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Friday Fun Thread for February 23, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Last Friday I was on the hunt for a Shooter game, and I had some not fully nailed down requirements for what I was looking for.

Thanks to everyone that left recommendations.

I did eventually find what I was looking for. I realized I was interested in more longer range engagements. I ended up searching the "military sim" genre on steam, and got https://store.steampowered.com/app/460930/Tom_Clancys_Ghost_Recon_Wildlands/.

It definitely has more of the long ranged engagements I was looking for, and the weapons aren't gimped to the point of uselessness for the sake of close range engagements. My average kill distance in the game is 68m, and my furthest kill is 360m.

It reminds me a lot of Metal Gear Solid V, but a little less cheesy. You also aren't a lone person. You have a squad. 3npcs on single player, but I think the multiplayer allows other people to hop in and join. It makes for an interesting set of mechanics, because you can be shot and go down easier without turning the game into a total grind. Because your squadmates can revive you.

Fun game so far, would recommend it if it goes on sale again (I got it 80% discounted).

The Sniper Elite games might also be worth looking into if you haven't already.

Wildlands is a fun game, was 100% worth buying it on a sale. What I really like about it is that while there's lots of different weapons, but one isn't really strictly better than the other, so you can use whatever you think looks cool or is fun to use. And you can fully customize your squad members to look like whatever you want, from casual clothing to military outfits, or ghillie suits. You can even make an either all male or all female team, with different voice actors. And the setting of Bolivia is beautiful, easily in the top 5 of the most beautiful and varied open worlds in games.

If you play on the highest difficulty, or unlock tier 1 mode? I think it's called, you will die instantly if you're detected and the game becomes less fun at that point.

If you want more long distance games like there, the sequel Breakpoint is considered by some people to be strictly better in terms of gameplay, but the world design is much worse in my opinion so I didn't play much of it. Also the party commands are worse because they were added after the game came out, so the commands clearly were added on top of the game, rather the game being built with it in mind.

If you want more games like this there's also the Sniper Elite 2-5 series set in WW2. I didn't like the series because I find WW2 boring as a setting and prefer Cold War and onward instead, but the level design was good from what I've played. It also has co op multiplayer if you're into that, but no AI teammates.

Then there's Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts has a stupid title, but they're fun games, again easily worth buying on a sale, it's set in modern/near future, with the 1st somewhere in Siberia, and the 2nd in some desert. Again, no AI teammates, but you get a drone and a few other toys to control. The sequel has a few parts where you can only do long distance sniping that are fun.

There's also the original Ghost Recon obviously. That game has plenty of long distance engagements, although I haven't played it. It also has AI teammates.

You could also try Crysis, at least the first half of the first game, and then maybe Crysis 2 and 3. Mechanically they're all fun, but only the first game plus its expansion Warhead have those big open levels where you can engage from a distance.

Now, while it doesn't really fit your requirements, because most encounters are usually in tight quarters, I would also really recommend The Division 2, as well as 1. 2 is better mechanically, 1 has a better world. It is a looter shooter, and I have a lot of ARPG experience so it really didn't bother me, but a lot of people complain about enemies being bullet spongy. But mechanically it is one of the best feeling and most intense shooters I've played. They also have beautiful modeled NYC during Christmas in the first game, which even now looks amazing, and Washington DC in the sequel that isn't as atmospheric but still very beautiful.

Also, if you get Ubisoft Connect you can try all of their games for like 15 euro a month, it might be cheaper for a first time too. Other recommendations would be Ghost Recon Future Soldier which is more close quarters, but still has some longer range engagements, but it is where Wildlands took its party commands from, and it's really fun to use your ghosts to wipe out the enemies. And the Far Cry series, which are all good except for 6, which is complete shit. As well as both Division games obviously.

Hang in there for Grey Zone Warfare, you can think of it as Wildlands and Tarkov having a FPS baby, and with far less PVP than the latter.

I'm holding out for it, and I've almost completed everything worth doing in Tarkov two months in, with four to go of fucking about, so I expect GZW will take over.