What are you Playing Now? Who needs a life anyway?...

[uuuhhii]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

I played it probably in about 2010 is the thing, though. I also received New Vegas a gift from the same friend around the same time and I also couldn't make myself play through that (better writing doesn't suddenly make the horrid Fallout 3 gameplay go away...), so really, probably people just shouldn't ever gift me any kind of media because I am the worst. Witcher was probably the last ARPG I tried before Dark Souls, and that was obviously a bit of a crossing the rubicon moment for ARPGs - difficult to go back to the really janky/unrefined stuff after that. Not that Dark Souls wasn't also pretty janky, but it made the "action RPG" part of the game compelling in of itself for me, which was new.

I also despise using one-use consumables/abilities in pretty much all genres of gaming, and apparently that was a big part in making the combat workable in Witcher 1, so once I learned that, I pretty much immediately uninstalled the game. I don't use e.g. potions in games like Baldur's Gate, which is fine in that because they're not in any way necessary even for the extra difficult content in those games, so I'm certainly not going to use them in an action RPG.

potion are very exploitable in witcher 1 and 3

not remember much about 2

potion are not that necessary in lower difficulty

only use multiple potion before one boss in entire witcher 1

those gold sword move in late game are pretty crazy and pretty much cut down everything

potion are so much more convenient in witcher 3

actually remember to use some of them other than cat

Edited May 10, 2022 by uuuhhii

[kanisatha]

21 minutes ago, uuuhhii said:

potion are very exploitable in witcher 1 and 3

not remember much about 2

potion are not that necessary in lower difficulty

only use multiple potion before one boss in entire witcher 1

those gold sword move in late game are pretty crazy and pretty much cut down everything

potion are so much more convenient in witcher 3

actually remember to use some of them other than cat

The problem I had in W3 with potions was that some of the ingredients for the potions were very hard/frustrating to obtain, and of course the more high-demand and/or beneficial the potion the exponentially greater the difficulty of obtaining the ingredients. All in all it's just too much of a pain/too frustrating and aggravating.

Because I absolutely love the Witcher stories, what I need is a cheat mod that let's me auto-kill any target I want, just click on target and poof! Dead!

[uuuhhii]

4 minutes ago, kanisatha said:

The problem I had in W3 with potions was that some of the ingredients for the potions were very hard/frustrating to obtain, and of course the more high-demand and/or beneficial the potion the exponentially greater the difficulty of obtaining the ingredients. All in all it's just too much of a pain/too frustrating and aggravating.

Because I absolutely love the Witcher stories, what I need is a cheat mod that let's me auto-kill any target I want, just click on target and poof! Dead!

potion in witcher 3 only need to be made once

more like unlock than craft

so ingredient are only a problem at early game

power of alchemy grew exponentially in mid to late game

[kanisatha]

1 hour ago, uuuhhii said:

potion in witcher 3 only need to be made once

more like unlock than craft

so ingredient are only a problem at early game

power of alchemy grew exponentially in mid to late game

Yes I was aware of this, but by the end of the W3 main game, having tried very hard to be meticulous about doing everything in the game, I still had some critical potions locked going into the DLCs. Don't know why/what content I missed.

Edited May 10, 2022 by kanisatha

[uuuhhii]

11 minutes ago, kanisatha said:

Yes I was aware of this, but by the end of the W3 main game, having tried very hard to be meticulous about doing everything in the game, I still had some critical potions unlocked going into the DLCs. Don't know why/what content I missed.

been two years since last playthrough of witcher 3

but pretty sure recipe are more difficult to obtain than ingredient due to price

maybe problem with ingredient are caused by not clearing part of the map or something

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, kanisatha said:

Yes I was aware of this, but by the end of the W3 main game, having tried very hard to be meticulous about doing everything in the game, I still had some critical potions locked going into the DLCs. Don't know why/what content I missed.

Kanie its time to take a bold step and start modding your games like W3

I know you said you arent a huge fan of modding but they improve mechanics and gameplay.

I can guide you with suggested mods managers and also we can tailor your experience to what you like, let me know if you want some input 

[Malcador]

10 hours ago, BruceVC said:

The pirated version is designed to do that, rather just pay for your games. Its the right thing to do 

I don't recall it being so. 

W1 was a memorable experience, the jankiness and odd design was part of the charm for me. Trying to converse with the dryad with my family in the room was a funny experience as well

[kanisatha]

36 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

Kanie its time to take a bold step and start modding your games like W3

I know you said you arent a huge fan of modding but they improve mechanics and gameplay.

I can guide you with suggested mods managers and also we can tailor your experience to what you like, let me know if you want some input 

Yes this may need to happen.

The first step I will need to take is creating an account at Nexus Mods. After that, yeah, I'm gonna' need a tutorial on mod managers.

[BruceVC]

5 minutes ago, Malcador said:

I don't recall it being so. 

W1 was a memorable experience, the jankiness and odd design was part of the charm for me. Trying to converse with the dryad with my family in the room was a funny experience as well

You joking about pirating W1 right, please tell me you joking? 

W1 was great but to be fair to CDPR it was their first game so I also remember some issues and jankiness...but the Romance cards were a nice touch, nothing like my Oblivion Viconia adult mod but a nice touch

But what an improvement  in game design and mechanics from W2 and W3 onwards. W4 is going to be epic 

I still need to play cyb2007, I think its relatively stable now ?

[uuuhhii]

cyberpunk 1.5 are pretty stable

economy still a mess but that is nothing new or really matter for most rpg

[BruceVC]

42 minutes ago, uuuhhii said:

cyberpunk 1.5 are pretty stable

economy still a mess but that is nothing new or really matter for most rpg

Thanks, Im one of those gamers that doesnt mind certain issues  or problems. But I dont  want to play a game where main quests are broken or similar serious things like PC performance issues. Thats why I generally never play any new game until 3-6 months after release 

Did you use Mods with Cyb2077?

[melkathi]

Further misadventures of melkathi the Stranger of Sword City.

 

There are rumours of a knight having been eaten by a giant slime.

I went to track down the Elder Slime in the depth of the Shadow Palace.

Prepared the ambush (read: found ambush spot and clicked "4" on the keyboard then OK)

We spied the Elder Slime slithering by with smaller slimes, transporting a metal chest.

On the chest was carved a piece of underwear.

The first time I saw a loot chest for underwear!

Finally at least one character would not be going commando.

Underwear is hard to come by in this game.

Died.

Re-loaded.

Found the Elder Slime again.

Won.

This time it was transporting an Assassin's Mask +4.

Meh.

I would have preferred underwear.

[Zoraptor]

7 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I don't use e.g. potions in games like Baldur's Gate, which is fine in that because they're not in any way necessary even for the extra difficult content in those games, so I'm certainly not going to use them in an action RPG.

Does that extend to all single use items? I cannot imagine trying to fight, say, Kangaxx without them. I know that's optional content not compulsory but that fight without item 'exploits' results in your entire party being Imprisoned most of the time and just isn't worth it. There's also the Beholder mazes where the 'proper' way to win, ie not just using the reflector shield and having one guy solo it, is to use potions of clarity and the like.

disclaimer, haven't played BG2 in years, so very much iirc.

5 hours ago, uuuhhii said:

maybe problem with ingredient are caused by not clearing part of the map or something

Some of the decoctions are impossible to obtain the ingredients for due to story choices, similar to how you can only get the Big Praying Mantis potion in W1 if you choose to fight it in the prologue rather than going with Triss. Those I can remember offhand are a couple of 'monsters' in Novigrad; a 'changling' who is impersonating someone and a succubus. Choose to let them go instead of killing them and you cannot complete the relevant decoctions. And if you're playing a 'proper' Witcher you probably do let them go.

[Sarex]

15 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:

There's also the Beholder mazes where the 'proper' way to win, ie not just using the reflector shield and having one guy solo it, is to use potions of clarity and the like.

Or just use an assload of summons.

[Wormerine]

18 hours ago, Keyrock said:

but the combat... *fart noise* There's no weight or feedback to it, you just pick the right combat stance, which is super obvious, then you play a rhythym game that's mostly disconnected from the enemies on the screen. The bigger issue is the ****ing swamp though,

Many people hate the swamp, but I never understood why. It doesn't play any differently to the rest of the game. I didn't mind combat - I defenitely liked it more then W2. I thought of W1 combat more in terms of NWN1/KOTOR, but at least with some kind of reactivity, rather then action combat that later installements attempted. It's not that bad, but as far as RPGs go, or at least there are games with worse combat. I should also stress that I played the game more then a year after it was released so with all the enhancements, and in polish so I didn't suffer from what I understand was a rather dodgy translation effort.

 

15 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Thats a nice story wormie, I admire that kind of commitment to gaming

How long did it take you to finish W1, it must have been frustrating being only able to play W1 once a week?

Couple months. I remember being very relieved when it was over. I was a big Sapkowski fan at that time (wrong my final high school essay on it) so I was eager to see how it was adapted. It was also first year of university and freedom from parental oversight. Some people do drugs and sex, while I did way too much gaming and did stupid stuff like watching extanded LotR trilogy back to back.

[Zoraptor]

9 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Or just use an assload of summons.

I wouldn't say summons (skeletons/ undead specifically wasn't it? as they're immune to confusion and harm type spell effects?) is the 'proper'* way to win though, that's more of an exploit usable against pretty much anything and everything in the game. Not as much as the reflector shield, but even the relatively nerfed BG2 summons come close to breaking the game if you overuse them.

*Fundamentally Beholders shouldn't really be beatable by summoning a load of L1 skeletons, or everyone would do it and they wouldn't be a problem. They should be beatable by exploiting their weaknesses and protecting against their strengths. That's what I'd regard as the 'proper' way to win.

[Sarex]

4 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:

I wouldn't say summons (skeletons/ undead specifically wasn't it? as they're immune to confusion and harm type spell effects?) is the 'proper'* way to win though, that's more of an exploit usable against pretty much anything and everything in the game. Not as much as the reflector shield, but even the relatively nerfed BG2 summons come close to breaking the game if you overuse them.

*Fundamentally Beholders shouldn't really be beatable by summoning a load of L1 skeletons, or everyone would do it and they wouldn't be a problem. They should be beatable by exploiting their weaknesses and protecting against their strengths. That's what I'd regard as the 'proper' way to win.

Not even that, just nature summons. I did not know how to play the game correctly, I mostly brute forced it.

[Zoraptor]

I'm certainly not a legit tactics only fundamentalist personally, and most of the time I just use the reflector shield for the beholders/ flayers as it's the least annoying option for a potentially very annoying enemy. I did do it the 'proper' way once though to see what it was like, and played using SCS where the reflector shield is near completely nerfed. I also did very gamey things like buy/ retain every fireball wand in BG1 for the last battle so I could nuke Sarevok and pals from orbit as soon as possible, and then flood the survivors with summons.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, Zoraptor said:

Does that extend to all single use items? I cannot imagine trying to fight, say, Kangaxx without them. I know that's optional content not compulsory but that fight without item 'exploits' results in your entire party being Imprisoned most of the time and just isn't worth it. There's also the Beholder mazes where the 'proper' way to win, ie not just using the reflector shield and having one guy solo it, is to use potions of clarity and the like.

Yes, but with the disclaimer that I usually play an arcane-heavy party (usually one sorcerer and two mages) that I use to quickly overwhelm single enemy fights like liches - it's usually pretty difficult for them to withstand concentrated anti-magical attacks constantly stripping away their magical and physical protections). Kangaxx's stupid Soul Trap (basically Imprisonment, but subject to a save vs. spell at -4 for the imprisonment effect) can be pretty annoying if it lands, but at least it's better than the real Imprisonment that doesn't give a save. The worst fights in an SCS game for me tend to be the many powerful enemies ones (e.g. Twisted Rune or the guardians leading up to Demigorgon) where your attention is split between way too many enemies and you're basically asked to throw everything you've got in order to outlast them...particularly because I also happen to hate using summons. That one's not as hard of a rule as the consumable one, but I do like to be very light with the summons. Suffice to say, I have weird rules for how I like to play games, and I undoubtedly make use of certain power gaming (although not outright exploity) strategies for the specific kind of party builds I go for - you have to if you're being retarded and trying not to use consumables or summonables like me.

[Gfted1]

Oof, Im not sure I could have beaten the game without Mordenkainen’s Sword. One of my favorite spells. 

[Bartimaeus]

Way back when I played BG2 the first few times 15-20 years ago, I used Mordenkainen's Sword like a fiend. I can certainly understand the attraction, . Undoubtedly, part of my Baldur's Gate-specific issues in why I avoid certain options is because I played the game too many times and spamming certain options got...well, not very fun once I realized how catch-all abuseable they were.

Edited May 10, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[melkathi]

Without Mordenkainen's sword?

First world game problems.

Seems I'll be forced to beat Stranger of Sword City without underwear. 

Nevermind Mordenkainen's sword.

[BruceVC]

8 hours ago, Wormerine said:

 

 

Couple months. I remember being very relieved when it was over. I was a big Sapkowski fan at that time (wrong my final high school essay on it) so I was eager to see how it was adapted. It was also first year of university and freedom from parental oversight. Some people do drugs and sex, while I did way too much gaming and did stupid stuff like watching extanded LotR trilogy back to back.

Wormie I want to read the Witcher books but I dont understand Polish, why did Sapkowski write the books in a language that no one understands? Dont you think thats racist and selfish 

[bugarup]

8 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

I did do it the 'proper' way once though to see what it was like, and played using SCS where the reflector shield is near completely nerfed.

I really don't get this "fight hard, not smart" mindset. From where I stand, sending a squad of Mordenkainen's swords, skellingtons and other creepy crawlies to face tentaclefaces first is the proper way. So is camping at Firkraag's for a week while Jan Jansen lays traps every 8 hours. 

Also, Bruce, I hear that "Witcher" now has English translation that does not suck, so no excuses.  

 

[Zoraptor]

My personal philosophy is to play it how you like, and it doesn't really matter what the system intended- especially since most of the time you're guessing what the intentions actually were. The reflector shield was put in for a reason, after all, as were the anti magic scrolls. It's not like it's cheating to use them, or anything else short of manipulating the game files (even then, no one should really care if someone else 'cheats' in a SP game).

I was quite interested to see how it worked though if you didn't have the magic bullet type solutions available, but personally I found it super annoying so only did it once. I don't overuse summons or abuse the rest system, but that's because I find they make the game too boring as they are the solution to every combat problem.