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

[Gfted1]

5 hours ago, BruceVC said:

And then I have been on some excellent side quests like The Planar Sphere, Umar Hills and the entire Windspear Hills and the Firkraag story arc

Just wait until you find the Twisted Rune Hideout. Youre in for a treat.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

17 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

No, that's why I said they're better off that way: it'd be weird if they were supposed to be all lovey-dovey or whatever. The thought of Jaheira being anything but the grumpy old lady that she is seems pretty weird to me...but really, it all goes hand-in-hand with the last sentence of your second paragraph: I don't want to romance anyone at all. Player romances in video games are universally bad(?) - certainly BioWare ones are, at least. Always playing female protagonists* mercifully saved me here, I suppose.

I want a game where all the npc companions are horny pansexuals interested in everyone but the player character, who is forever alone.

18 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

...I'm not a girl, so my opinion on such things is eminently worthless

You've set yourself up with this one.

[Bartimaeus]

13 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

I think BG2 might have been the last RPG I played where my primary run was with a male PC. This may have been influenced by Anomen, but I can't say for sure. I don't think I ever let him join, but then I was never one to rotate companions much.

Looking at a list of BG2 companions to try to remember who was in my core party and I see BG2EE added ...a bear? Well, it has the best portrait of the new additions at least. Anyway, I was a boring goody two-shoes back then so I probably just had a fairly default looking party - Sorcerer PC, Minsc, Jaheira, Aerie, Valygar, Keldorn I think? These days, well, I'd probably try to play a solo pure Thief and fail to get out of tutorial dungeon.

I'm pretty sure the first party I had in BG2 was Bard PC (ten year old me: "they can fight, have some thieving abilities, and can do arcane magic - what more could you want?!"), Minsc, Jaheira, Nalia, Jan Jansen, and Valygar...and then Valygar got thrown out for Imoen. I was apparently a very stupid ten year old, as not only did I play as a bard, I also apparently did not recognize that having three freaking thieves was probably three thieves too many. I remember the final battles of SoA being very not fun because my party balance was total crap...on top of being a very stupid ten year old that didn't know how to play very well in the first place.

4 minutes ago, KP From Another World said:

You've set yourself up with this one.

I always do, don't I?

5 minutes ago, KP From Another World said:

I want a game where all the npc companions are horny pansexuals interested in everyone but the player character, who is forever alone.

I would settle for a game where you have to play as an unwitting villain where everyone inexplicably treats you like you're the absolute worst while they have rich and interesting friendships with each other. I don't know how that would really work in an actual game (i.e. with gameplay) in practice, but...

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

5 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I always do, don't I?

Yes.

To be fair, my sense of humor is offbeat enough where even the most innocuous things have comedic undertones.

7 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I would settle for a game where you have to play as an unwitting villain where everyone inexplicably treats you like you're the absolute worst while they have rich and interesting friendships with each other. I don't know how that would really work in an actual game (i.e. with gameplay) in practice, but...

I hate to do this to you, I really do, but you've essentially described the setup for Uncle from Another World.

[Humanoid]

22 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'm pretty sure the first party I had in BG2 was Bard PC (ten year old me: "they can fight, have some thieving abilities, and can do arcane magic - what more could you want?!"), Minsc, Jaheira, Nalia, Jan Jansen, and Valygar...and then Valygar got thrown out for Imoen. I was apparently a very stupid ten year old, as not only did I play as a bard, I also apparently did not recognize that having three freaking thieves was probably three thieves too many. I remember the final battles of SoA being very not fun because my party balance was total crap...on top of being a very stupid ten year old that didn't know how to play very well in the first place.

As someone who now exclusively plays thieves, I'm glad current me can measure up to ten year-old you in terms of skill.

As for ten year-old me, I distinctly remember playing Civ1 where I thought that not only was it a good idea to place cities directly adjacent to each other, but that the logic of doing so could be extended further to place a square of 2x2 cities in as many tiles, or indeed 3x2. I distinctly remember doing this as France on the official Earth scenario map and sending a trickle of Musketeers down to Africa to veeeeery slowly defeat Shaka. Bear in mind Musketeers in that game have a amazing ...2 points in Attack, ahead of only the Militia that you start the game with.

Sid mercifully added a restriction in the sequel to disallow this particular urban arrangement.

  

22 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I would settle for a game where you have to play as an unwitting villain where everyone inexplicably treats you like you're the absolute worst while they have rich and interesting friendships with each other. I don't know how that would really work in an actual game (i.e. with gameplay) in practice, but...

The reveal will be that they're a party of adventurers hired to escort an idiot NPC on behalf of a rich relative and they begrudgingly put up with you for the money, unbeknownst to you.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Humanoid

[Malcador]

2 hours ago, Humanoid said:

A big caveat is that I'm not ashamed to say I never did particularly mind the stack of doom "issue" in Civ4.

Good reminder to get up and get a drink when one of those strikes.  Well and maybe do some laundry, cook a meal.

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by Malcador

[Humanoid]

1 minute ago, Malcador said:

Good reminder to get up and get a drink when one of those strikes.  Well and maybe do some laundry, cook a meal.

 

I play with animations off, which brings its own set of issues - namely having to read the event log to figure out what I just lost. But at least I'd be able to execute a single war in one session that way.

[InsaneCommander]

43 minutes ago, KP From Another World said:

I hate to do this to you, I really do, but you've essentially described the setup for Uncle from Another World.

[Gorth]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Wow. Haer'Dalis was the next option? Really? ...I'm not a girl, so my opinion on such things is eminently worthless, but...I mean, I guess he's better than the second worst option after Anomen, which would have to be stupid baby man Cernd. That creep gives druids a bad name. So at least it wasn't intended to be him, I suppose.

I looked it up on some fandom page:

Haer'Dalis was originally meant to be romancable in Baldur's Gate II, but the romance was cut because of time constraints. David Gaider has confirmed him as bi-/pansexual, and he is selectable to hire a male drow prostitute in the Underdark. [citation needed]
Valygar was also meant to be romance option for females. Suna Seni is also involved in his romance. During development of Throne of Bhaal, David Gaider wanted to add this romance but couldn't due to time constraints.

[majestic]

Now, now, don't go knocking Bards in BG2, as long as you play either a Skald or a Blade they're not entirely worthless, unlike single class thieves and single class divine casters. Sad to say, but if you don't want to take Jaheira and really want a cleric in your group, Annoymen is the only real alternative, unless you fancy wasting a party slot on Viconia.

[Bartimaeus]

Viconia has 18 wisdom compared to Anomen's 12 (or 16 if he passed the knighthood quest): give me them bonus spellcasting slots and I'll give her a girdle of strength.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

Anomen has more hit points and more attacks per round. Anomen makes the combat in the game less annoying. Viconia doesn't. Case closed, discussion over. When was the last time you really needed those extra spells from a high wisdom score? Besides, the difference between 16 and 18 WIS is negligible.

The solution is to take Jaheira and leave the clerics where they belong, in the trash bin, along with Cernd that human wasteland of a character.

Edited September 19, 2022 by majestic

[Majek]

Trying to play Return to monkey island. But i'm gettin distracted by the posts above.

[Bartimaeus]

20 minutes ago, majestic said:

Anomen has more hit points and more attacks per round. Anomen makes the combat in the game less annoying. Viconia doesn't. Case closed, discussion over. When was the last time you really needed those extra spells from a high wisdom score? Besides, the difference between 16 and 18 WIS is negligible.

The solution is to take Jaheira and leave the clerics where they belong, in the trash bin, along with Cernd that human wasteland of a character.

Really, all the details are immaterial: Anomen cannot be in the party because he is Anomen. Anomen is Anomen is Anomen, and that's just not acceptable. You see him in the Copper Coronet, he calls out "fair lady" to you as you walk by, you throw his corpse into the dumpster, and then you go about your day. Seriously, I am not going to be called "fair lady" by that smarmy stupid voice and let it go unpunished, it's just not happening.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Zoraptor]

The really funny thing is that Anomen was actually really popular with his target audience. Hence his archetype w/ same voice actor appearing time after time, technically I guess up until ME3 (or ME1 if you correctly picked the religious xenophobe Ashley over Kaiden).

 

 

People who don't take Viconia along probably rest after every combat.

[Lexx]

Oh damn, I didn't realized the new Monkey Island is out already. Didn't expected it to be out already now.

Reading reviews on Steam right now. Funny how suddenly people are fine with the art style when before everyone was ****ting on it.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Lexx

[majestic]

22 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

I don't even care about crafting per se anymore. I just want to pull things from a menu out of thin air like Lego's and just plonk them down to make stuff, not have to spend 1000's of hours grinding/fighting for mats. so I can smelt, forge, then wait for some crafting timer 10000x and THEN build....

Raft has a Creative mode where you have unlimited materials and suffer neither hunger nor thirst, and it has no enemies.

51 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:

People who don't take Viconia along probably rest after every combat.

She gets one third and one fourth level spell over Anomen after his quest, and an additional two level one and two level two spells before that. If that is the difference between resting every encounter or not, then I would venture to say that having Viconia in the party staves off resting for half a real fight. That does not seen worth gimping your party any more than you would with Anomen in the group over a real companion. Can I interest you in a potion or a scroll, maybe?

[Wormerine]

8 hours ago, Humanoid said:

A big caveat is that I'm not ashamed to say I never did particularly mind the stack of doom "issue" in Civ4. Given that it's most commonly stated complaint about the game, I wouldn't be surprised to see people's preference on the old versus the new system might be entirely down to which approach they prefer.

Yup. Didn't get properly into Civ until Civ5 precisely becayse of the doom stacks. I would start Civ4 games and play until someone attacked me.

Personally, I like a lot of Civ6 - I liked unstacking cities just as much as unstacking units! - but I don't think it comes together as nicely as Civ5 did with all it's expansions. Don't like religion in Civ6, and I just wish they would copy united nations systems from Brave New World - I thought it was done much better in Civ5.

[Chilloutman]

I am also team Civ5, it just felt ... more cohesive? 

[Sarex]

I liked all of them. Each had something new and fresh, but all of them suffer from the same end game issues, ie. boring endgame.

[Wormerine]

28 minutes ago, Chilloutman said:

I am also team Civ5, it just felt ... more cohesive? 

Yeah like oddly, because Civ6 launch with most core features it failed to develop each one of them that carefully. Both expansions for Civ5 added really well throughout systems - I can’t say the same for civ6 - their implementation of golden eras and natural disasters are interesting concept, but I don’t think they work well. On the other hand, I wish they would polish a bit more features the game shipped with. 

[Zoraptor]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

She gets one third and one fourth level spell over Anomen after his quest, and an additional two level one and two level two spells before that. If that is the difference between resting every encounter or not, then I would venture to say that having Viconia in the party staves off resting for half a real fight. That does not seen worth gimping your party any more than you would with Anomen in the group over a real companion. Can I interest you in a potion or a scroll, maybe?

Consumables? They're for counting up at the end so I can complain about how badly balanced the game is and how I never needed to use any (except potions of clarity etc vs illithids and antimagic scrolls to cheese optional fights).

When it comes to Anomen I'm with Bartimaeus. There is no argument for him which can overcome the monumental negative of being Anomen. I would however take both Jaheira and Viconia. Plus Jan, Imoen and Edwin. Then again my main criterion is people whose chirps don't make me want to stick skewers through my ear drums.

 

Apropos of nothing also got a bit further into Pathfinder: WotR. Interesting NPC selection there, can see why they strongly suggest going for a fighter since the only recruitable meatshield I've met is Seelah. Who's also the only one who is remotely normal. Does literally everyone else have to have a quirky backstory, strange mannerisms and weird class? That's one of the worst things that Bioware style games have brought us. Still, black woman paladin married to a female half orc manages not to be a hopeless cliché in execution, so thumbs up there.

There aren't really any hybrid (front line, to exclude Lann) fighters either apart from Camellia- and yeah.

Spoiler

half way convinced she's the fricking demon from the start in human form since they make a point of saying he's disappeared multiple times and she's so very obviously shadier than an Eminem pseudonym.

Also 'nice' to see that the tradition of annoying characteristic draining enemies has been maintained.

[yes, I am aware of the irony of having a Jaheira/ Viconia/ Jan (haha lol)/ Imoen/ Edwin party in BG2 and complaining about companions in another game being over quirky]

Edited September 19, 2022 by Zoraptor

[ComradeYellow]

Hunt: Showdown.  What it is with European developers fetish with janky features like permadeath?  'Tis a neat game, I enjoy roaming the map like a hunter always on my guard and looking for clues, but it's just a shade too janky for liking.

[Malcador]

6 hours ago, Lexx said:

Oh damn, I didn't realized the new Monkey Island is out already. Didn't expected it to be out already now.

Reading reviews on Steam right now. Funny how suddenly people are fine with the art style when before everyone was ****ting on it.

Fanboy reviews I assume.  Checked earlier and saw someone raving about it with 30 mins under their belts. 

Because I have more money than brains, I got it - can cope with the art, except in the close ups, just God awful. Shame they didn't make this sooner, passage of time affected the voice actors, Elaine most of all so far.

Read a bit about the ending, Gilbert's being meta and clowning on the fans again apparently

Edited September 20, 2022 by Malcador

[Bartimaeus]

6 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

The really funny thing is that Anomen was actually really popular with his target audience. Hence his archetype w/ same voice actor appearing time after time, technically I guess up until ME3 (or ME1 if you correctly picked the religious xenophobe Ashley over Kaiden).

His voice actor is Rob Paulsen; don't see any Mass Effect credits for him. From the different roles I recognize him as, he actually seems like he has a pretty good range and there are many I would never have been able to tell that it was him.

I think Ashley vs. Kaiden is totally dependent on whether you're a male or female protagonist; if you're male, you kill Ashley, while if you're female, you kill Kaiden. Ideally, you'd really be able to kill both. I mean, ideally, I'd kill probably half or more of all the characters throughout all three games, but those two especially.

5 hours ago, majestic said:

She gets one third and one fourth level spell over Anomen after his quest, and an additional two level one and two level two spells before that. If that is the difference between resting every encounter or not, then I would venture to say that having Viconia in the party staves off resting for half a real fight. That does not seen worth gimping your party any more than you would with Anomen in the group over a real companion. Can I interest you in a potion or a scroll, maybe?

It's more of a mentality than anything else: there are people who play the game that will rest every every battle because the game allows them to and it means you're at full strength every single time. This is the sort of thing that Pillars of Eternity attempted to stifle with the way it implemented resting...but I think I'd rather let the player decide how they want to play, whether that's the player placing limits on themselves or not, than to deliberately make too many elements of the game obnoxious like Pillars did.