What are you Playing Now? - Right Now at the moment edition

[melkathi]

3 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

yeah, same here. I thought Dragonfall was brilliant, but I just found myself bored by Hong Kong. I felt the pacing was really off.

Even samer here. Dragonfall left me with eagerness to move on to Hong Kong. Hong Kong made that eagerness fizzle.

[Mamoulian War]

Have any of you tried the Bonus HK Campaign? The pacing to me seemed a little bit better than in the OG HK campaign

[Hawke64]

6 hours ago, Wormerine said:

yeah, same here. I thought Dragonfall was brilliant, but I just found myself bored by Hong Kong. I felt the pacing was really off.

Probably because I played Hong Kong after SR: Returns, the pacing, choices, and combat in Hong Kong felt good, though I think I spent quite some time on the ship talking to people. I know that the hacking system changed between Dragonfall and Hong Kong, but can't quite recall how. Dragonfall felt somewhat less personal and/or impactful than Hong Kong, not counting one companion quest where I chose the unwise option and it will be haunting until I replay it (eventually).

Spoiler

The AI showing a dead companion's face at the end, because I killed the dragon, was somewhat surprising.

---

The Outer Worlds. Started a new game with an approximately same character. Granted, it is mostly to poke things and see if I can write a coherent essay about them. Still, Emerald Vale is gorgeous and I love the writing.

On another note, for some reason I was not able to remove the DLC, so now the skill checks mid-/late-game are going to be higher.

[Lexx]

Wasn't the very first Shadowrun super linear and such? I remember thinking it was ok but it didn't really wow me. Sadly I can't really remember what exactly happened in Dragonfall, and hell, I can't even really remember the story except that it had something to do with a dragon(?)... Maybe I should replay it at some point. Or maybe should try Hong Kong again after all...

Though, right now I got hooked with Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty again, since the recent talk about it.

[Hurlshort]

3 hours ago, Lexx said:

Wasn't the very first Shadowrun super linear and such? I remember thinking it was ok but it didn't really wow me. Sadly I can't really remember what exactly happened in Dragonfall, and hell, I can't even really remember the story except that it had something to do with a dragon(?)... Maybe I should replay it at some point. Or maybe should try Hong Kong again after all...

Though, right now I got hooked with Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty again, since the recent talk about it.

It was pretty clear that Harebrained got better at development with each successive Shadowrun title. They were very much a rookie studio run by Pen & Paper guys. So hopefully they return to the IP soon.

[Wormerine]

20 hours ago, Mamoulian War said:

Have any of you tried the Bonus HK Campaign? The pacing to me seemed a little bit better than in the OG HK campaign

I did play, but frankly I don’t remember much.

14 hours ago, Lexx said:

Wasn't the very first Shadowrun super linear and such? (…) Sadly I can't really remember what exactly happened in Dragonfall, and hell, I can't even really remember the story except that it had something to do with a dragon(?)... Maybe I should replay it at some point. Or maybe should try Hong Kong again after all...

Yes, first Shadowrun had a “tech demo”’feel” to it. 

Dragonfall was pretty light on plot - it was quite like opening of BG2 - you have intro, and overarching goal to gather money to progress main story and you do self-contained side missions to do it, and main story progresses in small revelations along the way. 

I felt that Dragonfall did world building best, and I really liked the cast of the companions (especially with extra content from Director’s Cut). 

[melkathi]

Shadowrun Returns was a disaster of mismanaged funds and lack of experience in basically every area other than the setting. It was a fun little Shadowrun game though and the story was good. It would have been better as an old school novel. In print. On paper.

 

Dragonfall was the good game they had promised in the Returns Kickstarter.

 

I wouldn't mind a AAA open world Shadowrun... Just directly the director's cut and three years of post release bug fixing that make that kind of game playable.

[Lexx]

I think my biggest issue with the Shadowrun games was that they are basically hotspot clickers and combat happened only in specific areas. It felt artificial and limited to me. Especially since originally I kinda wanted it to be like Fallout, but then it ended up being... what it was.

Still think that Dragonfall was nice. Just.. generally those games could have been better, imo.

[BruceVC]

Im about 45 hours into F:NV and its going really well

I loaded all the Viva FV mods and stability recommendations but then I also loaded about 25 additional mods and accepted that this could create some CTD because they outside the Viva list

And I was getting about 2-3 random CTD in a 3 hour session which is fine, it takes literally 30 seconds to reload the game in MO2 and I save often so I dont lose anything. But then on Sunday I went on a Bounty Hunter quest to the Fiend territory and the game started crashing every minute in one region. And this area is notoriously bad for CTD and its well known and there are lots of solutions to resolve it but as usual with troubleshooting and CTD one solution doesnt mean it will resolve your specific problem

So I decided to use MO2 to troubleshoot and the advantages of using multiple profiles, multiple profiles lets you disable mods and enable mods and it wont impact your main game

But before I started disabling mods in my troubleshooting MO2 profile I read a suggestion on Viva and the FNV performance guide and it was an .ini setting around the NV Tick Fix mod

https://performance.moddinglinked.com/falloutnv.html#NVTF 

" Double-click on NVTF in Mod Organizer, then open NVTF.ini in the INI Files tab, and set:

bModifyDirectXBehavior = 1"


So I made the change and guess what? No more crashes in the Fiend territory and I havent had one CTD since making that single .ini change which is about DirectX

I am amazed that a single .ini tick box could improve the overall stability so much, Im not complaining of course and Im sure I will still get CTD but its an interesting lesson around how sometimes CTD are not about particular mods you use but rather a specific setting or recommendation in a mod file

Moral of the story, always read your mod recommendations around performance and stability and how this type of mod can be configured

 

[sorophx]

On 7/12/2024 at 8:18 PM, MrBrown said:

I'll have to retract a bit on this, the last few bosses are really tough. So either be good, or grind lots. Turns into more of a diablo-like arpg at that point.

That's what I like about V Rising, it's a really good ARPG combat system on top of a really good survival game. It's the one survival game I keep coming back to, I've had the most fun with it out of all survival games that have come out in the last 3-4 years, beats Valheim for sure.

On 7/8/2024 at 6:22 PM, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

So I'm looking at sales and right now I'm thinking I'll finally given Elden Ring a go. But will I need a gamepad? @Bartimaeus @majestic I think both of yall are into souls games, so i'd appreciate anything you could help me with here.

OK, I have never played any DS, but I have 40 hours in Sekiro on PC, and 2 hours in Bloodborne on PS4. Played Elden Ring when it came out for about 100 hours on mouse + kb, reinstalled this week to try with a controller, played for 2 hours, beat 2 bosses, slowly getting back into it.

Anyway, I just couldn't play it with the default M+KB scheme, I kept pressing the wrong buttons due to thousands of hours playing various ARPGs. After rebinding all of the keys it became playable, and I actually found one thing that beats controllers any time: camera control - you don't even need to lock onto enemies it's so precise, and not locking onto some enemies actually gives you an advantage.

Now playing with a controller camera movement is the one thing I am having trouble with, really hard to orient myself without locking onto enemies, and combat becomes messy against groups of enemies. People do get used to it, so my advice would be to stick to what you're more comfortable with and building up some muscle memory.

One tip I'll give you that really saved me regardless of what input device you'd want to use: there are many UI interactions that aren't explained in the game at all but they make combat much more enjoyable, and I'd suggest you looked them up. For example, the item quickbar in the left bottom corner has two sets you can switch between by holding down the "Interact" button. So you effectively have extra 4 slots for consumables that are easily accessible without having to scroll through them. I have only my healing flask in the default slot, so I cannot skip through it accidentally, and the consumable button always heals no matter what. The mana flask, the mount, the summoning bell etc. - all are on the second layer of slots, all having their dedicated buttons, this setup greatly helped me with my combat flow.

[Bartimaeus]

6 hours ago, sorophx said:

Anyway, I just couldn't play it with the default M+KB scheme, I kept pressing the wrong buttons due to thousands of hours playing various ARPGs. After rebinding all of the keys it became playable, and I actually found one thing that beats controllers any time: camera control - you don't even need to lock onto enemies it's so precise, and not locking onto some enemies actually gives you an advantage.

Now playing with a controller camera movement is the one thing I am having trouble with, really hard to orient myself without locking onto enemies, and combat becomes messy against groups of enemies. People do get used to it, so my advice would be to stick to what you're more comfortable with and building up some muscle memory.

Yep, it's a mistake to always lock-on with your camera even when using a controller (your movement and camera controls become way too constrained due to being locked relative to whomever you're targeting, which is often very bad when you're trying to maneuver around certain kinds of attacks, get past enemies, or deal with groups), but I imagine this becomes quite a strength when you have way faster and more precise control of your camera with a mouse over an analogue stick. Like I said, even with the initial botched release of DS1 on PC, I knew people who played the game at a high level with M+KB...it just wasn't nearly as easy to learn to get to a base level of competency. But Elden Ring is not DS1, and it might not be a terrible idea to at least try it out for a bit both ways.

Edited July 17 by Bartimaeus

[Wormerine]

16 hours ago, sorophx said:

you don't even need to lock onto enemies it's so precise, and not locking onto some enemies actually gives you an advantage.

That’s true with controller as well - that’s a hard lesson everyone has to learn to survive Dark Souls2. Especially when fighting groups, locking on can be detrimental. With controller, however, you tend to target with left stick, rather than right. (Though funnily enough DS2 was quite crap in the regard due to using directional movement, rather than analog 360. What a weird, sloppy title it was).

The only thing specific to elden ring that I can remember, were complaints about camera while riding Torrent - the camera auto adjust to the direction you are heading, so you need to keep holding the direction to keep looking that way. Perfectly natural with a pad, but I can see it being really tedious with m&k. 

Edited July 17 by Wormerine

[Isewein]

Nehrim - I never enjoyed the TES style first person RPGs before, but SureAI's excellent worldbuilding enables me to overlook the twitchy combat, which gives me new hope for Avowed too.

SPOILER: On a side note, it's interesting how closely the central narrative premise was mirrored by that of PoE. Gods which rule over society through magic so advanced it is indistinguishable from miracles and by camouflaging their mortal origins... I guess they may have both taken inspiration from The Lord of Light?

Edited July 17 by Isewein

[ShadySands]

On 7/14/2024 at 1:21 PM, Lexx said:

I think my biggest issue with the Shadowrun games was that they are basically hotspot clickers and combat happened only in specific areas. It felt artificial and limited to me. Especially since originally I kinda wanted it to be like Fallout, but then it ended up being... what it was.

Still think that Dragonfall was nice. Just.. generally those games could have been better, imo.

Yeah, I had a lot of complaints, especially about the first game which didn't even have a manual save. Like, you can't figure out how to do a manual save? I always wanted someone like Obs to tackle Shadowrun, especially after they got acquired by the license holder, but it doesn't seem to be in the cards. 

[Malcador]

On 7/8/2024 at 11:41 PM, Humanoid said:

I'm expecting FM25 to be a car crash because of the switch to Unity from their 15 year old homebrew, so waiting would likely have been a case of jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Personally FM21 remains the final version I'll play until they reintroduce FM Touch. I just can't deal with the feature bloat anymore.

I stayed at FM18, FM20 (or 21, the free one they gave away in COVID times) didn't impress me and the UI is just too busy.  I love that "gestures" in press conferences is a feature for some reason.

[CopingMarlinsFan]

Wish I could pick up CFB 25 as someone who never went to college I am free to only go by colors and nickname. However I am a Marlins fan by that logic so I would probably play something like New Mexico or something given my hatred of my home state and love of underdogs. Though my estranged sister went to Ohio State so Illinois would've been an option on principal.

Edited July 18 by CopingMarlinsFan
typo it's almost midnight here and added some other reasons.

[Humanoid]

13 hours ago, Malcador said:

I stayed at FM18, FM20 (or 21, the free one they gave away in COVID times) didn't impress me and the UI is just too busy.  I love that "gestures" in press conferences is a feature for some reason.

Every version from FM20 through to FM23 has been available for free at some point via Epic and/or Amazon Prime (which is only kind of free I guess). I expect the same of FM24 later this year, but it's definitely not something I'm interested in.

If I ever do play FM21 Touch again I suppose I'd have to see if it can be modded to implement some of the new rules added since that season, such as expanded subs.

[melkathi]

Hmm FM could be the name for a cool series of Radio Host Simulators.

Don't listen to the Deb of Night, be the Deb of Night.

Create playlists to attract certain audiences and establish yourself in the city's subcultures. Try to appeal to the masses and mainstream success. Wrangle callers live on air. Play for the sleepless, play for the morning crowd. 

And uncover a dark conspiracy in your city. Or don't and just settle for cash and local fame.

[Lexx]

I'm deep into Cyberpunk 2077 again. Remembered one of the last patches added new bikes, so went out of my way to buy a new one. Here is my with my new ride. Wish I were that cool in real life.

[uuuhhii]

7 minutes ago, Lexx said:

I'm deep into Cyberpunk 2077 again. Remembered one of the last patches added new bikes, so went out of my way to buy a new one. Here is my with my new ride. Wish I were that cool in real life.

 

  Hide contents

 

kusanagi still look best

[Lexx]

No, I hate it.

[Malcador]

7 hours ago, melkathi said:

Hmm FM could be the name for a cool series of Radio Host Simulators.

Don't listen to the Deb of Night, be the Deb of Night.

Create playlists to attract certain audiences and establish yourself in the city's subcultures. Try to appeal to the masses and mainstream success. Wrangle callers live on air. Play for the sleepless, play for the morning crowd. 

And uncover a dark conspiracy in your city. Or don't and just settle for cash and local fame.

That would be a fun game to play. 

[Katphood]

Played a little bit of RealRTCW.

I loved the original Return to Castle Wolfenstein so this is a great way to replay the game. It also adds coop to the game but I haven't tried that yet. 

 

Also playing Skyrim on the PS5. Looks great and plays great. My dark elf warrior/mage destroys everything in its path. 

[Hawke64]

On 7/17/2024 at 3:23 PM, Isewein said:

Nehrim - I never enjoyed the TES style first person RPGs before, but SureAI's excellent worldbuilding enables me to overlook the twitchy combat, which gives me new hope for Avowed too.

SPOILER: On a side note, it's interesting how closely the central narrative premise was mirrored by that of PoE. Gods which rule over society through magic so advanced it is indistinguishable from miracles and by camouflaging their mortal origins... I guess they may have both taken inspiration from The Lord of Light?

It sounds quite appealing. I stopped my Nehrim playthrough after the first battle on the ship - was not looking forward to more TES combat at the time.

---

Cookie Cutter. Reached the mid-game. The wall-passing projectiles and foes became less irritating, though now insta-killing spikes appeared. I was able to defeat 1 boss on the first attempt by parrying only, then there was a pair of bosses - one was slow melee, with a parryable attack that would be one-hit kill if not for my HP upgrades, the other was a more agile shooter, with the bullets, unfortunately, not being possible to parry with bare fists (i.e. at all). So, they took quite a few attempts.

I asked on the Steam forum and was told that there is only one ending, but the game is quite enjoyable as is. Also, the map is helpful for exploration, with the obstacles and collectibles marked. The hidden areas, though, require punching random walls.

---

Mail Time. It is a very easy platformer about a fantasy delivery person. I like the character customisation, the graphics, and the movement, though the controls are not rebindable. The only possible challenge is figuring out how to reach some of the quest items. The game does not have combat and I don't think that it has any fail state.

I've got it in a bundle on Fanatical, so my expectations were not high, but the game is quite nice.

[Mamoulian War]

I am planning to start DS2:SotFS playthrough, but I am still considering what build should I go for. How hard is it to defeat Fume Knight with melee? My reaction time is not, what it used to be, so melee will bring me some troubles. Is there a chance for a guy with bad reflexes to beat him, or should I go for Hexes right away?