What are you playing right now?

[Serrano]

Playing through Dead State for the first time and loving it. Loving it. I love the shelter and what Brian, Annie and co. did with the companions both story-wise and mechanically. I love the feel, how tense it is and the sense of importance at keeping everyone alive until something happens and then you have those moments where you feel you might need to gamble with lives or how someone may be becoming a burden and you might need to sacrifice them so as not to drag down the entire group. I wish the game were padded with a bit more variety on the scavenging and exploartion side of things but obviously under the circumstances I think Double Bear did an amazing job and that the game is brilliant. I like how varied all the characters are and their interations with each other and those dynamics where applicable. I think DB put some really interesting story arcs and situations into that side of the game and I'm having a great time watching it all play out. I'm on day

29 so far, which feels like it should be nearing the end now but I remember reading somewhere that the game works on a timer and that day 100 is the final curtain call (No spoilers though please), so I guess I may start getting into that other thing I heard soon where the looting becomes repetetive after a while.

But all-in-all I think the game is a technical marvel. It's a shame it didn't sell better, not so much because I want a Dead State 2, this game is good but I think they already covered pretty much everything there is to do in the zombie setting, but I'd love to see them try something similar in another genre like a homage to Aliens or The Thing for example.

Edited October 11, 2018 by Serrano

[Tale]

I've been a firm opponent of streaming games for a while. Not that I think it's a terrible idea, it's basically a timeshare rental of someone else's hardware. But I assumed the tech wasn't there to make it work well.

 

Project Stream has me sold. The picture seems not as crisp as I would expect. The sound a bit flatter. I can't compare to if the game was running native, so maybe that's just how it is. But the controls are responsive and it's much better than I expected. Assassin's Creed Odyssey does not start with a hook, however. So I'm not thrilled by it yet.

[Hurlshort]

Dead State was a fantastic find for me as well. I am not sure what Double Bear is doing at this point, but I hope they release another game soon.

[Lexx]

Probably not, because Dead State didn't sell very well for as far as I am aware.

[ShadySands]

I've been a firm opponent of streaming games for a while. Not that I think it's a terrible idea, it's basically a timeshare rental of someone else's hardware. But I assumed the tech wasn't there to make it work well.

 

Project Stream has me sold. The picture seems not as crisp as I would expect. The sound a bit flatter. I can't compare to if the game was running native, so maybe that's just how it is. But the controls are responsive and it's much better than I expected. Assassin's Creed Odyssey does not start with a hook, however. So I'm not thrilled by it yet.

I haven't been back to it since I played about 15 minutes the other day. It didn't really draw me in either and I have Kingmaker, Yoga Fire DLCs, and new content drops to both Star Trek Online and LOTRO occupying my Wall Street.

[Mamoulian War]

I've been a firm opponent of streaming games for a while. Not that I think it's a terrible idea, it's basically a timeshare rental of someone else's hardware. But I assumed the tech wasn't there to make it work well.

 

Project Stream has me sold. The picture seems not as crisp as I would expect. The sound a bit flatter. I can't compare to if the game was running native, so maybe that's just how it is. But the controls are responsive and it's much better than I expected. Assassin's Creed Odyssey does not start with a hook, however. So I'm not thrilled by it yet.

The controls work because the game is running natively in 30FPS and is not depending on precision input. Streaming games is probably the future, because it brings more money to the corporate Molochs, but sooner or later all games developed for streaming platforms will be looking the same. You can say good bye to any genre which cannot exist without precision input, like FPS, Racing, Realtime Startegy, Beat'em'ups, Fighting, Shmups, etc...

 

So all we got for their newest marketing fluff is lower resolution, lower sound quality, lower frame rate, lower variance of genres and higher input latency...

 

I am just happy, that my backlog is vig enough, to keep me entertained for 5-6 more years after this becomes the norm...

[Tale]

If streaming only is the future and they can't have FPS, it's a future that's still a ways off. Kids won't give up their COD and Fortnite so easily.

[Lexx]

Besides, there are still lots of places without a necessarily big internet connection.

[Keyrock]

I scooped up Star Traders Frontiers, though I likely won't get to play it until I get home early next week. I'm so ready to start building my galactic marcantile empire.

 

/rubs hands together

[Epaminondas]

I'm patching up Kingmaker right now. I haven't had a chance to get very far in the game, maybe twenty minutes, but I've been thinking about my wizard build. I have a few hours today to play and, damn it, that's what I'm going to do.

[Zoraptor]

Probably not, because Dead State didn't sell very well for as far as I am aware.

 

They released a game after Dead State ('Panic at Multiverse High'). IIRC its sales numbers made Dead State's look GTAV class though.

 

Realistically, Dead State was never going to sell massively and a lot of its sales being 'preloaded' via kickstarter made them look worse. The Age of Decadence model of more realistic expectations was a better model in the long term than the more big name team kickstarters.

 

I really liked Dead State as well, it had some pretty serious flaws but also had a huge amount of potential to build on.

[GhostofAnakin]

The forcing me to use the Batmobile for so many missions is seriously hurting my enjoyment of Arkham Knight.

[LadyCrimson]

*reads back through thread*

 

Oh, I didn't really expect many replies to my bad-endings post. Thanks for all the suggestions.

I don't tend to find horror games/films bad-endings to be what I look for  - occasionally towards the very end of such but it's rare. Not that I don't like horror bad endings, but I rarely find them emotionally involving, perhaps because I don't scare/frighten easily, or perhaps because feeling horrified by something isn't really what I seek. I suppose there's certain themes/tropes that I almost always like/fall for and I find it to be fairly rare in video games. Not sure I could explain it, outside of sacrifice and tragedy which are both pretty generic terms.

 

But a lot of the games mentioned I either have never/barely heard of or haven't tried so I'll check those out.

[Tale]

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition

 

How can so many people tolerate Dual-Classing Imoen that it seems like standard practice? I just did it with Safana, but I just hit Durlag's tower! It will take 90,000 XP before she gets her thief skills back, but I'm 30 hours into my current playthrough and I haven't even got 90,000 XP on my main character.

 

I'll be bleeding thiefless for another 30 hours unless I grind my levels over again on Ankhegs!

[Epaminondas]

I'm a bit into Pathfinder: Kingmaker. I just recently helped Amiri take out a boar. I let her do it as much alone as I could, but at level 2 she just couldn't solo the beast. I'm on challenging and nothing has been that hard so far. The big bear thing at the elk place was a bit tough at level 2, but not that bad. My build isn't optimal, but it's a fun roleplay. Also, I tend to make virtually all my roleplay roles so far.

[aksrasjel]

I am giving Baldur's Gate EET with SCS and Ascension installed another go. Half-elf (beacuse Viconia romance) thief/mage.

I'm in for the long haul. I literally forgot that Silke is a goddamn 10th lvl bard. It was after she started casting Stoneskin I reminded myself what I've gotten myself into.

 

Also - "Disable EE Companions" mod is a blessing in disguise.

[GhostofAnakin]

The forcing me to use the Batmobile for so many missions is seriously hurting my enjoyment of Arkham Knight.

 

To clarify, I don't mind driving around or using it if it's optional.  I just hate the fact so many of the quests make it mandatory.  It's so unwieldy to drive that I find myself constantly "failing" any quest where I have to chase someone and when I inevitably lose control and go off the road, they get away.

[Chilloutman]

I'm a bit into Pathfinder: Kingmaker. I just recently helped Amiri take out a boar. I let her do it as much alone as I could, but at level 2 she just couldn't solo the beast. I'm on challenging and nothing has been that hard so far. The big bear thing at the elk place was a bit tough at level 2, but not that bad. My build isn't optimal, but it's a fun roleplay. Also, I tend to make virtually all my roleplay roles so far.

 

One of the patches actually toned down encounters in first act a lot and made them level scaled

[Manveru123]

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition

 

How can so many people tolerate Dual-Classing Imoen that it seems like standard practice? I just did it with Safana, but I just hit Durlag's tower! It will take 90,000 XP before she gets her thief skills back, but I'm 30 hours into my current playthrough and I haven't even got 90,000 XP on my main character.

 

I'll be bleeding thiefless for another 30 hours unless I grind my levels over again on Ankhegs!

You probably dualed her too late. That's on you. No idea about Safana, but when it comes to Imoen, you don't need more than 6 levels of Thief before you dual. And level 4 dual is viable too.

 

Level 7 is technically optimal because you get open locks and find traps to 100%, but you only need above 80% in TotSC and you can use potions to help you out when you get there.

Edited October 12, 2018 by Manveru123

[bugarup]

Finished Tyranny, instantly going for the second playthrough. Hoo boy what a setting. Loved everything except the combat (and even that became tolerable when I learned to tailor spells more or less properly). Voices of Nerat shot to the top of my NPC hall of fame instantly.

 

Also, now I kind of want to make a Watcher cipher/maybe trickster, maybe Nalpazca who's shady and cruel and name him Voices of Berath.

[Keyrock]

 

I'm a bit into Pathfinder: Kingmaker. I just recently helped Amiri take out a boar. I let her do it as much alone as I could, but at level 2 she just couldn't solo the beast. I'm on challenging and nothing has been that hard so far. The big bear thing at the elk place was a bit tough at level 2, but not that bad. My build isn't optimal, but it's a fun roleplay. Also, I tend to make virtually all my roleplay roles so far.

One of the patches actually toned down encounters in first act a lot and made them level scaled

Aaaaaaand there goes my interest in the game. $40 saved, I guess.

[Manveru123]

Really? They made this change so that there are now less completely unwinnable random encounters in the first Act of the game. You can still play on Unfair and get destroyed by a single Wolf if you so desire.

[Malcador]

Realized I didn't finish my RTW2 campaign so went back to that. Realizing I'm going to have to fight a war whose front will stretch from southern France to Belgium then across to Poland. Hm, will be tricky but it is just Gauls - it is fun to face an army of 3000 with only 1800 and still win comfortably.

[Fenixp]

Aaaaaaand there goes my interest in the game. $40 saved, I guess.

How do you lose interest in a game based purely on a piece of information that it utilizes level scaling? I mean, Baldur's Gate 2 used level scaling and that seems to be one of the places Kingmaker takes its inspirations from.

[Keyrock]

 

Aaaaaaand there goes my interest in the game. $40 saved, I guess.

How do you lose interest in a game based purely on a piece of information that it utilizes level scaling?

Because I hate level scaling. I haven't replayed BG2 since I played it some 17 or 18 years ago and have no desire to, by the way.