What Are You Playing Now: Gaming Lives

[majestic]

13 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

I bet, you have the “convenience” to buy the “right” loot in the DA:I store. Only 2.99$  

No, because then the grind would make sense. It's just random and with terrible drop chances.

You can spend money on multiplayer, I think. Not sure, never tried, but it was possible in ME3 and Andromeda, so I'm guessing it's true for DA:I either. Too lazy to google right now.

[BruceVC]

On 9/18/2020 at 5:22 AM, Tale said:

Dragon Age Inquisition's loot system is annoying the crap out of me. It's one of those games I feel is trying too hard with loot.

You have three tiers of loot, 4 rarities, customizable upgrades, and loot progression that goes alongside character level. Then, if you're a mage, you have to sort 3 damage types for your weapon because this will be on the test. Which means you're constantly finding utter crap. And you have to navigate the slow menus one item at a time just to make sure it's crap. And even when it's not crap, you're now going into another slow menu to take off the upgrades from your old equipment to put the upgrades on the new one. Your equipment basically has their own equipment submenu that requires accessing through a special location. 

And if you want to keep your entire roster's equipment up to date, you need to do this process like 10 times. Because you never know when you'll need to take someone off the bench.

 

Customization is desirable because it's supposed to reduce the doing of all this. Find something you like the looks of and you can keep it by upgrading. Find something with stats you like and you can make it look cool. Here we're just adding more loot, more stats, more junk, more menus.

 

I'm not even saying that games need to stop doing loot. They just need to loot to not be an obligation. It needs to be an interesting game system. It should have the value of a good skill tree, representing a play style. And only upgrading when it changes substantially or when you want a player to try something out different. Not just be ups. Soulsborne games are great at this. Even many games with too much loot show they know how... in their endgame. But games don't need the earlier filler. If the end game is where the interest is, the whole game needs to catch up.

This is exactly why you need to Mod a game like this, I have included the list of Mods that could address.. You just need to use the Frosty Mod Manager to install relevant Mods

There is no need for your gaming experience to be negative because of this type of design flaw. Let me know if you get stuck with the Mod Manager 

https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonageinquisition/search/

You know what we say in the Modding community ..." never accept the unacceptable " 

[Tale]

I can find no mods that make it so the loot isn't just piles of crap that's managed by horribly slow menus. It's mostly cosmetic mods, a few rebalances. Ooh, I see one that drops even more loot. That would just make the problem worse.

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Tale said:

I can find no mods that make it so the loot isn't just piles of crap that's managed by horribly slow menus. It's mostly cosmetic mods, a few rebalances. Ooh, I see one that drops even more loot. That would just make the problem worse.

Damn, sometimes a game issue is just not common enough so there  might not be a mod, let me check some other Mod websites because  Nexus is normally the best place but I also bought DA:I and will be modding it anyway once I am done with Mass Effect Andromeda 

[BruceVC]

2 hours ago, Tale said:

I can find no mods that make it so the loot isn't just piles of crap that's managed by horribly slow menus. It's mostly cosmetic mods, a few rebalances. Ooh, I see one that drops even more loot. That would just make the problem worse.

I didnt find anything significant but can I suggest you post a  general query on the Nexus forum and see if there is something else to be done....I dont like to think this problem is immutable, what if I experience it?

[Hawke64]

On 9/18/2020 at 10:22 AM, Tale said:

Dragon Age Inquisition's loot system is annoying the crap out of me. It's one of those games I feel is trying too hard with loot.

You have three tiers of loot, 4 rarities, customizable upgrades, and loot progression that goes alongside character level. Then, if you're a mage, you have to sort 3 damage types for your weapon because this will be on the test. Which means you're constantly finding utter crap. And you have to navigate the slow menus one item at a time just to make sure it's crap. And even when it's not crap, you're now going into another slow menu to take off the upgrades from your old equipment to put the upgrades on the new one. Your equipment basically has their own equipment submenu that requires accessing through a special location. 

And if you want to keep your entire roster's equipment up to date, you need to do this process like 10 times. Because you never know when you'll need to take someone off the bench.

 

Customization is desirable because it's supposed to reduce the doing of all this. Find something you like the looks of and you can keep it by upgrading. Find something with stats you like and you can make it look cool. Here we're just adding more loot, more stats, more junk, more menus.

 

I'm not even saying that games need to stop doing loot. They just need to loot to not be an obligation. It needs to be an interesting game system. It should have the value of a good skill tree, representing a play style. And only upgrading when it changes substantially or when you want a player to try something out different. Not just be ups. Soulsborne games are great at this. Even many games with too much loot show they know how... in their endgame. But games don't need the earlier filler. If the end game is where the interest is, the whole game needs to catch up.

It was sort-of resolved for second+ playthroughs. There should be a golden nug statue next to the stables in Haven or at the basement of Skyhold. It allows to share crafting schematics between your characters/saves.

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Completed Titanfall 2. The story was rather touching, optimization terrible, controls customizable.

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Completed Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition - Dark Dreams of Furiae. It had somehow odd pacing (no combat at the beginning, a classic NWN dungeon at the end), interactive-but-not-really objects (I could poke a door and see a message "This place is unimportant, move along") and all side quests included checking on NPCs each in-game day. Though, the implementation of time limits was interesting (I did not know that it was possible in NWN).
Story-wise, I saved the city of Furiae from some planar evil thing, so it can transfer to the LE plane on its own?
I also found a gelatinous cube. I don't remember seeing those in any other D&D game.

[BruceVC]

12 minutes ago, Hawke64 said:

 

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Completed Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition - Dark Dreams of Furiae. It had somehow odd pacing (no combat at the beginning, a classic NWN dungeon at the end), interactive-but-not-really objects (I could poke a door and see a message "This place is unimportant, move along") and all side quests included checking on NPCs each in-game day. Though, the implementation of time limits was interesting (I did not know that it was possible in NWN).
Story-wise, I saved the city of Furiae from some planar evil thing, so it can transfer to the LE plane on its own?
I also found a gelatinous cube. I don't remember seeing those in any other D&D game.

I mentioned to you I also purchased this game, I like gelatinous cubes, there is  a Mod for Skyrim  that creates a cube as a monster..this particular  Modder is a genius and he has created dozens of interesting mods 

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/102874

 

...I use to DM about 12 years in the AD&D 2nd Forgotten Realms....it was my favorite  world so you can imagine my love of any PC games in this world

So I have updated and bought the EE edition for BG1&2, NWN1 &2 and IWD 2 ...what should I play first, I am thinking IWD because its more action based

Edited September 19, 2020 by BruceVC

[Labadal]

I'm playing Deus Ex GO. I've played all the other GO games from Square Enix, and Hitman is still the best, imo.

[Keyrock]

7 minutes ago, Labadal said:

I'm playing Deus Ex GO. I've played all the other GO games from Square Enix, and Hitman is still the best, imo.

Hitman GO is indeed pretty great.

I need to take a break from La-Mulana 2. Not because I hit a wall, on the contrary, I'm making tremendous progress and I'm in an area I've only begun to explore, but because I'm on the verge of developing a blister on my thumb. You know it's a hardcore platformer when it blisters your thumb. 

I guess I'll play D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die for a bit. Take me away to crazy town, Swery.

[Mamoulian War]

I will be starting Shadow Run Hong Kong Extended Edition in few minutes. I have wanted to continue Dark Souls II into NG++ today, but kind of not really in the mood for that game at the moment Maybe because, I'll go to work tomorrow for the first time after my vaccation Anyway, there are still three fights from NG+, with which I would like to show-off to you So here we are

Again I arrived at Throne of Want, and first as always were the Throne Guys. This time, I've decided to summon both NPCs in front of fog gate, and fight with them this way. And as before, they went down on the first try in only 1 min 42 sec

 

[Keyrock]

I started D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die. Early on I got introduced to Amanda, a woman wearing a leotard and a comically huge bow in her hair who acts like a cat. When I first met her she had a mouse in her mouth and she jumped on me scratching at me. Later on I had a conversation with my detective buddy about clam chowder. Yup, this is definitely a Swery game.

Gameplay, at least so far, seems to mostly consist of QTEs and just walking around and examining things. Given how hit & miss (more miss than hit) Swery is when he does actual gameplay, maybe it's for the best. Thrilling twitch gameplay isn't what I play Swery games for anyway. I'm in it for the wacky characters, ludicrous storylines, and overall goofy weirdness. 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Keyrock

[MrBrown]

DA:I loot would be somewhat bearable if the inventory menus weren't so slow. Unfortunately, it's just plain annoying.

 

At least it quite quickly progresses to the point that anything that's not of the highest rarity is immediately trash.

[Hurlshort]

Subnautica: Below Zero - I decided to bite on the beta, since I was in the mood for a peaceful swim. It is coming along nicely and looks to be a solid follow up to the original.

[ShadySands]

Just finished the next few levels of the Tenebrous Depths in my Kingmaker game. Varnhold Vanishing a is about to kick off so I'm just prepping for that.

[Malcador]

In California in WL2, think my squad is ok - regret picking up Ralphie, but so far he can swing a blade....sort of ok.

[Theonlygarby]

Just finished wasteland 3...  Weird that this game had no real twists and turns.  10 hours in I was thinking 9/10 midway through was thinking 8/10 by the end it really feels like a 6 or 7.  Won't spoil anything but the motivation for your alternate choice(not patriarch) doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  I really just felt nothing about the whole ending.

[Mamoulian War]

Next in line was Nashandra, this time 3 attempts, because I was somehow little bit tired and wanted to have Benhart stay alive until the end. In the end I somehow decided that I just stop fooling around and finish the fight anyway. Little bit less than 3 minutes long fight, enjoy

 

[ComradeYellow]

Resident Evil 1 (1996)

After almost 25 years I'm still addicted to this game.

You know what!?  Someone really ought to do a Kickstarter and try to recapture the goodness of the original.  Who can we enlist for this task?

[Orogun01]

15 minutes ago, ComradeMaster said:

Resident Evil 1 (1996)

After almost 25 years I'm still addicted to this game.

You know what!?  Someone really ought to do a Kickstarter and try to recapture the goodness of the original.  Who can we enlist for this task?

Is it going to have tank controls and poor aiming mechanics?

[ComradeYellow]

I can beat the game with just the Beretta so I guess it's one of those "My son of a bitch" type of deals when it comes to mechanics.   Most people don't like top-down isometric turn based games anymore because of the slug pacing and poor mimic of realism but that never stopped the "sons of bitches" who like it from getting Kickstarter content out of it.

[Orogun01]

21 minutes ago, ComradeMaster said:

I can beat the game with just the Beretta so I guess it's one of those "My son of a bitch" type of deals when it comes to mechanics.   Most people don't like top-down isometric turn based games anymore because of the slug pacing and poor mimic of realism but that never stopped the "sons of bitches" who like it from getting Kickstarter content out of it.

....You mean it was just me hoarding all the ammo in case I needed for a boss?

[Gorth]

Still playing that old SSI game "War in Russia" (as the Soviet side). Almost at the end of 1941. Three consecutive weeks of blizzard has left The Wehrmacht in shambles. Even the various SS Panzer  Corps shatters like brittle glass when one of my still befuddled commanders get the bright idea of sneezing in their direction. Now spending recklessly of my manpower to inflict maximum casualties while the the weather lasts (it's random from week to week).

Using my meta game knowledge of being able to outproduce the enemy 5:1 in both manpower and tanks at the end of 1942, I'm attacking heavily fortified cities with just infantry and artillery, as each attack wears down a units "Readiness" factor and also starts lowering its entrenchment level.  In short, send in the peasants! (anyone who ever played Bretonnia in Warhammer will know what I'm talking about)

My biggest obstacle is going to be German air superiority which will still last a while unfortunately, even if I got lucky twice and managed to destroy HQ units (with all their air units). Planes are completely inefficient during blizzard, but once the weather turns to plain winter/snow, the Luftwaffe will have a field day level bombing my peasant on the open fields again. A situation I don't really expect to change significantly until the end of 1942 (because, meta gaming again, I know significant USAAF forces will start flying regular raids on German cities, drawing air units away from their eastern front).

May the best comrade win!

 

[majestic]

10 hours ago, Orogun01 said:

....You mean it was just me hoarding all the ammo in case I needed for a boss?

No, definitely not. I knife everything that's knifeable (is knifeable even a word?).

RE4 was particularily ridiculous, I ended the game with something like 36 Magnum rounds left over.

[Malcador]

Made it to California in WL2, my party was not ready for this.  Luckily I got a big hammer and a cool sniper rifle so guess I have to grind out progress.  Well, or could cheat and give myself better gear.    Game is so so, don't particularly find it amazing so just trying to knock it off my list.

 

Need to get back to Majesty, I almost miss that weird faux Sean Connery voice actor.

[Mamoulian War]

Third day of Shadowrun Hong Kong. I’ve spent more than 8 hours on the game already, but had only one mission of fighting (the first one of the game). This one is crazy text heavy compared to two previous entries... If this stays this way, Dragonfall will stay my favourite of the series  Playing Decker, so Is0bel stays out of party most of the time. And just recruited the Russian guy. I love, that they named his dron Koshchei  brings memories to some old russian fairytales, which I loved as a child