What Are You Playing Now: The meaning of life

[ComradeYellow]

Heroes of Might and Magic 4 (GOG sale).

Game is like crack, better than 3.  4 and 1 are my favorites.

[Sandro G Meier]

13 hours ago, ComradeMaster said:

Heroes of Might and Magic 4 (GOG sale).

Game is like crack, better than 3.  4 and 1 are my favorites.

Well, hardly to say it‘s better than 3, but I like 4 more than 3, it's more interesting for me, even with its imbalance and terrible AI.

And I found the class development mechanic most fun of me. It's always token a place in my every PC.

[LittleRose]

After half a year of a break from RPGs I've finally started with Nethergate: Resurrection - and got lost on the lowest level of the first dungeon. I'm almost out of spellpoints and potions, and I can't find the way up again. Well, maybe tomorrow. At least I got rid of the goblins. I've also found a nice amound of money in loot.

Ah, the good old taste of adventure and the thrills of a proper dungeon. I can't wait to report back to town and sell some stuff. That ruby must be worth half a fortune.

Edited March 4, 2021 by LittleRose

[BruceVC]

On 3/4/2021 at 4:16 AM, LittleRose said:

After half a year of a break from RPGs I've finally started with Nethergate: Resurrection - and got lost on the lowest level of the first dungeon. I'm almost out of spellpoints and potions, and I can't find the way up again. Well, maybe tomorrow. At least I got rid of the goblins. I've also found a nice amound of money in loot.

Ah, the good old taste of adventure and the thrills of a proper dungeon. I can't wait to report back to town and sell some stuff. That ruby must be worth half a fortune.

What !!! How can you ever take such a long break from the greatest gaming genre of all time ....RPG !!

What have you been playing?

[Mamoulian War]

Druidstone - The Secret of the Menhir Forest is much better game, than I have anticipated. Well at least on Hard Difficulty, it is really challenging, so I have to click restart once in a while, but I am really enjoying it. The writing is by no means stellar, but it is a fresh puzzle turn-based game. Finished so far 6 missions, 4 of them in 3 star rating. The other two, I will replay when I get little bit more powerful I can only recommend, so far 4 out of 5 stars

If anyone would like to check how the game plays, feel free to watch my game
 

 

[Wormerine]

1 hour ago, Mamoulian War said:

Druidstone - The Secret of the Menhir Forest is much better game, than I have anticipated.

Isn't it the one from Legend of Grimrock folks? I remember it getting favourable reviews when it was released, but never got around to playing it. Still have LoG2 to play really. Started it, and never continued.

I finished my 1st playthrough of Dishonored2 - will definitely be back for more, but for now I moved on to Death of the Outsider. I was expecting the worst, considering poor reviews, but I think it is a great DLC so far. Levels are smaller, sure but packed and still full of the Dishonored goodness. I think I prefer it's power design. Deplatable mana system means I generally don't use much of anything beside blink and XRAY vision. Meanwhile, Death of the Outsider, allows for mana regeneration, meaning we are only limited in how many powers we use at one time. Also there are no "I win" powers like stop time or domino, which I think overall encourages more interesting gamestyles. I also appreciate the firesight - while clunky at least it prevents me from running in XRAY vision all times. Which for once I can finally the superb art direction those games have.  

[Mamoulian War]

23 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

Isn't it the one from Legend of Grimrock folks? I remember it getting favourable reviews when it was released, but never got around to playing it. Still have LoG2 to play really. Started it, and never continued.

Yes, it is the same people, just under different name. LoG1 was awesome, LoG2 on my backlog as well But planning to get to it ASAP

[LittleRose]

10 hours ago, BruceVC said:

What !!! How can you ever take such a long break from the greatest gaming genre of all time ....RPG !!

What have you been playing?

Mostly point & click adventures and Stardew Vally. I don't know what was wrong with me. After Mass Effect 2, which I've quit just minutes before the final boss, because I couldn't stand those never ending waves of attackers anymore, almost every RPG felt like it had too much combat. I consider it an RPG burn out, because that describes ist best. I just needed a break.

All I could ever think about was tactics and stats, not the quests, not the story. It killed all my motivation to figure things out, and I started to play everything in story mode. But that didn't help, either. In the end, I had to admit to myself that the thrill was gone, and I needed to check out something new.

I used to be eager to experience all those great adventures in the game whenever I started a new RPG, but that feeling was gone entirely. Fortunately, it's back now. I just really needed a break from all that fighting, that's all. And I'm overjoyed to have that feeling again. I can't wait for all those upcoming new games, and I really want to catch up on the ones I couldn't enjoy for quite a while. It feels like coming home. Monsters and evil wizards prepare: I'm back! Because you're right: It is the greatest gaming genre of all time.

[the_dog_days]

A little over a month ago my computer overheated. With nothing but my Switch and my nephew's Xbox One to occupy my time, I decided to replay the Dragon Age games.

Origins was great. I forgot how dark some of the notes and codex get and about the slog in the middle. I played a human rogue, didn't romance an companion (though I did hookup with several NPCs), never recruited Zevran (my family had just been assassinated so I wasn't feeling merciful), betrayed Alistair, married Anora, tried to get Logain to do the dark ritual but must've missed the right dialog prompt and had to do all the heavy lifting myself.

Followed up playing all the DLC and Awakening. Most of the DLC is kinda blah except for a boss fight at the end of Golems of Amgarrak. Even Witch Hunt was boring until Morigan showed up in the final few minutes. Awakening, on the other hand, is pretty darn good. I've been saying for years they shoulda expanded Awakening and just made that Dragon Age 2.

DA2 is still every bit as bad as I remembered it being from the one other time I played it. I didn't like the characters, the city is tiresome, the combat is mechanically improved but the fights with multiple waves of enemies in every encounter makes it boring, and the ever present fact there's no central conflict as a player goal all hamper it.

I was short tempered a mage dude with a one sided crush on Aveline. I won't waste your time with anymore about what I didn't in this game 'cause no matter what you do or who you recruit the ending is always the same as I found out.

Currently I'm playing DA:I. I hate the wartable (which is something there's a mod for if only I could play on PC. Which is ironic 'cause it's a substitute for a better system they used in Awakening. I'm about half way through and struggling to find motivation to keep on. That's despite not recruiting the annoying companions.

[BruceVC]

16 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Isn't it the one from Legend of Grimrock folks? I remember it getting favourable reviews when it was released, but never got around to playing it. Still have LoG2 to play really. Started it, and never continued.

I finished my 1st playthrough of Dishonored2 - will definitely be back for more, but for now I moved on to Death of the Outsider. I was expecting the worst, considering poor reviews, but I think it is a great DLC so far. Levels are smaller, sure but packed and still full of the Dishonored goodness. I think I prefer it's power design. Deplatable mana system means I generally don't use much of anything beside blink and XRAY vision. Meanwhile, Death of the Outsider, allows for mana regeneration, meaning we are only limited in how many powers we use at one time. Also there are no "I win" powers like stop time or domino, which I think overall encourages more interesting gamestyles. I also appreciate the firesight - while clunky at least it prevents me from running in XRAY vision all times. Which for once I can finally the superb art direction those games have.  

Yeah the Dishonored games are great...they come from Bethesda, what do you expect 

I use to love the quick-teleport and then killing people and then I liked reading random peoples  minds  and knowing their true thoughts 

I enjoyed the lore and the interpretation of their fantasy world, great games and very entertaining 

 

 

[BruceVC]

5 hours ago, the_dog_days said:

A little over a month ago my computer overheated. With nothing but my Switch and my nephew's Xbox One to occupy my time, I decided to replay the Dragon Age games.

Origins was great. I forgot how dark some of the notes and codex get and about the slog in the middle. I played a human rogue, didn't romance an companion (though I did hookup with several NPCs), never recruited Zevran (my family had just been assassinated so I wasn't feeling merciful), betrayed Alistair, married Anora, tried to get Logain to do the dark ritual but must've missed the right dialog prompt and had to do all the heavy lifting myself.

Followed up playing all the DLC and Awakening. Most of the DLC is kinda blah except for a boss fight at the end of Golems of Amgarrak. Even Witch Hunt was boring until Morigan showed up in the final few minutes. Awakening, on the other hand, is pretty darn good. I've been saying for years they shoulda expanded Awakening and just made that Dragon Age 2.

DA2 is still every bit as bad as I remembered it being from the one other time I played it. I didn't like the characters, the city is tiresome, the combat is mechanically improved but the fights with multiple waves of enemies in every encounter makes it boring, and the ever present fact there's no central conflict as a player goal all hamper it.

I was short tempered a mage dude with a one sided crush on Aveline. I won't waste your time with anymore about what I didn't in this game 'cause no matter what you do or who you recruit the ending is always the same as I found out.

Currently I'm playing DA:I. I hate the wartable (which is something there's a mod for if only I could play on PC. Which is ironic 'cause it's a substitute for a better system they used in Awakening. I'm about half way through and struggling to find motivation to keep on. That's despite not recruiting the annoying companions.

You must finish the journey you have started, you just need to complete DA:I. This is all about gaming integrity and commitment and I have every confidence you can do it  

 

[melkathi]

31 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

You must finish the journey you have started,

The only thing anyone *must* do is gather their party before venturing forth.

[the_dog_days]

Forgot to mention I played the dlc for DA2, as well (playing all the dlc in each game is a part of the challenge). Legacy was alright with a good boss fight at the end where my healer and off tank went down almost immediately so I had to do the entire fight without half my party.

Mark of the Assassin felt like a guest celebrity episode of a sitcom. By the end my grumpy mage hate Felicia Day or whatever her name was. Which was funny 'cause they tried so hard to make you think the character is awesome. I'm guessing Mark of the Assassin is where BioWare got the idea for Diana Allers as they both go way over the creepy threshold.

Finally there's the Sebastian dlc. Summary: he will complain about everything (and the voice actor does a good job) but then they didn't get any of the other cast in to record reactions so Sebastian comes off as some whining ghost.

I haven't done any DA:I dlc yet.

[Hurlshort]

Wow dog_days, are you reading the novels as well?

[BruceVC]

6 minutes ago, the_dog_days said:

Forgot to mention I played the dlc for DA2, as well (playing all the dlc in each game is a part of the challenge). Legacy was alright with a good boss fight at the end where my healer and off tank went down almost immediately so I had to do the entire fight without half my party.

Mark of the Assassin felt like a guest celebrity episode of a sitcom. By the end my grumpy mage hate Felicia Day or whatever her name was. Which was funny 'cause they tried so hard to make you think the character is awesome. I'm guessing Mark of the Assassin is where BioWare got the idea for Diana Allers as they both go way over the creepy threshold.

Finally there's the Sebastian dlc. Summary: he will complain about everything (and the voice actor does a good job) but then they didn't get any of the other cast in to record reactions so Sebastian comes off as some whining ghost.

I haven't done any DA:I dlc yet.

I now have even more respect for you, do you need money ?

[the_dog_days]

7 minutes ago, Hurlshot said:

Wow dog_days, are you reading the novels as well?

I am a bookworm and since my computer died I've been getting more reading in, too. Nothing educational but whatever I find lying about my sister's house and since she has two preteens they're mostly YA novels and the like.

But no, I'm not reading the tie in novels.

5 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

I now have even more respect for you, do you need money ?

I always need money.

Edited March 6, 2021 by the_dog_days

[melkathi]

14 minutes ago, Hurlshot said:

Wow dog_days, are you reading the novels as well?

The first one was okay as an intro to the setting. Similar to how the XCOM2 or Deus Ex novels were okay.

The second one was less than okay.

There are two problems with the first novel:

a) it tries to name drop too much stuff. "Ooh! The characters talked to some dalish elves." It doesn't lead to anything, but the word got checked off the list. David Gaider must have been under a lot of pressure on that one to get everything marketing wanted him to into whatever word limit he had.

b) Shale appears in the novel and Loghain knows the golem, but as they made it day 1 DLC, in the game there is no dialogue to acknowledge this. It highlights a possible issue in project management at Bioware. Writers' work is just cut and thrown into the end product without too much care for the continuity the writers may very well have envisioned.

Edited March 6, 2021 by melkathi

[Wormerine]

20 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

LoG2 on my backlog as well But planning to get to it ASAP

Yeah, oddly enough moving out of repetivie dungeon area made LoG2 feel more aritificial then LoG1

[Mamoulian War]

Found first crazy hard mission for the first time in Druidstone. Took me more than two and half hours, and the last two enemies were defeatd with the last living character with 3 HP left Thankfully she is archer, so I was able to outrun their movement long enough to finish them off

[BruceVC]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/241620/Inquisitor/

Yesterday I finished Inquisitor, I spent about 200 hours playing this game and it provided a thoroughly entertaining RPG experience 

I recommend it but with some caveats, firstly the basic RPG mechanics, like party AI,  and combat can be frustrating but from about level 35 as a priest you get access to effective combat spells which helps

Also its definitely "hardcore " old school with no hand holding so dont play this game if you expecting an easy experience. For example on the various maps their are no beeping dots or marked areas where people and dungeons are so you need to explore to find critical quest related people

But the narrative is really compelling and you can literally decide to be evil and serve the  dark angels and decide to rule the world under eternal darkness if you want. Of course I chose the side of the good guys and defeated the demonic armies and their followers 

Their are also a myriad of quests and some of them have nothing to do with the main quest and that is always appreciated so you motivated to explore various places outside what you have to explore 

I give it a solid 68/100  on the globally respected " BruceVC gaming rating system " 

Edited March 7, 2021 by BruceVC

[Vaeliorin]

So I was playing more Troubleshooter.  @melkathiI finally played Scent of the Past, and my initial pick was Irene.  Of course, then I went back and played all the other ones (I'm curious if it's possible to beat Anne as Adventurer Dorori) because there are masteries and what not you get from doing so (I didn't expect the different characters paths to be so different, though.)

Hadn't been in the mood for something that takes quite so much attention the past couple weeks, which is why I hadn't played more earlier.

[melkathi]

Yeah, it is a rough battle for Adventurer Dorori. People Unequip Anne's masteries to succeed that one

I did Irene as well, but story-wise Heixing and Albus are more important. Heixing because it shows his relationship with Kylie. Albus because it introduces a new character.

Mastery-wise only Irene matters afaik she is the only one who gets a unique mastery from the encounter.

I hadn't expected Ray's scent of the past to be such a long story chunk. Especially not after Heixing's was such a short easy mission.

 

I have recruited Adventurer Dorori. He has a unique personal mastery "I love Anne".

Edited March 7, 2021 by melkathi

[Vaeliorin]

According to the mastery guide, there's a couple of unique ones (Anne, Ray and Irene) and Sion get you a couple (from what I understand) important masteries earlier than normal.  Maybe I'll try unequipping Anne to see if I can win that fight.  It seems like a lot of it would rely on luck, though, since Adventurer Dorori has seemingly terrible stats comparatively (I think his hit chance was like 45%.)

[melkathi]

I checked the wiki. Ray gives a Strict Refusal, correct. Apparently Anne gives Waiting regardless of your choice and win/loss.

[BruceVC]

I have a dilemma but its one of those nice conundrums  ... now that I have completed Inquisitor what do I play next?

I have so many unplayed games on GOG and Steam I am spoilt by choice. The last 3 games I played were Inquisitor, Bard Tale 4 and Divinity 2. All were excellent games with D:OS2 being my favorite so I am going to take a temporary break from party based RPG 

I am seriously considering Fable Anniversary ....has anyone played  it and what was it like ?