What Are You Playing Now: The New Beginning Thread

[Mamoulian War]

More Dark Souls 2 again, after little bit of struggle to keep alive my summon partner or noticing, that one head already fallen off :D, I was able to finish Duke's Dear Freja in 4th attempt. Getting to her, was this time much easier, when you know where the mobs are hiding, but I've still managed to die few times The fight is little bit over 4 minutes long.
 

 

[majestic]

So far the technical issues of Wasteland 3 appear to be thankfully limited for me. I'm not sure the resetting camera zoom on events is a technical issue, it probably is  a brain dead design decision. Whenever you talk to someone or an event happens the camera snap zooms up close, which isn't the issue, it just stays like that afterwards. Which is supremely annoying for me as I always play zoomed out to the max.

My biggest issue is how the hard skill checks turned the game from a save scumming fest into a metagaming fest of the worst kind. I find myself on the cusp of running back and forth to my Ranger HQ to swap characters in and out of my squad simply to meet skill checks in dialogues. It's... ridiculous.

Oh, I know I could simply accept that my squad can't handle every potential situation but that's the mindset of quitters (and my brain just doesn't work that way).

Edited August 29, 2020 by majestic

[Keyrock]

I'm back to La-Mulana 2 after an extended layoff.  This is my 3rd stint with the game. As much as I love the game, and I do, I have to take breaks from it because it's so difficult and it gets frustrating. It was the same way with the first game. I get stuck trying to figure out where to go and what to do. The game has tons of puzzles with cryptic riddles and clues to find. It can be really hard to figure out what a certain mural or inscription is pertaining to. I refuse to look up a walkthtough, so it's slow going. All the while I'm dying to traps, platforming, and enemies.

[Hurlshort]

So X4 has a problem running on my pc. Basically I have to disable my onboard video card to get it to run, because it won't recognize my nice new fancy Nvidia card otherwise. I can re-enable it afterwards, but every time I reset the computer, I have to redo this process.

The game itself seems fun and I enjoyed the tutorial. I am not quite sure where to start after the tutorial. Do I just choose a scenario?

[Keyrock]

31 minutes ago, Hurlshot said:

 

The game itself seems fun and I enjoyed the tutorial. I am not quite sure where to start after the tutorial. Do I just choose a scenario?

Regardless of which starting scenario you choose scan a station, any station, and eventually you'll come across a data leak which will get you started on the main story. Beyond that, you can do whatever you want. You'll probably want to make some credits and raise your standing with some factions. Do some trading, fight enemies in a faction's sector, or do some missions (you can find missions on your map, they tend to pop up at stations). You can get more missions from data leaks. Sometimes people on stations will also give missions. Generally my main goal very early on is just to get a halfway decent ship and equip it well and to get good rep with 1 faction.

Also, do the full loop around the main superhighway. That will introduce you to many of the main factions.

Edited August 29, 2020 by Keyrock

[Keyrock]

In terms of ships, generally speaking:

Argon - The Mario of ships, decent all around.

Teladi - Slow, well armored and shielded, tons of cargo space.

Paranid - Quite good overall but very expensive.

Split - Fast, lots of firepower, poorly armored and shielded.

 

[213374U]

3 hours ago, majestic said:

Oh, I know I could simply accept that my squad can't handle every potential situation but that's the mindset of quitters (and my brain just doesn't work that way).

Do you know if there is branching design from failing skill and dialogue checks or it's just a typical "[FAILED] → combat" system?

[Hurlshort]

I managed to fix my X4 startup issue by downloading some sketchy beta drivers for my onboard GPU. Let's hope that doesn't come back to haunt me.

I started the Young Gun scenario, so I'm a British chap in the seat of a ship that is basically a big engine in the back, a big gun in the front, and me squished in the middle. Currently running through more of the help tutorials because there is a lot to learn. But so far it is easier to navigate than Elite Dangerous and has more personality and life than No Man's Sky. 

[MedicineDan]

Anyone playing Wasteland 3?  I just now saw that it's available on Steam.  I loved Wasteland 2, so this one is a no brainer.  Too bad I didn't see it until the weekend before work and school wreak havoc on my gaming time again.

[melkathi]

16 minutes ago, MedicineDan said:

Anyone playing Wasteland 3?  I just now saw that it's available on Steam.  I loved Wasteland 2, so this one is a no brainer.  Too bad I didn't see it until the weekend before work and school wreak havoc on my gaming time again.

majestic is playing.

[MedicineDan]

1 minute ago, melkathi said:

majestic is playing.

Duh, I just scrolled up there and saw it.  If I recall WL2, the dialogue skill checks were stiff in that game also.  I'm tempted to buy it, even if it sits on my shelf for some time before I play it.  Anyhow, thanks for pointing out my obliviousness, melkathi.  Turns out I had skimmed that post except for the damned title of the game

[Theonlygarby]

41 minutes ago, MedicineDan said:

Duh, I just scrolled up there and saw it.  If I recall WL2, the dialogue skill checks were stiff in that game also.  I'm tempted to buy it, even if it sits on my shelf for some time before I play it.  Anyhow, thanks for pointing out my obliviousness, melkathi.  Turns out I had skimmed that post except for the damned title of the game

Dialog checks were stiff.  Now every check is stiff, from disarming to hacking.  I dont mind really, better than save summing but prepare to not be able to meet every single check that comes your way...

 

Also weird after level 3 you get an attribute point after every level which seems weird... I'm still early on in the game so maybe every character won't be perfect by the end?  But it feels like that's where it's headed

[uuuhhii]

wasteland 3 have too many skill and unable to see what the dialogue option actually say without the meeting the requirement is the obvious problem

but much better then roll dice for result nonsense some video game still use

[Malcador]

Watched a Paladin take on 6 goblins by herself, wrecked them all.  That goblin mission was annoying, missed a spawn point due to one tiny fog of war in place in the edge of the map.

[majestic]

8 hours ago, 213374U said:

Do you know if there is branching design from failing skill and dialogue checks or it's just a typical "[FAILED] → combat" system?

Well you can't fail checks because you can't even try (in dialogues or with interactions), but the game tells you there is a dialogue option you can't pick, like in Pillars of Eternity. Based on the skills you bring you can solve quests in different ways. But at least Pillars had the good sense to often lock those options behind your character's race and background or give you multiple skills that work towards the same end.

So no, so far there's no real branching from failed skill checks. If you don't bring the necessary skills you're just hard locked into the default outcome, but that default outcome has a good deal of choices as well, and presumably, consequences later.

What caused me to write this post is that along the initial quests you'll come across a Barter 6 check while interacting with Brian Fargo Faran Brygo. This is part of a side quest that ties into a main quest in terms of rewards (i.e. the sidequests outcome is an object of a multi object main quest) and according to the quest log that handily tells you what kind of level you should be it's meant to be done before you start exploring the world.

The other irritating thing is how combat initiative works. When you see a group of enemies down the road you can approach them, set your party up (up until you reach detection range) and try to talk to them. Many of the dialogues so far just always lead to combat. That's fine, but talking to the enemies first will always give them the first turn. So the powergamery thing to do here is quicksave, look at the dialogue, find out if there's anything useful in it and if no, then reload and gain the iniative by shooting first and not asking questions later.

edit:

I just realized something - for everyone that doesn't know why Barter 6 is a problem for a level 3 or 4 party at this point in the game, it requires you to focus on building up the barter skill on one of your higher intelligence rangers almost to the exclusion of everything else. It's okay to bring a skill mule. A necessity even. But those really don't have Barter. Nope. Eh...

Edited August 30, 2020 by majestic

[MedicineDan]

I never concentrate on barter in these games.  I know, by late game, money won't be a problem.  It seems to me that this is a hamfisted way to make barter more useful.  I think that's wrongminded, as I see things.  I don't mind the 'getting the first shot' thing, though.  I like the bad guys giving my guys an excuse to pound them into oblivion.  The barter thin, though.  I wish they'd take barter out of these games in the first place or at least make barter more useful in an 'organic' (Good God, I need a shower) sort of way.

[Majek]

Playing wasteland 3 as well.  No major bugs for me either on Steam version. As for the game itself. It's okay,  i'll probably finish it.

But i am annoyed they did do something to .xml savegames, so i can't edit those at will now. So hopefully someone figures out that, so i can go play with that once i finish the game.

[majestic]

2 hours ago, Majek said:

But i am annoyed they did do something to .xml savegames, so i can't edit those at will now. So hopefully someone figures out that, so i can go play with that once i finish the game.

Given the file size of the save games I'm assuming that is some form of compression.

I'm not sure that was such a good idea on inXile's part. I read a few posts about wrap around troubles with variables, like people suddenly having a negative 90% crit chance and fun stuff like that. Would be easily fixable with regular XML files.

Kingmaker had easily editable save games (albeit terribly large ones) and that allowed me to actuall finish the game. I would have been stuck at a non-firing event at some point without the ability to simply set a new event date. Well "simply" as it is, but anyway. I'm sure someone will figure it out. Sooner than later.

Also it seems I was wrong about combat always starting for the enemy. They all just seem to have ridiculous initiative values.

Kind of love the humor in the game, and the item descriptions. "Goes pew pew pew when fired" for laser pistols and "It's a motherf'ing laser shotgun. What else could you want?" xD

[Vaeliorin]

I've been playing Tyranny.  I started it twice before, but never finished it.  I'm currently doing a Disfavored/Law & Order run, and hoping to do at least a Scarlet Chorus and Rebel run afterwards, but we'll see if that happens.

Before that, I was playing Remnant: From The Ashes, which was an excellent game (and the first "Souls-Like" I've finished, mainly because it's the first I've played without platforming or game-breaking bugs) but I got a bit tired running through the same areas hoping that the event/dungeon I needed would spawn so I could have a chance to get the key to open the door to get items I was missing.  Also, there's items locked behind hardcore and survival mode, neither of which appeal to me, which is kind of annoying.

[Keyrock]

I've made quite a bit of progress since starting up La-Mulana 2 again. I got a new primary weapon, the rapier, a new secondary weapon, earth spear, the ability to run really fast uncontrollably, and a second ankh. I also reached a boss fight: Badhbh Cath. The fight has (at least) 2 stages. First you have tu o defeat Morrigan, Macha, and Nemain. Once the 3 are defeated, Badhbh Cath appears. I've tried 3 times so far and reached stage 2 once. The good news is that reaching this battle is fairly quick and easy, so that cuts down on the frustration factor. I need to get through stage 1 with as much health as possible. It's all about killing Morrigan as quickly as possible. Once she's out of the picture the amount of stuff coming at you constantly becomes manageable.

[Malcador]

Best player got poached by Lazio for 700k...so pretty sure my squad is screwed now as the AI always seems to snipe my players via release clause just before the window shuts.  Maybe will save scum and redo the whole transfer season

[Skarpen]

@majestic Brygo Barter check gives you extra 200$ so nothing much in terms of missing out. However barter 6 requires 10 skill point so it's 3 levels worth of investment assuming you start with 1 point at character creation. Giving that you will be level 7 or 8 when you even have the option to meet him I would say it's doable. 

I dont think W3 have to many skills. Way, way less than W2.  I went with 3 rangers ( I want to have 3 companions) and have most of the skills covered. Excluding weapon skills I'm missing wierd science, animal whisperer and survival. I'm not interested in whisperer and survival is covered by companion. So having a 4 PC squad will cover all skills assuming you will focus on one weapon skill per character. Giving that all weapon skills (except unarmed) cover two weapon types it will give you all the diversity you need. 

I like the game so far. One thing I don't like is stealth which is wierdly done. There is no sneak mode, you cannot even crouch while moving. There is a stat that say how quickly (in seconds) you can be discovered, even if you run directly at the enemy. So forget about getting sneak attack by more than one character. 

After nerfing intelligence which now doesn't affect the number of skill points you get per level (it gives you flat one time bonus 1 skill point for every 2 points in intelligence) the best attribute is charisma which gives you a bonus to experience (30% at 10). So my advice is to give Charisma 10 to main character at start and skills that are used often like lockpicking. This is so he can level up quickly (choose perk for another 5%) and quirk for extra skill point every other level. You don't have to worry about other attributes because you get attribute point every level after level 4 and if my math is correct at the max level (50) you should be 1 point short of maxing all the attributes. There is also a trick you can use. The level of the created characters in your base is based on average level of the group so you can level up your squad by removing them and then then re-recruit them if they are behind the more experienced leader.

Oh, and when you know dialogue will end in a fight choose the option with [Attack] description. That way you have the first round.

[Raithe]

I've actually got this week off of work. Planning to actually sit down and wrap up the group of Assassin's Creed games I haven't actually finished yet - Syndicate, Origins, and Odyssey. They've been lurking there basically halfway done and I've got to see how they look on the upgraded machine now...

[Theonlygarby]

46 minutes ago, Skarpen said:

@majestic Brygo Barter check gives you extra 200$ so nothing much in terms of missing out. However barter 6 requires 10 skill point so it's 3 levels worth of investment assuming you start with 1 point at character creation. Giving that you will be level 7 or 8 when you even have the option to meet him I would say it's doable. 

I dont think W3 have to many skills. Way, way less than W2.  I went with 3 rangers ( I want to have 3 companions) and have most of the skills covered. Excluding weapon skills I'm missing wierd science, animal whisperer and survival. I'm not interested in whisperer and survival is covered by companion. So having a 4 PC squad will cover all skills assuming you will focus on one weapon skill per character. Giving that all weapon skills (except unarmed) cover two weapon types it will give you all the diversity you need. 

I like the game so far. One thing I don't like is stealth which is wierdly done. There is no sneak mode, you cannot even crouch while moving. There is a stat that say how quickly (in seconds) you can be discovered, even if you run directly at the enemy. So forget about getting sneak attack by more than one character. 

After nerfing intelligence which now doesn't affect the number of skill points you get per level (it gives you flat one time bonus 1 skill point for every 2 points in intelligence) the best attribute is charisma which gives you a bonus to experience (30% at 10). So my advice is to give Charisma 10 to main character at start and skills that are used often like lockpicking. This is so he can level up quickly (choose perk for another 5%) and quirk for extra skill point every other level. You don't have to worry about other attributes because you get attribute point every level after level 4 and if my math is correct at the max level (50) you should be 1 point short of maxing all the attributes. There is also a trick you can use. The level of the created characters in your base is based on average level of the group so you can level up your squad by removing them and then then re-recruit them if they are behind the more experienced leader.

Oh, and when you know dialogue will end in a fight choose the option with [Attack] description. That way you have the first round.

I started playing but I'm going to finish the trails in the sky series first....  I kind of don't like the changes in wasteland 3... I'll get used to it but I beat wasteland 2 quite recently so I'm very used to that style.

It seems somewhat dumbed down. From what I can tell....  The intelligence nerf is a bit much... I didn't realize it doesn't affect skill points per level...  The story is intriguing though which is the most important part.

[marelooke]

Finished NieR Automata, well, got the final set of endings (C, D and E), still have a bunch of achievements to go.

Pleasantly surprised overall, once past the tutorial (dunno why they figured making the tutorial so hard/punishing was a good idea, the rest of the game is well easier) I didn't have too much trouble. Dodge (ab)use combined with decent chip setup (anti-chain damage and the auto heal thing) kinda goes a long way, and I finished all regular fights on normal difficulty. I did, however, switch to easy and equipped some auto-fire, auto-dodge chips to get past the obnoxious hacking sequences in the Soul Box, that stuff just wasn't enjoyable at all.

Probably will finish up some more achievements, not sure if I'll do that before, or after, I get through the existential crisis...

So yeah, I guess negatives:

• the tutorial, really, the no savepoint before that final boss was just kinda obnoxious. Then again, the no compromises on the creative vision is a good thing, so I guess I'll take this over making it palatable for everyone and their cat, or dog. So maybe not so much a negative after all?
• Soul Box hacking sequences. That stuff was just obnoxious, especially since there's really not much you can do to make it easier (eg. changing chip-setup) aside from dropping down the difficulty, thankfully that was an option, or that part would have been one hell of a rage inducing show stopper...
• too much of the story is "hidden" in content outside of the game (novels, live performance stuff, etc.) and only referenced in the game. To get the full picture one does need to dig around a bit (well, a lot, really). This includes some rather interesting stuff that happens after Ending E (the "real" ending) which I feel should just have been in the game, if only to give some additional closure to the player.
• some characters could have used more depth, I'm especially referring to
  Spoiler

  A2, and the Commander. There's some quite interesting theories going around regarding the latter wrt. of her treatment of 2B and 9S. There's also the letter she sent Jackass.

  And wouldn't have minded learning more about Jackass either.

• port isn't exactly great, and does need unofficial patch to get rid of some obnoxious technical issues (like the mouse cursor blinking in the middle of the screen all the time)

The good:

• story (well, errr, duh?)
• character development, with less talking they made characters a hell of a lot more relatable than many other games that spend a lot more words, and time, on them.
  Spoiler

  This especially goes for characters like 21O and 6O, but really, the same goes for 2B, which doesn't really say a whole lot during your time spent with her.

   

• combat: while the game's combat kinda isn't really my thing, being someone who doesn't usually use a controller outside of race games. Even with my clumsy controller skills most of the game (see before for the exception) was playable without killing my fingers (despite rather, errr, long playing sessions), or leading to excessive frustration, on normal mode.

Looking forward to the NieR Gestalt/Replicant remaster (hoping the PC version will be better, technically) and/or a follow-up to Automata.

Edited August 31, 2020 by marelooke