What are you playing right now?

[melkathi]

It redefines simple.

[Keyrock]

Elex committed my biggest sin of video game design for ending battles. I call it "just send hordes of enemies to make it difficult". I gave up trying to fight because literally I couldn't even turn around without a new battle robot slashing away at me while I'm trying to avoid rocket shots from the boss (who, by the way, when they hit you it's near impossible to rebound since it knocks you over constantly).

 

So dumb.

PB has a long and storied history of marring an otherwise great game with terrible ending sequences, unfortunately. They are definitely not alone in that regard. Why is it that the final parts of games seem to be so tough for game designers to make well?

[Tale]

I imagine it has something to do with the ending of the game being the most unpredictable in a complex game. In addition to designers often plateauing the difficulty spike early on. To actually get a new spike they have to do something the players aren't prepared for to add in some difficulty.

 

The two I like best, though, are duel finales and something of an endurance challenge that's only just complex enough that you don't get bored going through it.

[melkathi]

Bah. Got my fourth character in Mutant Year Zero (starting 2 plus 2 that joined in the story). Now comes that annoying part of party based games where I have to decide who to leave at home as the game has a three character party.

[Gorgon]

I spent several hours trying to hit evil mist with Nina Williams in practice mode. I need a joystick board i think. I mean, I hit it eventually 3 times in a row, but I will never use it in battle with a payoff percentage so low. 

[Fenixp]

HITMAN. After scrounging like every millimeter of the level, I'm slowly wrapping up Hokkaido the way I wanted to. I have it on good authority Hitman 2016'll become my game of 2018. Now I'm certain I'll be grabbing the second second game once the price drops a bit.

[GhostofAnakin]

 

Elex committed my biggest sin of video game design for ending battles. I call it "just send hordes of enemies to make it difficult". I gave up trying to fight because literally I couldn't even turn around without a new battle robot slashing away at me while I'm trying to avoid rocket shots from the boss (who, by the way, when they hit you it's near impossible to rebound since it knocks you over constantly).

 

So dumb.

PB has a long and storied history of marring an otherwise great game with terrible ending sequences, unfortunately. They are definitely not alone in that regard. Why is it that the final parts of games seem to be so tough for game designers to make well?

 

 

Laziness.

 

They could have made the end battle reliant on the skills you picked up or the gear you improved (since one of the main themes of the main quest was getting gear that's strong enough to take on Xacor).  Maybe the boss is immune to all damage except a certain type?  Or maybe he's immune until you destroy certain things around the room?

 

Anything is better than just sending mobs after you.

 

Update: I actually finished the battle after trying one last time.  Like I said before, the actual boss was a piece of cake.  It seemed like he took less shots to kill than one of those trolls or cyclops beasts.  The only "difficulty" was having 20 minions hacking away at me while I tried to shoot at the boss.

[Malcador]

Have become Wenger in Fm 2018. Trying to play attractive football with players that are capable...who lose to the 15th placed team easily and are generally playing like crap.  I assume it must be low morale, so I guess I'll stop screaming at them for now.  My talented CAM has realized that he can earn far more in England so is agitating to leave as well, so that is annoying.  Have to accept that as I play in a relatively low league (and the ****ing English overpay for everything).

[melkathi]

Nice thing in Mutant Year Zero is that you can freely swap party members while not in combat. No need to run back to town.

[the_dog_days]

Kenshi is fully released. Now I'm going to go die in a wasteland worth dying in (I'm looking at you, Fallout 76).

[GhostofAnakin]

The faction resolutions in Elex are unsatisfying.  Worse, I'm an Outlaw and the entire Fort wants to kill me because of my decision with the Hybrid.

[Fenixp]

Kenshi is fully released. Now I'm going to go die in a wasteland worth dying in (I'm looking at you, Fallout 76).

Is it any good? What would you compare it to? Looks a bit Mount and Bladey to me. Can you romance a broomstick?

[Zoraptor]

The faction resolutions in Elex are unsatisfying.  Worse, I'm an Outlaw and the entire Fort wants to kill me because of my decision with the Hybrid.

 

Spoilers since I don't think Keyrock has finished the game yet.

 

 

Presumably because you ended up killing their leader? Funny thing with that was Nasty barely reacting at all despite it being her brother, iirc she even helped me kill him. They weren't on the best of terms but that was pretty, er, cold.

 

[Ophiuchus]

I've been playing killer7, which was just re-released on Steam a few weeks ago. It's a trippy socio-political and psychological romp through a highly stylized, cell-shaded world (which has aged phenomenally at 60fps/1080p). If Kojima, Lynch, and Tarantino made a game, this would be it.

 

[bugarup]

Abandoned Fallout 3 for New Vegas the 245th run. It's amazing how Vegas is better at...well, everything.  Anyway, INT2 CHA2 character who's good at killing things, hiding and surviving and bad at everything else is often frustrating -- so many failed (often funny though) speech checks, so many boxes unopened! You don't notice how many of them there are in the game when you just habitually pass them. 

 

Also, methinks Lonesome Road is way overtuned, even with a truckload of health and defenses all it takes is two swipes from a deathclaw and it's game over, so unarmed build's not viable at all -- unlike everywhere else.

 

Also², shot a cistern of drug c0cktail into the system in anticipation of Rawr, but poor critter bugged as he always does and just stood still and watched reproachfully as as killed him from the safe distance. Oh well. 

 

Also³, low CHA+no Jury Rigging = exorbitant repair prices & forever broke Courier, but why does Lonesome Road's robo-repair interface care if I'm ugly? Cheating bastard. 

Edited December 7, 2018 by bugarup

[Katphood]

Started playing Resi 0 because of all the Resi 2 Remake hype.

[the_dog_days]

 

Kenshi is fully released. Now I'm going to go die in a wasteland worth dying in (I'm looking at you, Fallout 76).

Is it any good? What would you compare it to? Looks a bit Mount and Bladey to me. Can you romance a broomstick?

 

 

They're very much alike except you can pick a race in Kenshi (human, bugman, robot, or . . . Doomsday? Something with bone shards, anyway.) and subraces. I'm a robot because, well, I'm a robot. 

Edited December 8, 2018 by the_dog_days

[ShadySands]

STO and Stellaris

 

Do any of you use any mods for Stellaris?

[majestic]

Having never played the game before I grabbed the Dark Souls remaster on the Switch and I just killed Ornstein & Smough on my first try, no summons*, Smough first. Considering it's, uhm, legendary difficulty I expected a bit more. In all fairness I read up on their weaknesses and brought fire and fury (eh, bleed) to the fight - here's where you can tell me using Pyromancy is a cheap ass way to play the game, see if I care.

 

Knowing myself I'll probably get stuck for a while on some boss everyone else considers easy.

 

*Well actually I did summon Solaire expecting he will help me get a feel for the battle but he glitched out and got stuck with the Royal Sentinels outside the boss room, I just ran past them. Heh.

Edited December 7, 2018 by majestic

[wolfrider100]

At the moment I'm currently playing Just Cause 3 and when I'm not, I'm going to be playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Edited December 7, 2018 by wolfrider100

[GhostofAnakin]

 

The faction resolutions in Elex are unsatisfying.  Worse, I'm an Outlaw and the entire Fort wants to kill me because of my decision with the Hybrid.

 

Spoilers since I don't think Keyrock has finished the game yet.

 

 

Presumably because you ended up killing their leader? Funny thing with that was Nasty barely reacting at all despite it being her brother, iirc she even helped me kill him. They weren't on the best of terms but that was pretty, er, cold.

 

 

 

No.  I went back to the Fort first and no matter what William attacks me.

 

However, the above also occurs when I talk to him.  There is no dialogue option to avoid it.  Apparently it is completely tied into my cold level and how I handled the Hybrid.

 

Also, unless I missed a HUGE quest, the Bloody Baxter thing just kind of ... doesn't go anywhere.

[Zoraptor]

 

Yeah, he goes hostile if you handle the hybrid in a way other than the one he wants- IIRC I ran into him in the Ice Valley and ended up killing him there after dealing with the hybrid and the whole Fort did not go hostile, possibly because it wasn't there I fought him. Been a while since I played though so I could be wrong.

 

Don't think there's anything to miss about Baxter. It's implied that he may have changed his name/ identity so could be someone in the game, but nothing concrete.

 

 

[Chilloutman]

STO and Stellaris

 

Do any of you use any mods for Stellaris?

 

40K and living universe if you are not playing as Empire

 

[213374U]

Do any of you use any mods for Stellaris?

 

UI Overhaul 1080p Plus - this is a must for me, I hate scrolling up and down all the time

Ship behaviors and computers -  so that every fleet action doesn't turn into a huge slugging match past the opening volleys, ships remain at their assigned ranges

Stronger Orbital Bombardment - for non-crisis countries, vanilla bombardment is weaksauce and takes forever

 

I haven't had a chance to fire Stellaris up since 2.2, so there's a chance the patch broke some of those. The most important one, UI Overhaul, has been updated, though.

[Tale]

Coming down off Divinity Original Sin 2. It's a good game, but Act 2 feels like a bunch of busy work. Go visit the masters, do their quests for power, then maybe get back to the real plot. Also don't forget to pick up the dry cleaning and help all the old ladies across the street, else you'll be under leveled.

 

It really sets in when I'm following the only interesting part of the quest. The master with the demon! Ooh, there's Malady, she's interesting. And... I'm 4 levels too low. Geeze, I thought I was running out of quests for this dumb act already. And now I find I've only just started.