What are you playing now?

[Azure79]

Awesome battle Deraldin.

 

I don't think I've ever taken the guys on in the tent separately outside vanilla BG. I usually have Kivan in my party when I transport to the bandit camp and due to some mix of mods he freaks out when he sees Tazok (understandable) and the battle against the entire camp goes from there.

 

Then all the enemies start swarming. Lots of web, grease, fireballs and other explosions later I have to loot like 50 corpses. I think SCS has a component where the baddies shout for backup so even the guys in the tent swarm out to engage you. I always find that kickass bow (longbow +2?) on one of the bodies.

[Deraldin]

Awesome battle Deraldin.

 

I don't think I've ever taken the guys on in the tent separately outside vanilla BG. I usually have Kivan in my party when I transport to the bandit camp and due to some mix of mods he freaks out when he sees Tazok (understandable) and the battle against the entire camp goes from there.

 

Then all the enemies start swarming. Lots of web, grease, fireballs and other explosions later I have to loot like 50 corpses. I think SCS has a component where the baddies shout for backup so even the guys in the tent swarm out to engage you. I always find that kickass bow (longbow +2?) on one of the bodies.

 

Yeah, that's SCS. The moment anyone on that map goes hostile, the whole map empties onto your position including the guys from the tent. Unfortunately my only mage is Xan and both Web and Fireball are Evocation so he doesn't get access to either of those spells. Not that it would matter in the case of Fireball as I don't have level 3 spells yet anyway! Thankfully I didn't have to take on the whole group because I'm sure there is no way that I would have been able to take them all on with my current group.

 

It's interesting that you mention never sneaking in, because I don't think I've ever actually taken on the entire group before. I always end up walking in as one of them and making a mad dash for the exit after repainting the tent red. Also, the bow you're talking about is the Longbow of Marksmanship unless that's one of the pieces of loot that has been switched up with Hard Times. It's +2 to damage and THAC0 I believe. My main is now using that and Bassilus warhammer +2 for melee.

Edited May 21, 2011 by Deraldin

[Tigranes]

Final count for that one battle was 30 kobolds from my check in the text log. Small groups aren't much challenge anymore, but if you get enough of them, they can still hurt before you get a chance to put them all down when you have to pick them off one by one.

 

Had the exact same experience, I used to clear that bridge like nothing in vanilla so many times and then step by step you find they're actually a huge challenge. Really relied on Kivan to snipe the commandos with fire arrows before they one-shotted Edwin et al, then had to send Imoen on a suicidal backstab & oil of burning lunge to get the shaman.

 

Deraldin how did you avoid taking on the whole bandit camp at once on SCS? I had to do it and it was probably the most difficult fight in the whole game, Sarevok included. Would have been near impossible without web/fireball for me.

[Tale]

Two things I missed in The Witcher 2 that I got this time. A sword better than my starting import sword (in the prologue, nontheless) and

hitting Etcheverry

.

[Deraldin]

Had the exact same experience, I used to clear that bridge like nothing in vanilla so many times and then step by step you find they're actually a huge challenge. Really relied on Kivan to snipe the commandos with fire arrows before they one-shotted Edwin et al, then had to send Imoen on a suicidal backstab & oil of burning lunge to get the shaman.

 

Deraldin how did you avoid taking on the whole bandit camp at once on SCS? I had to do it and it was probably the most difficult fight in the whole game, Sarevok included. Would have been near impossible without web/fireball for me.

Yeah, that bridge is a pain on insane and I've even got the toned down elemental arrows. I think the crappiest hit I took from one of them was 28 damage. (16 normal, 12 fire) It doesn't help that I can't bring myself to put a helmet on my PC or Imoen. It would ruin the hooded thief avatars. I skipped the western portion of that level after trying it twice and ending up surrounded as Kobolds just poured out of every tunnel on that side of the map. At least with the bridge it's easier to funnel them through one opening. That damn shaman and the chieftan were a pain in the ass. I could always take one of them out, but the other would kill me till I got fed up and used the oil which roasted everyone except the chief who only took a couple arrows to finish off.

 

I didn't have Kivan in my party. If you don't have Kivan in your party then you can avoid a confrontation with Tazok when the bandit recruiter in Peldvale/Larswood takes you to the camp. You have to say the right things when speaking with Tazok otherwise he'll attack you anyway, but if you get through it without pissing him off he'll give you leave to roam the camp until he returns from his errands. Then you can wander around a non-hostile camp. Of course, everyone will still trigger after going into his tent, but it's too late for them by that point since you have what you came for.

 

I'm not sure how I would classify the difficulty of this run. Tazok's tent was definitely one of the more difficult fights in the game so far and in fact was a major spike in difficulty mainly because the mooks in attendance were high enough level to not be affected by sleep. Black Talon Elites can go die in a fire. Battles have tended to be either relatively easy or total party wipes because when one character goes down it starts a chain reaction that takes everyone else down with them.

Edited May 21, 2011 by Deraldin

[Calax]

Der, I think you should have been playing L4D with us last night.

[Tale]

After hacking and slashing with Witcher 1 and 2, I need a break for some shootan. I did buy Outcast in sale recently...

[LadyCrimson]

Honest Hearts has me playing a bit of NV again. Mostly I wanted to level up a new chr. and do the HH at a higher chr. level. But I wanted new hair, because I'm pretty sick of the hair options in NV. Found a mod which has some cool hairdos, but they don't work with the hats very well (or at all). And very long hair down the back tends to clip into your back as you run. Oh well, the price of chr. beauty.

 

I also have another urge to replay Diablo1 again. Strangely, I haven't had the urge to play Diablo2 again, ever, since I stopped playing several years ago....

[Flouride]

L.A Noire. So far it's been a good game and no troubleshooting on my xbox. Would love to see a crpg meets crimefighting game.

[mkreku]

I found my old Alpha Protocol install today and thought, "why the hell not". Started it up.. and to my surprise I enjoyed it this time. It still feels clumsy and strangely claustrophobia inducing, but it's actually a good game hiding behind all those bad design choices. Having fun with it.

[Malcador]

Witcher 2, finally. Had to go back and play an EE save to the end before I could import it, weird. So far pretty good, although I might wait until winter as the heat from my GPU/CPU is searing my eyeballs when I play. Cursed airflow in this room. Also playing Rift again.

[GhostofAnakin]

Was playing a paragon play through of Mass Effect 2, but put it on hold after L.A. Noire came out. I've been playing that for the last few days.

[HoonDing]

I'm dividing my time between Witcher 2 and Fable 3. I'm having more fun with Fable 3 so far. I don't like all the streamlining, but it looks great, runs great, plays great and it is occasionally hilarious.

 

It's fun, while I really need to drag myself through the Witcher 2's bad combat.

[entrerix]

im alternating between new vegas and portal 2.

 

just finished honest hearts, it was good. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the dlc, hope we get some more large areas to explore.

 

portal 2 so far meets or exceeds my (high) expectations, very pleased.

[Calax]

I'm dividing my time between Witcher 2 and Fable 3. I'm having more fun with Fable 3 so far. I don't like all the streamlining, but it looks great, runs great, plays great and it is occasionally hilarious.

 

It's fun, while I really need to drag myself through the Witcher 2's bad combat.

This is actually what I'm doing as well. Witcher 2 is great and all, but I need turn down the difficulty before I strangle myself with the games coding. I feel like I'm about to play "He's a Pirate" during a section of Fable 3.

[Calax]

I gotta say, with Fable 3 I'm agreeing with Yahtzee in that the entire last segment (where you're the "queen") is... pathetic. All your choices are baby eating or feeding the poor and seem like they're designed for short sighted goals ONLY.

[Tigranes]

It's Fable, what did you expect?

 

It's kind of funny how the series has turned out - many of its overarching design philosophies are complete bonkers and as a 'proper RPG' it's an idiotic mess, but through that it also achieves some side effects that can be a pretty good source fo enjoyment for a fairly diverse group of gamers, e.g. female 'non-gamers' that just enjoy the freedom and customisation a la Sims in a world that is just serious enough to be immersive but not enough to feel gamey. It's like a comedy of errors from one perspective, but it's also hard to deny it's been a success in some ways.

[Calax]

True, but some of these issues that are made out as good and evil seem more like common sense vs idiocy, with idiocy being the "good" selection.

[Wombat]

I don't mind some humor but wonder if I would like that of Fable 3. Well, if you know something belongs to a different marketing segment for people who have different taste than you, why do you need to bother? It's just Witcher 2 and Fable 3 are tagged as RPG. L.A. Noire attracts my attention since it seems to be more atmosphere/story-focused. Simply, I don't have any console.

[Deraldin]

Shadow Druids in Cloakwood are being really annoying. The normal auto-buffing really isn't that bad, but the shadow druids have summons included as part of their auto buff. The Wolves and War Dogs are easy enough to take care of, but the Dread Wolves and Cave Bears don't go down with a sleep spell. I think after Cloakwood I'll be swapping out Khalid and Jaheira. Xan is kind of disappointing right now as I'm mainly only using him for sleep spells and invisible map scouting. Sadly sleep spells are starting to lose their effectiveness with the exception of maybe attempting Firewine, but I'm thinking that Fireball would be SO much more useful in that situation...

 

And Xan needs to stop being one shotted by every enemy in the game. Damn smart AI targetting.

[Tigranes]

Ring of Animal Control perhaps? Wand of Paralysis also works well, but yes, that's about the time when you pretty much phase out Sleep.

 

Personally I'd ditch Xan.

[Calax]

And Xan needs to stop being one shotted by every enemy in the game. Damn smart AI targetting.

... I thought you were referring to Matthias for a second.

[Deraldin]

Ring of Animal Control perhaps? Wand of Paralysis also works well, but yes, that's about the time when you pretty much phase out Sleep.

 

Personally I'd ditch Xan.

Haven't found a Ring of Animal Control. I do have a Wand of Paralysis, but it's only got one charge at the moment. I could probably do just fine without him. Maybe I'll ditch him and grab Yeslick on my way through the Mines. Branwen has access to Dispel Magic anyway.

 

The issue with the animals is more of priorities. The druids are much more dangerous enemies with their spells. I could charm the animals with my ranger, but the casting time on that is horrible and I lose 2.5 arrow shots with my best THAC0 at the druid that can be used to disrupt those spells.

 

The group that was really giving me trouble was the one inside the tree house because there just isn't enough room to properly set up a defensive wall to keep the summons away from my archers. Next time I'll have to try luring them outside and see what can be done there.

 

And Xan needs to stop being one shotted by every enemy in the game. Damn smart AI targetting.

... I thought you were referring to Matthias for a second.

 

That's his own fault for always jumping in front of my shotgun. Versus needs a FF statistic. Not that it would help much considering I can't seem to get through more than one level without crashing.

[Labadal]

Tales of Eternia for PSP, in anticipation for Tales of Graces F.

[Tale]

I don't know what to play next! Just finished Witcher 2. Still waiting for PSN store before I really hit LA Noire. I could do Gray Matter or 999, but I think I'll do one of my GoG Games. Gabriel Knight should be a good choice.