Pathfinder class and the whole of the Red Rock DLC felt like it was intended to be launched at the start of the game rather than here. It was really enjoyable and the mechanism of the Tactical Caches plus the drone uplink was a nice treat!
LordofHats wrote: I've been having a lot of fun with SD Gundam Cross Rays on steam. Like, more fun than I thought I would.
Wait, SD? The spin-off with the mini Gundams? Surprised those are still kicking around. I thought SDs in general were tolerated at best. Not that there’s anything wrong with liking them of course.
LordofHats wrote: I've been having a lot of fun with SD Gundam Cross Rays on steam. Like, more fun than I thought I would.
Wait, SD? The spin-off with the mini Gundams? Surprised those are still kicking around. I thought SDs in general were tolerated at best. Not that there’s anything wrong with liking them of course.
There's been a bunch of games using them. I think they're generally tactical strategy games, though I've never actually played any of them myself. SD style is frequently used in games like that. For instance, the units in the Super Robot Wars games are always represented on the game maps by SD versions of themselves.
Battletech again here with all the add ons/DLC, new career. A few mods to improve AI. This game is so great, ended up playing it a good part of the weekend...
I've really been in a warhammer mood a lot lately! (big suprise) So I've been playing total war warhammer 2, dawn of war games (dow2 is my fav ♥) and I even bought vermintide last night so I hope to play that soon!
Though I've found myself just watching youtube/netflix while painting and (trying) to build some lists.
So glad I got into the hobby properly now, it's so fun ♥
I was in the mood for a musou game and have been catching up on One Piece so I picked up Pirate Warriors 4. It's... exactly what you'd expect. Mindless power fantasy with a decent One Piece skin. It probably has one of the more incoherent plots that relies HEAVILY on you already knowing what's going on.
I've been enjoying Among Us, in between getting disconnected from a lot of games due to server reasons, I don't think it's my internet that is the issue!
Ubi offered it for free, so I got it. Even played for a few hours with a friend from work.
It's super grindy, and there's way too many different bitsy things to tally to get fragments of keys to unlock pointless cosmetics, but otherwise it's fun.
Only real downside to the game is the bullet sponge enemies. Having to put three sniper-rifle bullets into the head of a guy who is wearing a hoodie for armour is really dumb.
Ubi offered it for free, so I got it. Even played for a few hours with a friend from work.
It's super grindy, and there's way too many different bitsy things to tally to get fragments of keys to unlock pointless cosmetics, but otherwise it's fun.
Only real downside to the game is the bullet sponge enemies. Having to put three sniper-rifle bullets into the head of a guy who is wearing a hoodie for armour is really dumb.
Are you playing the first one, or the second one?
I've been playing the second one a lot since it came out. I enjoy it quite a bit. Bullet sponge enemies are annoying, and even frustrating at times. But aside from that, I have a lot of fun with it.
Agree that the bullet sponge enemies are a chore and take away from the game (played a lot of Div 2) but after a certain point there doesn't seem much they can do to make it more difficult/challenging?
I do love the environment in Division 2 though - really amazing. Would love this style of game, set in a similar big city environment except instead of human gangs as opfor make it alien invasion or something like that where you fight to take the city back. It would give the designers a lot more room to have enemies of different strengths/powers etc.
Eumerin wrote: Are you playing the first one, or the second one?
First one, as Ubi gave it away for free to drum up interest for the upcoming Division 2 expansion.
I've been playing the second one a lot since it came out. I enjoy it quite a bit. Bullet sponge enemies are annoying, and even frustrating at times. But aside from that, I have a lot of fun with it.
petrov27 wrote: I do love the environment in Division 2 though - really amazing.
I'm impressed with the city in the first game. It's Manhattan (or part of it at least) and it all feels lived in and real.
SkavenLord wrote: IWait, SD? The spin-off with the mini Gundams? Surprised those are still kicking around. I thought SDs in general were tolerated at best. Not that there’s anything wrong with liking them of course.
There's apparently an entire franchise called G Generation or something, but the games haven't been released in North America until last year when they released Cross Rays.
Eumerin wrote:There's been a bunch of games using them. I think they're generally tactical strategy games, though I've never actually played any of them myself. SD style is frequently used in games like that. For instance, the units in the Super Robot Wars games are always represented on the game maps by SD versions of themselves.
I think the Super Robot Wars franchise uses the same style. I don't know how those games are mechanically. Cross Rays is basically Fire Emblem with Gundams. The user interface is pretty god awful and really holds the game back from being as good as it could be, but I love Gundam so I'm willing to look past it to deploy the dream team; Heero in Wing Zero, Duo in Deathscythe, Setsuna in Gundam 00 Qan[T], and Mikazuki in Barbatos. So yeah. The one heaping praise I'd lay on it is that if you love a mobile suit from Wing, Seed, 00, or Iron-Blooded Orphans or any of the related side materials it is in the game. It's got a big old Gundam Pokedex to fill out.
I'd give the game a 6/10 for what it is, 8/10 if you love Gundam XD
If it wasn't for the bullet sponge enemies, the Division and its sequel would be more frequently played by me, as they've got great setting and location full of life, great characters and a neat story to tell, just crappy combat mechanics.
Decided to play through the Dig over the last two days, with the aid of a screenshot for that one puzzle we do not talk about. Wooden dialogue delivery and that one puzzle aside, still enjoyed it a lot though.
SkavenLord wrote: IWait, SD? The spin-off with the mini Gundams? Surprised those are still kicking around. I thought SDs in general were tolerated at best. Not that there’s anything wrong with liking them of course.
There's apparently an entire franchise called G Generation or something, but the games haven't been released in North America until last year when they released Cross Rays.
Eumerin wrote:There's been a bunch of games using them. I think they're generally tactical strategy games, though I've never actually played any of them myself. SD style is frequently used in games like that. For instance, the units in the Super Robot Wars games are always represented on the game maps by SD versions of themselves.
I think the Super Robot Wars franchise uses the same style. I don't know how those games are mechanically. Cross Rays is basically Fire Emblem with Gundams. The user interface is pretty god awful and really holds the game back from being as good as it could be, but I love Gundam so I'm willing to look past it to deploy the dream team; Heero in Wing Zero, Duo in Deathscythe, Setsuna in Gundam 00 Qan[T], and Mikazuki in Barbatos. So yeah. The one heaping praise I'd lay on it is that if you love a mobile suit from Wing, Seed, 00, or Iron-Blooded Orphans or any of the related side materials it is in the game. It's got a big old Gundam Pokedex to fill out.
I'd give the game a 6/10 for what it is, 8/10 if you love Gundam XD
Coincidentally, the game is currently on sale on Steam right now for 40% off.
As noted, the vanilla game includes (super-deformed) mobile suits and characters from Wing, SEED, 00, and Iron-blooded Orphans. The add-on dispatch mission sets include additional mobile suits and characters from Gundam X, Gundam AGE, and Turn A.
Eumerin wrote: As noted, the vanilla game includes (super-deformed) mobile suits and characters from Wing, SEED, 00, and Iron-blooded Orphans. The add-on dispatch mission sets include additional mobile suits and characters from Gundam X, Gundam AGE, and Turn A.
Also G Gundam and Reconguista in G. It also has suits from Gundam Build Fighters and Gundam Build Divers as a hidden bonuses.
Apparently Burning Gundam/God Gundam is consistently slipped into every SD Gundam game as a super OP broken unit for the last 20 years XD
No Man's Sky just got another big update, so I'm playing that again. Slightly annoyed that I deleted my old save to start a new one, since it seems they removed the easy way to make money with buying/selling cobalt.
Just spent almost three hours playing Among Us and we had a blast. Only got to be Impostor twice and managed to win once in this role, via self-reporting and throwing my fellow impostor under the bus.
BrookM wrote: Just spent almost three hours playing Among Us and we had a blast. Only got to be Impostor twice and managed to win once in this role, via self-reporting and throwing my fellow impostor under the bus.
In my defence, I am a poor liar, he was already suspected and we just needed one more round.
We also encountered a rare bug where I reported a dead body, only to be killed by the second impostor at the same time, resulting in a very hilarious meeting where I couldn't report on anything due to being dead.
But still, when played with friends or people you know, this is such a blast to play.
I just started with Vermintide 2. It just popped up on Xbox gamepass. I played the first one and didn't love it, but I love this one, enough that I went and got all of the DLCs.
I mostly play the witch hunter, he's up to level 25 now, but the other 4 are all still in the single digits.
One thing that kinda bugged me though is when I switched from regular missions to veteran missions, you don't get any bonus xp, just your loot chest has a higher power level max
Necros wrote: I just started with Vermintide 2. It just popped up on Xbox gamepass. I played the first one and didn't love it, but I love this one, enough that I went and got all of the DLCs.
I mostly play the witch hunter, he's up to level 25 now, but the other 4 are all still in the single digits.
One thing that kinda bugged me though is when I switched from regular missions to veteran missions, you don't get any bonus xp, just your loot chest has a higher power level max
I actually just bought it on steam the other day and I'm yet to try it out. Hope it's fun!
Minecraft confirmed for smash folks. No, this isn’t a joke. It was on Nintendo Direct just this morning.
They weren’t kidding when they said that everyone is here,
I don't know if anyone else has been but I've been playing Among Us every night this week with a group of 10 friends. It's supremely enjoyable and it was only 3.99 in the steam store.
SkavenLord wrote: Minecraft confirmed for smash folks. No, this isn’t a joke. It was on Nintendo Direct just this morning.
They weren’t kidding when they said that everyone is here,
You'll never master the game, only suck less is what I gathered from my experience! Just don't scum save all the time, enjoy the narrative
Ha, that seems to match what I've seen of people streaming it. Like Dwarf Fortress in that regard, I think.
after 4 Hours, a tutorial, and going full pragmatist (rip that one wild human ) i managed, to survive, add 2 colonists and have successfully made a parka and some headwear so my starter pawn isn't naked anymore and have sorted out food more or less...
I've gone a bit mad with Crusader Kings 3. I wasn't too sure about it at first but unlike CK2, 3 is much more intuitive and has way better Tutorial.
All I gotta say is OMG! I didn't think I would have this much fun. My ruler just died at the ripe old age of 72 while on Crusade. Funny, he didn't even die in battle, just old age. I expected him to die when he went off, but not like this!
Anyway now that I have the hang of the way it works I'm probably going to start a new game with some random dude somewhere and see where I end up.
Yeah, CK3 is a good one. Put quite a few hours in at first, but took a bit of a break. Now that the first patch is out (which hopefully reigns in the rampant adultery a bit), I'm getting ready to dig back in.
Voss wrote: Yeah, CK3 is a good one. Put quite a few hours in at first, but took a bit of a break. Now that the first patch is out (which hopefully reigns in the rampant adultery a bit), I'm getting ready to dig back in.
Man if only I had an adultery problem. Instead my Wife stabbed my Steward in the face. He was a good steward too...
Voss wrote: Yeah, CK3 is a good one. Put quite a few hours in at first, but took a bit of a break. Now that the first patch is out (which hopefully reigns in the rampant adultery a bit), I'm getting ready to dig back in.
Man if only I had an adultery problem. Instead my Wife stabbed my Steward in the face. He was a good steward too...
The adultery problem was a bit out of hand, both due to actual adultery, and due to a scheme that the AI seemed to be using far too often. As an example of the former, I seduced my wife into becoming my lover, and then romanced her into becoming my soulmate. And then out of the blue she revealed that our next child (the third, iirc) was really my brother's.
Okay...
There was also an issue with the AI grossly overusing a scheme that would accuse your wife of infidelity, and "proving" that one of your kids was illegitimate. IIRC, the developers completely cut off AI use of this scheme.
Yeah, there were a couple contributors. That scheme was one, but also the AI was just spamming seduction attempts behind the scenes, against anyone it could.
The problem was the way it did it- just percentage checks for success, so inevitably characters would get seduced, just by the tyranny of statistics. This patch added some loyalty factors as a resistance (positive relationship with spouse, plus character traits) so characters at least had a base unwillingness to be seduced, rather than being open targets for a successful seduction roll, when perhaps dozens of characters were making attempts every single year against every single character.
Played a game of Steel Division (1st one) with a friend. I suppose i realized usa airborne was much, MUCH better in phase A. I had been thinking phase A was what i should probably focus most of my units around both due to income per phase A being the best airborne had as well as a huge section of the game was phase A anyway. Planes were expensive so i just used less of them in my game. My force was mostly machine gun jeeps, artillery, tanks, infantry and a few planes but not much. I skipped AA emplacements entirely and didn't really use AT ambush teams or AT guns much. If enemy AT fire was an issue i'd either use spammed machine gun jeeps to fight them (most anti-tank in this is short ranged, on a vehicle or on stationary AT emplacements) or i'd shoot some smoke screens around the AT emplacements so they couldn't do anything to hurt my vehicles.
Machine gun jeeps are great because a lot of anti-tank seems to lack high rate of fire so you can suppress anti-tank emplacements and mortars fairly easily and they're cheap enough that a destroyed jeep isn't a huge loss. Machine gun jeeps are fast so a mobile force can really help in phase A.
In the couple previous games i played i was getting destroyed reasonably badly but in the latest game i got a handle on things and even pushed so hard on my side that i practically reached the edge of the enemy's map in a smaller part before the game ended. It's a bit good the game did end because i started to run low on vehicles. I could still have held the enemy at bay for a while but i imagine phase C would've gotten ugly the longer it lasted.
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Outside of that i played more xcom 2: war of the chosen and was doing really well. I pretty much have full tier 3 weaponry and even armor is almost researched and most of it is built as well. I might play it more tomorrow. We'll just have to see. I may have to prep pretty hard but i'll probably have enough to assault and kill off the assassin soon which feels like it's being done in record time honestly.
Commodus Leitdorf wrote: I've gone a bit mad with Crusader Kings 3. I wasn't too sure about it at first but unlike CK2, 3 is much more intuitive and has way better Tutorial.
All I gotta say is OMG! I didn't think I would have this much fun. My ruler just died at the ripe old age of 72 while on Crusade. Funny, he didn't even die in battle, just old age. I expected him to die when he went off, but not like this!
Anyway now that I have the hang of the way it works I'm probably going to start a new game with some random dude somewhere and see where I end up.
I wish I could have gotten into CK series, idk but I’ve felt like if I wanted to play a strategy game, I’ll just play Warhammer total war 2. Was never a fan of not being able to actually control the battles in CK
Been playing some Outward with a friend. This game really isn’t great to play on your own but with a friend it’s amazing. The world is so uncarring and we frequently run From more fights then we battle. There’s just something about this huge creative fantasy world and surviving togheter. Planning on what to bring on an expedition, setting up camp to take turns sleeping and guarding, cooking food and so on. The game is a broken unbalanced buggy mess but it has so much heart and a great setup for co-op gameplay.
Grabbed the Mafia remastered trilogy the other day. Been bouncing between the 3 games.
Mafia I: Yes, its been remastered, so the graphics are about up to par, or at least how youd expect for a game of its age. I keep putting it down however because there are elements of the game that are very much showing their age. That, and many of your fellow gangsters have comically bad voice acting (like, one main goon you run around with has the typical 1940s nasally movie gangster voice).
Mafia II: I dont know if its just a much slower burn than the other games, but I'm having difficulty getting into the story on this one. I'm hoping it becomes an open world game, but the way they are introducing things, man, I hope it picks up.
Mafia III: well, its the one in the series I've actually played the story through completion before, so I knew what I was getting. . . After such a long break, man is the replay on this one high right now.
Commodus Leitdorf wrote: I've gone a bit mad with Crusader Kings 3. I wasn't too sure about it at first but unlike CK2, 3 is much more intuitive and has way better Tutorial.
All I gotta say is OMG! I didn't think I would have this much fun. My ruler just died at the ripe old age of 72 while on Crusade. Funny, he didn't even die in battle, just old age. I expected him to die when he went off, but not like this!
Anyway now that I have the hang of the way it works I'm probably going to start a new game with some random dude somewhere and see where I end up.
I wish I could have gotten into CK series, idk but I’ve felt like if I wanted to play a strategy game, I’ll just play Warhammer total war 2. Was never a fan of not being able to actually control the battles in CK
They are two different genres ultimately. I do see what you mean by that. Having just some off a Warhammer 2 campaign I was looking for something easier? I guess? There is a minor element of strategy with army placement and composition. But CK series is ultimately drama simulator. You make what decisions you can and just ride whatever happens.
I mean its a story generator. Man can some of the stories get wild. I mean I had my rivals only heir forcibly marry my daughter, who was a dwarf mined you, and make the succession matrilineal just to wipe him our of existance. But my Daughter got killed, and I knew that bastard did it so I had his son killed. Only 34% chance to pull it off and it worked! They are really two completely different beasts.
Also, speaking of Mafia. I respect anyone who managed to beat the first game and get past that stupid driving level. Screw that stupid level! To this day never beaten that game.
Not to mention that late game Total War campaigns often become an autoresolve fest anyway
The strategy in the CK games comes from politics and subterfuge. And not even just against external kingdoms but your own as well.
I mean, when your current heir is an inbred, hunchbacked dwarf but their younger brother is a herculean genius and also betrothed to the daughter of the current Holy Roman Emperor with claims to that title? Time to find a way to get the former out of the way.
On which note... I really wish demos were a normal thing again. I get that it's added dev time, but frankly there are quite a few games out there that I'm sure I'd try a demo of, but I'm put off from paying full price for something I'm not sure about.
Diablo 3 is the last example I can think of, you could play the entire first Act for free - not long after finishing that, I got the full game. I doubt I would have otherwise. Crusader Kings is another one I'm not sure if I'll like or not.
Now I'm back to being addicted to Solitare, due to being nostalgic I guess about the hours I spent playing it on my old, old PC. Managed to win it in Vegas Rules with 3 draw every like, 1 in 20 games or something back in the day lol. Should be writing lol
I've started up a playthrough of Bioshock Infinite, a game I picked up ages ago and never played, like most of my games in my Steam library. A painting pile of shame but for video games!
So far it's fun, I haven't gone that far into the story but like Bioshock 1 and 2, the world is jam packed full of fluff and storytelling that I love about the games. The game doesn't feel overly difficult right now, I'm playing on medium but I had a way harder time with the older games.
Just put in two more hours of Among Us, where we first played the game vanilla, then switched over to serial killer / stalker where one there's one impostor with a ten second cooldown timer who announces their role from the start and hunts down the rest of the crew, who get a ten second head start to run and hide, until only one remains, who wins. The only catch is that everybody, including the impostor, has limited field of view, resulting in some tense cat and mouse games. So much fun.
Tyranid Horde wrote: I've started up a playthrough of Bioshock Infinite, a game I picked up ages ago and never played, like most of my games in my Steam library. A painting pile of shame but for video games!
Don't make the mistake that many did and finish the main story and then turn it off. the DLC (burial at sea part 1 and 2) are must-plays and help to explain the ending and tie the series in together.
Been playing a lot of Tyranny lately, and just finished the first act. I’m loving this game more and more as I continue to play.
I’m not entirely certain whether dialogue choices actually do have consequences (heard it becomes less relevant as the game progresses), but the writing and atmosphere seem to build it up in such a way that I feel as though I am walking on eggshells with everything I say.
I think I like the party members here too, since it feels less like a band of loyal travelling companions and more like an unstable alliance of convenience that can fall apart at any moment. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them turns on the rest of the party at some point.
Tyranid Horde wrote: I've started up a playthrough of Bioshock Infinite, a game I picked up ages ago and never played, like most of my games in my Steam library. A painting pile of shame but for video games!
Don't make the mistake that many did and finish the main story and then turn it off. the DLC (burial at sea part 1 and 2) are must-plays and help to explain the ending and tie the series in together.
I happen to have the DLC so I'll definitely be playing it as I'm keen to get back to Rapture!
SkavenLord wrote: Been playing a lot of Tyranny lately, and just finished the first act. I’m loving this game more and more as I continue to play.
I’m not entirely certain whether dialogue choices actually do have consequences (heard it becomes less relevant as the game progresses), but the writing and atmosphere seem to build it up in such a way that I feel as though I am walking on eggshells with everything I say.
I think I like the party members here too, since it feels less like a band of loyal travelling companions and more like an unstable alliance of convenience that can fall apart at any moment. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them turns on the rest of the party at some point.
Tyranny is pretty great.. For the most part.
It's definitely an obsidian game though, so yeah, act 3 is..., well, it exists.
The big DLC is best avoided though, unless you really end up liking the dungeons in 'the Walls.'
Tales of the Tiers is actually a better dlc if you already have it, as it fleshes out random encounters and other things you run into as you travel during the game.
Welp, after having avoided it in favour of wanting to finish other games... a friend FINALLY convinced me to pick up Among Us and try it out.
...that was about 5 hours ago. Steam tells me I've just played for 4.8 hours. Of a game where a round typically takes 5-10 minutes.
Adrassil wrote: Sanic 3 and Knuckles. To say it's a classic is a frigging understatement.
Seconded, thirded, fourthed and infinitied. I will sing this game's praises into whatever grave you try and shovel me into when you inevitably get fed up of me praising it. I'm going to assume you're aware of Sonic Mania...?
Adrassil wrote: Sanic 3 and Knuckles. To say it's a classic is a frigging understatement.
Seconded, thirded, fourthed and infinitied. I will sing this game's praises into whatever grave you try and shovel me into when you inevitably get fed up of me praising it. I'm going to assume you're aware of Sonic Mania...?
I just wish they'd reordered the levels correctly in the linked pack. As a kid and to this day it still irks me seeing the wrong level transitions, which is mostly a testament to the fact I've played the game so many times I remember them all to notice.
Finished Vampire: Masquered, Coteries of New York. It was a pretty good game and one of the few Visual Novels that doesn't suck.
Then I played Shadows of New York and it was pretty much an example of everything wrong with Visual Novels. Can't win them all I guess.
IkenFell released today. I played a little bit so far. The plot and graphics are great. The controls scheme is wierd as hell and I can't find a way to customize button bindings. Might need a controller for this one...
Adrassil wrote: Sanic 3 and Knuckles. To say it's a classic is a frigging understatement.
Seconded, thirded, fourthed and infinitied. I will sing this game's praises into whatever grave you try and shovel me into when you inevitably get fed up of me praising it. I'm going to assume you're aware of Sonic Mania...?
Yep! Bought it a while back, frigging loved it. Just too good.
flamingkillamajig wrote: Played a game of Steel Division (1st one) with a friend. I suppose i realized usa airborne was much, MUCH better in phase A. I had been thinking phase A was what i should probably focus most of my units around both due to income per phase A being the best airborne had as well as a huge section of the game was phase A anyway. Planes were expensive so i just used less of them in my game. My force was mostly machine gun jeeps, artillery, tanks, infantry and a few planes but not much. I skipped AA emplacements entirely and didn't really use AT ambush teams or AT guns much. If enemy AT fire was an issue i'd either use spammed machine gun jeeps to fight them (most anti-tank in this is short ranged, on a vehicle or on stationary AT emplacements) or i'd shoot some smoke screens around the AT emplacements so they couldn't do anything to hurt my vehicles.
Machine gun jeeps are great because a lot of anti-tank seems to lack high rate of fire so you can suppress anti-tank emplacements and mortars fairly easily and they're cheap enough that a destroyed jeep isn't a huge loss. Machine gun jeeps are fast so a mobile force can really help in phase A.
In the couple previous games i played i was getting destroyed reasonably badly but in the latest game i got a handle on things and even pushed so hard on my side that i practically reached the edge of the enemy's map in a smaller part before the game ended. It's a bit good the game did end because i started to run low on vehicles. I could still have held the enemy at bay for a while but i imagine phase C would've gotten ugly the longer it lasted.
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Outside of that i played more xcom 2: war of the chosen and was doing really well. I pretty much have full tier 3 weaponry and even armor is almost researched and most of it is built as well. I might play it more tomorrow. We'll just have to see. I may have to prep pretty hard but i'll probably have enough to assault and kill off the assassin soon which feels like it's being done in record time honestly.
What's your final verdict on the new XCom? Chimera Squad? I actually feel guilty I haven't picked it up yet. Isn't it episodic or something?
I only played xcom: chimera squad part-way through (probably halfway or less than halfway) and then played more gears tactics. Chimera squad has some fun things but a LOT of bad things in it. First off you can't pick up squadmates beyond a limit and they're all pre-made characters. If you leave mission site while the remaining squadmates are bleeding out but not dead then you still win the mission (unless they fixed that). Characters at worst get scars but no time off healing for being wounded even if they'd otherwise die. I think all characters in your squad instantly bleed out when they almost die. The dialog from radio ads and banter between characters can be really cringy. Some character voices are pretty bad and some are unfitting. After hearing how advent and skirmishers sound in xcom 2 you'll be thrown off by how the hybrid squadmates sound in this. The snake lady sounds nothing like a snake person is ever portrayed in fiction. In fact the snake lady sounds like a human woman of all things which is really off. Some of the movement in the game feels clunky in comparison to xcom eu and enemy unknown. Encounters feel very enclosed rather than an open fully destructible environment which you can play around with. A huge step down from grenades blowing up entire floors and sending enemies falling down to the building's lower floors.
There is some good with the bad. First off "breaching" feels really good at times. It's one of the few things i hope xcom 3 considers. You can breach through several different possible ways (vents, windows, breaching charge on a wall, etc.) and they generally have different negatives or positives on them. You can also throw in a breaching charge, holo-target nade, flashbang, etc. which can do different things. Enemies will have several states of awareness when you enter a room which is either: they attack you upon entering, they are surprised and therefore easier to hit and possibly crit. and finally the one where they rush to cover upon the breaching phase being over. All 3 of these tend to be interesting in their own ways. I tend to see people go for killing the ones that will shoot them upon entering or the surprised ones first but killing an enemy before they run into cover could be ok i suppose.
The turn sequence isn't fully a bad thing but it's very different and with a full big change like that i dunno how to feel with it as an xcom eu and xcom 2 vet. It's actually a change i don't like. Reminds me of people hating on the removing of time units. I think that's how i feel about it.
The character skills were kind of cool as well. I don't remember all the ones i saw but what i did use i found decent enough.
Of all the characters personality-wise i probably like verge the most. I haven't gotten to play with them all but blue blood and the shotgun lady seem to do well enough when it comes to fighting. I really want to use the grenadier guy more.
I normally wouldn't take all this so hard but after seeing xcom: eu and xcom 2 and their dlc made from the same company i'm fairly worried.
I feel bad because there are some ok things these guys have done. It's just i dislike most of what this game has introduced. I still can't get over the fact most of the aliens, humans and hybrids are fighting buddy buddy together after only 4 years of earth being liberated in xcom 2. Keep in mind in War of the Chosen the skirmishers, reapers and templar had a decades long blood feud and even the resistance didn't fully trust each other and according to the resistance informant dark event there was all too good reason for it. This just feels very awkward and non-sensical. After finding out the aliens were genociding humans i'd think they'd be a little more distrustful of the aliens even if they've left the alien's control. I dunno maybe it makes sense and i just didn't play through it all. I just found it to get pretty boring pretty quickly. It's a good thing it was only 10 USD when i got it. I'd recommend getting it on sale in case you feel like you might dislike it. I've certainly spent 10 USD far worse ways but it's not the best gaming experience for sure.
What's your final verdict on the new XCom? Chimera Squad? I actually feel guilty I haven't picked it up yet. Isn't it episodic or something?
I played it and finished the campaign once. There's an achievement for finishing it multiple times in certain ways, but I don't think that affects much. So I didn't play it more than the one time.
As a budget title, I enjoyed it and think it was worth it. I wouldn't shell out full price for it. But that's not what they're charging. Is it worth the price that they're charging? Some people will like it at that price point, and others won't. It largely depends on the player.
The game finds ways to model and/or explain some of the strategy elements from the first game. "Research" is explained as already understanding the science behind the new equipment, but being forced to acquire the equipment needed to properly upgrade the low-quality gear that you start with (since Chimaera Squad was rushed into action more quickly than expected). Pressure on the player to succeed within a certain amount of time is implemented via the disorder level in the city. If the player can't keep the level down, then the city will fall to anarchy. And the time table is much faster than it is in the proper games. Instead of waiting for targets of opportunity to appear, you're essentially picking a mission to run every two days.
There's other stuff, but I suspect you get the idea.
As for the tactical elements -
As already noted, the Breach mechanic is interesting, and can be quite useful at times if you're clever with it. Understanding it is key to clearing the game Maps tend to be much smaller than "proper" maps. Instead of wandering around the map looking for clusters of 3 or 4 aliens scattered here and there, you're getting into a firefight in an area that can be up to a single large room in size (or a collection of small rooms and a hallway). When you clear the first room, often the mission will then expand to allow you to Breach into a second - and possibly even a third - area. Note that the areas in question don't have to be rooms. It might be an outdoor area that's roughly the same size.
Some of the missions get a bit silly. One that I saw generated more than once involved bad guys attempting to assassinate a VIP in a traffic jam on a busy highway, with infinite waves of bad guys spawning. Your job wasn't to kill all of the assassins. Your job was to escort the VIP off the map. How and why the bad guys were able to get so many assassins into position in broad daylight was never mentioned. Most of the missions made a bit more sense, with one caveat. That caveat was, specifically, the gamey things that you could do with the "end of mission" mechanic. This isn't exactly new. If one of your men is bleeding out and the mission ends in the proper games, then your guy will survive. But when the mission involves a smash and grab type of objective deep in supposed hostile territory, there's a bit of suspension of disbelief when the unconscious bad guys that you left laying around a map deep in hostile territory all somehow got recovered and imprisoned by the city's law enforcement after the mission ended.
Having said that, if the suspension of disbelief issue doesn't get you, then there is a good variety of missions, objectives, and maps. Enemies tend to get repetitive since each faction draws a specific theme for its forces. And this means that some characters do very nicely against some enemies while being much less useful against other factions. For instance, one faction likes to use lots and lots of androids. And one of your characters can cause enemies androids to explode. And since you can't switch which faction you're fighting against until that faction is defeated, this means that for long stretches of the game, you'll likely see the same character reappear whenever he or she is available. But aside from that, I was satisfied with the mission variety.
Again, though, each player will have a different take on the game. I enjoyed it. Others won't.
I still can't get over the fact most of the aliens, humans and hybrids are fighting buddy buddy together after only 4 years of earth being liberated in xcom 2.
I wouldn't say that they're buddy buddy. Chimaera Squad is. But there are some pretty clear indications in the lore materials within the game that Chimaera Squad is very much an unusual outfit, specifically created to deal with an unusual city. The city in Chimaera Squad is the most integrated city on post-liberation Earth, and Chimaera Squad is the first fully-integrated squad within XCom. And even then, there are some groups that don't integrate. There are repeated references to the idea that no one - human or extra-terrestrial - likes the Andromedans.
Inquisitor Martyr, been thinking of buying it for a while until it was on special and fixed up and expanded on so bought in the current Steam sale. I'm a huge fan of the Inquisition, so it's pretty cool they have a game. Love the Eisenhorn Trilogy, but the game sounds like its terrible, though. :/
I went back to The Division 2 to finish the latest manhunt target, also tried to find the last missing SHD tech I need to finish both the Battery park liberation and get the last bounty I need to finish the bounty hunt project. but so far I have been unable to find it, been wondering if maybe its glitched or I am doing something wrong.
Trondheim wrote: I went back to The Division 2 to finish the latest manhunt target, also tried to find the last missing SHD tech I need to finish both the Battery park liberation and get the last bounty I need to finish the bounty hunt project. but so far I have been unable to find it, been wondering if maybe its glitched or I am doing something wrong.
All of the SHD tech should be obtainable, but some of them are pretty hard to reach, and sometimes require a very specific set of steps. Are you using a video guide to locate the cache? Those tend to be the best way to do those sorts of things.
Adrassil wrote: Inquisitor Martyr, been thinking of buying it for a while until it was on special and fixed up and expanded on so bought in the current Steam sale. I'm a huge fan of the Inquisition, so it's pretty cool they have a game. Love the Eisenhorn Trilogy, but the game sounds like its terrible, though. :/
Now you know how I feel about warhammer chaosbane. I want to play it but reviews sound bad.
A while back, I finally caved and bought Inquisitor: Martyr, knowing how much time I've sunk into Diablo 3 over the years.
Don't do it unless it's on sale or something. It's such a shame because it's clearly a labour of love for the setting, and there's potential there, but the gameplay just doesn't hold up - and the loot cycle that such games rely on just doesn't do anything to excite.
Adrassil wrote: Inquisitor Martyr, been thinking of buying it for a while until it was on special and fixed up and expanded on so bought in the current Steam sale. I'm a huge fan of the Inquisition, so it's pretty cool they have a game. Love the Eisenhorn Trilogy, but the game sounds like its terrible, though. :/
I'd get it at a discount. The game has gone a long way and through many changes since its release, but it is still quite a clunky and unbalanced experience.
flamingkillamajig wrote: Now you know how I feel about warhammer chaosbane. I want to play it but reviews sound bad.
It's bad. If you are really curious buy it at a steep discount, because it is nothing but a really thin and poorly executed Diablo clone.
Trondheim wrote: I went back to The Division 2 to finish the latest manhunt target, also tried to find the last missing SHD tech I need to finish both the Battery park liberation and get the last bounty I need to finish the bounty hunt project. but so far I have been unable to find it, been wondering if maybe its glitched or I am doing something wrong.
All of the SHD tech should be obtainable, but some of them are pretty hard to reach, and sometimes require a very specific set of steps. Are you using a video guide to locate the cache? Those tend to be the best way to do those sorts of things.
Well the problem is that is dose not appear on the mini map, I have scouring Battery Park for ages looking for any hidden spot that may contain it, been using two seperat guides. I have 4 out of 5, the last one appeard near the waterfront, not far from the control point besides the docks in said district.
From what I recall, some caches have been hidden away in an annoying way. I'll find out sooner or later, I've decided to revisit the game myself, until I grow tired of the poor gunplay mechanics.
Aside from Division 2 I've also been giving Crossout a try after it was promoted by a certain gopnik Youtuber I watch. Surprisingly, I'm okay with it, as PvP isn't really my cuppa anymore these days. Fun, but still annoying when you have a team of morons who run into you and one another instead of the enemy.
BrookM wrote: From what I recall, some caches have been hidden away in an annoying way. I'll find out sooner or later, I've decided to revisit the game myself, until I grow tired of the poor gunplay mechanics.
Aside from Division 2 I've also been giving Crossout a try after it was promoted by a certain gopnik Youtuber I watch. Surprisingly, I'm okay with it, as PvP isn't really my cuppa anymore these days. Fun, but still annoying when you have a team of morons who run into you and one another instead of the enemy.
They certainly makes you work for it, but on the brigth side I find that the gunplay has improved signicficaly over the last months, with the new patches and manhunt seasons
Vampyr and NFS: Payback were on the PS+ "free" games for this month. So far been playing abit more NFS than the other, even tho Vampyr seems very interesting to me
Ensis Ferrae wrote: Vampyr and NFS: Payback were on the PS+ "free" games for this month. So far been playing abit more NFS than the other, even tho Vampyr seems very interesting to me
I got Vampyr on release. It's a bit of a shame really - it's very promising in its opening acts! Some great writing in there, and a lot of grey-area questionable morality stuff.
Sadly, towards the end there's a stronger focus on combat and the difficulty ramps up harshly for characters built for stealth, conversation and similar.
A bit late to the party but have just started playing through Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Really, really enjoying it.
It's like the magnum opus of Metroidvania games, there is just so much in there - have found the challenge is not so much in the combat and monsters (although these are great) but in trying to find all of the various secrets and hidden areas.
It's also got some wonderful little easter eggs. That moment of "what if I try this?" that is normally just in Nintendo games and the like, and you try it and the developer has hidden something there for you (sometimes some quite nasty things )
Played Among Us for the first time yesterday, was pretty intense, in fact, especially as the Imposter, had to stop after a few games due to being close to having a panic attack lol
I'm on a bit of a Hearthstone itch right now and so far I'm just enjoying dual class arena as it has a much more "old feel" where hearthstone was dominated by tempo plays and less about insane value and fatigue games you see in standard right now.
I'm also playing Among Us with my girlfriend, who is insanely competitive when it comes to the game as it turns out.
Finished outer wilds and damn... it’s definetly in my top 10 favorite games of all time. This is largely because of the ending. There’s a certain... I suppose you could call it “choice” at the very end that made it go from a good game to an absolutely amazing one. A bit about it: it’s a space exploration with a art style similar to how things looked during the moon landing. You are stuck in a 22 minute time loop. There’s no power ups in this game. You learn more and more about how the world works in order to progress. It’s full of puzzles and mazes. The clock is always ticking. There’s a point early on when you might get bored and overwhelmed. If so forget about the story and just go to wherever looks cool or exciting. It’s going to be worth it.
Started Wintoormore Tactics Club...its really really good. I'm surprised, since good tactical games are kind of rare. Definitly one of those sleeper hits.
Plot is a little weird since I'm pretty certain the main character is hallucinating. She's either outright killing people are pretending they are ok afterwards, or she's particpating in snowball fights while imagining she's carving people up. I'm not certain which is the less grim option.
It's a fun game and I'm sure the sequel will be stunning, but it really lacks enemy variety and there are a couple of massive plot holes that are ignored by seemingly everyone from in game characters to the fans.
Spoiler:
The idea that the best of the best are all on The Hope reeks of elitism and poor planning. Apparently the poor sods on the Groundbreaker are just completely incompetent and need their betters to come save them...that really rubs me the wrong way. Also, what kind of pants on the head government puts all of their brightest on 1 ship instead of dividing them up to prevent exactly what happened?
Mechanicus is free this weekend on Steam, so I took it for a spin. There's a lot of good stuff in the game. But the Cogitation Points system bugs me. Having to collect points in the middle of a battle just to use anything but the most basic equipment is silly. "Excuse me, but I need you to go look at that terminal over there before I can fire this rifle at the Necrons that are attacking us."
Mostly just playing Steel Division with a friend and streaming xcom 2: war of the chosen.
In steel division we've had some good games. I find it interesting how you get more income based on the amount of land you take. That can really push a battle if you push the lines within the early stages of the game.
In xcom 2: war of the chosen some sessions ago i took out the assassin chosen first which is probably the first time i took her out first (she has sword and shotgun with swift movement) but the last mission i played yesterday i fought and killed the hunter chosen (he has sniper rifle and pistol with significant mobility). Now the only chosen i have left to fight and finally kill off is the warlock and he rolled up the teleport ability which is really annoying to face on some chosen since you can't lock them down as easily.
Oddly yesterday even though i never really the vest i just figured out yesterday perhaps taking the vest that returns all melee damage to the attacker and sets it on fire would be really effective against the assassin since her sword strikes can never be dodged and always hit 100% of the time. It does have the potential to be really disgusting on her. Perhaps i will try it next time. Sadly that would require research into chryssalid autopsies and that can be mid-late game in xcom 2 and its expansion.
Eumerin wrote: Mechanicus is free this weekend on Steam, so I took it for a spin. There's a lot of good stuff in the game. But the Cogitation Points system bugs me. Having to collect points in the middle of a battle just to use anything but the most basic equipment is silly. "Excuse me, but I need you to go look at that terminal over there before I can fire this rifle at the Necrons that are attacking us."
As the game progresses it becomes easier to gather and reduce points costs. Late game tech-priests roll up and down the game area hoovering up blackstone and cog points and blow away necrons in bunches.
It's a fun game and I'm sure the sequel will be stunning, but it really lacks enemy variety and there are a couple of massive plot holes that are ignored by seemingly everyone from in-game characters to the fans.
Spoiler:
The idea that the best of the best are all on The Hope reeks of elitism and poor planning. Apparently, the poor sods on the Groundbreaker are just completely incompetent and need their betters to come to save them...that really rubs me the wrong way. Also, what kind of pants on the head government puts all of their brightest on 1 ship instead of dividing them up to prevent exactly what happened?
Oh, you would be amazed! I can dredge up an unholy amount of people in various departments, and governmental agencies who would think such a thing to be a great idea. Besides that, I agree with you, but the game left me somewhat miffed, I expected far more and felt cheated in some odd way.
I finally found the last SHD tech in the Division 2, now that is done New York should be safer. Back to waiting for the next manhunt target now. Been doing a few of the league activities, but replaying the same missions x amount of times in order to advance in the league makes a bit dull. But the gunplay and feel of the Division 2 keeps drawing me back in
Yeah, Crossout's neat. The core gameplay (build, drive, destroy) is solid and enjoyable, even with the simple, basic stuff you have. But it's definitely got that "This stuff can all be got for free, but it's annoying enough to do so that you're encouraged to spend money on it" Free to Pay model.
Finally picked up a game I never hear people talk about much. It's called Starlink: Battle for Atlas. Basically it follows a plucky group of explorers who are trying to rescue their leader from the clutches of an evil alien wannabe-God (or something, haven't fully seen his motivation yet). The gameplay involves flying ships around both in space and on the ground and using various weapons to blow up bad guys. The twist for the game is that it is one of those "toys-to-life" games, kind of like Skylanders, in that there are physical objects that you hook to a special controller attachment and use to represent your loadout (e.g. when you swap a weapon on your model ship, that change happens to your in-game ship). That kind of feature might not be for everyone, and you can get all the ships/pilots/weapons as digital versions if you don't want to use the toys, but I kind of like swapping out the guns by hand and having a model ship on my controller. Maybe that's just the kid in me, I dunno. I've already sunk several hours into the game and I've got a bunch of add-on stuff on order to expand my arsenal from the fairly basic starter set, but so far I think the game is massively underrated (it released in 2018 and apparently sold very poorly). Certainly the best-executed "toys-to-life" game I've ever seen.
Also, the Nintendo Switch version of the game has Star Fox in it (including Fox himself as a playable pilot and the Arwing ship, both with physical models), which is actually how I first heard of the game when it came out. I don't have a Switch, but rather a PS4, so I had to miss out on that sadly.
My friends want me to finish ghost of tsushima so I can play the new legends mode with them. The longer I play this game the less I like it. the ramping difficulty in act 3 just stresses the tiny mechanical faults more and the level design really seems to have taken a hit in this last area making the stealth route frustratingly difficult to pull off because there are so many fewer places to hide.
This game should have ended 10 hours and every additional hour of gameplay at this point is docking it points off its final grade. lol.
Love the game, in general an improvement over what AOE3 was , especially in regards to multiplayer and all cards beeing available from the beginning.
otoh, some of the old and even some new pathfinding bugs exist. (new one is the magically pulling in settler torwards a freshly built trading post to be stuck there as a sacrifice to the dark gods i guess.)
then there's the wierd thingy of the renamed ages.
I never really heard of a commerce age
The new nations are fun to play, i still suck at it, but overall, well worth 25$ bucks.
Adrassil wrote: Some Stardew Valley. Pretty chill, wanted to see what had changed with the updates since I last played. Spent far too much time sunk into that game.
Damn that game is so addictive..
I was a piece of fruit away from finishing the town hall, must go back to it sometime!
What are the main changes with the latest release?
Oh yes, nothing quite like some Stardew with a fellow mod, beats complaining about the usual chudwumps we keep running into on these forums.
We've unlocked the cinema last Sunday, are both married and are just doing whatever right now, as most big endgame goals are out of the way now, though I am mostly aiming towards getting that half a million saved up so we can replace the trailer in town with a proper house. After that we still need to placate gramps, as I am a bit behind on the whole social thing.
Added bonus, said fellow mod always ends the session with a nice screenshot of our farm:
Yes-yes, there is a lot of empty space right next to my house and just below it, I'll be turning that into a forest next time we play again.
Also played through Tomb Raider, wrapping it up this morning and started on Rise now, debating whether or not to finally try and 100% it like the first game.
I tried to get into a modded out FNV, but the gunplay is atrocious.
Ended up setting up FO4 on PC for the first time (I've done it on XBOX). From a purely fun perspective it's up near the top of games all time for me. Playing FNV/FO3 I felt like I had to actually quest to get anything out of the game. With FO4 I can spend an entire playthrough just clearing buildings.
trexmeyer wrote: I tried to get into a modded out FNV, but the gunplay is atrocious.
Ended up setting up FO4 on PC for the first time (I've done it on XBOX). From a purely fun perspective it's up near the top of games all time for me. Playing FNV/FO3 I felt like I had to actually quest to get anything out of the game. With FO4 I can spend an entire playthrough just clearing buildings.
randomized start mods are fun for that.
As are random challange runs.
Personal favourite, if you hate yourself, start out in Far harbour and switch to hardcore ...
trexmeyer wrote: I tried to get into a modded out FNV, but the gunplay is atrocious.
Ended up setting up FO4 on PC for the first time (I've done it on XBOX). From a purely fun perspective it's up near the top of games all time for me. Playing FNV/FO3 I felt like I had to actually quest to get anything out of the game. With FO4 I can spend an entire playthrough just clearing buildings.
The best mod I found for FO4 is Sim Settlements. Once you unlock a settlement, you choose a town plan and then the sim inhabitants build the town themselves and assign themselves jobs etc. Its the sort of mod that is so good, it should have been in the base game.
Started a new total warhammer 2 Bretonnia campaign. Playing on very hard. Got attacked by the red duke, orks, norsca, more orks, marienburg and even more orks at the same time. I’m not kidding, 6 separate factions marched into my territory on the same turn. Norsca and marienburg even came with 2 armies each. I ended up only losing 2 settlements and have 3 more besieged. due to some desperate holds I didn’t lose more settlements so far though. Of course king Louen Leoncour is made of stern stuff. He is leading a campaign to free the Bretonnian land of all these foul invaders. Since this is early game I ended up going crazy overboard with peasant armies but so far it’s working. One by one the enemies are being driven back.
trexmeyer wrote: I tried to get into a modded out FNV, but the gunplay is atrocious.
Ended up setting up FO4 on PC for the first time (I've done it on XBOX). From a purely fun perspective it's up near the top of games all time for me. Playing FNV/FO3 I felt like I had to actually quest to get anything out of the game. With FO4 I can spend an entire playthrough just clearing buildings.
The best mod I found for FO4 is Sim Settlements. Once you unlock a settlement, you choose a town plan and then the sim inhabitants build the town themselves and assign themselves jobs etc. Its the sort of mod that is so good, it should have been in the base game.
That sounds amazing. I haven't ever managed to complete that game, as I always run out of steam spending hours just building stuff in the settlements or having to respond when a settlement comes under attack.
Picked up Fallout76 for pretty cheap. Actually seems pretty decent after playing up to level 25. The world/environment is great, yep its still buggy but for $12 I am not overly bothered.
trexmeyer wrote: I tried to get into a modded out FNV, but the gunplay is atrocious.
Ended up setting up FO4 on PC for the first time (I've done it on XBOX). From a purely fun perspective it's up near the top of games all time for me. Playing FNV/FO3 I felt like I had to actually quest to get anything out of the game. With FO4 I can spend an entire playthrough just clearing buildings.
The best mod I found for FO4 is Sim Settlements. Once you unlock a settlement, you choose a town plan and then the sim inhabitants build the town themselves and assign themselves jobs etc. Its the sort of mod that is so good, it should have been in the base game.
I thought about getting that, but I prefer either building up walled settlements or flat out ignoring them. I also have like 70 mods running and a few that impact scripts so I'm not terribly keen on another one.
The graphics overhauls, operator style gear, and a few gameplay tweaks are pretty amazing on PC compared to XBOX.
The community is very sketchy though...a lot of mods are pseudo-private, 'hidden' on Discord channels, and there are a few illegal ports of assets from other games.
I went into Vault 88 for the first time. It's pretty neat, but I have two complaints about whatever Bethesda was smoking when they made it.
Indoor lighting sucks. You have to use the default lighting to get anywhere.
It's too big and the layout outside of the main room is absurd. I didn't even realize you could unlock additional areas at first and thought it was a pretty solid size in just the main room.
Three and a half years after release, I finally started playing Horizon Zero Dawn on my Ps4. 10 days of my life vanished. That was legit one of the best games I've ever played in my entire life. Were it not for God of War, I would say it was the best game I've played this Gen. I might actually rank them equally, they were so damn good.
Ghost of Tsushima is a definite recommend from me. It really nails that Kurosawa feel for me and the game is gorgeous. You can be riding through a field of pampas grass and then suddenly the sun begins to set and the whole field is bathed in gold and orange.
Plus you get to pet foxes and write haiku and can play the flute to change the weather.
Trying to finish games I bought long ago, Managed to tick Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Origins off the list. Now working on Red Redemption 2 and Ryse Son of Rome. Next on the list include Gears 4 and Quantum Break. Lots to go.
Playing the Outer Worlds in short bursts, along with some Deep Rock Galactic, which has nice new mission types added in. Bit miffed that moments before finishing the mission the game crapped out on me, that's forty minutes of digging tunnels and laying pipe wasted.
I finally beat Tsushima last weekend. The game really started to wear on me towards the end. They cranked up the difficulty of the combat which just resulted in me noticing the tiny mechanical faults more and more. However, the story wrapped up in such a perfect way that I forgave it for every minor annoyance.
Damn, that was a good game. 9/10 for sure. just needed to be about 10 hours less of side quest content
balmong7 wrote: I finally beat Tsushima last weekend. The game really started to wear on me towards the end. They cranked up the difficulty of the combat which just resulted in me noticing the tiny mechanical faults more and more. However, the story wrapped up in such a perfect way that I forgave it for every minor annoyance.
I found that the increase in enemy AI in the later game (dodging your strong strikes rather than just block and get staggered, for example) made me react and use my Ghost weapons more to compensate.
Can't dodge when they're reeling from a kunai to the chest or a sticky bomb to their mate standing next to them :headtapgif:
Poison arrow enemies can go jump off a cliff though, archers are always target priority number one
balmong7 wrote: I finally beat Tsushima last weekend. The game really started to wear on me towards the end. They cranked up the difficulty of the combat which just resulted in me noticing the tiny mechanical faults more and more. However, the story wrapped up in such a perfect way that I forgave it for every minor annoyance.
I found that the increase in enemy AI in the later game (dodging your strong strikes rather than just block and get staggered, for example) made me react and use my Ghost weapons more to compensate.
Can't dodge when they're reeling from a kunai to the chest or a sticky bomb to their mate standing next to them :headtapgif:
Poison arrow enemies can go jump off a cliff though, archers are always target priority number one
I ran into the issue of weird mechanical issues like, trying to throw a ghost weapon and nothing happening because I pressed the button too soon after releasing the R2 button and the game hadn't caught up yet, or I switched stances then hit the attack or dodge button only to not attack or dodge but stand there and get hit by the attack because the window hadn't closed all the way yet and it just registered as me changing stances again. The absolute worst was the bow, where I would press the button to fire an arrow but because I pressed it too soon after pulling out my bow it didn't register and the arrow had never been drawn back.
I've just completed Bloodstained: Ritual of the night. As a platforming and Castlevania fan have to say it's one of the best games of that genre I have ever played.
Really love how many little easter eggs and neat touches of design there are in the game. Am playing on the PS4 and am actually thinking of having a go at getting a platinum trophy (which I've never done before), am enjoying it that much. Thoroughly recommended.
jaredb wrote: Just got a new puppy, so the only thing I have time to play is hearthstone.
The new game mode seems to be a lot of fun but they want freakin’ 40$ to access it!? I do want to play dungeon run pvp.
Yeah, not keen on that buy in price for Duels. I'll stick to battlegrounds and arena for my alternate game modes for now, which is what I'm playing currently. It's not a bad game for just passing time while I do other things.
I picked up Mechanicus the last day so keen to jump into that, but have been tempted by many other games this week. Has anyone tried The Outer Worlds yet? Is it worth getting?
Has anyone tried The Outer Worlds yet? Is it worth getting?
I played it last year on the MS game pass for a dollar.
It was.... ok.
Bit thin and repetitive- lots of open world shooting pointless mobs in the head (of which there are only a half-dozen types)
Tries for fallout level satire and fails (going instead with Evil Corporations of Evil Evilness are certainly Evil! and -everybody- is dumb)
Characters are largely forgettable. (The first companion is sort of adorable, but gets annoying and needy as the game goes on, needing her hand held for basic human interactions. Most of the rest are terrible people that personally, I would never actually team up with, or willingly spend any time with)
Once the second DLC comes out, they do a game of a year edition, that gets a price drop and a sale happens, I might revisit it.
I loved the look of the Retrofitted Heavy Power Armour, for example. But you can only find the item at a low level, and the cost of levelling the item is not determined by what level you are increasing it to but by how many times you have levelled the item.
So there is zero point to levelling items yourself as the cost of doing so becomes massive and you could instead just use that other item which you found at a higher level.
jaredb wrote: Just got a new puppy, so the only thing I have time to play is hearthstone.
The new game mode seems to be a lot of fun but they want freakin’ 40$ to access it!? I do want to play dungeon run pvp.
I've not played any of the other game modes (arena, battlegrounds), unless there is some event where you get prizes for doing so. I just play ranked standard and tavern brawl once a week lol.
Speaking of outer worlds, outer wilds is an absolutely fantastic indie game i got totally sucked into, and I wish I could discover it again not knowing anything about it.
Might give the new game mode a shot when it's out for everyone, but I'm happy mucking about with my decks.
Just getting my teeth sunk into the new Doom Eternal expansion - "The Ancient Gods". ...Technically it works as DLC, but you don't need to own the original game and by all accounts it's sufficiently meaty of its own accord, which is a big plus in my books. I greatly miss the old style of proper-sized expansions we used to have.
As far as the actual game? So far it's more of what made Doom Eternal so great - but with yet another ramp up the frenetic scale. Doom Eternal was already much much rougher going than Doom 2016, but it at least eased you in with a small tutorial, and cranked up the action as you unlocked more powerful weapons and abilities.
This one? Gives you everything available in Doom Eternal right from the start and says "go get stuck in. QUICK, now, don't hang around, get movi- oh you're already dead."
I loved the look of the Retrofitted Heavy Power Armour, for example. But you can only find the item at a low level, and the cost of levelling the item is not determined by what level you are increasing it to but by how many times you have levelled the item.
So there is zero point to levelling items yourself as the cost of doing so becomes massive and you could instead just use that other item which you found at a higher level.
Yeah, I kinda skipped over a lot of the 'RPG' mechanics, and didn't bother learning them. Gear especially was a constant flow and I didn't really care, but stats/skills involved platform tiers [must have [25/50/75/100] score to do <task>] and talents were very blatant good/not good. Wasn't a lot of depth, and companions had even less.
As someone who started crpgs with Wizardry I and Ultima IV, character mechanics should never make me go 'meh, whatever' and take a straight shot through to the end of the game on the first character I've made.
I never once felt like I was missing something with my build or I might've skimped on something another character might have taken advantage of.
Super Ready wrote: Just getting my teeth sunk into the new Doom Eternal expansion - "The Ancient Gods". ...Technically it works as DLC, but you don't need to own the original game and by all accounts it's sufficiently meaty of its own accord, which is a big plus in my books. I greatly miss the old style of proper-sized expansions we used to have.
As far as the actual game? So far it's more of what made Doom Eternal so great - but with yet another ramp up the frenetic scale. Doom Eternal was already much much rougher going than Doom 2016, but it at least eased you in with a small tutorial, and cranked up the action as you unlocked more powerful weapons and abilities.
This one? Gives you everything available in Doom Eternal right from the start and says "go get stuck in. QUICK, now, don't hang around, get movi- oh you're already dead."
So the fact that I got my ass well and truly kicked by the first game means that probably isn't going to be easy going for me?
Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock on Wii. Has the best line up of songs for me of the games including Prayer of the Refugee by Rise Against (which is my main character of Secret War Attelus Kaltos' theme song, that, and Assassin by Muse, it's almost like those songs were made for him or I made him from those songs but made him way before I first heard Prayer of the Refugee) Knights of Cydonia by Muse (which is their best song ever to me, their 'Bohemian Rhapsody' so to speak) Helicopter by Bloc Party (Their Bohemian Rhapsody for me) Barracuda by Heart and Cult of Personality by Living Colour are a ton of fun to "play". Although, I miss Hotel California by The Eagles and Float On by Modest Mouse from 4. Spent quite a few fun hours playing Guitar Hero 4 with my friends with all the instruments back in 2009, those were the days...
Pacific wrote: So the fact that I got my ass well and truly kicked by the first game means that probably isn't going to be easy going for me?
...start wearing your brown pants.
Adrassil wrote: Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock on Wii. Has the best line up of songs for me of the games including Prayer of the Refugee by Rise Against (which is my main character of Secret War Attelus Kaltos' theme song, that, and Assassin by Muse, it's almost like those songs were made for him or I made him from those songs but made him way before I first heard Prayer of the Refugee) Knights of Cydonia by Muse (which is their best song ever to me, their 'Bohemian Rhapsody' so to speak) Helicopter by Bloc Party (Their Bohemian Rhapsody for me) Barracuda by Heart and Cult of Personality by Living Colour are a ton of fun to "play". Although, I miss Hotel California by The Eagles and Float On by Modest Mouse from 4. Spent quite a few fun hours playing Guitar Hero 4 with my friends with all the instruments back in 2009, those were the days...
Oh man, this takes me back - GH3 on the Wii was the first one I could actually play myself! On account of not having an XBox or PS of any flavour at the time. Since then I've picked up a 360 and gotten the entire series, but those tracks on 3 hit the sweet nostalgia spot.
I'd have to say my favourite one though - thanks to a combination of tracks, improved mechanics and the additional instruments - would be the last one, Warriors of Rock.
I got into the Beta for Necromunda Underhive Skirmish on iOS. After some struggling to get the hang of the gameplay the first couple matches. I am now thoroughly enjoying myself. Excited to see how this shapes up moving forward to release.
The game I am playing now is: Do I stick with my 5700XT and Ryzen 3600, or do I upgrade to a 6800XT and Ryzen 5800X? I am leaning towards the latter now, after seeing AMD's announcement today. And I can turn the 5700XT/3600 combo into a PC for my wife to replace her older setup.
Started X4. Currently flying a small mining ship. Mining is something that I've largely ignored in the earlier games (I tend to forget about it), so this is a bit different.
I finally got around to playing Final Fantasy XV. It took me a long time to get into it but I eventually got there. I enjoyed the gameplay and combat system, even though it mostly came down to me spamming warp strikes with the Ragnarok sword. I had a lot of fun with the open-ended parts of the game in chapters 3-8.
But then... oh dear. Chapters 9-14 throw out the open world, and the car, and most of what made the game good. Ironically I kind of enjoyed the widely-hated chapter 13 as I had fun with the ring, and I liked being able to use it as an alternative strategy for the remainder of the game. The story however is unbelievably awful. I don't understand anything about the bad guy or the motivations behind his non-sensical actions throughout the game. I don't understand why I disappeared for a long period and then came back. I don't understand why one of my party members suffered a life-changing injury when it ended up barely having any relevance to anything. The story is a complete and utter mess.
I know I have a bunch of post-game content and DLC still to go but I am really put off at this point. Not sure how they messed it up so badly.
Bilge Rat wrote: I finally got around to playing Final Fantasy XV. It took me a long time to get into it but I eventually got there. I enjoyed the gameplay and combat system, even though it mostly came down to me spamming warp strikes with the Ragnarok sword. I had a lot of fun with the open-ended parts of the game in chapters 3-8.
But then... oh dear. Chapters 9-14 throw out the open world, and the car, and most of what made the game good. Ironically I kind of enjoyed the widely-hated chapter 13 as I had fun with the ring, and I liked being able to use it as an alternative strategy for the remainder of the game. The story however is unbelievably awful. I don't understand anything about the bad guy or the motivations behind his non-sensical actions throughout the game. I don't understand why I disappeared for a long period and then came back. I don't understand why one of my party members suffered a life-changing injury when it ended up barely having any relevance to anything. The story is a complete and utter mess.
I know I have a bunch of post-game content and DLC still to go but I am really put off at this point. Not sure how they messed it up so badly.
Chapter 13 was completely redone after launch. I forget all the specifics, but I know they let you run which cut the length of it in half and I think the ring got buffed somehow. I played the original version and you had to have enough distance from an enemy to where they didn't hit you before it went off and that took a really long time. There was also a huge insta kill stealth section that didn't really have the mechanics to support it. It was never as bad as people say, but it wasn't good either.
The game really suffers from being in development hell for too long. It's often said the difference between a great game and the rest is the last 10% and its pretty clear how much love went into the core gameplay loop for this one. The whole day to day cycle of getting quests, going into the world, hunting, finding a place to sleep to level up and the character interactions along the way are all magnificent, but after years of getting that together, telling the story became a rushed affair you're literally railroaded through. They just didn't have the time to build unique scenarios after so much work had been put into the generic encounter structure, and the game was released with the intent to patch it in via DLC later.
As messy as it is, I didn't find it all that confusing. I had to watch the monologuing cutscene with subtitles on YouTube because initially Ardyn's speech was on the secondary sound channel and Noctis grunting in pain was the primary and that was.... neat.... Anyway, basics of the plot. So, you learn that there's this disease called Starscourge that turns people into the demons you fight along the way that is kept in check by light exposure. Ardyn's brother, who's Noctis's ancestor used the light of the crystal to kill anyone infected to contain the plague, but Ardyn had the power to cure them by absorbing the plague into his own body which left him an immortal pariah. Long story short, in game he's essentially reached the point where he wants it all to end and forces Noctis to become the Crystal's avatar so that he can either truly destroy it or be destroyed by it to end his suffering.
LunarSol wrote: Chapter 13 was completely redone after launch. I forget all the specifics, but I know they let you run which cut the length of it in half and I think the ring got buffed somehow. I played the original version and you had to have enough distance from an enemy to where they didn't hit you before it went off and that took a really long time. There was also a huge insta kill stealth section that didn't really have the mechanics to support it. It was never as bad as people say, but it wasn't good either.
Ah, ok. I knew they made changes but I thought it was just adding the 'easy mode' path with Ignis and Galdio. It also helped that I was ludicrously over-levelled.
LunarSol wrote: The game really suffers from being in development hell for too long. It's often said the difference between a great game and the rest is the last 10% and its pretty clear how much love went into the core gameplay loop for this one. The whole day to day cycle of getting quests, going into the world, hunting, finding a place to sleep to level up and the character interactions along the way are all magnificent, but after years of getting that together, telling the story became a rushed affair you're literally railroaded through. They just didn't have the time to build unique scenarios after so much work had been put into the generic encounter structure, and the game was released with the intent to patch it in via DLC later.
Yeah, I kind of got that impression. They built up a lot of interesting systems that started off fun but then they never went anywhere. Even something as simple as the fishing - there seems to be a lot of depth and complexity there, but I got to max skill level without paying any attention to what lures did what or what fish appeared where, plus there seems to be no ultimate reward.
LunarSol wrote: As messy as it is, I didn't find it all that confusing. I had to watch the monologuing cutscene with subtitles on YouTube because initially Ardyn's speech was on the secondary sound channel and Noctis grunting in pain was the primary and that was.... neat.... Anyway, basics of the plot. So, you learn that there's this disease called Starscourge that turns people into the demons you fight along the way that is kept in check by light exposure. Ardyn's brother, who's Noctis's ancestor used the light of the crystal to kill anyone infected to contain the plague, but Ardyn had the power to cure them by absorbing the plague into his own body which left him an immortal pariah. Long story short, in game he's essentially reached the point where he wants it all to end and forces Noctis to become the Crystal's avatar so that he can either truly destroy it or be destroyed by it to end his suffering.
All of this is news to me
I did read that apparently a lot of the story was fleshed out in DLC and also through the anime movie, but from what I saw it made no sense.
I did read that apparently a lot of the story was fleshed out in DLC and also through the anime movie, but from what I saw it made no sense.
I haven't played any of the DLC. That was what was in the original game, but I had to go back and rewatch a few bits to make sense of it. The movie is kind of important to the plot, but has nothing to do with Ardyn. It just shows you the empire killing the king and taking the crystal, which... is kind of a big thing to cut out of the game....
When people ask, I often say FFXV is the skeleton of the best game in the series. Sadly, even after all the DLC it never really got there. At one point they started crafting a completely different ending for it that probably makes better use of the characters as a whole, but only the very start of it got added before they stopped trying to keep the thing afloat.
LunarSol wrote: When people ask, I often say FFXV is the skeleton of the best game in the series.
I'm still waiting for them to beat VII. I got a lot out of all of the main series games that came after that, but all of them have been disappointing in one way or another.
X came closest I think. XII was the furthest away.
LunarSol wrote: When people ask, I often say FFXV is the skeleton of the best game in the series.
I'm still waiting for them to beat VII. I got a lot out of all of the main series games that came after that, but all of them have been disappointing in one way or another.
X came closest I think. XII was the furthest away.
I actually don't care all that much for VII, but mostly because I was a huge fan of IV and VI. I don't think its bad by any means, I just found the cast of those two games more interesting. I think IX might be up there among the best and I really like X apart from aspects of it that haven't aged super well. XII is honestly the only game I haven't finished.
LunarSol wrote: When people ask, I often say FFXV is the skeleton of the best game in the series.
I'm still waiting for them to beat VII. I got a lot out of all of the main series games that came after that, but all of them have been disappointing in one way or another.
X came closest I think. XII was the furthest away.
I actually don't care all that much for VII, but mostly because I was a huge fan of IV and VI. I don't think its bad by any means, I just found the cast of those two games more interesting. I think IX might be up there among the best and I really like X apart from aspects of it that haven't aged super well. XII is honestly the only game I haven't finished.
I thought XII was a bit too much of a black sheep to compare to the other FF games. It’s got the staples, but the story focus seems less character-based (VII, VIII, X) and more based around the events occurring in the setting at the time. The worldbuilding stuff is actually kind of cool (probably helped that the tactics games were set in different continents of the same world), but the cast is kind of really bland. Balthier is fun and you can sort of see how these characters could work, but they’re as bland as planks of wood. It’s got its strengths, but it’s not hard to see why this one isn’t so well regarded.
Elements of the gameplay were probably influenced by Final Fantasy XI (the first Final Fantasy MMORPG). It's been quite a while, so unfortunately the only thing I still remember is the "much higher than everything else in the area elementals that agro when you use magic somewhere nearby them" (which is why nine times out of ten, an elemental's first kill was party healer, while the party was focused on fighting something else...). But I remember seeing in-game mechanics (and not necessarily combat ones) that seemed to me at the time to want the player to think that there were other active participants all doing their own thing while you did yours (even if that wasn't actually the case).
You could program the game to play for you via macros. My wife actually told me I should really give up on it when she caught me reading a book while steering my party towards the next encounter with my toe.
I spent hours playing through XII and doing the dumb bonus bosses, so it must have done something right. However, I remember almost nothing and don't really have any fond memories of it at all.
Eumerin wrote:Elements of the gameplay were probably influenced by Final Fantasy XI (the first Final Fantasy MMORPG). It's been quite a while, so unfortunately the only thing I still remember is the "much higher than everything else in the area elementals that agro when you use magic somewhere nearby them" (which is why nine times out of ten, an elemental's first kill was party healer, while the party was focused on fighting something else...). But I remember seeing in-game mechanics (and not necessarily combat ones) that seemed to me at the time to want the player to think that there were other active participants all doing their own thing while you did yours (even if that wasn't actually the case).
LunarSol wrote:You could program the game to play for you via macros. My wife actually told me I should really give up on it when she caught me reading a book while steering my party towards the next encounter with my toe.
The gambits! Those were pretty cool, and a surprisingly simple way to automate the other party members. Gotta love how they pretty much are macros, with the “if/else” statements and all that. I found the system a godsend for micromanaging healers and removing debuffs.
Bilge Rat wrote:I spent hours playing through XII and doing the dumb bonus bosses, so it must have done something right. However, I remember almost nothing and don't really have any fond memories of it at all.
The guild quests, right? Always kept running into the monsters before taking on their sidequests. The good news is that you get rewarded anyway when you get back to the guild hall. The bad news is that you could finish a story dungeon and walk back with a laundry list of accidentally completed guild quests.
Wasn’t there a 4 million HP dragon at one point?
Bilge Rat wrote:I spent hours playing through XII and doing the dumb bonus bosses, so it must have done something right. However, I remember almost nothing and don't really have any fond memories of it at all.
The guild quests, right? Always kept running into the monsters before taking on their sidequests. The good news is that you get rewarded anyway when you get back to the guild hall. The bad news is that you could finish a story dungeon and walk back with a laundry list of accidentally completed guild quests.Wasn’t there a 4 million HP dragon at one point?
Yeah, I think there were two different bosses with obscene numbers of hit points. I vaguely remmeber the gambit system but I couldn't be bothered to mess around with it and just looked up a guide for generalised ones. Also the Zodiac Spear - a hidden weapon that you can only get if you DON'T loot certain treasure chests. Basically impossible to get without a guide.
Yeah, I think there were two different bosses with obscene numbers of hit points. I vaguely remmeber the gambit system but I couldn't be bothered to mess around with it and just looked up a guide for generalised ones. Also the Zodiac Spear - a hidden weapon that you can only get if you DON'T loot certain treasure chests. Basically impossible to get without a guide.
Eh, that's not that bad. I mean Chrono Trigger had similar stuff where you had to hold off on opening chests in order to open them in different epochs to get the best stuff. FF9 had Excalibur 2 which could only be got if you made it to Memoria (the final dungeon of the game) and talked to a specific hidden NPC within 12 hours of game time. Oh and good luck on the PAL version where the 50Hz framerate meant you actually only had 10 hours.
Then there was stuff like dodging 200 lightning bolts and beating the Chocobo minigame with a time of 0:00:00 in FFX.
The Final Fantasy series has pretty good pedigree for annoying as hell methods for obtaining the best weapons.
Slight update to my playing through Doom Eternal, now that I've actually finished the expansion. My first impressions still hold - it's more of the same, only amped up even more, and that's a really good thing - but there's one thing that really irks me about it.
About halfway through, you go through a part of the map that encourages slowing down a bit - without giving too much away, you have greatly reduced visibility. This then stacks up with the introduction of enemies that only serve to slow down the pace, but they're also a part of bigger arenas that have the original, faster-paced enemies too. This creates a conflict where you need to slow down to take those enemies out, while opening yourself up to attacks from everything else. That led to quite a few deaths that really didn't feel like they were my fault, and it feels like it spits in the face of the game's own design direction.
...aaaaaaand then, they added an enemy that actually directly slows you down when it hits you.
The Final Fantasy series has pretty good pedigree for annoying as hell methods for obtaining the best weapons.
It seems to have been a Japanese thing in general. For example, IIRC, Both of the Persona 2 games had extremely good gear that could only be obtained by quite literally winning various in-game lotteries. You only had a very slim chance of winning each of the lotteries (and there was more than one in each game). Compounding that, to even make the lotteries available, you had to spend resources to use the games' rumor system (start a rumor about something, and it becomes true if enough people believe it) to change the reward for the lotteries (which were contests in magazines) to the item you wanted.
They've toned it down recently, though, probably to avoid ticking off the Western players who tend to get more annoyed with that sort of thing.
Then there was stuff like dodging 200 lightning bolts and beating the Chocobo minigame with a time of 0:00:00 in FFX.
The Final Fantasy series has pretty good pedigree for annoying as hell methods for obtaining the best weapons.
It wasn't always that way, but each game pushed the super bosses a little harder until they got completely out of hand. FWIW, X was the game that completely broke the appeal of loot for me, having done all the nonsense to turn the final boss into a one shot devoid of challenge. I'm kind of grateful, as it meant all the skinner box stuff that started to get really out of hand during the MMO craze had zero appeal.
The Final Fantasy series has pretty good pedigree for annoying as hell methods for obtaining the best weapons.
It seems to have been a Japanese thing in general. For example, IIRC, Both of the Persona 2 games had extremely good gear that could only be obtained by quite literally winning various in-game lotteries. You only had a very slim chance of winning each of the lotteries (and there was more than one in each game). Compounding that, to even make the lotteries available, you had to spend resources to use the games' rumor system (start a rumor about something, and it becomes true if enough people believe it) to change the reward for the lotteries (which were contests in magazines) to the item you wanted.
They've toned it down recently, though, probably to avoid ticking off the Western players who tend to get more annoyed with that sort of thing.
The best example of this kind of thing that I have ever heard was on Ultima Online - back in the early days of the game when it was as hardcore as anything, you used to just get murdered and your stuff stolen as a matter of course. (Always think people complaining about being ganked in WoW - after they have chosen to play on a PvP server - cannot compare to you being murdered repeatedly, all of your stuff stolen, and then following the guy around begging for him just to give you a few coins to get going again! )
You had items that were 'relics' and old versions of items, some of which were absolutely broken they were so unbalanced - but for some reason rather than remove the code for these items, instead they would stay in the game until they were lost or 'decayed' leave an item on the ground for a period of time it would disappear etc.
So eventually most of those items disappeared, in the bank vaults of cancelling players and things like that, or just lost. But, there was the odd one that would surface now and again and then rumours would spread around the community.
A friend of mine had a suit of armour that was one of these items and almost invaluable - can't remember the specifics but it had a ridiculous defence stat and let you use magic without needing re-agents.
Basically one day as he was travelling between towns a group of guilds had been waiting for him and tried to ambush him. Think he put up a fight but eventually weight of numbers brought him down. However the moment that happened whatever 'truce' had been signed between the guilds that were working together evaporated and they all started killing each other for it. I don't know what else happened (perhaps a corpse fell behind a bush and couldn't be seen?) but the suit of armour was lost and never found again! My friend was pretty miffed about it but it was funny..
I managed to get through the Pitioss Ruins in FFXV. I followed a guide for the most part because I knew it was going to take hours regardless and I didn't want to waste even more time figuring out which was I was supposed to go. The dungeon was long and somewhat frustrating but I quite enjoyed it overall. Jump physics are not the game's strong point but it worked well enough. Two things that I think would improve the dungeon significantly though. 1 - more of a hub system rather than a sprawling mess that lets you open up shortcuts. Towards the end I kept ending up back at the entrance, struggling to work out where all the shortcuts where that let me get back to where I was. 2 - no time requirement for entering the dungeon. This adds nothing whatsoever and just serves to frustrate players who come out to save and then have to stand around waiting for the clock to tick down. No reason for that to be there. Still,overall the dungeon was a fun challenge.
I also took down the Adamantoise. This just reinforced all of my feeling about the combat system of the game being completely broken. Warp striking with the Ragnarok did thousands of damage, often hitting the cap of 9999. Any other attack was either limited in its usage or was far less effective. The monster seemed to be incapable of hurting me (most of my damage came from falling until I got the hang of the postioning and timing), so I just warp struck it over and over and over again before point warping to a recovery point and repeating. For about and hour. The game has a huge selections of weapons, multiple ally techniques and a complex spell crafting system, but nothing seems to compare to endless warp striking. I don't get it. It eventually died and I felt no accomplishment because the fight was so dumb.
Dragon Quest XI has a "definitive edition" (that's priced lower than the vanilla version of the game) coming out early next month. A demo is available, so I gave it a try. Fun stuff if you're a DQ fan.
Still chipping away at FFXIII-3 Lightening Returns. Very odd FF game. Has a time limit and you don't get experience for fighting monsters only for completing quests. That can make fighting monsters become very tedious because you don't feel like you're progressing. However each monster only has a set number and if you kill them all that's it, don't have to deal with it anymore.
Despite the ticking clock its a very long game but nonetheless you still feel rushed all the time...
KamikazeCanuck wrote: Still chipping away at FFXIII-3 Lightening Returns. Very odd FF game. Has a time limit and you don't get experience for fighting monsters only for completing quests. That can make fighting monsters become very tedious because you don't feel like you're progressing. However each monster only has a set number and if you kill them all that's it, don't have to deal with it anymore.
Despite the ticking clock its a very long game but nonetheless you still feel rushed all the time...
Sounds...fun lol.
Just wanted to say that, haven't been playing games much as I'm trying to focus on NaNoWriMo this month.
I didn't like the concept of Lightning Returns on paper but when I finally got around to playing it I was hooked. I played through so many times to try to upgrade all of my spells as much as possible. It can be pretty daunting the first time but it really rewards multiple playthroughs.
Bilge Rat wrote: I didn't like the concept of Lightning Returns on paper but when I finally got around to playing it I was hooked. I played through so many times to try to upgrade all of my spells as much as possible. It can be pretty daunting the first time but it really rewards multiple playthroughs.
Ya, like when the heck am I supposed to tackle Ciaus? That Gauntlet to get to him is just killing me and he's no push over. I'm hoping after I complete the other 4 main quests (3 down so far) I'll be strong enough.
I'm still playing a lot of Fallout 76. I'm around level 125 now. Mostly doing the daily challenges to get my S.C.O.R.E. up for goodies and spending a lot of time building and rebuilding my camp in between boss fights. Supposed to be a big update with lots of new stories and quests in December.
Started up Need for Speed: Payback since it was the free PS+ game last month. Played it like mad for a couple days then went to upgrade to a different car only to find out the progression system they use "speed cards" don't carry over to new cars. For those who haven't played it. Speed Cards are basically equippable car parts and mods that let you have an almost RPG like build system where you can tailor cars to different types of race events. It also is a microtransaction/loot box system. So I wanted to try out a new car, you know the focus of racing games, and found that I would basically have to replay all of the content thus far that I had played in order to regrind the car up to the point that I could use it to continue the story mode. Feth that dropping the game.
Also, I finally finished Fire Emblem Three Houses. The ending credits where it gave me a small epilogue for every character, who they "married" (not all were romantic entanglements), and what they did post-war were surprisingly heartfelt and sweet. Despite just throwing 110+hours into the game, I pretty much turned around immediately to start on the second route.
Playing more wh40k: gladius before the big eldar dlc. I've been playing necrons and oddly i find it very fun. It's weird how playing imperial guard is so boring compared to chaos or orks and esp. necrons.
With necrons high influence and power allow you to teleport a ton esp. with proxy bases which i figured out as a tactic by myself. It's very helpful for defending allies, attacking enemy bases and having a good chokepoint to face enemies.
Anyway it's been good fun teleporting my forces out of a very likely defeat and using proxy bases to make attacks get instant reinforcements from a more valuable long distance base.
Suddenly necrons feel so cheesy but it's a lot of fun.
The Final Fantasy series has pretty good pedigree for annoying as hell methods for obtaining the best weapons.
It seems to have been a Japanese thing in general. For example, IIRC, Both of the Persona 2 games had extremely good gear that could only be obtained by quite literally winning various in-game lotteries. You only had a very slim chance of winning each of the lotteries (and there was more than one in each game). Compounding that, to even make the lotteries available, you had to spend resources to use the games' rumor system (start a rumor about something, and it becomes true if enough people believe it) to change the reward for the lotteries (which were contests in magazines) to the item you wanted.
They've toned it down recently, though, probably to avoid ticking off the Western players who tend to get more annoyed with that sort of thing.
In asia they like grind in video games apparently. it's why "asian MMO" is useally short hand for "jesus there's a lot of grind in this!"
Been playing the hell out of CK3 and Warhammer 2. Taking a break and finally decided to sit down and play Breath of the Wild that I bought back in August.
Eumerin wrote: I need to get back to MHW. But the new Spider-Man game release on Thursday...
Been catching up on the current Manhunt in Division 2. Soloing the final boss of Liberty Island sucked...
YES! That truly is a horrid experience, but it seems that the devs are somewhat aware of this and it dose not pop up too often in the Manhunt campaigns
I really hope they port over the same concept from the new Ghost Recon title update to Division. Raid loot is now in an explorable format of the raid locality plus the cosmetics as rank up rewards for the specializations.
Eumerin wrote: I need to get back to MHW. But the new Spider-Man game release on Thursday...
Been catching up on the current Manhunt in Division 2. Soloing the final boss of Liberty Island sucked...
YES! That truly is a horrid experience, but it seems that the devs are somewhat aware of this and it dose not pop up too often in the Manhunt campaigns
This is the first time I've seen it in a Manhunt.
The big issue was that I had party finder on for it the entire time (set to Open Party), and it ran right up until the final fight without a single person being placed in my party. No one wants to run it unless they absolutely have to. I can't say I blame people for taking that approach. The Keener fight is not a fun one (particularly if you have a gadget-focused build, like I do) But it is pretty frustrating when it's part of something required, like a Manhunt. And, of course, I was running it weeks after most people cleared that part of the Manhunt.
I'm in the dreaded "between games" phase. Cyberpunk 2077 is coming, so I don't dare start any new game that would take too long to play, as I need to be able to finish it by December 19. So, despite my enormous Steam backlog, I bought a new game that randomly pops up into the recommended games from time to time. Atelier Ryza. Never heard of the series before, looked like an easy enough game to pick up and have some simple fun with. And, yeah, it's fun so far.
Still working my way through Bioshock Infinite. Not sure if I enjoy it very much, it's quite a stark contrast to Bioshock 1 and 2. The world is really cool but the combat feels pretty empty. The AI pathing is predictable and stupid, there's no real tactics involved in the combat either and the answer to difficulty is throw more bodies at you.
There are none of the fun build-ups that you got at the end of each chapter when having to face a big daddy, which required some thought. Realistically, you don't even need to use vigors in the game save for when you want to hack a machine, the guns just do the job for you.
Hopefully the DLC redeems it when I'm finished by visiting Rapture.
I was able to play a couple of hours of Spider-Man: Miles Morales before I went to bed last night. It's more of the familiar Spider-Man goodness that I know and love.
Playing assassins valhalla on the series x. Put it on at 8 and just switched off now. Haven’t done much of the story , just waking sound and seeing what stuff I can find...
Tyranid Horde wrote: Still working my way through Bioshock Infinite. Not sure if I enjoy it very much, it's quite a stark contrast to Bioshock 1 and 2. The world is really cool but the combat feels pretty empty. The AI pathing is predictable and stupid, there's no real tactics involved in the combat either and the answer to difficulty is throw more bodies at you.
There are none of the fun build-ups that you got at the end of each chapter when having to face a big daddy, which required some thought. Realistically, you don't even need to use vigors in the game save for when you want to hack a machine, the guns just do the job for you.
Hopefully the DLC redeems it when I'm finished by visiting Rapture.
The DLC is like the actual game and a good wrap for the series. It's weird how that was the best part of it.
I'm currently playing through Red Dead Redemption 2, and playing a bit online too. Finished the online story missions so far in the dishonourable route and currently doing bounty hunting missions.
Playing Valhalla and downloaded Enlisted last night. Enlisted’s up as a closed beta on the series x so has all the roughness that’s expected but damn good fun what I’ve seen of it so far.
Never ever managed to complete Super Mario World (the SNES one) - I had a Megadrive/Genesis back in the day and didn't get enough time with the game.
Now it's available on the Switch Online service having fun playing through it - am surprised at how hard it is OR I have lost all skills and reaction speed when playing games!
This week has been mostly Hearthstone, where I am currently grinding my way to Platinum in Wild for the first time. I'm not enjoying standard at the moment so Jade Druid has me in its clutches again.
Played Phantom Brigade. It pulls a little more from the eastern mech influences than the western, but dang the base mechanic is fascinating. You issue orders in freeze time with a roughly 5 second 'prediction' of what the enemy is planning. You then queue up your actions and let it fly.
Only complaint is that so far, I can't figure out how to determine the status of damaged enemy units. I think the Early Access tutorial missed something.
Still, the whole thing plays like Appledseed on steroids, with ton of powersliding mechs whipping out machine guns in the middle of 1980s suburban european neighborhoods.
Began yet another game of Vampire: The Masquerade; Bloodlines. With the Clan Quest Mod. Playing as a Toreador Friendly Neighbourhood Vampire, hand to hand combatant, persuasive, jack of all trades. Old game but still one of the most immersive games I've ever played. No wonder the genre has been called "Immersive Sim."
Got back into the Battletech game *again*. This time with the latest of the BT Extended edition modpack.
Started in 3049 and wandered up in the far north of Rasalhauge looking for an increase in 'pirate activity'. Jumped into a system only to find the feakin' clans had invaded and I was now two jumps into enemy territory with only a handful of succession wars era mechs. Dropped down to my last few c-bills paying the repairs to get out of there but walked away with a nice shiny Man O War for my troubles.
I'm now involved in a six month grudge match with Clan Wolf in which we are winning the battles but clearly losing the war. My 8-man mercenary group is now equipped in a hilarous array of Clan mech chassis and cheap Inner Sphere weapons and I've adopted an 'range is for sisses' model to survive all that dang long range clan fire.
Been bouncing a bit between F1: 2020/Project Cars 2. . . OR, if I'm not really in the mood for using my wheel, On Assassin's Creed: Valhalla.
Without spoiling story stuff, one of the big things I'm really digging on Valhalla so far is that, unlike Odyssey and Origins, you're not "locked in" to a single fighting style. . . I mean, in Origins, you had a shield, basically all the time. In Odyssey, you had a sword/axe/whatever, and your half spear relic thing.. . . In Valhalla, you can dual wield, sword/board, 2-hand greatweapon and all sorts of stuff.
Man that was messed up. All I’ll say is that is the only time I spent more time thinking about the game while not playing it than actually playing the game.
Man that was messed up. All I’ll say is that is the only time I spent more time thinking about the game while not playing it than actually playing the game.
I finished that game about a year ago around this time. There’s actually a hidden ending if you play through it three times and focus on a different girl each time. It’s not really worth it but has a bit of closure I guess. I’m glad I did it. Oh and certain files appear/disappear in the games folder if you check it now and then.
I’m playing resident evil 7. I was a huge fan of RE 1, 2 and 4. Glad to play another good RE game.
Man that was messed up. All I’ll say is that is the only time I spent more time thinking about the game while not playing it than actually playing the game.
I finished that game about a year ago around this time. There’s actually a hidden ending if you play through it three times and focus on a different girl each time. It’s not really worth it but has a bit of closure I guess. I’m glad I did it. Oh and certain files appear/disappear in the games folder if you check it now and then.
Yes, I learned about that. I'm not sure I can go through it again though.
Spoiler:
Plus doesn't really seem like it's a happier ending necessarily. The nest thing you can do for everyone is just uninstall the game and never install it!
Was playing IL2:BoX and Rise of Flight. Rise of Flight is quite fun and when Steam has a sale it's pretty cheap.
Decided to get a MS Game Pass to try out MSFS2020, played that for a few hours. As much as I love flight in general, modern civil aviation aircraft don't really excite me too much, so haven't played it heaps, mostly just doing the landing and bush flight challenges.
Then discovered the Halo series was included on Game Pass, so installed that and playing through Halo 3 as I played 1+2 on the Xbox but never bought an Xbox 360 to play Halo 3.
Kanluwen wrote: If Game Pass includes ODST, I highly suggest playing that before finishing 3.
It's set in the immediate aftermath of the 'jump' from New Mombosa. And it felt fairly different to the other games too!
I'll have a look at ODST, thanks. It does come with Game Pass. So best to play ODST - > Halo 3 - > Halo 4 in that order?
There's actually a few good games on Game Pass, I just got it for the first month (for $1) to try MS Flight Simulator, but I might keep it for a few months and play some of the other games on it too.
Kanluwen wrote: If Game Pass includes ODST, I highly suggest playing that before finishing 3.
It's set in the immediate aftermath of the 'jump' from New Mombosa. And it felt fairly different to the other games too!
I'll have a look at ODST, thanks. It does come with Game Pass. So best to play ODST - > Halo 3 - > Halo 4 in that order?
There's actually a few good games on Game Pass, I just got it for the first month (for $1) to try MS Flight Simulator, but I might keep it for a few months and play some of the other games on it too.
That order kind of works. Might actually give you a bit more context going into the first half of Halo 3. Not that it's necessary or all that important to the main plot mind you, but it gives a better idea of the situation.
Kanluwen wrote: If Game Pass includes ODST, I highly suggest playing that before finishing 3.
It's set in the immediate aftermath of the 'jump' from New Mombosa. And it felt fairly different to the other games too!
I'll have a look at ODST, thanks. It does come with Game Pass. So best to play ODST - > Halo 3 - > Halo 4 in that order?
There's actually a few good games on Game Pass, I just got it for the first month (for $1) to try MS Flight Simulator, but I might keep it for a few months and play some of the other games on it too.
You should do Reach after Halo 3, if that is included. Brings the whole thing full circle, letting you see the inciting incident that immediately led to the events of the first Halo, before the story moves on to the events post Halo 3.
After watching a few video essays on the You Tubes about it, started playing Spec Ops The Line for the first time in six years. It might've been a not too subtle influence on me when I began writing Secret War: Upon Blood Sands. Another incredibly immersive game, something about the atmosphere right at the beginning of it seems to really get to me.
petrov27 wrote: for some reason the announcement about a Mass Effect series re-release/remaster recently made me want a taste of that again now.
Installed ME3 on PC with all the upgrades to textures that are out there - wow it looks good and fun to see old friends once again....
I'm excited as well. Still my favorite series. Hopefully they do some creative writing and get us back to the Milky Way. I'm sure it's going to be years before we see anything.
petrov27 wrote: for some reason the announcement about a Mass Effect series re-release/remaster recently made me want a taste of that again now.
Installed ME3 on PC with all the upgrades to textures that are out there - wow it looks good and fun to see old friends once again....
I'm excited as well. Still my favorite series. Hopefully they do some creative writing and get us back to the Milky Way. I'm sure it's going to be years before we see anything.
Yep, though I did not mind ME Andromeda as much as most I am interested and hopeful to see where they will go with the series. Also interested in the remaster of the originals to see what they do with them - hoping for more than new textures but we will see.
While the original series had some story issues, gameplay issues (wow the planet scanning is a bore) it sure did characters well.
petrov27 wrote: for some reason the announcement about a Mass Effect series re-release/remaster recently made me want a taste of that again now.
Installed ME3 on PC with all the upgrades to textures that are out there - wow it looks good and fun to see old friends once again....
I'm excited as well. Still my favorite series. Hopefully they do some creative writing and get us back to the Milky Way. I'm sure it's going to be years before we see anything.
Yep, though I did not mind ME Andromeda as much as most I am interested and hopeful to see where they will go with the series. Also interested in the remaster of the originals to see what they do with them - hoping for more than new textures but we will see.
While the original series had some story issues, gameplay issues (wow the planet scanning is a bore) it sure did characters well.
I'd hope for the weapons and combat in 1 and 2 to be overhauled with the system 3 had. Much more mobile Shepard, more weapon variety plus the upgrade system, the combo system for powers etc.
And then also add the Reputation mechanic from the third game into the previous ones as well, so you can play Shep as you feel she would act in any scenario without needing to worry that you won't have enough paragon or renegade points to make use of a dialogue choice later.
Da Boss wrote: Been playing Darkest Dungeon and Dark Souls on my switch. Really like Dark Souls on Switch, I can pause the game finally!
....You can't normally pause the game? I have it for PC but haven't started yet.
Nope. The way the multiplayer aspects of the game works makes pausing something that wouldn't really work. The Switch version doesn't really allow you to pause, per se. You can put the Switch to sleep which I guess just stores the game state and disconnects you from the online component (so other players don't end up traying to invade your suspended game). Basically the same as quitting the game (which saves your exact position and progress) but with a faster reload time and also works on bosses (quitting drops you outside the boss area) as the game is just being suspended.
DOOM Eternal is on sale at a massive discount, so picked that one up and 90 minutes later I had it refunded, because holy fething gak, to me personally, YMMV obv, none of the daemonic magic of the first game is present in this one. It felt as if I was missing a large chunk of the story or something when the game started, the annoying amount of pop-ups, brightly coloured weapons and powerups floating everywhere, the cut-scenes taking you to third person view. Also, those melon-fething jumping segments, whoever thought those would be fun.. why?! It feels like another studio did this game and just winged it.
I did like the massive mechs littering the maps, giant daemons stalking in the background along with a radio broadcast calling daemons "mortally challenged", but that's about it.
In the middle of installing Arma 3. Only played Arma Cold War Assault, so I'm kind of expecting that with better textures and (hopefully) more intuitive controls.
Does anyone know if this thing has bots or a mission editor? Never liked playing these sorts of games for the multiplayer.
Playing more xcom 2 except long war mod. I seem to be doing better with my 2nd try in a row. This time we gonna do an assault on the advent regional hq pretty fast and liberate east Africa (basically just Nigeria and soldiers and staff and not sure what else from others.) The other interesting part is in long war mod you can end up with a lot of people from the regions you do missions on so my only region for missions right now is west africa and therefore nigerian staff and soldier reinforcements are a significant makeup of the team.
I should add people I know on the internet to my already pre-made characters. I gotta make fun of the characters somehow and make their intro as a soldier for xcom hilarious. Basically I'd need to know the people I'm turning into xcom 2 soldiers enough to tease them and that usually takes a decent friendship on my end.
The game's global map is at around April 20th or so so only 50 days in and I'm doing mostly decent in most ways. I gotta get some new regions contacted. Other than that I have lots of soldiers, good amount of staff so far, my guys are healing faster so they can get back to fighting quickly, nobody's died or been capture yet, the advent regional hq should be started to infiltrate soon with full laser weapon gear and not a lot. Just basically get more Intel and get more regions contacted. Even my supplies and resources aren't too terrible right now.
Started Playing Star Wars Squadrons. It's actually a lot of fun in single player. Like its X-Wing/Tie Fighter predesscor it isn't trying to be a hardcore sim, but more of a fun 15 minute excursion.
Started playing Destiny 2 again with some friends as it's all free to play on xbox game pass. We played it at the start but Bungie/ Activision kept doing that damn thing where they'd release an expansion and expect you to pay for the entire game again (particularly a bugger if you'd also already bought the season pass). It's such a fun game, the gun play is just so enjoyable. And the later story missions have been lovely too. Seems like a whole host of 40k idea thievery.
So I thought I was renewing my PS+ subscription last weekend and woke up this morning to a "Welcome to Playstation NOW!" email. So I guess I have playstation now for a year now.
Browsed through the selection of games and honestly it feels kind of sparse. But I went ahead and threw the Dark Cloud games from the PS2 on my list for nostalgias sake, and Katamari Forever because I have always wanted to try the katamari games but never managed to pick one up.
I'm not great at the Katamari games, but they are fun enough.
I also started Hollow Knight. I liked it, was interested in playing more. but its going on the backburner while I make the most of this accidental PS Now sub. lol
Just picked up Assassin's Creed: Odyssey and Predator: Hunting Grounds from the Black Friday Sale rack at Walmart the other day. Haven't started playing either one yet, but it was nice to get them both cheap.
Still on Vampire: the Masquerade- Bloodlines. Must admit I can't help be a bit of a simp for Velvet Velour the Toreador vampire in Hollywood lol. I think the Immersive Sim is perhaps one of my favourite genres. I bought Deus Ex and Deus Ex Human Revolution a while back on GOG and Prey during the recent Steam Sale. Should play them sometime soon. Now NaNoWriMo is finished.
picked up Pathfinder Kingmaker on a BF discount. Played quite a bit over the weekend - not entirely sure about it though I am not very far in, having restarted once after getting a better understanding of some of the mechanics.
It does feel rather "old school" in that a lot of the exploration is done by dying often and reloading - maybe that is more just me and i need to get better at the game.
petrov27 wrote: picked up Pathfinder Kingmaker on a BF discount. Played quite a bit over the weekend - not entirely sure about it though I am not very far in, having restarted once after getting a better understanding of some of the mechanics.
It does feel rather "old school" in that a lot of the exploration is done by dying often and reloading - maybe that is more just me and i need to get better at the game.
It has a heavy system mastery requirement, that's for sure. The big key is to have enough spellcasters, and that buff spells (and summons) are _the best_, and direct damage spells are terrible.
Restoration, protection and remove condition spells (or potions) are also _required_ for certain chunks of the game.
Its also rough on replays, since the sections are very contained and often there's nothing left to do but let time spin until you unlock the next bit of kingdom management that will let you adventure again. At other times, you're fighting against multiple timers (some of which you won't be fully aware of), trying to get things done as the game days slip away.
Adrassil wrote: Still on Vampire: the Masquerade- Bloodlines. Must admit I can't help be a bit of a simp for Velvet Velour the Toreador vampire in Hollywood lol. I think the Immersive Sim is perhaps one of my favourite genres. I bought Deus Ex and Deus Ex Human Revolution a while back on GOG and Prey during the recent Steam Sale. Should play them sometime soon. Now NaNoWriMo is finished.
Never played vampire the masquerade but I remember seeing scenes of VV. God any man would beg for a single night of fun with a woman that hot. I'm just sad I don't think I've seen female characters that attractive in games in forever. I find it funny she says she loves the main character. I mean it's not like vampires can reproduce so you don't have to worry about protection for those reasons tho if this is vampires are dying flesh you still would wanna keep something just in case and some air fresher too or heavy cologne.
I never played any deus ex besides human revolution and mankind divided. I found mankind divideds human interaction with augmented humans to be ridiculously over the top in cruelty. I dunno i think human revolution had a lot more nuance. In human revolution you didn't know who to trust exactly. Nobody was real squeaky clean morally or at least if they had power. I kind of want to play the original now. I heard it predicted a lot of things such as with terrorism and monopolies controlling everything and more.
flamingkillamajig wrote: Never played vampire the masquerade but I remember seeing scenes of VV.
I really recommend getting VTMB on GOG or some such. It's a great game, especially now with all the fanmade patches and the mods. The dialogue is top-notch, although, the combat, not so much...
Been playing alot of Hunt: Showdown lately. Thought I was done with the whole "battle royale" genre, but this is a nice mix of PVP and PVE. The graphics, art and overall vibe of the game is so off the wall and right up my alley.
flamingkillamajig wrote: I found mankind divideds human interaction with augmented humans to be ridiculously over the top in cruelty.
They were trying to catch the feeling and experience of apartheid. I'd say they were pretty successful at that.
I can't exactly fault entertainment for not displaying what it's like specifically and i think both of us don't know what it's actually like to experience firsthand (thankfully!).
To explain what i mean my mom died of cancer years ago and while the first time i saw Guardians of the Galaxy the mom's cancer scene hit a bit hard it also didn't display cancer like my mom suffered. You see a person bloats when they have cancer and they also cough up light yellow chunks of themselves as well as have lots of burping gas. Also a person's face looks a bit shriveled. When my mom ultimately died i couldn't even recognize her and i didn't want to with how much pain she was in. None of this was displayed in the first GotG movie. My mom also lost consciousness in the last day or two of her life when she started mumbling about things incoherently without seemingly too aware. You have to keep in mind they put her on morphine at the time so i imagine treatment, cancer and the medical drugs a person is on really does a number on their thinking. The difference with the movie is the attachment isn't quite the same esp. if you never experienced it or it's not you and Starlord's mom looked like she was shaved and had slight makeup to look pale. It's much, MUCH different irl.
I can't say some of the stuff they did in Mankind Divided wasn't legit stuff that happens in apartheid. Does this apartheid totally make sense in the game's universe after Human Revolution....uh a bit but it seems a bit extreme even if it is eastern europe.
To be completely honest i only got about halfway through Mankind Divided and then stopped playing for some reason. I stopped right as the in-game lockdown and curfew took place where they shot people outdoors on sight. I prefer Human Revolution but honestly for some weird reason i played Human Revolution on xbox 360 so playing Mankind Divided on PC is a huge button shift for me and that may have caused me to lose interest faster (esp. since my computer isn't the absolute best).
flamingkillamajig wrote: Never played vampire the masquerade but I remember seeing scenes of VV.
I really recommend getting VTMB on GOG or some such. It's a great game, especially now with all the fanmade patches and the mods. The dialogue is top-notch, although, the combat, not so much...
Ya know i don't know what it is about you but i oddly seem to like most of the games you like and have fairly similar opinions on em. Maybe we should play a game some time or something. I feel like i should either be friends on dakka or steam with you. I'm not sure.
I can't say some of the stuff they did in Mankind Divided wasn't legit stuff that happens in apartheid. Does this apartheid totally make sense in the game's universe after Human Revolution....uh a bit but it seems a bit extreme even if it is eastern europe.
There were some videos released shortly before Mankind Divided came out that gave some background on the way that augmented humans are treated in MD. It ties back to what happened just before the end of Human Revolution, with the insanity virus. Quite literally, nearly every augmented human - many of them superhuman - went berserk. And that scared most of the world's population. The result was the segregation and second-class citizen status that you see in MD. IIRC, the developers caught some flack for the videos because they incorporated some real-world anti-discrimination slogans.
MD has some improvements. For one, there are choices that *actually matter* in MD, above and beyond "pick a button to choose the specific ending" of HR. But I didn't enjoy the overall gameplay as much. There were some blatant sequel hooks at the end, but I don't know if and/or when we'll see a third Adam Jensen game. There was an attempt to turn the characters from a side story novel into a mobile game. But that flopped. So between that and the not as good as expected reception of MD, Square-Enix is letting the property get some rest for the moment.
The are three DLC missions that are all completed outside of the normal campaign. The first one involves figuring out who was behind the train station bombing. The second one features the return of Pritchard as he enlists your assistance in an information-gathering job for one of his clients. And the third one has Jensen infiltrating a prison for augmented humans in an attempt to make contact with an undercover Interpol agent..
There's also the online thing. But I messed around with it for a bit, and then decided it wasn't worth it.
Whelp i just lost my xcom 2: long war game. I had a fairly decent chance but a ufo was following me and then another dark event went off where another followed me. I had 2 following me at once. I waited like a month with reserves until i couldn't wait any longer to do the advent hq mission. You are seriously penalized for not doing missions with all your guys and you absolutely have to do like one assault advent hq mission by september or august i think or you auto-lose in long war.
Literally within a day or less of deploying to that assault advent hq mission and failing a mission with a near squad wipe for a damn near worthless ****ing mission with an even smaller payoff and far greater losses the alien ufo attacks. I have no proper gear to fight it off with so i basically rage quit and quit to main menu. I only had one set of predator armor and i need like 12 just to fight off the enemy. I had no chance.
SkavenLord wrote: In the middle of installing Arma 3. Only played Arma Cold War Assault, so I'm kind of expecting that with better textures and (hopefully) more intuitive controls.
Does anyone know if this thing has bots or a mission editor? Never liked playing these sorts of games for the multiplayer.
Bit late with my reply, but ARMA 3 has Zeus, which is an easy to use mission creator / sandbox tool which allows you to pretty much plan everything in advance or just make things up as you go, which includes messing around with bots.
As for the controls.. it's ARMA. It's seen some improvement over the previous games, but the horrible command menu is still present.
Doing another xcom 2: long war game and aside from a couple missions all game things have gone really well. I'm progressing much faster in most respects except for liberating a region from advent. I still need to succeed in another liberation mission for my home region and when advent stops anal probing my dudes with stun lancers in the new mexico region i can do my 2nd liberation mission there.
Some things i've noticed is that you generally want to turn most of your new regions to intel and then scan for missions until you can do plenty of prison raids for civilians. Once you have a good amount of civilians in a region then you can either keep them on intel as long as advent regional strength is between 1-3 usually, switch to supply if advent strength is 3-5 or go into hiding if advent strength is beyond 5 in a region mostly because advent raids start to get really ridiculous at that point. At advent regional strength 3 they tend to start attacking intel operations (possibly stop using your scientist as a haven advisor at that point because intel raids for me have a solid chance of a dead scientist as the result of that mission) but i think they only do that for supplies at advent strength 4 and advent strength 5 is when they start retaliating against resistance outposts.
It may seem like a good idea to build a radio relay as a hub for a lot of other future contacts and is the case somewhat in the base game of xcom 2 but not really long war. In long war you want to obviously build radio relays where you can complete continent bonuses but also in an area with very low advent strength and if possible a lot of civilians that can boost intel because radio relays improve a region's civilians action in a job if i recall correctly. So 10-13 with a relay is good but i can only imagine how much better it'd be with a scientist improving them. I have plenty of scientists right now but i dunno if i want to put them in danger as well as slow my research for possible better missions or more time on them.
It's also helped a ton to buy the GTS upgrades for my troops so they increase experience an extra 100% per kills and vulture giving far more loot than normal. I think in one mission i got 3-4 elerium cores just from enemy dropped goodies. I've also got about 5 advent datapads just sitting around mostly right now because the more you crack em the longer each next one takes to crack. I gotta say vulture really, really helps in Long War and you can sell a lot of the goodies you find too for a sweet supplies pay off which i'm kinda lacking right now of all things.
Took a day playing Gladius, the 40k civ game. I set up a crazy map. I played Imperial guard, added a space marine ally, 1 ork and finallly 7 Tyranids all allied togheter. What followed is the most fun I’ve had in months. The ‘nid swarm is never ending. We fight, we hold, but they don’t stop. Carniflexes have fallen by the hundreds by now, countless smaller ‘nids are dead. But our foe by now surely knows that big guns never tire.
So updates on the xcom 2: long war game. It's been going really well for a while but i need to spread out and get more contacted regions or i'll be in some big trouble. I have about 6 regions contacted but good missions to go on are slowing down (due to advent regional strength going up across the board) and i haven't been getting enough civilian-rebels to make my regions produce better. I'm gonna build a radio relay or 2 in some of the weaker regions in advent strength and maybe add a scientist to each to see if that helps. I do have about 8 scientists and it's almost july but not quite so that's a fairly big deal.
Another big thing is i can go on the mission to assault an advent regional hq to force advent out of the a region and liberate it in my main hq region. I'm held off for a little so i can have some basic magnetic weapons to assault the hq with because it takes so long to infiltrate the mission some of your equipment gets a bit outdated.
I also have a 2nd region where i'm doing my 2nd liberation mission with so it'll have a mission to attack the alien comms area after that and if i succeed with both then i can assault another advent regional hq.
I've also got about 16 or 17 predator armor suits (which cost a bundle of alien alloys to make per suit) and the squads are on full lasers. I've been getting elerium cores out of every aliens orifice and managed to get 7 alone out of one mission combined with the advent warehouse raid. I've been mostly selling them to get supplies (basically money) so that i can buy alloys from the black market as well as buy more soldiers or other facilities that really need to exist right now. I'm mostly spending a lot to equip my squads so i can do 3-4 missions per squad (an average of 20 soldiers away on missions) and i've done a pretty good job equipping them such that they can handle most things without issue.
Decided to give Ghost Recon Breakpoint another go, what with the latest update they dropped a month ago. A lot of tiny tweaks and changes make for an even better experience, especially the tweaks to stealth.
Throwing open Golem Island to us friendless schlubs is also a nice gesture, it's fun to explore a new locale, especially one with a completely new biome.
Spent some time on Deathwing (the FPS) and have to say, wasn't particularly impressed by it.
The graphics and design are great, but the actual combat itself sucks. Even with gamma turned up a lot you can't see much half the time and are just listening to your squad taking pot shots. Then you shoot and can't really fail to hit as it's like you're firing tennis balls.
Then you just go from point to point (you know it will be the furthest corner of the map each time) to click X on something.
I was hoping for something with really narrow corridors, tense moments of waiting getting false echoes on scanners, and moments of intense action (like the board game) but it just a bit of a generic FPS.
I played more Hollow Knight, just beat the Soul Master boss. I'm really enjoying this game. but that god for online walkthroughs or I would have given up a long time ago.
Started playing Horizon Zero Dawn with my wife on PS NOW. I really wish we didn't work opposite schedules the majority of the week because I want to play more.
BrookM wrote: Decided to give Ghost Recon Breakpoint another go, what with the latest update they dropped a month ago. A lot of tiny tweaks and changes make for an even better experience, especially the tweaks to stealth.
Throwing open Golem Island to us friendless schlubs is also a nice gesture, it's fun to explore a new locale, especially one with a completely new biome.
Don't forget that there's new challenges too, that give us friendless schlubs the raid cosmetic stuff too!
Finally, finally beat FFXIII-3. Took like 67 hours. That is quite the epic trilogy actually. Happy with the ending but didn’t realize it would be so long.
Anyway, somehow along the way I’ve managed to accumulate all the FarCry games except 1 but have only played #3. Figure I’ll try a few of these. I’ll start with #2 and see if it’s aged too much to be playable nowadays.
Just liberated my home region of eastern usa (which in this includes parts of canada) in xcom 2: long war mod. I should be able to liberate the new mexico region next (basically american southwest plus mexico). I can technically liberate the western usa area but i don't like those guys ;P and also realistically the advent strength there was fairly high. I'd rather not assault an advent regional hq with more than advent strength 6 and it's at 7 right now.
I currently have 40 soldiers that are alive. A bunch of em are squaddies and a few are rookies but the main thing i need is a bit of teching up my gear and maybe throwing down a med-bay. I already added a power plant in a spot that gives extra power and i should have enough power to build anything i could foresee myself making esp. with the other shielded power coil in case i gotta build a laboratory or something
So yeah i'm trying to get advanced magnetic weaponry and a ufo starts following me so i had to do the research to make a ufo defense area and it'll also probably hold back a fairly solid squad or two until it eventually decides to attack. Please ufo i'm not in the mood for an alien ship that follows me for over a month and attacks me when most of my crew are off doing missions. You take our latest ship and we'll just have to grab some of yours as re-compense.
Anyway not much to say. Alloys and supplies seem so hard to come by now. Maybe if i do some proving ground projects with all those elerium core it could prove worthwhile.
To be incredibly honest i probably should've lost a couple soldiers in my first advent region hq raid due to advent strength 6 or 7. Worst i got from the aftermath were injured guys i healed up later and a stun lancer made a lady soldier go unconscious She'd already shot her rockets since she's a technical so no big there.
Most of the territory i'm around has manageable advent strength and a significant haven civilians/rebels running them. You gotta try missions where you get lots of good liberation and find a lead missions. I may need more intel and supplies however due to how slow things seem to be going now.
Perhaps i should slow down on trying to free those 2 advent region hqs and instead do mission that get me gear or supplies to help the upcoming fight. Doesn't help the incoming ufo is gonna force me to lay around a bit with one fully tooled up 8-10 soldiers and i'm gonna make them sorry they wasted my time.
SkavenLord wrote: In the middle of installing Arma 3. Only played Arma Cold War Assault, so I'm kind of expecting that with better textures and (hopefully) more intuitive controls.
Does anyone know if this thing has bots or a mission editor? Never liked playing these sorts of games for the multiplayer.
Bit late with my reply, but ARMA 3 has Zeus, which is an easy to use mission creator / sandbox tool which allows you to pretty much plan everything in advance or just make things up as you go, which includes messing around with bots.
As for the controls.. it's ARMA. It's seen some improvement over the previous games, but the horrible command menu is still present.
That's certainly helpful to know. Been playing around with it, and the amount of variety in this thing is quite staggering! Thanks for the heads-up Brook!
Pacific wrote: Spent some time on Deathwing (the FPS) and have to say, wasn't particularly impressed by it.
The graphics and design are great, but the actual combat itself sucks. Even with gamma turned up a lot you can't see much half the time and are just listening to your squad taking pot shots. Then you shoot and can't really fail to hit as it's like you're firing tennis balls.
Then you just go from point to point (you know it will be the furthest corner of the map each time) to click X on something.
I was hoping for something with really narrow corridors, tense moments of waiting getting false echoes on scanners, and moments of intense action (like the board game) but it just a bit of a generic FPS.
That's a bit of a pity. These are the same folks that made EYE Divine Cybermancy, which is quite the opposite of what you mentioned. EYE was certainly far from generic, so I'm curious as to what happened during the development.
Deathwing is best played in coop where possible. It has the visuals and audio down just right, but the mediocre gameplay and some really questionable things (like those horrible random crits and the controls) are what really detract from the overall experience. It is not trash tier like some would make it out to be, but it has room for improvement.
Hopefully Darktide will become the proper 40kFPS we've been waiting for.
Darktide does sound enticing, especially since it’s being made by the same folks who worked on Vermintide. Vermintide did have its issues (download size and DLC), but they really got the Warhammer feel spot-on while keeping game-y enough to work.
I hope they differentiate the characters as they did in Vermintide. While some were stronger than others *cough* Kerillian *cough*, it helped keep things varied.
Ok so xcom 2: long war mod game is going fairly well i think. I did lose 3 guys in the avenger defense after the ufo managed to take our home base ship down and a lot of dudes were wounded and nearly died. Thank god for the specialists with multiple shot overwatch though. It's absolutely amazing against enemy reinforcements coming in. I also managed to evac the 3 dead and one unconscious soldiers to the base before we left so i didn't lose any gear.
Other than that i've had a couple missions and managed to get full magnetic weapons. I'm kinda wanting to get my guys healed up again but i also have my defense matrix being built in case another ufo shows up and a facility to heal my troops because they're so badly wounded a lot now. I'm also wanting to have some healing specialists when possible.
I went on a supply raid in today's playthrough and managed to get a good amount of supplies and resources and then one of the rewards from the resistance for a successful mission gave me more alloys when i scanned so i'm doing alright for resources.
I'm probably gonna do elerium research soon because it's late august and it's only a matter of time until my weapons become outdated again.
I'm fairly close to the region where the advent black site is and i have at least one skulljack already made so i can lower avatar progress a bit.
I'm kind of annoyed i can't really go on too many advent regional hq raids because i need to go on more missions so i can get more intel and spread out more. Right now it just kind of matters more to have more regions.
I also might want to start training some officers so i can infiltrate big missions faster like advent regional hq's. It's also gonna be a pretty big deal to find some alien facilities to sabotage. I'll just have to attack the black site instead. Labs may also be good since my scientists are off improving mission quality in some regions.
Basically i need a lot of everything and don't have the resources to do it. It's easier to say what i don't need and what i don't really need is more soldiers but i would like them to be healed (i had 40 soldiers at the start of today's playthrough and ended with 37). Also my resources are ok right now.
Replaying Witcher 3 again New Game+ as I redownloaded Witcher 2 and made sure the save file of the endgame that Letho lived so he would be in 3. He's one of my favourite villains and it's cool he has a quest and can take part in the Kaer Morhen fight in 3.
Compel wrote: Oh gosh, I was just reminded of that 40k Space Marine based Planetside-esque MMO that never happened.
Do you mean WH40K: Eternal Crusade? That did actually happen.
It came out, did poorly and transformed into a 'free' game with microtransactions
It was the usual sort of ridiculous claims and over-promising features when the basics just didn't work.
Wait, WHAT? Oh yikes... It must have done REAL poorly, I've genuinely never heard anyone mention it...
To be fair, this was kind of during that weird period where GW was tossing its IP to a bunch of different companies to pump out games. Some seemed to work out (Apocalypse) many seemed meh (Regicide, Sanctus Reach, that one Rogal Dorn visual novel) and some were just unnecessary (Warhammer Quest, Space Wolf). If Mechanicus, Gladius, and the Total War games are any indicators however, there appears to be at least some kind of recent shift in quality control.
SkavenLord wrote: Darktide does sound enticing, especially since it’s being made by the same folks who worked on Vermintide. Vermintide did have its issues (download size and DLC), but they really got the Warhammer feel spot-on while keeping game-y enough to work.
I hope they differentiate the characters as they did in Vermintide. While some were stronger than others *cough* Kerillian *cough*, it helped keep things varied.
Speaking of Darktide, they will be unveiling a gameplay trailer tomorrow.
Still only playing Hearthstone, but I am really excited to play Cyberpunk 2077. My xbox controller is broken, and I'm moving, so I probably won't get to it until after the holidays.
Compel wrote: Oh gosh, I was just reminded of that 40k Space Marine based Planetside-esque MMO that never happened.
Do you mean WH40K: Eternal Crusade? That did actually happen.
It came out, did poorly and transformed into a 'free' game with microtransactions
It was the usual sort of ridiculous claims and over-promising features when the basics just didn't work.
Jeez, I fully bought into that game at the time, bought the early access and stuff and the end result was just crap. It wasn't quite Peter Molyneux levels of hype and bull crap but it wasn't far off. What a shame, because they made it sound great.
I'm somewhat looking forward to Cyberpunk, might get it over christmas on my xbox.
Compel wrote: Oh gosh, I was just reminded of that 40k Space Marine based Planetside-esque MMO that never happened.
Do you mean WH40K: Eternal Crusade? That did actually happen.
It came out, did poorly and transformed into a 'free' game with microtransactions
It was the usual sort of ridiculous claims and over-promising features when the basics just didn't work.
Jeez, I fully bought into that game at the time, bought the early access and stuff and the end result was just crap. It wasn't quite Peter Molyneux levels of hype and bull crap but it wasn't far off. What a shame, because they made it sound great.
I'm somewhat looking forward to Cyberpunk, might get it over christmas on my xbox.
That sucks. I almost did...made an account on their forum by the same name and almost...almost pre-ordered it when I learned you had to to vote for the next factions and I really wanted Raven Guard to get in. Luckily, I didn't.
Actually, Eternal Crusade is still going. It's got a really dedicated group of players, a couple Discord servers... And there's been a couple updates, still? I think that, like, one or two of the original developers still dabbles with it, and it makes enough money that the servers are still up. It's fun enough to jump in now and then.
The biggest issue that it has is that the territory capturing is less Planetside and more For Honor- that is, it's not an ongoing open world, but instanced battles with defined starts and ends. So you can't hop in and out like you might want to.
I personally think the core gameplay is pretty fun, though.
More xcom 2: long war mod campaign. I managed to do enough missions to get enough intel to reach the middle east where the black site is located. I'm probably gonna do a few more missions before i assault the black site. The supplies will be refilled in one day which is pretty fast. The defense matrix and the med-bay are both up and running and have been for a while. Most soldiers are ready and healed or at least many more than before.
I took out a codex and i could use some labs and later maybe the shadow chamber. I need the labs to speed up research again so i can get elerium research done. I basically have all the needed supplies for elerium research but that'll put my elerium and elerium cores on the fairly empty side. Since it's early september in game i feel like i'm gonna need coilguns done within a month or so.
I should probably also attack both the black site and the 2nd advent regional hq which is in new mexico in that time. Doing both at once is probably a decent idea since it'll be a while till coilguns but it could really put my gear and most of my soldiers worth a crap out and fighting rather than defending against raids or something. It's possible that'd leave me rather vulnerable esp. if another ufo showed up. God all i would want right now is another avenger defense mission.
Started up Jedi: Fallen Order, great game and I love the feeling you get of being in the Star Wars universe. The way you obtain force powers is a little janky and it doesn't "feel" Souls-like in terms of gameplay but I'm getting the feeling now after getting my backside handed to me by giant frogs.
Played about 5 hours so far, and I'm pretty much in love with how much detail is packed in.
Anvildude wrote: Actually, Eternal Crusade is still going. It's got a really dedicated group of players, a couple Discord servers... And there's been a couple updates, still? I think that, like, one or two of the original developers still dabbles with it, and it makes enough money that the servers are still up. It's fun enough to jump in now and then.
The biggest issue that it has is that the territory capturing is less Planetside and more For Honor- that is, it's not an ongoing open world, but instanced battles with defined starts and ends. So you can't hop in and out like you might want to.
I personally think the core gameplay is pretty fun, though.
In a way I'm really glad to hear that, when it first came out it ended up like a poor clone of that Space Marine game that came out around the same time.
In other news, did that Darktide gameplay trailer happen yet?
Xcom 2: long war mod. I completed more missions, got elerium research done, got my labs to max capacity and just about everything i can build is built or building. Shadow Chamber will take 22 days to fully build and coilguns are at 11 days left to research. Paying the cost to research both elerium, the lab space and scientific power to research it effectively and paying for the coilgun research is bankrupting most of my supplies except for alloys.
My intel is ok but what i really need to do now is lower avatar progress. There's 4 bars until it's full but the blacksite mission is not long until it's ready.
I'm also building the skullmining enhancement in the proving ground so that should help with hacking and even if i desperately need some extra intel or maybe even a facility lead if i'm lucky. I'm not sure if the lower difficulties have this skullmining reward in long war but i remember it in xcom 2 and it's expansion on hardest difficulty so it's possible.
Being unable to play Cyberpunk 2077 as it crashes during the updating process. Playing Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines again, this time as a Malkavian, this'd be the 2nd time I've played it as a Malkavian, 1st time in the Clan Quest/Camarilla mod. First time using melee instead of unarmed at the beginning and by the Emperor, combat is so much easier and faster with blades. It also doesn't help I'm playing as a Toreador who haven't any claws or ways to upgrade their fists.
I got Cyberpunk working on my PC after doing a clean windows re-install (was crashing constantly before doing that) but I think I am just gonna give it awhile before trying again. Its running pretty good for me and my impressions are positive, but there still is so much strange minor glitchy things going on that are a distraction. In particular objects floating in mid air seems to happen all of the time.
I suppose I could pretend my character's cyber implants are just acting up lol but maybe waiting for a few more patches is the way to go....
Only just started a new campaign of xcom 2 long war mod. The last campaign helped me learn for this one and I think I should take a heavier focus on getting haven advisors for enemy corpse research as well as officer upgrades since once I buy those GTS upgrades I should be able to infiltrate larger squads easier and that could be ridiculously valuable. Also interrupting faceless meeting with aliens could allow me to amass some enemy corpses again and amassing faceless corpses allows you to turn them into a infiltration vest or something which turns out is great for fighting missions with little time.
Anyway the main idea is to get upgrades as soon as they're available to be bought. Officers can buy more upgrades at its for faster infiltration which is needed so badly in this. Combined with what I'm already doing it could help a ton. Guess we will just have to see.
...the R-Types were always hard but never impossible. You die learning the patterns while others you kick yourself for yet another stunning display of stupidity...
Actually got the original XCom: UFO Defense on Steam for like a buck a while ago just out of curiosity. Figured if it was playable that could open up a whole new series of cool games. Unfortunately it is just too old, too dated. I don't think my haggard old brain can tolerate something without a Tutorial anymore.
So instead I'm playing Company of Heroes. This old game is holding up a lot better.
Got my laptop finally fixed up and so able to play Cyberpunk 2077 and I'm enjoying it. Driving the car controls sucks though, doesn't help I'm thinking of driving on the left because we do that in old Kiwiland lol
Automatically Appended Next Post: Also, I got to do prep for my Rogue Trader session tomorrow lol so it's hard to keep myself from playing it.
KamikazeCanuck wrote: Actually got the original XCom: UFO Defense on Steam for like a buck a while ago just out of curiosity. Figured if it was playable that could open up a whole new series of cool games. Unfortunately it is just too old, too dated. I don't think my haggard old brain can tolerate something without a Tutorial anymore.
So instead I'm playing Company of Heroes. This old game is holding up a lot better.
You should give Xcom 2: long war mod a shot. It definitely freshens xcom 2 up a lot. I dunno if i can even play xcom 2 vanilla without WotC or long war anymore. It just seems so bland esp. a lot of the music. WotC with the X-com UFO defense remixed music is amazing.
Still playing Cyberpunk 2077. My build is a corpo based on Attelus Kaltos from my 40k fanfic Secret War, which has some Cyberpunk stuff in the story, him starting that story as a corporate merc and all. But he's pretty much Mr Stabby from that ancient flash animation from the 2000's: run forwards and I slash and over and over until everyone's dead. Tried to download some mods, one to help a bit with the driving mechanics, supposedly, they still suck, though. Need to own a self-driving car, that'd make it a lot better, though.
Adrassil wrote: Still playing Cyberpunk 2077. My build is a corpo based on Attelus Kaltos from my 40k fanfic Secret War, which has some Cyberpunk stuff in the story, him starting that story as a corporate merc and all. But he's pretty much Mr Stabby from that ancient flash animation from the 2000's: run forwards and I slash and over and over until everyone's dead. Tried to download some mods, one to help a bit with the driving mechanics, supposedly, they still suck, though. Need to own a self-driving car, that'd make it a lot better, though.
I generally find that there are enough fast travel points that it doesn't matter much. Some short driving stints to find some of them, but it gets to the point that they become part of the visual clutter on the map.
And the areas where you really need the car (like the badlands) the roads are virtually empty and straying off the road is merely a bumpy inconvenience, thanks to the dozens upon dozens of arroyos (and literal mountains of trash)
Adrassil wrote: Still playing Cyberpunk 2077. My build is a corpo based on Attelus Kaltos from my 40k fanfic Secret War, which has some Cyberpunk stuff in the story, him starting that story as a corporate merc and all. But he's pretty much Mr Stabby from that ancient flash animation from the 2000's: run forwards and I slash and over and over until everyone's dead. Tried to download some mods, one to help a bit with the driving mechanics, supposedly, they still suck, though. Need to own a self-driving car, that'd make it a lot better, though.
I generally find that there are enough fast travel points that it doesn't matter much. Some short driving stints to find some of them, but it gets to the point that they become part of the visual clutter on the map.
And the areas where you really need the car (like the badlands) the roads are virtually empty and straying off the road is merely a bumpy inconvenience, thanks to the dozens upon dozens of arroyos (and literal mountains of trash)
Yeah, I keep forgetting the fast travel points despite having played The Witcher 3 which had an exact same system. I'd like to be able to RP driving around, too, it's a shame it's so frustrating :( I've been told and somewhat find driving bikes are a bit better but can't get...the bike from the garage for some reason.
Also, found references to both The Office (American) and Ghost in the Shell which made me happy. The latter being a given, the former would've been out of the blue if my cousin had told me about it beforehand.
Been very stressed about studies lately so I’ve gone into something I can play in quick bursts. Starcraft 2 fit the bill. The games are pretty short. Quite enjoying it and was surprised to land at gold 1 after placement matches.
There are quite a few easter easter eggs in Cyberpunk. I think the first one I noticed was the e-mail announcement for "Nolife 3", which was finally being released after a fifty year wait.
Playing Cyberpunk as well, and among the world lore shards you can pick up, there's a number of them containing quotes/references from the TTRPG, which, now that I got those on humble bundle I find both cool, and funny.
Also noticed, lying around in game, occasionally you'll see the Cyberpunk books lying on tables and shelves, they even got the covers right.
Personally, I'm playing the game on PC, but using a usb controller, so I don't quite understand the full frustration with driving (some cars are worse than others, and drifting/powersliding a vehicle around corners can be annoying, but its not game-breaking for me)
Currently playing through a Corpo character, no real aims/builds in mind, I'm just taking perks and whatnot that look like they'll help where I'm at now. I have files for both a street kid and a nomad, so those will likely have a bit more "direction" in their builds.
balmong7 wrote: Horizon Zero Dawn has absorbed my life. I can't believe I slept on this game for so long.
Yes!!! I played it for the first time back in October and kicked myself for not snagging it at launch. It's so fething good. One of the best games I've played this gen, if not the best. I absolutely cannot wait for Horizon 2 next year. I will be heartbroken if it gets delayed.
trexmeyer wrote: Try driving with KBM. Motorcycles are fine, but cars go 0-100 in like 2 seconds and tapping WD is like an immediate 45 degree turn.
Acceleration and Deceleration can kill. I don't know the numbers but there's an amount that will kill you. Also i imagine jets and spacecraft are similar. Probably part of the reason why we want things to be more robotic. Less fragile meaty bits that are super needy for food, water and air and less responsibility for when things go wrong.
KamikazeCanuck wrote: Ya but then I’d have to buy it again a second time. Maybe someday.
Playing Dark Dreams Don’t Die. Truly strange but unfortunately unfinished.
Depends how much you like the rebooted xcom. I'm very nervous about xcom 3 because chimera squad was pretty bad. Oddly though i think the game may have had less bugs and crashes than either xcom 1 or 2 so they at least got that right. Chimera squad had a few good things but most of what they had was bad. Bad and cringy comedy, the movement of characters is very static, you can't carry soldiers out, the game is too easy on first try up to the point it loses what makes it tense, lots of characters i didn't like, most of the aliens had inappropriate voices barring Verge maybe (the sectoid) and in general things felt pretty safe and obnoxious. If xcom 1 was an action movie from the 80s and 90s mixed with an alien movie from varying times as well as conspiracy theories. Xcom 2 was more serious and story intensive (not that it always works with xcom) with an authoritarian and good guy rebels/freedom fighter/terrorist bent but still over the top violence and action cams. Chimera squad is just like an Indie game and it doesn't feel good. It's more like a buddy cop version of xcom and nothing feels very tense about the game. Things aren't quite at stake like in the other games and it takes away the mystery and horror of the first 2. Making the unknown known is part of what ruins the game.
Nerak wrote: Been very stressed about studies lately so I’ve gone into something I can play in quick bursts. Starcraft 2 fit the bill. The games are pretty short. Quite enjoying it and was surprised to land at gold 1 after placement matches.
I feel like i should play starcraft 2 again. Oddly i have this weird falling in and out of starcraft vibe going on at times. If command and conquer is about the super weapons then i'd say starcraft is about spells/abilities and learning what to make and when. I'm rather shocked how merely by checking what a person makes in units can often tell you about what they are about to make or do. I'll tell ya the game is certainly complex in ways i don't think the developers intended.
trexmeyer wrote: Try driving with KBM. Motorcycles are fine, but cars go 0-100 in like 2 seconds and tapping WD is like an immediate 45 degree turn.
Yeah, I got 'top end' car as a reward from a quest, and its basically undrivable. It is fast, but turning at all puts me off any road, and trying to straighten out involves constant fish-tailing back and forth.
The default car and the free bike are much more functional.
I just wish all the 'for sale' cars could be permanently hidden and removed from the map and quest log. I just don't care, and the map filter is not as useful as it could be.
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I like the game, and have had few problems with it, but I'm dragging on finishing the main quest.
The end of chapter 1 was great (the Heist, not the Interlude), loved Judy's questline, but Johnny and the chip just make me annoyed.
Had fun with the sidequests and fights, but there needed to be more in-depth stuff with the secondary characters, as they tend toward excellence when they actually get screen time.
More Deep Rock Galactic as I chip away at things and collect more cosmetics, weapon mods and whatnot.
Also decided to pick up Horizon Zero Dawn for Steam on a whim and I am really enjoying it so far, just the kind of open world stuff I need right about now.
Xcom 2: long war is oddly going ok right now. That said the game is in august and i only have lasers with all the tier 2 armor. My issue is i'm way behind in territory from regions contacted, liberating regions, current scientists researching and even supplies somewhat.
I'm planning on building a lab on the elerium coil that's almost excavated so it doesn't mess with power production. It should be reasonably helpful and if i can get the oceania continent bonus soon enough then i can get a boost per lab space which would really boost research. I'm mostly scared of falling behind though in tackling the avatar progress and staying a step ahead in my weapons and armor tech.
After buying the DLCs I was missing for the Steam Sale Gladius- Relics of War 40k I tried to play it as The Eldar, but for some reason the frame rate decides to chug a lot even when I put down the graphics. Otherwise enjoying, though.
Adrassil wrote: After buying the DLCs I was missing for the Steam Gladius- Relics of War 40k I tried to play it as The Eldar, but for some reason the frame decides to chug a lot even when I put down the graphics. Otherwise enjoying, though.
Eldar as a faction are strong but tricky due to webway gates being destroyed giving you anxiety a bit. If you can keep them around you can have serious mobility. You also should probably have more hq's than some factions. Not gonna lie the game is fun but often times there's one or two faction traits that either make a faction fun for me or ridiculously annoying to play with. To an extent eldar are both of these.
Adrassil wrote: After buying the DLCs I was missing for the Steam Gladius- Relics of War 40k I tried to play it as The Eldar, but for some reason the frame decides to chug a lot even when I put down the graphics. Otherwise enjoying, though.
Eldar as a faction are strong but tricky due to webway gates being destroyed giving you anxiety a bit. If you can keep them around you can have serious mobility. You also should probably have more hq's than some factions. Not gonna lie the game is fun but often times there's one or two faction traits that either make a faction fun for me or ridiculously annoying to play with. To an extent eldar are both of these.
Lol finally used to that mechanic now. At first I went and destroyed a few webway gates thinking for some reason they were Necron things and to farm some exp. Now I've taken control of a few I'm able to zip around the map with ease. Reminds me of playing Eldar in Dawn of War multiplayer and dominating quite a few matches by zipping around with webway portals and such, thinking I was SO damn good, but it turned out Eldar were just too damn OPlol
Welp! I don't know why but Cyberpunk 2077 keeps crashing when I try opening it, thought I might've mucked something up in the folder so re-installed it again, but it's still crashing when I try to open it. So I finally completed Blaz Blue: Continuum Shift Extend, beating the crap outta Terumi in the true ending with Ragna is damn cathartic the had a quick go in Blaz Blue: Chronophantasma Extend, but wish to complete the stories of the characters I have yet to complete in Continuum Shift. Managed to defeat Kusanagi in one try, I slaughtered her 2nd round too. Fun games.
I'm finally playing cyberpunk on my father in law's computer and I'm sort of enjoying it? Started as a nomad and I'm just at the heist start but I've got to say it's a sloooowww start. I'm enjoying it a bit more now that I plugged in a controller. I do like cyberpunk the genre but I'm not utterly wowed by the game itself yet. The environments are pretty cool and the size and aesthetic of the city are pretty damn sweet. Maybe it's just me but to be honest I'm only playing it because I feel like I have to? Usually with a game I'm like oh damn can't wait to sit down and play. This I'm more like oh well I guess I'll pop that on for a bit..
Because I only had Blaz Blue: Continuum Shift on PS3 and not Continuum Shift Extend I hadn't done Mokoto's, Platinum's and Relius Clover's stories but I just managed to get Relius Clover's (Although, you find this out in Carl Clover's story) true ending and, well, he's probably even more despicable a villain than Yuki Terumi. And perhaps one of the most horrible of villainous father-figures I've seen in fiction besides maybe my own character Serghar Kaltos, the father of the main character Attelus Kaltos from Secret War.
Both are complete examples of utter psychopaths.
Also, Shou Tucker from FMA, can't forget Shou Tucker.
To be able to do that to your own daughter and wife...jeez...
Olthannon wrote: Me and a couple of friends were thinking of picking up Gladius in the steam sale as we play a lot of civ, how is it? Actually any good?
I enjoy it, a lot! Although it lacks the diplomacy elements of many 4X strategy games, it's damn fun to play!
Playing the main campaign of Blaz Blue: Chronophantasma Extend and...well...it seems to have gone full-tilt into the "Visual Novel" aspect of the game as it took me like an hour into it before I got into my first fight, it took so long I was beginning to wonder if there would be any fights at all. I guess that's because they are no longer doing single character campaigns combining them into a few different ones and it's nice not seeing the writers forcing characters into fights through contrived reasons.
Olthannon wrote: Me and a couple of friends were thinking of picking up Gladius in the steam sale as we play a lot of civ, how is it? Actually any good?
Rough. Very rough.
It would depend a lot on how your lot plays civ. If you're happy and accustomed to being super aggressive and eliminating each other fast, the lack of/limited nature of most 4X features probably won't bother you.
But if you go for 'gentlemen's agreements' and prefer to let the game develop (I've seen this a few times with friends in wargames, just because punting someone fast means they basically don't get to play), the lack of depth could be annoying.
Soul Calibur 6. Haven't played it in a while, also have to get used to the change in controls from Blaz Blue. Great game, back to basics (sorta) it's like SC2 which is still easily one of my favourite fighting games ever.
Olthannon wrote: Me and a couple of friends were thinking of picking up Gladius in the steam sale as we play a lot of civ, how is it? Actually any good?
Rough. Very rough.
It would depend a lot on how your lot plays civ. If you're happy and accustomed to being super aggressive and eliminating each other fast, the lack of/limited nature of most 4X features probably won't bother you.
But if you go for 'gentlemen's agreements' and prefer to let the game develop (I've seen this a few times with friends in wargames, just because punting someone fast means they basically don't get to play), the lack of depth could be annoying.
Oh knackers, because that's exactly how we play it
Ach well it was a tenner when I bought it so it's not the end of the world.
Playing a lot of phoenix point. A LOT of phoenix point. Now that i have 3 bases (2 mostly active ones near the mist and a support base) with 2 squads and 2 ships ferrying people across europe and india for missions and to protect havens things seem to be going fairly quickly. I wonder what it'll be like when i have even more ships or bases.
Pandorans as an enemy mostly seem like a pushover except for those siren creatures. I also find ranged opponents far tougher to face esp. the human or robot variants. Pandorans develop pretty quickly but i just don't find them a huge threat yet except in huge lairs or something.
Maybe all this will change when i up the difficulty once i have a handle on the game. There is maybe one time the enemy tried a really smart strategy on me. It moved out of a crater, mind controlled a soldier and then hid in the crater again. I wised up to it a bit and fell back somewhat so it couldn't just keep mind controlling people. I think that power has limits though. So glad i brought 6 soldiers on that mission. Even if it depleted most of my resources it was really needed.
The final thing i gotta say is synedrion the tech anarchist/democracy/communists/socialist? (at least some of their leaders in the lore are marxist or into anarchy) seem to get rolled by pandoran raids a lot. Oddly it's usually the militaristic sorta fascist faction that beats back the pandorans. I guess being militaristic when the world is at war with a biological mutant cthulu spawn civilization turns out to be more useful than a civilization that has no true leaders and squabbles over petty things like whether to cut the crusts off bread. It's honestly kinda obvious i guess. I'm not saying i approve of any of these factions though. They all seem to suck in their own unique way.
