What are you Playing Now? Whatever happens, at least we're out of that mudhole, Gilded Vale.

[Hurlshort]

Lord of the Rings Online - My Captain of Men is level 102 and hanging out in Central Gondor. I am a bit lost about my equipment, traits, etc., but I can still hold my own in a regular fight. I'm hoping to work my way towards Mordor this go around.

Edited September 21, 2022 by Hurlshort

[Bartimaeus]

5 hours ago, majestic said:

Golf With Your Friends by Team 17, with, well, my nephew.

Or rather, it's competitive, not co-op, but how would co-op mini-golf look like, anyway? The courses range from hilarious to ludicrous and the game's actually fun enough for the price I got it on Sunday (which was 11€). There's not much I can say, you pick a direction and set the strengh of your shot, that's basically all there is to it. Some of the later courses are more puzzles than mini-golf courses, what with gravity manipulation fields, giant stompers and my favorite, miniature black holes for slingshot maneuvers.

It's more fun in the 'fun' sense of fun than Raft, but also a bit less interesting. I am also unsure how long my nephew will be fine with losing all the time, but I sure ain't going to let him win on purpose. Games are serious business. <Note to editor: Insert Conan quote about crushing your enemies here>

I've played a few games of Golf with Your Friends with some friends before. I was pretty bad at it compared to them, but it was fun enough.

...My style of playing anything even slightly competitive with my nieces is that I'll generally play much more risky/daring than I otherwise would. If I were to play this with them, I'd probably be trying to go for wacky shots and bombing it most of the time, . I see that you're the..."I will win every time" type instead.

[Malcador]

5 hours ago, majestic said:

but how would co-op mini-golf look like, anyway?

Have to co-ordinate your putts - sink one to move a mechanism so the other player has a path to the hole ?

[BruceVC]

I am in Spellhold and I decided not to take Imoen with me after freeing her, she doesnt offer the same combat and quest skills as my current party members. She will wait at the Copper Inn for later

Does this make me a bad person because I feel guilty for some reason?

[ShadySands]

18 hours ago, Hurlshort said:

Lord of the Rings Online - My Captain of Men is level 102 and hanging out in Central Gondor. I am a bit lost about my equipment, traits, etc., but I can still hold my own in a regular fight. I'm hoping to work my way towards Mordor this go around.

With the new patch that opens up more class/race combos I just rolled a High Elf Burglar and am going to slowly take him through the game. I'll see how far I get before WOTR EE drops

[Wormerine]

7 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Does this make me a bad person because I feel guilty for some reason?

Ha! i know how you feel. It is my common dilemma - going all the way to rescue poor Imoen only to say: “Sorry, my party is full”. I am sure Copper Inn must be at least somewhat more comfortable than Spellhold. 

[bugarup]

Quote

I am in Spellhold and I decided not to take Imoen with me after freeing her, she doesnt offer the same combat and quest skills as my current party members. She will wait at the Copper Inn for later

Does this make me a bad person because I feel guilty for some reason?

Edited September 22, 2022 by bugarup
Forum gremlins ate my post making me look like empty-quoting dork :[

[Hurlshort]

2 hours ago, ShadySands said:

With the new patch that opens up more class/race combos I just rolled a High Elf Burglar and am going to slowly take him through the game. I'll see how far I get before WOTR EE drops

I rolled a High Elf Brawler, but couldn't get over the punching people for 90,000 damage in the intro.

I might go with a hobbit brawler instead. I already have a level 50 Stout Axe Dwarf, so I don't really feel like leveling another dwarf. Also the new Legendary Items system took me awhile to figure out. I was struggling with some fights and someone had to explain the whole process for upgrading my gear to me. But I spent an evening working on it and now I'm a lot more successful.

[bugarup]

For some reason I cannot post my reply to that quote of Bruce. I hope it's not because of my opinion that Imoen should always be abandoned in that dungeon.

Edited September 22, 2022 by bugarup
testing forum's pro-Imoen bias. Edit of edit: bias confirmed :[ ]

[BruceVC]

15 minutes ago, bugarup said:

For some reason I cannot post my reply to that quote of Bruce. I hope it's not because of my opinion that Imoen should always be abandoned in that dungeon.

 

2 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Ha! i know how you feel. It is my common dilemma - going all the way to rescue poor Imoen only to say: “Sorry, my party is full”. I am sure Copper Inn must be at least somewhat more comfortable than Spellhold. "

Its exactly that reason, my party is full. I like Imoen but her skills are duplicated

And Wormie, you remember my code about how I select party members. In order of importance 

• combat and general skills 
• NPC side  quests and dialogue
• Romance 

Now Imoen is cute and not unattractive but she is my half-sister so Romance  is out. And this is  not Greek mythology where incest is normal so I cant motivate her in my party

But I may change my mind once I leave Spellhold? I need to think about it more 

" Copper Inn must be at least somewhat more comfortable than Spellhold "  very true

 

 

Edited September 22, 2022 by BruceVC

[majestic]

17 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I see that you're the..."I will win every time" type instead.

He can beat me fair and square if he can manage to. I suck at the game, it's just hat he sucks more right now. I don't practice without him, that's about as much of a handicap as I am willing to give myself right now.

As for the ongoing BG2 discussion:

Edited September 22, 2022 by majestic

[Wormerine]

Finished Gears Tactics campaign. According to achievements I have been playing it for almost a year (for total of 32 hours). I really liked the core mechanics - it's a nice spin on XCOM with it's own identity and neat little quirks. What drags it down is lack of variety and development - and I played "Jacked up" version with new enemy variants and extra party member, the original must have been very dull indeed.

To explain my issues with the title I need to describe it in a bit. Structure wise it's essencially an XCOM without strategic layer. The main campaign consists of three acts with boss encounter at each one of them, with 6-8 story missions in each chapter and side missions between those. You have pre-made main characters (5 of them, including jack from DLC) and generated soldier. If story character dies it's game over, but random cogs can die like in XCOM.

Most main missions require some or all of the story companions - side missions on the other hand force using more of your roster. WIth each act you need to do more sidemissions before proceeding (1 for main chapters, 2 for 2nd chapter 3 for 3rd chapter) and they are not skippable. You also can't use same unit twice - so starting with chapter 2 when side missions come up you can't progress by using your A lister only.

My issue is as follows: With main missions requiring specific characters, there is no point of spreading the experience and items around - as such extra side missions become a waste of time. You train extra soldiers not to fill ranks if something goes wrong like in XCOM - you train them so you can send them on more "side missions" which won't contribute much to the power of you key squad. As such extra side missions feel like a complete filler padding space between main missions. Later on those side missions get modifiers and optional objectives, but I found those range from irrelevant to annoying.

It doesn't help that missions variety is low. Honestly, the only difference between most of side and main missions is that main mission have some narrative justification and squad requirements - a lot of the time it is very much the same type of mission and map that you would be playing in side mission. I started to get bored in chapter 2 and once I got to chapter 3 wth 3 side missions to do per "story break" the game really started to drag.

This repetiteveness could also be leveled at XCOM, especially Vanilla2. But I think GT showed me the value of XCOMs strategic layer - with ability to research and buy stuff between missions even doing a boring missions yelds a reward in XCOM. GT quickly started to feel like final hours of an XCOM campaign - where you have all that you need, and just wait for the game to end. You get experience and gain accessories for you Cogs, and some of the skills items you get can be very fun, but it is a very passive experience - items are randomised so you don't actively pursue anything. You just get stuff after missions.

I also felt that classes and enemies had little personal identity - they all were based on the same foundation with a minor variation - I didin't feel like running with different squads or builds, or against different enemies really changed the gameplay.

Still, a good solid foundation. Want to see GearsTactics2 in the future. Not a bad game to boot up every few days or weeks and do a mission or two.

[Malcador]

Reached Part 4 in RtMI.  Game's really easy, which is a shame.  But at least no really out there puzzles, I guess.  Still not all that funny, chuckled maybe once so far.  I did enjoy the sequence on the ship.  Apparently part 4 is the good part, though, so we'll see.

 

[MrBrown]

On 9/22/2022 at 11:43 AM, BruceVC said:

I am in Spellhold and I decided not to take Imoen with me after freeing her, she doesnt offer the same combat and quest skills as my current party members. She will wait at the Copper Inn for later

Does this make me a bad person because I feel guilty for some reason?

She's a pretty good character, as far as the NPCs goes. She's the best good-aligned Mage, so she's the best pick if you don't want Edwin.

She has just enough Thief skills to make all rolls, sometimes with the help of a potion. If you don't go around backstabbing, there's not much reason to have a full Thief, so she's a pretty good choice.

[Chilloutman]

46 minutes ago, MrBrown said:

She's a pretty good character, as far as the NPCs goes. She's the best good-aligned Mage, so she's the best pick if you don't want Edwin.

She has just enough Thief skills to make all rolls, sometimes with the help of a potion. If you don't go around backstabbing, there's not much reason to have a full Thief, so she's a pretty good choice.

I think that elven half cleric half mage girl from start is actually best good aligned mage, but to each his own. I prefer Edwin

[majestic]

Not taking Imoen with you and using Viconia over Anomen (instead of taking neither, thank you very much) is all fine, but it is a bit strange coming from someone who claims he values combat effectiveness over everything else. That's clearly not the case. Hexxat and Edwin, Jan and Edwin, or the silly combination of Hexxat and Jan, neither of those are as good as picking Edwin and Imoen, Jan or Imoen or, eh, Imoen and Neera.

Edwin has the advantage of having more spells than any other mage and being the only specialist mage kit worth a damn* because divination is, outside of True Sight, a right worthless spell category (also solved by having Imoen around), but he also comes with a slight disadvantage - he can't equip the Amulet of Power. Edwin's advantage in spell slots per day becomes less and less impactful the longer the game goes on. It is arguably at its greatest in BG1. With the Robe of Vecna and the Amulet of Power you can get many worthwhile spells to a 0 cast time. With auto-pause on spell cast and Improved Alacrity, that allows for some rather cataclystic spellcasting action.

*Esoteric special cases like doing a low level Enchanter/Cleric dual class for the bonus to enchantment spells nonwithstanding. That's... hardly worth it, though, but it is possible.

Stupid discussion roped me back in. Sigh.

[Bartimaeus]

@Chilloutman Imoen gets access to 9th level arcane spells and HLAs at 3,000,000 XP plus the 40,000 XP that went into her 7 levels of Thief; Aerie will instead take double that at 6,000,000 due to her XP being split between mage and cleric. That's a pretty significant issue if you need the arcane firepower; cleric spells can be nice and all, but being able to get Improved Alacrity and Time Stop at the end of SoA (and certainly for much of ToB) is probably nicer. Though mage-cleric is probably the best multi-class available, dual classes tend to...er, outclass multi-classes pretty heavily simply due to the economy of XP and the fact that a mere 40,000 spent on Imoen's thief levels ultimately amounts to practically nothing.

Edwin, on the other hand...yeah, okay. Single-class Conjurer (by far the best kit for the additional spell slot per spellcasting level) combined with his absurd necklace (which gives him an additional two more spell slots per spellcasting level!) makes that a bit of a no contest.

@majestic There are some other edge cases for different kits - for example, Invokers pair great with a sorcerer that takes the best and oft-repeated AoE enchantment spells (i.e. Sleep, Confusion, Chaos, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness). But yes, Conjurers are definitely the "power gamer" pick due to Detect Invisibility/True Seeing really being the only halfway important Divination spells.

Edited September 23, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[InsaneCommander]

Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising

This game is a prequel for Eiyuden: Hundred Heroes, the “new Suikoden”. Unlike the latter, this one is a different type of game, a platform instead of an RPG. It looks great and has familiar elements from Suikoden, like the smithy who sharpens your weapons, Runes (there is a menu for them, however I have yet to find any), baths and even rumors of an evil empire invasion threat.

You play as CJ, an “honorable scavenger” who goes to the New Nevaeh village, where there are plenty of treasure finding opportunities.

The gameplay is quite simple and repetitive, just a series of quests to be done in the same 3 locations so far. The combat is also extremely simple, even if you don’t choose the “simple mode”. You can do some chain attacks when you get another character and use a special move for each one and that is it at least for the early game. The bosses demand more thinking and strategy, but are not difficult.

Despite all that, I’m enjoying it a lot.

[Keyrock]

@Hawke64 @BartimaeusI just noticed my version of Steelrising changed from 1.1.0 to 1.2.0. The update that adds NG+ is supposed to drop on the 29th, so it's probably not that. I can't find a changelog, not for lack of trying, so I have no idea whether this update is across all platforms and whether it addresses your issue, but it may be worth checking out, assuming you haven't refunded the game.

[Chilloutman]

5 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

@Chilloutman Imoen gets access to 9th level arcane spells and HLAs at 3,000,000 XP plus the 40,000 XP that went into her 7 levels of Thief; Aerie will instead take double that at 6,000,000 due to her XP being split between mage and cleric. That's a pretty significant issue if you need the arcane firepower; cleric spells can be nice and all, but being able to get Improved Alacrity and Time Stop at the end of SoA (and certainly for much of ToB) is probably nicer. Though mage-cleric is probably the best multi-class available, dual classes tend to...er, outclass multi-classes pretty heavily simply due to the economy of XP and the fact that a mere 40,000 spent on Imoen's thief levels ultimately amounts to practically nothing.

Edwin, on the other hand...yeah, okay. Single-class Conjurer (by far the best kit for the additional spell slot per spellcasting level) combined with his absurd necklace (which gives him an additional two more spell slots per spellcasting level!) makes that a bit of a no contest.

@majestic There are some other edge cases for different kits - for example, Invokers pair great with a sorcerer that takes the best and oft-repeated AoE enchantment spells (i.e. Sleep, Confusion, Chaos, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness). But yes, Conjurers are definitely the "power gamer" pick due to Detect Invisibility/True Seeing really being the only halfway important Divination spells.

I always felt like having basically double amount of spells with her is more than worth it, and some cleric nuke spells are quite potent if you want to talk exactly about nuker mage

[Malcador]

Part 4's not harder, just more tedious.  They sure did Elaine poorly in this game, no spark or anything, bleh.

[ShadySands]

I'm going to have to replay BG2 because I don't recognize the names of a few of the characters you guys are talking about.

[BruceVC]

13 hours ago, MrBrown said:

She's a pretty good character, as far as the NPCs goes. She's the best good-aligned Mage, so she's the best pick if you don't want Edwin.

She has just enough Thief skills to make all rolls, sometimes with the help of a potion. If you don't go around backstabbing, there's not much reason to have a full Thief, so she's a pretty good choice.

Absolutely, Imoen plays  different roles nicely but in my  current party her skills are duplicated. Im a wizard and the main magic user and then Vienxay, a mod NPC, is a shadowmage with both thief and magic skills. I try to ensure duplication of most skills and combat roles so they can utilized  effectively in different places. My party is 

 

• Tanks\Fighters: Minsc and Korgan
• Combat Magic User : Me, Vienxay and Viconia 
• Thief : Vienxay
• Healing: Viconia 
• Archery\Ranged Combat : Vienxay, Minsc, Valygar, Viconia 
• Second level Fighters: Valygar, Viconia ( with Champions strength she is very effective )

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by BruceVC

[BruceVC]

Just now, ShadySands said:

I'm going to have to replay BG2 because I don't recognize the names of a few of the characters you guys are talking about.

Make sure you use Mods and dont forget the BG2 Romance mod, ignore the haters. I know you believe in love 

[Hawke64]

6 hours ago, Keyrock said:

@Hawke64 @BartimaeusI just noticed my version of Steelrising changed from 1.1.0 to 1.2.0. The update that adds NG+ is supposed to drop on the 29th, so it's probably not that. I can't find a changelog, not for lack of trying, so I have no idea whether this update is across all platforms and whether it addresses your issue, but it may be worth checking out, assuming you haven't refunded the game.

Edited September 24, 2022 by Hawke64
Edit. The forum removed my reply, thus repeating. Thanks for the heads up. I've checked the patch notes on Steam, only NG+ and balance will be addressed at the moment (refunded the game a few days ago). Hopefuly, the performance will be fixed eventually.