What are you playing now

[HoonDing]

 

-snip-

 

The game was obviously rushed 

 

-snip-

I feel like that describes every Spiders game ever made.

 

How does this game compare to Mars: War Logs?  Obviously, the setting is completely different, but in terms of quality and depth of the combat system.

 

Mars War Logs combat? All I remember from that game was rolling around and shooting my nail gun.

 

BbF combat is far less clunky and completely lacks rolling. Only the crafting system is exactly the same.

 

I played as a warrior with some pyromancer support skills and combat was mostly about outlasting enemies (ranger can do massive damage to single targets from what I've seen but lacks AoE attacks and is very fragile). Basically you need to learn to block/dodge and riposte or you won't get anywhere. I specialized in one tree but certain enemies are easier with a specific stance so being a jack-of-trades might work too.

 

I didn't bother at all with the demonic possession but if you let your character be possessed to the max I suppose the fire damage spells could be very powerful but mana pool is too limited to play as a pure mage (the fire stuff is basically the equivalent of the electrical nonsense from Mars War Logs).

 

I also didn't bother with stealth/traps much but it's far better than Mars War Logs; the entire endgame area fits a stealthy ranger to a tee. Traps made the final boss also much easier.

 

The game is hard because your character will never have more than 150-200 HP while enemies will always get more HP and do a lot of damage (even in Dark Souls and Severance you get more HP by leveling up) so right until the end the most powerful enemies will kill you in two-three hits if you make mistakes (even on normal difficulty). In Mars War Logs I don't recall even one dangerous enemy.

 

Only really annoying thing is respawning; it's often necessary to backtrack through areas for sidequests and seeing the same enemies again and again gets old fast. In the final act I mostly just ran past everything.

 

As for companions - they can be pretty useful provided you give them orders in combat. E.g. one companion can taunt/tank enemies and another can curse and even paralyze enemies (also works on bosses). In Mars War Logs they were all terrible.

[ShadySands]

I'm pretty much in agreement with Drudanae and as I said before the game gives off a few DA2 vibes

 

I'll start of by saying that I don't typically enjoy a cramped 3rd person view but I played as a pyro/ranger mix and I enjoyed the combat, especially when it goes into slow motion. It's definitely a squishier build than a warrior and it relies a lot on dodging and counterattacks. A pure mage is probably nearly impossible as your mana pool is pretty small but if you go more demon you did get more mana and also do more fire damage. I also used traps quite a bit, especially for boss fights, but hardly ever used the crossbow. 

 

I never played Mars War Logs so I can't compare them

 

I thought the story was pretty standard fantasy fare but decently enough done if a bit uneven

[Sarex]

It happens on PC too, I can speak from experience.  Ini tweaks can lessen the effect, especially if you have a lot of memory to work with, but you can only really lessen the problem, never completely get rid of it.

 

I played all 3 on the pc too, but to be honest I don't remember if I had the issue. I must not have bothered me that much, or it wasn't as sever as in the video.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Getting very frustrated with Shogun 2 because the game won't recognize my discrete graphics card and persists in using my integrated one. Only its not really using the integrated one since I can set everything to high and play well (and that should not be possible on integrated graphics). The problem is that because ti doesn't detect my discrete card (even though its using it) it removed all the ultra settings from the options menu. When I change it in the script in the shougun folder it still dumps me back to high settings claiming that ultra setting aren't supported, even though they are since its a Dx11 card.

 

Bah

[Sarex]

Getting very frustrated with Shogun 2 because the game won't recognize my discrete graphics card and persists in using my integrated one. Only its not really using the integrated one since I can set everything to high and play well (and that should not be possible on integrated graphics). The problem is that because ti doesn't detect my discrete card (even though its using it) it removed all the ultra settings from the options menu. When I change it in the script in the shougun folder it still dumps me back to high settings claiming that ultra setting aren't supported, even though they are since its a Dx11 card.

 

Bah

 

Go in to the ini file and set the setting manually.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Doesn't work, defaults back to whatever it thinks are the proper settings. I run the benchmark, it tells me that ultra settings aren't supported on my card, I run the game it tells me I have a Dx 11 graphics card. Ultra settings are solely Dx 11 dependent. But it actually runs at Dx 9 limitations, regardless of what the in game video options say.

 

Incredibly stupid.

[Sarex]

Did you try some googlefu? Maybe someone else has the issue. Btw, are you playing on a laptop, or do you have a haswell cpu?

[Drowsy Emperor]

Its a laptop, but its way better than what is necessary to run Shogun 2. A lot of people have the same problem, the result of the graphics chip switching software crap that both NVIDIA and ATI use. Basically the game is using the Radeon 8750M card but detecting it as the Intel 4000, which doesn't have Dx11 so its blocking the Dx11 settings. There is no fix for it apparently.

[Gorth]

Splitting my time between "oldies" (Warlock - Master of the Arcane, Watchmen - The End is Nigh and a few others) and then SWTOR and Wildstar Beta, the latter being open for this week, it even had my characters from the previous open beta which I managed to grab a key for (thanks Gromnir). They did announce that current characters would be gone next time though.

[Wrath of Dagon]

Bound by Flame. Played through the prolog so far. Don't understand the negative reviews, combat is similar to Mars, but seems improved and quite fun. If the story holds up, the game should be at least on par with Mars. Difficulty curve seems a bit steep.

Edited May 13, 2014 by Wrath of Dagon

[ManifestedISO]

Its a laptop, but its way better than what is necessary to run Shogun 2. A lot of people have the same problem, the result of the graphics chip switching software crap that both NVIDIA and ATI use. Basically the game is using the Radeon 8750M card but detecting it as the Intel 4000, which doesn't have Dx11 so its blocking the Dx11 settings. There is no fix for it apparently.

 

Is it true the switch to integrated is to conserve power when the laptop is running on battery? I read a question/answer about the 8750M/4000 software switch and it said to plug in the laptop's AC power cord while playing games and the discreet card will work correctly.  

[Drowsy Emperor]

 

Its a laptop, but its way better than what is necessary to run Shogun 2. A lot of people have the same problem, the result of the graphics chip switching software crap that both NVIDIA and ATI use. Basically the game is using the Radeon 8750M card but detecting it as the Intel 4000, which doesn't have Dx11 so its blocking the Dx11 settings. There is no fix for it apparently.

 

Is it true the switch to integrated is to conserve power when the laptop is running on battery? I read a question/answer about the 8750M/4000 software switch and it said to plug in the laptop's AC power cord while playing games and the discreet card will work correctly.  

 

 

Yes, when it runs on battery power it uses the integrated card for most things. But when its plugged in (and mine is plugged in all the time) the software tells it which card each application should use. The problem is with the game itself, I've already specified that it should use the discrete card, and its using it - just detecting the other one. Most games do that and detect my card as Intel 4000 but what they don't do is remove settings from the menu just because they think the card isn't appropriate. They'll benchmark the machine and default to lower settings (if there is a benchmark application with the game) but then I just bump it all to maximum and the games work fine. Shogun 2 makes options it thinks don't work unavailable, which is nonsense really.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I played through most of Shadowrun Returns (the first story). Its mildly disappointing because its like NWN OC, basically a demonstration of what the tool box is capable of. The world is not very interactive, the areas are mostly small and story and characters are somewhat bland. Yet I can see the possibility of a nice game coming out of that toolbox.

I've started Dragonfall and it looks like its the better of the two. The introduction is certainly more interesting.

[Bartimaeus]

Path of Exile. Witch on hardcore. Level 37, been a cakewalk so far. When I last played a few months ago, I recall this being a bit harder. These Vaal superabilities make the only difficult encounters, (typically unique monsters and bosses), so much easier, even if you can only use them every so often. I just save them for any encounters that seem like might be trouble, and the trouble magically disappears, (the Summon Skeletons ability, in particular, is ridiculous - I can summon 25 skeletons at once with one cast and overwhelm basically anything attacking me, including bosses, who have all died within about 10 seconds of me casting the spell -  I've only had to ALT+F4 about twice since getting this spell to save myself from imminent death, and those were times when I simply could not use the spell). Ehh.

Edited May 13, 2014 by Bartimaeus

[Rosbjerg]

The Witch is generally a boring character to play imo. Even without the Vaal gems she can summon an ungodly amount of various minions.. So playing her is generally just sending hordes of death to die.

 

But if you're crashing it on purpose it seems you are generally gaming the game too, so of course it's easy.

[Bartimaeus]

"Crashing"? You mean...exiting? Which you can do under normal circumstances anyways, although through a slightly more unwieldy menu? 

Edited May 13, 2014 by Bartimaeus

[Malcador]

The Guild 2.  Game is really easy when you're a rogue, but nevertheless it is fun to kill people to free up their spots in government .  Did have one my characters get assassinated, but murdering 5 of theirs in response worked well. 

[Rosbjerg]

"Crashing"? You mean...exiting? Which you can do under normal circumstances anyways, although through a slightly more unwieldy menu? 

 

Using ALT-F4 to avoid deaths is pretty gamey and being gamey to avoid penalties strangely enough warps the game difficulty of the game. You're free to do it of course, I don't mind - I'm simply commenting on the irony of being gamey and complaining about difficulty.

[Bartimaeus]

 

"Crashing"? You mean...exiting? Which you can do under normal circumstances anyways, although through a slightly more unwieldy menu? 

 

Using ALT-F4 to avoid deaths is pretty gamey and being gamey to avoid penalties strangely enough warps the game difficulty of the game. You're free to do it of course, I don't mind - I'm simply commenting on the irony of being gamey and complaining about difficulty.

 

 

Given that the only penalty one can receive is essentially the loss of your character, I think it's wise to use any tools or advantages you can to make sure that doesn't happen. If they didn't want you to be able to do that, they'd probably disable the keys from functioning, anyways.  Or, failing that, not immediately logging you out after exiting, (I think a 3-5 second wait would be appropriate). The entire "hardcore" thing is "gamey" - although in an opposite sort of way - so I'm not too concerned about using such tactics if necessary. 

 

You may also note that I said I've only done it twice since...properly outfitting, so to speak (and both times were in the mid to late tens, which was a while ago).

Edited May 13, 2014 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

Still playing Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Joint.  I'm about 11 hours deep and on Day 8, so I figure I have to be nearing the finish line.  

[Guest Slinky]

Papers, Please. It's day 13 and thus far the local KGB and financial investigation bureau are breathing down my neck, I'm living in a new house I cannot afford anymore because my neighbors rattet me out to officials, I'm mixed up with some shady revolutionals and my son is sick constantly.

 

It's not easy to be an immigration inspector, unless something unexpected happens they'll send me to gulag withing a week 

[Bos_hybrid]

Currently playing 2k14 in my gm mode, where on draft day I drafted Wiggins #3, Randle #10, Embiid #11 and Exum #14. Safe to say Boston has a bright future, and that the drafting AI is so very very stupid. Almost as stupid as the trade AI that gave me 14th pick for Ben Gordon..... On draft day.

[Majek]

Dragon's Crown. I've only payed Dark Souls 2 for 2 months so i'm easing into it. It's very fun though, i can see myself spending a lot of time playing it.

[GhostofAnakin]

Gears of War 2 seems much better (so far) than the original.  Or maybe I'm still pissed at the final boss fight and am sour on the entire game because of that.

[Guest Slinky]

Against all my expectations I somehow have got to day 23 in Papers, Please. My ass is not yet in gulag, but my niece went missing when I didn't have the money to adopt her after her mother died and my family is constantly so close to death I have actually started thinking about letting my mother in law die to save money...

 

Also interesting how I have turned from a honest, law abiding officer to a corrupt bastard who robs innocent people when ever possible