What Are You Playing Now: The meaning of life

[melkathi]

I had about 145K in cash in Troubleshooter when I decided it was time to upgrade Albus' equipment. So I now have around 85K in cash (having accidentally crafted the same Jacket twice... )

So after crafting an equipment set which cost me about 10K in materials per item, I decided to bask in its awesomeness. Then I noticed it gives no bonus whatsoever to Speed. Doh.

Spoiler

Guess I need to change my masteries.

[Malcador]

Continue to fail this scenario in Railroad Tycoon 3.  Will win through it eventually, still trying to become more aggressive. But at least I own my entire company, so that's one challenge down.  Is a fun experience to repeatedly fail at least.

Also passing time in Overwatch, getting my daily hit of gamer rage with the seemingly endless supply of short tempered hick trash the game matches me with.

[Mamoulian War]

Just finished the second act in Torchlight II, it is getting little bit tougher by the dungeon I visit, but so far only 4 deaths

[Tale]

Destiny 2, I know I shouldn't...

The three best things about this season are that the activity is actually fun, they put Ruinous Effigy on the kiosk, and removed catalysts are dropping. I've already got Bad Juju's, Ruinous Effigy's, and some other thing. I don't even care about the third one.

[MedicineDan]

Finished Wasteland 3.  Great game, but there are things that really sucked.  My philosophy in these games is to get my main skills etc. high as soon as I can and to specialize everyone.  Modding and bargaining are a pain in the rear.  The lack of sorting and filtering for weapons and armor is plodding.  On normal level, the battles are trivial, which leads to lazy play.  For example, there's no real lasting consequence for someone going down on normal, so I tended to rush in a lot and just heal up.  Some battles lent themselves to planning and if it looked tough, I'd position my squad, but mostly just rolled over folks.  The armored vehicle was fun, but I didn't get to use it very often.  The cut scene with Liberty was cheesy as all such scenes are.  Okay, this is what I hate most, though: 

to hell with siding with a slaver, so I cut down Cordite immediately.  The rest of the game, there were things that made me think I was *supposed* to team up with the creep.  I might try it next time and shiv him later or something.  The ending I got for arresting the Patriarch meant that Colorado basically took it in the shorts, so I think maybe the best ending is leaving him in power.  FUBAR.

  For all that, I enjoyed the game immensely.  I've got a full week coming up, but maybe I can start a game at a little higher difficulty and tweak my choices.

[BruceVC]

2 hours ago, MedicineDan said:

Finished Wasteland 3.  Great game, but there are things that really sucked.  My philosophy in these games is to get my main skills etc. high as soon as I can and to specialize everyone.  Modding and bargaining are a pain in the rear.  The lack of sorting and filtering for weapons and armor is plodding.  On normal level, the battles are trivial, which leads to lazy play.  For example, there's no real lasting consequence for someone going down on normal, so I tended to rush in a lot and just heal up.  Some battles lent themselves to planning and if it looked tough, I'd position my squad, but mostly just rolled over folks.  The armored vehicle was fun, but I didn't get to use it very often.  The cut scene with Liberty was cheesy as all such scenes are.  Okay, this is what I hate most, though: 

  Reveal hidden contents

to hell with siding with a slaver, so I cut down Cordite immediately.  The rest of the game, there were things that made me think I was *supposed* to team up with the creep.  I might try it next time and shiv him later or something.  The ending I got for arresting the Patriarch meant that Colorado basically took it in the shorts, so I think maybe the best ending is leaving him in power.  FUBAR.

  For all that, I enjoyed the game immensely.  I've got a full week coming up, but maybe I can start a game at a little higher difficulty and tweak my choices.

I have never played any of the Wasteland games so I always like to get peoples comments and views because I want to play them....just another potentially exciting unplayed  game within  my long list of  Steam and GOG libraries  

[marelooke]

20 hours ago, Wormerine said:

I am nearing the completition of Nier: Automata. I must say I am somewhat disappointed. It's been ok, but unless there is a really great wrap up to the story (doing third playthrough finished available for now content for one character and will start another) I really don't get what the craze is all about. For Platinum combat is pretty weak - it's fine, but it's mindless, shallow hack&slash. I like most of the RPG systems fine, except the leveling - it just throws any combat tuning out of the window making enemies either too quick and too tedious to kill depending if you over or underlevel them. Story has been "meh". Multiple playthrough gimmick would work well for typical Platinum games, where combat has so much depth that first playthrough is just tutorial - here I was bored with combat by first ending, and it only got more repetitive. Story itself is... meh. So far, consequent playthroughs feel like meandering, doing mostly fetch quests, with occasional big events which fail to land properly due to lack of character development. Also sooo muuuch paddding. I still like it though. I am just disappointed.

NieR: Automata's combat is of the easy to learn, hard to master variety, which suits me just fine because I'm bad at it. If it were actually challenging I'd never have made it through the game.

However, the DLC contains some arenas with supposedly harder bosses and I've seen some clips of people that mastered the combat system do things I didn't even realize were possible...feels like I barely even scratched the surface of it, really.

The first two Routes (or playthroughs, if you prefer) just give you different perspective on the same situation, ever so slightly lifting the veil of what's really going on.

If you've only just started playing as 9S you're on Route B (2nd playthrough), there will be differences with Route A, due to 9S's perspective, some will be significant, but most of it will be the same as in Route A. Side quest availability is also dependent on who you're playing as (might want to re-check areas regularly) It's Route C (which is entirely different from A & B) where things really get going.

And yeah, first time I tried the game I gave up halfway through Route A because things were just meandering along and the control scheme (ugh, controllers) didn't really work for me. Second time around I pushed through, and am I glad I did.

[Hawke64]

Disco Elysium. Completed the game (caught the killer, kept the job).
Really nice adventure game. Really not nice RNG. While failed skill checks were well-written, they still were failures, and reloading because of RNG was not exactly fun. I can't really call it an RPG, despite it being advertised as one. I guess, the main theme is that you can get up no matter how hard the world tries to bring you down? Or that there are giant stick insects?

[Wormerine]

34 minutes ago, marelooke said:

NieR: Automata's combat is of the easy to learn, hard to master variety, which suits me just fine because I'm bad at it. If it were actually challenging I'd never have made it through the game.

Is it, though? There doesn't seem to be much to combat - just slash and dodge (or hack if you are S9 as it's super OP). There are indeed some moves that I didn't know about (like dashing toward the enemy) but move set seems fairly basic. I know the super versed in Platinum combat, but while it feels like I have still a lot to learn about Bayonetta, Nier felt like I explored the depth of combat on my first playthrough. "mastery" seems come in the form of griding efficient programs, and crafting items, but I can't be bothered to max out, and don't feel the need to. I do still have S ranks on the arena to tackle - so far I didn't see anything new, just main game enemies gated via level requirements. Those on S rank are level 80 and when I attempted them last time while being on level 60 - I would barely be able to chip their health while they would kill me in one hit. One of the arenas is novel as you have to play as a robot rather then yourself - that mostly comes to dealing with limiting moveset. 

No, I am on my 3rd playthrough, where you switch between A2 and 9S. I actually really don't like third act. My favourite parts of NIer so far were main missions - proper platinum affair with good spectacle and fun boses. 3rd act feels like more sidequests - go there, kill mobs, get item etc. Honestly, first playthrough has been so far the most enjoyable - unless Nier hides a Pillars of Eternity class of a twist at the end that will make it all worth it. 

 

28 minutes ago, Hawke64 said:

Disco Elysium. Completed the game (caught the killer, kept the job).
Really nice adventure game. Really not nice RNG. While failed skill checks were well-written, they still were failures, and reloading because of RNG was not exactly fun. I can't really call it an RPG, despite it being advertised as one.

Why did you reload after failing checks? There is one that you need to pass (and, that is easily the worst part of the game) but other then that succeeding and failing checks is what game (and it's RPGness) is about. You don't get to complain about lack of RPG systems, if you activelly cheese your way through to bypass RPG systems. 
As to themes, I am not sure. Personally, I think the game falls apart once you cross the water lock. 

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Wormerine said:

I

 

if you activelly cheese your way through to bypass RPG systems. 
 

Why you being so nasty to Hawke, maybe he is sensitive to these types of comments and he gets offended and never posts here again....imagine how guilty you would feel?

And we like Hawke, he is a very committed and interesting gamer, so we dont want to get upset and leave the forum 

[marelooke]

1 hour ago, Wormerine said:

Is it, though? There doesn't seem to be much to combat - just slash and dodge (or hack if you are S9 as it's super OP). There are indeed some moves that I didn't know about (like dashing toward the enemy) but move set seems fairly basic. I know the super versed in Platinum combat, but while it feels like I have still a lot to learn about Bayonetta, Nier felt like I explored the depth of combat on my first playthrough. "mastery" seems come in the form of griding efficient programs, and crafting items, but I can't be bothered to max out, and don't feel the need to. I do still have S ranks on the arena to tackle - so far I didn't see anything new, just main game enemies gated via level requirements. Those on S rank are level 80 and when I attempted them last time while being on level 60 - I would barely be able to chip their health while they would kill me in one hit. One of the arenas is novel as you have to play as a robot rather then yourself - that mostly comes to dealing with limiting moveset. 

No, I am on my 3rd playthrough, where you switch between A2 and 9S. I actually really don't like third act. My favourite parts of NIer so far were main missions - proper platinum affair with good spectacle and fun boses. 3rd act feels like more sidequests - go there, kill mobs, get item etc. Honestly, first playthrough has been so far the most enjoyable - unless Nier hides a Pillars of Eternity class of a twist at the end that will make it all worth it.

Well, I'm not particularly good with controllers, and I sure as hell ain't chaining combos like this guy... I just got by on the basic combo set, like most people, I imagine, which, at least on normal difficulty, is perfectly adequate, albeit probably crude. I haven't stuck my neck inside the arenas yet, I sort of doubt I'd fare very well.

If you're not enjoying third playthrough then I'm not sure it gets any better, honestly, but my memory after Ending B is kind of fuzzy of what happened when. I do know that A&B are the longest chunks though, so might as well make it to the end at this point and find out I guess...

[Oner]

Got my crap together in Hades and managed 6 escapes in a row. Then I died to the Elysium boss because my Guan-Yu spear couldn't keep up with the damage they dished out. Oops.

[Sarex]

Finished Pathfinder Kingmaker for real this time, got the super secret true ending. As I said, in my eyes, this is the sequel we were promised for the IE games. Had this been done with the artstyle of Pillars of Eternity and more voice overs I would have said it even exceeded the old games.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

38 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Finished Pathfinder Kingmaker for real this time, got the super secret true ending. As I said, in my eyes, this is the sequel we were promised for the IE games. Had this been done with the artstyle of Pillars of Eternity and more voice overs I would have said it even exceeded the old games.

Did you think the spawn creature or the secret final boss were harder?

[Sarex]

31 minutes ago, KaineParker said:

Did you think the spawn creature or the secret final boss were harder?

If you are talking about the Tenebrous depths, then yeah the spawn creature was way harder. The secret final boss I defeated just by right clicking on him. This is on normal difficulty at least. It would have probably been even easier if I respect Amiri to a greataxe and used the end game greataxe with the x4 crit multiplier. Even still my dual wield Paladin cut through pretty much everything by the end game.

[Hawke64]

5 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Why did you reload after failing checks? There is one that you need to pass (and, that is easily the worst part of the game) but other then that succeeding and failing checks is what game (and it's RPGness) is about. You don't get to complain about lack of RPG systems, if you activelly cheese your way through to bypass RPG systems. 
As to themes, I am not sure. Personally, I think the game falls apart once you cross the water lock. 

I wouldn't complain, if the checks were static, instead of chance-based, so I would be able to pass them from the start or level up and return or unable completely. As it was, most checks were possible to pass with enough persistence.

Building the PC in a specific manner with some certainty that the build is viable is RPG (also, roleplay); RNG is not (unless it's combat and DE did not have a combat system).

[Wormerine]

5 hours ago, marelooke said:

Well, I'm not particularly good with controllers, and I sure as hell ain't chaining combos like this guy...

That is impressive, but it’s not a playstyle encouraged or rewarded in the game. Still, nice to see someone having fun with it.

[Wormerine]

2 hours ago, Sarex said:

Finished Pathfinder Kingmaker for real this time, got the super secret true ending.

Oh no! Is there super secret ending as well? I don’t care. As soon as I see credits rolling I am done with this pile of ****e. Tried to tie it up again, rescued all the companions and am trying to explore N’s hideout. I think Kingmaker could be a medicare 20-30h adventure, if they cut all the padding. Adaptation of the table top system might be faithful but the campaign is the worst one since Neverwinter Nights1. 

[Sarex]

22 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

Oh no! Is there super secret ending as well? I don’t care. As soon as I see credits rolling I am done with this pile of ****e. Tried to tie it up again, rescued all the companions and am trying to explore N’s hideout. I think Kingmaker could be a medicare 20-30h adventure, if they cut all the padding. Adaptation of the table top system might be faithful but the campaign is the worst one since Neverwinter Nights1. 

I mean story wise I don't think any of the IE games were that good, barring PS:T... Gameplay wise this game is as good if not better, if we exclude the kingdom minigame which I moded to be irrelevant.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

25 minutes ago, Sarex said:

I mean story wise I don't think any of the IE games were that good, barring PS:T

And that one had some big issues hat make it torture to actually play lmao.

Kingmaker is a pretty good pnp translation (with the Call of the Wild mod it's a really good one, even if it still has the warts of a 3e derivative) with some fun encounters but Owlcat couldn't quite pad the adventure path they adapted enough to deliver a really grand adventure and I really couldn't give two ****s about most of the party (ironically the best companion is only in the Varhold dlc and there isn't much interaction with him in the main game). Compared to the other IE derivatives it solidly blows out Torment (which was just bad tbh) and for me ends up somewhere below PoE (which was awful when released but got balanced into a good game). I hope Wrath of the Righteous ends up better, and so far it looks promising, but I'm easy to please so I'll probably be able to enjoy hacking some demons up.

[melkathi]

Played a mission in Troubleshooter that went very bad very soon. 12 bosses to defeat. After each the option to retreat. Lost 4 of 8 SWAT support and 3 out of 8 of my characters (+ my beastmaster's pet) before I took out the first boss. Retreated when the boss suiciderushed someone with high melee damage and counter attack.

Game gave me an EXCELLENT mission ranking. They keep using that word. I don't think it means what they think it means.

[Sarex]

23 minutes ago, KaineParker said:

And that one had some big issues hat make it torture to actually play lmao.

Kingmaker is a pretty good pnp translation (with the Call of the Wild mod it's a really good one, even if it still has the warts of a 3e derivative) with some fun encounters but Owlcat couldn't quite pad the adventure path they adapted enough to deliver a really grand adventure and I really couldn't give two ****s about most of the party (ironically the best companion is only in the Varhold dlc and there isn't much interaction with him in the main game). Compared to the other IE derivatives it solidly blows out Torment (which was just bad tbh) and for me ends up somewhere below PoE (which was awful when released but got balanced into a good game). I hope Wrath of the Righteous ends up better, and so far it looks promising, but I'm easy to please so I'll probably be able to enjoy hacking some demons up.

Torment for me is an interactive novel, I count it as the worst IE game. Regarding Pathfinder Kingmaker I was talking about the gameplay more than the story tbh, but I agree that it wasn't very inspiring and neither were the companions very memorable. Then again Pillars of Eternity had great artwork, voice overs a decent story but I still stopped playing it when my characters reached max level, I simply didn't like the gameplay enough to force myself to finish it.

[Wormerine]

1 hour ago, Sarex said:

I mean story wise I don't think any of the IE games were that good, barring PS:T... Gameplay wise this game is as good if not better, if we exclude the kingdom minigame which I moded to be irrelevant.

All of them had a decent pacing. I think the biggest connection is between BG1 and Kingmaker, but still BG1 guides through its content in a far more elegant fasion. It's also 50h game, not (as of writing 174h). And, you know, handcrafted coherent areas and overall fine > good dungeon design help.

I did make myself a great disservice 1) enduring a big chunk of Kingmaker on challenging? (one above normal essencially with core rules) 2) refusing to skip kingdom management & deleting invotory weight. Honestly, considering there isn't much to the game but the kindgom (as if everything revolve around it) I don't think it can be as easily ignored, as it is in PoE1. I can enjoy it for a day or two, but then I run into some utter BS and am angry with it again.

There is one bit of Kingmaker which confuses me - Season of Bloom. It is so much stronger compared to everything I have seen before and after. We do things a ruler would do, we have interesting decisions to make, our citizens seem to exist, our neighbours a memorably introduced, no unnatural jump in difficulty... what happen, who designed this bit, and why isn't he/she overseeing the entirety of the game? 

[Wormerine]

6 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Torment for me is an interactive novel, I count it as the worst IE game. Regarding Pathfinder Kingmaker I was talking about the gameplay more than the story tbh, but I agree that it wasn't very inspiring and neither were the companions very memorable. Then again Pillars of Eternity had great artwork, voice overs a decent story but I still stopped playing it when my characters reached max level, I simply didn't like the gameplay enough to force myself to finish it.

 We clearly enjoy different things then... which seems to be a common subject. I must say, I have been surprised to see how many people enjoyed IE games for completely different reasons then I did. 

[Zoraptor]

24 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

All of them had a decent pacing. I think the biggest connection is between BG1 and Kingmaker, but still BG1 guides through its content in a far more elegant fasion. It's also 50h game, not (as of writing 174h). And, you know, handcrafted coherent areas and overall fine > good dungeon design help.

I think you're regarding BG1 with a fair bit of the rose tinted there. You tend to forget all the the times you got wiped by kobolds in the Nashkel mines with their ludicrous crit dealing bows shooting your mages and thiefs or when you stumbled into an Ogre who gibbed everyone in 3 rounds just outside Candlekeep because it's been 23 years and you know what is coming. Or that literally every in game problem could be solved by, well, summoning allies, then summoning more allies and summoning more again.

Kingmaker is a game where you absolutely should ignore any hard encounter and come back to it later. Unfortunately modern gaming has conditioned people to believe that that is bad design and you should be able to win everything first attempt and do everything in any order. That is of course why we have level scaling, it's also why you have games like Oblivion where you not only can win with a lvl 2 character but it's actively easier to do so with one.

Give me unforgiving pull yourself up by your bootstraps you pathetic loser and git gud old school any day instead of the gaming equivalent of mummy delivering me chicken tendies and telling me how special I am for beating a daedric lord who's been level scaled down to gobbo class.

Edited February 13, 2021 by Zoraptor