out instead of hitting the quickload key. Speaking of saving/loading, the developer does seem to listen well to requests/complaints - although one of his responses was to add a save button. In other words, this is something that wasn't in at launch and only added after the fact. Sure there are checkpoints sprinkled throughout but I've always found the lack of manual saves a strange omission from stealth games when it occurs. In my mind, it discourages experimentation, but I could be wrong. One last negative thing - the voice acting is pretty dire, in the "Hey Dave, stop coding for a minute and get in the recording booth!" sense. Having said all that, the game looks great. Seeing Arthur roam around picturesque environments in his cloak and hood really gets you in the 'sneaky rogue' frame of mind. The moment-to-moment gameplay is enjoyable, despite the aforementioned issues. Every level has many thought out stealth puzzles and there is a lot of depth to sneaking around. As expected, some of your environments include a bank, a cultist outpost, a burlesque bar, and an underground dungeon - but these tropes exist for a reason and they're fun in their own way. One curious choice is that you have three approaches to patrolling guards - you can leave them unharmed, knock them out, or kill them. If you knock them out, they will awaken some time later. If you kill them and try to move the body, it will leave a trail of blood for guards to find. I guess this was done to make it a bit more challenging, but to me it seems to invalidate the whole point of moving bodies in the first place. I haven't seen that water arrows wash away the blood (like in Thief) either. All that said, I did have fun with it but but not $40 worth. The early game is very representative of what the later game is like, so I would say pick up on sale from Steam and refund it if the first few hours aren't to your liking.
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Sep 27, 2022 21:43
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The return of the king 
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Sep 27, 2022 21:59
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Seventh Arrow posted:Winter Ember God bless, Holmes.
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Sep 27, 2022 22:06
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Chuck Buried Treasure posted:The return of the king 100% - good ro see another Seventh Arrow post! Winter Ember sounds interesting though, that's for sure. I might need to keep an eye out for when it goes on sale In other news, I ended up getting Intravenous the other day, as I noticed it had a discount at the time. Not a bad stealth game, really! some plague rats is right though - if you go loud, it can make the mission even easier, in a way. (I think if they only let you have a pistol and not a rifle, this issue may be alleviated somewhat?) The AI actually isn't too bad though, really. Better than in other similar games. Since if you're seem/heard and enemies are alerted, they won't just beeline for your last known position - they'll generally make a perimeter around the house you're in, watching the doors and windows. A couple might then enter as the cordon is being formed, and depending on how that fares (i.e. if they aren't immediately gunned down in the doorway and/or with loud weapons) more might push in, while leaving some outside to watch the entrances. So yeah, I'm right near the end of the game now, and it's been pretty fun overall. The plot isn't all that special (a drug addict mugs and kills your brother, you get guns and a few weeks of familiarisation with them from a mysterious benefactor. Which... basically turns your character jnto a spec ops agent or something! Then you go out on various missions - early ones being in random slums where members of the group of muggers are hanging out, to get revenge) but otherwise it's a pretty fun game!
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Sep 27, 2022 23:02
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BTW, even though that bottom middle screenshot is the most ridiculous one I could find, all the cutscenes are in that anime-ish style. I guess it gets the job done, but I'm sure if they could've afforded it they would've gone for that industrial gothic animation from the Thief games. In other news I'm playing Blades of the Shogun: Aiko's Choice and will do a review if I ever finish it. I'm not sure if it's harder than the original game, or if I'm just getting rusty.
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Sep 28, 2022 00:21
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Wormskull posted:God bless, Holmes.
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Sep 28, 2022 01:42
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One more thing about Winter Ember, a story beat that makes me  every time I think about it. A lot of the game's story and momentum revolves around avenging your family's deaths. Did they die because they had inadvertently wandered into Crime Alley? No, they died because your dad was blackmailing some of the most powerful people in the kingdom. I know that doesn't justify murdering him, but lmao what did he think was going to happen?You basically spend most of the game avenging a dumbass.
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Sep 30, 2022 15:20
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