Vaeliorin

Monster Train DLC, The Last Divinity. I've unlocked all the cards from the new faction, have over half of them gold. Only tried to fight the new end boss once, got destroyed (to be fair, I had zero idea what the fight was like, and I was playing with the new clan, so I had almost zero game plan in terms of synergy.) The exile champion from the Wurmkin is awesome, not entirely sold on the regular champ. Some really cool new artifacts though, and some of the new units for the other factions seem insanely good.

What always gets me is the area past the gorn castle/city whatever it was (it's been years, I can't recall the name.) There's a T-intersection in the road, and a massive open/forested area there that basically has no distinguishing features, and without a decent in-game map, it's just brutal trying to explore it. There's some really good loot out there, though (including the belt of flowers or something like that, which is one of the best items for a ninja) so I always try to explore it. There are also some incredibly brutal enemies in the area, including (going from very cloudy memory) some sort of giant cat-like things that are really tough to kill and that spam some sort of prismatic spell that inflicts all kinds of debuffs and can instant kill.

Wizardry 7 and 8 are two of my favorite games (Wizardry 7 being one of the few games I've bought twice because the original version stopped working when we upgraded to a pentium...yes, I'm old) but I've only spent a bit of time playing 6. I've wanted to play through all 3 (I've actually never beaten 7, but it's freaking huge) but those early levels of 6 are indeed so brutal that I just can't do it.

I enjoyed it too, but I also kind of hate it because it was what I was playing when my PC died last year, so I'm kind of biased. Not that it was the game's fault (my power supply fried my video card) but still...

When Diablo II came out, me and some of my roommates in college went to pick up a copy at (iirc) Target. My one roommate actually got carded by the cashier to make sure he was 18, since the game was rated M. Only time I've ever seen that happen.

According to the mastery guide, there's a couple of unique ones (Anne, Ray and Irene) and Sion get you a couple (from what I understand) important masteries earlier than normal. Maybe I'll try unequipping Anne to see if I can win that fight. It seems like a lot of it would rely on luck, though, since Adventurer Dorori has seemingly terrible stats comparatively (I think his hit chance was like 45%.)

So I was playing more Troubleshooter. @melkathiI finally played Scent of the Past, and my initial pick was Irene. Of course, then I went back and played all the other ones (I'm curious if it's possible to beat Anne as Adventurer Dorori) because there are masteries and what not you get from doing so (I didn't expect the different characters paths to be so different, though.) Hadn't been in the mood for something that takes quite so much attention the past couple weeks, which is why I hadn't played more earlier.

Hidden Path also made Defense Grid, one of the best tower defense games I've ever played. Of course, they also made Defense Grid 2, which is kind of...meh. Would I trust them with an open world RPG? No. But they have made at least one decent game in the past.

The problem is that land claim blocks beyond the first don't actually block spawns (it's bugged.) They only stop sleepers from respawning after you've cleared a POI, anyway. That said, zombies don't spawn on player-placed blocks (you can literally stop the horde night horde from spawning if you cover a large enough area with concrete) so you can build pretty much as big as you want as long as every block is one you've placed, instead of one that was already there. There's also a mod that stops sleepers from respawning in POIs completely, if you're interested in that. Playing offline, the only real need for more than one is so that you can pick up benches/generators/etc. in multiple places.

Torchlight 3 came out on October 13, 2020 (according to Steam) and is by all accounts not particularly good. It's rated mixed on Steam, 65 on Metacritic, 3.1 User Score on Metacritic. I haven't played it personally, but most people I've seen talk about it were unimpressed.

Now if they could just appeal to the people that like RPGs in the DA universe...

I wouldn't mind another (non-5E) D&D game, but they could choose a more interesting setting than the Forgotten Realms. I'd only be really interested in a Forgotten Realms game if it was set in the Moonshaes. But seeing as any new D&D game would almost have to be 5E...meh.

Well, failing a mission gives you a bad performance review...but yeah, it's given me "Perfect" when my entire team got wiped out and I had to finish the mission with the VHPD officers I'd left guarding the exit.

I'd have kind of liked to have seen the Runelord APs done, just because I'm curious about them. I've never played any of the Pathfinder APs (never actually played tabletop Pathfinder, played tons of various versions of D&D and other TTRPGs, however) and I was always curious about the story of those (though, I am admittedly a sucker for high fantasy stuff, and those sound like they fall into that category.)

That definitely makes sense about Joel. When he died he was just some random character, and now, a couple missions into Chapter 4, I really wish he'd lived and we'd gotten to work with him. He seems like he was a really good guy. As to the various gang members, I guess the Spoonists have some decent ideas in terms of making things better for people (though if they intend to enforce that whole "if 10 people give up a spoonful of rice" thing on everyone, that's just theft) but I have a hard time forgiving the violence they all use. So for, the rest of them just seem like violent thugs (well, Jason seems more like a pathetic lickspittle, who is always looking for someone to serve.)

More Troubleshooter. Honestly, as...rough...as the translation is, the game still seems to have writing better than 90% of the games I've played. They actually make the NPCs (not the party members, I generally am always a fan of party members) people that you care about because you actually interact with them fairly regularly. The game also has some of the best level design I've ever encountered. Slum of Shadow Fog is perhaps the best level I've ever encountered in a tactical game, with tons of verticality and so many different ways to move around the map. Honestly, it's a crime that the game hasn't gotten more recognition, because it honestly might be the best turn-based tactical game I've ever played.

I think they're still adding more to the DLC, at least that's the impression I've gotten. Also, it was free, so...can't complain. Failed my first mission in Troubleshooter (actually failed, not had to go back to a checkpoint failed.) It was Angry Tiger, and I got myself into a situation where the checkpoint was at a point I couldn't survive after. I did too much running around and fighting instead of going straight to the objective (seriously, I don't know how you'd destroy the jammers unless you were way overleveled) and just got obliterated. Running straight for the phones worked much better. Got a fifth member, too, and I have to admit it was not who I expected. I knew he became a team member, but I expected it much later. Kinda wish extractors weren't consumables (or at least they stacked up to a certain number instead of going away completely if you use it once) but that's probably because I don't like having to spend money (I've only got ~22,500.)

Does anyone know if they changed trip so that it works with iteratives? Just curious whether I'll be able to play my tripping, shield-bashing warpriest straight off, or if I'll need to wait for mods.

That's impressive. I gotta admit, I'm curious how you managed that. Congrats on finishing. I take it Banished Children is the name of Chapter 2?

I do, to the point of distraction. I actually had to take a break because I was having trouble sleeping (my brain wouldn't shut up about the game) and playing tactical games on short sleep is not a good idea for me.

I'll try to remember. Not sure how much farther that is into the game. I just did the level 16 Violent Case and it wasn't anywhere near as hard as I was expecting (though I was between 3 and 5 levels over leveled) but it took forever. Not sure how much farther Scent of the Past would be.

I actually had Phoenix on Irene in the fight against Ryo...he actually downed her twice, once from a Counter, and then he went after her when I used her flame shot skill on him. She was the only person he managed to hit, though. I've put everything fire I have on Irene, and there's only one mastery set it's giving me a hint to, but I'm sure there are a bunch of others I just don't have the masteries for. It's honestly a bit frustrating, I've had all these Great Swordsman masteries unlocked for Albus, but I can't research any of them because I don't have Breakthrough yet. Still, he's got almost everything unlocked so far, and as soon as I can get one more level, he's going to be the king of counter/pre-emptive attacks. I need one more basic slot to get the mastery set that makes Forestallment refresh if there's nobody next to you after you use it, so that will hopefully be pretty awesome.

Yeah, I've got learning on her too, and she's catching up. I do have the case files unlocked, and I did it this morning to get that unlocked. I didn't realize that was martial artist Irene. I just kind of assumed that Battle Mage was the route to go for fire, whereas Martial Artist was more physical, but looking at it further, it seems like almost all of Irene's attacks (outside of her basic attack) do fire damage. I'm trying her with a fire build now and she's doing pretty good (though she did get KO'ed in my last fight, but that's because she was going toe to toe with Ryo...) Once I get Anne a bit higher, it'll be time to try out that violent case, I'm curious how difficult it actually is. The game makes it sound really scary, but a lot of the missions that are listed as "Super Hard" and the like really aren't that difficult. I find myself wishing there was some kind of web-based build calculator (or maybe an in-game one) so I could try out builds without having to use a bunch of manuals switching stuff around (I eventually ending up looking up one mastery set because I was getting sick of switching through every basic mastery I had to figure out which one was the one I was missing after it turned out not to be any of the ones that seemed obvious to me.)

Yeah, I've got Yearning on her. Apparently there's another one called Supporter (I think) that makes your high level people give xp to your low level people as well, but you get it in the fight in the bar at the start if you call the police, which I didn't do. I'll have to try out some more fire stuff on Irene. I've currently got her as a Martial Artist, but obviously I'll switch her over to Battle Mage once I've maxed that. Also, that's the only time I've gotten my action time anywhere near 300...it was just a constant stream of guys attacking Albus and him one shot countering them.

I have, but that's mostly because I've already recruited her. I kind of have 22 hours played already.... I've got Albus with Forestallment and Counter Attack as well as Irene. In fact, in the mission in which you get character number 4, Albus managed to kill all but 6 enemies just from counterattacking (I've got the Retaliation mastery set as well as Sen no Sen, which makes Forestallment always a crit) before he got a second turn, and before the event that gets the pink haired girl on your team. I also got the Deep Sea mastery in that one, for getting my action time over 300... I probably don't need both of them with those anymore, now that I've developed more masteries, but Irene was feeling kind of terrible before I set her up with those (she seemed to be taking a lot of damage and not doing much) but I don't have anything I know of right now that would be more effective for her. There are so many masteries that trying to figure out what's best, figure out sets, etc. is...complex. I do have Irene with Containing Attacks as well, haven't found anything that gives her knockback yet. Anyway, at this point I'm trying to get character number 4 leveled up to the point where she's at least the recommended level for the next scenario missions. She joined the team about 7 levels below everyone else, and she seems really slow (this is at least partially because I have no gear to give her until she hits level 15.) But I really, really like finally having a healer (and not one with limited charges like Ray and Kylie.) It's definitely interesting that you seem to have a least some relationship with everyone that joins the team so far (well, except for Sion...) I'm not sure where exactly the story is going (Spoonage...) but it seems to be fairly interesting so far. Really, really enjoying the game. Couldn't recommend it enough to people who enjoy SRPGs, especially if they really enjoy complex systems.