What are you playing right now?

[Keyrock]

I'm still playing Elex. I picked up another companion, Ray. He has a long quest chain I'm going through that involves a lot of exploring. I can be a lot more daring and confident exploring now. I run into a lot of enemies I used to run from and hand them their asses. Granted there are still some enemies I need to be very careful with, like Stone Claws and Armored Insects, and some I still run from, like Chimeras and Trolls.

[GhostofAnakin]

I'm still playing Elex. I picked up another companion, Ray. He has a long quest chain I'm going through that involves a lot of exploring. I can be a lot more daring and confident exploring now. I run into a lot of enemies I used to run from and hand them their asses. Granted there are still some enemies I need to be very careful with, like Stone Claws and Armored Insects, and some I still run from, like Chimeras and Trolls.

 

I decided to pick that game up off Amazon because it's pretty cheap now.  When I went place my order it was listed as "in stock", but after I'd submitted my order it's now telling me that I'll receive an e-mail when the item becomes available.

 

What?

[Epaminondas]

At this point, I'm getting close to what has to be at least a chapter ending in Kingmaker. Great game with some really irritating flaws. One of the best DnD games I've ever played, though. Well... Pathfinder, but you know what I mean.

[Keyrock]

I decided to pick that game up off Amazon because it's pretty cheap now. When I went place my order it was listed as "in stock", but after I'd submitted my order it's now telling me that I'll receive an e-mail when the item becomes available.

 

What?

That sucks. Hopefully they have it in stock soon. Kind of rotten to list something as "in stock" when it's not.

 

A few pieces of advice for when you do get the game:

 

* The game starts off kinda slow. Stick with it, it gets much better.

* You will be super weak at first and you will die. A lot. Run away.

* Joining a faction is a big time boost in power and it doesn't disqualify you from doing basic quests for other factions. Once you figure out who you want to join, go for it. You will likely go up several levels and get armor that's better than any non-faction armor available.

* Your stamina pool at the beginning of the game is pathetic. There is a skill in the survival tree that increases stamina. If you get the alchemy skill you can brew potions that permanently increase stamina. There are also wearable items that increase stamina. Anything and everything that increases stamina is very much worth getting as soon as possible.

Edited October 28, 2018 by Keyrock

[Katphood]

 

I think by now people mostly prefer a linear experience. But you don't see that many games with a linear structure because it is actually hard to make a good one.

It is more like that linear experience is harder to give players choice of recurring spending on micro-transactions And a publishers always want to give players as much options to milk them dry as possible

I wish more people would play Yakuza 0. Such a huge and rewarding game with absolutely zero dlc.

 

I'll just chill until this babe is out:

 

https://youtu.be/E7oZEwu6Tno

 

[Keyrock]

The Yakuza games, in general, are a master class of excellence in engaging game design. They're the anti-Ubisoft.

[SonicMage117]

The Yakuza games, in general, are a master class of excellence in engaging game design. They're the anti-Ubisoft.

This is a very strange comment, comparing a game series to a development/publishing team's efforts as a whole hehe

 

On the upnote I have to say Sega has far worse trash than Ubi's worst trash. I'm happy that Ubi has been rolling in the cash lately, they deserve it for taking risks at least. That said, I think Yakuza games are great, not Sega's best in terms of their modern games by any means, but still up there.

Edited October 28, 2018 by SonicMage117

[Katphood]

they deserve it for taking risks at least.

Releasing a game like AC Odyssey or Ghost Recon Wild Lands isn't a risk, releasing a game like Bayonetta, Alpha Protocol or Sonic Mania is though.

 

I am very happy that SEGA are still around, many great games made it to the west thanks to them.

[Keyrock]

^ SEGA did a thing even more miraculous than what you mentioned. They put out a phone game that doesn't suck. Granted, MegaTen is an Atlus IP, but SEGA owns Atlus now, so yeah. Anyway, I'm still playing SMT: Liberation Dx2. I probably have like 200 hours in that game. Granted, a lot of it lately has been mostly grinding, a lot of which was the game playing itself. I'm so close to getting the magnetite I need to fuse Susano-o that I can taste it. Once I have him I can make the push to finish the Aura Gate dungeon. I also got a Trumpeter in the meantime. Trumpeter is a really powerful demon that kinda doesn't fit in my current party, but I'm holding on to him for future uses. He has some great reliable damage nukes with bonus status ailments, but they are extremely high mana cost, so you need to invest heavily into mana regen for him. I can see him eventually as a part of my PvP duel party. But that's for another time. All my current resources are focused on getting Susano-o.

 

If SEGA wanted to be really really cool, though, and become the most wonderful games company on the planet, they'd throw a ton of money at Obs to make Alpha Protocol 2 and have SIE be the protagonist. But I don't think SEGA is THAT cool.

 

Prove me wrong SEGA. Prove me wrong.

Edited October 28, 2018 by Keyrock

[SonicMage117]

Putting out a mobile/phone game that doesn't suck by who's standard and compared to what? I'm just confused at how we got from comparing a company's efforts as a whole to a single franchise and trying to ship that as a valid comparison for quality.. or how a phone game contributes to risk or a great game design. Candy Crush is great because it's casual and accessible but it shows how easy it is to make a phone game that doesn't suck.

 

How can Yakuza series make Sega the king of game design or become a standard in game design of that very genre or excuse such shameful game design examples such as Sonic 2006, Sonic and all stars racing, Shenmue HD, etc.? I'm glad that Sega's doors are still open because of titles they've published like Vanquish and Sonic Mania but as far as games both developed and published by the two companies, Sega is by far the greater evil and will always be more generic.

 

As far as creativity and Ubisoft's risk go, Steep and The Crew 2 are pretty huge examples, of course that's aside from picking up all the small indies and marketing them but why even mention that.

Edited October 28, 2018 by SonicMage117

[Katphood]

In case somebody is wondering: it really pays off to play Yakuza 0 before Yakuza Kiwami.

[Fenixp]

I'm attempting to do a full Bioshock playthrough (So Bioshock, Bioshock: Infinite and the B:I DLC). If I'm feeling like going through Bioshock 2 after that I will, but since Levigne has decided to completely cut it from the canon, it doesn't make sense to go through its story again as well (albeit I liked how the second game played a fair bit more than the original.)

 

Anyway, I'm at the Cohen bit and really digging how does the game pace itself. I'm also noticing how much of a bunch of idiots did devs deem necessary to deem their players. The game's clearly designed to be played without the hugeass objective arrow plasterd over the screen (never had it enabled, gah), yet it's a default setting for all players to see. It even has a hint system in place in case you get stuck without the arrow!

 

I'm also quite torn on how scripted the whole thing is, with levels that, while sprawling, tend to progressively open up as the plot progresses - a lot of the game's philosophy is the exact opposite to what Prey showed us back last year.

[Gorgon]

Is anyone playing New California ?

[Malcador]

Cities Skylines, farming industry is a nice staple. Not sure what is the problem with my ore and forestry ones, but about to start an oil industry as my map has a lot of it.

 

All in all, the Industry DLC isn't that bad, definitely adds some sort of complexity. Feeling like the UI can't match the scope of features though, at least the building interface feels a bit clunky

Edited October 28, 2018 by Malcador

[Katphood]

I'm attempting to do a full Bioshock playthrough (So Bioshock, Bioshock: Infinite and the B:I DLC). If I'm feeling like going through Bioshock 2 after that I will, but since Levigne has decided to completely cut it from the canon, it doesn't make sense to go through its story again as well (albeit I liked how the second game played a fair bit more than the original.)

 

Anyway, I'm at the Cohen bit and really digging how does the game pace itself. I'm also noticing how much of a bunch of idiots did devs deem necessary to deem their players. The game's clearly designed to be played without the hugeass objective arrow plasterd over the screen (never had it enabled, gah), yet it's a default setting for all players to see. It even has a hint system in place in case you get stuck without the arrow!

 

I'm also quite torn on how scripted the whole thing is, with levels that, while sprawling, tend to progressively open up as the plot progresses - a lot of the game's philosophy is the exact opposite to what Prey showed us back last year.

I played through Bioshock 1, 2, Infinite + dlcs last year. 2 and Minerva's Den are still my favorite and Infinite is still the inferior Bioshock for me with the exception of the second dlc which was awesome.

[Fenixp]

Yeah I'm mostly trying to go through the story right now, so Bio 2's kinda out of the picture. And Infinite... Well, Infinite was a good shooter, but it pretty much dropped the immersive sim pretense entirely which I wasn't happy about at the time but, y'know, Prey exists now.

 

Anyway, now I'm starting to remember stuff I really did not like about the game back when I played it for the first time. Hacking that's so primitive it might as well not be there when played on the mouse put aside, the way the game just starts swapping under-powered versions of splicers with massively bullet-spongy ones is just not fun.

[SonicMage117]

I have a feeling that I'm going to spend alot of time playing RDR2. It's just so easy to die in this game, and I don't mean on missions but rather just travelling on or off horse. 5 bandits attempted to rob me, I took a bit of time contemplating whether I should dismount like they commanded or not. Unfortunately I took too long deciding what to do, I decided to draw my weapon but before long they opened fire and I near instantly died.

 

I love the a.i in the game, it's refreshing to see the systems like in this game being used. Not bad Rockstar, not bad at all.

[Katphood]

One of the reasons I loved Bioshock 2 was the amount of tools that were at your disposal. I played the game on the hard difficulty setting and it made the fights with the big sisters very entertaining. Placing the right tool at the right place meant the difference between life and death.

[Gorth]

Still playing Guild Wars 2 when I have the time. Got myself a griffon mount. A great addition to the game, if a bit pricey and hard to get.
 
I've completed the core story a few time and the two expansions once each. Also completed Living World Season 2 and currently working my way through season 3.
 
But.... ffs ANet, if you mean for people to bring a raid group for a mid story boss fight, at least add 'Group' to the event description. It's a lot of frustration dying over and over and the look for hints on youtube, just to see that all the "solutions" is to bring a fully maxed out team in what is otherwise just a solo story. Looking at you, last fight in Heart of Thorns and Inquisitor Caudecus in Lake Doric (a bit more than halfway through season 3)

 

Starting to get the hang of playing Chronomancer... Alacrity on demand indeed, but still not getting maximum value out of my Continuum Splits. Dying a lot less on my thief too now compared to the beginning.

[Tale]

Before my latest BG2 run: When did they add Hexxat? I never saw her before. Must have been added in patches.

 

During my latest BG2 run: This Hexxat stuff looks awfully familiar.

 

So there's that.

[Oner]

But.... ffs ANet, if you mean for people to bring a raid group for a mid story boss fight, at least add 'Group' to the event description. It's a lot of frustration dying over and over and the look for hints on youtube, just to see that all the "solutions" is to bring a fully maxed out team in what is otherwise just a solo story. Looking at you, last fight in Heart of Thorns and Inquisitor Caudecus in Lake Doric (a bit more than halfway through season 3)

Uh, outside of open world events I soloed pretty much everything.

[Chilloutman]

 

But.... ffs ANet, if you mean for people to bring a raid group for a mid story boss fight, at least add 'Group' to the event description. It's a lot of frustration dying over and over and the look for hints on youtube, just to see that all the "solutions" is to bring a fully maxed out team in what is otherwise just a solo story. Looking at you, last fight in Heart of Thorns and Inquisitor Caudecus in Lake Doric (a bit more than halfway through season 3)

Uh, outside of open world events I soloed pretty much everything.

 

 

Is not last 'event' in story basically highest level dungeon with full party?

[Farmar]

Currently focusing on Path of Exile, got t earn that currency for VD Indigon build (which is like extremely expensive). Waiting for Fallout 76 to be released, will definitely buy it as soon as it's available, because game looks insanely good and it will give a new lease of life to MMO kind.

[marelooke]

Still playing Guild Wars 2 when I have the time. Got myself a griffon mount. A great addition to the game, if a bit pricey and hard to get.

 

I've completed the core story a few time and the two expansions once each. Also completed Living World Season 2 and currently working my way through season 3.

 

But.... ffs ANet, if you mean for people to bring a raid group for a mid story boss fight, at least add 'Group' to the event description. It's a lot of frustration dying over and over and the look for hints on youtube, just to see that all the "solutions" is to bring a fully maxed out team in what is otherwise just a solo story. Looking at you, last fight in Heart of Thorns and Inquisitor Caudecus in Lake Doric (a bit more than halfway through season 3)

 

Starting to get the hang of playing Chronomancer... Alacrity on demand indeed, but still not getting maximum value out of my Continuum Splits. Dying a lot less on my thief too now compared to the beginning.

 

Most of the (story) bossfights range from annoying to extremely obnoxious. They've fixed the last HoT boss a long time ago though, most of the stuff you Google is probably just way out of date (you can just go stand in the shield bubble with the NPCs nowadays, which makes him trivial). Caudecus also was nerfed a few times but if you are there on the wrong class (or build) you'll have a bad time. I got lucky there from what I hear by bringing a Daredevil.

Now the Path of Fire final bosses, those are just extremely obnoxious, I absolutely hated those fights (chances of running through PoF story with another character are, for me, close to zero)

 

As for Chronomancer (which is the class I play most of the time) I find it perfectly highlights the weaknesses of the game. It's a class that requires you to blindly follow a "rotation" for optimal result in group play because the UI doesn't give you the information you need for a more reactive play style. And all of that in the name of "avoiding players having to play the UI" bollocks, I mean, like how you don't have to play the UI during the Soulless Horror encounter, tanking at a boss while staring at a little debuff icon (that moves around) isn't playing the UI, according to Anet

They've now made it even worse and you have even less flexibility in the traits and abilities you can use if you want optimal result on top of making running two Chronomancers in raids pretty much mandatory (the flexibility was what attracted me to the class in the first place...)

 

 

 

But.... ffs ANet, if you mean for people to bring a raid group for a mid story boss fight, at least add 'Group' to the event description. It's a lot of frustration dying over and over and the look for hints on youtube, just to see that all the "solutions" is to bring a fully maxed out team in what is otherwise just a solo story. Looking at you, last fight in Heart of Thorns and Inquisitor Caudecus in Lake Doric (a bit more than halfway through season 3)

Uh, outside of open world events I soloed pretty much everything.

 

 

Is not last 'event' in story basically highest level dungeon with full party?

 

That used to be the case and was one of the reasons I dropped the game early on. They've since created a solo version of it. It's a very long instance though and with the wrong class/gear it can still be a pain, but at least there's no need for a group any more (though with at least one extra player it becomes absolutely trivial).

Edited October 29, 2018 by marelooke

[Skazz]

Waiting for Fallout 76 to be released, will definitely buy it as soon as it's available, because game looks insanely good and it will give a new lease of life to MMO kind.

 

I do not mean to sound mean, but... are you for real?