Fenixp

So uh... I'm still playing Skyrim on Switch. I just found a random inn/mine near Windhelm which lead to a Quest Over The Mountains based on a rumor that a dude in the mine told me. This game should be used as a final exam when teaching people prioritization and focusing on specific tasks, because most would just... Fail outright.

So... Blood: Fresh Supply got released on GOG (and, presumably, Steam) - it's an official source port by Nightdive and 50% off if you own One Unit Whole Blood. If you've not played Blood yet and enjoy oldschool shooters, you really owe it to yourself to go through it. Imaginative, fun, gory and rather puntastic. Especially fun if you're a horror fan.

That's quite likely the worst mission in the original game.

Clocked like ... 20 hours into Skyrim on Switch thus far. Possibly my biggest worry about playing the game on Switch was the lack of mod support - the absence of unofficial patch is bad enough, but me not being able to apply a wide array of my own tweaks and adjustments didn't feel entirely appealing to me either. And... Y'know what? Contrary to popular opinion, vanilla Skyrim absolutely does stand on its own. I mean, I suppose I should have kinda expected that, considering consoles didn't get mods for the game for the longest time and there's a good chance that majority of people playing the game on PC won't really play with mods either. I'm just surprised by the amount of fun I'm having with the damn thing. Even more than I'd have with mods possibly, considering on my previous attempts to play it I quite likely spent more time worrying about correct combination of mods than actually playing the damned thing. Now I'm running about, exploring and having a blast.

100% agree with that. Concept of The Following sounded really neat on paper, and the buggy actually handles surprisingly well. Exploring semi-abandoned farms or hiding in ranger towers from zombies actually feels really quite special and atmospheric... At first. But eventually, driving a buggy around simply gets dull, especially given how many times we've done something like that before in other games. Parkour was far more engaging.

Would you look at that... Whelp, that's work for future Fenixp

Updated hide user and cleanup scripts to work when changing page and adding new post. Yes, they fire every second now. They don't eat up any network traffic and barely do anything so there's no need to really worry about that. Yes, there's better ways of doing this, but I can't really be bothered.

Oh I suppose this makes more sense over here, so: Use this with Tampermonkey/Greasemonkey extension via adding a new script: // ==UserScript== // @require http://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.3.1.min.js // @name Remove unnecessary information // @namespace http://tampermonkey.net/ // @version 0.1 // @description // @author You // @match http*://forums.obsidian.net/* // @grant none // ==/UserScript== (function() { 'use strict'; let func = function() { $('li.backer-badge').hide() $('li.ipsSpacer_bottom').hide() $('li.ipsResponsive_hidePhone').hide() $('article.ipsComment').css('background', 'black') } func() setInterval(func, 1000) })(); Gets you this: (Removes badges and stuff you can also find on individual user pages + increases post background's contrast to help individual posts stand out more and I feel it's easier on the eyes) This: // ==UserScript== // @name Remove ignored users // @namespace http://tampermonkey.net/ // @version 0.1 // @description // @author You // @match http*://forums.obsidian.net/* // @grant none // ==/UserScript== (function() { 'use strict'; let func = function() { $('.ipsComment_ignored').hide() } func() setInterval(func, 1000) })(); Hides ignored users thingy.

This is tragic!

You could say that, yes. You played Borderlands, right? When content is like 5+ levels above you, you won't stand a chance. When it's like 5+ levels below you, it won't pose a challenge. Technically, your character gets more powerful by: a) level difference damage buffs/debuffs, which aren't listed anywhere but with the same weapon equipped you simply do less damage to higher level dudes, normal damage to your level dudes, higher damage to lower level dudes b) Equipment is level restricted, so if you find a lvl 6 sword when you're lvl 5, you can't equip it. So there's no way to get overpowered to be able to damage high level enemies in spite of damage debuffs. Power of your character is then made entirely meaningless by fighting exactly the same bandits with a different arbitrary number attached to them dozen of hours into the game - which, ironically, leads to precisely the same outcome the super-aggressive level scaling in Oblivion had - at the end of the game, you'll be fighting the same opponents you were fighting at the beginning, but they'll be as powerful as you are.

There's no level scaling at all in Origins, and IIRC there's only upward level-scaling in Odyssey (low-level enemies scale upwards to match your level.) In fact the system is set up in such a way that lower-level content will always present lower threat to you while higher-level content will be more challenging, often enough to the point of impossibility - so if anything, it's the other extreme from what Oblivion did, and just as jarring in my opinion. The issue is that level in Origins bears no meaning. It doesn't reflect power of your opponents, since hyenas in one part of the desert will be pushovers while identical hyenas will insta-kill you in another one. It doesn't reflect your stats. All it does reflect is how many skills you have unlocked in your skill tree, but effects of those skills are in no way relevant to the level number, and enemies don't get your skill tree. So... The level is just an arbitrary number that tells you whether developers wanted you to do -content- now or later, and if you decide to try it now, the random hyena will insta-kill you without a whole lot of chance for recourse. It's just... Arbitrary gating that exists for no particular reason.

It's made even more jarring by the fact that in games like the classical RPGs (or Pillars of Eternity for that matter, really loved the original game actually doing these things reasonably well, albeit level-based defenses/acc were a bit too powerful), skill of you as the player is purposefully not taken into account - yeah, you can be clever about character creation, gear, ability usage etc., but for the most part, how you build your character is more or as important as what you do during an encounter. Ass Creed: Origins has an entirely skill-based combat system (and a surprisingly good one at that), so level difference isn't and can't be complex enough to be nuanced in any way - so enemies are just more spongy and do more damage, which is ... Quite boring. Additionally, if the game absolutely has to have these mechanics, make them at least feel good, y'know? Don't put lvl 3 crocodiles over here and identical lvl 50 crocodiles over there - make sure that all crocodiles are lvl 50 and act as a way to block player from some content. Make sure that lvl 1 bandits wield farming tools and clubs as their weapons while lvl 50 bandits act as well-trained and equipped mercenaries. Give player the feeling of progression as opposed to just arbitrarily throwing numbers around. Well, I wouldn't say the RPG mechanics are broken, just the way the level number operates. Everything else is excellent - different kinds of gear that you find actually get unique mechanics or ways of using it, including varied attack patterns for all weapon classes in the game. Skill tree's also really fun since just about everything you unlock actually does something and unlocks new options for the game or its combat system. That's all really good design.

Eh, art direction looks neat, albeit pixely. They really need to put a lot of work into feel of the combat tho, what was shown in the trailer looks like it has absolutely no impact or weight behind attacks, both by player and the enemies. I mean, if you look at Souls and Sanctuary, you can actually juggle enemies as a part of its combat system, and getting hit often means getting knocked about a bit.

Ffs, why is there absolutely no logic whatsoever to the Orig's level requirements!? I'm exploring an area, which is good fun by the way, and find a ... Corpse! All right, so the game adds a quest to investigate the murder and punish the murderers. ... ... It's level 12 though and I'm level 8, so I guess I'll just leave and return later. This is like 100 meters away from lvl 8 content. So then I explore someplace else, which is still good fun by the way, and see ... A garrison! Good, like the combat and stealth mechanics, LET'S TAK... Oh, they all have red skulls above their heads with no indication which level these guys are. Well, I guess I'll return later then. They're in an area that's marked for top level 8, but ... I suppose it's a small mistake. ... So let's investigate that island over there! Ah, a note and some sort of ritual site, MYSTERY! Let's investigate it, it's in the middle of lvl 8 zone so surely ... Right, required level 14. Never mind. I'll return later then. Just ... Why!? How is this supposed to encourage exploration in any reasonable way!? At the very least make sure that low level areas are congregated on a specific part of the map and then surround them with areas that are slightly higher level and so on, the "spiral" pattern which the game seems to be going for makes no sense ... I really enjoy the game regardless, I mean, I enjoyed playing W3 which did the same thing, yet combat mechanics and skills in W3 were far weaker than they are in Origins.

Ass Creed: Origins. Love the Egypt, love the combat mechanics. Skill and weapon systems are also really cool - highlight of course being the shotgun bow. Levelling sucks and gear generally sucks as well, to the point where you can upgrade any gear in your posession to your current level, bringing its power up to fight opponents on your level. ... So, at the end of the day, all level number does is "Lower level opponents are weak, your level opponents are challenging, higher level opponents will kill you. ... ... That's a fun mechanic innit?" Not only that - just so that the game doesn't get stale, as game time progresses, the universe go through Eras which populate it with brand new storylines which you can finish and always tweak a whole bunch of in-game rules to accommodate for the era's theme. And while these aren't driven by you and can be ignored if you wish to do so, with enough effort put into them, you can become a major driving force of the era's events.