What are you playing now?

[Rosbjerg]

Old thread here.

 

I've been playing some more LA Noire, but having fun with a Danish regiment playing warband.. With 200 players in line battles etc. Pretty neat.

[melkathi]

Playing some Defiance. But kinda annoyed at the computer trying to remind em to do PVP and group stuff in big, bold orange letters... during cut-scenes...

Other than that working on some achievements in Anno 2070.

Started Sleeping Dogs, but the gameplay isn't for me really.

[Lexx]

Started MGS4 again. It's funny, if you skip all cutscenes, you finish act1 and act2 in like less than 30 minutes.

[babaganoosh13]

Am getting murdered in Wiz6. I like those attribute editors in the D&D games from around that time. Saves you the time of constantly deleting and recreating characters. I didn't notice that one of my party members only had 3 HP.

 

Oh yes, and equipping right off the bat...

 

It's been a while.

[Keyrock]

Am getting murdered in Wiz6. I like those attribute editors in the D&D games from around that time. Saves you the time of constantly deleting and recreating characters. I didn't notice that one of my party members only had 3 HP.

 

Oh yes, and equipping right off the bat...

 

It's been a while.

I know what you mean.  The first bit of the game is brutal, even when facing weak enemies, because instadeath is just around every corner.  If it makes you feel better, I had a party member with 2 hit points at start.

[HoonDing]

Playing LA Noire. Pretty gimmicky game.

[Monte Carlo]

^ Have you read 'Best Served Cold?'

[Darkpriest]

Jaggad Alliance 2 - because recent KS success made me want to play old game as well

[Jarmo]

Stuck at Warband again. a bit of 1257AD, which is still in eternal beta, it's the most complex and fully featured mod out there, yet it just doesn't work right.... 

Now having another go at Prophesy of Pendor. Fun in that particular soul numbingly repetitive grind kind of way. The most polished and fun to play mod of them all.

[Malcador]

Playing some Defiance. But kinda annoyed at the computer trying to remind em to do PVP and group stuff in big, bold orange letters... during cut-scenes...

Other than that working on some achievements in Anno 2070.

Started Sleeping Dogs, but the gameplay isn't for me really.

 

As you unlock more moves the game gets a bit more fun, I found.  Nothing like shattering legs and arms.

[Gfted1]

Been playing Van Helsing and am level 15 now. Got my secret lair which is its own little mini game and its fun in its upgrading / trap building. Went for a pure range dps build following through to the Scattershot ability but the range is so low Im thinking of respec into the poison and fire tree. Built my character under the "online" section so if anyone want to MP, let me know.

[Rosbjerg]

Stuck at Warband again. a bit of 1257AD, which is still in eternal beta, it's the most complex and fully featured mod out there, yet it just doesn't work right.... 

Now having another go at Prophesy of Pendor. Fun in that particular soul numbingly repetitive grind kind of way. The most polished and fun to play mod of them all.

 

I'm looking forward to the coming Damoscles mod for Warband, I forget the name.. It's looks pretty interesting with a lot of focus on kingdom management.

[Nonek]

Arcanum, found an old save post Isle of Despair, think I was a little enraptured by "Arronax's" appearance. Got to the temple of the Derian Ka and performed the awakening quest for Torian Kel, with many interjections by Geoffrey. What an absolutely fascinating character Torian is, a rich background, a believable motivation and excellent voice acting, really helps bring flavour and depth to the setting.

[Raithe]

Haven't played any games in over a week.

Dang it. I need to get back to UFO and finish that off.. and I still need to sit down and run through some Makeb on TOR...

[Drowsy Emperor]

Alpha Centauri

Faction: Sister Miriam

Difficulty: Thinker

Options: Blind Research Off, Ironman, Do or Die, Standard Planet, Abundant Native lifeforms

 

 

A very interesting game so far. I started on a continent with Zakharov who immediately pronounced Vendetta and siezed 2 of my 4 cities. And then the good Lord gave me the boon of LASERS which I used to take back my towns and to mass produce 15 infantry units (bless the +2 SUPPORT rating) and beat him into submission. He gave me 8 technologies!

 

And now I have possibly the most dangerous combination known to man, a submissive, research heavy faction that does all my research for me while I turn the labs slider down and dump all my resources into war production.

 

Social engineering: Fundamentalist, Planned Economy (bonuses to industry,  morale, probe)

 

The results were as follows. 

Step 1: Provoke the Gaians into Vendetta by probing their cities with my elite probe teams

Step 2: Make transport ships and fill them with elite impact rovers, courtesy of a Command Nexus each base (secret project) coupled with roads passing through monoliths

Step 3: Establish beachhead in two separate, weakly defended locations

Step 4: Overrun Gaians and beat them into submission

 

Yang and Morgan were already destroyed. Lal is weak.

 

Now my main enemy are the Spartans. 

 

I'll crush them with my advanced Gatling Rovers and take force them all into diplomatic victory. I just have to get the invasion fleet built.

[Rosbjerg]

Scary thought them winning, I've always hated the Believers and will go out of my way (even risk loosing the game) if they provoke me in the slightest. Interesting the AI Miriam always hates me no matter what too, so it's very mutual.

 

Hmm, I think I wanna play some AC too, maybe go for a Morganite Heavy Industry economic victory. Trying to keep the super annoyed Planet at bay as I fill it with boreholes and echelon mirrors.

[Enoch]

 

Am getting murdered in Wiz6. I like those attribute editors in the D&D games from around that time. Saves you the time of constantly deleting and recreating characters. I didn't notice that one of my party members only had 3 HP.

 

Oh yes, and equipping right off the bat...

 

It's been a while.

I know what you mean.  The first bit of the game is brutal, even when facing weak enemies, because instadeath is just around every corner.  If it makes you feel better, I had a party member with 2 hit points at start.

 

 

I've taken a shot at this as well.  The character creation system as a whole is just bonkers, from a modern perspective.  You pick your Name, Race, and Gender, then get a "bonus point" roll for additional attribute points, which generates the list of classes that you can pick from.  Most rolls are in the 4-10 range.  But 1 roll in 5 will be in the mid teens, and I even got one role of 26!  (My Valkyrie is fantastic.)  Then you pick a Profession, and the game rolls for HP, and for Skillpoints.  The assignment of attribute and skill points is mandatory, by the way, even if you intend to trash the character and re-roll. 

 

The other hilarious thing is the degree to which the game manual celebrates the fact that every player starts the game by spending an hour or two frustratingly generating characters.  And this was a successful, award-winning game.  The presumed audience for CRPGs in the late '80s was just... peculiar. 

 

Anyhow, yeah, my mage had only 3 HP, but the big deal is that I had a front-liner with only 4.  Still, there was no way I was going to re-roll again to generate another Felpurr Ninja and hope to get another HP or two. 

 

 

Party is Dwarven Valkyrie, Dog-man (Rarwulf? Rawrulf?) Monk, Felpurr Ninja, Gnomish Priest, Dracon Alchemist, Faerie Mage.  I'd probably could've done better by skipping the Alchemist (their spell list actually isn't that great, and the Ninja can learn it if I ever bother to put points in his Alchemy skill) in favor of a better front-liner (move the Monk back, but give him a 'reach' weapon), but I remembered having one the first time I played the game, so I stuck with it. 

Edited May 28, 2013 by Enoch

[Drowsy Emperor]

Scary thought them winning, I've always hated the Believers and will go out of my way (even risk loosing the game) if they provoke me in the slightest. Interesting the AI Miriam always hates me no matter what too, so it's very mutual. 

 

Hmm, I think I wanna play some AC too, maybe go for a Morganite Heavy Industry economic victory. Trying to keep the super annoyed Planet at bay as I fill it with boreholes and echelon mirrors.

 

 

 

Its the way they're programmed, the AI always plays them aggressively.But that's the only way to play them because their weak research is an ever widening gap in a game that's so focused on research.

As Miriam you have 3 things going for you:

+2 SUPPORT giving you 4 units per base.

Elite probe teams - a weak, reactive way to obtain research, but it also gives you immunity from subversion.

Good offense for units.

 

If you don't act on your advantages immediately from the beginning they'll melt away and you're sure to lose. First you'll lose the arms race, then you'll lose the probes when a rival builds Hunter-Seeker Algorithm and as mineral restrictions are lifted you'll no longer be the only one with the ability to build infrastructure and maintain a large army at the same time. Conquer or lose are the only choices you get.

 

 

Recommendation for keeping mindworms at bay: Empath rover, preferably with veteran or higher upgrades. They beat an entire demon boil stack without problems and cost nothing, can move between bases to defend quickly.

Edited May 28, 2013 by Drowsy Emperor

[babaganoosh13]

 

 

Am getting murdered in Wiz6. I like those attribute editors in the D&D games from around that time. Saves you the time of constantly deleting and recreating characters. I didn't notice that one of my party members only had 3 HP.

 

Oh yes, and equipping right off the bat...

 

It's been a while.

I know what you mean.  The first bit of the game is brutal, even when facing weak enemies, because instadeath is just around every corner.  If it makes you feel better, I had a party member with 2 hit points at start.

 

 

I've taken a shot at this as well.  The character creation system as a whole is just bonkers, from a modern perspective.  You pick your Name, Race, and Gender, then get a "bonus point" roll for additional attribute points, which generates the list of classes that you can pick from.  Most rolls are in the 4-10 range.  But 1 roll in 5 will be in the mid teens, and I even got one role of 26!  (My Valkyrie is fantastic.)  Then you pick a Profession, and the game rolls for HP, and for Skillpoints.  The assignment of attribute and skill points is mandatory, by the way, even if you intend to trash the character and re-roll. 

 

The other hilarious thing is the degree to which the game manual celebrates the fact that every player starts the game by spending an hour or two frustratingly generating characters.  And this was a successful, award-winning game.  The presumed audience for CRPGs in the late '80s was just... peculiar. 

 

Anyhow, yeah, my mage had only 3 HP, but the big deal is that I had a front-liner with only 4.  Still, there was no way I was going to re-roll again to generate another Felpurr Ninja and hope to get another HP or two. 

 

 

Party is Dwarven Valkyrie, Dog-man (Rarwulf? Rawrulf?) Monk, Felpurr Ninja, Gnomish Priest, Dracon Alchemist, Faerie Mage.  I'd probably could've done better by skipping the Alchemist (their spell list actually isn't that great, and the Ninja can learn it if I ever bother to put points in his Alchemy skill) in favor of a better front-liner (move the Monk back, but give him a 'reach' weapon), but I remembered having one the first time I played the game, so I stuck with it. 

 

For whatever reason, I think I remember that the game punishes you in some way if you don't have a bard in your party. All my dog-men are named Barf.

 

[Undecaf]

Wizardry 8 for the first time and I'm having a ball.

 

At the side I have a looong overdue rerun of ToEE.

[Enoch]

For whatever reason, I think I remember that the game punishes you in some way if you don't have a bard in your party.

 

 

The "free sleep spell anytime you want" thing is awesome at the start, but my dim recollection was that Bards didn't scale well in Wiz 6.  I could be wrong, though, and this might certainly be different in the later ones.  (I certainly appreciated my Bard in Wiz 8.)  Putting a Bard in place of the Alchemist would make for a solid group-- pour the Ninja's skillpoints more into spellcasting to replace the Alchy, while the Bard picks up lockpicking duty.  Sit him in the back row with a bow, a lute, and his spells.   

 

I kind of love having 5/6 characters with at least rudimentary healing ability. 

[Keyrock]

 

 

 

Am getting murdered in Wiz6. I like those attribute editors in the D&D games from around that time. Saves you the time of constantly deleting and recreating characters. I didn't notice that one of my party members only had 3 HP.

 

Oh yes, and equipping right off the bat...

 

It's been a while.

I know what you mean.  The first bit of the game is brutal, even when facing weak enemies, because instadeath is just around every corner.  If it makes you feel better, I had a party member with 2 hit points at start.

 

 

I've taken a shot at this as well.  The character creation system as a whole is just bonkers, from a modern perspective.  You pick your Name, Race, and Gender, then get a "bonus point" roll for additional attribute points, which generates the list of classes that you can pick from.  Most rolls are in the 4-10 range.  But 1 roll in 5 will be in the mid teens, and I even got one role of 26!  (My Valkyrie is fantastic.)  Then you pick a Profession, and the game rolls for HP, and for Skillpoints.  The assignment of attribute and skill points is mandatory, by the way, even if you intend to trash the character and re-roll. 

 

The other hilarious thing is the degree to which the game manual celebrates the fact that every player starts the game by spending an hour or two frustratingly generating characters.  And this was a successful, award-winning game.  The presumed audience for CRPGs in the late '80s was just... peculiar. 

 

Anyhow, yeah, my mage had only 3 HP, but the big deal is that I had a front-liner with only 4.  Still, there was no way I was going to re-roll again to generate another Felpurr Ninja and hope to get another HP or two. 

 

 

Party is Dwarven Valkyrie, Dog-man (Rarwulf? Rawrulf?) Monk, Felpurr Ninja, Gnomish Priest, Dracon Alchemist, Faerie Mage.  I'd probably could've done better by skipping the Alchemist (their spell list actually isn't that great, and the Ninja can learn it if I ever bother to put points in his Alchemy skill) in favor of a better front-liner (move the Monk back, but give him a 'reach' weapon), but I remembered having one the first time I played the game, so I stuck with it. 

 

For whatever reason, I think I remember that the game punishes you in some way if you don't have a bard in your party. All my dog-men are named Barf.

 

 

In Wiz 6 you probably don't want a Bard late game, as they're not that good late game, but it's definitely good to have a Bard in early game as they can cast spells without using up mana.  It doesn't so much matter what you start out as, it's more about what you end up as.  The trick is to pick up magic skills along the way then switch to whatever class you're going to finish as.  Late game it's all about good hybrid classes like Valkyrie, Samurai, Ninja, Monk, and possibly Lord and Ranger.

 

I went ahead and, as babaganoosh alluded to, spent somewhere in the neighborhood of an hour and a half or more rerolling a whole new set of characters.  As mentioned, the character creation system is completely ridiculous because it's super duper random and the difference between getting a bad roll and getting a really good roll is MASSIVE.  If you just take what they give you on the first shot, it's pretty much a given that you're going to wind up with at least 4 characters that are complete and utter garbage.  Now, later on, if they survive, that's not a very big deal, because your stats will advance so much, but the trick is surviving to get to later on.  You will likely spend that hour and a half or more that you saved by not rerolling ad nauseam reloading games ad nauseam where your weak ass characters got savagely murdered.  Even with a party full of character with good rolls you are likely to taste death a good number of times early on, but at least it won't be as crazy.  Either way, you're going to put that time in, one way or another.

Edited May 28, 2013 by Keyrock

[Enoch]

Wait, you can switch classes?  I don't remember that (or notice it in the manual this time around). 

[Keyrock]

Wait, you can switch classes?  I don't remember that (or notice it in the manual this time around). 

You not only can switch classes, it's HIGHLY advisable that you do.  This can be taken too far, as switching classes like crazy will mean low level and crappy stats (changing stats resets your stats I think) at the end or a TON of grinding, but it is beneficial to change classes a couple of times, at the very least once, as you will wind up with more skill points that way.

Edited May 28, 2013 by Keyrock

[Enoch]

OK, I now see the character option to change class.  And it seems that when I try it, my character does retain their established spells and skill points. (I didn't check attribute points.)  So what should I be thinking about when planning profession changes?  Can I change back afterwards?  (E.g., a Mage that switches to Bard for some quick level-ups to gain spells and skillpoints, then switches back to regain his high rate of mana accrual?)