What Are you Playing Now: Living the Good Life

[InsaneCommander]

I was feeling like playing Deadfire again. But since I won't use one of my PoE1 characters, I decided to replay the first game and do the whole journey for my new character, a Templar of Woedica. 

[Lexx]

*Yoga Fire

Took me a while to recall that.

Edited April 20, 2021 by Lexx

[Malcador]

Finished off Lost Horizon, that was a decent enough adventure game.  On to the sequel, then Sam Peters and I'll be done all of the Animation Arts games. 

[bringingyouthefuture]

Played through the updated Solasta early access.  Definitely has an indie feel to it, and from what I have seen so far story is basic, wouldn't say there is a lot of emotional depth but does have lots of heroics   Playing a Paladin seemed right in this game.  Interesting I thought the game started really well, its just a very straightforward plot, I don't think they built the game to incorporate consequence and choices, it is more a tactical RPG game with exploration and DnD rules.  And it is 100 percent a DnD game with all of what that entails - dice rolls, per rest magic, etc.  but the nice surprise is the devs gave a lot of options to turn that stuff on and off, it is pretty customizable, for instance I turned off the option that only allows you to try to unlock or remove a trap just once, so if you fail the dice roll no opening the chest (yep turned that off, hate that).

On its core rules game is pretty easy, didn't mess too much with the difficulty of the game, and found myself a little over leveled pretty quick, but there is a ton of difficulty options too, was hesitant to mess with them as they mostly involve tweaking the stats of the enemy upwards - more hit points, higher attack rolls, etc.  Also I liked the idea of playing on the core DnD rules though so probably won't mess with them too much.  I did turn on the Deadlier AI option though I think they could put some more powerful monsters with added magic and skills early on, and they still might it seems like they are constantly tweaking the AI and encounters through the early access.

Lots of magic weapons and some cool gear, maybe too much for my taste - only thing missing was a Holly Avenger and a Vorpal sword.  The crafting feature is good in the sense that you can craft cool stuff, but crafting material is really rare so far and you need to make choices between what you craft with what you get, which kept it interesting.  I really got into crafting poison arrows started to obsess on it.

Side quests are pretty straightforward - go here, do this for a reward, not much to them in early access will be curious if they build them out more.  At the moment they are mostly setups for a unique encounter or a tough battle with tougher enemies.

Graphics are passable, though when I was in wide open spaces with lighting effects or water I needed to drop the detail as it was having frame rate issues. I think the graphic cut scenes feel like a French puppet show.  Interesting that they kept all context in-scene, no subtitles or written descriptions outside of the occasional scroll or book you find on the way.  So good for those who hate to read, but it can be kind of like watching a French puppet show.

I enjoyed the game, and about halfway through really started to get into the game systems and the exploring, and also wanted to see how the story ends.  Will definitely finish it when it comes out.  If expectations aren't too high and you like DnD it is alright all in all.  They created a pretty good High Fantasy world, it feels more Dragonlance than Forgotten Realms, what with the Cataclysm and all, the main enemies / antagonists are very Draconic, the only things its missing is the Knights of Solasta   If I would compare it to BG1/2 for all you BG fans, it is definitely more BG1 - it feels like they have been focused on creating the game systems and the story came second.  Will have to wait and see how the story holds up and plays out when it releases - I remember BG1 had some fun twists, so hopefully Solasta will too.

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by bringingyouthefuture

[Raithe]

On 4/20/2021 at 1:08 AM, InsaneCommander said:

I was feeling like playing Deadfire again. But since I won't use one of my PoE1 characters, I decided to replay the first game and do the whole journey for my new character, a Templar of Woedica. 

I don't know why, but I can't seem to replay PoE1 for some reason. I really enjoyed sinking hour after hour into the first time around, but every single time I've tried to start up a new game since I first finished it,  I somehow fade out in the first 10 hours, and never manage to keep up the mood to return to it.

[Lexx]

First half of PoE1 I can get along with, but then it turns into a slog for me.

I'd rather replay Yoga Fire, which I find looks still beautiful. However, at the same time it always has this ... feeling of being too mechanically designed. No clue if it's because I'm so familiar with how these quests are developed, because I do that stuff myself, or if it's just the game ... The quest design feels just so predictable to me. Always the same different paths, 3 factions, every companion with a drama quest and two possible outcomes, etc.... It's just so... designed.

It seems that on their quest to bugfree releases, all the heart got left out.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Lexx

[BruceVC]

I am at that exciting phase  of gaming where I decide " what next to play " ?

I am vacillating between Morrowind, ELEX or Arx Fatalis with some Mods of course ...such choices, such choices 

 

 

[uuuhhii]

2 hours ago, Raithe said:

I don't know why, but I can't seem to replay PoE1 for some reason. I really enjoyed sinking hour after hour into the first time around, but every single time I've tried to start up a new game since I first finished it,  I somehow fade out in the first 10 hours, and never manage to keep up the mood to return to it.

poe1 are far too exhausting to look at and play

going back after so many quality of life improvement of deadfire are unlikely to be easy

[kanisatha]

8 hours ago, bringingyouthefuture said:

Played through the updated Solasta early access.  Definitely has an indie feel to it, and from what I have seen so far story is basic, wouldn't say there is a lot of emotional depth but does have lots of heroics   Playing a Paladin seemed right in this game.  Interesting I thought the game started really well, its just a very straightforward plot, I don't think they built the game to incorporate consequence and choices, it is more a tactical RPG game with exploration and DnD rules.  And it is 100 percent a DnD game with all of what that entails - dice rolls, per rest magic, etc.  but the nice surprise is the devs gave a lot of options to turn that stuff on and off, it is pretty customizable, for instance I turned off the option that only allows you to try to unlock or remove a trap just once, so if you fail the dice roll no opening the chest (yep turned that off, hate that).

On its core rules game is pretty easy, didn't mess too much with the difficulty of the game, and found myself a little over leveled pretty quick, but there is a ton of difficulty options too, was hesitant to mess with them as they mostly involve tweaking the stats of the enemy upwards - more hit points, higher attack rolls, etc.  Also I liked the idea of playing on the core DnD rules though so probably won't mess with them too much.  I did turn on the Deadlier AI option though I think they could put some more powerful monsters with added magic and skills early on, and they still might it seems like they are constantly tweaking the AI and encounters through the early access.

Lots of magic weapons and some cool gear, maybe too much for my taste - only thing missing was a Holly Avenger and a Vorpal sword.  The crafting feature is good in the sense that you can craft cool stuff, but crafting material is really rare so far and you need to make choices between what you craft with what you get, which kept it interesting.  I really got into crafting poison arrows started to obsess on it.

Side quests are pretty straightforward - go here, do this for a reward, not much to them in early access will be curious if they build them out more.  At the moment they are mostly setups for a unique encounter or a tough battle with tougher enemies.

Graphics are passable, though when I was in wide open spaces with lighting effects or water I needed to drop the detail as it was having frame rate issues. I think the graphic cut scenes feel like a French puppet show.  Interesting that they kept all context in-scene, no subtitles or written descriptions outside of the occasional scroll or book you find on the way.  So good for those who hate to read, but it can be kind of like watching a French puppet show.

I enjoyed the game, and about halfway through really started to get into the game systems and the exploring, and also wanted to see how the story ends.  Will definitely finish it when it comes out.  If expectations aren't too high and you like DnD it is alright all in all.  They created a pretty good High Fantasy world, it feels more Dragonlance than Forgotten Realms, what with the Cataclysm and all, the main enemies / antagonists are very Draconic, the only things its missing is the Knights of Solasta   If I would compare it to BG1/2 for all you BG fans, it is definitely more BG1 - it feels like they have been focused on creating the game systems and the story came second.  Will have to wait and see how the story holds up and plays out when it releases - I remember BG1 had some fun twists, so hopefully Solasta will too.

 

Not much longer to wait for the full game, which comes out end of May. I backed the game and received the EA, but chose not to play it as I hate playing partial games. But I've been very active on their forums and am really loving the game and looking forward to playing it. They're a brand new studio making their first game. Things are already so very good, and can only get even better in the future. Oh, and don't forget the free DLC adding in the sorcerer class that comes right after full release.

[kanisatha]

2 hours ago, uuuhhii said:

poe1 are far too exhausting to look at and play

going back after so many quality of life improvement of deadfire are unlikely to be easy

Agreed. I wish someone would create a mod to port over those Deadfire QoL elements into PoE1. I would especially love multiclassing, but that may be a bridge too far.

[Bartimaeus]

5 hours ago, Lexx said:

First half of PoE1 I can get along with, but then it turns into a slog for me.

I'd rather replay Yoga Fire, which I find looks still beautiful. However, at the same time it always has this ... feeling of being too mechanically designed. No clue if it's because I'm so familiar with how these quests are developed, because I do that stuff myself, or if it's just the game ... The quest design feels just so predictable to me. Always the same different paths, 3 factions, every companion with a drama quest and two possible outcomes, etc.... It's just so... designed.

It seems that on their quest to bugfree releases, all the heart got left out.

Everything about PoE felt way too overdesigned and mechanical to me. There was a lot of really silly and stupid stuff in the IE games, but I didn't feel like they were made by a team of robots whose only driving design intent was an all-powerful "balance"/"everything needs to be equal" goal - in the IE games, there was charm and oddity, there were items and spells/abilities that worked better than others, there were enemy encounters that were a little too easy or a little too hard for where they are in the game, there were piles of secrets, the games had atmosphere...everything in PoE felt so by the numbers, like everything had been designed from a series of templates by which they could never stray, it just wasn't interesting or fun to me.

That, and the number of minor combat encounters that took up way too much time and mental effort to get through for very little reward - the combat in that game, particularly at the lowest levels of just like "where is the exact perfect spots that I need my guys to stand, and in what exact order do I need each of my characters to fight these enemies with what particular weapons or abilities" etc., requires much more precision and consideration than the IE games, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, except that if you're going to have every encounter take that much time and consideration, there really needs to be less of it compared to all of the trash fights in the IE games (which, in comparison, often last for literally mere seconds and practically might as well not even be there). I heard the second game improved in this regard, but I sadly never tried it.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

@BartimaeusIt's hard to say for me, because I haven't played vanilla IE games in a very long time and my memory is geared towards BG2 with the revisions, SCS, and other mods that significantly change it from vanilla. But vanilla PoE + expansions does edge out vanilla BG2 for me......after a lot of patches to fix some of the dumber decisions and add stuff in.

For the most part Deadfire is better, but the armor system is a lot worse, stacking rules are bad, and in a game based in a sea monster infested location there are almost no battles against sea monsters. Wtf.

[Majek]

Monster Hunter Rise. Slowly getting soemewhere. But lots and lots of farming stuff still awaits me. hopefully RNG smiles one me someday as well.

[Lexx]

48 minutes ago, ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP said:

For the most part Deadfire is better, but the armor system is a lot worse, stacking rules are bad, and in a game based in a sea monster infested location there are almost no battles against sea monsters. Wtf.

Wait, there were battles against sea monsters?

[uuuhhii]

17 minutes ago, Lexx said:

Wait, there were battles against sea monsters?

the kraken undersea that big electric worm and big alligator might count as sea monster

but player fight non of them on a ship

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

42 minutes ago, Lexx said:

Wait, there were battles against sea monsters?

A kraken, an aquatic dragon, and an alligator in the DLC. None of which occur out in the sea. Biggest let down of the game.

[Lexx]

Oh, ok. Thought it was ship combat related.

Now that I'm thinking about it ... I think I never played the DLCs? Somehow this stuff went completely past me, even though I bought the season pass.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Lexx

[InsaneCommander]

8 hours ago, Raithe said:

I don't know why, but I can't seem to replay PoE1 for some reason. I really enjoyed sinking hour after hour into the first time around, but every single time I've tried to start up a new game since I first finished it,  I somehow fade out in the first 10 hours, and never manage to keep up the mood to return to it.

Deadfire is a vast improvement, but I'm still fond of the first game, so I'll replay it once more to set the story of my new character properly. The moment I get tired of it I'll skip the side quests and rush to the end.

 

8 hours ago, Lexx said:

First half of PoE1 I can get along with, but then it turns into a slog for me.

I really like the White March expansions, so I enjoy the later part of the game.

 

2 hours ago, ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP said:

For the most part Deadfire is better, but the armor system is a lot worse, stacking rules are bad, and in a game based in a sea monster infested location there are almost no battles against sea monsters. Wtf.

Yes, specially with that book in PoE1     (Monsters of the Deadfire Archipelago) that made me look forward to such encounters.

[ComradeYellow]

Deadfire is certainly better than the original.

The only gripe I have with Deadfire is the bleh interface, to me it seems more like an academic encyclopedia than a video game.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

52 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

Yes, specially with that book in PoE1     (Monsters of the Deadfire Archipelago) that made me look forward to such encounters.

A polpovir battle would have been awesome. What a letdown.

[InsaneCommander]

Yes, the polpovir looked particularly interesting. And I wanted a polpovir pet too.

[LadyCrimson]

Figured out why the gog version of Dungeon Keeper 1 felt laggy when using the alt+r higher res.  option.  Running the higher res means you have to adjust the dosbox cycles.  So hitting ctrl+F12 4 or 6 times does it.

Now it's nice and smooth like I remember.  Yay!  Maybe I can play the tunneler levels now without fear of being mouse-lagged to my doom.

[Wormerine]

So with Titanfall2 being on sale, and me hearing over and over that campaign is really good I decided to pick it up. And yeah, it's awesome. I never liked CoD, Battlefield and such, but I am having a blast with this one. Funny how much movement and not having to aim down sights adds. I also dipped into multiplayer and, to my shock, I am having a great time. I love the balance between on foot soldiers and titans. Still in learning stages, but enjoying myself nonetheless.  

[BruceVC]

I have decided to play Morrowind, I played it once in 2008 so hopefully I have forgotten most of the narrative as it unfolds

I have 254 Mods loaded with the Nexus  Vortex Mod Manager and already I have used a graphic Mod to set resolution at 3440 x 1440 so I predict its going to be  fun filled gaming ride 

[Hawke64]

Completed Hardland. It was mostly an enjoyable experience, though I've got stuck a couple of times (got unstuck by looking up info on the forums). I managed to reach 3 endings (out of 13) and they seemed not too terrible.