So I accidentally re-subbed to WoW after doing the 10 day trial for WoD. As a mainly solo casual player, I'm enjoying the garrison as well as the story line through questing. I even pre-ordered Legion. I'm so disappointed in myself.
Also still stumbling around in Crusader Kings II, attempting to eventually conquer Ireland; not going so well.
Finished my latest game of Civilization V, using Australia and barely squeaking out a diplomatic victory; was going for culture but another Civ was dangerously ahead of me. Started a new game using the Community Balance Patch, playing as The Celts. So far so good, loving the changes to the game. Definitely more difficult and more of a thinking game.
Buddy of mine wants me to come play The Secret World with him, which I have played but had difficulty staying interested.
I want to play Sword Coast Legends at some point, but I'm hesitant to spend the money and find that I've over hyped it for myself.
Also still stumbling around in Crusader Kings II, attempting to eventually conquer Ireland; not going so well.
Finished my latest game of Civilization V, using Australia and barely squeaking out a diplomatic victory; was going for culture but another Civ was dangerously ahead of me. Started a new game using the Community Balance Patch, playing as The Celts. So far so good, loving the changes to the game. Definitely more difficult and more of a thinking game.
Buddy of mine wants me to come play The Secret World with him, which I have played but had difficulty staying interested.
I want to play Sword Coast Legends at some point, but I'm hesitant to spend the money and find that I've over hyped it for myself.
Caragor kills usually aren't permanent. Expect to see the bastard again.
I'll be waiting.
Actually, I just unlocked the ability to brand orcs. Why kill him when I could force his submission instead?
That's what I did with most of the more troublesome ones, yeahI'll be waiting.
Actually, I just unlocked the ability to brand orcs. Why kill him when I could force his submission instead?
Unless they're afraid/weak to caragors.
The Witcher
Eh, it's okay. I got for under $2 during the current Steam sale. Honestly, I think I might refund it. It's not really holding my interest. The amount of cutscenes bothered me, the story and voice acting is really dry, and the combat isn't very engaging.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengence
Overly long cutscenes and the gameplay isn't as exciting as I thought it'd be. I've sent in a refund for this one.
Eh, it's okay. I got for under $2 during the current Steam sale. Honestly, I think I might refund it. It's not really holding my interest. The amount of cutscenes bothered me, the story and voice acting is really dry, and the combat isn't very engaging.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengence
Overly long cutscenes and the gameplay isn't as exciting as I thought it'd be. I've sent in a refund for this one.
The refund already went through.
To be fair, I was talking about the Witcher
Conclusive proof that Frank and Bubble are the same person!
No! I'm JCM's alt!
Finally got around to playing Fallout New Vegas. For a change of pace, I decided to not do my usual first-run-Fallout-archetype and made a murderously apolitical misanthrope with Cha 1, Int 4, and hopefully no combat/skippy skills (including Stealth and Speech here) above 25 during the run-through. So far it's been quite fun.
<insert adequate Slowpoke meme here>
<insert adequate Slowpoke meme here>
Outside of the originals, I think New Vegas is the best of the Fallout games. And that's including 4, though 4 is still very good.
Not having played 4 yet, I agree. So far my ordering is roughly Fallout 1 any way > Fallout 2 modded > New Vegas (haven't tried mods) > Fallout 2 vanilla > Fallout 3 any way > Brotherhood of Steel.
Haven't played Tactics, never planning on it.
I'm into Dark Souls 2 a bit more now. I wouldn't say I'm enthralled or anything, but it doesn't feel like I'm just tolerating it. If I stop to analyze, it's hard not to see the flaws, but as Frank said, part of it is accepting what it is.
Part of the problem on my first attempt was me. I'd just finished my second run of the first game, with the master key and therefore path-breaking, and with the non-linear nature that Dark Souls 2 begins with, plus bonfire-warping, I bounced all over the place without much sense of direction, purpose, or cohesion. So this time I've been picking a direction from Majula and sticking with it until it's done.
There are a dozen major problems I could complain about in detail that cross my mind as I hit one situation or another, but that bitching doesn't do anything. I'll just enjoy this weird build, experience the world, and if there's anything Dark Souls 3 will allude to from Dark Souls 2, it'll be ever present for me.
Part of the problem on my first attempt was me. I'd just finished my second run of the first game, with the master key and therefore path-breaking, and with the non-linear nature that Dark Souls 2 begins with, plus bonfire-warping, I bounced all over the place without much sense of direction, purpose, or cohesion. So this time I've been picking a direction from Majula and sticking with it until it's done.
There are a dozen major problems I could complain about in detail that cross my mind as I hit one situation or another, but that bitching doesn't do anything. I'll just enjoy this weird build, experience the world, and if there's anything Dark Souls 3 will allude to from Dark Souls 2, it'll be ever present for me.
fade
Staff member
F.E.A.R.
I really enjoyed F.E.A.R. 2, but I didn't play the original until now. I'm really enjoying it. The story is engaging, and they feed it to you fast enough that it keeps you going through the game. The eerie psychological scares are totally my kind of thing, too. Overall, very enjoyable.
I really enjoyed F.E.A.R. 2, but I didn't play the original until now. I'm really enjoying it. The story is engaging, and they feed it to you fast enough that it keeps you going through the game. The eerie psychological scares are totally my kind of thing, too. Overall, very enjoyable.
Card Hunter
Free game on Steam, turn-based encounter-based tile rpg with a pretty decent card mechanic. Not too complicated, but very fun thus far (a few hours in). It has a microtransaction element, but it looks entirely optional (no idea if the multiplayer/ranked mode becomes pay-to-win, since I've been having too much fun with single player to check it out).
The art and writing are both cute and slightly nostalgic. Check it out! http://store.steampowered.com/app/293260/
Free game on Steam, turn-based encounter-based tile rpg with a pretty decent card mechanic. Not too complicated, but very fun thus far (a few hours in). It has a microtransaction element, but it looks entirely optional (no idea if the multiplayer/ranked mode becomes pay-to-win, since I've been having too much fun with single player to check it out).
The art and writing are both cute and slightly nostalgic. Check it out! http://store.steampowered.com/app/293260/
Shadow of Mordor
All throughout the game I've been looking forward to unlocking the ability to tame and ride graugs. Those big-ass mofos shrug off all attacks and can easily two-shot or three-shot me. I wanna be a graug rider, man!
Finally finish the quest that allows me to ride graugs.
Wow these things suck.
All throughout the game I've been looking forward to unlocking the ability to tame and ride graugs. Those big-ass mofos shrug off all attacks and can easily two-shot or three-shot me. I wanna be a graug rider, man!
Finally finish the quest that allows me to ride graugs.
Wow these things suck.
figmentPez
Staff member
Saints Row: Gat Outta Hell
On one hand, it's more SR3/4 style collecting, shooting, funny/crazy wackiness. On the other hand, it's missing a lot of the stuff I liked. There isn't much to the story, and what's there is fairly cliched, though enjoyable enough. There isn't much in the way of missions. Which I wouldn't miss as much, if they made more combat sections replayable. As it is, the only way to get more gunplay after the game is over (to keep working on achievements and such) is to up your wanted level, which gets very repetitive. There aren't even any Professor Genki style arenas to shoot up.
I also miss clothing options and designing my own character. Heck, I lament the fact that SR2 had the most clothing options, and that SR4 didn't do nearly enough to expand the wardrobe choices (especially since it really only added more crazy costumes, and not more actual clothes). Playing as Gat and Kinzie is okay, but I really like my Boss character.
Also, the visual design of Hell is... meh. It's more functional than the VR aesthetic of SR4 in a lot of ways, but it's still bland, and the character design for the demons is just boring.
SR4 had better weapons, overall, but I still feel let down by the Dub-Step Gun, so SR:GOH gets points for making more of special weapons actually feel useful. Fewer stand-out weapons, but also fewer duds.
As for powers, I will not miss the telekinesis. That power was more frustrating than useful. Summons are much more fun, though the spire summon is lame. In fact, most of the powers have at least one much weaker version. (worship aura, shadow blast, and any stomp but the one that sucks in pickups because money for upgrades is scarce.)
On one hand, it's more SR3/4 style collecting, shooting, funny/crazy wackiness. On the other hand, it's missing a lot of the stuff I liked. There isn't much to the story, and what's there is fairly cliched, though enjoyable enough. There isn't much in the way of missions. Which I wouldn't miss as much, if they made more combat sections replayable. As it is, the only way to get more gunplay after the game is over (to keep working on achievements and such) is to up your wanted level, which gets very repetitive. There aren't even any Professor Genki style arenas to shoot up.
I also miss clothing options and designing my own character. Heck, I lament the fact that SR2 had the most clothing options, and that SR4 didn't do nearly enough to expand the wardrobe choices (especially since it really only added more crazy costumes, and not more actual clothes). Playing as Gat and Kinzie is okay, but I really like my Boss character.
Also, the visual design of Hell is... meh. It's more functional than the VR aesthetic of SR4 in a lot of ways, but it's still bland, and the character design for the demons is just boring.
SR4 had better weapons, overall, but I still feel let down by the Dub-Step Gun, so SR:GOH gets points for making more of special weapons actually feel useful. Fewer stand-out weapons, but also fewer duds.
As for powers, I will not miss the telekinesis. That power was more frustrating than useful. Summons are much more fun, though the spire summon is lame. In fact, most of the powers have at least one much weaker version. (worship aura, shadow blast, and any stomp but the one that sucks in pickups because money for upgrades is scarce.)
Undertale: Someone loves Earthbound more than anyone else, and made a game to prove it.
I'm still very early on. I wish they didn't advertise this as "the game where you don't have to kill anything" because now I feel compelled to find a peaceful solution and feel like I've failed each time I have to resort to killing something. You don't get any experience for peaceful solutions, which makes me worry that later I'll come up against an enemy that I can't figure out how to make peace with, but will be too strong for me to defeat.
What's funny is that for a game making a big deal about not fighting, the RPG combat is pretty good. You move your soul around in a box while avoiding damage, and have to time your attacks a la Mario RPG or South Park: Stick of Truth.
I probably won't be doing all-kill or no-kill in this, but somewhere in-between. Hopefully the game's reflection of choice isn't solely binary.
I'm still very early on. I wish they didn't advertise this as "the game where you don't have to kill anything" because now I feel compelled to find a peaceful solution and feel like I've failed each time I have to resort to killing something. You don't get any experience for peaceful solutions, which makes me worry that later I'll come up against an enemy that I can't figure out how to make peace with, but will be too strong for me to defeat.
What's funny is that for a game making a big deal about not fighting, the RPG combat is pretty good. You move your soul around in a box while avoiding damage, and have to time your attacks a la Mario RPG or South Park: Stick of Truth.
I probably won't be doing all-kill or no-kill in this, but somewhere in-between. Hopefully the game's reflection of choice isn't solely binary.
GasBandit
Staff member
Last night in Divinity, the MurderHobos (Dei and I) managed to bluff our way into the secret village of the blood cultists, posing as cultists ourselves. We then sneak into their prison area. Then we have a problem.
Any attempt we make to free the prisoners damages our reputation.
Like, these are people who are locked up awaiting blood sacrifice to dark gods. But if we free them, the guards (who are blood cultists) yell "STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM" and our reputation takes a huge hit.
THESE ARE THE BAD GUYS. Why should my reputation among good, regular townsfolk elsewhere in the world suffer because I helped break innocents out of this evil dungeon?
So we reload a save and try to get creative. Dei goes invisible and picks the lock on a cell, it seemingly swings open on its own. The guard points his sword at ME "STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM" but I din do nuffin! REPUTATION -2! But I only had 7 to begin with! *whine*
Ok, so we reload the save, and rather than try to be sneaky, I just start blasting the nearest guard with fireballs.
NOTHING HAPPENS. He doesn't take damage, nothing. Dei goes and backstabs him. MINUS TWO REPUTATION.
We reload the save again. I take the sidekicks and go hide behind some boxes a screen away. Dei goes invisible and picks the lock on the cell door. The prisoners escape, and enter combat with the guards.. I and the sidekicks come running to help... and when we enter combat, the GAME PUTS US ON THE SAME TEAM AS THE GUARDS, AGAINST THE ESCAPEES. WUH. TUH. FUH.
We reload the save one more time, give up, and go break into a geomancer's house and murder her, her apprentices, and her guards. Then we steal everything of value in the house that isn't nailed down.
No reputation loss.
Any attempt we make to free the prisoners damages our reputation.
Like, these are people who are locked up awaiting blood sacrifice to dark gods. But if we free them, the guards (who are blood cultists) yell "STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM" and our reputation takes a huge hit.
THESE ARE THE BAD GUYS. Why should my reputation among good, regular townsfolk elsewhere in the world suffer because I helped break innocents out of this evil dungeon?
So we reload a save and try to get creative. Dei goes invisible and picks the lock on a cell, it seemingly swings open on its own. The guard points his sword at ME "STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM" but I din do nuffin! REPUTATION -2! But I only had 7 to begin with! *whine*
Ok, so we reload the save, and rather than try to be sneaky, I just start blasting the nearest guard with fireballs.
NOTHING HAPPENS. He doesn't take damage, nothing. Dei goes and backstabs him. MINUS TWO REPUTATION.
We reload the save again. I take the sidekicks and go hide behind some boxes a screen away. Dei goes invisible and picks the lock on the cell door. The prisoners escape, and enter combat with the guards.. I and the sidekicks come running to help... and when we enter combat, the GAME PUTS US ON THE SAME TEAM AS THE GUARDS, AGAINST THE ESCAPEES. WUH. TUH. FUH.
We reload the save one more time, give up, and go break into a geomancer's house and murder her, her apprentices, and her guards. Then we steal everything of value in the house that isn't nailed down.
No reputation loss.
Game design!
GasBandit
Staff member
I'll tell you what else they screwed up.
I'm equal parts Pyrokinetic, Hydrosophist, and Geomancer. We're pretty far along so I'm getting the good stuff in all 3 now. I have a couple levels in dual wield and wands, but the points I've spent in those two combined don't even come close to how much I've spent in any one spell line alone.
Attacking with my wands gets me a pretty reliable 100-150 damage for 4 action points. I have a pair of wands for every type of elemental damage. If I use the right type (like fire wands vs an ice elemental) I get closer to 200-300 damage.
Pyrokinetic's MASTER attack, immolate, which has this HUGE combat animation, does 120 damage and sets the target on fire. It costs SIX action points to use. For all the sound and fury, it's more or less a slightly more powerful version of the newbie fire attack, Flare. , which does about 80 damage and sets normal targets to warm, and warm targets on fire.
Hydrosophist's medium attack, Ice Shard, does about 100 points of damage and has a chance to freeze the target solid. It costs SEVEN freaking AP to use. I almost never use it due to it's high AP cost and low damage. It costs me 8 ap to switch to ice wands and attack with them instead, and usually it will do more damage.
Geomancer's medium attack, however, is Poison bolt. It only costs FIVE AP to cast, and reliably does 200+ damage AND sets poison status which continues doing 50+ points of damage per tick over time, AND spills a puddle of flammable goop on the ground at the target's feet, which I can then cause to explode by shooting the target with my fire wands, doing massive explosion damage.
To add insult to injury, the maximum level of any magic line will only let you learn 4 midgrade spells and 2 master grade spells of that school. Which is bullshit. And they eliminated all but one healing spell out of magic (it's in the hydro line), it's a novice rank spell and costs 5 ap, which at my level heals about 200 hp per turn for 3 turns.
Basically, enhanced edition nerfed the hell out of fire and ice mages, and earth magic and dual wielding wands are ridiculously, stupidly overpowered.
For comparison, Dei's backstabs generally do 160-225 damage total for (I think) 4 AP, Bairdotr's mundane shots with the best bow in the game do about 180-250 damage per 4 AP shot, and even our sword'n'board tank is doing 100-150 damage per 4 AP attack with a one hander. Bairdotr also has a much larger chance to miss her target the farther away it is unless she is also pumping points into perception, but her damage depends on dexterity. My mage? Intelligence is all that matters. Wands are 100% accurate at any range regardless of stats. I could just pump every point into intel and be perfectly fine, but I'm also putting points into speed so that I get 13 ap per turn where most people only get like 8. That means I'm basically a fucking wand machinegun when I want to be, and I can outrun anything on two legs otherwise.
GasBandit
Staff member
Which makes a 7ap single target 100 damage attack even more ridiculous.The tank's basic attack is 3ap.
Especially considering my new earthquake master Geomancer spell I got last night which reliably does 300+ damage to ALL ENEMIES WITHIN 15m AND puts them in "knocked down" state if they survive.... all for the cost of 9 ap.
GasBandit
Staff member
Geomancer continues to prove how OP it is. Last night I capped my Geomancer line and got my last Master level spell for it: Deadly Spores. This fires 5 200 point damage projectiles in an overhead arc at the target, splashing a 4 meter radius area around the target with toxic sludge (which you will also recall is highly flammable).
The first time I got to use it, Dei was standing just at the very edge of where the toxic splash would spread, so I told her, "clench up, this might sting a little bit). Little did I realize the area of effect also included the edge of a lava pool.
So, to cut a long, detailed description short, I caused thousands of points of toxic explosion damage which melted Dei into a little badly-mascara'd puddle. That's what quicksave is for!
(It didn't even kill the target because fire damage healed him as it turned out, so he only lost about 40% of his health all said and done because the poison hurt him but then the explosion healed him, x5).
I wish I had recorded it. But I ran out of hard drive space.
The first time I got to use it, Dei was standing just at the very edge of where the toxic splash would spread, so I told her, "clench up, this might sting a little bit). Little did I realize the area of effect also included the edge of a lava pool.
So, to cut a long, detailed description short, I caused thousands of points of toxic explosion damage which melted Dei into a little badly-mascara'd puddle. That's what quicksave is for!
(It didn't even kill the target because fire damage healed him as it turned out, so he only lost about 40% of his health all said and done because the poison hurt him but then the explosion healed him, x5).
I wish I had recorded it. But I ran out of hard drive space.
And he barely scratched the guy he was aiming at, who was healed by the fiery explosions.
Part of me feels like we should totally try Honour Mode, which is basically hardcore mode, now that we almost have two playthroughs in. The other part of me recoils in horror at the thought of the game auto saving every time I fuck something up and start unwanted combat with a whole town.
Part of me feels like we should totally try Honour Mode, which is basically hardcore mode, now that we almost have two playthroughs in. The other part of me recoils in horror at the thought of the game auto saving every time I fuck something up and start unwanted combat with a whole town.