What are you playing now?

[Elerond]

 

 

Pirate Creed 4 definitely doesn't have a lack of content.  The amount of side activities to engage in is staggering.  I'm not sure it would be possible to 100% this game in under 100 hours.  The good news is that the majority of these activities are quite fun.  The amount of stuff to do in this game has to be right up there with anything Rockstar or Bethesda has put out.

I took from me 57 hours according to raptr (software that logs your game running times addition to many other functions) to get 100% in AC4, and I wasn't very focus oriented in way that I played that game.

 

You play a lot faster than I do.  I'm at 27% completion after 20 hours played.  At that rate, it will take me a little under 80 hours to 100% the game.

 

If I remember correctly your progress become much more faster more you play, because you get your ship upgraded, get better gear for your character, story missions become less numerous and you open all fast travel locations which make collecting things much faster.

[Raithe]

I was feeling like some semi-random destruction, so I re-installed Red Faction: Guerilla, just to watch things fall down and blow up in various ways..

[Bartimaeus]

Fired up EU4 again with Veritas et Fortitudo overhaul that revamps ideas, techs, etc. and makes things a bit harder. Sadly I don't think there's anything in the style of Magna Mundi out there. 

 

Started Byz in 1344 when the Empire is basically splattered discontinuously over Greece, Constantinople, Nicaea and Smyrna. Historically this is when dude A fights a civil war in the name of a religious doctrine which preaches quiet and solitary inner life because that makes so much sense in a dude warring over an empire    and then dude invites Serbian dude to help him out with the inner life so Serbian dude helps by taking most of the Balkans.  

 

It then follows that:

 

1. ANDRONIKOS, becoming emprah by virtue of the game starting up when he's in the musical chair, rules wisely for over a decade and restores more bits of Byzantine territory across Greece and Asia Minor, mainly because other people win wars and give us our cores in what I assume is some kind of philanthropic territory donation for tax purposes.
2. IOANNES gets uppity and eats up some little Turks for fun, Grand Turban ottoman gets apoplectic and invades with a million turbans, Ioannes dies on the battlefield presumably due to a serious case of regret
3. Another IOANNES rises to the throne, brokers a peace deal to give away all the little Turkish bits to Grand Turban, comes home, gets murdered by his son immediately in a trenchant commentary on American politics today
4. Yet another IOANNES then spends the entire truce period repaying loans accrued
5. Finally someone called ANDRONIKOS returns to the throne and instantly makes everything better by ignoring the Grand Turban (who can't kill us anyway because dudes haven't learnt how to make boats to cross rivers), instead gloriously conquers / vassalises Serbia, Epirus and Crete.
6. Then an IOANNES comes back, and immediately Bosnia (whose war against Serbia apparently hadn't finished when I vassalised) annexes Serbia, invades us with Grand Potato Hungary, and promptly forces us to liberate Epirus and Crete  

Success of empire now depends on the enforcement of the newest imperial decree to name every single human being in the realm Andronikos.

 

Is this solely a TBS game, or..? Your post makes me want to play the game in question, but I'm usually more of a RTS kind of guy, or better yet, hybrid. 

Edited August 3, 2014 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

 

If I remember correctly your progress become much more faster more you play, because you get your ship upgraded, get better gear for your character, story missions become less numerous and you open all fast travel locations which make collecting things much faster.

 

That makes sense.  I doubt I'll ever actually use fast travel (I haven't a single time so far).  Sailing is too much fun to skip with fast travel, plus I get to listen to sea shanties, and sea shanties rule.  I kind of want to become a sailor now just so that I can sing sea shanties.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Keyrock

[Labadal]

Divinity: Original Sin.

 

I also bought Demonicon for €6 from Bundle Stars or whatever the site is called.

[Oerwinde]

Fired up EU4 again with Veritas et Fortitudo overhaul that revamps ideas, techs, etc. and makes things a bit harder. Sadly I don't think there's anything in the style of Magna Mundi out there. 

 

Started Byz in 1344 when the Empire is basically splattered discontinuously over Greece, Constantinople, Nicaea and Smyrna. Historically this is when dude A fights a civil war in the name of a religious doctrine which preaches quiet and solitary inner life because that makes so much sense in a dude warring over an empire    and then dude invites Serbian dude to help him out with the inner life so Serbian dude helps by taking most of the Balkans.  

 

It then follows that:

 

1. ANDRONIKOS, becoming emprah by virtue of the game starting up when he's in the musical chair, rules wisely for over a decade and restores more bits of Byzantine territory across Greece and Asia Minor, mainly because other people win wars and give us our cores in what I assume is some kind of philanthropic territory donation for tax purposes.
2. IOANNES gets uppity and eats up some little Turks for fun, Grand Turban ottoman gets apoplectic and invades with a million turbans, Ioannes dies on the battlefield presumably due to a serious case of regret
3. Another IOANNES rises to the throne, brokers a peace deal to give away all the little Turkish bits to Grand Turban, comes home, gets murdered by his son immediately in a trenchant commentary on American politics today
4. Yet another IOANNES then spends the entire truce period repaying loans accrued
5. Finally someone called ANDRONIKOS returns to the throne and instantly makes everything better by ignoring the Grand Turban (who can't kill us anyway because dudes haven't learnt how to make boats to cross rivers), instead gloriously conquers / vassalises Serbia, Epirus and Crete.
6. Then an IOANNES comes back, and immediately Bosnia (whose war against Serbia apparently hadn't finished when I vassalised) annexes Serbia, invades us with Grand Potato Hungary, and promptly forces us to liberate Epirus and Crete  

Success of empire now depends on the enforcement of the newest imperial decree to name every single human being in the realm Andronikos.

 

Dei Gratia is available, which I believe was the core of Magna Mundi's religious event chains and such. I believe a lot of stuff that Magna Mundi pioneered for EU3 was just added to the game via expansions and then ended up in the base game of EUIV anyway.

 

"Wasteland 2, or Give Every PC Blunt and Bludgeon Everyone You Meet" at long last. I dabbled in the beta build, kind of irritated that they actually removed portraits and customization options.

 

I know it's not a big deal that the character models look like ass (in the bad way,) but I can't shake the irksome feeling I get from seeing character models in the character menus that would have looked cutting-edge in 2000 or so. I guess the great concept art aroused my expectations too much.

 

Anyway, the UI changes are skewing toward good. And no radiation protection off the bat.

 

 

Buy a PS4.

Hopk up your PS2.

Boot up Suikoden V

???

Profit?

Suikoden has been dead to me since 3. Even among awful JRPGs that one stood out considering the quality of its predecessors. I tried 4 and that was just like 5/10 mediocrity (which is beneath "worth playing" in gaming parlance.)

 

I loved Suikoden 3. 4 was the worst, 5 was almost as good as 2, so I recommend giving that one a shot.

[Zoraptor]

Yeah, for all the accusations that ubik was a kook he was certainly right about paradox nicking (or 'nicking', at least) lots of ideas off of Magna Mundi

 

Is this solely a TBS game, or..? Your post makes me want to play the game in question, but I'm usually more of a RTS kind of guy, or better yet, hybrid. 

 

It's technically a TBS but the turns are so short it might as well be real time. EUIV is a quasi historical 'realistic' strategy game set from the late medieval through to the revolutionary ages. Describing it as a TBS or RTS tends to come along with rather too much baggage, it isn't an RTS in the sense that, say, Command & Conquer is and it isn't a TBS in the way that, say, HOMM3 or even CivIV is. Essentially it's a province based map system where you manage a country, building armies and improvements, using diplomacy, colonisation etc with whatever aims you set yourself. For someone who hasn't played a Paradox game before it is a little hard to describe, have a look at some youtube videos or similar is probably the best approach, or you can try the demo.

 

Though if history is any guide the demo will be crap. Oh, and paradox keeps on tinkering and breaking stuff.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Zoraptor

[Tigranes]

Paradox games are a unique beast. It's got nothing to do with classic RTS or TBS games. It is also the greatest. Try it. 

 

Funnily enough, the Rule of Names continued for several more decades, IOANNESes generally screwing things up, until a 40-year reign of one stand-up ANDRONIKOS took the Empire past the point of no return (that point in every strategy game ever where you become too powerful to fear annihilation and are guaranteed to continue expanding slowly). 

 

Personal Union'd then inherited Venice in a stroke of luck, now stretching Imperium Romanum from Venice to Iconium. Funnily enough the key to long term success was making Byz into a trade empire using trade faction & policies (the mod adds factions & policies) and setting up a Persia-Constantinople-Venice gravy train of exotic imports.

[Llyranor]

I like to describe Paradox games as history/political simulators rather than RTS or TBS (it's a pretty different focus than what those genres usually entail).

 

I was completely addicted to EU3 (Complete - no way am I playing a Paradox game vanilla) back in the day, but ever since getting into Crusader Kings 2, the extra layer of political scheming and lineage preservation just makes EU feel like baby's first Paradox game. Maybe I'm being unfair, but that's why I haven't been even remotely interested in EU4 :/

 

----

 

On a sidenote, my latest addiction is Wargame: Red Dragon multiplayer. Since the recent patch, the game is feeling fresh again. It's such a fun Cold War RTS/wargame that does away with many of the things I dislike from RTS. Napalm is the best.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Llyranor

[Zoraptor]

I'd hesitate to describe recent paradox games as being simulators for much the same reasons I wouldn't label it as an RTS. Even EU2 with its more deterministic approach wasn't really a simulator, but the later EU games all have problems generating historically realistic or plausible results, and anyone going in with that expectation will be disappointed. That's because paradox themselves regard it as a game primarily, so make it literally impossible for things that happened historically to happen- and they insist on balancing for multiplayer rather than SP despite 80% of their users being SP only.

[Ashen Rohk]

Elite: Dangerous.

 

It's only a beta but it's addictive as hell, and the first game I've played where I would recommend a controller.

[Keyrock]

26 hours in and I'm at 33% completion in Pirate Creed 4.  I've been doing all the contracts and getting all the collectibles in Kingston.  Berserk darts are the best.  You can create so much hilarious mayhem with those.  Every game should have berserk darts. 

[HoonDing]

But PirateCreed has whip too? It was the coolest weapon in FemCreed, one shotting all those annoying idiots that are impossible to immediately kill on counterattack. Although pepper-box pistol was great too.

[Keyrock]

No whip that I've seen, but there are all types of pistols.  You can carry a whole bunch of them too so that you can do a quick rapid-fire burst before having to reload.  It's a lot more fun to just stick a couple of brutes with berserker darts and let them kill each other while I chill in a bush or a haystack watching the hilarious mayhem play out (or use the distraction to sneak by) than fighting them myself.

Edited August 5, 2014 by Keyrock

[Katphood]

Enter the following cheats and GTA III will become the craziest survival horror game you have ever played:

PEASOUP(fog)
CHITTYCHITTYBB(cars fly)
WEAPONSFORALL(pedestrians have weapons)

and last but not least:
ITSALLGOINGMAAAD(people -the same ones you armed to the teeth earlier- go mad and attack each other...with molotovs and rocket launchers, so watch your head)

You could also hop in a tank(GIVEUSATANK) and cruise around liberty city and watch the choas using the theatrical camera. Just don't forget to put on your favorite playlist.

Edited August 5, 2014 by Cat Food

[AGX-17]

Got murdered by a bunch of zambie boars in D:OS, don't feel any spite about it. Getting guilt-tripped by radio messages about ag-center stuff in Hghwater's various tunnels in Wasteland 2, trying hard to be callous and say "Vargas you're a stupid mother****er, if these chumps are so important, send some ****ing rangers to kill those stupid exploding plants." If Angela "death" Death can accompany the player then they must have decent level 8+ rangers to deal with those stupid bomb-plants.

 

If not, just give up. Let the Brotherhood of Steel or Enclave invade the Wasteland universe through simple player will and cover the bases you can't. WHOOOOAAAA 4D EXISTENCE YOU JUST EXPERIENCED THE 4D WORLD BLEEP BLOOP BLORP GIVE ME MORE 30.06 AMMO SO I CAN SHOOT MORE THINGS

Edited August 7, 2014 by AGX-17

[Labadal]

I'm in turn-based rpg heaven. Divinity: Original Sin on PC and Tactics Ogre (PSP version) on PC. cant't get any better than this. In TO, I just recruited Sherri and in Divinity, I'm in Hunter's Edge.

[Volourn]

"Divinity: Original Sin on PC and Tactics Ogre (PSP version) on PC. cant't get any better than this. In TO, I just recruited Sherri and in Divinity, I'm in Hunter's Edge."

 

\if you can't get better tb rpg than DOS you need to play better tb rpgs.

 

 

I'm playing NWN, Legend of Heroes, and NBA 2K14. I'm playing or just played other games but they'r enot worth mentioning.

Edited August 7, 2014 by Volourn

[Labadal]

"Divinity: Original Sin on PC and Tactics Ogre (PSP version) on PC. cant't get any better than this. In TO, I just recruited Sherri and in Divinity, I'm in Hunter's Edge."

 

\if you can't get better tb rpg than DOS you need to play better tb rpgs.

I'm sorry, I don't speak Trollish.

[Volourn]

Sure, you do. You are one of the better ones.

 

\More on topic, Legend of Heroes has better TB combat than DOS.

[GhostofAnakin]

I was tempted to pick up Sacred 3.  I might just wait for Risen 3 this coming Tuesday instead.

 

I haven't played anything since finishing the Gears of War trilogy a week or so ago.  Really crappy summer for me in terms of new games for me to try.

[Labadal]

Sure, you do. You are one of the better ones.

 

\More on topic, Legend of Heroes has better TB combat than DOS.

It has? I guess that I can respect your opinion even if you are wrong.

[mkreku]

I bought a Mi Pad and have been trying to finally play Baldur's Gate on it, but I fall asleep every time. Maybe my brain needs 3D nowadays..

[Hurlshort]

I bought the Wii U, mostly for Mario Kart.  I also bought a couple wiimotes, but they were terrible and I returned them.  All the Pro controllers were sold out, but at Walmart I found a decent knockoff so the kids could play two player mario kart.  I also picked up Lego Grand Theft Auto, and my son is enjoying jacking cars and crashing into things.

[Hurlshort]

That didn't last long, my son just broke Mario Kart pulling it out of the case.