What are you playing now?

[Woldan]

Then again, maybe the Librarians in 2033 Redux *are* the ones from Last Light, in which case staring them in the eyes *will* make them bugger off and actually trying to fight them is just a massive waste of time and resources.

Staring them in the face only slows them down, they will walk towards you and start smacking you to meat soup. I really like those monsters, good overall design, beautifully animated and truly fearsome sounds, too bad they were put in such a messy map where they're put to shame by the absolutely terrifying confusing map layout.

[Gorth]

Not playing "now", but going to play Wasteland 2 tonight. Finally got around to get my old desktop PC working and finding the old firefox shortcuts, including the one to the ranger center and the rewards page. Picked one Steam and one Gog key

[ShadySands]

Nothing I have seems to be holding my attention so I picked up Sorcerer King and GalCiv3 from GMG

[Gromnir]

started dragon age: origins. given how busy we has been recently, am assuming that by the time we finish da:o, da2 and all the expansions and dlc, da:i will finally feel be cheapened and stable enough to warrant a purchase. alternatively, poe will likely be released... though we gotta admit our interest has been waning regarding that title. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Wrath of Dagon]

I spent like 15 minutes wandering around in the library's vents, I'm absolutely certain there is no filter left in the vicinity, also the big mutants are very tough and I've run out of ammo. I dumped almost all my ammo into them only killing one and the knife really doesn't do anything. So I'm completely lost, choking, with no ammo while big beasts eventually hunt and kill me.

 

I actually think this would make a fitting canon ending for my play through.

Last Light I had to switch to easy difficulty eventually. 2033 I don't remember needing a gas mask in the library, I think I mostly ran from the Librarians. May be restart that level with a guide? Also I don't remember any Librarians in Last Light, or is that in an expansion?

 

In other news, I finished Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments. It actually grew on me more as I played it. I'd say the only downside is you have to go through their check list of clues to find, there's isn't any player initiative there. But it is well broken up with puzzles and minigames, which are pretty good and tend to fit nicely into the investigation. You can also skip almost all of them. You do have some agency in making the deductions, and a few of them you have to pay attention to the evidence and conversations, it's not all explicitly linked to the clues. The stories are quite interesting, the acting and voice work is well done, and some characters you meet are pretty compelling, and even have some emotional resonance, not something I expected. Overall, it does a good job of putting you into Sherlock's shoes, though the ending of the last mission I thought was a bit uncharacteristic of him.

 

A thing to remember to make the game quite a bit easier is that a task will only disappear from the journal once you find all the clues in that area, and something you're examining will automatically be put back/closed only once you see everything you were supposed to. This prevents you from backtracking endlessly to try to find that one clue you've missed.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Wrath of Dagon

[Keyrock]

Still playing Jagged Alliance: Flashback.  I'm starting to get used to the mechanics and the interface.  It's been a long time since I played a JA game, plus the mechanics here aren't exactly the same as either JA or JA2.  There is something wonky with the game where all my female mercs start in the prone position when entering a new zone.  It's not a big deal to make them change stances to either crouched or standing, but it's weird.  The interface could use some definite work, the delay on tooltips is strangely long, and I haven't figured out if it's possible to turn in place, which is a big deal for line of sight reasons (as it is I have to go an extra spot then walk back if I want to face the other way, burning AP unnecessarily).  Hopefully it's possible and I haven't figured out how to do it yet, because not being able to turn in place sucks.  Beyond that, though, I'm finding the game fairly enjoyable.  I'm a big fan of turn-based squad-based tactics games.

[GhostofAnakin]

Far Cry 4 is giving me issue after issue.  Now my issue is I can't seem to call hired guns to help me.  I can access the option wheel by pressing down on the D-pad, I can highlight the call guns for hire option in the menu, but there is no indication about what to do then.  I've pressed every single button and none actually call the guns for hire.  And yes, I have tokens.  I'm maxed out at 6 tokens (and I've got all 6).

[CoM_Solaufein]

Going through second play through of DA Inquisition. Just got done with Adamant.

[marelooke]

 

I spent like 15 minutes wandering around in the library's vents, I'm absolutely certain there is no filter left in the vicinity, also the big mutants are very tough and I've run out of ammo. I dumped almost all my ammo into them only killing one and the knife really doesn't do anything. So I'm completely lost, choking, with no ammo while big beasts eventually hunt and kill me.

 

I actually think this would make a fitting canon ending for my play through.

Last Light I had to switch to easy difficulty eventually. 2033 I don't remember needing a gas mask in the library, I think I mostly ran from the Librarians. May be restart that level with a guide? Also I don't remember any Librarians in Last Light, or is that in an expansion?

 

Yes, it's one of the DLC, the exploration one named Kshatriya in the Factions Pack (which was really fun, wish they made a game around the concept though). I'd say getting the Factions Pack just for Kshatriya is worth it.

[Enoch]

started dragon age: origins. given how busy we has been recently, am assuming that by the time we finish da:o, da2 and all the expansions and dlc, da:i will finally feel be cheapened and stable enough to warrant a purchase. alternatively, poe will likely be released... though we gotta admit our interest has been waning regarding that title. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

I've been doing the same.  I'm now through the majority of base-DA:O, plus the Shale and Soldier's Peak DLC content-- the Urn quest is the only part of the "assemble your allies" stage that I haven't wrapped up. 

 

I really remember very little of the endgame content (mostly, some stuff happens in the Elven Alienage, we sneak into a castle for some reason, Alistair runs off like a petulant child, and there is a very tedious combat slog before the end-boss), so I'm mostly looking forward to seeing that again with fresh eyes.   And Awakenings, the other DLC (I'm waiting for Loghain before I do Return to Ostagar), and all of DA2 will be new to me. 

 

 

One thing that is bugging me on this playthrough is that it really feels like they designed their system to push the player to their "favored" NPCs.  The two most indispensable combat roles in this system are a "tank" and a controller/damager wizard.  And, absent the day-1 DLC, the game gives you exactly 1 character spec'ed to each of these roles.  On the other hand, there are 4 off-tank damager melee characters available (Sten, Oghren, the Dog, and Zevran).  They also made lock-opening the only class-restricted non-combat ability in the game, and only gave the player 1 rogue who starts with any points invested in it.  (To be fair, the practical value of lock-opening is quite low in the game, but, depending on the type of player you are, the psychological impact of leaving l0o+ behind can be significant.) 

 

I suppose it's most likely that they were just making sure that the early NPCs one recruits can make a well-rounded powerful party.  But, to me, it really feels like they've put their thumb on the scale to get the player to depend on Alistair, Morrigan, and Leliana.  A more balanced approach would've helped-- say by giving Oghren a shield and making the 1st-tier healing spell much less effective so that Wynne's specialization has more value. 

 

For my part, I'm playing a (admittedly overpowered) PC Mage who largely duplicates Morrigan's spell investment (Cold, Electric, the Hex line, the Crushing Prison line, and the Mana Clash line), and running with Shale, Sten, and Wynne most of the time.  I think I'm going to off him at the end, and go with a dagger-rogue build for Awakenings. 

Edited January 9, 2015 by Enoch

[Tale]

Wolfenstein: The New Order is waiting on my doorstop. So excited!

[Amentep]

I'm rotating Persona Q and Fantasy Life on the DS3 and Person 4 Arena Ultimax on PS3.

[Gromnir]

 

started dragon age: origins. given how busy we has been recently, am assuming that by the time we finish da:o, da2 and all the expansions and dlc, da:i will finally feel be cheapened and stable enough to warrant a purchase. alternatively, poe will likely be released... though we gotta admit our interest has been waning regarding that title. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

I've been doing the same.  I'm now through the majority of base-DA:O, plus the Shale and Soldier's Peak DLC content-- the Urn quest is the only part of the "assemble your allies" stage that I haven't wrapped up. 

 

I really remember very little of the endgame content (mostly, some stuff happens in the Elven Alienage, we sneak into a castle for some reason, Alistair runs off like a petulant child, and there is a very tedious combat slog before the end-boss), so I'm mostly looking forward to seeing that again with fresh eyes.   And Awakenings, the other DLC (I'm waiting for Loghain before I do Return to Ostagar), and all of DA2 will be new to me. 

 

 

One thing that is bugging me on this playthrough is that it really feels like they designed their system to push the player to their "favored" NPCs.  The two most indispensable combat roles in this system are a "tank" and a controller/damager wizard.  And, absent the day-1 DLC, the game gives you exactly 1 character spec'ed to each of these roles.  On the other hand, there are 4 off-tank damager melee characters available (Sten, Oghren, the Dog, and Zevran).  They also made lock-opening the only class-restricted non-combat ability in the game, and only gave the player 1 rogue who starts with any points invested in it.  (To be fair, the practical value of lock-opening is quite low in the game, but, depending on the type of player you are, the psychological impact of leaving l0o+ behind can be significant.) 

 

I suppose it's most likely that they were just making sure that the early NPCs one recruits can make a well-rounded powerful party.  But, to me, it really feels like they've put their thumb on the scale to get the player to depend on Alistair, Morrigan, and Leliana.  A more balanced approach would've helped-- say by giving Oghren a shield and making the 1st-tier healing spell much less effective so that Wynne's specialization has more value. 

 

For my part, I'm playing a (admittedly overpowered) PC Mage who largely duplicates Morrigan's spell investment (Cold, Electric, the Hex line, the Crushing Prison line, and the Mana Clash line), and running with Shale, Sten, and Wynne most of the time.  I think I'm going to off him at the end, and go with a dagger-rogue build for Awakenings. 

 

no doubt enoch is already aware that the da:o respec mods work equal well for the companions as they do for the protagonist.  our party is same as enoch, but we prefer sten as our tank and we didn't like wynne's spell selection... so we changed wynne and sten talents.  and yeah, Gromnir is a compulsive lock opener-- that is the reason why 2 of our first 3 da:o characters back in 2009 (was it 2009?) were rogues. our first da:o character were a 2-h warrior and the +40 hours o' our initial play-through o' da:o taught us to loathe the provided da:o rogue npcs. even so, most areas with locked chests can be accessed after completing combat and quests, so we clear maps and then drop wynne for leliana to satisfy our l007-related ocd... though we made leliana a cunning focused, dual-dagger rogue in case we wanted/needed her in our group for combats.

 

our mage pc is also similar to enoch. we have cold and crushing prison lines, but we took glyphs up to and including repulsion so we could get the massive paralysis explosion from the combo.  we is starting on electric, and will eventual get the mana clash line as well as the animate dead line.  am currently done stone prisoner and soldier's peak dlc, but we has only finished the mage tower portion o' the core game. return to ostagar may be next for us. am likely gonna let loghain die and stick with our mage for awakenings.

 

we recall the game very well, but am occasionally surprised by minor details we had forgotten. 

 

we played da2, and liked it more than most people hereabouts, though we would still say were ambivalent. we did 0 dlc for da2, so that content will be new for us.  

 

regardless, the respec mods is quite useful for Gromnir's play o' da:o. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Labadal]

I've been chugging along in Shadowrun: Dragonfall - DC. I've been doing some of the new missions and the quality is varied. Some aren't that interesting while others are fairly well done. It's good to see the game fleshed out, though, so I can't complain too much.

[Enoch]

[DA:O stuff]

 

HA! Good Fun!

Yeah, I remember the re-spec mods, but I've been playing it straight.  I didn't remember how to go about adding mods, and didn't feel sufficiently motivated to figure it out all over again. 

 

I like the narrative better with a dead protagonist, and there's something about putting together an atypical world-state to import to the sequels that appeals to me.  Still, it is tempting to have my Warden survive the endgame so that I'll get to keep at least some of my l0o+ for the expansion.  I may spoil myself regarding the joinables in Awakenings before I decide. 

 

Does the Glyph paralysis explosion have friendly fire?  I like the hexes for boss fights, but a large area effect paralysis would be very useful. 

 

 

I really didn't like the combat in the DA2 demo back in the day, but a lot of the reporting on the narrative did sound appealing to me, or at least it sounded like something that I'd like to see first-hand-- particularly the more personal storyline and the impression that the protagonist generally gets to watch everything he/she does turn out horribly.  At this point, that's enough for me to give it a shot. 

Edited January 10, 2015 by Enoch

[Tale]

PSN can't decide if I have a good connection or crap connection and it's making me annoyed.

 

Wolfenstein has a 5 gig update to download. It starts, it tells me 2 hours. That's far too long for my connection, but I figure whatever.

 

I check an hour later, now it tells me 5 hours after downloading a gig. That's getting ridiculous. Two hours later it get a gig and a half and is telling me 6 hours!

 

Turning it off and back on gets me some good data speed for a while, getting .3 gigs in a minute. But now it's slowing down again. HAlf an hour left, supposedly, but climbing.

[Malcador]

Finished off Gray Matter. That last stage was most annoying due to loading screens, but was a fun puzzle overall. The game sure accelerates towards the end, did realize what was going on pretty early but still felt pretty rushed. Was rather disappointed with the direction the ending took, would have preferred something other than the all-to-common jump at the end by the antagonist. But, was decent enough fun, liked Sam and Styles as protagonists.

 

Now on to..*checks GOG backlog*....hm.

[Gromnir]

 

[DA:O stuff]

 

HA! Good Fun!

Yeah, I remember the re-spec mods, but I've been playing it straight.  I didn't remember how to go about adding mods, and didn't feel sufficiently motivated to figure it out all over again. 

 

 

 

Does the Glyph paralysis explosion have friendly fire?  I like the hexes for boss fights, but a large area effect paralysis would be very useful. 

 

 

 

 

http://social.bioware.com/project/469/#files

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/14/?

 

the second link were supposed updated more recently, but both versions appear to be 1.6.  

 

a respec raven will appear in numerous locations in the game, including flemeth's hut and your camp.  joinable npcs will lose their specializations, but by interacting with the raven, you may reacquire such specializations via a "dialogue" option.   

 

having played da:o complete honest a number o' times, we don't feel the least bit bad about correcting peculiar biowarian choices for companion skills and talents.

 

the paralysis explosion does have friendly fire, but it is not targeted line of sight, so it is useful for pre-battle. use the paralysis explosion before your storm o' the century for extra fun. the glyph of warding is useful for melee protection and the glyph o' repulsion (no friendly fire)  is ideal for defending squishy mages from melee mobs. is an excellent line o' spells, though we rare bother with the neutralize glyph.  for our pc da:o mages, we always go cold spells first til we get cone of cold, then go to the glyphs. the repulsion + paralysis combo for glyphs effectively gives you the benefits o' mass paralysis w/o having to pay for it. is actual a fair bit o' cheese, but again, as we has already beaten the gam,e several times, our level o' guilt is negligible. 

 

found a video link.

 

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited January 10, 2015 by Gromnir

[GhostofAnakin]

PSN can't decide if I have a good connection or crap connection and it's making me annoyed.

 

Wolfenstein has a 5 gig update to download. It starts, it tells me 2 hours. That's far too long for my connection, but I figure whatever.

 

I check an hour later, now it tells me 5 hours after downloading a gig. That's getting ridiculous. Two hours later it get a gig and a half and is telling me 6 hours!

 

Turning it off and back on gets me some good data speed for a while, getting .3 gigs in a minute. But now it's slowing down again. HAlf an hour left, supposedly, but climbing.

 

Clearly Kim Jun Un is targeting you personally with his current attack.

[BruceVC]

Finished off Gray Matter. That last stage was most annoying due to loading screens, but was a fun puzzle overall. The game sure accelerates towards the end, did realize what was going on pretty early but still felt pretty rushed. Was rather disappointed with the direction the ending took, would have preferred something other than the all-to-common jump at the end by the antagonist. But, was decent enough fun, liked Sam and Styles as protagonists.

 

Now on to..*checks GOG backlog*....hm.

Nice, I'm going to play this game next

[Enoch]

Thanks, but I think I'm far enough in with the build I've got-- might as well finish the game (which I've only done once before) "as intended" at this point.  I might be tempted to use it on Awakenings NPCs, though, if they need some tweaks.   

[Gromnir]

Thanks, but I think I'm far enough in with the build I've got-- might as well finish the game (which I've only done once before) "as intended" at this point.  I might be tempted to use it on Awakenings NPCs, though, if they need some tweaks.   

the bio developers went out o' their way to make the awakening joinables fubar insofar as talents and stats is concerned.  sigurn, for example, is a strength-based dual wielding rogue. the tank npc, justice, has ok talents, but is as if bioware were the only folks that don't know the importance o' dexterity for a sword & board tank. anders, who is better written in awakenings than he is in da2, can replace wynne as he already has spirit healer line and the first couple heal-focused creation spells, but the rest o' his spell selection is kinda random.  nathaniel howe is an archer... 'nuff said. *shrug* the thing is, bioware added respec functionality to awakenings such that you don't need the mod. there is an awakenings merchant from whom you may purchase respec items.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[MrBrown]

nathaniel howe is an archer... 'nuff said. 

 

Archery is really powerful in Awakening with the Accuracy passive. Some would say overpowered. It still has the speed bugs, though.

 

... To which I recommend this fan patch: http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/1601/?

The only component of it that I don't use is the "no helmets" one.

[Keyrock]

 

nathaniel howe is an archer... 'nuff said. 

 

Archery is really powerful in Awakening with the Accuracy passive. Some would say overpowered. It still has the speed bugs, though.

 

... To which I recommend this fan patch: http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/1601/?

The only component of it that I don't use is the "no helmets" one.

 

Also, in Awakening warrior archers are potentially better than rogue archers, whereas in Origins rogue archers were clearly superior.

[GhostofAnakin]

The main quest pacing in Far Cry 4 seems off to me.  I don't know what it is exactly, but it seems that major events happen in each mission with no build up toward it from the previous mission.

 

Also weird is I still can't access the North part of the island even though I've already completed 20 of the 32 main quest missions.

 

It's still an addictive game though.  I think I preferred the story from Far Cry 3 though.