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

[Hurlshort]

4 hours ago, Keyrock said:

I'm lev 14 and debating which faction to join. It will probably be either the Berserkers or Albs, since I want magic to take advantage of the points I've been pumping into Intelligence (to get the skills that give you more AP & XP ASAP). Nasty won't be too keen on me joining the Berserkers. I'm not sure how she feels about the Albs, but that's probably the safer bet if I want to get into her hot pants, and I do. Plus, Albs have cooler looking armor and plasma rifles.

I'm thinking about the Clerics. They seem the most stable of the factions.

[213374U]

  

5 hours ago, Tale said:

Machine Uprisings never survive. They're a joke. They don't have a good economy and they have pretty pitiful fleets. It's the damage they do to the planets that sucks.

I had three titans and a colossus by the time they took over half my empire. Set three of them to a planet, set the fourth to chase after the one 2 star fleet the machines had, and it was all but over. It's just going to be tedious as heck to rebuild all those planets. 

I don't remember them ever being good. I may have never been on the receiving end before, but I have constantly tried to help them survive their uprising. It always fails. One time I had a Machine only federation, but they got upset when my allies started a teensy little purge and refused to join us. Then died shortly after. You can pump them full of resources and they won't do anything with it.

So it's the tedium of micromanaging the reconstruction of a dozen half-destroyed planets? But, I mean, the planetary click-fest is what Stellaris mid-game gameplay has boiled down to for a few years now...

Don't machine empires have different buildings for a lot of things? I don't remember how it worked internally but if the uprising event doesn't transform buildings in planets taken over by the uprising, it's not surprising that the rebels can't build what they need. Of course the AI might just be broken -- AI being confused and paralyzed regardless of resources reminds me a lot of the status of AI when 2.2 dropped.

Edited March 30, 2022 by 213374U

[BruceVC]

11 hours ago, Keyrock said:

I'm lev 14 and debating which faction to join. It will probably be either the Berserkers or Albs, since I want magic to take advantage of the points I've been pumping into Intelligence (to get the skills that give you more AP & XP ASAP). Nasty won't be too keen on me joining the Berserkers. I'm not sure how she feels about the Albs, but that's probably the safer bet if I want to get into her hot pants, and I do. Plus, Albs have cooler looking armor and plasma rifles.

You have to factor in  Romance outcomes in games like this so I get what you worried about with Nasty, I made the difficult decision to finally join the Berserkers in ELEX 1 

I liked their magic and their view of the world but I thought they were a little naïve around their rejection of technology. But thats another reason why I love PB games, you really have to consider choices around factions 

[BruceVC]

6 hours ago, Hurlsnot said:

I'm thinking about the Clerics. They seem the most stable of the factions.

No one likes a religious extremist Hurlshot ....think carefully about that decision 

[Keyrock]

13 hours ago, Hurlsnot said:

I'm thinking about the Clerics. They seem the most stable of the factions.

To join the Clerics I would have to join the Albs first, so either way I join the Albs and I can worry about whether to jump ship or not later. The Clerics pissed me off, though. I'm not going to post any spoilers, but if you've done Nasty's personal mission up to a certain point then you know what I'm talking about. I haven't been back there since that, but Reinhold better have a damn good explanation, otherwise I consider the Clerics an enemy.

As an aside, I found out that Magalan's moon is not tidally locked like ours and also it has its own satellite. I just thought that was an interesting detail and only just now noticed it.

Edited March 30, 2022 by Keyrock

[Malcador]

Almost done Darkside Detective, the humour is decent enough, I laughed once or twice.  I do enjoy the music as well.

[Keyrock]

*sigh* The Albs are on my $#!+ list now too. 

[Hurlshort]

Every faction is extreme is Elex.

[Zoraptor]

In that case at least it isn't really the faction being extreme though, it's just Nasty being herself.

I've actually found the factions a bit less extreme than in E1, though that may partly be residual effect from the Berserkers constantly moaning every time you checked your map/ journal. However, the Clerics were kidnapping people and indoctrinating them in E1 for example...

Edited March 30, 2022 by Zoraptor

[Lexx]

So I thought I was pretty far in Elden Ring, now I found out there is a huge cavern system underneath the normal world ...... First it was just a big cave with stars on the ceiling, but then I came to another place and then another place and then another place... There's probably so many tiny rooms that I missed because you just can't check everything at once.

[Keyrock]

2 hours ago, Hurlsnot said:

Every faction is extreme is Elex.

 

1 hour ago, Zoraptor said:

In that case at least it isn't really the faction being extreme though, it's just Nasty being herself.

I get that Nasty can be abrasive, it's part of her, ahem, lovable personality. However

 

sending a death squad seems like a disproportionate response to getting browbeat. I don't care whether said death squads were targeting both of us or only Nasty and I just got caught in the crossfire. Nasty is my girl, an attack on her is an attack on me as far as I'm concerned.

Edited March 30, 2022 by Keyrock

[Zoraptor]

If their reactions are actually going to influence which faction you join you might want to read the spoiler below:

Spoiler

You really shouldn't hold it against the factions for plot reasons. Specifically:

Spoiler

Having death squads sent after her is precisely what Nasty wants to happen, and she's deliberately saying things to the leaders that she knows will get her attacked. That's very heavily hinted at during the missions but depending on dialogue choice, I think, so not if you just go along with her wholesale. You're only explicitly told that after you've already picked a faction though since the personal quests are gated by main plot progression.

 

 

[Keyrock]

Just now, Zoraptor said:

If their reactions are actually going to influence which faction you join you might want to read the spoiler below:

  Reveal hidden contents

You really shouldn't hold it against the factions for plot reasons. Specifically:

  Reveal hidden contents

Having death squads sent after her is precisely what Nasty wants to happen, and she's deliberately saying things to the leaders that she knows will get her attacked. That's very heavily hinted at during the missions but depending on dialogue choice, I think, so not if you just go along with her wholesale. You're only explicitly told that after you've already picked a faction though since the personal quests are gated by main plot progression.

 

 

I did not read the spoiler, I'd rather find out myself. I do appreciate it, though.

[Wormerine]

2 hours ago, Lexx said:

So I thought I was pretty far in Elden Ring, now I found out there is a huge cavern system underneath the normal world

Ah yes. Not legacy dungeon big, but there is fun to be had in them. 

[Lexx]

At this point I'm feeling like it's almost too big. Based on Steam, I have played for 70 hours already, and based on walkthroughs, I haven't even visited the last "real" area yet. A part of me wants to be done with it soon.. : x

[BruceVC]

37 minutes ago, Lexx said:

At this point I'm feeling like it's almost too big. Based on Steam, I have played for 70 hours already, and based on walkthroughs, I haven't even visited the last "real" area yet. A part of me wants to be done with it soon.. : x

Thats gaming heresy, no active and committed  gamer can ever complain about a game " being too big " ....its just not scientifically possible 

[Lexx]

Sometimes less is more. Now imagine if they are slapping DLC on Elden Ring ... then it gets even worse.

[BruceVC]

@melkathi and @Wormerine

You guys have seriously jinxed my Oblivion gaming experience ...you wont believe what I have been going through

• After confirming all my mods are active I went to Steam and started Oblivion for the first time...and after the options screen when you click " play " the game screen goes black and shuts down immediately. No errors 
• I wasn't  worried initially because I am an accomplished gaming troubleshooter so after some high level troubleshooting I decided to play safe and just disable all the Mods but still it failed to load
• I then removed Oblivion and downloaded it again, twice and it  still wont start
• So I now have a Steam version of Oblivion that wont load with NO mods and a clean install 

So please drop the voodoo, Jedi mind tricks and let the game work 

Today I am going to troubleshoot this egregious and frustrating  problem extensively,  I will keep you updated 

 

[melkathi]

Or you could simply play Troubleshooter? A game that runs and needs no troubleshooting!

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, melkathi said:

Or you could simply play Troubleshooter? A game that runs and needs no troubleshooting!

Its working, I had to delete the Oblivion.ini in the Mygames folder

Now I can reload my mods and embark on my adventure ...yaaaaaaaay 

[Bartimaeus]

6 hours ago, Lexx said:

Sometimes less is more. Now imagine if they are slapping DLC on Elden Ring ... then it gets even worse.

I really felt like DeS and DS1 were the ideal length. Certainly long enough to be a grand adventure, but not so long that I get halfway through the game before I'm completely exhausted and desperately want it to be over like I did with DS3 and its DLC. Whenever/if I play Elden Ring, I can't see the size of the game feeling good to me.

Edited March 31, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Lexx]

Yeah, I already had such issues with Bloodborne. Played it to around 3/4 and then had to take a break of a few months. Then later came back to do the rest. Seems Elden Ring will be a similar experience for me.

Also the endgame balance now is starting to become really wack. Especially many of the new bosses will kill me with 2 hits. Without the ashes as temporary bait, I probably would have serious issues.

[Sven_]

Thinking about picking up Colantonio's Weird West, which was just released today.

Due to it being heavy on choice and consequence, and different experience based on the (albeit predetermined) characters you get to play throughout,  it's already been compared to classic Fallout, New Vegas and even Bloodlines by various outlets. One section of the game has you playing a character cursed with a pig head -- which means people react "accordingly" (memories of playing a Nosferatu in Bloodlines).

That is, on top of Arkane Studio games, naturally, what with Colantonio being their founder.  His last title there was Prey -- if you ask me, whilst never specifically marketed as such, that was more of an RPG than many selfproclaimed RPG in like the last 10, 15 years (in particular in the AAA space). 

And I'm still not even halfway finished with Wrath Of The Righteous.  

 

 

edit: Bought it. Couldn't resist. Also like to support that guy, he's got the right vision for games.

Edited March 31, 2022 by Sven_

[Wormerine]

Suicide Squad delay made want to dive back into Rocksteady's Arkham games. Played through Asylym & City and currently playing Arkham Knight.
I liked Arkham City much more then I remember liking it years back, but it could be because I had already low expectations when it comes to the story. The games still IMO get weaker with each entry, but honestly even with its narrative flaws AC isn't all that bad - it could be because Origins and Knight set the bar much much lower then Asylum. 

I really don't like Arkham Knight - and it's not because Batmobile (which while the weakest addition to the games in all three pillars of gameplay: puzzles, traversal, combat, stealth) nor it's astonishingly poor story, but all the small things that really annoy me - UIs being so much worse then previous titles, taking away convenient access to gadgets and adding two mission wheels which are still surpassed by map and the game is so so dark. I don't mean the story being dark, the game being literally dark. Large maps, which all blends together because how black everything is. I struggle playing the game unless it is late in the evening - recognising enemy types or seeing what weapon they are carrying is very difficult. Considering brilliant dark "Batman Animated Series" look of Asylum and City, a more photorealistic look of Knight does disservice to the game. I also found some stealth arenas to really not work properly - maps are too busy and contextual actions don't work well if your character can interpret your imput in multiple ways.

[Keyrock]

Weird West first impressions, so far so good. It's a mixture of Fallout 1 & 2, Divinity: Original Sin, and a twin stick shooter. The game is from a new studio with former Arkane devs, including Raphael Colantonio the founder of Arkane. It definitely has that Dishonored quality of letting you be creative in how to approach a situation.

I'm playing the game as if it's Desperados. You give me the ability to stealth and I'm going to attempt a ghost run, that's just how I roll. It's a Raphael Colantonio game, a ghost run is likely possible. I did experiment with a decidedly not stealthy approach by sneaking an extinguished lantern to a strategic location, retreating to safe location, firing my revolver to get some outlaws attention and to break the lantern, creating an oil puddle, then hurling dynamite as they ran through the oil. It was super fun blowing a guy up and setting others on fire. Then I reloaded and stealthed the area.

You can interact with most things, pick them up and throw them. I can confirm that you pet a horse. I have not found a living dog nor a cat so I cannot confirm whether you can pet them. You can take a $#!+ in an outhouse, though. 

Edit: Also if you dodge while aiming a gun you go into Max Payne bullet time while in midair, so you can play this game like a John Woo movie if that's your thing. Also, if you kill somebody a vulture will land on the corpse and start eating it. They get there quick too, those scavengers don't **** around.

Edited March 31, 2022 by Keyrock