Nov 04, 12:00


GamersHeroes Saturday, November 4, 2023 11:07 AM
    

There are 7 unique stats in FTK2 including Strength, Vitality, Intelligence, Awareness, Talent, Speed, and Luck. In this All Class & Character Stats Explained In For The King 2 guide we explain what each stat does for each character so you can make better and stronger builds for the more difficult parts of the game.

The post All Class & Character Stats Explained In For The King 2 appeared first on GamersHeroes.


Kotaku Saturday, November 4, 2023 10:30 AM
    

Good parenting is a lot like being a solid player two. You want to be supportive, curious, and competent. You're there to have a good time, and understand going with the flow is key to harmony. This can be a challenge with kids and video games when you're actually, literally, player two, especially if you're a gamer…

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PCGamesN Saturday, November 4, 2023 11:34 AM
     Counter-Strike 2 loses 20% of its players, a month since CS2's launch

Counter-Strike 2 has been with us in full for a month now, but the latest and most substantial upgrade to Valve's Steam-topping shooter, the sequel to CSGO, has been struggling to hold onto its audience. Despite regular CS2 updates from the team at Valve, the FPS game's player count has fallen rather dramatically, and is down almost 20% on the numbers it reached at the CS2 launch, while Steam reviews since launch reflect 'mixed' feelings from players.

MORE FROM PCGAMESN: CS2 crosshair, CS2 ranks, CS2 skins

PCGamesN Saturday, November 4, 2023 10:43 AM
     Steam's greatest sci-fi RPG trilogy is dirt cheap for a limited time

The Mass Effect Legendary Edition is one of the greatest trilogies in videogames. Home to a sprawling sci-fi story with some of the best, most diverse, and well-realized characters ever put to screen, it's a third-person shooter RPG that's stood the test of time due to its characters, and how your choices can change them, for better or worse. So if you're yet to play it, or fancy diving back into the trilogy with all the updated graphics, now's the time with this incredible Steam sale.

MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Mass Effect Legendary Edition mission order guide, Mass Effect Legendary Edition romance options guide, The best Mass Effect Legendary Edition mods

PCGamesN Saturday, November 4, 2023 8:39 AM
     Age of Empires 4 DLC The Sultans Ascend adds two highly requested civs

The grand return of one of the most famous PC strategy games gets bigger very soon, as Age of Empires 4 developer Relic Entertainment reveals its first expansion for the 2021 RTS. Age of Empires 4 DLC The Sultans Ascend is set to arrive in mid-November, and it will bring two of the top-requested civilizations into the fold, along with two biomes, ten maps, four variant civs, an all-new campaign, and a wealth of additional unlockable content. Let's take a look.

MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Age of Empires 4 release date, Age of Empires 4 review, The best RTS games on PC

PCGamesN Saturday, November 4, 2023 8:19 AM
     You can now get vital info in Baldur's Gate 3 without even clicking

There are a lot of really great Baldur's Gate 3 mods out there. You can easily revamp your experience in Faerûn, explore incredibly deep fan-made content, and introduce some major improvements to Larian's RPG with a simple download. Today I'm talking about the latter, as one modder we're already familiar with has updated some of their best work after patch 4 dropped.

MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Baldur's Gate 3 builds, BG3 mods, Baldur's Gate 3 classes

PCGamesN Saturday, November 4, 2023 7:23 AM
     Incredible Steam city builder boosts player count with free offer

If you're a strategy game lover who's yet to try Anno 1800, this weekend presents one of your best opportunities yet. Not only is the industrial city builder available to play for free across your choice of Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Ubisoft Connect, but it also boasts a majestic discount if you decide you'd like to keep playing beyond the free trial period. Alongside this, Assassin's Creed and The Division maker Ubisoft also announces its next cosmetic upgrade pack, which will bring a rather distinct new flavor to the table.

MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Anno 1800 review, Anno 1800 tips, Anno 1800 mods

PCGamesN Saturday, November 4, 2023 7:09 AM
     New Zenless Zone Zero beta sign-ups open, so here's how to get in

The next Zenless Zone Zero beta is on the way, as the Honkai Star Rail and Genshin Impact team begins lottery sign-ups for the Equalizing Test. With multiple ways to throw your hat in the ring for the free-to-play urban RPG game's beta and a lot of new details about the game, I've broken everything down for you.

MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Zenless Zone Zero characters, The best anime games on PC, Zenless Zone Zero system requirements

Twinfinite Saturday, November 4, 2023 11:41 AM
    
Will Season 23 Save Destiny 2?

Twinfinite Saturday, November 4, 2023 9:00 AM
    
I'd definitely keep these 'Mons as my pet of choice.

Siliconera Saturday, November 4, 2023 9:00 AM
    

A Perfect Day header

What would my life be like now if only I'd done something different as a kid? This question is one that likely runs through people's head on sleepless nights, and it's one that the unique narrative puzzle A Perfect Day strives to answer.

A Perfect Day wishes list
Screenshot by Siliconera

The plot of A Perfect Day revolves around elementary schoolboy Chen Liang and his desire to have the perfect day. School unexpectedly lets out early. So Cheng Liang takes the opportunity to hand Ke Yun, a girl in his class, a Christmas card. It's the last day of 1999, so he's way late, but he just never got the chance to beforehand. Unfortunately, things don't go to plan, whether it's with Ke Yun, Chen Liang's friends, or Chen Liang's family. Using information you gather as you experience the December 31, 1999 time loop over and over again, you have to help Chen Liang and the people around him enjoy the perfect day.

While A Perfect Day technically counts as a visual novel, it's closer to a puzzle game than anything. You have to calculate the perfect order of doing things so that you can clear all of the wishes that Chen Liang has for the day. As well, you have to make sure you have the right items and activities in your drawer when you start the time loop. The alternative is remembering where and when you get everything. In that sense, it's very similar to how people used to play video games back during the 90s. That was before my time. But even in the early 2000s, I was drawing maps and writing down notes to remember things.

A Perfect Day PlaySession
Screenshot by Siliconera

Personally, it was a lot easier to play through A Perfect Day if I thought of it as a puzzle game rather than a visual novel. The characters weren't very interesting to me, and I didn't really feel like it made all that much use of the setting. A draw of the game was the nostalgia factor of 90s China. However, it didn't feel really feel that way, barring the dated video game consoles. The character writing was a little weak. I couldn't bring myself to really care about or want to know more about anyone. Chen Liang himself is a rather pathetic protagonist in all sense of the word.

A major aspect of making sure you can have the perfect day (by the game's standards) is increasing Chen Liang's stats. This will allow him to do things that he normally can't do, or last longer in situations that stressed him out in earlier loops. This boy gets nervous at the slightest thing. I find it crazy that he can barely hold a normal conversation with people without freaking out, yet he only slowly gets nervous when a literal home intruder is in his living room. Chen Liang wants to help everyone have a perfect day, according to the product description. But it's kind of hard to believe that when he seems a little selfish. I don't mean "selfish" in a fully negative way here. I simply mean it in the sense that a lot of Chen Liang's wishes feel more self-serving than anything. 

For example, when you go to the disco with Yang Fan, Yang Fan sees something that really upsets him. Instead of even talking to or trying to figure out Yang Fan's issue, Chen Liang simply concludes that he should avoid going to the disco with Yang Fan at that hour. Yes, sure, Yang Fan is probably going to have an okay day in that moment, but is that really solving the issue? I suppose I'm expecting too much from an elementary schoolboy. Chen Liang barely has a personality beyond his lack of a spine though. So even disregarding his cowardice and self-absorption, he's just not a very interesting protagonist.

My biggest gripe with A Perfect Day is actually playing it. There are a lot of inconveniences from a gameplay standpoint. One of my issues with it is that you have to manually turn on the Fast Forward function again after every scene change. Since there are so many repeatable conversations, I wish that this was just permanently on until I turn it off myself. This gets worse the more you play, since you'll be seeing the same events over and over again. If you're playing in Campaign Mode, the Reasoning Time segments can take a while. The text pops up character by character and it's impossible to skip. The UI is extremely annoying to navigate on the Switch. I found it way easier to just tap at things with my hands. The translation, too, is awkward. If you can read Chinese, I highly recommend playing the game in it.

A Perfect Day manually eating
Screenshot by Siliconera

The aspect of A Perfect Day that made me the most irritated is in how the game forces you to manually perform certain tasks. In the early years of the PS3, my friends and I rented an action horror game that I no longer remember the title of. One of the first things the game wanted you to do was manually click the R3 button to blink. If you didn't blink enough, your vision would get blurry. In the beginning, my friends and I thought it was a fun way of immersing the player in the game. But after a few blinks, we started to get annoyed. We've got places to be! Who in the world wants to simulate the act of blinking?

Well, A Perfect Day doesn't go quite that far. However, it wants you to manually do things like click through the channels, eat (one bite at a time), and set up the Gamicom console. It doesn't sound so bad when I describe it like this. But it starts to get more and more annoying the more and more you have to do it. This is a general theme of the game. I feel like this part of the game would be more enjoyable to someone who legitimately wants to take it slow, or who wants to fully experience life as a Chinese elementary schoolboy at the turn of the century. Unfortunately, I'm not in either camp.

While A Perfect Day was not exactly a fun puzzle game, nor was it an interesting visual novel, it was very aesthetically pleasing. Part of why I wanted to play this game was due to its art style. It reminded me of the illustrations for Robert Munsch books. That is, until I actually looked up Robert Munsch books for this review, and it looks nothing like the game. In any case, the art for the game is stunning, which unfortunately was the only positive aspect for me.

A Perfect Day is readily available on the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC.

The post Review: A Perfect Day Far from Perfect appeared first on Siliconera.

Nov 04, 06:00


PCGamesN Saturday, November 4, 2023 3:25 AM
     SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless review – the total package

We've well and truly entered an age of audio bliss in gaming and the SteelSeries Acrtis Nova Pro Wireless headset is as good as it gets. This headset is for anyone who is after an unparalleled level of audio control and quality without any compromise.

SteelSeries is no stranger to quality headsets, and I can distinctly remember my first encounter with the brand back during the release of Diablo 3 when I bought one of the limited-edition V2 wired headsets. Many of the qualities I adored about that headset have only been improved upon and culminate in the Arctis Nova Pro Wireless being easily among the best gaming headsets I've ever used.

MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best graphics card, Best gaming PC, Best SSD for gaming

Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Saturday, November 4, 2023 4:00 AM
    

Remember remember the fifth of November, when either we celebrate someone being stopped from bursting the king or we celebrate someone trying. Sometimes I'm still not sure which. My head says thwarting, my heart says attempting. You wrap up warm, keep your pets safe, and enjoy the shmup particle effects. But what are you playing this weekend? Here's what we're clicking on!

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Siliconera Friday, November 3, 2023 11:00 PM
    

bayonetta super groupies re-release

Super Groupies has announced a re-run of all of its Bayonetta collaboration items. They're only available while supplies last, so if you want them, you should act fast before they sell out.

For reference, Super Groupies does offer international shipping. So you don't have to use a proxy service to purchase from them. On another note, though there are eight items in total in the Super Groupies's Bayonetta crossover, only two of them are available for purchase.

The two items are a Bayonetta backpack and a wallet. The backpack costs 26,400 JPY ($176.75), and the wallet costs 17,600 JPY ($117.85). An Umbra Witch's magic circle appears as motifs around it. You can see it on the buckle, helping to keep the backpack closed, for example.

There are also letters from the Demonic Alphabet on the belt-like pieces of fabric. As a whole, both items have a black-and-red color scheme. This is due to Bayonetta herself wearing all black with red accent colors.

The Bayonetta backpack and wallet are readily available from Super Groupies while supplies last. These items originally appeared in January 2023. The previous wave of Bayonetta goods unavailable as part of this re-release included a necklace, a jacket, and a watch.

The post Super Groupies is Re-Releasing Some Bayonetta Items appeared first on Siliconera.