What are you Playing Now? - Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about rock-n-roll

[kanisatha]

7 hours ago, MrBrown said:

- Itemization. Because you're only equipping a single character and there's a upgrade/crafting system, 95% of what you find is materials to upgrade your items, so it isn't very interesting.

This is the part of the game that has me the most unhappy. I get a lot of my happiness playing RPGs from optimally distributing gear across my team. So, not having a team/not being allowed to equip my team is a huge negative for me. And gaining treasure stops being interesting, because what's the point? You can only use a handful of the items anyway.

[Mamoulian War]

Goal nr. 3/2025

February 16, 19:30 – After obtaining all 5 online Trophies during Free PSN weekend and little bit of practice in The King of Fighters ‘98 Ultimate Match Final Edition on my PS4, I’ve decided to try out the Arcade mode as well. My pick was Hero Team (Kyo, Benimaru, Daimon). Of course, I have picked up the lowest difficulty, but because I have instantly forgotten all of the special moves, I had it pretty tough. Even on the easiest difficulty, the game is much more difficult than Mortal Kombat 11 on Medium, especially when playing without forgotten special moves . The biggest challenge for me, was getting used to different way of blocking, than I am used in Mortal Kombat games. So my first playthrough ended up with many lost fights, and a shameful matchup with final boss Omega Rugal, whom I was able to defeat only after lowering his HP to 1/3rd after few loses . Despite that, I like the feel of this retro game, but I have to focus more on remembering special moves to have a little bit easier time with it.

[Lexx]

Almost done with Deadfire. Funny, I already stumbled over 2 bugs in the game... back when I played it the first time (and a second time right after), I didn't notice any bugs at all.

Game still looks great. I just love how my people look like. Just damn Serafen won't give me his stupid hat. I didn't had him in my party for a big part of the beginning, because for once I wanted to use different party members, but now I'm unable to improve my standing with him... I really want to replace him with someone else again, BUT I NEED THIS HAT. GIVE IT TO ME SERAFEN, GIVE IT TO ME. REEEEEE.

You know, I feel like the biggest issue with the game are all the tiny islands. IMO, less islands, but a more connected feeling would have worked out much better. Really hate it to go down the islands like a checklist and at best they have a 1 screen mini-dungeon with some mobs in them. It feels cheap and lazy even though it isn't... it's just too disconnected from the rest.

Oh yeah, another thing... this time I did not upgrade my ship at all and... I'm completely fine. Maybe things got changed with patches later? Could swear that I had A LOT more sea battles back in release days. Now I only have them if I initiate them myself.

[Wormerine]

8 hours ago, Lexx said:

You know, I feel like the biggest issue with the game are all the tiny islands. IMO, less islands, but a more connected feeling would have worked out much better. Really hate it to go down the islands like a checklist and at best they have a 1 screen mini-dungeon with some mobs in them. It feels cheap and lazy even though it isn't... it's just too disconnected from the rest.

Oh yeah, another thing... this time I did not upgrade my ship at all and... I'm completely fine. Maybe things got changed with patches later? Could swear that I had A LOT more sea battles back in release days. Now I only have them if I initiate them myself.

I agree about the Islands - I would much prefer fewer, but chunkier locations. DLCs are a great example of how much more effective content can be if it's more substantial. I suspect it is a result of amount of story they packed into Deadfire - less locations means less side plots - and between three factions, Eothas path, and side content there is a lot of ground too cover.

No, I don't think there was any change to the ship - however, depending on what flag you fly, ships will treat you differently. If you use default Watcher flag, you will be left along by most ships but pirates, unless you piss a faction off. If you switch the flag for pirate one, though, for Fort Deadlight quest and leave it like that, more ships will see you as the enemy.

[Lexx]

Ok, I finally managed to get the hat from Serafen. Went into the Beast of Winter dlc and right in the first dialog is an option to make a joke, which everyone finds really funny. So I reloaded my last save, put him into my team, told the joke and... that was enough to finally trigger the hat-giving dialog. Jeez. Could have done that a long time ago...

That said, man, the power creep has increased a lot. Did a bit of the Forgotten Sanctum dlc and then the first fight of Seeker, Slayer, Survivor... those enemies are mad. I can barely penetrate their armor and the fights are taking forever in turn based. Turns out it is not very much fun to do the same attacks for 15 minutes just to wear down 3 or 4 mobs while trying not to die. And then you repeat that 5 more times to clear the map. This is in stark contrast with every other mob encounter which I obliterate and turn everyone into mist and gore explosions.

Started upgrading my gear more aggressively now.. legendary weapons and such, but it eats all my money. Started doing bounties again to sell equipment, to make money, so I can keep upgrading. Still didn't buy a different ship, but don't really need to anyways.

[MrBrown]

Playing Avowed makes me want to replay the PoE games. Not that Avowed is bad, I just get nostalgic for them.

[Wormerine]

So Avowed. First impressions are mixed. Gameplay is indeed pretty good, and I like exploration so far. Writing has me increasingly worried. Conversation trees seem to be well below Obsidian's standard - there is a rather blatant "NPC has same response recorded for all of the choices offered to you", and character's just don't feel right so far. They speak casually, which is at odds with Avowed still being just of a lore whore as PoEs were. I also find NPCs to speak more to the player than a character. Multiple NPCs keep talking to the Envoy of Aedyr things they probably should keep to themselves. In first instance I thought it might be characterisation, but it keeps happening, so it seems like it's more of an exposition dump for the player, rather than a believable in-world interaction.

Edit. So pwetty though

Edited 13 hours ago by Wormerine

[Jim Hawkins]

I wish i could play Avowed, because i don't have an xbox or a gaming pc, but i am playing grounded for the first time. It's so good! I got it on switch, and it's like 500p or something but it looks surprisingly alright and plays at like 30 fps so it's not a bad experience. It's the perfect portable game. I don't know what i was expecting and why it took me so long to play, but it feels like good obsidian and has the potential to be my favourite survival game ever.

I hope microsoft continues their marriage with nintendo on the switch 2, because if it's on the level ps4 pro or something it will be able to handle most obsidian games semi decently. 

[Humanoid]

I've only just finished the tutorial zone and arrived at the first town. Early observations:

1) The third-person camera feels like a bit of an afterthought in that it exposes the janky player character animations. Jumping looks weird, and the dodging animation ...well, there isn't really a dodging animation and you just magically slide around. But it remains my preference because I don't buy into the belief that first-person cameras are more immersive. At least, not while my viewport is limited to a narrow 16:9 window.

2) I like that so far I don't seem to be expected to loot random bodies and containers, but the flipside of this is that I hate that breaking random crates and pots is rewarded. I'm going to refuse to keep doing it, and the opportunity cost based on what I've seen so far doesn't seem to be particularly large.

3) I welcome the return of stealth kills, though it's weird that they relate it to some mystical godlike power instead of something more mundane. However it's ridiculous that performing one automatically cancels stealth, and you have to always remember to manually re-crouch after each kill.

[Lexx]

2 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Multiple NPCs keep talking to the Envoy of Aedyr things they probably should keep to themselves. In first instance I thought it might be characterisation, but it keeps happening, so it seems like it's more of an exposition dump for the player, rather than a believable in-world interaction.

Tbh even Deadfire suffers from that already. Lots of NPCs feel like information vending machines instead of actual people. I think this is one of the issues I had with the game back in the days as well-- something about it feels so grinded down, systemic, like they are now using the same formula for everything, which ends up with you having a less buggy game, but also a game that lacks actual character.

If that makes some sense.

Edited 12 hours ago by Lexx

[Humanoid]

The intro cutscene put me in the mind of Lord British saying "I must send thee, Avatar, through the pillars to the Serpent Isle!"

[MrBrown]

52 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

2) I like that so far I don't seem to be expected to loot random bodies and containers, but the flipside of this is that I hate that breaking random crates and pots is rewarded. I'm going to refuse to keep doing it, and the opportunity cost based on what I've seen so far doesn't seem to be particularly large.

Most of the breakables that have something in them show a visual effect through them, so it's easy to spot. You can ignore the rest, it's just some money.

 

3 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Writing has me increasingly worried. Conversation trees seem to be well below Obsidian's standard - there is a rather blatant "NPC has same response recorded for all of the choices offered to you", and character's just don't feel right so far. They speak casually, which is at odds with Avowed still being just of a lore whore as PoEs were. I also find NPCs to speak more to the player than a character. Multiple NPCs keep talking to the Envoy of Aedyr things they probably should keep to themselves. In first instance I thought it might be characterisation, but it keeps happening, so it seems like it's more of an exposition dump for the player, rather than a believable in-world interaction.

It kinda works, because the PC is completely new to the area, and most people don't like the Aedyrs.

I felt the plot started working better about halfway through the 1st map, when you started having actual choices about stuff.

[Wormerine]

1 hour ago, Lexx said:

Tbh even Deadfire suffers from that already. Lots of NPCs feel like information vending machines instead of actual people.

(…)

If that makes some sense.

yeah it does. But PoEs were always more concerned about metaphysical/sociopolitical side of the story, than characters. It’s too early for me to see what Avowed is planning, but so far it seems more straightforward. Still, I actually thought Deadfire did well in creating scenarios that would engage you with local issues, rather than sitting down and talking at you.

While it’s too early to me to see where Avowed is going, I don’t think I could tell apart Paradis locals from Aedyrians from Rautaians. So far factions feel far less defined and distinct. 

and even if they were equivalent in writing (I don’t think they are) the cinematic nature of Avowed does bring writing and delivery requirements, that top down PoEs didn’t have. 
 

54 minutes ago, MrBrown said:

It kinda works, because the PC is completely new to the area, and most people don't like the Aedyrs.

Yes, but I would rather have NPC be hostile toward me, rather than using friendly, water cooler conversation while complaining about Aedyr (me), and how they are terribly afraid of Steel Garotte (uhm, thanks for telling me?). So far one NPC really raise my eyebrows - the Aedyr soldier lady near palisade to the first story quest. I felt as a character she really didn’t gel with the story she was saying and faction she is meant to represent - unless there is something I am missing.

Anyway, those are my very first impressions anyway. Things are likely to change.

Edited 11 hours ago by Wormerine

[MrBrown]

1 hour ago, Wormerine said:

yeah it does. But PoEs were always more concerned about metaphysical/sociopolitical side of the story, than characters. It’s too early for me to see what Avowed is planning, but so far it seems more straightforward. Still, I actually thought Deadfire did well in creating scenarios that would engage you with local issues, rather than sitting down and talking at you.

While it’s too early to me to see where Avowed is going, I don’t think I could tell apart Paradis locals from Aedyrians from Rautaians. So far factions feel far less defined and distinct. 

...

Yes, but I would rather have NPC be hostile toward me, rather than using friendly, water cooler conversation while complaining about Aedyr (me), and how they are terribly afraid of Steel Garotte (uhm, thanks for telling me?). So far one NPC really raise my eyebrows - the Aedyr soldier lady near palisade to the first story quest. I felt as a character she really didn’t gel with the story she was saying and faction she is meant to represent - unless there is something I am missing.

Anyway, those are my very first impressions anyway. Things are likely to change.

I don't think you'll be disappointed on the first part, on the long term at least.

And yeah, that lady at the palisade was a massive info dump. No one else is that obvious. Kai is also a big info dumper, but at least it's kinda reasonable he chats about stuff. But he does join you really easily, I think they could have made you work for that a bit more.

[Sven_]

Re lore/info dumps: I found it intriguing that one of the most common criticisms re: PoE were about the lore dump kind of dialogue.

And then recently they'd turned lore dumping into an entire series of trailers...
 

 

Edited 8 hours ago by Sven_

[Malcador]

Got Old World, so far just going through tutorials.

Spending time sorting my WoW inventory, have 20 years worth of crap I should not be keeping, hah

[Sven_]

Still Kingdom Come obviousy.

There is one idea (that was in the first game already) I'd like to get explored far further. And by more games. It's about clothes. And that CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN (so does armor).

 

In your typical RPG-Like, gear and cloth is at best a combat buff/debuff (armor class!). Aside of that, it's typically a cosmetical thing. And at worst offered in in-game shops to make you depart with some more money. This hasn't much evolved ever since way back on your Commodore 16 / 64. Kingdom Come isn't content with recycling 1980s mechanics though.

This heavy gear and armor? Doesn't only bolster your defensive armor stats. It also makes people react accordingly to your presence -- and also makes it more likely to succeed in certain speech skill checks.

This fine cloth you have just robbed from a noble, er, bought in a shop? Doesn't only nerf your defensive armor stats and boost your charisma. It also makes people react accordingly to your presence -- and also makes it more likely to suceed in certain speech skill checks.

This fine pair of underpants you're running around with after you lost it all in the game of dice last evening at Troskovice tavern? Don't expect to be respected. By anyone. Full-stop, sorry.

There's more to it, like darker cloth making you less visible, each cloth making different levels of noise, etc. But you may get the idea.

#FinallyAProperRPG

 

 

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Sven_

[Wormerine]

8 hours ago, MrBrown said:

And yeah, that lady at the palisade was a massive info dump. No one else is that obvious. Kai is also a big info dumper, but at least it's kinda reasonable he chats about stuff. But he does join you really easily, I think they could have made you work for that a bit more.

Yup, once I got to explore Paradis I started to enjoy the game much much more. It's is clicking with me. Also a lot more rooftops to climb. And I can cast fireballs now. And have a flaming dagger. And a pistol. Am I serving Woedica or Magran?