What are you Playing Now? - Back to the Grind

[Mamoulian War]

Kind of goal nr 5 - March 23, 23:45

It did not took long, and I had a chance to see the second “ending” in Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG from GOG. It was much easier to spot than the first one, so the only reason, why I have went for it, was my curiosity, if there will be achievement for this demise as well. And there was .

Spoiler

I have exploded in the elevator, while trying to get out of the Dome .

 

[Hawke64]

17 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

Thank you for the advice, I have already seen it, but did not knew it was your guide  

The issue is, that I wanted to attempt pacifist run, right out of the bag, without the knowledge of these critical path, and didn’t knew I would get stuck so soon, because I thought, I will be able to talk out of everything, like in most of the different games  And the battle simulator proved me wrong right at the start of the game. I do not want to restart the game, I never do this when I play my first playthrough, out of stubbornness to see how far I can get with suboptimal build. But I ma pretty sure my build is not trash this time, I just have not expected, that you will have to invest heavily into combat skills, if you want to go non-lethal way

 

so it looks like, I have to find a way, how to skip the battle training altogether. Is that even possible?

Sorry for the late reply, but yes - if the combat tutorial has started, backing out is not possible.

Some random info on the no-kill run:

• There's a knock out/non-lethal combat system. The fatigue damage does not scale with anything, so it is possible to KO a foe in one turn + surprise turn. The one possible inconvenience is that the PC gets tired as well and will need to sleep without foes around (by passing out and passing time).
• A companion recruitment spoiler:

Spoiler

If you knock out (the) Fox, using a cup of coffee on her body will help her recover.

• Technically, you can reverse pickpocket, but the number of timed explosives is low and so are the crafting materials for them.
• Not all side quests can be resolved without combat, so having a party (who also can hit people on the head) is recommended.
• The Magellan Station is enormous (as far as I know, it was the starting point in the EA) and easily can take 30% of a playthrough. There's nothing comparable to it later.
• The writing in the low-Int playthrough is significantly different.
• The only thing I can recall about the survival elements is that I was low on food at the beginning of Act 1 in my critical path run.

[Keyrock]

After roughly 10 hours of Dragon's Dogma 2 I can easily proclaim it the new standard. While they are different games, DD2 shares a bond with the Souls games; they are both Japanese takes on distinctly western action RPGs. The main difference being that the Souls games focus on single player while DD focuses on a party. I've long wondered why more RPG developers don't rip off Monster Hunter more often, it's IMHO far and away the best combat system for fighting giant monsters. When the Souls games caught on every developer under the sun tried to copy the combat system, and rightly so, why not Monster Hunter? Monster Hunter is made for scaling giant creatures dynamically to get to vital areas, it would seem perfectly fit for RPGs where you may face giants, hydras, dragons, etc... Dragon's Dogma was the game that finally answered that question and it was made, unsurprisingly, by some former MH devs, but it was kinda jank, forever destined to be a cult classic, nothing more. DD2 not only refines but also upgrades the systems that made DD a cult classic. Beyond that, the combat is so visceral, responsive, engaging, and thrilling that it raises the bar. Dragon's Dogma 2 is the new standard for video games. It's not the new standard for (just) action RPGs or even (just) RPGs, it's the new standard for video games.

I consider the OG Basil Poledouris Conan the Barbarian (1982) theme to be the GoaT. I played the $#!+ out of Conan Exiles, it's a really really good game. Conan Exiles does not have the Basil Poledouris theme, nor should it; it's a very good game, but Conan Exiles is not epic enough to deserve a theme that awesome. Dragon's Dogma 2 is not even a Conan game but it's awesome enough to deserve the Basil Poledouris theme:

 

Edited March 25 by Keyrock

[the_dog_days]

Been playing DD2. I've got over 15 hours and I've only done one main quest. Visited the inn to heal up and rest. Woke up to see goblins running around in the city everywhere. My first thought was that the Goblin Wars had begun but figured out later that an ox cart pulled the goblin's agro and led them into the city.

[Malcador]

Caesar 4 consumption isn't as high as Caesar 3 or something, I end up buried in excess wool and clothing just from one farm and two factories with 1 k people.  Damn cramped maps too.

[BruceVC]

10 hours ago, Keyrock said:

After roughly 10 hours of Dragon's Dogma 2 I can easily proclaim it the new standard. While they are different games, DD2 shares a bond with the Souls games; they are both Japanese takes on distinctly western action RPGs. The main difference being that the Souls games focus on single player while DD focuses on a party. I've long wondered why more RPG developers don't rip off Monster Hunter more often, it's IMHO far and away the best combat system for fighting giant monsters. When the Souls games caught on every developer under the sun tried to copy the combat system, and rightly so, why not Monster Hunter? Monster Hunter is made for scaling giant creatures dynamically to get to vital areas, it would seem perfectly fit for RPGs where you may face giants, hydras, dragons, etc... Dragon's Dogma was the game that finally answered that question and it was made, unsurprisingly, by some former MH devs, but it was kinda jank, forever destined to be a cult classic, nothing more. DD2 not only refines but also upgrades the systems that made DD a cult classic. Beyond that, the combat is so visceral, responsive, engaging, and thrilling that it raises the bar. Dragon's Dogma 2 is the new standard for video games. It's not the new standard for (just) action RPGs or even (just) RPGs, it's the new standard for video games.

I consider the OG Basil Poledouris Conan the Barbarian (1982) theme to be the GoaT. I played the $#!+ out of Conan Exiles, it's a really really good game. Conan Exiles does not have the Basil Poledouris theme, nor should it; it's a very good game, but Conan Exiles is not epic enough to deserve a theme that awesome. Dragon's Dogma 2 is not even a Conan game but it's awesome enough to deserve the Basil Poledouris theme:

 

Wow thats a seriously positive endorsement for DD2, good to know

Are you playing on PC and are you using controller or m\kb?

 

[HoonDing]

"After roughly 10 hours of Dragon's Dogma 2 I can easily proclaim it the new standard."

I prefer games with New Game button

[Keyrock]

2 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Wow thats a seriously positive endorsement for DD2, good to know

Are you playing on PC and are you using controller or m\kb?

 

PC and controller. The game does have some technical issues. I got lucky and it was smooth sailing for me for the first 5 hours, then I started getting graphical glitches here and there and had it CTD once. For the last few hours I've been on a good streak again and it's ran smoothly. /knocks on wood The game could certainly stand to be better optimized, in the outdoors the frame rate, while it could be better, is acceptable, but in cities the frame rate tanks. I'm on a fairly high-end PC so I can still get OK FPS in cities just via brute power, but the drop is noticeable. Still, I'm willing to put up with the issues because the game is incredible. This is the most an action combat system has clicked with me since... Maybe ever. Bayonetta is the only other game I can think of where the combat felt this good, very different combat system in Bayonetta but it succeeds in making you feel like a total badass which is something Dragon's Dogma 2 also does really well. I mean, I jumped off a cliff onto a dragon then hung on for dear life while it took off flying. That particular adventure didn't go well for me (I've fought a dragon twice in this game so far, three if you count the cutscene at the beginning of the game, but have yet to defeat or even survive a dragon) but it was super thrilling nonetheless.

[Mamoulian War]

17 hours ago, the_dog_days said:

Been playing DD2. I've got over 15 hours and I've only done one main quest. Visited the inn to heal up and rest. Woke up to see goblins running around in the city everywhere. My first thought was that the Goblin Wars had begun but figured out later that an ox cart pulled the goblin's agro and led them into the city.

I was 100% sure you have been talking about Darkest Dungeons 2 until other people started to post again about Dragon's Dogma 2

[Keyrock]

18 hours ago, the_dog_days said:

Been playing DD2. I've got over 15 hours and I've only done one main quest. Visited the inn to heal up and rest. Woke up to see goblins running around in the city everywhere. My first thought was that the Goblin Wars had begun but figured out later that an ox cart pulled the goblin's agro and led them into the city.

What if the Goblin Wars had begun and that was an unrelated group of goblins pulled by the ox cart? 

[majestic]

8 hours ago, Keyrock said:

he game could certainly stand to be better optimized, in the outdoors the frame rate, while it could be better, is acceptable, but in cities the frame rate tanks. I'm on a fairly high-end PC so I can still get OK FPS in cities just via brute power, but the drop is noticeable.

In case anyone's interested in just how bad performance can get:

Reminds me a bit of the good old times in Lagforge. It's been a while.

[HoonDing]

There are no performance issues. Get a better pc.

[Wormerine]

1 hour ago, HoonDing said:

There are no performance issues. Get a better pc.

Well, there are. Seems the game runs fine, aside from the city, and issues there seem mostly be related to CPU. A powerhouse of a CPU seems to be able to pump out about 60FPS with dips, but frametimes are all over the place.

 

 

Edit. Soo, with all this talk about Dragon's Dogma, I booted up DD1. As PC port is crap and can't even display prompts correctly, I guessed wrong and attacked NPC instead of talking to him. Now I am in jail....

Edited March 25 by Wormerine

[Keyrock]

My CPU is a Ryzen 7 5800X3D, for what it's worth. I've seen FPS dip into the 30s, though rarely, in cities, mostly I'm at 40-50 in cities, which is not ideal, but at least there's no combat in cities, or there hasn't been so far. I get 70 - 90 FPS in the outdoors.

Edited March 26 by Keyrock

[LadyCrimson]

Patron, city builder - Don't take the following wrong, I still find it some fun, but there are gripes, because I'm a cranky old woman.

----Started a new Sandbox-play map (not interested in having questie objectives added to sandbox). Remembered what I liked about it. Then about 12-15 game-years in, I remember the thing that actually annoyed me the most. The never ending population increase forcing you to build ever more houses, quite rapidly. eg, you have zero ability to control the pace of *when* you want to expand a lot. Not even a little. I suppose one could build just six-eight houses and nothing else but Shelters after (they don't procreate if living in Shelters), hm, maybe that'd work.
----I saw a "Map Editor, On/Off" setting, but there is no map editor, at least not in-game?
----the available maps are still not extensive, but at least there's a few more
----The tech tree wasn't too bad at release, now it's become kind of a nightmare regarding being forced to research/take tons of stuff I don't care about just to reach certain housing upgrades. And not being able to click on more than one at a time, argh.
----The main difficulty of Patron is the very start of a map. The first winter or couple of yeras could be a struggle depending on map and choices. but...even after all the patches...
----apparently, in general, the "make 5-10 tobacco farms (plus some food farms ofc) and a few Docks as early as you can" still works. You can just sell tobacco in huge lots for 100k+ before too long, and buy almost everything vs. create it yourself. 
----Also, outside of city-scaping and personal goals, there's no real reason to build/use 80% of the stuff in the tech tree. You could make a thriving giant townscape with 98-100 in all scores, with nothing but peasants and wheat/fish, forever.

Edited March 26 by LadyCrimson

[the_dog_days]

20 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Are you playing on PC and are you using controller or m\kb?

I'm using keyboard and mouse. Honestly, it's like they collected data on my hotkeys for DD:DA 'cause the weapon skill hold button is the thumb buttons on the mouse.

[bugarup]

Alpha Protocol. Did Rome and Taipei, then read that you get Veteran background when you specifically finish Recruit and not just any background, so started again with that. Yes, to get Veteran asap and totally not to stall the Brayko fight. 

I did get better with the game since ...what...14 years?... (okay lets not think about that), partially because I'm not playing it on a potato this time, but also because Dishonored and Prey taught me some patience and sneakiness I think. I still suck at shooting, and Marburg shanked me a couple of times before I learned how to properly mess with his pathfinding, but I didn't mind repeating this fight because dressing down Mikey gives to Marburg is still  after all these years I try not to think about.  

[HoonDing]

I romance and save Madison every time

[melkathi]

Got to let he die once, find out who her father is, then turn him against Halbeck for his daughter's death.

 

I never find that dossier though.

[Hurlshort]

Wartales - I decided to start a new run on easy. Easy combat, easy economy. I was doing fine on experienced, but it was taking a long time and there was a lot to keep track of. On easy I can just breeze through some systems and focus on the story and my fighters. I'm heading into the third area no, and my squad is pretty deadly. Easy isn't all that easy. There are still some tricky parts and you aren't going to get away with taking on stuff that is way higher than you, but it is more forgiving. Plus I'm not constantly broke.

[bugarup]

This reminds me I never did a playthrough where Mike pisses Mads off into leaving and then chooses her over the other people anyway. I wonder what Marburg would say.

[Malcador]

Still not used to Caesar 4's mechanics, at least when designing cities and I keep forgetting it's not always one mine to two factories (well for some it works). Although it is a nice change from Caesar 3 where workplaces need homes nearby, but city sprawls out and seems a little less realistic to me.   So blundering my way through the campaign.    Military command is more annoying than C3, not sure why they had to add depth to a side feature - also no triumphal arch for sending my legions to aid the Empire : feh!

[LadyCrimson]

Patron - a few more tries. That Tech tree is now a giant mess, much of it nonsensical. You get Stone Quarry almost immediately, but can't build stone houses or stone wells until you've gone far far down the research path. Which is a singular path (with some optional side branching). I don't care about about this or that but must research it just to get to stone wells etc. Can't even build a *wheat farm* unless you research a bit down the tree. Major money/time grind. I get that it might be fine/cool if using the "objective goal path" playmode (that didn't exist before). And it's fine doing it once or twice. Different. But for "Sandbox" mode it's just aggravating if you want to play more than one map. Repeating it 10, 20x is just, no.

I did however find a cheat table where I can make research instant, so I load up a map, place Town Hall/nothing else, give resources, research everything I care about in 3 minutes, reset resources to almost nothing, save map, exit cheat table. There.

It would have made more sense for there to be multiple Tree sections, like this one for housing, this one for production, this one for percentage bonus perks, something like that.

Edited March 28 by LadyCrimson

[LadyCrimson]

18 hours ago, Malcador said:

Still not used to Caesar 4's mechanics, at least when designing cities and I keep forgetting it's not always one mine to two factories (well for some it works).

The ratio of one to two still largely applies. It's the distance cartpushers or buyers have to go that affect how fast production fills up markets or warehouses. Individual houses only consider distance to markets. Markets tries to get from warehouses/granaries but if not available, they will march directly to the farm/resource buildings, no matter the distance, so if farms or glass makers are far from markets...

On the flip side, I find in C4 that you need a lot less warehouses(or none) if tightly packed production areas (glass, furniture etc) since production grabs directly from resource buildings making warehouses redundant. You only need warehouses for storing things to sell or lots placed close to markets so market workers won't travel across the map to grab directly from production buildings.  Edit: so doubling down on warehouses/granaries near markets - not production areas - so you have more than one trying to get each type of good - helps to prevent empty markets.  EditEdit: multiple markets also helps early on. I typically used two food and basic goods markets near pleb housing blocks.

Yet another edit: to clarify, resource buildings (timber, farm) do not deliver resources anywhere, like they did in C3. It's more the opposite. A warehouse/market lady/furniture worker etc, has to go there and take out directly.

Edited March 28 by LadyCrimson

[Keyrock]

In Dragon's Dogma 2 I am currently making the journey from Vernworth, which is more or less the starting area, to Battahl. If you could go as the bird flies, it wouldn't be that long a trip, but my party can't go as the bird flies and Dragon's Dogma 2, while open world, still funnels you down paths with cliffs and ravines often, which I'm totally fine with.

I made it to a town called, I kid you not, Checkpoint Rest Town (on the nose award winning town name), it's close to the border of Battahl. While there I decided to change vocations for both my character and main pawn, in hindsight doing both at once was a less than stellar idea. Main char thief to warrior and pawn mage to sorcerer. When first acquiring a new vocation you are given a set of starter gear. I unlocked both vocations but didn't switch right away and I wound up selling the starter gear off because I figure I was just going to get much better gear anyway and this junk was just weighing me down, literally, weight is quite important in this game. The problem is that when I made that decision to sell off the starter gear I was in Vernworth where the prices are significantly lower than in Checkpoint Rest Town. On the bright side, CRT has better gear for sale, but that coming at the literal cost of even their "cheaper" stuff still costing a pretty penny. Long story short, I was unable to fully equip my 2 characters. I probably should just have switched back to my old vocations and gone out to farm some loot to get gear for the new vocations, but I'm stubborn. Anyway, it was at precisely this time that a local merchant heard his boy had been dragged off by wolves, because of course it was. So here I am poorly equipped and I have half a mind to pretend I didn't hear about the kid and moving on with my life, but I decided to try to find him. I asked around town and found out he liked to plant flowers some ways outside town. I'm sure he's a precious kid and they're lovely flowers, but maybe don't do that by yourself, that's a recipe for getting dragged off by wolves.

With a last known location in hand, I journeyed outside the town to the location. I found precious little at the scene except some scraps so I decided to search the area and try to find where the wolves had taken him. I searched high and low the entire day, got into quite a few scraps with harpies along the way, but no wolves. As the day turned into night the living dead emerged from their slumber, mainly in the form of skeletons, with a few spirits. I continued to look for the kid as I found a weird small cellar with seemingly endless skeletons spawning in it and a treasure chest. As a warrior with a giant hammer I'm well equipped to fight skeletons, even if my armor leaves a bit to be desired, I don't even have a helm. Anyway, I smashed up a bunch of skeletons and once I figured out that they would just keep spawning, I quickly looted the chest and hightailed it out of there.

At this point my party was weary and battered and I decided to start heading back toward town, it would have me go past the last know location one last time as I was further from the town when fighting in the skeleton cellar. I Slowly made the journey while still keeping an eye out for any sign of wolves or the kid. Nothing. About halfway back to town I found a campsite and made the call to camp till morning. At dawn we go back to town to sell off all the loot gathered and get better gear. And the kid... Well that kid is dead, he's been eaten. I tried, I really did, but thus ends the tale of the foolish adventurers and the precious kid who was eaten by wolves.