I was originally going to get that, but found the pro version on sale on cyber Monday for the same price. So far, it's a world of difference from keyboard and mouse. It feels so good.
GasBandit
Staff member
Last night in Divinity, I finally leveled into my final "talent" on my wizard. Naturally, given how this playthrough has gone, the only remaining logical talent to take was "Stench." This gives me a large penalty to dealing with people/merchants, but discourages enemies from engaging me in melee when there are other, non-stinky targets to fight.
Bear in mind, the first talent I took was "Know-it-all" which also gave me a moderate interaction penalty while giving me +1 to intelligence.
(My other talents are All Skilled Up (which gives you 2 extra ability points to spend), Bigger and Better (1 extra basic attribute point), Weatherproof (environmental status effects do not apply to me), and Glass Cannon (your max HP is cut in half but you get 4 extra action points per turn)).
Everybody loves Dei. She's got a +50 interaction bonus with everyone we meet, because of all ourmurderhoboing heroic deeds in saving no less than 3 towns and vanquishing at least 2 "about to take over the world" caliber evildoers plus several lesser threats to regional stability. It kind of makes up for how we stole everything that wasn't nailed down (and a few things that actually were nailed down) along the way, I reason.
But me? I get a +5 instead.
So it's like, "Ugh, oh god, it's Gas Bandit. Yeah, we need to be nice to him but don't go overboard or anything. I mean, yeah, he's a pompous asshole who smells like a fiery diaper and looks like someone wrapped a deer carcass in a bedsheet and painted its head blue, but the guy did kill the ressurected ultimate immortal sorcerer tyrant Braccus Rex and is the only thing standing between us and the Conduit's armies of invulnerable Death Knights, so smile a little when you look at him. Maybe give him one free cupcake or something. But, you know, don't give him a discount on any gear or anything, because, oh god I can smell him from here, it's in my mouth IT'S IN MY MOUTH (gagging noises)."
Bear in mind, the first talent I took was "Know-it-all" which also gave me a moderate interaction penalty while giving me +1 to intelligence.
(My other talents are All Skilled Up (which gives you 2 extra ability points to spend), Bigger and Better (1 extra basic attribute point), Weatherproof (environmental status effects do not apply to me), and Glass Cannon (your max HP is cut in half but you get 4 extra action points per turn)).
Everybody loves Dei. She's got a +50 interaction bonus with everyone we meet, because of all our
But me? I get a +5 instead.
So it's like, "Ugh, oh god, it's Gas Bandit. Yeah, we need to be nice to him but don't go overboard or anything. I mean, yeah, he's a pompous asshole who smells like a fiery diaper and looks like someone wrapped a deer carcass in a bedsheet and painted its head blue, but the guy did kill the ressurected ultimate immortal sorcerer tyrant Braccus Rex and is the only thing standing between us and the Conduit's armies of invulnerable Death Knights, so smile a little when you look at him. Maybe give him one free cupcake or something. But, you know, don't give him a discount on any gear or anything, because, oh god I can smell him from here, it's in my mouth IT'S IN MY MOUTH (gagging noises)."
The correct answer is "You already stole them."
So you're playing yourself, just replacing IT with magic.
Clearly you've never been the Head of IT somewhere; IT -IS- MAGIC so Gasbandit is ALREADY a wizard.
GasBandit
Staff member
I'm really enjoying my new "everybody in this general area gets to DIE IN A FIRE RIGHT NOW" spell, though. Rains like 30 flaming meteors from the sky more or less at the location of my choosing, doing between 1500 and 3000 damage total.
The average non-boss level baddie right now seems to have about 1000 hp.
The average non-boss level baddie right now seems to have about 1000 hp.
GasBandit
Staff member
So, we finished our "tactician mode" playthrough on Divinity: Original Sin enhanced edition. Overall I'd say it was an improvement but still not without issues of its own - the visual UI indicators for line of sight and area of effect were routinely unreliable, many spells did not perform as advertised, and some were just useless (looking at you, mass heal and nightmare grenades).
The new final showdown chapter was equal parts fascinating and frustrating, with us having to google a very unintuitive solution once. The ultimate battle with (spoiler)
But the really neat thing from last night's play session was that I got Steam in-home streaming to work, so that I could be in bed or on the couch with my leg propped up instead of sitting in a chair making things worse. I was surprised how good it worked, given my limitations - the laptop is 8+ years old, with only 802.11g wireless and a chronic overheating problem which made my laptop lock hard twice and have to be hard rebooted, but apart from that, in-home streaming worked surprisingly well! The video quality was my laptop's native resolution (1366x768) and there was no real control latency to speak of most of the time (when my wireless G nic wasn't crapping out). Even managed to get it to work with Saints Row 3 and a brief test in Vermintide. So if you've been wondering about steam in-home streaming and you have an old laptop, it might be neat to tinker around with.
The new final showdown chapter was equal parts fascinating and frustrating, with us having to google a very unintuitive solution once. The ultimate battle with (spoiler)
the Void Dragon was, really, functionally identical, maybe even easier with the additional backup played by Icara and Zandalor being in the party - we actually had a fairly easy time dispatching the dragon despite not having a tank that was boosted way beyond its level since they fixed it so that the Teller of Secrets no longer restocks the "level up for 50k gold" books. Then they even threw together an interactive epilogue which was kinda nice.
But the really neat thing from last night's play session was that I got Steam in-home streaming to work, so that I could be in bed or on the couch with my leg propped up instead of sitting in a chair making things worse. I was surprised how good it worked, given my limitations - the laptop is 8+ years old, with only 802.11g wireless and a chronic overheating problem which made my laptop lock hard twice and have to be hard rebooted, but apart from that, in-home streaming worked surprisingly well! The video quality was my laptop's native resolution (1366x768) and there was no real control latency to speak of most of the time (when my wireless G nic wasn't crapping out). Even managed to get it to work with Saints Row 3 and a brief test in Vermintide. So if you've been wondering about steam in-home streaming and you have an old laptop, it might be neat to tinker around with.
GasBandit
Staff member
I was puttering around in Space Engineers, and a "friend" from back in my days as a space privateer of questionable authenticity hopped in, looked over my operation, proceeded to weld some atmo thrusters onto scout rover B, then fly it 8km away and crash it. Then the rotors fell off my solar panel array for no reason and it came crashing to earth.
Soooo yeah, multiplayer still bugged AF.
Soooo yeah, multiplayer still bugged AF.
Like I said, it's not getting fixed; it's getting replaced. Who knows how long until the first phase of it though...
I'm (finally) near the end of Shovel Knight: Plague of Shadows. Just one more knight and then the Tower of Fate. While this DLC started out much more difficult than the original game, now that I have a lot of Plague Knight's bomb combinations, it's become more manageable. Really, the levels are the hardest part. Using homing bombs that circle around Plague Knight, the Super Metroid-style spin jump for burst, and big bomb or the charging bomb for special, depending on the circumstances, the bosses die real quick.
Looking forward to the next DLC, whenever it comes around.
Looking forward to the next DLC, whenever it comes around.
That's embarrassing, lol.
Played a few hours of Killing floor 2, it's quite good. It's still in early access but I see myself picking it up when they're closer to release.... so who has a free key to give me? I'll be a pocket medic!
Did you play multiplayer or single player? I ask because I'm wondering how the single player experience is, since Killing Floor 1 was totally not a single player game.That's embarrassing, lol.
Played a few hours of Killing floor 2, it's quite good. It's still in early access but I see myself picking it up when they're closer to release.... so who has a free key to give me? I'll be a pocket medic!
Left 4 Dead? Playable as a single player experience. Killing Floor? Less so.
fade
Staff member
Psychonauts
Had to try this one. Been sitting in my game library for a while. Kind of fun. Reminds me a lot of MediEvil and Sly Cooper, which I really liked. The big negative is the controls. They're kind of a pain on the PC. Hard to make some of the jumps in particular. Also, scavenging for arrowheads is not fun at all, even with the dowsing rod.
Had to try this one. Been sitting in my game library for a while. Kind of fun. Reminds me a lot of MediEvil and Sly Cooper, which I really liked. The big negative is the controls. They're kind of a pain on the PC. Hard to make some of the jumps in particular. Also, scavenging for arrowheads is not fun at all, even with the dowsing rod.
Psychonauts
Well, with the news of the sequel, I decided to finally try beating it. This time, I had some help: my Xbox controller. And believe me, @fade, using a controller makes the game much more bearable. Especially with the last level, which I could never beat.
But I finally did it. I beat the game.
I'm a little disappointed you can't wander about the camp after the game is finished, though. For some reason, I thought you could.
Well, with the news of the sequel, I decided to finally try beating it. This time, I had some help: my Xbox controller. And believe me, @fade, using a controller makes the game much more bearable. Especially with the last level, which I could never beat.
But I finally did it. I beat the game.
I'm a little disappointed you can't wander about the camp after the game is finished, though. For some reason, I thought you could.
Well, I didn't think a PC game would really grab me this year, especially not emotionally, but Undertale really was all it's been cracked up to be, especially if you're a fan of Earthbound and enjoy that style and atmosphere. I'll have to start another playthrough, maybe tonight, but I highly recommend RPG fans to play this.
Man, I'm trying to find something to grab me and I can't.
Okay, since I enjoyed Hadow of Mordor a bit (for a while, anyway), and I own them both, which game would you recommend? Batman: Arkham Asylum, or Batman: Arkham City? Both GOTY edition, and do remember that I only play on PC and don't use a controller, so I'll be playing KB+M.
Okay, since I enjoyed Hadow of Mordor a bit (for a while, anyway), and I own them both, which game would you recommend? Batman: Arkham Asylum, or Batman: Arkham City? Both GOTY edition, and do remember that I only play on PC and don't use a controller, so I'll be playing KB+M.
GasBandit
Staff member
Uh, the latter is a direct sequel of the former. If you care about story, might want to play them in order.
Couldn't remember which was which and couldn't be bothered to look it up. With, what, 4 Arkham games, one of which is supposedly a crappy port, one of which is not from the same makers and one that is too focussed on other stuff, it gets hard for those not following the series to keep up
Oh well. Let's give it a spin.
GasBandit
Staff member
Yeah, Asylum first.Couldn't remember which was which and couldn't be bothered to look it up. With, what, 4 Arkham games, one of which is supposedly a crappy port, one of which is not from the same makers and one that is too focussed on other stuff, it gets hard for those not following the series to keep up
Oh well. Let's give it a spin.
GasBandit
Staff member
I played through the first one on PC, my only real complaint about it was that I got tired of beating up neon skeletons for hours upon hours, but if I left "detective mode" I was at a distinct disadvantage in my situational awareness. The K/M controls weren't the worst I've ever put up with.
That sort of fixed that issue in Arkham City by making getting hit in Detective Mode sort of temporarily blind you, but it was still generally more useful to be using it than not using it. But that game also had a lot of other ways to break it, the least of which were the AOE takedowns.
I played through all of Arkham Asylum using nothing but KB+M, and it worked just fine.
Finished a second runthrough of Bioshock Infinite, this time farming the achievements for weapon kills. It actually made me try out almost every weapon for a significant period of time, which gave me a newfound appreciation for how each one worked. Still think that two out of carbine / machine gun / shotgun will work fine in any situation though.
It was fun to go through the game and look for the references I missed in my first playthrough. For example, now I know what "He DOESN'T row" means. Though I still have some unanswered questions, such as why the Lutece statue changed near the beginning.
Moving on to Burial at Sea!
It was fun to go through the game and look for the references I missed in my first playthrough. For example, now I know what "He DOESN'T row" means. Though I still have some unanswered questions, such as why the Lutece statue changed near the beginning.
Moving on to Burial at Sea!
Don't do it, bhamv! You have so much to live for!