Almost done with Lamplighters. The story has really grown on me. I'm not sure why I need a roster of 10, since I use the same 4 people for every mission. But hey, they have good backstories.

57 minutes ago, bugarup said:

Finished Hades. Well, sort of. Beat up my dad on the third try and full God mode, went out, said hello to me mum and got dragged back to Hell. Guess what, if I want to ask her (and dad) questions on what and why, I have to complete the cycle again. And then probably again if I have more questions, I guess.

... u wot m8??????

Oh, and to unlock stories of those interesting characters you meet along the cycle you have to stuff them with gifts that are either random or dropped by bosses also randomly, and you'll need a lot of them so better be ready to grind those three environments with same mooks over and over again.

Guess what? No thank you! 🖕🖕.

Supergiant games, where intriguing story is thwarted by tedious, annoying, bad, no good game mechanics, 3 games out of 3.

 

 

It takes about 10-15 completed runs to get the ending credits, as in your mom & dad reconcile. Can't remember the actual amount needed.

It took me around 80 runs (not all completed) to get the epilogue for the final ending.

So yeah, you have to like the mechanics to go through all that.

Been making my way through the Underdark in BG3. Gotta admit, combat indeed picked up after hitting level 5.

4 hours ago, bugarup said:

Finished Hades. Well, sort of. Beat up my dad on the third try and full God mode, went out, said hello to me mum and got dragged back to Hell. Guess what, if I want to ask her (and dad) questions on what and why, I have to complete the cycle again. And then probably again if I have more questions, I guess.

... u wot m8??????

Oh, and to unlock stories of those interesting characters you meet along the cycle you have to stuff them with gifts that are either random or dropped by bosses also randomly, and you'll need a lot of them so better be ready to grind those three environments with same mooks over and over again.

Guess what? No thank you! 🖕🖕.

Supergiant games, where intriguing story is thwarted by tedious, annoying, bad, no good game mechanics, 3 games out of 3.

 

 

Pretty similar story for me: spent maybe five or six hours with the game, beat it once, was fine with that, didn't really want to play it anymore...go look online that you have to beat it a few dozen more times or whatever to actually beat it, thought "that's nice, I already played and 100%ed the Binding of Isaac years ago", immediately uninstalled it. Into the trash it goes.

6 hours ago, marelooke said:

Been making my way through the Underdark in BG3. Gotta admit, combat indeed picked up after hitting level 5.

Yeah, it's one of the things that show why the D&D licence was to the overall detriment of the game instead of a benefit. Still really liked it regardless, but very glad they're done with the series.

Well, suitable that Commaragh sucks like hell. Almost done it, I am disappointed in how the Space Marine isn't as superior to everyone else as I had hoped though.

Not a very suitable grimdark RT though, sparing people who betrayed me (although really my motivation was to have more guns)

Welcome to the worst part of the game that nobody understands how they thought it would be fun for people.

Also, welcome to the stupid betrayal that nobody understands how you can forgive other than "I don't want to gimp my party by having fewer characters". It is stupid, because if you never allow that character on your ship, there is a perfectly good alternative betrayal that works just fine.

6 hours ago, melkathi said:

Welcome to the worst part of the game that nobody understands how they thought it would be fun for people.

ddAlso, welcome to the stupid betrayal that nobody understands how you can forgive other than "I don't want to gimp my party by having fewer characters". It is stupid, because if you never allow that character on your ship, there is a perfectly good alternative betrayal that works just fine.

I still don't understand it yet, haven't escaped yet fully, just got out of the arena thanks to Deus ex Harlequin. Comorragh was an interesting setting though, can't think of how we'd experience it without things going the same way though.  Maybe at least wouldn't have the periodic cutscenes where the PC has violent visions or whatever.

Argenta is working pretty well, usually just her full auto with the knockdown ability, nothing like mass CC of sorts. 

If you don't have that party member you apparently get betrayed by the spy master on dargonus, who had been tortured by the drukagmhrimmm (ok, I give up trying to type the dark eldar name on my phone).

 

Comorragh would have worked better without that long-winded trial and all the stupid skill checks.

It also makes you appreciate Argenta, who basically keeps it together better than anyone else in there.

"Hey Argenta, I am going to escape this place. You in?"

"Does the Emperor $#!7 on his throne? Let's blow this joint!"

Disclaimer: this may not be the exact wording in the game.

Escaped Commorragh, holy crap that boss fight sucked.  Must be a skill issue, my PC got dropped instantly and so did Argenta.  Lucky, Yrilet has a railgun though.

Edited October 30, 20241 yr by Malcador

Sooo I have not reported about me having fun in DS2 for a while, but I am still at the NG+ cycle. I just spent to much time grinding for covenant stuff and missing items, that it would not be much interesting for me to write about 😅 The reason is, that I have a feeling, that they drastically lowered the droprates for covenant items, because I spent much more time trying to get them. The most hardcore stuff are the Dragon Scales, which I Got just a single piece in last 2 maybe 2 and half hours of farming for Black Dragon and Drakekeeper weapons.

Anyway I was able to clear all available content in base game, before the gate to the final boss, with the exception of twin Pursuers, which are still alive and happy from all the spanking, which they generously gifted to my ass, while I was trying to fight them. For now, I am just to bad to get them down with melee. Only one attempt was close to defeating one of them, but then, I have just rolled in the wall, which was closer, than expected, and got double pounded with overhead smites.

As always, I had much more trouble with trash mobs, than actual bossfights, and from boss figths, it was again Vemdrick, where I needed most retries. The monotony of the covenant and item grind helped with me getting out of concentration and then ass kicked a lot as well. Actually the still missing content are also two covenants. Dragon Remnants and Rat King. Both due to the atrocious drop rate of covenant items. And I am not very eager to farm for them. We’ll see how this will play out. Now I have to decide, If I should go for Nashandra or for the DLCs first.

So far, all of the NG+ fights have been done without NPC summons.

I have done it. I Went for the Sunken City NG + without help of summons 😆

Once again, the area design is gorgeous! Now, that I knew the areas, I was able to move through the city with pnly three deaths. Two of them was my clumsiness again 😂, the third one was Jester Thomas.

As always, the first boss in line was Elana. Well, what can I say… Now, that I fought her solo, I feel a little bit dissapointed. Her design to me feels now pretty cheap. She’s not much of a threat alone, pretty similar to Vendrick fight, all you need to do is follow her patterns, and not be greedy with hits. But then she starts summoning. The skeletons are more or less manageable, even by a clumsy old man like myself, but Velstadt… It’s just cheap way to punish player, if he has a bad RNG luck… sighs… Especially, if she summons him back to back, and starts to throw double fire explosions… I am just to clumsy, to defeat her if she summons him… Thankfully after 45 minites or so of attempts, I had luck few with double or triple skeletons in row, so I was to train the dodging and DPS enough to finally defeat her. IIRC, only one Velstadt attempt has ended with her under 50%…

On the other hand, Sinh, is what I would call a properly designed skill check. On one hand I ****ing hate him, on the other hand, I ****ing love him 😂 Same as with Kalameet in DS1 😁 It took me just a short time, to learn all of his attack patterns, but it took me a ****loads of time to “master” avoiding them. But I had a lot of fun, trying to overcome him. And yes, a lot of “mental breakdowns” as well, when I was to slow to dodge his fire showers 🤣 In the final attempt, I was even able to cut off his tail 😂 I didn’t even knew, that this mechanic is still in DS2, but no reward for doing that at all 😩 I think it took me more than an hour, maybe hour and half to defeat him, with many many many “This will be my final attempt for today”. But whenever I said that, I had good attempt, so I went for another. And another. And another 🤣

But now I am not really looking forward to finish the Sunken City. I already know, that for my skill level and reflexes, the Gank Squad will be atrocious experience… sighs…

I finished The Lamplighter League. I enjoyed the game, but the ending was a big letdown. The final mission was good and my main team was effective, but it was a real blah finish. I think they were setting it up for DLC or something, but it didn't do well enough. I don't typically care that much if a game doesn't end well, but I expected at least some better lines from all these mercs I recruited.

Split off from old thread...

 

 

The Hunt 1896

It's an extraction shooter set in Louisiana with supernatural bosses. The shooting mechanics are really good, but the sneaking around in the woods trying to set up traps for enemy hunters is what gives it extra feel. 

I'm on a quest to become average, meaning the kill to death ratio is one. I'm stuck on 0.94

The general skill level is very high as it tends to be with competitive shooters. 

Drova - The art style has grown on me, but I am rubbish at the combat. I am trying sword and shield because that is usually easy. It is not in this game. 

16 minutes ago, Hurlshort said:

Drova - The art style has grown on me, but I am rubbish at the combat. I am trying sword and shield because that is usually easy. It is not in this game. 

The trick is to join one of the factions. The 2nd tier of equipment is locked behind them, so combat becomes a lot easier after that.

As for weapon styles, axes seem the easiest, with long reach and a wide attack angle, so you'll hit often.

Tried the Breachway demo.

It seems like a good game if you want card based combat, move across nodes to encounter random encounters and eventually die and do the same thing again and again, possibly unlocking stuff on the way.

 

Turns out, I am no longer all that into this kind of game. Which is a shame. It may have been more fun getting bored of the genre with this game.

Chapter 4 in RT seems a bit rushed. Tidying up my party member quests, being a goody two shoes iconoclast. Heinrix's quest sucked, stupid mechanics running around turning on lights.

 

1 hour ago, Malcador said:

Chapter 4 in RT seems a bit rushed. Tidying up my party member quests, being a goody two shoes iconoclast. Heinrix's quest sucked, stupid mechanics running around turning on lights.

Yeah, the game definitely needed more time to cook. Hope they fixed the points system as I couldn't get max iconoclast points on my playthrough.

It is tricky. You basically need to pick every choice of your chosen alignment or you get locked out, as later choices are progressively locked behind higher requirements. So if you aren't votary by a certain point, choices in chapter 4 are most likely locked.

It sucks. You are supposed to do three playthroughs, one for each morality and always pick every option. Most annoying for Heretics who miss out on Foulstone that way. Very bad design.

For Heinrix it really depends on your party setup. My Heinrix was a high mobility assassin who could easily reach faraway lights, while the spacewoof could plod off in the other direction. The fight was extremely unmemorable.

 

Chapter 4 is known for the cut content. The frozen planet in Chorda's domain has it's whole questline cut and through console commands you can apparently teleport to the areas that are just sitting in the code but are disconnected from the live game.

Yah just did the ice planet, and was left wondering what I missed.  Doing the Siege now, fighting a defiler. Shame Yrilet got dropped early, but I am almost done it.

Was checking some vendors, wonder how people afford stuff at the bottom of the list, I guess you had to super focus on one group?

You can do all groups. You need to do planetary projects that give reputation, then sell a lot of crap for the last points.

You don't really need any of the loot for anything else. Keep one stack of each just in case. The rest sell to factions. You need to reach max before the end of chapter 4.

 

Hm, well screwed that up then, bah. 

Toybox it