What are you Playing Now? I name all the operations that go down in Taipei.

[BruceVC]

My BG1 EE adventures are progressing nicely and the game is great fun and reminds me why D&D party based RPG are overall my favorite type of RPG. I have reached Nashkel and Im still on level 1 which is fine. I have disabled Party AI because that option is for the weak and I want to manage my own battles. I have 6 people in my party that include the following (just for the record I choose party members first on there combat role and effectiveness and then on there companion quests, dialogue and Romance arcs ). The BG1 NPC mod adds some hilarious and detailed new dialogues
 

• Imoen :Shes cute but annoying at the same time, she is like a glowie on steroids
• Khalid : Hes fine as a tank but what a spineless obsequious toady to Jaheira. I am seriously considering letting him die just so I can try Romance her, she is hot
• Jaheira : She is my healer at the moment and effective in combat
• Vienxay : She is a mod NPC and a NE Elven Shadowmage and she is very arrogant and supercilious but useful in combat so she stays for the time being
• Kagain : He doesnt say much but he plays a good fighter role

Further updates to follow 

[LadyCrimson]

Stray -

Two things I really like about this casual/chill game:
---sound design. From water/environment noises to enemies to yes, the cat's padded cadence footsteps and sporadic meowing when it lands, as well as the overall "silence" or bits of music. To the point when there are verbal language noises I feel like it disturbs it all. Thankfully there is little of that you must listen to.
---using visuals to set an emotional mood. Game made me feel a bit of sad early on, pensive and curious, and I have a feeling it's not going to be especially happy in the end. Not saying it's depressing, but it's not sunshine and rainbows either.

Two things I don't like in this game:
---even using a controller, avoiding the zurks in those segments is annoying as all get out. Controlling the cat's movement at run/trying not to die-screen speed is very stiff/limited feeling, with some sense of too much input and game action delay (like, runsweverrunrun wait for an "x" to appear, try to jump) and It takes me several tries every time - (edit: if you mess up/don't figure something out, it's death-screen, not forgiving at all) the 2nd time you encounter them is a rather long extended sequence. Supposedly you get some auto-weapon thing to deal with them later and I hope that'll make it better. I think the game could have not used/had a direct enemy threat element at all and been just as good and/or eerie a game.
---there are cute cat things to do, but they mean nothing in terms of gameplay. As a cat person, I still enjoy them, but it would've been nice if such things were more incorporated into actual gameplay vs. just decorative. Like, you can drink out of water puddles, but there is (so far) no reason to. Maybe there should've been at least a minor thirst/hunger survival aspect.

Edited July 23, 2022 by LadyCrimson

[Wormerine]

3 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Khalid : Hes fine as a tank but what a spineless obsequious toady to Jaheira. I am seriously considering letting him die just so I can try Romance her, she is hot

There are no romances in BG1. in BG2

the problem will resolve itself

[BruceVC]

7 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

There are no romances in BG1. in BG2

  Reveal hidden contents

the problem will resolve itself

 

There is a Romance mod I loaded, Im not sure  if its with NPC but I have experienced some promising dialogues options with my party members 

 

https://www.gibberlings3.net/mods/npcs/bg-romantic-encounters/

[majestic]

Make sure to try the Imoen romance mod for BG2.

[LadyCrimson]

7 hours ago, majestic said:

Make sure to try the Imoen romance mod for BG2.

Is there a Xan romance mod? Huh? Huh? Huh? ... asking for a friend.

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, LadyCrimson said:

Is there a Xan romance mod? Huh? Huh? Huh? ... asking for a friend.

Absolutely  

https://sorcerers.net/community/threads/xan-bg2-mod-released.23839/

 

[Chilloutman]

thats incest

[Humanoid]

I'm down for some Xancest.

 

(I actually have no idea who Xan or most BG1-exclusive NPCs are since I quit about two screens out of Candlekeep)

________

EDIT: Polished off Solasta. I have nothing of interest to say about its closing stages, it just is.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Humanoid

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Humanoid said:

I'm down for some Xancest.

 

(I actually have no idea who Xan or most BG1-exclusive NPCs are since I quit about two screens out of Candlekeep)

________

EDIT: Polished off Solasta. I have nothing of interest to say about its closing stages, it just is.

Why did you quit BG1 so soon?

[Humanoid]

7 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

Why did you quit BG1 so soon?

Because I didn't get around to it when it was new. Trying it only once the more recent, shinier Infinity Engine games were out meant that it was a huge downgrade from the likes of BG2, PS:T and IWD2 (never played IWD1 either) and I couldn't be bothered sticking with it.

I'm not sure if the various mods to improve the resolution and other QoL changes were out at the time. I'm sure it's a lot more playable these days, but it's too late because I'm just done with RTwP, and with big party-based (but single-player) RPGs in general.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Humanoid

[BruceVC]

1 minute ago, Humanoid said:

Because I didn't get around to it when it was new. Trying it only once the more recent, shinier Infinity Engine games were out meant that it was a huge downgrade from the likes of BG2, PS:T and IWD2 (never played IWD1 either) and I couldn't be bothered sticking with it.

I'm not sure if the various mods to improve the resolution and other QoL changes were out at the time.

I understand, BG1 EE with mods  makes a big difference 

I also played BG2 first and without EE and mods I doubt I would have played BG1 

[Bartimaeus]

On 7/23/2022 at 10:28 AM, LadyCrimson said:

Stray -

Two things I really like about this casual/chill game:
---sound design. From water/environment noises to enemies to yes, the cat's padded cadence footsteps and sporadic meowing when it lands, as well as the overall "silence" or bits of music. To the point when there are verbal language noises I feel like it disturbs it all. Thankfully there is little of that you must listen to.
---using visuals to set an emotional mood. Game made me feel a bit of sad early on, pensive and curious, and I have a feeling it's not going to be especially happy in the end. Not saying it's depressing, but it's not sunshine and rainbows either.

Two things I don't like in this game:
---even using a controller, avoiding the zurks in those segments is annoying as all get out. Controlling the cat's movement at run/trying not to die-screen speed is very stiff/limited feeling, with some sense of too much input and game action delay (like, runsweverrunrun wait for an "x" to appear, try to jump) and It takes me several tries every time - (edit: if you mess up/don't figure something out, it's death-screen, not forgiving at all) the 2nd time you encounter them is a rather long extended sequence. Supposedly you get some auto-weapon thing to deal with them later and I hope that'll make it better. I think the game could have not used/had a direct enemy threat element at all and been just as good and/or eerie a game.
---there are cute cat things to do, but they mean nothing in terms of gameplay. As a cat person, I still enjoy them, but it would've been nice if such things were more incorporated into actual gameplay vs. just decorative. Like, you can drink out of water puddles, but there is (so far) no reason to. Maybe there should've been at least a minor thirst/hunger survival aspect.

1. Sound and visual design have been pretty nice, definitely agree there - particularly the overall sound experience has been excellent.

2. Haven't had any issues with the zurks yet, as in about an hour and a half of gameplay I've only had like two attach to me thus far and obviously haven't had any game overs...but I do make a habit of tactically waiting, drawing them out, running pretty parabolic-shaped movement routes, etc., where appropriate.

3. One thing I did like about the "cat things to do" was using windows shades as scratch pads in order to open up new routes through windows. They probably needed to figure out more purposes for cat things so it's not just totally pointless window dressing, so to speak.

I played about half an hour early this morning and had a better time.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Malcador]

Never did any of the ME DLCs, so at least something new with LE.  Kasumi's heist was fun, although wish there were more to the heist before we get to the shooting parts. 

[Hawke64]

EA released all ME2 DLC for free (can be claimed via Origin, downloaded from https://help.ea.com/en/help/faq/dlc-for-classic-games/#masseffect ).
I've started another playthrough with all of them. Reached Omega. So far so good. The dialogue wheel is one of the worst things happen to RPGs, though. On the other hand, the mining mini-game is somehow enjoyable, but likely to turn to grind in a few hours.

[LadyCrimson]

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

They probably needed to figure out more purposes for cat things so it's not just totally pointless window dressing, so to speak.

They missed the perfect opportunity to make those cat-nap spots a "save progress" feature.   >.>
So you could at least run back to one of those where available to save your game if you want to exit before going to/triggering next save point.

I reached the next section, next town, then next town. The latter of which is larger then the slums, but outside of oodles more vista-overlook climbing spots, feels more devoid of points of interest. I saw someone describe the exploration in the game as virtual tourism ... which I think is pretty apt, at least for some sections. I do like the sense of confusion I get while trying to keep track of large areas/alleys while at a low ground perspective of an animal.

Btw, for anyone interested, if you are not interested in total achievements/collectables or wasting hours with "virtual tourism", the main path is definitely feeling short time-wise. There's even an achievement for doing the story under 2 hours - you'd need foreknowledge for that ofc, but I could see it being possible. I think 5-8 hrs. first-run would be average. Of course, I'll probably clock 15-18 hrs. >.>

[MrBrown]

2 hours ago, Hawke64 said:

EA released all ME2 DLC for free (can be claimed via Origin, downloaded from https://help.ea.com/en/help/faq/dlc-for-classic-games/#masseffect ).
I've started another playthrough with all of them. Reached Omega. So far so good. The dialogue wheel is one of the worst things happen to RPGs, though. On the other hand, the mining mini-game is somehow enjoyable, but likely to turn to grind in a few hours.

If you play all the DLCs, you don't need to mine much at all to get all upgrades.

[majestic]

The mining mini-game in ME2 brings out my inner child. I just keep wasting probes on Uranus and laugh at EDI's increasingly annoyed replies.

[Agiel]

On 7/23/2022 at 8:28 AM, LadyCrimson said:

Stray -

Two things I really like about this casual/chill game:
---sound design. From water/environment noises to enemies to yes, the cat's padded cadence footsteps and sporadic meowing when it lands, as well as the overall "silence" or bits of music. To the point when there are verbal language noises I feel like it disturbs it all. Thankfully there is little of that you must listen to.
---using visuals to set an emotional mood. Game made me feel a bit of sad early on, pensive and curious, and I have a feeling it's not going to be especially happy in the end. Not saying it's depressing, but it's not sunshine and rainbows either.

Two things I don't like in this game:
---even using a controller, avoiding the zurks in those segments is annoying as all get out. Controlling the cat's movement at run/trying not to die-screen speed is very stiff/limited feeling, with some sense of too much input and game action delay (like, runsweverrunrun wait for an "x" to appear, try to jump) and It takes me several tries every time - (edit: if you mess up/don't figure something out, it's death-screen, not forgiving at all) the 2nd time you encounter them is a rather long extended sequence. Supposedly you get some auto-weapon thing to deal with them later and I hope that'll make it better. I think the game could have not used/had a direct enemy threat element at all and been just as good and/or eerie a game.
---there are cute cat things to do, but they mean nothing in terms of gameplay. As a cat person, I still enjoy them, but it would've been nice if such things were more incorporated into actual gameplay vs. just decorative. Like, you can drink out of water puddles, but there is (so far) no reason to. Maybe there should've been at least a minor thirst/hunger survival aspect.

I don't think your playthrough is complete until we've heard your impersonation of Cat from <<Red Dwarf>>:

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by Agiel

[BruceVC]

I have had some unintentional party changes in BG1, Kagain threw his toys and left the party because I still haven't found the noblemen's son. I was going to kill him for his insolence but I believe in Democracy and if he wants to leave the GREATEST adventure in his life and miss the opportunity of spending many nights around the fire with the beautiful and seductive Viconia thats his problem

So I was left with a fighter\tank shortage but I enlisted Kivan, a ranger,  and Im very impressed. He is effective in battle and offers some good dialogue lines and some hilarious interaction with Imoen

I also have changed my combat strategy. With Kivan I now have 3 x archers who initially can inflict long range damage and then I use the party formation of 3 x 2 rows while exploring. So I moved my wizard to row 2 which means when I see a group of enemies from a distance I can quickly cast AOE spells like Color Spray which is finally making my wizard add real value in combat

Im also having some really exciting battles with named bandits in the maps south of Beregost, they tough and the combat literally goes down to my fighters winning with 3 HP left after using all my healing potions. I get good loot and scalps from these battles

My party is still mostly on level 2 but Imoen is on level 3 and the adventure is progressing nicely 

Edited July 26, 2022 by BruceVC

[Malcador]

7 hours ago, majestic said:

The mining mini-game in ME2 brings out my inner child. I just keep wasting probes on Uranus and laugh at EDI's increasingly annoyed replies.

Makes me want to play EVE.

[Humanoid]

Huh, I had no idea Viconia was in BG1 (unless that's an EE thing).

[Wormerine]

46 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

Huh, I had no idea Viconia was in BG1 (unless that's an EE thing).

She was. You can run across her very early as she is chased by Flaming Fist. She calls out to you for help in BG2 because she knows you.

[LadyCrimson]

Stray - think I'm really close to the end, just a minor bit or two left probably. There's a long stealth type section (nothing serious but...) which might be stressful for those who just wanted a "cat simulator" since such is more than just zig zag running from zurks.  At any rate, it's probably the most "gamey" gameplay section of the game, which some might like a bit more.

The save system still annoys me, because while I'm playing I'm constantly pausing to see if I triggered a new save point, in order to decide if I want to stop or not, which is disruptive. I did test it, where I found a couple Memories and quit without a new checkpoint save happening - when I reloaded it set me back at the last checkpoint location/moment and I had to locate/click on them again. >.>

Anyway, I'm going to go ahead and say I'd give this game a 7/10, but in terms of cats, including the great animation of stuff even down to the ear twitches, a 10/10. I'd have no desire to replay it per se but loading up a mellow chapter just to cat-sim for a few might be something I'd do, since I have no real cat anymore.  lol.

"Cat roaming around in Bladerunner" ... yeah, sorta felt like that at times.

Edited July 26, 2022 by LadyCrimson

[LadyCrimson]

Ok, actually finished Stray. My ratings notions still stand.

The campaign/story ending was a bit ambiguous in some ways, without real clear cut answers. Some won't like that but I don't mind. I don't think it's as deep as some might believe but considering it's ... y'know, a cat ... it was still good. In a way the story isn't really about the cat itself, either. Anyhoo...had fun, no regrets, probably the first game in a while that I actually kept turning back on and finished (yay for short games? )