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

[Gorth]

14 hours ago, Gfted1 said:

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

Is that the one where you find a very nice ring?

[Gorth]

8 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

 

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

I'm sure Viconia with her whip and leather boots will make sure the guys don't get much sleep at night, so yeah, more rest more often

[Zoraptor]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

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.

Ah yes, his name was Robert Paulsen.

I would have staked pretty much anything that Anomen's VA was Raphael Sbarge same as Carth/ Skye*/ Kaiden. Oh well, Mandela Effect strikes again I guess. Or maybe Nelson Effect if it was just me.

I rather like Ashley. Somewhere between KOTOR and JE I got really tired of Bioware's archetypes and she doesn't really fit any of their tired tropes or attempts at Whedon style quirkiness. She's also, for want of a better term, one of the more realistic companions in Bioware's games full stop both in terms of motivations and dialogue.

*not played by Raphael Sbarge either, naturally.

Edited September 20, 2022 by Zoraptor

[bugarup]

5 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

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.

Seelah's single (and not interested), orc paladin's married to a NPC spymaster lady. And to answer your question, why yes, they all do.  BG2's crew of misfits sometimes feel like a department of accounting next to these guys, and speaking of that, I don't buy for a minute Annoymen was a success within its target audience unless target audience does not mean women, because mother****er is the proto nice guy. I used him in my last playthrough since he is good at what he does, my female Charname was dismissive with him all the time, and I still got roped into romance. 

Also, hands of xenophobe Ashley. She's like Wrex, but human female. She's great and I love her. 

[Zoraptor]

Oh yeah, it's Anevia (?) she's married to isn't it? Need to pay more attention.

Edited September 20, 2022 by Zoraptor

[xzar_monty]

15 hours ago, Gorth said:

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.

There was some other Haer'Dalis content that was also cut. There is a mod called Unfinished Business that restores some of this; one notable incident is the murder of Acton Balthis that Haer'Dalis becomes accused of. The romance, however, is not restored in this mod -- perhaps the material has not been made available and cannot be restored from the game files themselves. (At least some of the Suna Seni material can also be restored, but not the romance itself, btw.)

Also, I find it really interesting that of all the NPCs you can recruit, Haer'Dalis is the one that gives you the most direct hints about Yoshimo. Being an actor and all, he's pretty perceptive.

As for the Anomen thing, I think it's quite nice how Anomen and Mazzy approach their ideals of chivalry and greatness from the opposite directions: Mazzy from a position of sincere goodness, Anomen from a position of insufficiency, as a compensatory measure / reaction. The results are precisely what you would expect: Mazzy is dependable and forthright, Anomen is an utter príck. (It's been a long time since I've played the game, so I may have misremembered parts of their backstories, but this was the sense I got when playing. I wonder if this juxtaposition was deliberate.)

[xzar_monty]

1 hour ago, Zoraptor said:

Oh yeah, it's Anevia (?) she's married to isn't it? Need to pay more attention.

Yep.

It's better to pay both more and less attention, in my view. Some of the details and turns are likely to make you wonder, in fact quite a bit, if you pay attention. Willing suspension of disbelief indeed.

[BruceVC]

3 hours ago, Gorth said:

I'm sure Viconia with her whip and leather boots will make sure the guys don't get much sleep at night, so yeah, more rest more often

Now you talking Gorthfuscious 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2022 by BruceVC

[xzar_monty]

22 hours ago, Humanoid said:

It's interesting to me that I can love a game with so many problems so much. The AI as mentioned is primitive, the graphics were bland even for its time, the balancing of the various leaders and units is non-existent, it lost all the personality of its predecessors (and Alpha Centauri in particular), and the UI needs modding to reach the level of simply "reasonably usable". And yet it's an everpresent in any list of my top 5 games of all time.

Yeah, I agree this is interesting. None of the stuff bothers me all that much, except of course it would be great if the AI was even a little bit better.

The one thing that does bother me somewhat is that the game so obviously cheats. I mean, surely everyone who's played Civ for a bit will have recognized this; especially during wartime, many of the enemies do not follow the rules that you are bound by, as a player. And that sucks. (It sucks way, way more in P:K and P:WotR, by the way, if you ask me: I think Owlcat is quite nasty in some of its choices and I can't really see myself buying another title from them, even if they stop being associated with Russia.)

I don't particularly mind the stack of doom phenomenon.

I remember back in the day when I started ramping up the difficulty level and noticed that at some point you simply stop finding Settlers in barbarian huts. That is a noticeable step up in difficulty in the very early game. I don't remember which difficulty I wound up enjoying the most but I certainly never went all the way to the top.

[Gfted1]

6 hours ago, Gorth said:

Is that the one where you find a very nice ring?

@BruceVC Dont click this spoiler. Its the one where you find a very nice

quarterstaff. The best in game Staff of the Magi.

[Gorth]

8 minutes ago, Gfted1 said:

@BruceVC Dont click this spoiler. Its the one where you find a very nice

  Reveal hidden contents

quarterstaff. The best in game Staff of the Magi.

 

Ah yes, I was thinking of the floating skull guy you had to fight

[Humanoid]

31 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

Yeah, I agree this is interesting. None of the stuff bothers me all that much, except of course it would be great if the AI was even a little bit better.

The one thing that does bother me somewhat is that the game so obviously cheats. I mean, surely everyone who's played Civ for a bit will have recognized this; especially during wartime, many of the enemies do not follow the rules that you are bound by, as a player. And that sucks. (It sucks way, way more in P:K and P:WotR, by the way, if you ask me: I think Owlcat is quite nasty in some of its choices and I can't really see myself buying another title from them, even if they stop being associated with Russia.)

I don't particularly mind the stack of doom phenomenon.

I remember back in the day when I started ramping up the difficulty level and noticed that at some point you simply stop finding Settlers in barbarian huts. That is a noticeable step up in difficulty in the very early game. I don't remember which difficulty I wound up enjoying the most but I certainly never went all the way to the top.

Like many players, I have the additional sources of RNG like goodie huts and random events turned off. The AI cheats are generally not cheats in the sense that they have access to different mechanics, but that they essentially have a bunch of effective 'sliders' and as you ramp up the difficulty, things like their units and techs become cheaper for them, their maintenance costs for units and cities are reduced, etc. They also get more units to start the game which makes the most expedient way to win game - early rushes - increasingly less viable for the player. Notably they also get a free worker from Monarch level, and a free extra Settler at Deity.

[xzar_monty]

29 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

Like many players, I have the additional sources of RNG like goodie huts and random events turned off.

Wow. Why? Any particular reason? I think they're mostly good fun.

[Humanoid]

29 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

Wow. Why? Any particular reason? I think they're mostly good fun.

They're probably just a bit too swingy and therefore have a bit of an undue balance on how a particular game plays out. Particularly true when trying to learn good, reliable early game strategies.

[Bartimaeus]

I haven't played a ton of Civilization, but I didn't like them they become too important to accelerating early game progression. Getting additional units or random free techs/resources are so important to making sure that you start faster than you otherwise would, that if you fail to get a good amount and of the optimal types, it kind of feels like you've failed the early game. Just turning them off means you don't have to worry about it at all and that it's a bit more fair: the peace of mind in not having to obsess over too much random stuff mostly out of your control is worth it. I realized how extreme it was when I got a number of particularly good ones and accelerated progression so much that the game was effectively decided in the first era due to an overwhelming advantage that the AI wouldn't have ever been able to make up. I don't think Civilization does great at giving a sense of verisimilitude in the first place (which is why I've never been able to play it too much - playing a simulation game where it feels like everything about it is randomly generated makes everything I do feel meaningless), but it's that much worse when it feels like I've already won (or lost!) because of silly RNG stuff like that right at the start.

Unsurprisingly, I'm much more of an Europa Universalis 4 kind of guy than Civilization...but Paradox pretty much ruined that game for me by making a million expansions that added so many unnecessary mechanics that don't really fit or feel good together that I can't really play it anymore. It's probably just as well anyways.

Edited September 20, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[xzar_monty]

41 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

They're probably just a bit too swingy and therefore have a bit of an undue balance on how a particular game plays out. Particularly true when trying to learn good, reliable early game strategies.

Ok, fair enough, I see where you're coming from. My approach is different, I like the unpredictability.

[kanisatha]

18 hours ago, Chilloutman said:

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

Same here. I also like Civ 5 and still play it, having skipped both 4 and 6.

[InsaneCommander]

13 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Oh yeah, it's Anevia (?) she's married to isn't it? Need to pay more attention.

On the other hand, you won't need to pay attention when it comes to companions interested in your character.

[Keyrock]

#TeamCiv4 here, though I haven't played a 4X in quite a while. I am looking forward to Humankind, especially since it's day 1 Game Pass.

[Hurlshort]

9 minutes ago, Keyrock said:

#TeamCiv4 here, though I haven't played a 4X in quite a while. I am looking forward to Humankind, especially since it's day 1 Game Pass.

I thought I already played it on Gamepass? 

[Theonlygarby]

Ff7 remake.  I might be in the minority of old ff7 fans that is glad they changed the story

[Keyrock]

25 minutes ago, Hurlshort said:

I thought I already played it on Gamepass? 

It might have been early access? 

Releases November 4.

[Malcador]

Civ 4 was the apex for me, although I played less than I did for Civ 2 (ah to have that much time to waste and not end up homeless)

2 hours in to RtMI....not sure what the praise is for as of yet, nothing amusing, a lot of call backs I guess.

Edited September 21, 2022 by Malcador

[Wormerine]

13 hours ago, Hurlshort said:

I thought I already played it on Gamepass? 

13 hours ago, Keyrock said:

It might have been early access? 

Releases November 4.

It's been on PC since October 2020. November is the console port. I tried to get into it, but never managed to get into it. Looks interesting. Maybe I will attempt again, once I have more brain power available, and am not tempted by more accessible titles.

[majestic]

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>