What are you Playing Now? - Back to the Grind

[Malcador]

16 minutes ago, Sarex said:

I think I am one of the rare few who liked DoW2 more than first one.

It's pretty popular, both DoW and DoW 2 are fun in their own way, you just have people that bitch too much.  I did eventually beat the game, more or less cheese the boss by using Cyrus to spot an orbital strike.  Just seemed odd in some cases as my troops would get shredded but in others just tear everything up.  I largely still cannot use Thaddeus, poor guy just dies all the time.

 

[ShadySands]

3 hours ago, Sarex said:

I think I am one of the rare few who liked DoW2 more than first one.

It's also my favorite of the series though I do pretend like 3 never happened.

[Keyrock]

3 hours ago, Sarex said:

I think I am one of the rare few who liked DoW2 more than first one.

You've definitely not alone. For me it's specifically DoW2: Retribution because you can play the campaign as xenos. Playing as orks is the best,even if the campaign is purposely vague so as to be applicable to many different factions.

[Sarex]

To me DoW1 came out when the market was flooded with RTS games and it didn't do anything special gameplay wise. It was just a reskin of a generic RTS game.

[Keyrock]

I finished the Dondoko Island "mini-game" in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. I'm going to go back to it eventually and redesign the entire island now that all sections of it are open and I have access to the vast majority of crafting blueprints. There's nothing story-wise left, but I can play it as effectively a city builder/management type game and it generates money for the main game, not that I need it. The reward for completing Dondoko Island is an Essence skill that's not tied to any job, Ichiban has it no matter what job he's using without having to use up the Essence skill inheritance slot. Also, it an orbital laser. It's more or less the same orbital laser from Y:LaD, just themed for the current game. Needless to say it's LUDICROUSLY powerful, but it costs 100 mana to cast, so it's a good idea to have Ichiban wind up in a high mana job, hence why I'm likely ultimately going Host.

Anyway, back to the main game. I'm in chapter 12 and thoroughly overleveled. I'm likely at end-game strength with probably 3 to 5 chapters to go.

[BruceVC]

Im  playing Shadowrun Returns,  first time  I have played this  franchise

Its fun, very simple and linear  but good  fun 

[Malcador]

22 hours ago, Sarex said:

To me DoW1 came out when the market was flooded with RTS games and it didn't do anything special gameplay wise. It was just a reskin of a generic RTS game.

Had those neat sync kills, at least. Also the cover system, which I guess no one used that much.  

23 hours ago, ShadySands said:

It's also my favorite of the series though I do pretend like 3 never happened.

I should buy that, at least to see why everyone is so negative about it.

[Keyrock]

23 hours ago, Keyrock said:

Also, it an orbital laser.

Quoting myself is quite the faux pas, I apologize. Thinking back on all my years of vidya games, orbital laser seems to be a running gag in JRPGs. I mean, I'm sure there have been orbital lasers in American and European games too, but that just seems like such a JRPG thing; orbital lasers. I guess it's the next logical progression after meteor. Waaaay back in the day that used to be the ultimate destroy everything spell in (J)RPGs. I mean, dropping a meteor on somebody is pretty ****ing metal. Where do you go from meteor? Orbital laser. 

It was a bigger hit 4 years ago when they did it in Y:LaD because back then the superhero bubble hadn't burst yet and those movies almost always have a giant sky laser. The kids were freakin' lovin' sky lasers back then.

Edited February 20 by Keyrock

[melkathi]

1 hour ago, Malcador said:

 

I should buy that, at least to see why everyone is so negative about it.

I got a free key through Shady from the giveaway thread and felt guilty for hating the game - feeling the key was wasted on me.

I am beginning to understand that I sacrificed myself and saved someone else from playing it.

[Wormerine]

11 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Im  playing Shadowrun Returns,  first time  I have played this  franchise

Its fun, very simple and linear  but good  fun 

Dragonfall is where things get good If you enjoy Returns, wait till you start the standalone expansion/sequel.

[melkathi]

Returns was good, simple Shadowrun fun. Mismanaged funds, but fun game.

Dragonfall was great Shadowrun fun.

Hong Kong I got bored and didn't finish.

[Mamoulian War]

After some break, I was able to get back into Dark Souls Remastered, and decided to challenge Artorias again. I have found out, that Lifehunt Scythe+5 with maxed out Pyromancy Flame and Chaos Fireball and classic Fireball is a very good combination to break his buffing pose. I have much less tries this time as in NG, and Inhad also a feeling, that the arena lagged less than in first cycle, which made me avoiding his attacks much easier.

After that, I have run and saved Sif in the Oolacile Dungeon, and went to challenge him right away for his alternate cutscene. This time, I was able to defeat him on first try, despite using wrong rings.

The last boss today, was Dark Sun Gwyndolin. And again for alternate cutscene, as I have not defeated the Gwynevere this time. After that, I have done few more upgrades from new souls, and maxed out Fire Weapon for one more Trophy.

[LadyCrimson]

Tried a city-builder demo named Synergy. Mostly because I liked the artwork style a lot. Demo appears to be the tutorial round. So little mini-quests to set up water, gathering, homes etc.  So far, the artstyle is the only thing I seriously like about it.  Keybinds are all over the place + mouse use and I feel like I need three hands maybe. Probably can remap them ofc, but it all feels like weird choices/annoying, at least to me. Building rotation seems limited (use Shift). I don't think the map itself rotates, not even the 4 point rotation ala Caesar 3, which is disappointing. Maybe I just can't find it in the keybind. Also, the UI element/text default setting of 1 is very microscopic, turn it way up if you want. 

Other than that it feels like your general city builder, keep citizens fed, busy, research/tech lines, some map exploration factors/motivations which might be a little different than usual. Something about the gameplay design feels strangely limited/awkward tho.  But the artstyle is fantastic, which makes me want to like the game. Maybe with full release/outside of the tutorial.

[ShadySands]

I loved both Dragonfall and Hong Kong and it was Returns that was hard for me to get through.

I'm curious if HBS has tried/is trying to make a 4th Shadowrun game now that they are independent again since I doubt Microsoft would let them keep making their licensed games under Paradox. But what do I know*?

*A lot but not that

Edited February 21 by ShadySands

[Hurlshort]

I hope they make more Shadowrun. Seattle has so much more to offer as a setting.

[Bartimaeus]

Lethal Company.

I walked through a doorway and a face-hugger dropped onto my head and killed me, then I came back and immediately got eaten by a forest god right after exiting my ship, then I came back and got zapped to death by electric bees after trying to steal their beehive, then I came back and apparently didn't make enough money for the Company so they they threw me off my own ship into the dark void of space. Recommended.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Lethal Company.

I walked through a doorway and a face-hugger dropped onto my head and killed me, then I came back and immediately got eaten by a forest god right after exiting my ship, then I came back and got zapped to death by electric bees after trying to steal their beehive, then I came back and apparently didn't make enough money for the Company so they they threw me off my own ship into the dark void of space. Recommended.

Wow, sounds like the devs perfectly captured the reality of the gig economy.

[LadyCrimson]

The demo for Pacific Drive, if you already installed it, was made unplayable with the full release of the game. If you try to run it (even by the .exe) it just says "no license."  Some folks are kinda peeved. It doesn't include me, but I can understand if  they didn't get around to playing demo before release day. Seems an odd choice.

I'm still kind of interested in the game but not having even a save-on-exit still isn't my thing for a SP game, so I'll wait and see if they ever change their minds. They could leave the no-save-on-exit etc. as a hardcore playstyle option or vice versa. Again, I don't need manual saving, but "leave game on all night" or "replay a section again cause maybe life happens, once too often" isn't my thing.  Edit: not holding my breath for it to be changed, mind. I kind of think they won't. 

Edited February 22 by LadyCrimson

[Hurlshort]

I lost a game of Old World. I was playing Carthage and the Romans kept zerg rushing me. They lost too, but it was sad. I don't fully understand the economy in this game.

Now I'm playing Xcom Enemy Within so I can feel like a winner gain.

[BruceVC]

I finished Shadowrun Returns after  12 hours,  it really was  fun and I like  the ruleset and how the combat  mechanics  work

I am going to  play  the  DLC  and some  extra quest mods 

[Sarex]

13 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Pacific Drive

I watched a streamer lose all his willpower for playing the game when he completed a mission but could not escape in time and subsequently lost all the loot he gathered, needed to redo the mission from the beginning and had a broken car which he couldn't fix. He was having fun with it right up until that point.

This game is either not intended for the general public, or the more likely scenario, they didn't test the difficulty curve enough. The issue is that the car is obnoxiously undriveable, which I'm almost certain is intended, and when combining that with the difficulty it's not a good formula to hook people to the game. But even all of that would not have been a deal breaker if only they made it clear what the consequences were in time, or at least made the first mission much shorter and thus reducing the consequence of failing it.

edit: although I see now there are specific difficulty settings to remedy a bunch of things I mentioned.

Edited February 23 by Sarex

[LadyCrimson]

@Sarex  I do think the big "outcry" re: no save on exit etc. does come from many feeling taken by surprise. It shows as a driving with at least some level of sorta free exploration survival game, not necessarily a hardcore-kinda-rogue-like rush-y style game (or whatever). I watched three reviews of the game and none of them mentioned the save system process.  Supposedly later many missions do get shorter, but yeah those initial ones where many players may take an hour or two or more is the first impression.  And in the demo at least, altering most settings options would also disable Achievements. Not that I would care, but anyone who does care can't change the settings then.

Anyway, the dev's already responded, which is why I noted I don't think they'll change anything. Which again, is fine. Just means I won't likely get it, myself.
Note: the "technical sacrifices" they refer to is probably that they didn't code the game to keep (constant) track of stuff that would be needed for a save/exit state.

Saving on a Trip in Progress

Currently, saving functions like this: when you’re in the garage, you are able save up to your current level of progress. Parts will stay on the ground, your inventory stays the same, you’ll even have the same amount of gas in the tank for the car, etc. While out on a trip into the Zone it’s a bit different. You’ll keep all your progress up to the current junction, but nothing after - your game will save automatically when you enter a new level and the game won’t save again until you get back to the garage, or move on to the next junction.

Due to the scope of the game, and our focus on providing a robust and varied experience across a high number of trips into the zone, with variable map sizes, anomaly populations, and the amount of hazards, we had to make technical sacrifices early on in the project that makes revisiting this save behavior not feasible. While we understand why this is highly requested, it’s not something we plan on revisiting for those reasons.

We believe that once a majority of players have had time in the game, it’ll be apparent why the save system is working this way. The game gets much faster and more intense the more you learn your way around the Zone and you’ll have plenty of time to grab the essentials and get out or take your time and explore. If you do need to save mid-run, just head for the next exit and then you can safely quit the game once you load into the next level, without losing any progress.

[Mamoulian War]

Today, I had a roadblock day in Dark Souls Remastered. With the defeat of Nito today, Ihave finished all base game bosses and moved to DLC again. This time, it was Manus time again. Aand I got owned badly… needed around 20 attempts to defeat him. It was my typical scenario. First attempt getting to 10%, and then doing something clumsy, and then getting asskicked next half hour… anyway. For some reason, Manus spammed a lot more spells than in NG (is that his typical NG+ behaviour?) so whenever I was cheering, that I will defeat him, he cast two or three spells in a row, and I got destroyed. So after a hour or so, I needed psycho hygiene, so I went for a few minutes to grind for souls at Painted World, until, I had enough for two more levels in Attunement, and then I have fully upgraded Paladin’s Armor, and finally replaced Ornstein’s one, which I have used for almost 100 hours. The Paladin one is a little bit heavier, but has much bigger Physical and Magical Resistances, which came in handy against Manus. And again. First try was almost perfect, but he cast two spells in a row again Then I had to die few more times in silly situations, before he went down.

 

The only boss missing except Gwyn is Kalameet. Which I want to see without his tail again. I have never achieved this in NG+, so this is my ultimate goal I will be most likely stuck there for few days, because of that

[Mamoulian War]

Well Kalameet is even bigger roadbloack than Manus. I was able to get his tail in few attempts, but I have very hard time to get him under 50% of HP in NG+. The armor upgrade, which I’ve done for Manus, does not help much. I think I will have to grind 2-4 more levels

[LadyCrimson]

Anyone trying Last Epoch? It's out of early access finally. It needs a company/not steam 3rd party registrations so I was kinda ignoring it, but now I see it has a full Offline ability and my interest has suddenly skyrocketed. Plus getting good gameplay reviews. Negative user reviews at the moment seem to mostly regard the typical laggy/long load/access server at launch issues (they're working on it). But since I don't care about Online playing, no skin off my nose.

It does have a cash shop but so far no indications from anyone that it's p2w, just cosmetics and things like portal skins, maybe ala Path of Exile etc.

Only $35 too. Hm.

Edited February 24 by LadyCrimson