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Finished Mario Odyssey, debating if I even have the time to 100% it. A great game don't get me wrong, but I don't see how it was such a revolutionary masterpiece like many said it was. I feel Odyssey is on the same level as Galaxy was when that came out, but Galaxy did it first I guess. I dunno, I might just be hard to please

Everything about it was great to look at, and every world was very well laid out. I wish the controls made more sense, like mapping dive onto a different button. A and B, X and Y, and the 2 shoulder buttons all do the same thing, but you couldn't put dive onto any one of them?

I've been playing Dragon Age Inquisition and enjoying it a lot. I really like the fantasy world they set up.

Made me want to replay the series once I'm done, but I lost my Origins disks. Saw that Steam had the Ultimate Edition for $7 so I jumped on it (nice that it's got Awakening and all the DLC too, I never got to play those), and grabbed the HD mods for it and Dragon Age 2. Dragon Age 2 holds up pretty well with the HD mod. Origins less so, but it's not too bad.

Starcraft 2 recently went free to play so I've been enjoying it immensly. Kind of realised protoss was the way to go for me after about 50games.

Also finally got around to the Xcom 2 long war mod. It's awesome but it messes with my game files. I lost two runs of about 10h each to it deleting it so now I keep a save backup. Awesome mod but such a hassle with this save deleting bug.

Also also Doki-Doki litterature club. Holy gak.

Finally got fallout 4 for the pc

time for all those mods.

Still a lot of Civ5 and Batman The Enemy Within.

I got a mini NES as a surprise Christmas present, and I haven’t stopped playing Dr Mario.

Stellaris! Finally picked it up over the steam winter sale. My mushroom people built a bloated empire and began starving to death, haunted by my inexplicable decision to research a toilet left in solar orbit. I've driven feisty lizard slavers into genocidal war, and lost. And now I've built a massive plant empire to stability- but I have no idea how an isolationist and pacifist empire is supposed to achieve the victory conditions. I'm about to forsake my vows and avenge all the innocent grass my neighbors have mowed over the centuries of my rule.

 Gitzbitah wrote:
Stellaris! Finally picked it up over the steam winter sale. My mushroom people built a bloated empire and began starving to death, haunted by my inexplicable decision to research a toilet left in solar orbit. I've driven feisty lizard slavers into genocidal war, and lost. And now I've built a massive plant empire to stability- but I have no idea how an isolationist and pacifist empire is supposed to achieve the victory conditions. I'm about to forsake my vows and avenge all the innocent grass my neighbors have mowed over the centuries of my rule.

Sounds like an amazing game...

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:

 Gitzbitah wrote:
Stellaris! Finally picked it up over the steam winter sale. My mushroom people built a bloated empire and began starving to death, haunted by my inexplicable decision to research a toilet left in solar orbit. I've driven feisty lizard slavers into genocidal war, and lost. And now I've built a massive plant empire to stability- but I have no idea how an isolationist and pacifist empire is supposed to achieve the victory conditions. I'm about to forsake my vows and avenge all the innocent grass my neighbors have mowed over the centuries of my rule.

Sounds like an amazing game...

It can sound fun, but i strongly advise really looking into it first. It is definitely not for everyone. It really depends what you're looking for. If you're looking for a sandbox where most of what happens is in stories in your own head, it's fine.

For a 4x/Empire Management game... it has some serious problems, including an amazingly dull middle-game and pretty terrible combat, where ships pew-pew each other over the course of months.

But all is either lost or saved, depending on how you view it- the next patch is basically armageddon: a huge revamp, including of core conceits and mechanics. The starting three modes of space travel (hyperlanes, wormholes, warp), for example, are getting tossed out and reduced to one, because the lead designer believes hyperlanes are the 'most fun.'

Bought the first 5 Assassin's Creed games, Telltale Batman Season 1, and Mortal Kombat XL in the Steam Sale.

Then my PC died on Christmas Eve.

Just got it back, so this weekend is going to be all games and no sleep. Gotta start with MKXL!!!

Voss wrote:

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:

 Gitzbitah wrote:
Stellaris! Finally picked it up over the steam winter sale. My mushroom people built a bloated empire and began starving to death, haunted by my inexplicable decision to research a toilet left in solar orbit. I've driven feisty lizard slavers into genocidal war, and lost. And now I've built a massive plant empire to stability- but I have no idea how an isolationist and pacifist empire is supposed to achieve the victory conditions. I'm about to forsake my vows and avenge all the innocent grass my neighbors have mowed over the centuries of my rule.

Sounds like an amazing game...

It can sound fun, but i strongly advise really looking into it first. It is definitely not for everyone. It really depends what you're looking for. If you're looking for a sandbox where most of what happens is in stories in your own head, it's fine.

For a 4x/Empire Management game... it has some serious problems, including an amazingly dull middle-game and pretty terrible combat, where ships pew-pew each other over the course of months.

But all is either lost or saved, depending on how you view it- the next patch is basically armageddon: a huge revamp, including of core conceits and mechanics. The starting three modes of space travel (hyperlanes, wormholes, warp), for example, are getting tossed out and reduced to one, because the lead designer believes hyperlanes are the 'most fun.'

I absolutely agree. Sins of a Solar Empire it is not- combat is totally hands off, and 'tactics' are just making the biggest stack and crashing into someone. I'd say it's an exploration and expansion game, rather than a 4x. In my experience once the fighting starts, it is remarkably easy to lose and nearly impossible to recover from an equal empire.

That being said, the random events and multitude of empires made it well worth the 16 bucks I paid for it. Space is huge, and full of interesting events, total wastes of time, and the occasional Event Horizon derelict. I love the narrative as big and open as the universe aspect to it.

I didn't know about the patch- I think I'd have preferred the ability to research the various modes of travel.

Finally got fallout 4 for the pc

time for all those mods.

Recommend any good ones? Still have it installed but have finished it already.

 Gitzbitah wrote:

Voss wrote:

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:

 Gitzbitah wrote:
Stellaris! Finally picked it up over the steam winter sale. My mushroom people built a bloated empire and began starving to death, haunted by my inexplicable decision to research a toilet left in solar orbit. I've driven feisty lizard slavers into genocidal war, and lost. And now I've built a massive plant empire to stability- but I have no idea how an isolationist and pacifist empire is supposed to achieve the victory conditions. I'm about to forsake my vows and avenge all the innocent grass my neighbors have mowed over the centuries of my rule.

Sounds like an amazing game...

It can sound fun, but i strongly advise really looking into it first. It is definitely not for everyone. It really depends what you're looking for. If you're looking for a sandbox where most of what happens is in stories in your own head, it's fine.

For a 4x/Empire Management game... it has some serious problems, including an amazingly dull middle-game and pretty terrible combat, where ships pew-pew each other over the course of months.

But all is either lost or saved, depending on how you view it- the next patch is basically armageddon: a huge revamp, including of core conceits and mechanics. The starting three modes of space travel (hyperlanes, wormholes, warp), for example, are getting tossed out and reduced to one, because the lead designer believes hyperlanes are the 'most fun.'

I absolutely agree. Sins of a Solar Empire it is not- combat is totally hands off, and 'tactics' are just making the biggest stack and crashing into someone. I'd say it's an exploration and expansion game, rather than a 4x. In my experience once the fighting starts, it is remarkably easy to lose and nearly impossible to recover from an equal empire.

That being said, the random events and multitude of empires made it well worth the 16 bucks I paid for it. Space is huge, and full of interesting events, total wastes of time, and the occasional Event Horizon derelict. I love the narrative as big and open as the universe aspect to it.

I didn't know about the patch- I think I'd have preferred the ability to research the various modes of travel.

I'm ok with a more exploration based game. What is the best Space 4X out there though?

 Ratius wrote:

Finally got fallout 4 for the pc

time for all those mods.

Recommend any good ones? Still have it installed but have finished it already.

In terms of expanding game content rather than just new guns/armour or visual improvements, I highly recommend Tales from the Commonwealth. It's a quest mod that adds around 20 new quests (some quite short, others fairly lengthy and quite a few that link together), 3 new companions with their own affinity quests and as much (if not more) dialogue than the base game ones, everything is fully voiced* and by and large, very well written. Definitely something to stick on for a second playthrough to add some original content.

*Including the player character, thanks to some clever editing of base game dialogue.

Very cool. Usable with a current game? Like Im level 25 or something - does it scale up with you do you know as Im loath to reroll a new character,

Yeah, I think you should be safe to install mid-game (at least, as safe as any other large mod). My advice is to make a save in an interior location so you're not in the world while it makes its changes and so you have somewhere to reload to if anything does break. Then wait there for a day or two in-game just so all the encounters ect refresh with the new stuff.

In terms of scaling to level, it does so as much as the rest of the game so you shouldn't have any problems there.

All I'd advise against is uninstalling mid-playthrough, it adds/edits a lot so removing it might cause issues. But that really goes for big mods in general.

More info here or on the nexus page: http://3dnpc.com/wiki/fallout-mods/fallout-4/

Started playing Armageddon, the turn-based game based around the second invasion of that lovely paradise planet. Atrocious voice acting and dodgy dialogue writing aside, not a bad game. Finally at the point where I can upgrade my Leman Russ tanks into Baneblades and other super-heavies, don't mind if I do.

I started playing Bloodborn again, and after several harrowing hours where my avatar has somehow dodged and far worse faiths I find myself in need of a break, so now I am soothing my mind With some Splinter Cell Blacklist

Hell, I'm still playing Football Manager 2016 on my brand new rig. The year is 2031....

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:

 Gitzbitah wrote:

Voss wrote:

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:

 Gitzbitah wrote:
Stellaris! Finally picked it up over the steam winter sale. My mushroom people built a bloated empire and began starving to death, haunted by my inexplicable decision to research a toilet left in solar orbit. I've driven feisty lizard slavers into genocidal war, and lost. And now I've built a massive plant empire to stability- but I have no idea how an isolationist and pacifist empire is supposed to achieve the victory conditions. I'm about to forsake my vows and avenge all the innocent grass my neighbors have mowed over the centuries of my rule.

Sounds like an amazing game...

It can sound fun, but i strongly advise really looking into it first. It is definitely not for everyone. It really depends what you're looking for. If you're looking for a sandbox where most of what happens is in stories in your own head, it's fine.

For a 4x/Empire Management game... it has some serious problems, including an amazingly dull middle-game and pretty terrible combat, where ships pew-pew each other over the course of months.

But all is either lost or saved, depending on how you view it- the next patch is basically armageddon: a huge revamp, including of core conceits and mechanics. The starting three modes of space travel (hyperlanes, wormholes, warp), for example, are getting tossed out and reduced to one, because the lead designer believes hyperlanes are the 'most fun.'

I absolutely agree. Sins of a Solar Empire it is not- combat is totally hands off, and 'tactics' are just making the biggest stack and crashing into someone. I'd say it's an exploration and expansion game, rather than a 4x. In my experience once the fighting starts, it is remarkably easy to lose and nearly impossible to recover from an equal empire.

That being said, the random events and multitude of empires made it well worth the 16 bucks I paid for it. Space is huge, and full of interesting events, total wastes of time, and the occasional Event Horizon derelict. I love the narrative as big and open as the universe aspect to it.

I didn't know about the patch- I think I'd have preferred the ability to research the various modes of travel.

I'm ok with a more exploration based game. What is the best Space 4X out there though?

Endless Space 2 is really good but it's not just about exploration but generally going to your faction's main strengths. The factions are very unique. It's a great game.

Been playing a lot of Vermintide lately.
I’m quite surprised about the community. Many of the people I’ve played with were actually pretty good team players, and didn’t mind having a laugh when a round went horribly wrong.

Pulled out XCom 2 again. I was quickly reminded that if you stay covert for more than a few turns, patrolling AI groups are basically told where your squad members are, and make a beeline toward them to trigger the alert state.

/rolleyes

 SkavenLord wrote:
Been playing a lot of Vermintide lately.
I’m quite surprised about the community. Many of the people I’ve played with were actually pretty good team players, and didn’t mind having a laugh when a round went horribly wrong.

That is encouraging! I have that game, but i'm always leery about playing with other people because i'm not the best at, well, any of that sort of game, and because i've run into too much unpleasantness before.

Star Wars Battlefront II. And before you start throwing things, I mean the good one! I'd say it's held up surprisingly well over the last 12 years (I feel old!), but there's not really anything surprising about it. Fun is fun regardless of what decade you're in, and that game distilled fun to an art form. Fast without being overly reliant on twitchy reflexes, open without maps needing to be several km long, varied without being shallow... It remains incredible.

Having recently played a bit of the newer game of the same name, I think the most remarkable difference (in the original's favour) is how organic it all feels. If there's a massive scrum for a control point or an intense shootout along a corridor, it's because that's where the two sides have naturally met; in the new one, if there's anything like that it's because there's a big objective marker pointing every player on the map to a single point, at which one side is obliged to throw bodies while the other is obliged to kill them as quickly as possible.

I also reckon just the core gameplay is better. Weapons are more varied, classes are more specialised and balanced, rapid and intelligent movement is more important for survival than just hunkering behind cover. Tactics are more fluid thanks to the mission structure. There's a real joy in leading a squad of AI troops on a flanking manoeuvre , or hopping in an enemy tank to wreck their spawn points and you just can't do that on the new one.

Yes, the new ones are insanely pretty, and I really enjoy Battlefront (2015) a lot. But in terms of the complete, immersive and most importantly fun Star Wars battle experience, BFII has never been bettered. And stick it on an HD telly via the Xbox 360, whack up the contrast/colour strength and it doesn't even look dreadful. In a perfect world, it gets added to the XBOne/original Xbox backwards compatibility list soon and they bring the online servers back online like they have with the PC version, but sadly I think that's an outside possibility until the new one is out of the spotlight.

Eumerin wrote:
Pulled out XCom 2 again. I was quickly reminded that if you stay covert for more than a few turns, patrolling AI groups are basically told where your squad members are, and make a beeline toward them to trigger the alert state.

/rolleyes

That's not been my experience...

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:

Eumerin wrote:
Pulled out XCom 2 again. I was quickly reminded that if you stay covert for more than a few turns, patrolling AI groups are basically told where your squad members are, and make a beeline toward them to trigger the alert state.

/rolleyes

That's not been my experience...

I was running the first black site mission yesterday. I'd bypassed the first turret, and a patrol that came in from the north of the map, reached the turret, and then turned around and went back the other way. Stuck a Sharpshooter up in the tower so that she could provide overwatch, and the rest of the squad sneaked on ahead. I still hadn't been detected yet.

Several turns later, the patrol from the north came back. This time, they didn't turn around at the turret and head back north. I decided to watch and see what they would do - were they listening to the footsteps of my squad, and were they going to follow the moving members?

Actually, no.

Instead, what they did was to make a bee-line for the tower that I'd placed my Sharpshooter in, and climb it. Once at the top, they were immediately close enough to my Sharpshooter to detect her.

I'd saved the mission at the start, so I decided to do some experiments. On the next run, I took everyone (including the sharpshooter) around the southern end of the base to try and bypass the enemy patrols and get easy access to the destination location. I ended up having to deal with four patrols simultaneously as they all "coincidentally" happened to converge on my location at the map's southwestern corner within a turn or two of each other.

One more experiment. This time, after restarting, I went straight on in, guns blazing. I blew up the turret. I took out the patrol. Then I got surprised by another patrol. I recognized this patrol as one of the ones that had caught up to me at the south-western corner of the map. But strangely, based on where it pathed into me, it was supposed to be wandering around the northern part of the map. The other patrols were inside the base, so no particular surprises there.

So my experiments revealed the following -

1.) On my first attempt, the Advent patrol didn't follow the noisy squad members. Instead, it made a bee-line for the silent sharpshooter - who also happened to be the nearest member of my squad.
2.) On my second attempt, four patrols from different parts of the map all just happened to converge on my location in a corner of the map at the same time.
3.) On my third attempt, I learned that one of the patrols in the previous test had apparently come from the far end of the map in order to bump into me.

And note that this isn't the first time I've experimented with the way that the AI works when your squad is considered "hidden" by the game. Whenever I repeat the experiment, I get the same results. I had one instance in which a patrol quite literally chased me across an entire map (it was a good-sized Advent base map). In short -

- If you go for more than a few turns with none of your squad members detected, then the game tells the patrols (enemies that don't patrol don't move) where to find you so that they can "accidentally" discover you.
- If any of your squad members have been detected (i.e. attacked, or got into detection range of an enemy, even if no enemies currently have line of sight to them), then the AI doesn't tell the patrols where to find you

Pillars of Eternity

Cities Skyline

Hearthstone

Been playing Assassins Creed Origins for about the last week. This thing is really making me forget the awfulness of Unity.

I had forgotten how the charm spell in Torchlight targets anything that's an "enemy" even if it's just a mushroom.

Back on the fallout 4 trail

Cant decide if i want to join the BOS this time or not.

picked up curie and its adorable.