Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

 flamingkillamajig wrote:
Bouncing in between Total War Warhammer 2 as clan moulder/skaven and Hearts of iron 4 with co-op brits (me) and a friend as (usa) but more japan singleplayer ironman campaign. I don't think it's entirely as hard as Not online said it's just not always the most fun.

TBF i am probably still traumatised from the BICE mod in regards to japan soooo...

But the vanilia HOIV jap tree needs a serious rework regardless.
_____________________________________

I am doing a gnoblar horde run in WHTW 3.
Fun, but a bit rough around the edges still.

Not Online!!! wrote:

 flamingkillamajig wrote:
Bouncing in between Total War Warhammer 2 as clan moulder/skaven and Hearts of iron 4 with co-op brits (me) and a friend as (usa) but more japan singleplayer ironman campaign. I don't think it's entirely as hard as Not online said it's just not always the most fun.

TBF i am probably still traumatised from the BICE mod in regards to japan soooo...

But the vanilia HOIV jap tree needs a serious rework regardless.
_____________________________________

I am doing a gnoblar horde run in WHTW 3.
Fun, but a bit rough around the edges still.

I mean when you don't call in japan's two puppets for the war china just sorta conquered a small bit of japan and stays there and never declares war on either puppet faction. Then you easily block them off by the ocean and you can basically avoid china until you deem it necessary not to. Fighting the Dutch East indies comes first and then maybe some other stuff once germany fights poland. Maybe i took too long but it's partly a matter of picking and choosing your battles. Once ww2 heats up in europe i just went to town attacking the commonwealth territories. It's easier when they're bogged down in multi-front wars.

As i said in this game even on historical it's not that Japan fully sucks it's just that if you're playing historical you gotta know when the best windows of opportunity are. You get bogged down in China more often than not and it's just much better to invade all the resource rich islands and places like australia. I am sort of a little bummed though since i was really starting to hit australia really hard and take all their crap and took all but the capital of british malaya and all of the dutch east indies if not almost all of it. I mean i'd have honestly gone for india right after if germany and italy didn't invade the UK and capitulate it. This is all while axis were also fighting the soviet union.

The game is pretty much in the bag now since the USA won't join allies because the faction has been defeated and all their lands absorbed by axis in this hell world game. Comintern's Soviet Union are almost fully capitulated as well. Honestly at this point we could almost fight the USA if we really had to and still probably win with all the territory we've gained. The only real likely threat left is the Chinese Front and they probably don't even have as many factories as my nation does. Likely when the soviet union capitulates i could finally call in my puppets and invade china more easily through it. Then again i already have an open front so it's probably not too needed atm.

-------

I agree on Japan needing a re-work however. Compared to the British Focus tree Japan's is hot garbage. In many ways even france has some more exciting Focuses even if it's basically about making France suck slightly less before germany almost always rolls over them.

-------

I find it pretty hilarious without gnoblar support you can't man walls as ogre kingdoms in tww3. It's funny because those are the most garbage units ogres have but i guess it gives them a purpose so enemies don't man your walls and use it as a way to bombard you from manned walls with archers, guns or whatever crap they have. Also ogres must be fairly easy to defend fortresses/castles against as long as the gates stay intact and walls weren't destroyed beforehand.

Just did a second play through of Thank Goodness You’re Here.

Turns out I missed a load of dialogue on my first! Well worth revisiting everything every time you find yourself back in one of the locales.

Super R-Type, on the Nintendo Online console service thing.

Thanks to the save scumming time rewind on the Switch? Finally beat that game!

It’s pretty good fun.

It's a really convenient feature, but REALLY easy to abuse to the point where you have to discipline yourself to not remove the game flow. Kind of a fun exercise in game checkpointing (recently cleared SMW Tubular with it and great for skipping the first part but can sap the fun/frustration of the balloon section).

Rogue Trader... Just hit the Edge of Twilight encounter, and at this point I may not bother finishing the game.

I have not been particularly optimising my team, but I've been comfortably beatsticking everything so far. However after 4 hours of crunching my way through 2-3 hard engagements and 2 boss-level engagements without much of a break, it dumps you into a difficulty spike from hell and my guys are getting creamed.

I could re-load from before the start of the thread and re-spec all of my team to Netlists before pushing back through the grind, or I could just give up...

 Flinty wrote:
Rogue Trader... Just hit the Edge of Twilight encounter, and at this point I may not bother finishing the game.

I have not been particularly optimising my team, but I've been comfortably beatsticking everything so far. However after 4 hours of crunching my way through 2-3 hard engagements and 2 boss-level engagements without much of a break, it dumps you into a difficulty spike from hell and my guys are getting creamed.

I could re-load from before the start of the thread and re-spec all of my team to Netlists before pushing back through the grind, or I could just give up...

The boss fight against the Lord of Change?

Yeah, that's a tough sequence. I for sure gave up and started over on a different save to prepare myself.

If memory serves, use as much area damage as possible to whittle down the Pink's and which ever one is shielding the Lord of Change.

Honestly, I think I even reduced difficulty specifically because of this level. Its various large groups, traps/hazards out the butt, a defiler, a dreadnought, more groups, then it puts you against the LoC and friends. Pretty brutal.

Funnily enough, I just clocked Rogue Trader a couple of days ago and...well the ending was quite disappointing, in all honesty.

My Iconoclast RT I don't know what I expected from what would happen in the ending slides for each character, faction, etc. but it was still disappointing, lol.

Rome total war 2.

Somehow the AI is worse than i member.

 LunarSol wrote:
It's a really convenient feature, but REALLY easy to abuse to the point where you have to discipline yourself to not remove the game flow. Kind of a fun exercise in game checkpointing (recently cleared SMW Tubular with it and great for skipping the first part but can sap the fun/frustration of the balloon section).

Yeah. It’s definitely easy to abuse.

But, for something like Super R-Type it’s very welcome, as you’re a One Hit Wonder, and can be taken out by barely clipping scenery. So it greatly reduces frustration.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And now back to Tears of the Kingdom, from the top.

It’s such a good game! Combat is super tough starting out as you’re typically squished in just a couple of hit. But….the combat system rewards careful timing (like perfect dodge giving you a rush attack which tends to kill most man sized stuff), as well as sneaky sneak sneak.

Add in the Ultrahand and Fuse shenanigans, and so many problems come with multiple solutions, all valid and deadly in their own way.

I've been finishing up a coop game with my cousin called Evil West that we got for free from PS Plus. It's a bit of a blast to the past since it has the vibes of the old coop 3rd person shooter games from the PS3/Xbox 360 era, and while it is buggy in some areas its pretty fun otherwise, though there are some steep difficulty jumps in certain sections (also probably didn't help we were playing on the hardest difficulty). Van Helsing meets cowboys is a fun concept though.

Single player wise, I've finished off Persona 3 Reload and the ending still hit me pretty hard even though I already played the original. Definitely one of the better remakes and looking forward to playing the DLC once it goes on sale. Moving onto God of War Ragnarok after waiting for it to go on sale for forever.

In other gaming news, I'm glad Black Myth Wukong is doing well, and I think it's one of those cases (similar to movies) where a lot of journalists/critics are trying to hate on it for arbitrary reasons while normal people are enjoying it for being a fun game with no politics or forced diversity in it. It's shocking the amount of hate spewed onto it from some online reviewers relative to how many people are playing it. Feels like another failed attempt at trying to ruin its sales like Hogwart's Legacy and another example of the Streisand Effect.

Meanwhile, other live-service slop like Concord is doing terrible, shockingly even worse than the Gollum game if you can believe it in terms of player count. There's lots of copium going around by the developers and reviewers, to the point where they're actively attacking people and changing things from behind the scenes to cover up what a colossal failure it is on launch.

Dustborn is also a joke of a game that has basically no one playing it and for good reason when it unironically lets you act "triggered" as one of the mechanics of the game.

Very interesting to see the successes and losers of certain games of this year so far, and I'm hoping that it sends a message of a focus on good gameplay and solid storytelling instead of pandering when it comes to more good games being created.

Currently playing Creatures of Ava with my daughter. Cute cartoony sci fi adventure based around rescuing adorable animals from a planet under threat from some kind of creeping nasty growth stuff. Light parkour and dodge combat. Restful and pretty. Only problem is reining in my impatience when my daughter wanders around aimlessly rather than acting with laser focus on the objective

I've been playing Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void campaign (protoss campaign) and i'm wondering what i'm doing with my life choices playing it somehow. I wanted to play diablo 4 if my computer could run it but what started off as good reviews went to bad and then went back and forth to bad currently.

I feel kind of embarrassed playing blizzard games these days and i only liked diablo 2 and starcraft 1. Still annoyed i can't just play legacy diablo 2 without the obnoxious updated graphics. Stop murdering my nostalgia blizzard.

Age of mythology retold... darn that took me back.

good times.

playing some warhammer total war 2, going for achievements for armies i hadn't bothered much with

Picked up Visions of Mana last night. Beautiful looking game but I'm not far enough to say if its any good or not. Combat is fun, but a little floaty. Enjoyed the tutorial boss though, so I'm hoping the combat picks up once I get past the rabites.

Very early into a campaign in "Lord of the Rings : Return to Moria" a survival/building game wherein you are a dwarf (of the Iron Hills variety when I created my character) helping Gimli rebuild Khazad-dum.

Not really my cup of tea so far (these games rarely are, mainly Green Hell being the big standout for me) but for 20 bucks on Steam, it was pretty much an impulse buy. Maybe when I get deeper into it and start building grand structures, it'll ignite something in me.

Apparently this was an "Epic Exclusive", so hopefully all of the bugs and ugliness got play-tested on those people.

Continuing on as my ruthless selfish Ventrue, up to the Giovanni mansion. I completed the side quest for the two old retired assassins. I was going to exploit them for cash, but I like both the old fella so much I couldn't bring myself to do it, so made them put aside their differences and become friends.

Still absolutely loving Rogue Trader. Just managed to complete chapter 3 and escape from Commorragh this morning. Marazhai is a hoot, very glad I managed to pick him up in the process.

 flamingkillamajig wrote:
I've been playing Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void campaign (protoss campaign) and i'm wondering what i'm doing with my life choices playing it somehow. I wanted to play diablo 4 if my computer could run it but what started off as good reviews went to bad and then went back and forth to bad currently.

I feel kind of embarrassed playing blizzard games these days and i only liked diablo 2 and starcraft 1. Still annoyed i can't just play legacy diablo 2 without the obnoxious updated graphics. Stop murdering my nostalgia blizzard.

So, you're not liking Starcraft 2? I keep thinking I'll get around to it eventually..

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:

 flamingkillamajig wrote:
I've been playing Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void campaign (protoss campaign) and i'm wondering what i'm doing with my life choices playing it somehow. I wanted to play diablo 4 if my computer could run it but what started off as good reviews went to bad and then went back and forth to bad currently.

I feel kind of embarrassed playing blizzard games these days and i only liked diablo 2 and starcraft 1. Still annoyed i can't just play legacy diablo 2 without the obnoxious updated graphics. Stop murdering my nostalgia blizzard.

So, you're not liking Starcraft 2? I keep thinking I'll get around to it eventually..

It's alright. I wish my crappy old computer could handle diablo 4 as it actually has a better aesthetic and sound vs diablo 3 which i also played. Still confused there's no DIABLO in a diablo game but i heard diablo 3 caused that and to be fair Lilith is a legit character in-universe and makes sense. I didn't really like the designs for diablo 3 since it felt like it was somewhat designed in the WoW image. I can say the same for starcraft 2 actually but at least it's got gore. I will say the cinematics and some of the art screens are good. The gameplay of starcraft 2 is also good. The main issue comes from story for Legacy of the Void seeming a bit meh. I think part of the problem was starcraft 1 and brood wars had a story between missions where everybody would talk to each other and though being more interactive a lot of the side characters are a bit unnecessary. The best story of starcraft 2 came out of Wings of Liberty imo and the other 2 sequels didn't really have that. Some of the missions are very interesting.

My other issue with Blizzard games is Blizzard itself. I was never really a big Overwatch fan either but the 2nd game for it did poorly. I'm really only into diablo and starcraft. It's a shame we never will get Starcraft Ghost but i'm guessing the nova ops at the end of Starcraft 2 are the closest thing we'll ever get to that. Speaking of Nova i kinda wish Jim Raynor put a bullet in kerrigan's head and then woo'ed nova or something. I really hate how over-powered they made Kerrigan at the end of Starcraft 2 and how she is basically like Goku from dbz. I dunno it was better when her top tier manipulation made her so deadly rather than just having her with the most OP strength. Of course she tricked everybody so much you'd be a fool to trust her anymore. I dunno i wish more for Starcraft 1's story but everything else be Starcraft 2 like with the engine and A.I. I once downloaded a mod that did that but i forget about it now.

-------

If you want maybe we could play starcraft 2 in a 2vs2 game. I'm not really at all that good only doing high silver or low gold at the best of times. I haven't even really played competitive Starcraft 2 in years and i was extremely bad at it in any competitive form.

I'll chime in on Starcraft 2, as a purely casual and very intermittent player. The campaign is a lot of fun, and it's interesting having the research choices to customize your units between games in ways that alter them for the whole campaing. I never got into the multiplayer, because you've got to git good- and I only got older with slower reflexes since Starcraft 1.

A lot of the new units are quite interesting, and I think there's plenty worth exploring. It'll never be one of my main games, but I'm not mad I bought it, if that makes sense.

Just clocked Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines and got the Camarilla ending with my Camarilla bootlicking Ventrue. The 1st time I've got that ending as I've got the Anarch, and Independent endings already. Now might do the stupid endings, joining forces with LaCroix and the even stupider ending. Joining forces with the Kuei-Jin.

@Gitzbitah:

I know i'm not gonna be good and never really tried to be. I'll admit even starcraft 1 wasn't really my thing. I much preferred the xcom series (except chimera squad though i could give it another shot) and the dawn of war series for wh40k.

While i think starcraft 2 is good part of me likes to imagine squads for infantry was the right choice in rts rather than singular model units.

Also you're totally right on the money with actions or clicks per minute being absurd. I don't have the reflexes for that or the patience.

I suppose i'm unsure of why minerals and gas as well as a gajillion builders and maybe building structures had to stay but i suppose that's ok. Starcraft 2 did well so what am i complaining about as a casual. I prefer somewhat updated systems that Star Wars empire at war had or even dawn of war 1 (had builders but no units collecting resources) or maybe Wargame. Then again Starcraft 2 outlasted em all but that might just be because some people would buy anything with a blizzard logo on it back in the day.

Signalis. I don't know what's going on, but I like what I am doing so far.

Age of mythology, Isonzo and HOIV.. warlord reworks kinda fun but yea, chinese warlord experience is just sucky tm

Broke my own cardinal rule and pre-ordered a game which went on early play: Space Marine II.

So far, it has kept the best aspects of the original game, while making improvements to the product as well: more visual options, more weapons, more brutal animations. Swimming through hordes of bugs, laying waste to everything around you.

So far it has definitely NOT disappointed, and has been worth the cost of admission.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Broke my own cardinal rule and pre-ordered a game which went on early play: Space Marine II.

So far, it has kept the best aspects of the original game, while making improvements to the product as well: more visual options, more weapons, more brutal animations. Swimming through hordes of bugs, laying waste to everything around you.

So far it has definitely NOT disappointed, and has been worth the cost of admission.

That's good to hear. I've been on the fence on whether or not I'll be committing to playing it on launch day since a few friends and I are interested in starting off the coop campaign together.

I'm currently wrapping up GoW: Ragnarok to free up time for it and I've been playing Warpforged's event where you can play as Titus.

Building on what I was saying earlier about Concord though, I never thought it would do so badly that Sony actually delisted it after two weeks and just gave refunds to everyone, people have been comparing it to ET with how badly its performed since they put a budget of 200 million with a supposed 25,000 copies sold whereas ET was 69 million budget with 2.6 million sold. In a weird way the physical copies have become a collector's item in terms of it being something historical in the future of being one of the biggest video game flops in history. I'm sure our resident live service afficionado, Kanluwen, was sad that they missed out on jumping on the non-existent bandwagon.

This alongside Ubislop's terrible SW: Outlaws being as bad as the trailers showed it to be, is making it look a pretty big year of expensive game releases crashing.

I think Fairgame$ is slated for the upcoming potential bomb, going to get the popcorn and chair ready for the next one.

Ubisoft potentially has another disaster of a major release this year, as AC: Shadows is due out in November.

Just about everything that I've seen regarding Space Marine 2 has been very positive - except for maybe the publication reviewers (I think I saw one list it as a '75', though I didn't read the review). The player complaints have focused around things such as insufficient customization options for Chaos space marines in the multi-player (no spikes, for example).

Started playing Hearts of Iron 4 again but this time as the UK. I think i'm getting the hang of it more since i'm having time to see the various stats. Hard to say until the actual wars start. Might have to rely on transport planes, railroads and similar for supply issues once the war gets started. I think i handled things fairly well for now but it's still in the mid 1938 period before the actual ww2 starts.

I wish i could play several games including sins of a solar empire 2 and space marine 2 but go figure my computer sucks way too hard for any of that. Ofc a video game controller is probably the superior way to play space marine 2 anyway.

----

@Eumerin:

I thought i heard the reason why people were unhappy with chaos was they made them into primaris equivalents of their space marine counterparts. I wouldn't know as i haven't played. I've just mostly watched the singleplayer campaign on Twitch.